Morning all.
The boys at the top of the club spoke to the BBC yesterday, most of which was pretty positive. Questions were put to both Arsenal’s Head of Football Raul Sanllehi, and Managing Director, Vinai Venkatesham.
Here’s the crux of it.
The upcoming transfer window was mentioned and whether or not Arsenal will be dipping into it. Sanllehi gave little away but isn’t a fan of the winter window, however, don’t rule out anything. We have a big team out there looking at players. I got the impression that if Unai Emery needs an additional player or two, he’ll get him/them.
Aaron Ramsey’s name popped up and again. Nothing new to report other than the club will do what’s good and right for the club. Are we in a better place than last season? We’re heading in the right direction was the answer which to be fair, seems to be the case right now. Our winning streak is good, but stay calm and keep supporting Arsenal through the ups and downs was the general message.
We’re a work in progress but don’t be fooled, Arsenal have their eye on winning the League too. Why wouldn’t they? Aim for the top and see where it takes us is my thought. Same with the Cups.
Top four would be great as returning to and challenging for the Champions League is one of the clubs targets.
Other stuff like finances, decision making and Ivan Gazidis were mentioned but neither were giving much away, certainly about the financial situation. Any major decisions will be made after plenty of discussions and in relation to any changes to be made since the departure of Gazidis, well there will be some. Those changes though will be made in order to push the club forward and become better.
The main topic, or rather the one which I suspect many fans would like to know the answer to surrounded Stan Kroenke. Will he ever invest his own money into the club or on players?
“We have a self-sustaining business model at this club. That means all the investments we make on the pitch are funded by the revenues we generate off the pitch.” Venkatesham told the Beeb.
“And we’re really confident we can be successful with this model. The ambition we have for this club is completely possible to be achieved in the business model that we’ve got.”
So there you have it. As Peter Hill-Wood once said, ‘We don’t need his money” or something similar but perhaps not quite as politely. When it comes to signing players, we’re not getting it!
Venkatesham went on to reassure fans that our club isn’t a hobby or toy for the American. Both he and Sanllehi caught up with Kroenke and son just a few weeks ago in Los Angeles. It’s alright for some eh? They made it clear that they want the club to be competitive in both Europe and England. They’re 100% committed to getting us there too. We the fans are important to them both too, in fact everything about the club is important to them. They want Arsenal to be a successful club, on the pitch that is and Venkatesham reassured us that this isn’t just a case of saying all the right things. They mean it.
As I said at the beginning, what’s coming out from the club is positive, as long as it does prove to be real. But don’t go expecting any £100m plus kind of signings because that’s clearly not going to happen. Personally, that doesn’t bother me, not one bit.
The club has its own model and they’re going to stick with it. If and when Arsenal FC win the Premier League and/or the Champions League, maybe then they’ll be admired for doing so too.
Good morning Rico, I like the idea of a bit of openness, a bit of reality. The word is “don’t expect any Kroenke money to be available for fripperies like marquee signings”.
Gotta go, busy day, more walking, Blickling Park today.
Morning Rico and all. An interesting and different interview from the men at the top.
Morning Cicero, Adam and all.
Yes, there didn’t seem to be any spin to it, just honesty. Certainly no promises other than taking the club forward.
Hi Rico, thanks for pointing me at the interview. Like you I was impressed with what they said, and that they actually gave an interview – we mever had anything from Gazides except flat press releases.
We don’t want to have hugh amounts of cash poured into the club, and don’t need it. The double-glazing salesmen actually take millions out of Man U and they can still waste 100 million on Pogba. I don’t think Unai would ever go for one like that after his experience with Neymar at PSG. Big money just brings big heads.
I’ve been impressed with Unai’s player management so far, but next week will be the real test. If he comes through the next three games by careful rotation I will start to get really excited. If hd can manage the Christmas period and avoid the traditional February slump . . .
Perhaps my optimiism is getting the better of me again!
Keep up the great work with HH
Brian
good morning
who travel to lisbon next thursday?
Hi Brian. Good comment, probably because I agree. This next group of games will tell us a lot.
No idea Jm, far too early to think of that match.
Good post Rico…
The main difference between Liverpool and Arsenal is the business that Liverpool managed when selling players. They were proactive and had their players under contract, whom they sold for decent sums and reinvested in a new goalkeeper and centre half etc. Klopp has done some good business but I haven’t seen Fenway throwing copious amounts of cash at them to spend, they spend what they earn.
Arsenal do the same, the major difference was the inertia under Wenger and contracts not dealt with resulting in the Alexis, Ozil, Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere shambles and a lack of transfer income from sales.
Thankfully that’s a thing of the past, but Kroenke isn’t going to throw money at the club for transfers, or agent fees.
It’ll take time but we don’t need to spend zillions on big time signings, Liverpool have shown us how it can be done and Atletico etc, also why bang on about war chests, it just increases the demands of selling clubs and agents, we just need to be smarter in the transfer market and if a few Twitterers get upset, then so be it, jog on….
Thanks Kev. Spot on re transfer fees and contracts. We as a club have been far to soft and allowed players to dictate their future. Walcott being the worst probably and then Alexis. We should never have let that £60m slip through our hands nor should we be paying Ozil what he earns.
Still, a# you say, it’s a thing of the past now and tying down Elneny and Xhaka confirms that imo. Same with Nelson. If they’re going, they will do so for a fee.
Reid Nelson scored another couple of goals today..
And Chambers as well as our promising youngsters Rico, it’s safeguarding their value, that’s all, it doesn’t mean that Emery thinks they’re the future, hopefully that rubbish won’t reoccur.
Yep, Nelson is coming along nicely in the Bundesliga, maybe we could loan Hoffenheim a couple more youngsters?
Chelsea 2 – 2 Man U. Good result for Arsenal. Mourinho could begin trouble again after reacting to something one of Chesea’s staff made a comment to him as Chesea equalised. Mourinho had to be restrained by stewards. The beautiful game exhibits it’s darker side again. 😉
Agree Kev. This kind of thing should have been done long before now. Really shoddy stuff.
Seems to be a good fit for Nelson and we’re certainly going benefit in the long run..
Evening all and thanks Rico.
I too am surprised that RS and VV even gave an interview now that The Monster Kroenkenstein owns all the club…….same old spiel though that they could be Gazidis in disguise.
I could see the point of view from Kroenkenstein not investing any money when he was “only” a majority shareholder as why should he invest when there was another big shareholder, but now he owns the club outright he has no more excuses, well apart from the old tiresome one that the club runs as a self sufficient company, yes it looks great morally, but it aint going to win the league or CL untill we play alongside the big boys………………..ManU are run self sufficient, but they are the anomaly of mega juggernault cash cow because of being the worlds biggest club, they will return when Moronho goes…………………Chavs are self sufficient nowadays and so are Dippers, but the CFGG are on another planet, not sure how they get around FFP with an owner who is poorer than our owner, maybe he is the front for the rest of his Zillionaire family, but what ever, they pay the big bucks and get the trophies.
The last sentence of if and when we win CL or EPL in my eyes is never !………it wont happen without investment or we do a “Leicester” !
On a more possitive note …………………………… 🙂
https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/1053698408349876227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1053698408349876227&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmetro.co.uk%2F2018%2F10%2F20%2Farsenal-fans-demand-reiss-nelson-is-recalled-after-brace-for-hoffenheim-8058683%2F
PS…………………..so pissed off the scummy bastards won ! 🙁
New post up now..