Morning all.
I don’t know where the ‘Arteta to Barcelona’ story came from but in my opinion, it’s ridiculous for two reasons. Firstly, why would any manager want to move to Barcelona these days? Today’s Barcelona is not the same club it was ten years ago, five even. Not in my opinion anyway.
Over the weekend the club was dragged into the media headlines. The BBC reported that Catalan police had made four arrests after searching the offices of Spanish side Barcelona. The identity of those four is yet to be confirmed. Financial issues are reported (by the Beeb) to be under investigation which relate to the ‘Barcagate’ scandal in 2020 when the club denied hiring a firm to attack their own players on social media. Whatever is going on, it doesn’t look good.
Secondly, even if Barcelona was a club still in its prime and winning trophies, why on earth would they entertain signing a manager who is so young in his career. To manage the kind of egos the Barcelona dressing room is usually full of, a manager with vast experience would surely be required. A manager who has proved himself time and time again and not a novice who’d be looked down on from day one.
Mikel Arteta isn’t stupid I’m sure. At Arsenal he could become a well respected and perhaps one day, a successful manager but at Barcelona he’d become just another ‘sacked’ statistic. One only has to look at Arsenal pre Christmas to see how bad apples can have a detrimental impact on a squad. He doesn’t need that again, not when he’s just starting out.
Another crazy discussion he was brought into related to who’s the best Premier League team ever, or rather, is Man City the best ever. Honestly, I think the early Arsene Wenger teams would beat this current City side and with ease.
With the maturity that they’ve shown and the way the team has evolved in recent years, I would say that in this moment it’s the best. To say they’re the best ever means they have to win everything like that team did a few years ago when they won the four (I think he meant three) domestic competitions. If you add to that the Champions League, then there is no question because nobody’s done it.
Just a year ago, people were talking about Liverpool being the best, before then it’s been City, Utd and of course, Arsenal long before but the reality is, it’s impossible to say which team has, is, or will be the best ever Premier League team because the great of today don’t get to play the great of yesterday.
City are good, the best at this time but in my opinion, it’s hard to tell if they are very good or the rest are simply not as good. I certainly lean towards the latter.
See you in the comments.
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Glad you’re back, Rico! Tried all day long yesterday to get on here – wasn’t having any of it!!
Barca really are in trouble… MA will be staying put, unless of course Burnley do the double over us tomorrow, we crash out of Europe and the spuds then go on and do the double over us also…. *cold sweat* haha only kidding!!
Speaking of teams in trouble:
Missing persons report:
Name – Thiago Alcantara
Age – 29
Nationality – Spanish
Last seen – Playing for Bayern Munich
If you see him, please report to Anfield.
😂😂
Teams will be queuing up to play at Anfield!!!
Glad to be back Sue.
Liverpool are really going through a bad patch aren’t they. Right now I think Klopp is more likely to be sacked than Mikel. Lol
Just hope they’re in the same kind of form when the come to The Emirates.
Morning, and good to be back.
Arteta is a strong character, and very diplomatic and he answered that question brilliantly imo
He has a board who’s backing him, and has nothing to gain to Barca as it’s an absolute mess.
Me too, Rico! Nothing more satisfying than sending them on their way with nowt!! 🙂
Morning All,
Welcome back Rico.
Yeah hands off Arteta,I can see him moving to Barcelona eventually,not for a few years hopefully.At least if they want him it means that he’s been successful at Arsenal.
I decided to try to get in to HH via the link on newsnow – wow a constant stream of Arsenal stories,mostly made up ?
Good morning all, in their annual financial report Barcelona show a debt of £1.1 billion. Yes one point one BILLION pounds. Whatever happened to Financial Fair Play? Nobody in their right mind would consider joining a club in such a mess, I think Arteta will pass up any offers from the Nou Camp.
Fingers crossed Sue. A good run for Arsenal might at least secure Europa for next season. I think it’s a good tournament for the squad.
Thanks Limey. It’s incredible how just in the last year, new Arsenal blogs have been created. As you say though, some of the headlines are really misleading. I don’t bother clicking on them anymore.
Aren’t Man Utd in a similar amount of debt Cicero? I might be wrong on that, before you tell me I am. Lol
According to the Athletic October 2020 :- It is hard to look beyond United’s debt growing from £270.5 million to £474.1 million.
But there has also been a £23.2 million loss, compared to a £18.9 million profit in the 2018-19 season.
And revenue has also fallen by 19 per cent to £509 million.
Then came the pandemic.
Hi Rico and all Thanks for the link as nothing was working yesterday.
I can not see Arteta quitting At the moment with the board backing him and the way a lot of the big clubs world wide are going Arteta what be silly to just quit Arsenal wright now,
Morning all.
I don’t think that the Arsenal are in a wonderful financial position at present. The state of football finances is dire, I believe. When we have to lay off a shed load of ancillary staff, rid the squad of several high profile mis fit players, cut the scouts right out of the fabric of the club. All these things may of course cut the wage bill and other outgoings. It perhaps pares down the debit column but none the less we’re still in ‘queer street’! ( can I say that?)
Still we’re probably better placed than many other clubs. Should be grateful, I suppose.
The sun’s out here, first time in weeks. Roll on summer!
Any idea what Arsenal’s is Potter
Hi Geoff.
I am just feeling funny this morning , I woke up and thought that I may have had a stroke in the night . My balance was totally off and I could not focus on anything . Then I scratched an itch by my eye and realised that the lens had fallen out of my glasses.
Will look la\ter when I have fixed them
The whole of football is currently on its arse financially. Only those with *cough* external revenues and large credit facilities will have significant funds for the next few years.
It’s a problem for us as we are in a state of rebuild and a large chunk of that would normally have included selling off players to fund it. I think a chunk of our last window or two with the loans and releases has been a knock on from that.
We still need to do some selling and in particular with lots of discussions around Bellerin going to Barcelona we need to work out how much they can offer and if we are willing to take any players in exchange.
Rico, I thought you’d deserted us, run off with AFTV, good to have back, but…. Is that Thursdays post? 😉
Waste not want not… 😄
Hobart, we have put a hell of a dent in our wage bill though.
That’s a big positive.
According to the Athletic latest, 2 hours ago, Man.Us debt is £455 million. Pocket change when compared to Barcelona and Real Madrid who’s latest accounts (January 31st 2021) admit debt of €901 million.
Sorry Rico. 😉
Wavy I can think of quite a few Arsenal blogs run by leftie woke types which would be outraged at a term like Queer St, mainly because they’re millennial types.
When I was a kid feeling queer meant that you didn’t feel well, it didn’t have any other connotations than that and that’s probably where that term came from.
Use it now Wavy and all our leftie woke comrades would cancel you, that’s how sick our society is becoming.
I shall now get off of my soap box 🙂
Good Morning Rico and the House
Wellcome Back Rico You have been missed.
Back later
😂 Kev and yes, it is.
Afternoon Rick, it’s good to be back. I think 😉
I was only 50% wrong Cicero. 😉
But that’s still 50% right Rico.😉
A few facts that are interesting but doesn’t cover The Arsenal at least not in the top 10 apparently .
Our position is skewed by the debt we have to KSE and future payouts against the bonds we issued for the Highbury North bank and latterly the Emirates . Since Kroenke took over we have not posted results , so our debt seems to remain a mystery.
The top ten clubs as far as debt is concerned was as follows:
Premier League Club Debt Table 2021
Position Club Net Debt
1 Chelsea £1.3 billion
2 Tottenham Hotspur £534 million
3 Newcastle United £384 million
4 Brighton and Hove Albion £279 million
5 Manchester United £204 million
6 Liverpool £157 million
7 Wolverhampton Wanderers £103 million
8 Watford £97 million
9 Bournemouth £90 million
10 Leicester City £80 million
Taken from https://sqaf.club/premier-league-clubs-debt/
But these figures do not bear out the figures given by the Athletic. It’s like the government believe what you like because different accountants see things differently.
Ahhh found you at last. I thought that this was one of the effects of Brexit….that I cant access HH.
Seems you were playing hide and seek.
Good afternoon Rico and all
Man Utd had to borrow over 60 million because of increasing debt https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/05/manchester-united-fiscal-results-debt-covid-pandemic
The u23 have just started against Soton.
Nelson starts again and Azeez is Back
Balogun is a sub
Afternoon Devil, Rick.
That sounds better Cicero.
How come Arsenal’s debt isn’t public knowledge?
Moller scores Pen to make it 1-0
The first goal in 4 gamese
Taylor Hart makes it 2-0
Spooky.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/financial-results-published
Handball rule changed as football’s law makers Ifab confirms new accidental ruling. Offside law clarified.
Accidental handball leading to a goal-scoring chance or goal for a team-mate will no longer be penalised, say football’s law makers.
Ifab confirmed the change on Friday, saying it was because of the “interpretation of handball incidents” not being applied consistently.
Fulham’s loss to Tottenham on Thursday saw Josh Maja’s goal controversially ruled out for an accidental handball.
The change is likely to be introduced in England from 1 July.
The International Football Association Board had tightened handball laws for the start of the 2020-21 season.
However, a spate of handball decisions led to fierce criticism across the game and saw English top-flight referees ordered to be less strict about their interpretations of the law.
Premier League officials were told to particularly focus on the distance an offending player is from the ball and whether he has extended his arm outside the natural body line.
In a statement, Ifab said “incorrect applications of the law” made the change necessary but “it will remain an offence if a player scores accidentally with their hand or arm, or uses their hand or arm directly before scoring”.
The body also clarified its interpretation of the offside law, saying the definition for handball, whereby the arm ends at the bottom of the armpit, must be used when judging whether a player is offside or not.
Chelsea’s Timo Werner was denied a goal against Liverpool on Thursday night when VAR ruled the position of his arm made him offside in the build-up.
I get the impression that Ifab are making it up as they go.
Finished 2-2
Thanks for your support Kev. I’m currently digging a moat around my home to keep out the woke police! And now you’ve jumped off your soap box I am happy to use it in future in order to repel all new order pedants and we’ll intentioned but absurd word warriors!
New word order pedants, that should read.
There you go Rico, page 17 is the most informative, but you’d need to be a qualified accountant to make head or tail of it.
The new handball rule makes sense. Can’t believe I’ve just said that. Lol
What happened Rick, a defensive meltdown?
Cicero, if I start reading the full report, I’ll miss tomorrow’s match… lol
Rico, that’s precisely the reaction these private corporations expect, they purposely bury the the important information in pages of gobbledygook.
I’ll look forward to reading your next post in early April, after you’ve translated all that info. 😉
Haha Cicero, the 1st by any chance?
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Wavy, the party led by Harold Wilson doesn’t exist anymore, it’s why the red wall crumbled, the SJW’s aren’t interested in what the old working class wants and needs, they hate the old style working class, these ‘progressives’ have about as much in common with the working class as they do with the CBI. Good night all…
Kev, it’s EXACTLY the same here in Oz.
Our Labor party was always for the working class, now it’s been taken over by the Left and they genuinely can not see why they’ve become a mess!
Incredible stuff.
New post up now.
https://highbury-house.com/2021/03/06/turf-moor-arsenals-happy-place/