Morning all.
How man times can Thomas Lemar be linked to Arsenal? I’d lost count before today but whatever that number was, it’s gone up one. Yep, he’s back again, this time linked with a swap move involving Alexandre Lacazette. A ‘struggling’ Lemar no less according to Spanish sports outlet AS. “I am trying to avoid duels and concentrate on passing as much as possible” Wikipedia quote him as once saying.
Let’s be real about this rumour, it’s poppycock. Just as so many of the football transfer stories are. I don’t doubt Arsenal would accept a good offer for Lacazette but I’m sure they’ll avoid taking a player unwanted by Atletico Madrid or any other club just because they want to dump him elsewhere. If Arsenal to sign anyone this summer, it has to be a player who Mikel Arteta wants. In any case, I’m sure the club will be thinking of players who we’ve possibly not heard of, players who a large salary is far from their mind.
I don’t like it. The arrows look weird. Another bit of ‘fake news’ I hope.
A question which must be on many football fans mind right now is what happens to their season ticket for the remainder of this season and the seasons ahead. Arsenal are yet to confirm how they plan to deal with this season Season Ticket Holders, let alone next. Or those who had bought tickets for individual fixtures which were subsequently postponed and now played behind closed doors. I think the solution is simple. Send a letter out to each fan asking them what they’d like to do rather than tell them what they must do. Give them/us a choice.
- A full refund for this season but keep allocated Season Ticket for the future?
- Pause your Season Ticket until fans are permitted to return with monies owed from this season’s remaining fixtures deducted from the next renewal fee?
- A full refund and surrender the allocated Season Ticket?
- Defer the ticket for the postponed fixture for a match in the future?
- A refund on the ticket bought for one of the postponed fixtures?
All options are based on this season’s cost. In other words, the first ten fixtures of any new Premier League season when fans are allowed to return should not be subject to any increase of price. Clear as mud?
People’s lives have been seriously affected by Coronavirus and don’t just mean the tragic loss of lives. Businesses are going bust all over the UK and jobs are being lost. I don’t know how much a ticket to watch Arsenal costs these days, nor do I know how much a refund on four fixtures included in a Season Ticket would amount to but for many fans, whatever the amount, a refund on either might make a difference. They have the right to choose in my opinion.
Without fans, football clubs wouldn’t succeed, certainly not in the fashion they do today. The revenue a full stadium for ten months of the year brings into any club is their financial bread and butter. The football might be the entertainment but the fans provide the atmosphere, the excitement, the passion which the players feed off. When it’s great, there’s nothing quite like it regardless of which stadium you’re in. Ok, when things aren’t going great on the pitch, those same fans can make life uncomfortable for players and coaches but I’m sure you get my drift.
Football and every other sport needs fans and as all sport slowly but surely return to action, the reality of that will hit home.
Stay safe guys.
Hi Rico, Lemar is another Benzema! We’ll be linked with him forevermore haha…
Now if we were to swap Laca, it has to be for the other Thomas… Partey! Now you’re talking!! I hope we pull it off…
Btw, Rico, how good was Harry’s Heroes? Seaman and Merson were hilarious… and Merse still has it, as does Lee Hendrie!! 👌
It was emotional at times too, really felt for Merse and Hendrie and even Vinnie.. just goes to show you can have all the money in the world, but it doesn’t bring happiness.
Hope it returns next year and they talk Seaman out of retirement!!
Morning Gooners, and yes Scott, I knew exactly where you was coming from, bonzer! 😉
I agree Rico, with you, Scott and Sue, we don’t need Lemar even if he was quality at Monaco we’re covered in those positions we need a strong, physical, dominant and mobile midfielder.
Morning Kev, Sue all.
Is Partey good? I’ve not seen him at all.
Not watched all of Harry yet Sue, it’s on the planner for later today. Ruddock is a yob I think. Said the same about his health last year as he’s said this. I’d not be surprised at all to wake up and read he’s died.
He’s a beast, Rico!! Ask the Liverpool players just how good he is 🤣
Ruddock is a nightmare! I couldn’t believe how he was drinking like there’s no tomorrow even with his dodgy ticker!! I have no sympathy, I’m afraid! I saw him at Thorpe Park once, he’d just come off the ride I was going on, he looked green, so I took a wide berth 🤣
Morning all and thanks Rico.
Lemar for Laca………………………Kluivert for Mikki………….they may not be true, but loans and swaps will be the way to go unless we sell and buy! …………but honestly at the moment dont give a toss about Premier League with all the deaths, no one will watch any football from 6 feet under, WHO said there was a record number of cases(over 100,000) world wide yesterday so we are far from being out of the woods!…………………..thank Denis we have the weather to isolate in( that could be a kiss of death! hahaha)
Anyway this is what I`ve been upto………………Been planting as Sunday I bought 20 shrubs for £31 !
A Sorbaria, 2 Hydrangeas, 2 Aucuba`s, 6 Euonymus(3x 2 varieties, all variegated) 2 Leucothoe Rainbows, 1 variegated Pittosporum, 3 Ceanothus Skylark, 3 variegated Hebe`s!…………..do love a bargain!…………..backs aching a bit now though!…………………….who needs Chav Flower Show! ……………………………My carbon foot print must be smaller than the Spuds trophy cabinet!
😆
PS…………………………agree Rico……………………..that kit looks as crappier as my Spud used toilet roll!
No hope for Ruddock……………….remember George Best having a liver transplant and then boozing again, they wont learn………………….I too saw Ruddock at the Donkey Sanctuary here in Cornwall, Sue, although I was looking mainly at his fit missus! 😆
Ha ha Sue.
Well let’s hope we get him then, or some similar because imo, it’s the position we seriously lack strength in. Push Xhaka further up the pitch in a role similar to when he plays for Switzerland and bobs your uncle. 😆
Lc, I too think a lot of swap deals will the way this summer. I know the spending rules have been relaxed but not many clubs will have free cash imo, not when they face a season ahead of no ticket sales.
.
As unlikely as this is I feel that football is going to have to look seriously at itself and how it finances it’s future . More money is not necessarily the answer helpful , yes , but no matter what we earn , as long as teams that have owners finding ways to pump money in , keeping up is going to be nigh on impossible .
Quite a few clubs are going to find that chasing the golden fleece has left them in jeopardy and having a self sustaining policy is likely to leave us relying on Hale End to supplement our squad rather than splashing very hard to come by cash.
The questions that football needs to ask itself is what will happen when media moguls say ” we know that you are getting desperate and we will not pay as much and by the way you owe us for the end of the last deal. When season ticket holders say ” I have had enough and I am not confident of being in a 60 ,000 crowd let alone the means of travelling to and from the game . In the London clubs situation what of mr Khan’s congestion charges and Ulez ? driving in from the suburbs and farther is another consideration likely to impact on crowd size and if not succesful clubs will find it harder to attract walk in business.
In effect I think times are going to be hard for football in the short term and until peoples expectations are tempered . There will be trouble ahead.
🤣🤣 Ruddock is defo punching above his weight, Le Coq!!!
Good day all and thanks for the post Rico.
Lacazette seems to be out of favour with Arteta and is probably at the top of the “For Sale” list but Lemar as a replacement? No Thanks! Too pricey and his wages would be too high.
Can we afford to sell both him and Aubameyang though? we would definitely need to sign at least one replacement
That wonky looking shirt photo is fake news, without a doubt.
Potter, you only have to look at the photos of the crowds on the beaches this week to see that people are only too ready to ignore the social distancing advice, so it won’t take much to get them cramming onto the terraces as soon as the grounds are reopened.
Maybe but the season ticket sales may not be so readily available as I reckon many of the older ST holders may well be giving up and with the new world economy there may not be too many takers.
News journalists, don’t they just love to terrify the living daylights out of you!
I’ve stopped watching the news, BBC and Channel 4 are a nightmare. We all know that there’s a recession heading our way, we don’t need to be told every fecking day – and there’s always the underlying blame game being played by journalists of a certain persuasion is any case.
Whatever happened to non biased news reporting?
I agree completely with Cicero, as soon as football begins to accept spectators again I reckon that grounds will be pretty much full again, although as Potter suggests and I agree the economy and jobs could have an effect overall.
As for the TV companies, maybe the Premier League should seriously think about going down the avenue of marketing it’s own TV output in the near future?
I can see clubs tying up independently with TV providers to show all matches on pay for view.
Potter, I can see a lot of the corporate seats becoming available, companies won’t be in a sufficiently secure financial position to warrant the expenditure involved in client entertainment or sponsorship.
In Arsenal’s case we could lose the stadium sponsor Emirates Airlines, they have literally hundreds of aircraft parked up around the world with little hope of them being used, let alone, filled for months to come.
We could be back to the days when a fan could walk up the turnstile on a Saturday afternoon, buy his ticket and watch the match. Forget about category A, B and C games the club will be happy to get as many bums on seats as they can for whatever price they can get away with.
12.05 Potter. So very very true. Arsenal might be one of a few clubs to come out of this ok in the end. I know that sounds crazy but we’ve not spent what we haven’t got and I truly believe we’ll spend very little if anything this summer unless we sell/swap players.
However, as you quite rightly suggest, the fans pockets are going to be hit hard and unless Arsenal freeze or even reduce ticket costs, we might not even fill the stadium. Apart from with the wealthy that is.
It’s good to know that our politicians are “In it with us”…. From The Telegraph…
A frontbench peer has furloughed himself despite having a £100,000 cash pot in his company and claiming the daily House of Lords allowance during lockdown, The Telegraph can reveal.
Lord Fox, who owns two homes worth more than £2 million, is the first Parliamentarian known to use the Government’s wage subsidy scheme to pay himself.
The 62-year-old Liberal Democrat frontbench spokesman for business is the owner and sole employee of Vulpes Advisory, a “strategic communications” company.
His decision to double dip into the taxpayers’ pocket was criticised as “milking the taxpayer” by MPs, who said on Wednesday that he should pay the money back.
The peer has chosen to take the £162 daily allowance for his work in the Lords, which is being conducted by Zoom during the lockdown.
Asked on Wednesday night whether having his private income paid by the state as well as taking the Lords stipend was “greedy”,
Lord Fox said: “I don’t think conflating the two is even logical.
“It’s what many companies are doing, which is furloughing their employees. If HMRC had thought it was ineligible for me to have applied for that, then they would have said so.”
Accounts filed with Companies House show Lord Fox has access to more than £100,000 cash in his Vulpes bank account. Instead of using the money to tide the business over, he furloughed himself and has already received his first month’s wage subsidy, of about £1,000, from the Government.
Asked why he did not first use the £100,000, he said: “I’m hoping to tide the business over, I’m hoping to relaunch it properly when the scheme… when the virus lifts.”
Lord Fox has a five-bedroom house in Windsor, which he reportedly bought in 1995 for £280,000 and which is now estimated to be worth up to £1.89 million, as well as a second home in east London.
He sits on the Lords economic affairs committee, before which Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, appeared as a witness this week.
It has held four hearings over the past month, for which Lord Fox will receive £648. He also claims the daily allowance for his work as the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Conservative MP Robert Halfon said: “It’s incredible that, when my residents in Harlow are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, this peer seems to want to milk the taxpayer at both ends, for every penny – both through the Lords allowance and the furlough scheme.
“The Chancellor needs to nip this in the bud and make sure this is not allowed. The least he could do is pay the furlough money back.”
Mr Halfon said the furlough scheme “was never meant to be for wealthy Lords”.
Hi Rico and All I know I look at things differently to 99 percent of people on this site but I don’t think this virus will do anything to drop the amount of money spent on players. there are still many rich people out there looking to buy clubs or even a group of ex players getting together and buying the lower league clubs. As for the paid up members most of them would not even stay away for one match when asked to support the protest against Wenger and Kroenke so if any thing they will pay more just to keep there seats.
Geoff, the unemployment rate in the UK has risen to 2.1 million, that equates to almost half the population of Melbourne. Job vacancies have slumped, so there are going to be an awful lot of hard up families. Finding the money to pay for football tickets is going to be pretty hard for many people for some time to come. It will be a long term before we see a full house at The Emirates.
Cicero, some of those who have either furloughed their staff or themselves need to take a good look in the mirror. Victoria Beckham springs to mind. Doesn’t she own a fashion business who could have easily whipped up a few hundred thousand face masks for the NHS…
Hi Geoff. The fans you mention who wouldn’t stay away from The Emirates had paid for their ticket. This is different, this is about deciding whether or not that can afford their next ticket.
Rico… Steve Coogan is another, having just furloughed his gardener and housekeeper… who work at his 4m mansion!!!!
Beggars belief Sue.
Spoke to my brother who is 70 years old, but still works 3 days per week, he has been furloughed and said to me he cant believe this government is being so generous, he said he loves being at home getting his pension(along with his wifes pension) and being paid 80% by the government!………………even though he is doing quite well for himself he did say (and I agree with him) that the government should not be paying furlough money to people (inc` himself)who are getting a pension and who are still working!………………….he will obviously carry on getting his furlough as he aint stupid!……………………….I know even on 3 days per week he will be getting the max furlough payment of £2500 per month, with his(and wife) state pension and some private ponsions he said he is laughing!………………………..this situation was never going to affect rich people or even pensioners who dont work as they are not getting 80% of their pension, they are getting the full wack!
Yes they had paid for there tickets but it would not of hurt to miss one match to show how much they care about our club and if English fans are the same as Aussie rules fans they will complain but in the end they still some how find the money. and once businesses are up and running again they will start to re employ people they only thing they will do is use this virus to get rid of the workers they did not like before the virus
It amazes me how people follow their team home, away and even in Europe.. must cost a packet.. I couldn’t do it, yet many do…some, I’ve been told, max out credit cards!
I do believe some s/t will be given up, due to age and concerns over the virus, which will be a shame for them. The waiting list is humongous, so they’ll be snapped up, as people seem to find a way to pay to watch their team…
You’re telling me there’ll be empty seats at the likes of Anfield or Elland Road? Not on your nelly!!
Transfer checker are saying we’re ‘heavy favourites’ for Partey’s signature and we’ll sign him at the ‘next available opportunity’
I know Mikel has been watching him for some time….
Imagine if it happens…and then Auba signs!! 🥳 Ok, ok, I’m getting carried away now haha!
That’ll be this summer then Sue. 😜
New post up now