Well that was an eventful 36/48 hours. I don’t know about you guys but where I live, six inches of snow fell and that’s a woman’s six inches, not a mans. My internet connection wasn’t happy, nor was my television but today everything is back to normal. It’s funny though isn’t it as despite all the weather warnings being given, people still thought it was a good idea to get their car out and then moan later when they’re stuck in the snow. The gritters, emergency services etc get blamed for not responding to their needs. Idiots.
With the January transfer window, a disappointing one for Arsenal yet again, closed, this Arsenal team has a big job on its hands if top four is to be achieved. On paper, tomorrow’s opposition are the toughest we have left to face between now and May. The other key fixtures are away to the Toots and our home match against Utd. But even if we were to win both, the results would mean nothing if we can’t beat the clubs below us in the table. With Denis Suarez added to the squad, hopefully our creativity might improve but it’s the way we defend as a team which remains the problem. The mystery too.
This weekend sees the Kroenke family’s LA Rams competing in the Super Bowl final. If they win, history will be made as Sean McVay will be the youngest ever winning coach at just 33 years old. He’s made history anyway by just getting there.
I think he and Sean are very comparable in the way they approach their craft on a daily basis. There is a lot of data they break down. They are very active on the practice pitch. Their styles are similar even though they are half a world apart.
Unai’s energy is contagious and his dedication is immense. They love what they do and they are leaders. The players want to run through a wall for them.
To see where Sean has taken us in a short amount of time gives us a lot of confidence.
The only thing on a par with the Super Bowl is Arsenal making the Champions League final. It is something we are very focused on.
I have been telling my friends all week the Super Bowl is the biggest spectacle that we have here and the Champions League is something in Europe that we strive for and we look forward to being a part of in the future.
The Telegraph.
The comments from Josh Kroenke would suggest he wants big things for Arsenal FC, his family too and none are stupid enough not to realise that to become a bigger and better football club than Arsenal already are, investment is required. Serious investment. If LA Rams were to win tomorrow evening, it could help us as a club too in a big way. Not in terms of finances as I’d imagine what the Rams earn they’ll reinvest, but as far as the success story goes. It’s been seventeen years since the Rams had something big to celebrate and that was I believe before the Kroenke family had the kind of ownership they have today. Big investment in the Rams together with a change of coaching staff has seen vast improvements in the team.
Perhaps with Josh Kroenke wanting Arsenal to emulate La Rams Super Bowl Final by getting to the Champions League means investment might be heading our way too. Especially now the Kroenke family own Arsenal FC outright….
Happy Saturday….
Living in a farming community I always have a wry smile when tourists ( Grockles ) complain about tractors holding them up as the whoosh through the Norfolk Broads villages . Last year when we were whited out ( even more than a female 6 ” ) it was the self same farmers that went out and got the roads open . It’s give and take.
It does seem that Josh is taking a greater interest and these newsmedia reports from him suggest that he may not be so silent as his Dad . I don’t think whilst Stan is around that it will be give and take i.e. They give we take but possibly Josh who is obviously enjoying the limelight of a superbowl final might get the taste for more of it and hopefully a Champions League final is on his bucket list.
Good morning Rico, Potter and all.
We can only hope that Josh will loosen the purse strings but reading of the cost of the new Los Angeles stadium, the projected cost was $2.6 billion, now the actual cost is expected to rise to $4.963 billion. Convert those figures to pounds sterling and it looks unlikely that we’re going to see much financial aid coming over the pond.
On a slightly different note….Among all the excitement, the unrelenting anxiety and the whirlwind pace of the events during the last days of the January window, you may have missed a little article slipped out by UEFA.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is set to join the UEFA executive committee as one of two club representatives. The European Club Association (ECA) said the Qatari had been elected to replace Ivan Gazidis. Al-Khelaifi’s imminent election comes with PSG under financial investigation by UEFA. Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation in 2017 into former FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke and Al-Khelaifi over World Cup broadcasting deals. Both men have denied wrongdoing and neither has been charged.
It’s good to know that the lessons of Sepp Blatter et al have been learned and that European football is living up to it’s whiter than white image
It’s similar here Potter, the yummie mummies in their 4×4’s are nowhere to be seen though when help is needed.
I think Josh could be our only hope. He’s certainly enjoying the limelight over the pond. Rightly so too if he was behind the Rams changes.
Morning Cicero, surely the two finances are independent of each other. I wouldn’t expect the LA Rams finances to fund us.. Mind you, I’ve no idea how these things work..
Rico, all I’m saying is that with a bill approaching $5billion there won’t be much left beyond pocket change to invest in Arsenal.
Morning all.
Where the yanks and money are concerned I wouldn’t trust them with my breath. Far from Rams money coming this way it is more unlikely than us winning the EPL, ever again. In fact the Arsenal franchise is more likely to donate loads’amoney in the opposite direction! Perhaps our beloved old institution has already been raided for a few readies, and goes some way to explaining why we are so short. Conspiracy theory of the day!🤑
Given our sustainable model it seems we pay our way and carry little or no debt, at present. Hopefully that will continue ad infinitum. Can the Kronkes’ be trusted with our cash and our real estate? Do you know, I doubt it!
As for tomorrow’s game, carnage or a conquering conquest? In my world I firmly believe that you get what you pay for, so I’m not holding too many hopes as far as points go! I think I’d be happy with one, three would send my into a transcendental state of euphoria, another defeat would just be another disappointment.
On the plus side it’s alovely day here, cold, crisp and sunny, not warm but still no proper snow, unlike the south and west. How’re you doing Lc?
How much is he worth though Cicero?
RIco according to Forbes rich list, as of yesterday’s date, $8.5 billion. Take away the $5billion for the new stadium and he’s a relative pauper. 😉
I am not sure now , since he got 100% of the club and moved our finances to Delaware I think we are just part of the KSE conglomerate and as such money can be moved around in the group .
However I might be wrong but I am sure that I read that somewhere.
Rico, if mr nakedness promises to buy you clothes, you must first look at what it is wearing! The Rams are in the finals after seventeen years? The Rams example is that arsenal will continue to work hard and like Newscastle in 1995(?), and Leicester a few years ago pop up and become unlikely champions. All we have heard from the Kroekes are mere promises. From the promise of the great team arsenal will become after Highbury completion to the occasional measured promises of a great future for the team, all gunners live on borrowed hope.
. Remember, we all chorused at the beginning of Emery’s reign that he needed 3 to 4 transfer seasons to get arsenal marching again, but we have already lost one, where there was a glaring need for defensive reinforcement. Not to talk of the many seasons we have been complaining of lack of width. Now they have dropped off words of making amends in the summer. Words, words, mere promises that only makes you remember transfer speculation.
While, a pity my system is already corrupted and I can’t get myself to support another team, but truth must be told, Kroenke and the arsenal lot are hope dashers!
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico…
Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words, ask the people of St Louis if Stan Kroenke is as good as his word, personally I wouldn’t trust him as far as I can throw his wig.
All I want, is that the Arsenal keep all the finance it actually makes and is allowed to spend it, I don’t expect to see KSE subsidise Arsenal but I don’t want to see that untrustworthy cowboy stealing away our revenue to spend it Stateside on his other Franchises…
I see that the media mates of KSE, namely the Telegraph, have the story, it’s a story that I don’t give one iota of creditability to.
As long as the interest of the Americans is based around profit and profit alone we are lumbered with an owner who’ll do just enough to keep the tills ringing but he doesn’t really care about Arsenal the club, he probably despises the fans and we all know that, in fact he probably knows that we know that, but he couldn’t care less as long as the stadium is full and the shirt sales are buoyant.
Chelsea four nil up and back into fourth place. If want to regain the fourth spot we must not only beat Man City tomorrow but slaughter them. 😉
To change your reality, you must understand it. At the beginning of every season when you look at the fixtures, there are games you look at and say no hope. Given our recent history and our penchant to collapse in these big games, the calculation foe arsenal’s top four hope dhould not factor in this man city game. If at the end a miracle happens, it becomes a bonus.
After City, United and Totts, the other fixtures look winnable. We must not drop a point in those games.
Afternoon Kev, all.
I get what you’re saying Daniel but don’t we have to get our wage bill reduced before we can sign players? We also need to sell players imo because we’d have too many on the books surely.
I can’t agree with you Daniel , there is no sense in writing off any match as no hoper, there are too many variables in a game of football.
The biggest mistake in our club is Stan Kroene. To give him the power of control our team will give us many problem like mising continuously Uefa Champins League because he dont care the way we suffer about. Many times he takes money from Gunners to America without giving club money to spend for new players thats why we are finishing below top four. Please, i urge Gunners suportes not to buy season ticket in order to fire this idiot owner
Agree Cicero, Newcastle proved that against City and Leicester for an entire season.. 😜
Do not get me wrong Cicero, woul be over the moon should we get a point in the game. But the facts don’t support it. We hardly keep clean sheets against the cardifs, Watfords huddersfields of this world, then how can our poor and naive defence cope against a relentless and intense attacking side like ManC? Wenger’s defence couldn’t and even in this promising Emery reign, same defence wilted against Liverpool and Manu.
As analysts, we go by facts not by team loyalty. And if by tomorrow, we do not see such comic defending, then we are truly on the bend. But leopards are not known to change their spots too quickly, or do they Cicero?
As for those who talk about Newscastle or other smaller teams getting good results against City, common, please check their defensive records.
Great result for England against Ireland 22 – 32. If England can get a result like that , Arsenal can do the same against City.
Have faith Daniel! 😉
Rico, as for your comments about offloading some players and trimming the wage bill, we are surely in a trap. With the amounts these players are getting and their seeming surplus status, who will buy them? Jenkinson, Ozil, Elneny etc? They will rather stay, train and run their contracts down. All these, while we are still waiting to offload them. Gazidis and Co certainly do have questions to answer.
I know Daniel, we’ve been saying that for a while on here. Selling them might not be a problem but their salary probably will be..
I watched too Cicero, great game.
I must admit Rico, I wasn’t expecting that…..and nor were Ireland.
I’m onto the cricket now. I’d just love to be there, not for the cricket, just to sit on those beaches in the sun. It’s snowing outside right now.
Me neither Cicero. Nor tomorrow either… lol
Shame about the cricket…
Evening all and thanks Rico.
I see nothing at all in Young Kroenke`s words to suggest him or his dad will invest any money, they have another “soccer” team who are the poor relations to the LA Rams !…………………………LA Rams are Kroenkes be all and end all and if at anytime Kroenke despeartely needs some money due to the enormous over cost of Rams stadium, then Arsenal will be financially raped !
As for the snow in Cornwall and the “idiots” on the roads, well another myth !…………………….my daughter and 3 of my friends were stuck on the A30 around Bodmin Moor , all being there from around 3pm and not getting home `till 1am the next morning. It was raining when my daughter left St Austell to get home and within minutes it started to snow and like everyone else thought it was to wet to settle, but the heavyness of the snow settled !…………………….the hundreds of cars that got stuck were already driving on the A30, not going out to drive in it, it caught everyone out !……………………..the idiots who have the luxury of computers etc` to keep an eye on the weather forecasts at Cornwall Councill and send out the gritters should get sacked !………………..none of the poor stranded motorists had the luxury of watching weather maps, they were all trying to get somewhere !
The gritters werer out the next day(Friday)……………………..the horse had already bolted comes to mind !
https://amp.si.com/soccer/2019/02/01/super-bowl-53-kraft-kroenke-owners-patriots-rams-mls-revolution-rapids-arsenal
http://youaremyarsenal.com/transfer-news-arsenal-denis-suarez/
New post up.