Well, are you??
Bored with reading about the players we are linked to?
The players who are supposed to be leaving?
The lack of activity in the current Transfer Window?
Reading that we lost out to X, Y and Z?
Yep, so am I – but talking about who we are linked with, the latest is 6′ 5″ Liverpool fan and defender Scott Dann.We are supposed to be in a two-way battle for his signature with King Kenny…
That’s another one gone then 😉
Reports are that this will be the week, the week we finally announced three class signings, watch this space!
Yesterday we all must have read the comments made by the Big Russian has supposed to have spoken about what is going on at our club. The News of The World printed a so-called interview with Alisher Usmanov who is the second largest share holder in OUR club
If the role of a board member is to oversee a trophyless period, while making significant personal profits and asking fans to pay inflation-busting ticket price increases then, no, I would not want to be on the board.
If instead it is to try to deliver sustained success, to increase your personal investment in the club, to help develop the commercial position and to ensure the fans have a say in the running of the club then, yes, I think I certainly have something to contribute.
In terms of doing things differently, let me give you a very clear example. Arsenal has all of its major commercial contracts coming up for renewal in the next couple of years.
It’s no secret that to maximise the value of those you want to have success on the field and be winning trophies. To do that you need to invest now in building a winning team. This is simple commercial logic. Whether it comes to pass, we shall see.
There is a widely held view among most commentators – and one that I agree with – that the club needs to stiffen the defensive spine of the team, with a dominant keeper, strong centre-halves and a powerful defensive midfielder in the mould of Claude Makelele.
The Premier League is one of the most competitive in the world and whilst we have consistently challenged for honours, the club needs to develop talent and buy top-class players to win the trophies we all crave. This requires greater investment which, I believe, has been lacking thus far.
What however is not clear is whether the board shares this view. For too long they have seemed happy to sanction second, third and fourth as being acceptable, whilst at the same time they are planning to sell their shares.
The one bit of that which makes me believe in the Big Russian more than the current major share holder is he actually mentioned ‘The Fans’ – does he really care about what we all think?
Ok, he also talks about commercial contracts, making money etc but he does actually realise that in order to get all of that right, you need to have a team that’s winning!
I don’t doubt that Stan Kroenke is sat there thinking about making money, about getting the best commercial deals, the best advertising across the world, but, right now, is he thinking about getting the winning team to make all that real??
I don’t think so……..
The Big Guy from Russia isn’t going to go away and right now I’m not sure that we want him to either, he’s lurking, he has the money and in my own humble opinion, he’s ready to pounce – he’s made his comments, he’s made his feelings clear and all just before the AFC Board get together and have to answer a few tough questions from the fans …
Maybe it will give them the kick up the jacksie they need…
Yeah right 😉
Til tomorrow guys and gals……
New Post up
Morning Lee, it would indeed 🙂
morning, would of been a good post Rico!
Merlin, you should email me things like your last comment 😉
Morning all..
JM, i don’t think a Samba deal has been done… Yet 😉
Title: A good thing for Arsenal FC if Kroenke & Usmanov did a “Gillet & Hicks” to buy glories for Arsenal FC?
Both Kroenke and Usmanov are corporate predators, buying an undervalued and grossly-under developed, commercially, products that both of ’em can double their capital asset appreciation within 5 years due to growing global market, especially in Asia and Middle East.
Gazidis is nothing but a smooth talking “gecko” [check out at Wiki what is a gecko], a marketing man doing his master’s biddings to grow Arsenal FC commercial rights and to push merchandise sales such that within 5 years, it can match ManLeeds’ 100-mil per annum commercial empire.
To grow Arsenal FC commercially, there must be SUCCESSES on the pitch as everybody loves a winner and dumped a loser..like Arsenal FC.
Kroenke and Usmanov will do a “Gillet & Hicks” act during the initial 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of their regime by allocating obscene sum of capital for Arsene Wenger to invest in “experienced players” to buy glories on teh pitch.
E.g.
You notice that obscene amounts of money that Benitez spent during the GIllet & Hicks regime.
If Wenegr can’t deliver evne by Janaury 2012, i.e. off the pace in title challenge and out of CL CUp and CC CUp competition, then Kroenke and Usmanov will give Arsene Wenger a kick in the butts to “delive ror get out”.
Corporate Predator like Kroenke will always has a Plan “B” to protect their billion of dollars invested in Arsenal FC. And he (and usmanov as well) are just bidding their time like an alligator in a bayou, to turn nasty when their investments are beginning to turn bad under Arsene Wenegr’s continual blunders.
And it wouldn’t surprise moi that within 5 years, Kroenke and Usmanov may sell away Arsenal FC for US$2 to US$3-billion to an oil potentate – perhaps a Qatari to boost their country image for WC2022.
The only consolation isi that Kroenke and Usmanov will force Arsene Wenger to buy quality and experienced plalyers to strengthen the squad to win titles and silverwares in order to protect their investments, grow Arsenal commercial values and rapid increase in capital asset appreciation to have a “double your money” impact within 5 years.
Samba is gunner now ?
I’m outta here, Cheers Rico chat 2moro…………
I’m off for the day,
catch you all tomorrow
Be good…….
Agree WATH, it’s all just spin, yarn and more spin…
we’ll see soon just how much they want something better for afc, and i wont be holding my breath….
As said Rico potential really doesn’t do it for me, when its done is when it matters so best he go get things sorted cos not much there to really get the comfidence up.
Who are these ‘potential signings’ Ivan talks about I wonder…..
And then he dodges more questions…..
No, one word WATH, No, not today, not tomorrow and not…..
See you Will…
Cheers Will,
So why you not happy Rico, are you not blown away by all that info from Ivan…..?
I’m still not happy……
Let’s see but I don’t like the word “bidding”. It should be signing.
Ok Wath, I am off for a couple of hours.Have fun.
Will we’ve heard it all before mate year after year the last four years, we will buy etc etc etc and then what………. All hot air until I see action unfortunately, don’t talk about it Ivan go sign em or when you spoke to these so called potential signings did they tel you they were not interested in joining a team of also rans who are also gonna lose their best players…?
There are really strong rumours that Wenger will be bidding for three “quality” players. Notice the key word?
So basically Gazidis has done an hours Q&A and actually answered with nothing that ppl didnt know already….! Its a very clever skill to have Will and makes him look approachable and smooth and yet he’s said nothing. Insinuations and innuendoes………….
My dad taught me how to do it Watch, it is a good skill to have.
Gazidis says he has spoken to potential new signings already and expects to be busy. He is optimistic for the summer. Stay tuned….
It’s called answering without actually answering eh Will, the man is very good at avoidance…!
Yep, answers designed to placate the crowd.
Thats a laugh, who is wenger accountable too, so he’s basically answered that question with “Nobody”……..! says it all…!
Follow that twitter thing guys.
Don’t stick it in ur tea Rico………….
See it’s getting 2u now Steve……… a GG is on the way over mate, have a good 1….!
Even nudes won’t liven that lot up over at the concrete bowl………!
Wonder what spin gazidis will come out 2nite then…… he isn’t there to interfere with team matter we’re a sustainable business… wonder how many times he can preach those two comments to answer all his questions…! Maybe he’ll throw a sickie and go home after 5mins….!
http://twitter.com/#!/timpayton
Back in a bit, got a tree to cut down 😉
WATH,
I think the actual quote was ” no nudes is no good news”.
Very philosphical! 🙂
Be good Steve, see you soon 🙂
Thats me done,the news is just to much to handle Chat later.
W.A.T.H says:
June 13, 2011 at 6:47 pm
What idiot came up with “no news is good news” i think thats utter rubbish………..
😆 😆
I wouldn’t bet against both Cesc and Nasri staying…..
oliver – re the second string, if wenger buys the right 3/4 players to be playing first team, the 3/4 they replace will form part of that second eleven….
Start another bottle Wath you need to chill man
What idiot came up with “no news is good news” i think thats utter rubbish………..
Oliver………. Get off your *** and put that in a post it’s jibberish 🙂
RA, i did see Adams comment, and was a bit surprised that he didn’t think he could get the better of Wenger as far as coaching goes, pretty lame i thought that comment. Obviously not the man we need,
F all JM
I am looking forward to hearing about the meeting tonight.
hello
I see, not important news for the moment.
Wenger needs to be told that he needs help in this department, as this is holding Wengers teams back. He should ease back a bit and Manage the players and do the dealing and leave the defensive coaching to somebody that knows a lot more than him
You have a point there Steve, re the coaching.
But did you see Tony Adams saying that Georgie boy was a much better manager than Arsene because he organised and strictly monitored the training sessions. He went on to say that they hated George for all the pain he put them thru’, but it was that which made them such a formidable defense.
He says that AW does not go in for defence training too much because he thinks top players should know how to do this and have the skill to manage.
I’m afraid Mr Wenger and I disagree on this. Even the best sportsmen, be they athletes, tennis players, baseball players or golfers may be individually brilliant but have to work for many hours a day on their skills.
As Gary Player a world class golfer used to say, “the more I practise, the luckier I get”.
Pat rice although i have a lot of respect for him is not the man.Wenger needs to move him on i’m afraid
I know there is a limited pool of top rate players available in each transfer window, and presumably, as all clubs have good scouting systems, they would all know who these are.
It just seems to me, this last minute tapping up and snaffling of Arsenal targets is down to ferguson waiting to get the nod from Arsene as to which is the best to go for, but also there is a vindictive element in Ferguson wanting to spite Wenger to the extent he will buy a player(s) even if his club do not currently need him/them. (Smalling/Jones).
Both Ferdinand and Vidic have said they intend to stay with Utd until the end of their careers, and by my calculation 4 into 2 does not compute Mr Spock. (And that’s ignoring Evans and Shea.
Watch that space. Someone is going to be unhappy!
we differ on some of these points, rico. i think we need to sign players too, to strengthen the squad, but i see the second eleven as more of a priority (assuming at least one of cesc/samir stay onboard. and i am concerned by what i see as a massive overhyping of miyaichi – i see next season as (provided he gets a permit) the opportunity to bring him along slowly and gradually integrate him into the first squad, not rely upon him to provide depth immediately. similarly, i am not convinced the others are ready yet either. bartley and lansbury (if he commits) perhaps…frimpong could provide competition for song, although he is coming off a big injury. these are the areas where i think we should look to strengthen the squad, while trying bring the players you mentioned along….
i concede it is a difficult balancing act. signing players for depth may potentially block the way of some of the younger players. what it should do – in theory – is give the younger players the impetus to improve, supplant these players and breakthrough to the first team. i think that is something that has been lacking in recent seasons…
i probably need to get of my *** and put this together in a post…it does not look particlularly coherent at the moment.
Off to get my dinner, back in a bit….
I want to see a coach installed who doesn’t mollycoddle them shouts at them gives them the verbal and gets that spine we have been lacking Wenger treats these lads to easy, they need to be bullied into the player that is there, a good tough player coach who is on them all the time will instil belief in this winning team, when someone hits them they just want to hit back show other teams were there to win, the difference from winning and losing is the four inches between the ears get that right and trophy’s will start rolling in
What are you trying to suggest RA 😉 😉
RA, it does smell of something.
While speculating on future transfers, I have to confess that looking back at the past, there is a constant theme that bugs me.
Stam and Van Nistleroy were both heavily touted to be Arsenal bound, when out of the blue Red Nose signed them up. Later Stam was given the boot for admitting in his biography that he had been tapped up by Ferguson, and much the same happened with Horseface when he revealed how Red Schnoze went to see him in Holland.
Ronaldo admitted recently that he was within an inch of signing for us when Querioz (?) the Portuguese manager spoke to him on behalf of Manyoo. And we all know what happened to him.
More recently, the Brazilian Rafael twins also said they were about to sign for us until their mother changed their minds and made them sign for Manure. Their mother? Any chance she was tapped up too?
Last year we were all set to buy Smalling, allegedly he and his family were big Gunners fans, and Red Conk nipped in and bought him.
It is well known that Fat Sam when Blackbum manager told us to take a hike when we tried to sign Jones. This year, we were leading the pack to buy him when out of the blue, guess what, Ferguson nips in.
This, for a club who already had possibly the best CB pairing in Ferdinand and Vidic.
The only time we got the man we were after was when we bought Rambo, despite Manure first announcing they had bought him.
At the moment we are linked with Oxface Chamberlain, but again Ferguson has asked to be kept informed. what’s the betting he gets him too?
Is it just me, or is there something very smelly in the way those deals were done?
If Wenger was cute, he would put in a bid for the crappiest player ever. Let Ferguson know and watch him buy the guy.
What a weiner Ferguson is!!
Steve, we can not rely on kids.
Steve – and Denilson 😉
But that is all we are suggesting oliver – 3/4 signings, real team changing signings will make us twice as strong..
re the second eleven, i think they will be strong this time around – if the deadwood goes – we will have frimpong, coquelin, ryo, lansbury, bartley..
The striker situation worries me, worries me big time as RvP cannot be relied on to be fit for a season and after that, who do we really have??
Chamakh i think will be better and unless Theo plays through the middle, who is honestly going be that player to score 25 + goals….
Wath all i hear is that players do not want to stay, i havent heard anyone bar Nic say they want away, we are reading to much press, we will see Ryo and from what i have seen of him he looks promising, the tour will tell us if the lad has it or needs more time, i think the lad is gagging and i expect fireworks from him, Lansbury i am not sure of hopefully he proves me wrong, I am hoping i might just see enough of Frimpong to show me he is as good as i think he is, he must be on the verge of fitness by now, we have lots to look forward too, we have to give these guys a chance or we have been wasting our time. In my eyes a fit squad will be a winning squad its all about fitness.
Yeah we do have those kids but does anyone see the optimum word?
rico, i agree – and i think many of our problems are rooted in how arsene manages/mis-manages the squad. which leads to my contention that we don’t necessarily need a complete overhaul, just a few responsible additions/subtractions. i actually think our second eleven needs more investment than our first eleven.
far more important to me is what kind of accountability is implemented in the squad. several players have spoke openly about how the “show up and win” attitude for matches against the so-called “lesser teams” still pervades – this was a direct cause of many of our home losses and draws…surely the players who still carry that additude have been sussed out (by the other players) by now. this coming season, i am hoping that our senior players will deal with it forthrightly and quickly…i have my suspicions on just who some of those players are, and i think at least two of them will not be wearing the shirt next season…we’ll see on the others.
Steve,
You make such sense with your last comment but I still want to see the deadwood confirmed as gone, still want to see Cesc and Nasri stay – and most of all, I still want to see Arsene Wenger add what we need before I am convinced…….
Yes we have Bartley, Lansbury and Ryo – but you know what, I have a feeling Wenger will sell two of those before the close of the window…..
What we need Will is Vermy fit Cesc fit and nas fit Robin to see out a full season and Theo up front and a brick wall at the back.
SP, steady on with Ryo, he’s had a few decent months in Holland doesnt mean he’s going to be boy wonder, far to much media hype yet again making him out to be the next CR7 onto to shoot the kid to pieces if he has a crap first few months. If wenger wants to make them stay he most certainly can but whats the point in having players there who don’t wanna be there, if they don’t wanna play for the shirt let them go and if thats the case get as much as possible, our biggest problem is wenger, will he buys whats needed or is he gonna stay all stubborn and refuse to admit he’s been wrong and agree 100% the back room staff need a wake up call and changes also need to be made for sure thats all far to comfy there as well as to many on the pitch in their comfy zone.
oliver, it wasn’t just how it ended which annoyed me, it was the home matches we lost quite early on, the way we failed to turn up and against such sides as WBA, Newcastle, Sunderland and Totts…
Losing those started to chip at the confidence and we only cropped those points because the players thought it was all too easy, they didn’t learn from any one of those defeats, not one bit….
And I really don’t understand why they didn’t get a rcoket up their jacksie from wenger after the first loss…..
Spot on Steve. I just think we need three experienced heads and bang, we dominate.
Not wound up at all, just teaching 😉
To be quite honest i think every body is jumping the gun here, were all waiting for announcements that tells us we have entered the race, the race hasn’t started yet and Wenger is a known slow starter. Fabregas is under contract and going no where the same with Nasri if Wenger wants them two players to start and end the season with us they will, Frustrating yes but we have a bloody good team, with speculation that some of the deadwood is on its way out, Hopefully a couple of new youngsters, we have Bartley who can last a full game out with the Jocks which is no mean feat, Lansbury who every body is creaming over and the young Ryo we have a lot to look forward to now, Virmy back and Kosi wasn’t that bad in his first year, A defensive coach is what we need, drill them to defend and we’ll be away, anyone else comes in yippy.
Don’t get all wound up Will…………. 🙂 Edelman got us decent rates on the loans for the concrete bowl but he did pretty crap on the sponsorships and a few other things as well if you delve deep enough.
Look at the shirt deal alone. Man Utd got £14m that year while we got £6m. That is a disgrace and now, while we are stuck at £6m a year, Liverpool are getting £22m a year.
Hands up who still thinks we got a great deal.
I’d heard he was an Arsenal fan too WATH, why would he hang around now if he wasnt??
Surely, if he didn’t really care, he’d have just taken his money and invest elsewhere…
Like the mancs……
Will, thats good enough for me….
Steve, I would trust The Sun a lot less than that …. When it comes to AFC, I only kind of think ‘maybe thats true’ when its in the Daily Star…
it’s all relative, i think. i am certainly unhappy with how our season ended – make that the past few seasons. i am also unhappy with many things arsene has done during these past few seasons. and i am most definitely unhappy with an overly-chatty collection of players that wilt when they need to stand tall…nevertheless, i don’t think we are in a “nuclear winter” phase. i still think we are not that far away, that we have much (although not all) of what we need in the squad. we just need arsene to be a little tougher with the players and a little more pragmatic about how he utilizes them…
of course, whether he takes action or sits on his hands is another matter entirely…
I was told he’s Arsenal Rico but who know’s 100% for sure although as SP says if he wanted the mancs also pocket change.
Spot on Will the Emirates deal was crap as we bottled it, should of been 100million for each as we were short of cash at the time and Edelman jumped in two footed…! Very very poor deal.
Law, if a Sun reporter stopped to ask you the time and you had the cannon emblazoned across your chest they would print you were a spud, look at dopey diaby
Rico, just know that the Arsenal board were rubbish and bottled it.
I have to keep out of the sponser talk, i don’t know enough about it 🙁
I guess as a gooner i will always disagree on that oliver 😉
The accounts for the first time reveal a figure that has so far been a tightly-controlled Arsenal secret – how much did Emirates pay for the stadium naming rights?
Until now, Arsenal have only said that the airline’s £90m deal covered both shirt sponsorship and naming rights.
The accounts now reveal Emirates paid £42m for the naming rights, which given it was a 15-year deal works out at £2.8m a year. That is well below the £3.1m Arsenal make from each matchday at The Emirates.
This also means the eight-year shirt deal they negotiated works out at £6m a year.
In contrast, Manchester United’s shirt deal – renegotiated by the Glazers – brings in £14m a year.
So he’s not a Manc then WATH?
I did doubt it, after all, why not go and buy them out, he has the money??
sure…ours is marked by discontent and frustration over the final eleven weeks of our season. but we still have plenty of time to change aspects of the playing squad, formation, etc…season will start and we may or may not be considered title contenders – much of that will be dictated by our summer player transactions. but even if we wind up selling both cesc and nasri, and jenkinson turns out to be the extend of our summer transfer activity, i don’t think that afc stock will sink lower than lebron’s is at this moment…he is getting almost solely blamed for his team’s loss…
That is why I asked if the money paid was for the stadium as well as the shirt and how long were the deals for?
Sorry Law but i have to disagree, The sponsorship deals with emirates were crap even back then, within a week of them being announced the biz world said we should of got 100mil each for the stadium and the shirts NOT 100mil for both, Edelman panicked and wanted quick cash.
As for sponsors lining up to sponsor us when the current deals run out i doubt that very much just cos we’re Arsenal, we need to win things people want value for money we’re competing in a very competative market if our product is average big sponsors will pay to sponsor winners not also rans…!
As for the Uzbek being a manc you believe the Sun…? the times has since changed its tune with allegations against him as well. I don’t believe anything they write all I do know is what he saiid yesterday was pretty spot on. Seems the media are happy just to stir the shit when it comes to us.
You sure oliver 😉
let’s just say that lebron’s summer will be much more difficult than arsenal’s…
sorry rico, i am off on another sport…nba finals finished last night. lebron james…google him, and you probably won’t find much flattering about him at the moment.
Who is Lebron Oliver??
The Law, don’t know why but you keeping getting spammed, bear with me 😉
I’ll have a read of the articles, I didn’t realise he was a Manure fan….
Talking about sponsorships, wasn’t the £100m we got from Emirates for both shirt and naming rights and until 2014?
a piece of useless info for you according to Wikki
Scott Dann is actually 6′ 2″ – , – Gambon was right…. 🙂
Rico, here’s one source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article267191.ece
Here’s another: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article2577635.ece in which he says if he had the chance to buy Man U he would “stop acting like a fan of Arsenal”
And those two links came off a cursory google search.
lebron is getting absolutely killed over here…
we can talk about arsenal bottling the business end of the season, but it’s difficult for me to remember a bigger individual player who came up as small as he did with a title on the line…
regarding signings, the only news i have seen is that p. jones’ transfer from blackburn to united has been completed. i saw something about a “snag” over the weekend, but always thought that would be resolved…
i doubt we will have any signings announced today…
Where is the proof that Usamanov is a Manure fan??
The leader of the Qatar group looking to buy Manure is an Arsenal fan??
Maybe they should swap 😉
hiya rico…
welcome back, ra…
@Steve, if a player is in the last year of his deal, he can buy it out and go free. No problem with that, freedom of employment and all that.
What those complaing about our “poor” sponsorships are saying is that given the kinds of sponsorships handed out in recent years, we should break our deal with Emirates BEFORE they have achieved the full measure of their deal. That is quite simply dishonorable and AFC is not that classless. If we are to demand that others honour their contracts with us, then we too must honour our contracts with others. I cannot stress this often enough, but these sponsors got us out of a financial hole with a blindingly good deal at the time. To kick them aside now would be nothing short of the greedy behaviour we all agree is killing football.
And another thing, there is NO true Gooner anywhere in the world who would turn up his nose at a seat on the Arsenal board because we don’t win trophies. Offer any of us a seat and we’d bite your hand off for the chance to do our little bit for the club we love.
Usmanov is a Manure fan. You want a Manure fan within 100 miles of the boardroom of your club?
The Law,
I thought the same about Roman when he took on the Chavs, I was so sure he would be in it for himself and then sell up, making lots of money on the way – but to the surprise of most he has stayed and he seems to have really become a Chav Fan…
I don’t doubt the Big Russian hasn’t crossed one or two lines to make his money but then many a rich man/woman has…..
Hi oliver – hope all is good with you, long time and all that…..
Have we signed anyone 🙂
Or are the club going to be cheeky and tell all at the AST QA 🙂
Afternoon all
The Law, The C word is one of two things not premitted here on HH as we have many Ladies present, also, many Gents who don’t like that word either…
The second is not to abuse fellow bloggers
Otherwise, everyone is welcome 🙂
Sorry for being held up in moderation, I was out and about…..
The Law,
You make fair points, and undoubtedly Usmanov’s PR advisers have written that statement for him.
You sound surprised. Why? In this bad old world, men with billions in their back pockets did not get it by being nice.
Then again, he has a point. Fizman, Hill-Wood, Lady Bumpsadaisy and Dein were not averse to lining their pockets with hundreds of millions of pounds sterling, when they sold their shares. Wouldn’t you?
The Sheiks, Abramovich, Usmanov, Kroenke they are all different shades of the same thing. Either in it for the money or personal aggrandisement. So what’s new?
I agree with you about the current sponsorship deals. They were pretty essential at the time, but Arsenal now have a dedicated team who are working on the next tranche of sponsorship deals and they will be very juicy.
Good points The law you aint a ref are you.
For a start to put you in the picture the administrator has one rule and that is that the c word is not used.
I agree with you about the sponsorship we needed it at the time and as you said it was a blinding deal at the time, probably better because of the time it was in for, but again right in the other sponsors will be lining up if you make a deal that’s it.
As far as players contracts go if you sign for three years then it should be honered by both sides unless one party is not happy, and then it should go into arbitration and sorted out, if at any time one of the parties wants to change said contract ie lengthen it, as long as both parties agree fine, the rules state that if a player in his last year cannot agree terms of a new contract after his last yeay then he walks free everything is crystal, but fans sometimes believe that certain players are greedy and that is just human nature
Riiiight. The fat Uzbek Manure supporting c**t has his advisers visit some blogs and decides to launch a PR offensive using all the lovely soundbites hoovered up by his men.
The commercial deals are poor. Erm, when we signed them all those years ago, they were anything but. In fact, they were among the largest for their era, and we badly needed the cash to build our new home. The sharp increase in sponsorships since then has made ours look small, but at the time, it was practically unheard of for a football club to receive over £100 million to have a name on it’s jersey for a few years. I wonder if all the people yapping about how poor the deals are (compared to what happens today, which we happened to kickstart) ever consider the fact that Ashburton Grove would have been DOA without those deals.
In addition, we hear that X player wants to move and we scream, “Respect your bloody contract!” And then we say Arsenal should break it’s contract with sponsors who signed with us and allowed us to build a new home because suddenly we look across at our “neighbours” and we don’t like the fact that they’re getting more than we do. We don’t stop to think that all this whingeing about cash makes us as bad as Ashley “I nearly swerved off the road at £55k” Cole.
The fact of the matter is, by the time our current deals expire, we’ll have sponsors lining up to sign us, and offering us bucketloads more than what our rivals are getting. Why? Because this is Arsenal FC, one of the biggest and most famous clubs in the entire world.
Usmanov doesn’t want what’s best for Arsenal, he wants what’s best for Usmanov.
And as for all the shareholders castigating the board for “selling out” to Kroenke because they would never do that because they’re proper fans, then turning around and selling their shares to Usmanov for MORE than Kroenke was offering, well…
TL we want to hear your comments we can learn off of you just the same as anybody else, must have been an oversight , but if you have a good point i am sure you will get a good response.and if its a bad point i’ll still respond mate.
The Law,
When you go onto a WordPress site for the first time, you often go into moderation, until the administrator releases your comment.
Provided your comment does not contain any abusive or insulting language it should be OK. The site administrator does have a life of her own, and she may have been walking the dog etc when you originally posted.
Try re-posting your original comment now, and if it does not transgress the ‘house’ rules, see the top of the page, it should go thru’.
Although your ‘Chinese embassy’ comment is a bit near the knuckle.
The people on here are pure evil…
That my second comment has been posted immediately beggars belief. Why are my earlier words “awaiting moderation”, but what I had to say just now went straight on to the site?
I suppose the people in charge of this site are the first to charge up to the Chinese embassy chanting about human rights and freedom of speech. Ludicrous.
I made a comment hours ago, but I guess my refusal to tow the party line here means my views are not welcome.
Shame on you.
morning all…the uzbek has effectively been marginalized, so he is pandering to the fan base by playing the “lack of investment” card. he certainly has a point, but i would add that not all of our problems during recent seasons can be attributed directly to spending/not spending. the collective squad psyche is still too fragile, i am not convinced all our players really want to win, and many of our players are put in situations where their respective strengths are nullified…
i am not convinced by usmanov – nor am i convinced by kse, for the matter…but i am more wary of the former. surely nobody thinks his motives are purely altruisitc?
Will,
I would also have a committee that sat every two months to analyse the games played and work out who have improved and who has not, i believe that players need incentives to give their best, but wouldn’t want it to be money related until the end of the season ,Maybe closer car parking or first served for food anything that the player would want in front of the others, but at the end of the day money would be paid out for the best performers perhaps a bonus payment. There would be like a merit board on the wall of every bodies results so it is posted who is top and who is bottom, maybe an incentive to try harder after the season is finished and you are still at the bottom of the list you wouldn’t be looking for a new contract and more money would you.
I know your probably right Wath but i like to try and be optimistic
I would like an honest answer to ( Are we just a profit making business, or do we intend to actually win things.)
lol aint a hope in hell he’d answer that one Gambon, similar to seeing as he is CEO who exactly holds wenger responsible and accountable for our results and performances, if its not you Ivan what exactly do you do then and who is wenger accountable to ???
Again not a hope would he answer the above either.
Pity your not going GB i would have liked to have heard his answer
Here was my Q
———————————————————————————————-
# Ivan
In 2008/9 we conceded 37 goals, and Wenger rightly highlighted defence as the problem that needed fixing.
In 2009/10 we conceded 41 goals, which is clearly very poor, and Wenger again highlighted defence as the problem that needed fixing.
In 2010/11 we conceded 43 goals, which is truely appaling, and for the third year in a row, Wenger has highlighted that defence is the problem that needs to be fixed.
In 2009 Wenger said we were 2% away from winning trophies.
In 2011 Wenger said we were 5% away from winnijng trophies.
At what point does a £1.7m CEO realise we are not making any progress, and do something about this?
What question would you have asked Gb
Gazidis will just answer what he wants Gambon and swerve the difficult questions as a slimy politician would….!
even with experienced players like Fabregas he still froze a bit at Camp Neu he had never played there before
I did think about the pitch Will, but thought that it would hold out ok for two games a week and seeing how they train elsewhere it wouldn’t cut up that bad. i like the idea of the reserves getting used to a full house so when the time came it would not effect their performance
Hello all
Scott Dann isnt 6.5, no way, sky got that wrong.
Q&A tonight with Ivan the terrible CEO.
Pedro from LG is going, unfortunately he isnt asking the question I asked him to ask.
Itll probably just be a big love in.
Great ideas Steve, the only thing I would change from your ideas would be to build a small stadium for the under 16’s and above to play so I would keep the Ems pitch pristine.
Off out with the woofa while the rain has stopped 😉
Steve, I wouldn’t give anoyone a pay rise, they earn too much as it is, i’d wait until they had done as they are asked first and shown they got what our club needs….
Certainly like the idea of the reserves playing at The Emirates and a few open training days wouldn’t go a miss either – get back a bit of closeness with the fans, show they matter….
there would be lots of changes
Oh, and I’d get Pat7 in to sort out the nutrition 🙂
First job give everyone you want to keep a raise, buy the best defence you can get, i would keep Wenger but give him a healthy budget, i would want him to continue with our youth program but be more ruthless reduce the ticket price increase to 3%, i would keep a board and would welcome their input, and would ask them to put all idea’s into an understandable format so everybody can understand it and expect everybody to work together for these ideas to work, although i would be in overall charge i would still like the board to make decisions and only when they became stalemate would intervene, i would encourage the reserves to play at the Emirates for their home games and reduce the ticket prices by three quarters and free for under 14 as long as they had an adult with them. i would look to get the latest injury equipment that has been proved to work and change the way the players train. the players days would be full time and include all forms of training to help build stamina and strength, the afternoons would be for massage and spa treatments so an afternoon of golf would not happen i would try and instill into the players that the supporters who come to watch work full time and still manage to fit in rounds of golf and that would be upto them..Programs would include photos of all the players and would get the players to personally sign each one so every supporter would have a signed photo of every player at the club.
They sure would Lee, drunken ones aswell 🙂
Rico, they’d be lively old board meetings!!! 😉
My board would then consist of a few of you guys here – minimum wage of course 🙂
First off I would get rid of all existing at board level, i’d then get wenger in and give him an ultimatium….
once that was sorted i would get rid of all the crap, buy what we need and go from there….
I’d tell the board they were no longer required and thanks for their services and goodbye….!
I’d look at ways of putting ownership of the club into a board of trustees so that onone owned the club but it was run by “fans” and run properly and not for the benefit of any one person but to solely be successful and all profits put back into the club
Rico, after purchase.
Hi Lee….
Anywhere but The Emirates….
If i’d just bought Arsenal Will first things I’d do is call a board meeting and ALL heads of department.
Is that amount including or after the purchase Will?
Size Queen…………… 😛
Steve,
32″ for me too 😳
Remember that words are easy to come by, less so actions. If the Russian with his billions wanted to own and control Arsenal he could and should have made his move before now. He could have made a much superior share offer to Kroenke’s before the American got his majority. Lady Bracewell-Smith had her shares on the market for months before selling to Kroenke. Why didn’t he buy those, even at a premium?
He seems quite happy to be the ‘opposition’ without the responsibility of making difficult decisions. He was also a convicted fraudster in Russia (subsequently pardoned by Putin).
Read this and perhaps reconsider your views:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/12/the_convicted_c_2/
Morning WATH – a box to watch this shower…
Nah thanks 😉
When i use my chemical engineering background Wath and i still can’t warm her side up ha ha
Right guys, a little game. You are worth £15 billion and you have just bought Arsenal.
What do you do?
yeah pub for me next season….
Does it serve you booze SP…? 🙂
I’ve got a 32inch even cheaper
Morning SP, I wish i’d just got up mate would mean it was a weekend 😉
As said just buy a box, buying shares would be a total waste of time…!
Morning Wath, just got up mate.
Rico 605 million not including our debt, we are the third most expensive club in the world
You can buy a box for us all to watch the home games in comfort and style Rico 😉
I’m in charge of the bar you know what a greedy sod SP is with the vodka…!
might buy the locker room, how much to buy the club outright
That would buy me the club though Steve 😉
And its sixty seven million we could sort our defence out with that i know
Good comment Steve, i don’t know the answer to that either, Liverpool were a good example aof how two people cannot run a club together and i think West Ham are soon to find out the same…
But, I don’t like to think of a Roman kind of owner either who buys players like Torres just becuase its Torres, in an ideal world i guess it would be run by a mega rich man/woman who had the club and fans interest at heart all the way, and left it to the manager to buy who he wants for the team to improve…..
Talkiing of which, I must check my Euro lottery ticket 😉
I’m with you RA on the big russian, while he is hanging around it will hopefully keep stan on his toes a bit – if we had to be bought outright, i’d rather is was the group that are looking at Manure..
The head of that group is reported to be an Arsenal fan 🙂
I like your take on things there RA, power struggles can choke a club like ours and we don’t need that.
Steve,
My 11:20 is the answer, a well run club, with a lot more cash, able to compete for players anywhere, if only SS and Usmanov can get their egos out of the way!
rico, i often wonder what the best way to run our club is, whether one owner or a board that work together like it is here at the moment, Wenger has been given time to work his magic on limited funds and has kept us at the top and with frugal spending has kept profits up, On the other side of London we have Chelsea who are run by a dictator and sacks successful managers willy nilly. he buys expensive and sells cheap. Were at war with dictators all over the world and do not like the way they work, i feel a bit that way myself, but i still want success.
I would never try to do that, Rico. 🙂
You, Steve and the other regulars make your site what it is. Excellent! 🙂
Anyway, I don’t have a site, and I very much like reading the Posts and comments on yours!
My preference for what it is worth, is for Usmanov to hang around.
If Stan acquired his (Usmanov’s) shares, the fans, holding the remaining 10% would be forced to sell to him too. (UK Company Law). He could then take the Arsenal Group private, and there are very different rules as to what he could then do with the club, and what info we (the real fans) would be entitled to have.
So Hissing Sid, sorry Silent Stan (not named that for nothing) and Usmanov should be on the Board, where they could agree to a rights issue for (say) £200m, which would go straight into the clubs coffers, to reduce debt and free up big bucks for transfers etc.
This means, in effect, they would be putting their money where their mouths are, (straight into the club) and it would form part of the club’s assets to distribute as above.
If people think we have a model financial set up now, believe me we would be absolutely the dogs cahones after that. And we would bloody well have the funds to buy players we need to win things …… next year ……. big time!
He won’t stop buying for the future though, he’d rather snap up a kid that may turn out to be a football great than to wait until he is ready – the difference is about £15-20 Million
Also, he knows if they want to move on oneday, it will always be at vast price and profit for the club….
final pieces of the jigsaw waiting to be purchased…come on AW get your French finger out lively!!
As I have sad before, the youth and reserve team is for the future, the first team is about now and we have to stop buying for the future.
Hi RedA, My knowledge on our great club is maybe not the best and i regularly get things wrong, the beauty of this site is there are people with unbelievable memories and they put me right, I also like the friendly people on here as well,We all want to see our club succeed and top the lot, as the guy above Ppodkin has said we have it in place and were almost there.
Steve
Shame they can’t work together really, The Big Russian can buy the players and Stan can spread the Arsenal name around the world
🙂
Don’t you come here poaching HH bloggers RA 😉
Hi Probodkin
I can see where you are coming from about the future, but the future building began a few years ago and by now we should be winning things, yes its all looking good but those days are a few seasons away yet.
We need players for today, the here and now, experience for them to learn from – youth is all well and good but not at the expense of quality experienced winners and thats what we lack….
i read d grove & i pray dat we should sign qual;ity players 2 act with d young ones. players like parker, hazard, gervinho, falcoa,samba, & cahil.
Hi Steve, 🙂
You are the sort of fan and contributor all sites would love to have as a regular. Knowledgeable, committed and sensible. Always like to read your take on things, (but, so it does not sound too creepy, I sometimes disagree with bits)! 🙂
Rico, moi? I allus tells the truth maam! 🙂 My ma made me swill out them hogs ifn I did not keep to rightful ways!
Erm, darnit …… there’s a dadblasted mis-speak right there!! 🙂
I always see an ulterior motive when things crop up like this, perhaps the two of them are covering something up. And perhaps i have a devious mind.
hi Adam,
is DD still in with the Russian?
hi af,
i like the two defenders….
Hey people
It is highly possible that in a couple of years time we may be able to play:
Ramsay, Wilshere, Jenkinson, Jones, JET, Aneke, Toral (Half English, half Spanish), Walcott. All in the same team. = 8 Brits.
Add Vermaalen, RVP, Kos, Szcezny, Chamakh, Nasri, Fabregas, Sagna. Probably Samba or someone like him.
The future looks rosy indeed! And with no big loss of money. We have enough credit from dealings to pay for this and break even with the sale of 2 or 3 nearly men.
I agree with some that Bendtner should be given another chance. His ego will diminish with age and his skill, already high, will improve greatly. We will have enough top talent to give the real impact players a break when they need it. The injury prevention system is reaping rewards already, with us not any longer always topping the injury table.
I hope people realise what we are building here. It has taken time but we know we are just about there. I am hopeful that the next few years will see us winning lots and lots of trophies. As Djourou says, once that first pot comes, the floodgates will open. No worries. We may finally be able to sit back and enjoy the ride and hope the ticket prices come back down to earth. I don;t see why they can’t with all this dosh about.
I’m sure Stans plans won’t change Steve, I suspect he and the board know already what they are going to do, snide commets from the russian won’t change them…
morning everyone,
3 signings
1.gervinho
2.cahill,samba
3.oxdale chamberlien
hope gervinho is not the one though
Even better now your back Red A
Hi JM
RA, which bit do you mean about telling the truth? 😉
Your probably right rico Stan may respond with an announcement to scuttle the Russians plans but i would have thought he would have known anyway
Rico,
I assumed the ‘one man who tells the truth’ was Usmanov, was it, or were you talking about me? 🙂
Forgot to say, as I have not been around for a while, this is still a really good, well balanced site with cheerful, upbeat characters, sprinkled with some more cynical types, making a nice mix, but all of it leavened with a large dose of realism.
Excellent! 🙂
I’m off for a coffee now, anyone fancy a capucino? 🙂
I do believe usmanov has the best interests in the club don’t forget David dein is something to do with him andhe is someone arsenal really miss
Morning Steve,
I like that bit about Stan’s speech 🙂
I can see what you are saying about stiring the poop and giving more ammo but, if it means SS tries a bit harder in the signing department, i’m all for it 😉
hi!
ADK: Mata is from Valencia and he was been call to the first team yet.
However, boat goals were irregular.
Spain team: 4 players from Barcelona; 3 from Bilbau; 0 from R. Madrid (I think…) 🙂
I’m Alisher Usmanov and I can say empty, easy things that fans are already saying to get people on side for free, without having to lift a finger. Yay!
Welcome jeremy
Out the two, right now i would prefer the russian too, but i hope Stan will shock us all in the next few days…
Morning all, rico you have to chill a bit ha ha.
Well what do you do when all avenues to buy shares have been blocked off, yes you guessed it stir the s==t The Russian has timed it perfectly and the speech that the Yank had, has now been filed in the bin, this is the time when we see what is going to happen when two billionaires collide the Yank with almost two billion behind him and the Russian with almost 18 billion behind him, i know who my money would be on, The Russian cannot secure a place on the Board, maybe his first signs of moving up, a very clever ploy to get the fans behind him, what with a 6.5% hike in prices and not many new names coming in , and him complaining the same as the fans,he should secure some support before tonight’s meeting with the fans, I can imagine what the fans will be asking, but will those questions fall on deaf ears, wee’l soon know. Does statements like this from the Russian really help anybody, it just seems to me that it gives ammunition to the press and Media to bash us even more with the pre verbal Cricket bat
I’m quite happy with the ‘Big Russian’ chary, we don’t get too pedantic on here 😉
You and me both ADK, you and me both, would love to be a fly on the wall tonight 🙂
Well to be even more pedantic Rico my sweet, he should be called the Uzbekistani. 😉
Hi chary,
you know me, i couldn’t care where he comes from 😉
I have always referred to him as the Big Russian, it’s easy to type 😉
Hi RA, I’m the same, cover to cover, via the internet of course, I wouldn’t pay to read all the rubbish 🙂
This is supposed to be the week we sign three players, forgive me if i don’t get too excited …. 🙂
Agree with what the russian said. Imagine if Arsenal were to win trophies including the cl,the profile of the club will increase in value by at least 50%.Finishing in the top 4 and qualifying for cl maybe deemed usuccessful by some clubs,but this is Arsenal third richest club world wide. Surely the gunners sshould be aiming for the pinnacle,
Rico, im hoping for 3 Henry’s, lets hope he can get something in between 🙂
ANd yes, the Q&A is tonight.
Don’t get caught up in all the excitement . I heard months ago that Cahill was signed and sealed so ignore the usual press BS.
One CB done, one more to come please Mr Wenger.
Morning Rico, 🙂
Actually, I am somewhat bored by the speculation, but mainly because we haven’t bought anyone yet, or we have missed out on player x or y, allegedly.
Annoyingly, it still does not stop me reading the papers avidly everyday. Darnit!! 🙂
I am on record, as you know, in saying Kroenke is a business man who wants to turn a profit, with the minimum of outlay.
Usmanov, is so wealthy he does not need to worry about returns on investment which is why he has not sold his shares at a big profit. He is more like the Sheikhs and Abramovich. He wants to turn us into the pinnacle of footballing achievement for his personal aggrandisement.
If we win every trophy going …….. that’s OK by me! 🙂
Nice Post by the way!
Morning Rico, agree with some of what Usmanov is saying and I also question why it is so rare that nowadays you see the players or Wenger mention what they owe to the “the fans” so rarely.
After a good performance the players invariably say “We feel we owed our manager a big performance” – can anyone remember any of our players saying after a great win “That one was for the fans”?
Also on a final pedantic point,(have you ever known me not to be pedantic Rico) isn’t Usmanov an Uzbeki and not a Russian ?
ADK, but you just know i’ll be right 😉
It’s the AST Q&A tonight isn’t it??
3 squillaci’s? Dont give me nightmares rico 😉
But jokes aside, im really excited about wether we will sign anyone…
I like the sound of having a 6′ 5″ central defender in the ranks…..
Is is any good though?
Morning All
Absolutely ADK, could be thre Squillaci’s 😉
Same here Will, I don’t either are the best but then we have been saying that for a while, the Russian may give us a quick fix but at what cost?
The American is going big with selling our name but like AU says, you only get big money sponserships if you are winners – catch 22
I am getting fed up as well with all the rumours, I just wish we could come up with the signings so we can all have an easy summer.
As for the Russian, I am not sure about his motives but then again, Silent Stan doesn’t help his corner.
GOod morning everyone.
I’ve just read le grove. And as they say, we don’t exactly know what three class signings mean, do we?
ALthough I have my doubts whether we will buy anyone. DId anyone watch the match between England and Spain? I was at the stadium, and I was impressed by Juan Mata from Valencia.