Morning all.
So much has happened since I last posted on here. Raul Sanllehi has gone which actually came as a surprise to me. When he arrived at Arsenal I truly thought he’d be excellent for the club but as time passed by, the club hadn’t really progressed. The long and drawn out decision over replacing Unai Emery made me wonder if he’d lost his touch, especially as at Barcelona, sacking a manager wouldn’t have been such a lengthy decision to make. There’s differing opinions ‘out there’ as to who made the decision to fire Sanllehi but I’d imagine Stan or Josh Kroenke had a say in the matter. After all it is their club and bearing in mind the position Raul held, it had to be someone close to the top of the Arsenal tree. My money is on Josh but in all honesty, I don’t care. I don’t know so I’m not going to make it up either.
Just as with the players or anyone else, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Arsenal move on. Arsenal move forwards I hope. Now it’s Vinai Venkatesham, Edu and Mikel Arteta who’ll be dealing with transfers both in and out. All three are young and hopefully ambitious. They certainly talk the talk, lets see if the walking follows. Vinai is pretty adamant it will.
We have, in Edu and Mikel, two individuals who are responsible for our technical plan. Of course, [that is] overseen by me and the board, but those two are the experts and they have a very, very clear plan about how they want to rebalance our squad in the short term, in the medium term and in the long term. We’re starting to work on that immediately in this transfer window.
There’s other things that we need to do better as well. I think we can do better a job of communicating with our fans. We’re not going to be able to give them a running commentary of everything that we’re doing, nor are we always going to correct or be able to correct some of the misinformation there is about the club. But we need to be clear about what we’re doing and what our plan is and we can get better at that.
Vinai said many things in his first interview after taking up his new role and I liked the fact that he made it categorically clear that the club owners are not miles away from Arsenal in body and in mind but rather, the miles distance means very little in this digital world in which we live as conversations are held pretty much on a daily basis and they all want the same thing. Progress. To be challenging for trophies both in England and Europe. The cynics won’t believe it of course, but that’s fine. My choice is to believe that this is the Arsenal board and manager trying to make things right and it feels good. Of course the jobs cuts weren’t nice for those involved but it’s something that’s happening to thousands of people right now. It’s too easy to look at the clubs owner and say he should have stepped in to help them keep their jobs but it’s clear to me that these cuts were coming and more might follow.
That decision (redundancies) is about making sure that we have the right structure and the right size of organisation going forward, into a very, very different world that we’re going to face post-coronavirus and making sure we can be as strong as possible on the other side. So there’s going to be some tough decisions.
After the latter years of disappointment under Arsene Wenger, the confusion and further disappointment Unai Emery brought with him and the odd transfer dealings during those times, it appears to me that Arsenal are now in a place they were trying to get to. A young and exciting manager, a younger board and a soul ownership. All who seem to be striving for one thing. A much improved Arsenal football club in all departments.
I liked what Vinai said about the fans. Our expectations and how they want to improve the communication between the club and it’s followers. There’ll be no running commentary on what the club is doing, which I personally wouldn’t expect them to either, just don’t believe all the rubbish there is out there in the newspapers. Whether that’s the £300m Stan Kroenke is supposed to have made during the lockdown period or that we’re about to sign Messi, it’s likely to be poppycock.
Last from Vinai:
I think the key message for our fans is that we all want exactly the same thing. We all want Arsenal Football Club to be back where it belongs, competing for and winning the biggest trophies in the game. That’s what fuels us, that’s what our focus is and we ultimately want to do that so our fans all across the world are proud of their football club for what we do and what we can achieve and what we win, but also for how we do it. Doing it in accordance with the values, the history and the tradition of this great football club.
Values, tradition and history. That’s what makes Arsenal FC the club it is.
I nearly forgot, Arsenal have signed three players this summer too. George Lewis, Tim Akinola and some bloke called Willian. Two for the academy and one for the grown up team. And there’s still seven weeks of the transfer window left to run.
See you in the comments guys.
Morning Rico. 😆
you forget we also signed Mari and Soures too so 5 signings. I fully expect a holding mid and centre back to be brought in too. I think small steps is the best measure at the moment. Saliba comes in too so technically 6 new players in plus Emile Smith-Rowe hopefully stepping up were looking like a Sunday again. The big one for me in all this is redressing the balance in our squad. Something wenger continually mentioned but never seemed to achieve in the latter years.
Hopefully this season is a big season of progress under Arteta. Higher league position and Europa league win would be a great season for me.
Good evening Rico having signed an aging winger/ midfielder, let’s hope we can concentrate on filling the positions we so desperately need reinforcements in namely a strong defensive midfielder and a decent central defender. Priority should also be given to locking Emu Martinez into a new long term contract.
Let’s not forget that we also have Huss Famey, if that’s how his name is spelt, on our executive team, he has been mentioned as a leader in transfer negotiating.
The £323M is from The Institute for Policy Studies in an article called(I think) The Billionaire Bonanza.
It`s not just about Kroenke(his wife has made £93M)…………….it`s about all the winners in this pandemic like the Amazon owner who has made over a Billion in these times which is not surprising seeing nearly everyone was buying on-line whilst in isolation, so far from poppycock imo…or do we also believe it`s unlikely that Amazon owner has made a bucket load! 😆
Good point James, I’d forgotten their deals were done this summer.
Evening Lc.
Evening Cicero, Huss doesn’t deal with transfers though does he? Regardless, I do think things seem to be taking shape.
Agree things are taking shape, but lets hope us fans give them plenty of time as there is no quick fix with no great funds available and where players will be bought by selling unwanted players and some ducking and diving of the highest order with loans and swaps in the mix, we really have to be cute!
Would that be the article which has no evidence to support the claim on millionaires finances increasing Lc?
It’s easy to write a number next to anyone’s name..
Anyway, I’d rather stick to what the club are doing, not what Stan Kroenke does or doesn’t earn. It’s becoming a bit of a pointless topic imo.
Morning all.
Since Stan entered the fray, we’ve gone downhill.
That’s a given, and whether or not we believe other factors have been at play, which is probably the case, he’s the one constant.
Now, Rico, I really hope that your confidence in him and the changes being made are well founded, and we are heading in the right way because any proper fan would rather be wrong about Stan and have the club succeed rather than be right and see us struggle.
At the very least, the signing of Arteta showed me that someone at the club does have a clue and makes smart decisions.
I agree that Josh had a part in that call.
Onwards and upwards!!!
Hi Rico and all I don’t care what Kroenke earns all I care is that he puts something back in to the club and support the coach , players and also show respect to the fans and the Arsenal badge
Hi Rico and all.
Mikel has talked about the values and tradition of the Arsenal. Raul exit will afford Mikel working with Edu (an invincible) the o0pportunity to bring players the Mikel bring The Arsenal back to where it belongs. Together with Vinai we have 3 dynamic individuals with Arsenal in their DNAs, with the support of Josh we will move forward.
Very interesting read.
While opinions of Stan vary, one simple question I’ll always ask is what has he actually done for the club that’s positive?
Compare the club now to when he first started buying up shares-it doesn’t make him look good at all.
I hope things are turning….
https://arsedevils.com/complete-unravelling-arsenal-hands-stan-kroenke/21039/
Scott. I think Arsenal could have better owners and I’ve always said that but, I’m not stupid enough to believe that the club hasn’t always been frugal with its spending before KSE took over. Imo, what has gone wrong in the past is not down to the money but the people spending it.
I believe there has been little direction, no plan and little thought about building a squad which is balanced. Every season for goodness knows how many years, we’ve always lacked in one, two or three positions and it’s cost us dearly. The core/spine of the team has not been a solid one, even now it’s not.
What gives me hope and positivity for the future does sit with the owner needing to plough £200m plus into the squad but signing the right players for the right position. I have more faith in Arteta and Edu than I’ve had in the people over the last ten years.
Without meaning to offend anyone, I think the whole beating of the Kroenke drum is tedious. Arteta is being praised enormously for what he’s done so far, rightly so I hasten to had, but Arsenal haven’t changed it’s owner has it?
Naturally, people have their own ideas, their own agenda if you like but often choose to dismiss the obvious.
Morning to you all by the way…
Paddy I would not hold my breath for Josh to help remember he turned up to a Arsenal training session wearing a L A Rams t shirt that’s how much he cares about Arsenal
Hi Paddy, that’s how I see it too.
Geoff, does it matter what Josh wears? He might wear an Arsenal shirt to an LA Rams game.
Rico, I agree with most of what you said, but what has Stan brought to the table?
Really, not a lot unless I’m missing something.
If that’s about to change then I’ll hapoily support him and admit to being wrong.
As for banging on about Stan, fair point, but not many a day goes by without criticism of Arsene coming up, and he’s gone so fairs, fair, but at the very least, we can offer up plenty of good he did for the club and that’s something Stan has not yet got to offer.
Are the staff changes a sign of positive change, or is the article right?
I don’t know, but I know what I hope to be true and that’s what’s best for the club.
As I said, I’m hoping things are on the rise and if that continues, then hats off to all involved.
Back Mikel, all will be well 🙂 🙂
Geoff, as long as he wears an Arsenal kit when in LA on occasions, we should forgive him 😉
Sorry but when at arsenal Only wear Arsenal or blank t shirt I’ve never seen a photo of Kroenke wearing a Arsenal shirt in America
I’ve never seen a photo of Josh in the US so I can’t disagree with you.
As long as the decisions he and his dad make are beneficial to our club, I really wouldn’t worry if he strutted around in a Victorian Labor Party shirt Hahahahahaha
Rico, I totally agree with you in that our scatter gun approach to squad building is what has brought us to the point we are in regarding squad balance/imbalance.
Scott if they wear a Victorian labor party t shirt then we will never win any thing that’s why we are still in stage 4 lock down for at least another month
Hahahahahahahaha
Onya Geoff Lol
What a mess you guys are in atm.
I don’t think Arsene gets much criticism these days Scott. Making comparisons to now and back then in inevitable.
Re Kroenke, what has he really ever done wrong? The board run the club, Josh told us that. I’d imagine Josh or Stan only get involved when a bigger decision is to be made.
Geoff, taking the criticism of the Kroenke family to the low levels of what they wear is just silly imo. Let’s try and keep things to do with the club a bit more sensible than that.
Eddu, exactly. Who signs a number 10 but fails to build around him? A player like Ozil needs strength and depth all around him so his defensive frailties aren’t no noticeable.
Rico, Arsene gets a jab here almost every day.
Stan does as well.
Only one of them ever did anything good for the club, and only one of them is still at the club and therefore relevant.
Let’s ban both the buggers names 🙂
Yes Scott, because look at the mess he left the club in. Wenger and Gazidis gave Ozil a dreadful contract, failed to sell Alexis when a reported £60m offer was on the table and left Ramsey hanging on his contract? I won’t start on the terrible players he signed during his latter years.
Stan Kroenke hasn’t signed footballers for the club so why he gets so much blame I really don’t know.
Rico, that’s all good and well, but why do you criticise us for daring criticise Stan?
Again I ask what’s he ever done that’s positive?
The answer is clear.
Nothing.
I won’t keep going on about this, though.
I’m happy to agree to leave Stan alone.
The difference is Scott, I’ll never forget what Arsene Wenger did for us during his first ten years. Those years were and always be special.
The Kroenke critics only see bad or negative. Usually surrounding his finances which even if he wanted to, wouldn’t be permitted to invest into the club for players. Arsenal were self sustaining long before he arrived and he always vowed to stick to the club’s principles as far as finances go.
People seem to forget that.
This is my first time of commenting on this page
I feel the Kroenkes are just after profit (typical American capitalist) which is not really a bad thing, but then I feel they can do better really
Now we have a very good and intelligent coach and I hope they back him financially to a reasonable point
We should announce Gabriel and Auba deals this week too
Welcome Santi. Having an intelligent, young and ambitious coach is crucial. We’ve not had one for a long long time.
Rico, I’d love to look at the positives Stan has offered.
I just can’t find them so naturally the negatives will be discussed.
Josh seems to have something about him, though.
We do seem to be headed the right way and it’ll take time, no question at all.
Matt Smith has joined newly-promoted League One side Swindon Town on loan for the 2020/21 season.
The 19-year-old has been at the club since under-9 level and progressed through our Hale End Youth Academy, signing his first professional contract with us in February 2019.
A composed midfielder, the Harlow-born youngster captained us to the Under-18 Premier League South title in 2018/19, playing every single minute during the victorious campaign.
Matt was a regular in the under-23s last season and frequently trained with the first-team squad. His fine performances were rewarded with his selection into the first-team matchday squad on six occasions after the season’s restart, including being an unused substitute in our Heads Up FA Cup final victory over Chelsea.
We wish Matt the best of luck for next season at Swindon and look forward to supporting him through his continued development.
The one thing that The Kroenkes have provided is stability of ownership.
Would we have been better off under Usmanov? I doubt it.
Without Silent Stan we would have been prey to any Russian oligarch, the Saudi Sovereign wealth fund, or any number of Chinese mafiosi or groups of disparate investors cobbled together with no real interest in the good of the club other than as a vehicle for money laundering.
The Kroenke family may not be to everyone’s taste but they are far from the worst option.
Be thankful for small mercies. 😉
In one Cicero.
Reply to your reply, Rico. A bit pointless, Rico ?………..you mentioned Kroenke in the article and felt I had to puy you right! hahaha
Is it so hard for you to believe or even think that Kroenke made £323M ?………………………..the article I read may be true or not and as I said it was about lots of Billionaires, not just Kroenke and imo anyone who thinks they have not made a lot of money in this epidemic are a bit gullible……………………as it`s certainly not me or you Rico who has made a mint………………….or have you ? hahaha
The well off are always the last ones to suffer, not the working class or poor………..we are at the brunt end all the time!
Agree Scott, Kroenke has brought nothing to the table, certainly not money!…………….still stands at £0.
Oh and he can invest money, he could invest as much money as he likes in infrastructure, buildings, training grounds etc and especially the academy and all within FFP…………..or is that another phantom rumour!
As for Cicero above, well I would take any of the undesirables you mention if it made us as successfull in trophies as Man C since they bought theirs and Chavs bought theirs!………………….bet their fans don`t give a shit about the politics and neither would most Gooners if the trophies kept rolling in!
Lc, you don’t even watch Arsenal unless we win so I understand why you’d want any old owner at the club as long as he spends billions…
The problem we have has been dumped on us by the corrupt officials who run the leagues in Europe although it doesn’t happen in Germany so much and RB Leipzig are despised by most German fans.
Money laundering owners from Russia, politically motivated Chinese buying influence and Arab states whitewashing their appalling human rights have effected our clubs and leagues, has it benefitted the product or has it made the game seem tawdry.
Agents benefit, players benefit, players’ family and advisors benefit and corrupt club and league officials benefit, but I don’t see where the fans have benefitted at all because we pay for it?
Le Coq, look at the headline of Rico’s post, do the words mean nothing to you?
Liverpool have shown that you don’t need to be financially doped to be successful you just need good people and the right people running your club.
Arsenal have spent a fortune in transfers and are still one of the biggest payers in terms of player salaries but the likes of Wenger, the man who brought us Gazides and Gazides the man who brought us Raul, have messed up. They’ve wasted a fortune and we are where we are because of them, not KSE.
Everton are another example for why money doesn’t always solve everything
This is interesting I think. Makes sense at least..
http://arsenaltruth.squarespace.com/arsenal-truth/2019/1/1/why-kroenke-cannot-invest-big-money.html
Has worked for Man C and Chavs so why shouldn`t I want the same, Rico. My not watching games live is irrelevant…………..sounds like a dig!
Cicero, you can take the moral high ground on a headline, I could mention Henry Norris, you know the history!………………no one is squeaky clean!
Not a dig at all Lc, just the truth. You told us that yourself.
I’d hate Arsenal to be owned by the likes of those at City and Chelsea.
The self sufficient PSG through to CL Final! 😆
LC,
Shhhh, Stan must be watching us 😉
Gee, funny how our opinion on Stan is just wrong, yet none of us know 100% what happens behind closed doors.
Of course, if any of his fans can answer my quote Simple and straight forward question,
Maybe I’ll change my mind on him.
Seems a tough question, though, and one destined never to be answered, but danced around quite often.
No one is saying it’s wrong Scott, it’s an opinion so it can’t be. I just don’t understand why kroenke gets stick when we’re losing, and stick when we’re winning the FA Cup. There is no consistency.
So what`s the relevance or correlation between me not watching Arsenal unless they win and wanting a rich owner who invests in the team ?
Rico, fwiw, I don’t want someone to come in and spend billions, or even hundreds of millions.
Just someone who shows some passion for the club, and isn’t scared to make the hard decisions for the betterment of the club.
I’m yet to see a single sign of that from Stan, and while I admit we do not now what happens behind the scenes, we can only go on what we know.
He’s an investor.
His sole purpose for owning the club is to make money.
Good luck to him, as he’s never made a secret of his intent, but that doesn’t mean we have to like what he’s doing.
Again Scott, there is a misunderstanding I think that Stan Kroenke runs the club but according to Josh Kroenke, that’s not the case. They employ Vinai, Edu etc to run the day to day things. Even the financial side I believe.
I’m leaving it there re the owners because it seems to matter not what the owners do, they will never be free of criticism unless they invest hundreds of millions of pounds on players.
Scott, we love Magic Mikel and hate Kroenke, it`s that simple! hahaha
I must add, that I dont watch Arsenal live (unless I go to a game) because mainly, I dont have Sky or BT Sport and when football started up again there was not one League game where Arsenal were on free to view!………………..the only free to view game was The FA Cup Final which I watched on a very long delay………………….2 hours to be precise and I did not know the score!………………….nor did I have any heart palpitations or stress! hahaha
Hahaha LC, I actually don’t hate Stan.
I keep saying it-he’s been honest about what he wants from his ownership.
Just rather see an owner who wants to see the club perform well and compete at the best level possible.
He doesn’t care about onfield performance, as long as the club does well off it and again, that’s fine-he’s an Investor.
Signing Arteta, if he had anything at all to do with it, gives him a tick, but who knows who made that call and I guess I don’t really care, as the result is what’s important.
I doubt any of us know exactly how FFP works and what money he’s able/unable to throw at the club, so I don’t even go there.
Josh is where I do see a little flicker of light and I’m hoping he’s not all piss and wind, telling the fans what we want to hear.
Rico, because the general thinking is he’s not actually doing anything for the club.
Funny, but unless his name comes up, I don’t actually think about Stan.
Me neither Scott. I find it quite sad really because the club finally seem to be getting things sorted out, we have a young and enthusiastic coach yet it seems a day cannot pass without Stan Kroenke and money being mentioned. I’d rather be positive about the club and the future and from now on, I’m staying away from that particular agenda. If it takes over the site, then I’ll react quicker than Stan did to sack Wenger and Emery. 😆😆
Hey that wouldn’t be hard hahahahaha
I hope You’ve noticed I have said on numerous occasions that I think we are headed the right way 🙂
I’m loving the football again-Emery really took some of that away but also a lot of the tension around the club towards the end of Arsene’s tenure, as well.
Things look better then they have for quite a while and yes, we really should be focusing on that.
LC, we got what we want so we need to stop moaning hahahahaha
Team Mikel 😉
The problem is Kroenke own,s the club and when we had all the protests he was no where to be found even if he pays someone to run the club he should have stepped up and said thanks Arsene but it’s time to step down and start cleaning out the board and unwanted staff back then I all ways wanted Arsene to take over running the academy
Geoff, I reckon most would agree he was way too slow in taking any action on Arsene, whether they be placing demands on him, or dismissing him.
I think that’s where a lot of the frustration with
Stan originated as it seemed he was sitting back counting his profits, not caring about results and showing no leadership at all.
That time has passed and we are two managers down the road now, so while the question marks on him remain, imo, at least we’ve seen progress, especially this year.
Scott I admit This is the first time in a while that I cannot wait for the season to start I even read that Arteta is now reconsidering keeping Rob Holding
Geoff, i’d definitely be keeping Holding.
I think he will be fantastic for us, long term.
I hope we can keep Martinez but you can’t blame him for wanting to leave for more game time
New post up now