Morning all.
After Unai Emery had held his press conference yesterday, I was seriously cheesed off. Miffed too because the club has done so much behind the scenes to improve us, to not back Emery financially this month showed a huge lack of ambition.
Then I read this article. http://youaremyarsenal.com/arsenal-stan-kroenke-analysis-stats/
Firstly I wondered if the article was indeed factual and I’ve no idea if it is as I didn’t write it, nor do I know the person who did but reading through, it certainly made so much sense. No hysteria, no agenda, just logic.
Whatever you or I think of the Kroenke family, all the changes that have taken place off the football pitch, he must have approved. It’s unlikely he was hands on as far as the personnel selected goes, instead putting his trust in those who were. Josh Kroenke said as much last year.
Rumours suggest that next to join the club are two old boys. Jose Antonio Reyes and Eduardo Cesar Daude Gaspar, better known as simply Edu to you and I.
Going back to the article and what Unai Emery confirmed yesterday during his press conference, the best we fans can expect this month is loan signings. Not great I know but it is what it is and we as a club are where we are now as far as the squad goes because of the past and those responsible for player signings, sales and wages paid.
The club have clearly decided that this has to stop. The Aaron Ramsey situation shows us that. It’s far from ideal, him leaving for free, but it would be worse to give him a pay rise and be stuck with another player who isn’t doing an awful lot on the pitch. Not consistently anyway. We’ve got enough of those, too many in my opinion.
Kev made a very good point yesterday about Stan Kroenke. He’s now our sole owner and it’s his head on the chopping block if the fans turn. It’s his ‘toy’ which will break if he doesn’t look after it properly. It’s his shares which will decrease in value if he allows Arsenal to become a mid-table club. His reputation on the line.
Unai Emery’s honesty yesterday was refreshing. No empty promises, no spin. He told us what to expect and in the process, cleared himself of any blame for what happens during this transfer window. His hands are financially tied, for a few months anyway. The summer could be a very different story as more players are expected to leave, their hefty wage packet removed from the Arsenal books. Adidas.
I can’t speak for every Arsenal fan and a true reflection of feelings can’t be found on the internet either as the numbers who bash a keyboard daily represent a small percentage of the Arsenal fan base, but this loan situation is just another cross to bear for the time being.
The bigger picture is more important than a quick fix. Not that is seems a quick fix is possible even if Kroenke wanted to drop a few hundred million into the pockets of the board for players. With all the changes put in place behind the scenes, the future appears to be what the club are thinking about.
As for the present, well I guess a return to Champions League football is the priority.
Anything more would be a bonus.
Morning Rico. Excellent article. Very measured. 😊
Morning Adam, you mean the link. 😆
Morning all. Interesting article Rico. It begs an awful lot of questions, not that will be given any real answers, but we can all speculate, can’t we?
The youaremyarsenal article explores all the scenarios that the club are subject to. It may be goes a long way in ‘explaining’ why Gazidis left, probably he was the ‘scape goat’ for signing off all the over generous contracts and the employment of some squad members who were clearly not good enough. The acceptance that not achieving a CL berth would ‘not be detrimental’ to the club’s finances, as good old Arsene asserted so boldly! He was wrong, wasn’t he.
I suspect young Josh found when he came avisiting last year that the back room staff were no longer fit for purpose and neither was our aging Manager. The only solution was to have a clear out. A proper spring clean, both behind the scenes and also of the playing staff. Ramsey is the most high profile casualty and Ozil will follow him out of the door. Also I think ‘project youth’ has been/ is in the process of being a far more viable proposition. Why would the club spend massive amounts of cash for expensive, sorry, over expensive imports and like Ozil,a be forced to pay astronomical amounts in terms of weekly wages? When sitting not far off and being paid minuscule amounts, comparatively, to our young very talented youngsters? It’s a Micawber situation, “earn £1.00 and spend 19/11, and have a penny over = deep joy, however, earn £1,00 and spend £1/01 = deep unhappiness!” Creating debt more or less! Just for the sake of it and especially if the incoming players are not as good as they are perceived to be or don’t settle, or even unsettle the squad in greater quantity than they offer in progress to the club, then, like Ozil they are seen as expensive toys that don’t fit the profile.
Loaning players may prove to be a good thing if there are short term fixes of personnel that have to be made, a CB perhaps. In the meantime the club may have bought a bit of time to search for and find suitable replacements for Kos or whomsoever, in the summer.
I guess that we shall probably not see any increase in our staffing this transfer window, in the interests of austerity!
We have a brightening sky here, a bit of blue! And, it’s not too cold either. Spring is coming, hurrah!
Rico. No. It was your words of wisdom. 😃
Wavy, I thought it all made sense. Too much sense to be ignored perhaps.
I think similar to the visit of Josh. After all, things seemed to get going after his visit. Maybe that was the purpose of his visit, who knows.
I think the summer transfer window will answer far more questions than can be answered right now.
What I really liked was Emery being open.
😂 Adam.
Morning all,
Why is it left to the manager to advise us all of the clubs financial situation?
Seems most managers are out complaining about not having enough money to spend, yet Wenger and now Emery have had to give us the news and defend it.
Where’s the leadership?
Has he had to? he’s just explained that we’ll only be signing players on loan.
I don’t think any other club owners talk finances in public and we are no different.
Rico, I Never suggested the owner should, but surely it shouldn’t be down to the manager.
It would seem to indicate that Kroenke is more concerned with the glamour of opening new stadiums rather than ensuring that his teams are competitive on the pitch first things first.
A comment from an American football blog. Stan has taken a loan to pay for his flagship L.A stadium , retail mall, entertainment area and hotel.
The bit that’s missing is investing in his teams.
Denver Nuggets 9th out of 15
Colorado Avalanche 7th out of 17
Colorado Mammoth no league table but played 2 lost 2 so far
Colorado Rapids 10th out of 11
Not good reading !
Scott, he’s not discussed finances has he?
In any case, Raul spoke to the BBC about our situation just a month or so ago. You must have missed that. Couldn’t get any higher placed guy talking about the club unless you want Kroenke to explain things.
Is it fair to compare the PL to his toys in the US though?
Rico, so telling us we will only be getting loans in, no purchases, isn’t discussing finances?
No Scott, not really. If I told you I wasn’t going to buy a box of biscuits, but instead ate one of yours, it won’t tell you how I run my bank account.
Rico, as I don’t have the BBC on tap here, I just had a little peek.
This is part of an interview I found-I’m not sure it’s the interview you speak of-and it makes for interesting reading.
“We last saw them [Kroenke and son Josh] two weeks ago and they are very, very clear – they are 100% committed to this club and want to get the club back in the Champions League, back competing for Premier League and competing to win the Champions League,” Venkatesham said”
Now, saying they’re committed and being committed are two very different things.
How the hell do these guys think we can win a CL if they’re not prepared to put a damn cent into the club???
They’re telling us what they think we want to hear, surely.
Rico, the biscuits tale would tell me you’re a tightarse so it would be speaking of your financials 🙂 🙂 🙂
Is it fair to compare the PL to his toys in the US though ?
In my opinion …..Yes . It shows a pattern. As long as the money flow is making profit why should he invest his own cash.
I also noticed that in the reports of the L.A Bowl finance , the loan taken out is in joint names with his wife , which suggests that Walmart probably have an inteest in the retail site along with Dicks Sporting Goods.
Trust the English prem to hinder their own teams with stricter rules than FFP plus add the fact they let the TV companies move fixtures closer together giving less time to recover before CL and EL games. No wonder English club rarely win the competitions.
Scott, I just think you need to accept the way the club is run, and as Kev pointed out yesterday, hows it’s always been run.
We can’t sign players right now because of the financial constraints we are under. Blokes like Ozil earning £350m a week is our problem. Not the way the club is moving forward imo.
Surely though Potter, to judge the two fairly we’d need to compare more than just the investment. What about the revenue the US teams bring in compared to the PL, sponsorship, tickets, etc etc.
Do his US clubs run on a self funded basis etc.
I’m not trying to defend kroenke as as I’ve said many times before I wish he’d sell up to someone far more ambitious but, as I said in the post, if the contents of the article enclosed is factual, we’re snookered right now because of the way the club was run before Wenger leaving.
Rico. It’s all going to prove very divisive I reckon and truth will, as always, be the first casualty.
Perhaps it needs a massive blow-up to happen. The fan base obviously feels very let-down.
The fall guy will probably be Emery Adam.
Saying that, we’ve still got to give him another summer at least I’d have thought.
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico, a very good post, pretty much putting it out there.
It’s all about FFP fellas, I feel like a record, you can all argue the toss but it’s FFP and how poorly our finances have been run over the last few years. It seems that the austerity brought on by the stadium became endemic among the management at the club and we’ve not shaken that off yet, also Man City and Chelsea have skewed everything, but you don’t see Man Utd, Liverpool or Tottenham copying their model so we’re in good company…
Great blog,right balance between realism and positivity.Emerys press conference was indeed depressing but this is Arsenal,we are special.Id like to see youngsters given more of a chance,its always been the Arsenal way,Medley,Willock,Saka,when available Smith-Rowe and Mavropanos.COYG !!!
You also have to remember the 25 man squad and that we can only carry 17 foreign players over 21…
So when you go on NewsNow and read the lies and make believe on Football.London, Metro, Express and all the other rabid misinformation sites, it’s simple, we aren’t signing 3, 4 or 5 foreigners because we can’t…
Next summer maybe, next summer Mavropanos will be over 21 so he’ll have to be included in our 17 or sold or loaned out?
All Emery was doing, and I don’t blame him, was distancing himself from all the fcuk ups that caused this before he arrived.
Personally after two years I’d be surprised if he wanted to stay!
Just been watching,Bayern play borussia dortmund who have a 19 year old centreback 6 foot 5 called Dan Axel Zagadou.
We want him just for the song.
Could well be Rico. The club needs a revolution every now and again. 😊
I did read, on a couple of reputable blogs, that the Italian media, when quoting players wages, tend to quote the Net, after tax, and that the Gross is usually closer to double that amount, so when we see stories about Ramsey signing a deal for £140k per week it’s probably closer to £280k per week…
That’s without the signing on fee, bonuses, loyalty bonus, appearance money, luncheon vouchers and the £9m his agent earned out of the deal…
Alright for some…
Afternoon Kev, thank you. You too Limey.
FFP seems to be being missed though Kev, yet it’s really causing us problems for all sorts or reasons.
Every twenty two years isn’t it Adam? Lol
Anyone would think Ramsey only wanted more money… pff.
Our FA Cup match v Utd is Friday 25th, 7-55 ko.
IMO the ‘you are my arsenal’ article is mostly correct and a good read. However a couple of days ago I read another article (and I’ve spent the last hour trying to find it and failing) which explained why the £7m a year SSTC can effectively be ignored due to the arrival of new commercial deals next year. In effect as we know the increases in revenue are agreed we can mitigate our £7m against them and spend more. If we wanted to that is.
As for the title about blaming Kroenke, i think several people take large portions of blame for our current situation. However where we are now has followed a convoluted path over many years so many people share a portion of the blame. Ii’d probably take about an hour to type out.
Kroenke is high on the list, but iMO doesn’t top it.
Morning all.
Hobart, whoever brought Stan to the club is top of my list 🙂
Ramsey is just another case of a player who, in the eyes of plenty of
Fans, is not good enough for the Arsenal, but being good enough for Juve, Germany, France etc etc etc
Hobart, you’re right. Over the last few years a number of people have let themselves, the club and especially the fans down. A number of really bad transfers and contracts have taken place.
Allegri has been quoted as saying he has five top midfielders and doesn’t need Ramsey.
Rico, gotta live the media.
They reported yesterday Allegri is a massive fan of Rambo lol
Love……not live.
Ah, but this was a quote Scott. Lol
The latest just in-Ramsey has been offered to Barca as a swap for Denis Suarez.
Sit back, grab the popcorn and enjoy the show lol
That was inevitable..
Yep, the clubs dealings remain an ongoing saga.
Costa to United in exchange for Pogba
Who reported that rumour about a Ramsey/Suarez swap, was it in the Daily Cannon? 😴😴😴
A mate posted on FB but didn’t name the source.
We have to love TW’s lol
Evening all and thanks Rico.
Yes that link is good reading and makes a lot of sense……………………..but !………………………why is it we seem to always blame FFP and adhere to it when others dont ?…………………………..we might always win the moral war and pat ourselves on the back whilst looking down at CFG for their crimes against FFP, but the evil CFG look down on us whilst polishing their trophies !…………………………..I`d rather be the evil trophy polisher than be a smug goodie goodie .
Spot on Scott !……………………as I`ve said for years, what idiot brought in Kroenke……………………Dein wasn`t it ?………………..Dein`s fault why we are in this predicament, if he would have had any vision he should have been over in the middle east looking for the Mansours !………………………I`m sure they would have prefered London to Manchester !
Yes it aint ever going to change, but it doesn`t mean I have to like it and will complain about it until I die…………………….or even better Kroenke kicks the bucket !
Aparrently according to The Orn`…………………………if Ramsey didn`t/doesn`t go abroad, he would prefer Bindippers !
Bloody hell, Ramsey to that mob would be the final nail in the coffin lol
New post up now