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By Tony Attwood
Arsenal Independent Supporters Association (AISA) has announced that at its AGM the guest speaker will be Alex Phillips, UEFA’s head of the Executive Office.
I’ll give the detail of what the Executive Office is, in a moment, but without even going into that, it is a great coup for AISA to get Alex Phillips to the meeting. He is a man right at the heart of the sort of UEFA issues we debate – most notably the financial doping regulations.
For myself (and writing here personally, not in my capacity as a committee member of AISA) I am really hoping to be able to ask a pertinent question or two about just how likely it is that financial transgressors such as Manchester City are going to be debarred from Europe.
If you are not a member of AISA, you really ought to be – and details are at the end of this piece. The AGM is obviously open to members only.
Anyway, back to the meeting. The AISA AGM usually does have a speaker of significance to talk to the assembled throng, (last year Arsenal director gave a really interesting talk which revealed quite a few hidden truths about the players and their relationship with the club) and I am really anticipating this could be one of the best yet.
So here’s the run down on UEFA and where Alex Phillips fits in.
The UEFA Congress, the UEFA Executive Committee and the UEFA Executive Office form the hub of UEFA’s activities at the highest level. It is at these levels that key sporting and political decisions of UEFA are taken.
The Congress is Europe’s football parliament, and the Executive Committee has the power to make decisions on all matters which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Congress or any other organ. The Executive Committee also manages UEFA as an overall organisation.
The Executive Office of which Alex Phillips is the head provides the support to the UEFA president, Michel Platini, and general secretary, Gianni Infantino.
Moving back to AISA – the prime work of AISA (and this is my summary, not an official line) is to represent the feelings and views of fans to the club and to work to support Arsenal on and off the field. Put another way, it runs campaigns and supports the team.
This is a multifaceted approach and covers everything from policing to the food and drink in the stadium, and many of these involve on-going discussions and debates. The meetings and discussions often don’t make the headlines but do allow fans to have their views made known to the club, and ensures that change happens.
Two projects that I am involved in are “Arsenal History” which among other things is campaigning to have more art (following the development of the Arsenal Wall, the canons and the ARSENAL stones on the south bridge) outside the ground. We’re also uncovering all the errors in the traditional telling of Arsenal’s history (see www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk) and hoping to publish a book in conjunction with Arsenal on the Woolwich Arsenal story.
I’m also involved in the “Voice of Arsenal” project through which members of AISA are asked to put forward their own personal concerns to the club. I’m just in the process of putting two issues that have been raised about ticketing, to the chief executive of the club, and we’re hoping that we will be able to influence the club’s thinking on this point. Members will be getting details of this at the AGM and shortly on the web site.
Arsenal Independent Supporters Association
Arsène’s huge down under
By Bruce
G’day all you whingeing Poms from the land Down Under, a paradise of amber nectar, aerial ping-pong and white pointers!!
Just stumbled upon your site as I was googlin’ Arse, now don’t get yer knickers in a knot, it is strictly research for my own gratification like and I red on a bit.
Just got back in from the pub with a gut-load of piss, been flat out like a lizard, drinking. Minding my own business watching Kylie the barmaid doling out the four X, great arse Kylie, when she walks looks like two dwarfs fighting in a sack.
Bloody oath I bumped into to some tiny blow-in dill , bit of a raw prawn if you ask me looked like a good root and a fart would kill him. Strange looking mongrel, all pale with a head on him like a sucked mango. Strangest thing, he had a picture of a cock on his shirt.
Well blow me I thought, I’ll be buggered if I turn me back on this wombat. Looked as trustworthy as a Pakistani cricketer in bookies if you ask me.
Could tell for sure he was as cunning as a twitchy shit house rat and not enough brains to give him-self a headache. He was as miserable as a bastard on Father’s Day. But just to be hospitable like I lent him an ear while I tucked into me Heart Starter..
Strewth that fella could talk, even for a two pot screamer, I swear he never stopped yakking even when I strode off to the dunny to siphon the python.
Started bitching like a love sick sheep on a drovers holiday about some fella up in Pomgolia who manages the Arse who is dead set doin real well for himself and his work mates.
Last time I met a bloke like him, was when I was burgled, took nothing of value but emptied the rubbish bin and me dog got pregnant.
Anyways, I was just finishing me 12th schooner when he’s calling you Arse’s ‘about as useful as tits on a bull’ and how his ‘Harry has you by the short and curlies’ and it’s as obvious as a shag on a rock, youse blokes will end up ‘skint in the old trophy department’.
No worries mate I said, I go and have a Captain Cook at this as the chance of him shouting a round looked as scarce as rocking horse shit.
So I threw a couple dozen tinnies in the old Holden Ute, for medicinal purposes only and shot through back to the farm.
Made it home in double quick time with a bit of the old lead foot and boy was I stoked, thought the missus had left me there for a minute.
But after a moment or two I remembered the old ambo driver had taken the Sheila to the hossie.
Recovering from a fair dinkum sex session where she was left walking bandy legged you ask…..?
Na silly cow burned herself on the Barbie, roasting a few snags and shrimps for me tea, so I reckon its starvation rations ‘til brekkie when she gets out. I am so hungry I could bloody well eat the horse and chase the rider.
So here I am sat in me budgie smugglers as popular with the wife as a brown eyed mullet in the backyard pool checking you blokes out.
Well after considerable effort, reading ‘til I thought I would chuck, I reckon the bloke was so full of shit his eyes were brown. All that yak about you blokes being lower than a centipede’s scrotum was just a snow job.
The guts of it as I see it, is this.
You got a couple quid in the bank.
The Manager is spot on.
The competition is stuffed.
Get your slackers to go walk about.
Team is looking spunky.
Stop sooking like a sheep-shagged Skippy in a pink singlet and go and win.
I’m off down the TAB and put a couple a bucks on it.
Don’t let the bastards drag you down, I’ll check in again to see how youse get on.
Bruce
The Media Influence on Supporters (includes our first list of Sky Sports advertisers)
by Walter Broeckx
What is the impact on watching a game in front of your TV compared to watch it in the stands?
Yesterday evening when I had finished my match report for the Arsenal Benelux website I went to our forum where the other fans from our supporters club give their view on the game and other stuff. I was in a good mood for various reasons after we had won the game.
Normally we have a rather optimistic view on things and we are happy with every win. But when I went to the forum yesterday I saw a lot of unhappy people. There was a lot of moaning. I even found it necessary to point out towards my other supporters that:
It was one year ago that we had won an away game in the CL: so yes there could and should be some joy for this.
We had an entire team first teamers out injured or on the bench to give them some rest: so yes we could have fielded a much stronger team out there but still we managed to win the game.
Our best players like Cesc, Van Persie, Vermaelen from last season and our best player of the start of the season (Walcott) were not playing: so we there is still a lot of room for improvement that we can expect in the coming months.
Partizan Belgrade had only lost one game so far and that was a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Shakthar Donetsk. A team that has not lost in six games and had only conceded 1 (one) goal in their league so far. And I know that you cannot compare the Serbian league with the EPL but whatever league you are in this is not a bad thing I would say.
We played a team that is very strong at home and has an intimidating atmosphere in their ground and we had to cope with that with some 18 and 19 year old players who just are starting their career like Wilshere and Gibbs.
And yes after a slow start we took over and showed them what we can. The only regret is we missed to much chances and we kept them in the game.
And then I told them that you just cannot expect us to win any game with 6-0. Oh yes, I would love us to do so but this just isn’t possible. So one has to be realistic in his expectations.
But after reading Tony’s article on how biased against Arsenal the match reporters have been I started thinking if this suddenly negative view on our performance was not down to what they had been hearing all evening from those match commentators.
Because we exchange the streams we get on our forum and so we look at the same stream most of the time and it was the English stream yesterday. Now I must say that I hardly listen to what those people say. I’m to busy looking at the pc, write my comments down at the same time. So I only listen carefully when they say the name of who scored as sometimes the streams are too bad to make the difference between Arshavin and Wilshere for example.
And after my little rant at our forum people told me that they hadn’t looked at it that way and yes in fact it was a good result, certainly after what happened last weekend, and yes that we should enjoy it and not act like old grumpy fans after a solid performance away from home in what is the Champions League after all.
So I am wondering if this sudden form of negative thinking came as a result of being told for 90 minutes that we are rubbish? Of being told that we have no decent goalkeepers? Of being told that we lack steal? Of being told whatever they have told?
And if it would be true that our supporters have been influenced by the negative comments from the match commentators I really wonder how many fans are influenced by this. All those fans who have to hear it all the time they see us play. After all we live in a society where the influence of what is being shown and said on TV is taken as “The Truth” by many people.
So after reading the article from Tony today and the unusual negative comments from some of our fans 1984 came to my mind. The ministry of (dis)information at work in 2010?
The season before we had an issue with our sporting channel. We felt that they were so anti-Arsenal in their comments that our supporters club had written to them and asking them to be more neutral in their comments when they showed a game from Arsenal. We suggested them that we could suggest our fans to stop their subscription and look at internet streams or even take a satellite dish and look at other channels who broadcast the EPL.
And much to our surprise they did answer and told us they didn’t realised we felt this way and they would take a look at it. And I must say that since then our complaining between each other about the negative comments on the channel has stopped. So I think they had a word with their match commentators about it.
So maybe writing to the advertisers telling them you will not buy their products as long as they support the anti Arsenal approach from the sporting channel they pay, could make those sponsors react and pass it on to the sports channel. Because if there is one thing that sponsors hate, it is the fact of being associated with liars and bad people.
Companies advertising with Sky Sports (the list will be extended – if you see any more please drop a note in so we can add them to the list)
- Ford
- Gillette
- Bose
- Mazda
- The Times
- Next
- DFS
Partizan v Arsenal: The most disgraceful, appalling, awful, inept…
By Tony Attwood
It was the most disgraceful, appalling, awful and unacceptable TV commentary I have ever heard – and there have been some dire ones in the past. I refer, of course, to the commentary on Sky Sports 4 last night.
It wasn’t just that Arsenal were set up from the start by the commentators to fail. It wasn’t just that we were told six times in the first half hour that a particular player had just been granted citizenship by the Serbian government, it was the endless, endless, moaning, nagging, complaining and bitching about Arsenal.
Arsenal, according to the commentary team, were blundering around in the dark and they, these men who had not managed at the highest level (or quite possibly any level) could see instantly all that was wrong. My goodness, five minutes of either of them running the club and Arsenal would be well and truly sorted out!
One wondered, 30 seconds into the game, quite why they were not already running a club in the Champs League, and why they were not half way up a pylon making the lights work. (Indeed it was only when we found that they actually didn’t know that the lights had been going up and down for half an hour that we realised these two turnips were actually sitting in the London studio rather than being at the ground).
Quite clearly the two simpletons doing the commentary had been told, “the story today is that Arsenal are in terminal decline and have a clown for a goalkeeper”. So 100% for staying on script but 0% for integrity.
Everyone can have their opinion of course, but one could equally have started this game with the premise that Arsenal were third in the league, equal with the second club on points, and just 3 behind the leaders. Arsenal had played already in 3 competitions and so far had suffered just one defeat, and that by one goal.
One might say that was a record most of the clubs in the league would be envious of, and certainly a club like Liverpool (tipped for a top four place by Sky commentators before the season started) would love to be in that position.
Indeed one might have added that Chelsea wouldn’t mind having had just one defeat this season instead of two.
One could also have mentioned that you could build a fairly decent team around our injured troops…
Almunia, Vermaelen, Cesc, Ramsey, Diaby, Van Persie, Bendtner, Theo, Frimpong…
And during the game one could perhaps have mentioned that in the past two games two different Arsenal goalkeepers have saved penalties. Or that so far in the Champs League we have scored 9 and let in 1. I am not sure if that puts us top of the league in scoring terms, but there can’t be too many who have done more.
Had they been doing the WBA game they would have been saying, “it could so easily have been four” rather than commending Almunia on a penalty save, or talking about the three times we hit the post. It was that sort of set up.
They might even have said that if the predictions from the media and their allies in the blogs, (the Anti-Arsenal gangs), had their way we’d have sacked all the goalkeepers, because none of them are any good. And they might have said from the start – “there must be something about this Arsenal team – the best fit player recently, Nasri, is on the bench, and they are still playing ok.”
Oh, they might have added, “that Jack Wilshere’s all right too.”
As the match went on they might have noted that this was one hell of an intimidating atmosphere, and that Arsenal fans were having stuff thrown at them (it might just have been rolled up paper, I couldn’t see properly), and yet Arsenal stood their ground, quietened the crowd, and got on and did it all.
But that would not have fitted the pre-ordained script these turnips had in their studio in London.
“You have been run over by a Steamroller,” said the banner, and I wonder what those brilliant fans of Partizan (brilliant apart from throwing stuff) would do to those people who write endless anti-Arsenal blog commentaries and never go to the game.
But back to the match: they could have noted just how many goals Arshavin has got this season. In fact I wish some bloggers might notice that instead of calling for him to be dropped all the time. It is as if because he is no longer the smallest guy in the team he’s useless. Actually I saw someone the other day say that “without Nasri in the team, who is going to score the goals? Just answer that!!!” and the answer is well, Arshavin with five goals in seven games this season. Charmakh’s not bad either.
I am not saying Arsenal were perfect or should have had adulation from the commentary comics, and nor am I saying that things weren’t decidedly dodgy on saturday. I know they weren’t right since I was there.
But in broadcasting terms either there should have been a balanced commentary, or there should have been the traditional British commentary which is pro the British team.
Clearly for Sky Sports, the game is “knock Arsenal”. They obviously think that is a money winner.
But why? The programme was on Sky Sports 4, thus relegating it to the bottom position in importance. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Sky Sports 3 was simultaneously showing Masters Beach Volley Ball – the 1984 series). It was obvious from the advertising of the evening that Sky Sports did, they expected all the neutrals to be watching the KGB in Fulham. So more than likely all they had on Sky Sports 4 was Arsenal fans. Why insult them?
I have not the foggiest idea, but all I can say to the companies advertising around the show is, since I can’t take it out on Sky Sports, as they have the contract to show the away games, I’ll take it out on you. Until Sky Sports sorts itself out, I’m boycotting all products and services advertised on Sky Sports. Starting with Gillette.
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Would you like to write for Untold Arsenal? You can – just click here
Partizan v Arsenal: The Untold Referee’s Index
Does the Champions League affect EPL results?
Partizan vs Arsenal – an Untold Prediction
Partizan vs Arsenal – the injury index
By Walter Broeckx, the untold ref
For our CL game against Belgrade we got the company of ref Stark from Germany. Did he have a “stark” (strong in English) performance?
A first point of attention is the fact that I cannot remember a game that was televised in such a bad way. Sometimes you got no replays from some decisions or the wrong replays from the wrong angles and this made my match report more difficult.
So if pictures prove me wrong (later on) on some of my points just let me know because I had to do with a not that good stream on the internet and even when they gave the entire match on TV later that night I still couldn’t see some of the incidents properly.
Sorry for sounding like Wenger [careful Walter - ed] but I then did what a ref should do: stay with your first opinion. And why on earth was there no cameras on the line of the penalty area????
PENALTY: Partizan player goes down but the ref gives nothing. As this was one of the worst televised games ever with no replay I can only confirm what the ref has seen: nothing. So I give him this decision. 1/1
PENALTY : Wilshere crosses against a Partizan defender. The ball hits his arm but from close range and his arm was in front of his body. So no penalty for me and thus a correct decisions from the ref. 1/1
GOAL: 1-0 ARSENAL nothing to report apart from some very nice footwork from Wilshere all within the rules. 1/1
OTHER/CARD : chance for Arshavin and foul on Wilshere. Great from the ref to give the advantage but when the chance is missed and then he stops play in midfield. He should have given a yellow card then. It was a dangerous tackle on Wilshere and deserved a yellow card. 1/1 and 0/1
PENALTY: On arsenal.com this line came on the site: “Denilson handles in the area after a cross from the left and the penalty is given! That looked harsh.” And at first sight it looked harsh. But when I saw the replay (some 15 minutes later) I could see that Denilson had his arm not next to his body. And as the cross travelled some 15 meters in the air before getting to Denilson he had the time to get his arm out of the way. So yes a penalty. 1/1
OTHER/CARD: Tackle from behind on Wilshere. The ref gives no foul and no card. He points that the ball has been played. Sorry ref, he came in with two feet from behind and hits the player and then gets the ball. Always foul and should have been a yellow card. Losing points here. 0/1 and 0/1
PENALTY/CARD: And thanks to who ever invented all those high tech things so one can freeze images on his TV. Chamakh goes on goal with the defender in his back and goes down. Ref gives a penalty and a red card. From the moment he gives the foul he has to send him off. And then the major talking point: was he fouled? Well on the replay it showed that the defender hit Chamakh on his calf (got it freeze framed on my big TV screen) and then Chamakh fell over. The defender did touch him in an illegal way so it was a foul. But was it a penalty? No it wasn’t. Because when I freeze the picture on the moment that the defender hits Chamakh both players their feet were outside the penalty area. So the bottom line: it was a red card foul on a player going on goal as the last defender. But the foul was just outside the penalty area so the penalty decision was wrong. O/1 for the penalty and 1/1 for the card. So Arshavin missing the penalty saves the ref because it would have been a not correct goal.
CARD: Booking for a cynical tackle from behind on Chamakh. Correct decision. 1/1
GOAL : Chamakh makes our second goal and all well within the rules. 1/1
GOAL: Squillaci scores his first for Arsenal and nothing to report about this goal. 1/1
PENALTY: Gibbs brings a Partizan player down on the edge of the penalty area. Again when I freeze the image the foul is outside the area. It was a foul but again like with Chamakh it was outside the penalty area. 0/1
PENALTY: 3/5
GOAL: 4/4
CARD: 2/4
OTHER:1/2
TOTAL: 10/15 (67%)
I must say that the ref had a bit of bad luck with some of his decisions in the penalty area or not in and this of course reflects in his total points. You hardly get this “on the line decisions” once in a game but to have it twice in a game is a bit of bad luck for the ref.
In fact he was a bit lucky that both the penalties were missed. He could have felt let down by his assistants on both occasions. It is normally up to them to decide if it was in or out the penalty area. But like I said it is a matter of team work.
I also had the feeling that he was a bit soft in punishing some tackles like the tackle from behind on Wilshere I mentioned. I had on another few occasions the same feeling that he wasn’t strong enough to get rid of those tackles. And there were other examples where he missed some dangerous tackles.
This is something that he has in his own hands. So I must admit that I’m not totally satisfied with his performance on the night.
So not the best game of his life I think or hope for him. But also not the worst performance I have ever seen.
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Does the Champions League affect EPL results?
Partizan vs Arsenal – an Untold Prediction
Partizan vs Arsenal – the injury index
by Walter Broeckx
Does the Champions league has an effect on the season or not? A question that is often asked but has it ever been researched?
Now we shouldn’t be complaining about the extra pressure we put on ourselves when we play in the Champions League. We earn a lot of money by joining in this competition and like the saying goes: no pain, no gain. But playing in the champions league can cost you points in the Premier league. Do these games win you the title or make you lose the title? I will try to see how it affected the league last year and if there is any difference between playing at home or away after a champions league game.
There is no better way than just to check what happened last season. But I only checked it with the group stages as for the next round it depends a lot on how far you get. If you don’t go further after the first round you have not as many games and then it is more difficult to treat every team in the same way.
In fact there are some 15-16% of the points to be won in the Pl after games in the group stages of the CL. I also tried to calculate what it would have meant if we kept the same form for each team after the CL games.
Last season Arsenal played 3 games at home and 3 away after a champions league match. We won two games at home and away, we played 2-2 at West Ham and lost one game at home to Chelsea. A total of 13 points on a possible 18. We won 6 points at home and 7 away. If we would have kept this form the whole season we would have made a total of 82 points. In reality we had 75. So we won more points after CL games than average.
Manchester United also played 3 games away and 3 at home. From the home games they won one, lost one and had one draw. From the away games they lost two and won one. So a total of 7 points on a possible 18. United won 4 points at home and 3 away. If Utd would have had this form running the whole season they would have ended with 44 points. In reality they got 85. United lost more points when playing the group stages than average.
The 3rd team in the CL was Liverpool and they also had 3 home games and 3 away. At home they won one, had one draw and lost one (to Arsenal) and away from home they won 2 and lost one. A total of 10 points on a possible 18. Liverpool won 4 points at home and 6 away from home. Liverpool on this form would have reached 63 points and that is exactly what they got. It didn’t matter for Liverpool if they played CL or not.
But what to think of Chelsea’s fixture list. They had 5 home games and only one away game which they won. They won 4 of their home games and had one draw against Everton. So a 16 points on a possible 18 points. Chelsea won 13 points at home and 3 away. If they would have kept that form the whole season they would have got 101 points. They got 86 points. So Chelsea won more points when playing in the group stages of the CL than they did for the rest of the season.
So this means that during the group stages Arsenal and Chelsea won more points than during the rest of the season. For Liverpool it didn’t matter but for United it was clear that they struggled during the group stages in the CL. Maybe this was the reason for Ferguson to put out a bit of a weaker team against Glasgow Rangers?
If we take the points of the three teams that played as many games at home as they did play away we get a total of 14 points won at home (from a possible 27) and 16 points (again from a possible 27) won away from home. So it looks that playing away from home could be an advantage.
And if we include the points from Chelsea we get 27 points on a possible total of 42 home points to be won. And we get a total of 19 points won on a possible total of 30.
In percentages you get a success rate of 64% at home and 63% away. So only marginally better but not that much difference between the points won at home and away. Not as much as one would expect at first thought. But then again we talk about top teams who should have a squad that should be able to deal with many games both at home and away.
When we compare United and Chelsea it is clear that United lost the title in the games after a CL games in the group stages. Or maybe better said Chelsea didn’t lose the title after the champions league group matches. United had by far the worst record of the top 4 teams that played in the champions league. A very poor record if you compare it to the rest of their season. If Chelsea also would have had a normal schedule (3 home/3away) then we could draw some more definite conclusions on being it an advantage of playing at home or not. But with the fixtures being so different it is hard to tell.
But also this season we will not be able to make a clear conclusion as the fixture list is very strange to say the least. Tottenham plays 5 home games after a CL game and one away. United have 4 home games and 2 away. Chelsea must travel 4 games away and 2 at home. And Arsenal will be like a rock band on tour this season as we have to play 5 games away from our home after a champions league game. The only game at home is against Newcastle when I will be in the Clock End.
So I guess we will have to wait for the season after this season when all the participants have 3 away and 3 home games after a CL match to really have reliable evidence if it is an advantage to play at home after a CL match or not. So the EPL would do me a big favour if they could come up with a very balanced fixture list next time around.
Partizan vs Arsenal – an Untold Prediction
Partizan vs Arsenal – the injury index
Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 6
By Dale Higginbottom
This last weekend saw teams, including or beloved Arsenal, slip up against weaker opposition. What do the injuries say about this and do we as Arsenal fans have good reason to believe that this was just a hiccup?
As before the players listed are players failing to make their respective squads due to an injury that has been reported. The number after the player name is the number of games he’s been unavailable for selection this season and any other issues are reported below the team’s figures.
Arsenal Vs West Brom
Arsenal (8 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
- Defence – Vermaelen (3), Gibbs (1)
- Midfield – Frimpong (5), Ramsey (6), Fabregas (2)
- Attack – Bendtner (6), van Persie (3), Walcott (3)
Additional issues: Rosicky was reported as a doubt before the game but made the bench. Diaby and Eboue also passed last fitness tests to make the starting line-up.
West Ham Vs Tottenham
Tottenham (7 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Gomes (4)
- Defence – Dawson (3), Kaboul (1), King (1), Assou-Ekotto (1), Gallas (2)
- Midfield – O’Hara (6)
- Attack – Defoe (4)
Additional issues: The injured Woodgate, not in the 25-man squad, is not included in this list.
Man City Vs Chelsea
Man City (6 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
- Defence – Richards (1), Bridge (5), Kolarov (5)
- Midfield – Wright-Phillips (1)
- Attack – Balotelli (5), Tchuimeni-Nimely (3)
Additional issues: Boateng, Lescott and Adebayor were only fit enough to make the bench (nod to Tony’s excellent carpentry joke in an earlier article). Boateng and Adebayor came on as late second-half substitutes.
Chelsea (4 injuries)
- Goalkeeper- No injuries reported
- Defence – Bosingwa (6)
- Midfield – Lampard (3), Benayoun (1)
- Attack – Kalou (1)
Additional issues: Kakuta was reported as a doubt for the game but was an unused substitute.
Liverpool Vs Sunderland
Liverpool (1 injury)
- Goalkeeper, midfield, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Aurelio (3)
Additional issues: Kuyt was doubtful prior to the game but played the full game. An injury to Konchesky meant that he was only able to play 28 minutes before coming off.
Bolton Vs Man Utd
Man Utd (3 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, defence, attack – No injuries reported
- Midfield – Hargreaves (6), Carrick (3), Valencia (2)
Additional issues: Giggs played just 53 minutes, coming off with an injury. Ferdinand appears to be fit having played mid-week but was left out of the squad.
On Friday, and even more so mid-afternoon on Saturday, I had hoped to be writing this injury round-up in a more joyous mood. The Carling Cup win against Tottenham, the great financial results showing that we’re superbly equipped for the future. A great tie in the Carling Cup (ok great for me, being a Gooner in the North-East) and Chelsea finally dropping points in the league. All these were reasons to be cheerful and there’s no reason why one result should take anything away particularly when you look at the injury figures.
It is beginning to sound a bit like a stuck record but Arsenal again top the injury league table. Whilst this doesn’t excuse the performance on Saturday it shows that sometimes, after a hard week, you need one or two of your inspirational players to step up and take hold of the game. Missing Vermaelen, Fabregas and van Persie is like Man Utd without Vidic, Scoles and Rooney; Chelsea without Terry, Lampard and Drogba or Liverpool without Carragher, Gerrard and Torres.
The Carling Cup was a deserved victory but a team can only ride its luck for so long without these key, inspirational players.
Spurs could be regretting signing Gallas as he picked up another injury and their defence is looking particularly weak considering the players missing. A defeat away to West Ham adds to their difficulties and with the Champions League games adding extra pressure it’s a wonder if they might suffer later on, either through increased injuries or even more dropped points or defeats.
The early Saturday game between Man City and Chelsea was always going to be a tight affair. Chelsea probably missed a few attacking options with Lampard, Benayoun and Kalou unavailable and it’s a wonder if they really have the squad depth considering a few of their key players are getting on a bit and are therefore a little more likely to pick up knocks or strains.
Man Utd have continued their form in away games as they struggle to get all three points. In all three of their away games Rooney has either not played or has been there in body but not in spirit, they need him fit and on form.
Liverpool just can’t compete. Only one recorded injury plus the knock picked up by Konchesky and they still can’t win games. They have six points and have had very minimal injuries so far, so no excuses. We would give anything not to be in Liverpool’s overall position but would dearly love their current run of luck with injuries.
I’ll leave the full analysis to the first round-up at the half-way point of the season but I did want to point out one small observation. So far this season 12 different Arsenal players have missed at least one league game through injury. That’s 12 players who have had their start to the season stutter at a time where building match fitness and finding form is important for confidence and self-belief.
Excluding Woodgate, Spurs have also had 12, Man City 9, Chelsea 8, Man Utd 6 and Liverpool just 2.
When squads and line-ups are affected and adjusted week-on-week and the preparation time between games is just a couple of days it’s no wonder that sometimes the team doesn’t always gel. Players will go out of position, passes will go astray and there will sometimes be a breakdown in communication but this won’t always happen. It’s just three points and it will all be forgotten when we beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Partizan vs Arsenal – an Untold Prediction
By Phil Gregory
Partizan away is by no means a game to be taken lightly. Our away form in Europe isn’t the greatest, but to be fair, the lack of wins has much to do with the fact that many of the ties didn’t actually require a win, with dead rubbers and the like tossed in there.
Anyway, onwards with the preview. I’m not going to dwell on the WBA game for all or sakes, though the injury list isn’t much more uplifting. The goalkeeping situation is certainly interesting. Almunia is injured (make of that what you will) which means Szcznesy and Fabianksi have travelled to Belgrade. Fabianksi will almost certainly start in goal, but with his fellow Pole having also travelled it’s a reasonable question to ask is Wojciech now considered our third choice? In the circumstances, I would’ve expected Mannone to travel for bench duty, but perhaps the young Pole’s recent rant has focused Wenger’s mind somewhat. We shall see.
Gibbs travelled, which is one piece of excellent news after some iffy leftback performances from Clichy. Competition is no bad thing, and the young England international will be looking to press Gael hard over the season. Cesc is, of course, out, while Vermaelen’s mysterious achilles injury still keeps the Belgian out. The long-term quintet of Bendtner, Van Persie, Walcott, Ramsey and Frimpong is very much a case of as you were last week, unfortunately.
The squad didn’t contain Abou Diaby, who was disappointing on the weekend though Henri Lansbury made the trip. Though unlikely to feature with at least one senior midfielder on the bench, the England youth international should be motivated by the fact his performances have warranted his inclusion in the matchday squad, and he will be capable of playing a role if he is called upon. The next Ray Parlour I’m sure I heard Arsène say at some point recently, which is certainly something to aim for.
For me, the wise money would be on the following team line-up:
Fabianksi
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Clichy
Song
Denilson Wilshere
Nasri Chamakh Arshavin
I’ve got Denilson coming in to facilitate our possession game. How we use the ball will be vital in what is going to be an intimidating atmosphere. Possession football is a better defence than either any pressing set-up or two well-drilled, deep banks of four. While we have the ball, the opponent cannot score so someone like Denilson is pivotal in recycling the ball effectively and moving it on safely.
I’ve left Rosicky out of the line-up despite some impressive performances (penalty-taking aside) as Nasri was outstanding against West Brom, while Wilshere brings fight, solidity and not an insignificant contribution in terms of creativity to the midfield.
It goes without saying we need better for the defence in this game. Koscielny has been impressive since his arrival, so he can be forgiven for the odd below-par game.
What matters however, is how the players react to the disappointment. That’s going to prove the X factor, and it means I’ve no idea what to expect from this game. After a hugely disappointing result at the weekend, the players head into an intimidating atmosphere in Eastern Europe. Will heads be down, or will there be a reaction?
I’m going for 2-1 to the Arsenal off the back of a swashbuckling performance from young Jack. I don’t expect it to all go our way, and our passing will need to be much more crisp than it was at home. Despite the injuries, we have some strong players available, and some solid options on the bench in case we need to change things around.
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Editorial what-not: I am aware that the Untold review of injuries has not been published. I had it ready to go up this morning, but I have corrupted the file. Will get it uploaded as fast as possible – Tony
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Read between the lines.
By Terence McGovern
So the annual financial figures are in and all is rosy in the garden. It is notable however that many Arsenal fans are not exactly overcome with enthusiasm about it and so we should ask ourselves, what we want from these figures and really at the end of it all what are they going to do for us the supporters.
Let’s break it down and keep it simple. I would point out that I might be a few quid or a year out here or there and if you wish to be pedantic about it and jump on a slight inaccuracy, please don’t bother. My articles are in the main authored from a philosophical point of view and thus a mil/year or so out is irrelevant.
So we have made a bundle from the property sales and with 60 units or so left to sell (20 or so being sold since the closing of the last set of accounts) we will have more profit to add from the remaining sales. We have over £125 million in the bank although about £40 million of that is held both as a guarantee towards our stadium financing for the next 21 years and also an allotment towards new developments on our remaining 3 sites. Still that does leave us £85 million or so which fans of most clubs would kill for but a large segment of our support is unenthusiastic about.
In a sense, it is understandable for a certain type of fan to be thinking that if we have it then why are we not spending it? They are thinking that we could spend £20 million on a goalkeeper and the world would be a better place etc. It is unfortunate that we have fans that will only be appeased be the “idea” of spending large sums regardless of whether they are needed or not. They want the temporary addictive lift it brings and the questionable bragging rights that anybody can claim at the start of a new season.
Now I could point out that the year we went unbeaten we spent less than £1 million in the market but that was spent on a keeper and not wanting the debate to get skewed I will avoid the keeper issue like the plague.
Here is my take on what this profitability gives to our club and to us the supporters.
For a start we can bask in the warm glow of financial security whilst we watch Liverpool go down in flames. We can also look at the distant horizon and detect a slight plume of smoke over Manchester. If you are close enough, please blow on it . The way that Arsenal has operated and carefully guarded our money means that it would take years and years of mismanagement(highly unlikely unless the lunatics take over the asylum) for our fortunes to slide to the detrimental state of these two historic giants of the game. Pretty soon history may be all their fans have.
The club has spent some money although not wildly, but at first glance seem to have spent cleverly. Koscielny was our largest outlay somewhere in the £8 million range and most were initially uninspired by the purchase. However, it would take the most stubborn malcontented fan to deny that he has had some outstanding performances especially given he was literally thrown in at the deep end.
Squillaci is still an unknown quantity but his performances so far seem assured and calm because his positioning has been meticulously observed. Then we come to Chamakh who was on a free but as we know from Sol’s days these ‘free’ players have a large loyalty payment paid each year on top of their impressive salaries. It would not be a surprise if Chamakh is on similar money to Cesc. There was a time when we were accused of not paying comparable wages to other clubs but that day has long passed.
This is an expensive business.
The club has, over the last year, extended a raft of player contracts with a mind to securing the long term stability of the team. That is to say that if they continue playing together, they will improve as a team without constant chopping and changing. This of course has been an expensive process also.
There is no doubt that should the need arise or be perceived by the manager in January, then the club will spend to solve that need. Arshavin and Reyes are examples of this. We are suffering from a lot of injuries as usual and although the wonderful victory at WHL against the Totts showed that more than any other club in the EPL we have strength in depth. If it gets any worse we may need to increase the squad. Tony has already made the point that due to several players breaching the “over 21” barrier we may have to shuffle a few in and out anyway. Either way the cash is there if we need it.
Where the cash will be used and must be used is to remedy an obvious shortfall in the Arsenal business model. Our commercial revenue is severely lagging behind that of our EPL peers and also our European counterparts. The reason for this is simple. We needed money to get the Emirates stadium project off the ground and Emirates provided a £100 million deal but it was front loaded and as we are in the second half of the 15 year deal, the income from it is now declining year by year so it is almost negligible.
Similarly our shirt deal with Nike was struck from a poor bargaining position and renewed based on a clause in the original deal so whilst better than the Emirates deal it is not as good as that of say Liverpool or Man Utd. These deals had to be done and we will simply have to deal with them until 2004 and 2017 respectively.
That all being said we have a new commercial operations executive, Tom Fox who has worked with the NBA and Nike specifically in Asia. This appointment is a declaration of intent. The Far East is where the market expansion potential is and this guy knows the territory. Arsenal will be expanding their retail operations in India, and in China and other parts of the Far East. We will be increasing our brand exposure through football academies and other development projects all over the world including throughout Africa. On top of that there is a huge drive to find media and internet partners particularly examining the sale of high definition internet live streams of games. (See the link at the end of this article for the Untold Arsenal piece on Arsenal’s drive to HD Broadband).
How that will stack up long term versus the TV deals and conflicts of interest is anyone’s guess but I would venture that the first to establish a viable internet following globally, will steal a serious march on the opposition.
It is worth noting that I recently watched a reserves game courtesy of an official Man city stream that I would probably pay for if it was available from my own club so the powers that be take note. One camera with an internet link could yield some extra cash.
All this development takes money and promoting a global brand against other global brands that have billions at their disposal is no easy task but as long as the football is superb there will be a market for it and long term, the rewards will be great. It is worth noting that Sky couldn’t wait to tie the EPL down for a new bigger deal that included overseas broadcasting before somebody else got in on the action or the clubs took matters into their own hands individually or collectively. The market there is potentially worth several times what it is worth here so watch that space over the next 5-10 years.
It is crucial that the club gets in on the action in this part of the world as quickly as possible because doing so will catch us up with our competitor in commercial income here.
Now there are those who will say that all this is doing is lining the pockets of the sharaeholders. Well yes and no.
Yes the shareholders will become richer via the increased value of their shareholding.
You have only to look at what David Dein paid for his shares and the amount that he sold out to Alisher Usamov for to see the vast sums that can be made this way.
No the shareholders cannot touch any of this money. It is there as a resources for use by the club for the club. Arsenal shareholders do not receive a dividend nor do they have any access to club funds for any personal use or security. Anybody who states otherwise is speaking from a position of ignorance and through their arse.
Will some evil despot take over the club and plunge us into some leveraged buy out hell? It is possible but unlikely from the current set up. Stan has just purchased the Rams in the US and supports plural ownership and the self sustaining model. Usamov is more unknown but vastly richer and wouldn’t need to borrow to buy in theory. To be honest neither seems anxious to make a move as things stand and anyway we are in no position to intervene unless one of you is a secret billionaire with an extra billion to spare. That is a bridge that we will have to cross when we come to it …if we come to it.
Personally I think that all concerned will see the figures today as an accelerator for their share value and be happy. Promoting theories that it will activate some go order for a hostile takeover is both counter-productive and without foundation.
Still there are those that like to rail without foundation. They don’t care about overseas growth because they don’t speak English over there and they are foreigners so who cares. They don’t care that the new signings are performing beyond most reasonable hopes. They don’t care about financial figures that bring a wealth of respect to our club internationally. They don’t care that every club that buys the type of players that they want, the way that they want Arsenal to buy, is in dire financial straits or at in danger of excluding themselves from European competition.
They want big signings whether good or bad. They want Arsenal to buy players that they have seen 5 minute segments of on YouTube. They want players with big price tags so that they can boast to their equally retarded mates.
They want it now daddy!
Thankfully, they do not run the club and their ilk never will. That is why we are on the rise whilst our historic rivals fall. That is why our future is secure and that is why, 10 years and 20 years from now in an expanding global and competitive domestic marketplace, Arsenal will still be competing at the top table of domestic and European football.
We all want trophies of course but some of us realise that some you win and some you lose no matter how good you are or how much you spend.
How much comfort is Portsmouth’s FA Cup victory to their fans now that they realise it cost them a premiership standing that may never return.
Will Liverpool’s trophy room be any compensation when the banks move in, their few good players are sold and they slip down the table or maybe worse?
We will have to ask them because those who generated those financial figures today through foresight, planning and discipline will never let it happen to us and they will take those actions in spite of what some Arsenal fans demand.
Arsenal prepare for HD Broadband
By Phil Gregory
Righto, so Arsenal have released their latest financial statements, so let’s have a look at them.
There’s been much ado made over record breaking profits and turnover, but it’s important to remember that this is solely attributable to the property development side of the club and so these bumper profits are largely going to be a one-off. Moreover, these profits weren’t diverted into Arsene’s kitty, we instead used them to pay off huge sums of the more expensive bank debt so as to save us money in the long run.
As it stands, our debt consists of around £240m of cheap (5.3%) bonds, which have a fixed repayment plan in place, so won’t be paid off en-masse like the bank debt was. That leaves us with roughly £20m of costs in regards to our remaining debts: £5.6m of capital repayment on the bonds, and the rest is the interest bill. It is interesting to note also how much cheaper (and longer-term) our bond debt is when compared to Manchester United, and also how we actually have a plan in place to pay it off when the final maturity date comes.
I’m going to concentrate purely on the footballing side of the club ‘s business from here on. Any figures mentioned are excluding the property side of the club which is now generating pure cash profits with every sale.
Looking at the numbers, the numbers aren’t as good as you might expect from the recent headlines, largely thanks to the recession. Turnover actually declined slightly compared to last year, from £225m to £222.9m. That is partly because of a decline in matchday revenues from £100m to £94m due to a lower number of home games played that season. Commercial revenues are also down to £44m from £48, likely attributable to the recession causing people to think twice about that replica shirt, but also partly the lower number of home games reducing merchandising sales at the club shop. These declines were partly offset by the ever-rising TV money, with the Gunners featuring on TV four more times than the previous season and a spanking new Champion League TV deal starting up.
Given the fall in other revenue streams except TV, broadcasting revenue now contributes 38% of revenue. This is a fairly large rise compared to last year but nothing to be overly worried about, given the profitability of Sky and the lack of bad news emanating from the wider broadcasting market (unless you’re in Spain).
Such results led to operating profits falling to £35.5m, which is hardly a cause for concern! Operating profits are a great hallmark for how secure a club’s core business is and it is clear to see that we are well in the clear in that respect.
Wages rose to £110m, up £6m from the year before. The accounts make it clear that more growth is to be expected due to contract renewals and the like, but with wages at only 49.7% of turnover (admittedly up slightly on the previous year) we can afford to absorb wage rises for some time yet. That, however is a tricky situation to manage. If wages are restrained, the club has substantial profits that can be reinvested into the team, be it in the transfer fees or wages of new signings. Once wages rise however (and bear in mind even if nobody is bought, wages will rise due to renewals, young players getting paid more as they develop etc), such profits are eliminated, and a manager has to sell in order to buy sustainably.
Freeing up money for the transfer fee and making room in the wage budget in order to keep the books balanced is never going to be easy, so the flexibility offered by solid operating profits is always welcomed.
Amortisation spending (transfer fee divided by the length of the contract) was also up slightly. This isn’t surprising, as the sales of Adebayor and Toure won’t have taken much amortisation costs off the books. Toure joined in 2002 for £150,000 and Adebayor was signed in 2006 for £3m, so neither had anything left to be amortised. The acquisition of Vermaelen and the subsequent amortisation would easily have outweighed the final few pounds of amortisation “saved” made by selling Kolo and Adebayor.
Overall, there’s much to be pleased about and many of the downsides can be explained as either the vagaries of sport as a business or the recession. For me, we’re in a fine situation while many of our rivals are getting worried at the new Financial Fair Play regulations. The worry for the whole game has to be the constant upward pressure on wages, especially with TV money unlikely to be far from the top of the market.
Were the Financial Fair Play regulations responsible for this summer’s quiet transfer market? It’s hard to say. Bar City, the big clubs didn’t really spend and this will have impacted on the amount of money the smaller sides had to play with. That said, many of the smaller sides are at best barely profitable, so tight lending conditions combined with a new fear of lending to football as a result of the RBS-Liverpool situation might have ended the prospect of buying players on credit supplied by the financial sector. Such a move isn’t a bad thing, and clubs may soon realise in order to buy they have to first generate profits, and the only real cost with potential to be significantly cut is wages. Maybe I’m too optimistic, but the new-found restraint may be here to stay.
Except for Arsenal of course, who will have the ability to spend ludicrous amounts of money sustainably next summer, with the only restraint being the 25 man squad limit and the coming of age of various of our Young Guns.
by Walter Broeckx, the referee
Together with West Bromwich Albion came ref Michael Oliver. A young ref with some kind of reputation. Let us see how his match was. Could it be worse than ours?
OTHER/CARD: the ref blows a foul against Eboue at the moment the foul is given. The ball runs to Nasri who could have made a run at goal but is called back by the whistle. The ref gives a yellow card against the WBA devender. The foul was correct but he could have given an advantage. 1/1 and 1/1. I will come back on the advantage later on.
PENALTY/CARD: the WBA striker goes on goal surrounded by Arsenal defenders. Almunia comes out, the player pushes the ball to the outside and is fouled. The ref gives a penalty and a yellow card. Penalty is correct and according to the instructions the yellow card is also correct. The player goes to the outside of the keeper and if the keeper brings him down it is a yellow card. If the player would have gone at the other side of the keeper (direct route on goal) it would have been a red card. 1/1 and 1/1.
CARD: late tackle on Sagna. Should have been a yellow card. 0/1
GOAL: as a supporter we can have some complaints but when you look at the rule book I cannot find anything to complain about. 1/1
CARD: yellow card against Koscielny and nothing to complain I think. 1/1
GOAL/CARD: as a supporter we can maybe have even more complaints but again when I look at the rule book I cannot find anything to complain about. The scorer gets a yellow card for pulling out his shirt. 1/1 and 1/1
PENALTY: Nasri goes down but I have only seen it once I think I would have done the same and not give a penalty. To be fair for the ref he had some 4 or 5 bodies between him and the incident so he didn’t go for a foul as he maybe couldn’t see it with his own eyes. 1/1
CARD: Chamakh slides to the ball and hits the keeper. I would have done the same thing and given a yellow card. You don’t attack the keeper with your foot going in and if you touch him you get a card. 1/1 The keeper made a lot of it but that is what would you expect.
CARD: card against WBA and again the ref had it right. 1/1
GOAL: a lot to complain about but nothing against the rules. 1/1
GOAL: finally something to celebrate and nothing to complain when I look at the rule book. 1/1
CARD/OTHER: the ref misses a foul on Nasri, who is kicked from behind. Rosicky then goes in and gets a foul against him. Correct that Rosicky comes in late and gets a yellow but the ref should have blown his whistle before for the first foul. 1/1 and 0/1
GOAL: a good goal and nothing to complain about the rules. 1/1
OTHER: 1/2
GOALS: 5/5
PENALTY: 2/2
CARD: 7/8
TOTAL: 15 /17 (88%)
Just one remark on his performance in the first half: right before half time a WBA player is injured. He is being treated at some 3 meter from the goal line. When he gets up he is not sent to the nearest touchline but he walks slowly to the side line and is winning some time there. As a ref you should keep an eye on that. But when I have to point at such a minor thing it means that the ref in general had an excellent game. And his score tells it all. 88 % is a very high score and one of the best so far.
About the time wasting. This is something that as a ref you can only punish by giving extra time or by giving yellow cards. So he could have booked the keeper. By doing this we would have lost another minute. You cannot wave a card from the half way line (where the ref is standing when the keeper kicks the ball in the field o play) so you should run over to the goal an give a card. You can see this costs a lot of time. What he could have done is do a Dowd and that is to allow more time even after the extra time. But like I said before this is something up to the ref and the ref alone.
I think time wasting is something that can only be really kept if we stop the clock and restart it when the ball goes out of play. It will be a point of debate until the rules are changed I’m afraid. I hate it as much as you all do but I think it is up to Fifa to find a solution on this.
About the advantage or better said the not given advantage to Nasri. I think the ref was very close to the fouls most of the time and as a result he got most of them correct (just one on Nasri that lead to the Rosicky yellow card that I can remember). So this is good but sometimes when you are a bit further you have a better look on a possible advantage. But when you see a hard foul that you want to punish with a yellow card you sometimes blow a fraction of a second to quick. It happened to the ref on this occasion and we could feel a bit hard done by. It happens to every ref that you blow and that just when you blow you can see the advantage but then it is too late. A ref who said it never happens to him is lying. I think the ref new this but this is one of those things that in a fraction of a second you blow and then realise that you could have given an advantage. So bad luck for us (maybe) and for the ref.
I also would like to invite the Sunderland fans who came over here telling me that I was a biased as can be and other rubbish. I think I can be neutral when it comes to looking at a ref. I don’t feel the need to blame a ref just for the sake of it. I don’t need to blame a ref when we lose points. I only feel the need to blame refs when they had a bad game or showed that they had a bad performance or made blatant mistakes. So despite the pain of losing the game I will not blame the ref for us losing the game.
I think that I can say as a final conclusion that if our 11 players would have been as good as the ref we would have won the game and by a large margin.
By Walter Broeckx
Well this wasn’t our best day today.
You could see and feel from the first minutes that half of the team was still celebrating our victory at WHL and the other where checking their list to see if they had everything packed for the visit to Belgrade next Tuesday.
As a result only Nasri really turned up and had a good game in my opinion. But he couldn’t find many players on the same wavelength today.
Was it any coincidence that Almunia had a bad day? Or was it because the team, for the first time this season, was not defending like we have done in the previous games. Then the whole team defended but now a few players were totally not involved in the game. I think it is obvious that the first 2 substitutes show who I mean.
Diaby and Eboue had their worst game in a very long time and as a result we lost the battle in midfield and couldn’t build up like we are used to do. And because we couldn’t keep the ball and the off day of some players our defenders were left alone for a large part. The midfield didn’t pick up the runners from WBA and they capitalised on that.
I really do wonder if Diaby was fully fit. He moved very slowly over the pitch and it looked that he was in trouble physically. Off course we cannot know what was decided on Friday but if the medical staff found he was fit and the player also, they should reconsider their opinion. He could have been medically fit but I think he was not match fit. By medical fit I mean that you can run and turn on the training field but that is not the same as running and turning when you are being attacked and you have to track back on the tempo the opponents are giving you. I can understand that if the medical staff tells the player is fit that Wenger started him. It could have been useful to give him playing time to get him back on tracks but it went wrong.
Eboue was also having a bad day. He also had a test on Friday and maybe he had the same problem. He missed a lot of passes, looked slow and didn’t find his place on the field. But here also, he never looked at ease during the game today.
These are the things that can happen to a player and certainly when you just come back from injury. Sometimes you just step in and continue how you had been playing before the injury and sometimes you need more time. I think it was obvious the latter in Diaby’s case this time. Nasri has been an example of the first option. But as a manager you never know what will happen.
I think that Wenger has played them both with an eye on Tuesday. I think that on Tuesday he will start with almost the team that was played at the end but with Koscielny still on the field. I think he wanted to give them a game today so that he could rest Wilshere who had been playing a lot until now and also Rosicky who was doubtful before the game. It didn’t work out as both Diaby and Eboue played not at their best. This can happen.
And maybe the rest of the team also can try to keep in mind that you need to do more than just walk on the field to win the game. For the first time this season we didn’t fight and play with the whole team and it showed in the final result.
Now I must say that when the game was lost and we were 3-0 down we finally started doing what we should have been done from the start. I think that Wenger will have a serious word with the players that started today and point at this.
We can feel let down by the team today but this will not mean that I will shoot our players down. Or write them off. This is just part of being a supporter. And by no mean don’t think that I am saying that any of these players is not good enough. They have shown enough that they can do it. But as they are only humans this can happen.
But I do hope that we get some important players back as soon as possible. I’m not using our injury list as an excuse as I do think the players who started the game should have been capable of winning it. And I also hope that the players are more focussed on what they have to do next time around.
This is the first defeat of the season since we started it on July 17. So it is always a bit sour but we just have to stand up, dust ourselves off, and start again. And show that we are The Arsenal.
And if defeat hurts us
On a rare and seldom day
We will not desert you
Our Gunners in arms
By Tony Attwood
A bad day at the office generally can be put right the next day. You know you are off-form and the more you try to correct it the worse it gets. In the end you just have to accept that it was a bad day at the office.
The trouble with football is that the impact of that day lingers for longer. We had a grotty match and we lost to a team we never imagined we would lose to. Nothing can be done to salvage that because we don’t play them again. All we can do is win the next match.
In the end the analysis is simple – almost everyone was having a rotten time. Passes were going astray from the start, and when it happened again immediately after half time you knew it was just going to go on like that.
And what it proved is that if you take something over half the regular starters out of a team, either because they are injured, or because you have a troublesome game coming up mid-week, in the end, it shows.
Worse, among those missing are the men who would otherwise be the heartbeat of the team: Theo, Cesc, Van Persie – and I would add Bendtner, whom we have seen in the past rescue games like this with a header into the net in the last minute.
Then there was the temptation to put out a strong team in League Cup for a change, to beat Tottenham. There have been millions of critics telling Wenger that he was wrong not to go for the Diddly Cup – and finally he listened to them. But maybe a bad Saturday against West Brom was the price to pay.
Of course in a perfect season you don’t get games like this, but perfect seasons are rare – as the KGB in Fulham have just found out with two defeats in a row, and as Man IOU have found out with giving away goals in the last few minutes.
Goodness knows how Wenger can pick the team up after that for a trip to Europe, but then we know he can, because he has done it before.
We had 19 goal attempts, hit the post three times - on another day at least one of those would have gone in, and had it been the first one, the game would have been different.
But we have seen once again how superb Nasri can be, and we have witnessed a clear statement from the EPL and the FA that time wasting is not an offence. It is a shame that WBA do engage in such flagrant cheating – the lying down, the two physios rushing on to the pitch for a player who is clearly not injured at all, the 40 seconds or more to take a goal kick, the keeper holding the ball for 10 seconds or more. In fact the success of the tactic was so great that in the near future we will see
a) two medics rushing on as standard – with all the extra time it takes to get off again
b) oxygen equipment and a medical trolly on as standard, and ditto the amount of time
In other words, every year another ploy is added by the little teams to beat the big teams. Throw ins in Shawcross-land now take a minute, injuries (feigned and otherwise) take five minutes, goal kicks take a minute… And the referees do nothing.
Such is the future of football.
But let’s end with another thought. We were poor, and although some people walked after the third goal went in, the majority stayed, and at the final whistle, there was applause for Arsenal from Arsenal fans. The message that we support this team and this club no matter what, has got through and is growing day by day. In the car on the way back to the Midlands, I switched on Radio 5 and they were saying “text in with which keeper you think Wenger should buy”, and I am sure there were many doing it. It just shows the divide that has built up between the Anti-Arsenal groups, and the real supporters.
Untold Arsenal Index: silly stuff, serious stuff, and stuff
Making the Arsenal: the only book about the foundation of the modern club in 1910
Arsenal History: correcting the errors in the commonly told tales about the past of our club
Arsenal Worldwide: supporting Arsenal from outside the UK
Arsenal Independent Supporters Association
By Billy the Dog McGraw
OK, everyone’s dead, semi-dead or deadbeat so we are on the edge of using the 9 year old youth team for the match against the Woobooloos. Here’s one line up – the one that Tony tried out on an unsuspecting public the other day…
Almunia
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Clichy
Song
Nasri Wilshere
Chamakh Arshavin Vela
But what you could do is make it look like this – the patented all singing all dancing, vibrant and exciting, Billy the Dog version…
Almunia
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Clichy
Song
Denilson Wilshere
Nasri
Chamakh Arshavin
OK it looks odd, but it is 11 players and it sort of works as a 4-1-2-1-2 formation (copyright Billy the Dog).
The point of it is that the back four and Song do their usual stuff. In front Denilson does his interception business, which this site has always rated and praised despite all the gibberish spoken about the player by some. Now, put Wilshere next to him and you have something extraordinarily powerful, mopping, picking, probing, passing, intercepting, distributing and other exciting stuff.
Also, notice the way Denilson went and had a few 25 yard pot shots against the Very Tiny Totts, and notice the way Wilshere held back most of the time and occasionally came forward.
Put those two together and you have got a couple of players who could be here, there, everywhere, anywhere, nowhere – enough to scare the whatnots off the oohjar, as it were (and to use the technical chitchat).
Moving on, Nasri loves playing in the middle, and is clearly bubbling with life just now, so put him in the middle, and let him feed the front two, rather like Bergkamp, or maybe more like Zidane. Well, like someone anyway.
Which puts on the bench (which, as you may know, having been reading earlier reports here, was quite possibly made by Mr Adebayor)
Fabianski, Mannone, Vela, Djourou, Lansbury, Emmanuel-Thomas, Diaby
I have the luxury of that jolly little season card thing and that means I have seen 16 goals so far up the right end, and one down the other end. More of the same I suggest, and a stroll in the park (although you can get 16-1 on a Wobbley victory if you doubt my word).
Looking at the history for a moment, the results at Highbury and Ems-ville against the team from the edge of the M5 are played 61, won 36, drawn 14, lost 11, scored 129, let in 70. Albion last won at the Arsenal in 1458 in the Midlands-South Enclosures Cup Semi-Final when they beat us by four heffers to a lamb. Rioting broke out, and Britain declared independence from Belgium.
So far the Baguettes, as they like to be known, have done thus…
- Chelsea 0-6
- Sunderland 1-0
- Leyton 2-0 (Cuppy wuppy)
- Liverpool 0-1
- Tinies 1-1
- Birmingham 3-1
- Man City 2-1 (Copa del Thing)
So in the league it is two away games, and two defeats (KGB in Fulham and Liverpoodle). In fact if we add in their last period in the EPL they have lost 14 and drawn four of their last 18 games in the league.
The key to everything is the attitude of the Baguettes. Do they park the bus, do rotational fouling, throw in rotational time-wasting, or do they Shawcross.
So far they have picked up 10 yellows which is a bit heavy, but Roberto di Mat who is their manager these days says, “The referee has to be strong and conduct the game in a fair manner, where no players get injured. He needs to protect the players. English football is about physicality and tackles. Everyone loves that – but it needs to be fair. No-one wants to see players getting injured and breaking legs.”
Which seems fair enough. Their leading threat is a man whose name I can’t remember who has scored twice.
And therefore, we come inevitably to the rather exciting issue of the result. We will score. And we will score again. Then we will score. At this point the ref, (who is the youngest fourth official in the EPL, the youngest referee at Wembley and youngest referee in the EPL, and who has give 18 yellow cards and three red cards in six games) will send himself off for being far too silly. After that we will score. Then Carlos Vela will come on and score.
Eventually with 90 seconds left Jay Emmanuel Thomas will come on and score four goals in three minutes.
Match of the Day will say that we were lucky, and that the thinness of our squad must be a worry, and that we were distracted by the financial results on Friday. They will fail to show the JET goals because of a technical error. The presenters will grin.
The Marchioness of Rutland will present the prizes.
That’s about it. There’s an AISA committee meeting before the game, and so I am leaving early and thus this is all you are getting. And by the way, if you are not a member of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association you should be so join now or I shall be very annoyed. But while whiling away the hours, why not see the new wonderful FACEBOOK page that Phil Gregory has built for us. Go to Facebook and search for Untold Arsenal, or if you are a luddite like me diddley squiddle along here
Love and kisses
Billy
PS: I seem to have finished and only got to 750 words and Tony is keen that all articles should be 1000 words long. What to do? We could sing a song I suppose.
Are you Tottenham, Are you Tottenham, Are you Tottenham in disguise?
Are you Tottenham in Disguise?”
12 first teamers injured, but unlike Man City we still have a team
Liverpool Bust, Man IOU, Arsenal’s Amazing Profits
How all the stories of Arsenal’s history tend to repeat the same mistake -
By Tony Attwood
Could this be the all-time injury record for Arsenal – or indeed any EPL club? If you are a reader of the Arsenal History site you will know that we recently covered a game in the 1920s in which Arsenal were without 10 first teamers and ended up playing the goal keeper (with an injured wrist) at full back.
Anyway, here’s today’s run down
- Diaby – a chance of playing
- Fabregas – out for two or three weeks
- Vermaelen – out for another week or two
- Eboue – injured against the Totts
- Rosicky – picked up injury in Totts game
- Van Persie – still recovering
- Walcott – injured playing for England
- Ramsey – recovering from a Shawcross
- Gibbs – recovering from injury in Totts game
- Traore – injured but out on loan anyway
- Bendtner – injured playing for Denmark
- Frimpong – injured in training
So who is left? Actually it shows a lot for the strength of the squad that we can take all that lot out and still make up a team for Saturday like this
Almunia
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Clichy
Song
Nasri Wilshere
Chamakh Arshavin Vela
That’s not too bad. But if anyone else gets a knock, what then? Against the Extremely Tiny Totts on Tuesday we had
- Djourou – playing
- Denilson – playing
- Eastmond – on bench
- Jay Emmanuel-Thomas – on bench
- Lansbury – playing
So that looks like the bench. Beyond that we have the guys who are in or around the reserves….
- Gilles Sunu – missing since playing in the European Final – but what a sensational talent. Last time I mentioned him there were suggestions that he is on loan in France but there really is no reference to this on the Arsenal site nor any other site.
- Gavin Hoyte – plays for the reserves but I wonder if his time has gone
- Nordtveit – has not gone on loan, so could be a backup full back.
- Ignasi Miquel – a centre back, and we still have Djourou as back up so might not be needed
- Chuks Aneke – attacking midfielder, captain of the reserves
- Roarie Deacon – a winger who has come up through the academy. Playing in the reserves but probably still a year away.
- Benik Afobe – a brilliant striking talent, but probably a year too soon for him – but he’s another kid who has come up through the reserves.
The player we can’t play is Wellington Silva, who is not allowed to play until January.
So, bare bones time. But how about this.
Roberto Mancini has said that despite spending 83 trillion billion squilion pounds he only has “11 100% fit players” for the game against the KGB in Fulham tomorrow.
Ah, bless.
Cue press comments about a squad, “rocked by injury” , and “crisis”. (How can you be rocked by injury. I mean, I know about rock n roll, because I played in bands that did it, and these days I dance it, but “rocked by injury”. It sounds like being “stuffed by lightening” or “defeated by penicillin”.
“I do not know what I am going to do just yet,” says the man with the money. ” I will speak with Joleon and Jérôme, but if they are not available I am not sure. Maybe Boyata, but I am not sure.”
So I guess he is not sure.
According to the Guardian “Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career. I am sure we all wish him well.
So there we are, or not as the case might be.
In other news it seems that the police have launched all out war on the Toppled Bollard and are stopping people from drinking outside the venue prior to games. Since the Bollard (on the corner of Plimson Strasse and St Thomas’) only has three square inches of space inside, this makes it tough. I understand that Billy the Dog has been having discussions with the forces of law and order, and is now “helping police with their enquiries”.
Last, a bit of a jolly for the Arsenal History research department. Much of Arsenal’s history is just written and re-written from a single source, and if that source gets the facts wrong, or misses a bit out, then every other web site and publication does the same – generally copying the original word for word.
It takes a bit of work to discover where this has happened, but when we find one, it is great fun, proving everyone else wrong (even if it is just on a point of detail).
The Arsenal History site is running the story of the first ever team to play for Arsenal in the league – and in researching one of the players (William Jeffrey) we found just such a case. He played for us in the first year of the club, and its an interesting tale.
It is a bit like researching Arsenal in 1910, but that of course, is another story.
By Tony Attwood
So having done my bit yesterday to put the boot in vis a vis Liverpool and Manchester IOU here’s what Arsenal FC have been up to
- The completion of sale of 362 (2009 – 208) private apartments at Highbury Square and the social housing site at Queensland Road generated £156.9 million of revenue from property (2009 – £88.3 million) and allowed the Group to repay £129.6 million of bank loans.
Let’s note that – when all of Liverpool and Man U’s “profit” is eaten by the banks, we are paying off the loans taken out to develop the Ems
- The Group’s property business is now debt free and generating surplus cash for the Group. The overall level of Group net debt had been reduced to £135.6 million (2009 – £297.7 million) at the balance sheet date.
I could run that again and again and again. When Liverpool are paying £2.5m a week in debt fines in addition to interest (the fines are for being late paying off the debt) – and with the bank just wanting to sell the business without any regard to the future of the club, just read that previous statement again.
- Group turnover increased to £379.9 million (2009 – £313.3 million) boosted by the income generated from property sales.
OK the property sales are one off, but still, it makes good reading, because it is that which has given us the best stadium in the UK.
- Operating profit (before depreciation and player trading) in the football business was £56.8 million (2009 – £62.7 million) after increased wage costs.
£56.8m!!!!! Now I can imagine someone picking up on this and running the headline “profits slide as Arsenal go five years without trophy”. Ho ho. Just read the first word in that little snippet. We have profits that the rest of the league would die for.
- Operating profit in the property business was £15.2 million (2009 – £7.8 million) reflecting the sales activity at Highbury Square.
- Profit from player trading of £13.6 million (2009 – £2.9 million).
That’s a pretty nifty profit – especially when you look at the squad we now have.
- Group profit before tax was £56.0 million (2009 – £45.5 million) and profit after tax was £61.0 million (2009 – £35.2 million).
Commenting on the results for the year, Peter Hill-Wood, non-executive Chairman, said:
“The most pleasing aspect of these results is that the returns generated in the property business during the year, particularly at Highbury Square, have allowed us to repay £130 million of bank loans and significantly reduce the Group’s overall net debt. We now have a debt free property business which is accumulating surplus cash as further unit sales are made at Highbury Square and which has three further property assets to realise over the next few years.”
Ivan Gazidis, Chief Executive, said:
“The competitive landscape makes it ever tougher to achieve success on the field and standing still is simply not, and never has been, an option for the Club. It is important that we continue to develop a vibrant and robust business with sufficient revenues to sustain success. The Group has made good progress over the last year and I am excited by the opportunities which we have in front of us.”
Compare and contrast with
Liverpool - teetering on the very edge
Man IOU - existing for the sole purpose of keeping the Glazers alive
Chelsea - desperately scaling back in order to try and meet the new financial regulations, and with nothing like the youth team promise that we have
Man City - spent billions, still not top of the league, and with no chance of qualifying for Europe financially even if they get there.
Tottenham - finances hidden in the murk of the Bahamas and Virgin Islands, not even got planning permission for a new stadium, and utterly dependent on the benefactor
The model which is made up of the youth policy which brought in the 11 year olds 7 and 8 years ago, the world wide scouting which is the envy of the rest of the world, and the financing of the new stadium in part by the sale of the old, plus the continuity of time in the Champs League, is unbeatable.
A word of thanks, perhaps, to Mr Wenger in all this, would not go amiss.
I have a dream.
By Paul Blythe (With obvious apologies)
Fourteen years ago, a great Frenchman, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the first of his many contracts. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Arsenal Fans who had been seared in the flames of the withering injustice of tedious football. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But many, many years later, we must face the tragic fact that the true fan is still not free. The life of the Arsenal Fan is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Fourteen long years later, the Arsenal Fan lives on a lonely island of relative poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Fourteen years later, the Arsenal Fan is still languishing in the corners of English media society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So dear reader we have come here to Untold Arsenal today to give voice to an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our virtual, spiritual Highbury homeland to cash a cheque. When the architects of our mighty game wrote the magnificent words of our footballing constitution, rules and the declaration of referee’s independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every Arsenal Fan was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all players would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of fairness, safety, and the pursuit of sporting happiness.
It is obvious today that the Football Association has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of sporting purity are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, the Football Association has given the average Arsenal Fan a bouncing cheque which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of footballing justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this great sport. So we have come to re-present this cheque, a cheque that will give us upon demand, the riches of fairness and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot of Untold Arsenal, to remind Football Association of the fierce urgency of now.
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of marginalisation to the sunlit path of sporting justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of football’s children. Now is the time to lift our sport from the quick sands of injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the Football Association to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Arsenal faithful. This chilling Winter of the Arsenal Fan’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating Spring of freedom and equality. Two thousand and ten is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Arsenal Fan’s needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the Football Association returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in the Emirates until the Arsenal Fan is granted his justifiable rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our sport until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my fellow fans that stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical or verbal violence, or enter the grove of infighting and back biting. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with righteous resistance. The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed the Arsenal community must not lead us to distrust of all footballing people, for many of our footballing brothers, as evidenced by their reading of this today, will have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of Untold Arsenal, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of sporting battle, injured by the talentless, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of sporting justice. We cannot be satisfied as long as the player’s basic mobility is from a smaller injury to a larger career threatening one. We can never be satisfied as long as an Arsenal Fan in London will not be heard and an Arsenal Fan in Cape Town believes he has nothing for which to speak out for. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like the waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some readers have come here out of great trials and tribulations of their own. Some have come fresh from narrow cells and strict confines of anti-football. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of player brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering and rotational fouling. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Stoke, go back to Sheffield, go back to Bolton, go back to Blackburn, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in Arsene Wenger’s dream.
I have a dream that one day this footballing nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the slag heaps of Sunderland the sons of former leg-breakers and the sons of Gooners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Citeh, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my team will one day play in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their passport but by the content of their footballing character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Blackburn, whose manager’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where Gooners will be able to join hands with their Northern cousins and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Wengerball shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return home, to the Emirates. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our national game into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to play together, to struggle together, to go to the bar together, to stand up for fairness together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of football’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My club, ’tis of thee, sweet field of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my player’s tried, land of the true fan’s pride, from every mountainside,
And if true football is to be a sport, this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hillsides of Stoke!
Let freedom ring from the hospitals of Sheffield!
Let freedom ring from the valleys of Charlton!
Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Rocastle!
Let freedom ring from under the stones of Notlob!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the Brokeback Mountains of Sunderland!
Let freedom ring from tiny hills of Tottenham!
Let freedom ring from every molehill of Manchester!
From every mountainside, weir side, riverside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every club in every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of football’s children, black men and white men, Spuds and Gooners, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank Arsene Almighty, we are free at last!”
Paul Blythe
Almunia: it’s been a really tough year
Win two free tickets for the match at club level plus all the food you can throw a stick at (Actually I don’t think that is quite right – I mean why would you throw a stick at food – Ed?)
By Tony Attwood
Christian Purslow, MD of that amusing little club up in the north west, has finally admitted that the club can’t service the debt. While Kenneth Dalglish MBE (a man whom all football fans must remember as a sensational player, and a man of considerable dignity in the aftermath of Hillsborough) seems now to have wandered off the planet by suggesting last week that Liverpool could win the EPL. Perhaps he was still thinking about wat J Redknapp told us on TV (that Liverpool had £35m fresh money to spend last summer).
But stepping aside from the gibberish, slowly the truth is emerging.
This little bloggette has been claiming for two years that Liverpool are in very very deep financial trouble. Of course the pop press don’t want to know by and large because it doesn’t fit the image of the club, and Sky don’t want to know because they’ve paid for loads of live games. But the truth is out there.
They are hanging by a thread.
I detect an element of change within the club, however. After all the wild talk in the press of six buyers lining up, (only for them to vanish) the sheer desperation within the club is at last being admitted.
Of course it might be a game of one-upmanship over Man IOU who still deny (against all the evidence) that they have any problems, but more on that in a moment.
Part of the problem with Liverpool is that there is such strife within the company. The bank has installed a Chelsea season ticket holder as chairman, the official owners are talking about refinancing, the rest of the board say they oppose it, and the bank is charging the club £2.5m a week interest surcharge for not paying money back on time.
Purslow remains adamant that Liverpool is not on the edge of being insolvent, and will not sell players, to pay off debt. But such statements have to be taken alongside the statement that “we are highly profitable”. Such a statement can only be made by changing the definition of “profit” to exclude interest on debt, rather in the manner that Big Brother changed the definition of “peace”, and “plenty” in 1984. As chairman of a company myself, I can tell you what my fellow directors, shareholders and bankers would say if I tried that lie.
So there’s still talk of someone coming in and buying – but after all the stuff about the Chinese government taking over the club, (remember that one – everyone was running the story) nothing can be believed.
In the end RBS has an obligation to its owners (the UK government) to get its money back, and it will do that, no matter what. And that’s the point. NO MATTER WHAT. The ultimate power-wielder within the club couldn’t care a toss about what happens to the club as long as it gets its money out and soon. And that is why things look so desperate. And that’s also why statements about the club being profitable should serve as a warning. Only a club on the edge of the precipice would ever say that.
But let’s move on for a moment to that other jolly gang of northerners – the Manchester IOU group. Here total denial is the absolute order of the day – but if we look at what the club is doing, once again we can see just how desperate things are getting.
David Gill, resident nutter-in-chief, says the £716m debts and £400m interest a year, are nothing to do with the club, but are Glazer issues. And yet the Glazer’s own 100% of the club, and as shown here repeatedly, not a single one of their other businesses is generating any cash to pay that interest. It has to be paid by Man IOU.
So what’s the game here? While Liverpool are selling players but denying it, Man IOU have another strategy.
The Glazers have decided to stop offering most players new contracts when the existing deal has two years to run. Instead they have ordered that with just one or two exceptions, contracts will only be renewed when one year is left.
The benefit to the Glazers is that as there is no new contract there is no increase in wages. Of course such a situation means that should any player be sold (or should he decide to walk) the value of the player declines quickly. Think Chamakh for instance, who eventually came on a free.
The Rooney character is excluded from the deal, and Evra could be too. But Berbatov, Fletcher, Carrick and Park look like being left in the cold along with four others whose contract ends in 2012.
And if you think that crazy, try this one. You will remember all the fuss about Wenger only offering one year contracts to players over 30? It was the reason that Pires – that most wonderful, creative and inventive of players, left us. The Glazers have now gone one better and said, “no buying of players for large transfer fees if they are over 25!!!
It seems that the Berbatov deal of £30m for a 27 year old was considered a step too far. Gill has called it the “last of his kind”.
Instead (and this will kill you when you read it, so make sure you have an oxygen tank and a nurse nearby), they are looking to “do an Arsenal” and buy in players for low fees whom they can develop. Theoretically Bébé fits into this category, at £7m although since he was available on a free two months before, it doesn’t quite fit with the image that the owners are trying to project.
In reality they, like every other club, are seriously looking at the way Arsenal have got Ramsey, Theo, Cesc, Vela, Clichy, Diaby, Van Persie, Denilson, Song, Wilshere, Bendtner, Gibbs… all for nothing, or modest amounts (when the talent is considered).
The lesser beings like Notlobia want to do it because they don’t have the mony, and the larger entities like Liverpool and Man IOU want to do it, because they can afford nothing else.
So, Liverpool and Man IOU can deny all they like, and can claim that they are highly profitable enterprises, but both are sinking fast, and a little peek behind the scenery shows not desperation (they’ve already done that and moved on), but the edge of catastrophe.
Yes, they could come out ok at the end, and another big money man or corporation could move in, at least in the case of Liverpool. But you have to wonder.
For Liverpool, anyone buying now will have to put millions upon millions in to rebuild the team, and that will exclude them from Europe for several years to come. With Man IOU, you really have to start wondering where it will end because the Glazers need Man IOU to pay their interest. Without Man IOU the whole Glazer empire falls and they personally go bankrupt.
Wherever it does end, aren’t you glad we didn’t go down that route?
——————–
Arsenal’s first captain who died as a result of an injury
Almunia: it’s been a really tough year
Win two free tickets for the match at club level plus all the food you can throw a stick at
“Making the Arsenal” - the full story of Arsenal’s financial collapse, and how we recovered
Tottenham v Arsenal - the view from overseas on Arsenal Worldwide
By Tony Attwood
Imagine being told by the boss that he doesn’t think you are quite up to it. Maybe you would like to move on? There’s a good opportunity going in… Norway. Or maybe Malta…. That must be bad enough. But as a footballer being told by people who are supposedly supporting your team that you are no good – that must be a lot worse.
And if the reason for the criticism is a supposed lack of confidence, then it hardly does anything for the confidence. It is as if the fans thought, “hey, here’s a guy who is in low spirits – let’s blame him for our failures and that should buck him up a bit.”
Curiously Manuel Almunia, who has been subject to unprecedented abuse from the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal blogs in the last year as they have ramped up their attempts to destabilise the club, has also witnessed this all from the other side. In 2003/4 Arsenal won the league without losing a single league game. The goalkeeper throughout the entire season was Jens Lehman – the only man in the history of English football to play in goal in every league game and never once be on the losing team.
But then on 4 December 2004 after a run of six games (following the end of the “49″) with only one win, he was dropped and Almunia came in. It caused quite a press stir at the time (as these things do) and there was talk that Lehman had been dropped for one game only. In fact he was out for ten, returning in February.
Goalkeepers as we know are strange creatures – Lehman perhaps more than most – and certainly he was a character who caught everyone’s attention (not least with the penalty he gave away against Tottenham in the 2-2 draw in April 2004 which won the league.)
Almunia has always seemed more balanced from the moment came in as the regular first team keeper in 2008/9 – a season in which we won 20, lost 6 and drew 12, conceding 37 goals (the highest number since 2003 when we let in 42 to come second).
The problems however really began in September 2009 when, according to the Sun, “Manuel Almunia has challenged Arsene Wenger’s transfer policy, by insisting: We can’t win anything with kids.” The story also appeared in the Mirror.
No journalist or source was given, and there were no details of when the supposed conversation took place or how these esteemed newspapers came to hear about it when everyone else didn’t, but they went on with Almunia supposedly saying: “We need the manager to work harder to get what we need, the club to make an extra effort to make us more competitive. We need more than youth.”
At the time those of us who bother to think about such things wondered if this was a one-off invention by an anti-Arsenal journalist, or part of an orchestrated campaign. It turned out to be the latter. The Sun continued the next day with a story that said that Almunia’s wife has seen a “ghoul at their swish pad on the site of an old asylum.”
“Spaniard Almunia, 30, has also heard chains rattling and had stereos turning on at full volume on their own. He is so spooked boss Arsene Wenger has given him permission to go home for lunch to avoid leaving wife Ana alone at the house in Abbots Langley, Herts.
“Terrified Almunia said yesterday: “My house is small but there is a lot of history to it and it seems there are ghosts.
“We’ve spoken to neighbours, and they said this was normal.”
So, two stories in two days against one player. Why was this? The most likely reason is that the editor of the made-up section of the paper (which is just about all of it) said he wanted an Arsenal story against someone they haven’t done before, and two journalists came up with different made up tales. They then went into the editorial meeting, went through the “Michael Jackson seen playing for Lincoln City Youth Team,” rejected that and came up with these.
The double header from the Sun (that’s the journalist, not the fact that they ran two stories) was warmly welcomed by the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal and Almunia was nominated as a victim, and kicked endlessly. Not surprisingly under such a huge torrent of abuse his form became a bit shaky.
As a result of that the abuse got worse, the rest of the media picked up on the tale, and then people who had never seen Arsenal, let alone Almunia, picked up on the notion that Almunia was so obviously awful, that this was total proof that Wenger was a nutter. Only a nutter would ever play someone that bad.
Then early in the 2009/10 season there was further press coverage of his private life, although this time not made up. Almunia was given compassionate leave following the death of his mother-in-law in a car crash, and according to some reports also got a chest infection at the same time. (Rather amusingly the Mirror lost this story which relates to September/October 2009 and had him speaking “for the first time” about the situation in March 2010. A subscription to the Arsenal programme could help lads – it ran the same piece five months earlier.)
In recent interviews Almunia has said last season was personally difficult for him, and he appreciates the backing he has been given by the manager – something which does not accord with what most of the press and the Anti-Arsenal have been saying.
The Anti-Almunia stories have continued, generally along the lines of noting a couple of goals that, it is claimed, a better keeper would have stopped. The performance during his broader career is ignored, and everything comes down to a handful of incidents.
It must be phenomenally difficult to focus when people who pretend to be Arsenal supporters but whose actions do nothing but undermine our own players are on your back, and the fact that he has come out of last season’s personal difficulties and battled on shows enormous strength. Anyone with any sensitivity knows that a family bereavement can be enormously influential, affecting the mind and the body for months to come. When that death is a violent one, as with a car crash, it can be doubly so.
We all know that one slip, one mistake, will always get some supporters on the back of a goalkeeper. I recall being at an away match with Pat Jennings in goal in the early 1980s – I think against Coventry. Jennings made a mistake and the home team scored, and the guy next to me started swearing about how Jennings was a Tottenham player through and through and we should never have trusted him. One mistake – and he got that.
One slip and Almunia will get it again from the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal – but with a spot of luck he has now built up enough resiliance to know that those of us in the ground each week are with him.
—————————
Now, just in case you missed it yesterday, here’s a run down on the free tickets at club level for the WBA match.
Every week O2 will broadcast a famous Arsenal chant. They will encourage people to tweet the chant on twitter with the hashtag #o2arsenal and any other message they can fit in. The first tweeter to get 50 re-tweets will win two club level box tickets to the next Arsenal home match. So the first winner will be going to the West Brom at home game this weekend. And I can tell you when Jane and I did it, it was great.
More details of the prize and the competition can be found here: http://o2blueroom.co.uk/events/Win-Arsenal-tickets/460
This weeks chant to tweet is: OHH-O Theo Walcott, Theo Theo Walcott, he’s an Englishman at Arsenal #o2arsenal bit.ly/bRBte5
———–
Arsenal’s first keeper, how he became the first keeper to score at the other end, how he managed the silver medalists at the Olympics and how he went on to take Brazilian football by storm.
Tottenham v Arsenal - the view from overseas on Arsenal Worldwide
The Untold Ref Index: Tinies v Arsenal
All the stuff that Arry said after the game which you wouldn’t believe anyway.
How our injuries compares with other clubs
By Tony Attwood
Good news on free tickets, good news on injuries, good news about women, good news about Carlos Vela.
It is all Good, Good, Good, Good. Oh yes!
First off, the two free tickets for club level this weekend.
If you read my meanderings on a regular basis, then in between your need for occasional psychiatric you will be aware that 02 gave Jane and I a sensational day out in the Blue Room for the Notlob game, with as much drink and you could shake a stick at, the best food I have ever had at a football match, and two super sensational club level tickets, plus a crazed ride in a rickshaw down the Holloway Road, and some fun and games in the 02 bubble.
Now they are back with more tickets at club level, and being the jolly lovely people that they are, they have invited me to help give them away!
Of course I would prefer it if they invited Jane and I back to club level, but well, you know, share it around, and all that stuff.
So here’s how it goes. Every week O2 will broadcast a famous Arsenal chant. They will encourage people to tweet the chant on twitter with the hashtag #o2arsenal and any other message they can fit in. The first tweeter to get 50 re-tweets will win two club level box tickets to the next Arsenal home match. So the first winner will be going to West Brom this home game weekend and experiencing everything I experienced at Bolton. And I can tell you mateys, it was pretty mind blowing.
More details of the prize and the competition can be found here: http://o2blueroom.co.uk/events/Win-Arsenal-tickets/460
This weeks chant to tweet is
OHH-O Theo Walcott, Theo Theo Walcott, he’s an Englishman at Arsenal #o2arsenal bit.ly/bRBte5
Meanwhile the good news (or is that Good News) does not stop there. Gibbs hasn’t broken every bone in his body. In fact he hasn’t broken any, and will be back in action shortly.
And Carlos Vela pulled the greatest stunt of all, and has got himself banned by Mexico for six months. That is most of the rest of the season – and that means no more mindblowingly inept and insane trips to the New World and then not being back in time to get over jet lag.
He’s here, he’s ours, and he can play. Yipeeeeeee.
Now onto the delicate subject of the ladies.
Arsenal Ladies have a real problem in that they are not playing in a league this autumn, because their league doesn’t start until March. But they still have to play Euro Cup games, and they have just played away in Serbia (a dinky little country Jane and I visited a few years back, as well as taking in Montenegro and Croatia.
Anyway, we won away 3-1 in the first game – a nifty lead for the first game of the season, you will agree.
The official Arsenal web site says, “the second leg on October 14 is not a foregone conclusion.” Don’t give me that!
Anyway, if all that were not good enough, there is a fair old chance that Diaby and Vermaelen will be fit for the Woobleyous of Western Brom-witch.
So that’s it. We is unbeaten, 02 are giving away seats in the Clubby Wubby level, with all the food and drink, Carlos had a party, the ladies won, and the Greater London Council is debating whether to send Tottenham back to Middlesex from whence they came. “They’re an absolute shower,” said Boris. (Only in Latin.)
Happy or what?
The Untold Ref Index: Tinies v Arsenal
All the stuff that Arry said after the game which you wouldn’t believe anyway.
A serious profound and intellectually stimulating analysis of the game
The reason that Tottenham are our bitterest rivals is not at all because the grounds are so close.
Retrospective: Read the most detailed review of how Tottenham fix their finances
By Walter Broeckx
For the trip to the Lane we got ref Lee Probert in charge. The result was great but how was the ref? We just will find out.
PENALTY: Lansbury runs in the area and falls down. There was a hand of a defender on his back, but I think the ref is right for not giving a penalty. 1/1
GOAL: Nothing to report about this so a correct decision. 1/1
CARD: Livermore gets a yellow for a heavy tackle on Wilshere. Fully deserved. 1/1
CARD: Pavlyuchenko comes in late against Djourou and gets a yellow. Good decision from the ref. 1/1
OTHER: Wilshere sends Gibbs on his own to goal but Gibbs is flagged offside. The linesman got it wrong. 0/1
CARD: When Rosicky starts a break he is brought down by Naughton who gets a yellow card. A bit of a naughty boy there. Correct decision. 1/1
GOAL: Replay shows that Keane was offside when the ball was played to him. Another bad decision from the linesman. 0/1
CARD: Keane runs past Koscielny and falls down. Yellow card is given. Correct decision. 1/1
CARD: Lansbury gets in a heavy challenge and gets a fully deserved yellow card. 1/1
PENALTY/CARD: Bassong brings down Nasri who was past the last defender. Penalty given there was contact both at his foot and a bit of shirt holding as far as I could see on my stream. Correct decision for the penalty. But the ref does not give a card. The only card he can give is the red one. You are losing points here ref. 1/1 and 0/1
GOAL: correct decision. 1/1
PENALTY/CARD: This time Caulker is bringing Chamakh down who is again clear on goal. He pulls him on his arm. The ref points to the spot. In one the replays you can have a nice look at how the ref was looking at it and his angle. Correct penalty decision. But yet again the ref does not show a card. Okay consistent but consistently wrong one might say. Should have been another red card as he was the last defender and Chamakh was past him. 1/1 and 0/1. Again losing points.
GOAL: correct decision 1/1
GOAL: Quick thinking and nice executed from Arshavin. Correct decision. 1/1
So what does this make in total?
- GOAL: 4/5
- CARDS: 5/7
- PENALTIES: 3/3
- OTHER: 0/1
- TOTAL: 12/16 (75%)
My overall impression of the ref was that he had a very good game.
A small remark is the fact that the Tottenham players were doing some rotational fouling on Wilshere with some tackles that could have been a yellow card. But the ref kept an eye on it and punished the fouls and he gave a few verbal warnings to the players.
The only things he really missed was giving 2 red cards for the Tottenham defenders when they brought down the Arsenal players as they both were the last man. It is not the severity of the foul that counts but the fact that there was a clear goal scoring opportunity and that it was the last defender that committed the foul. Then it always should be a red card. He refused to even give a card on both occasions and that really was not good. In fact as a ref you only have two options: you don’t give anything (no penalty and no card) or you give them both. Those are the only options you have.
People always ask for consistency in the refereeing and this was the wrong consistency. Can you imagine that next week we get a red card for the same thing. Then you will look back and ask me why one is given and the other not? Just imagine that one of the players that should have got a red card would score a goal later in the game? So this really was not brave from the ref.
But in a way I also feel a bit for the ref. He has lost 2 points in my review on which he could not do anything. When you do a game with assistants you form a team. You work together and you trust each other. If the linesman puts up his flag for an offside you follow his decision unless you know and are 100% sure that he is wrong for a reason. For example a defender gives a back pass and the assistant could not see it, he flags but then as a ref you should overrule him. But these are rare occasions on a field. But in normal play you just have to trust on your assistant. The ref did and twice the assistant made a wrong decision. Gibbs and Keane. Twice the decision went against us and in fact it could have cost us the game as it made Tottenham alive. At the end of the day it didn’t matter as we won but it could have gone wrong. But there is not much the ref can do about it but he is missing 2 points for these decisions.
So he had 4 decisions that he had wrong. 2 because of his assistant and 2 for not giving the red cards he should have given. If you add them this would mean that he would have ended up with a score of 16/16 or a 100 % on the important decisions. If you take away the assistants mistakes you could say that he would have had a score of around 85-90%.
So he could have had an excellent game but he missed on a perfect score because of his assistant and his failure to produce the red cards. Still I think overall he had a very good game and kept things very well within the rules.
What’s new, what’s exciting, what’s thrilling, and what’s odd….
Arsenal’s first ever keeper scored the first ever goal by a keeper. And his great nephew is now playing in Brazil.
100 years ago Arsenal were owned by Norris, and he was more interested in Fulham reserves than us.
The most detailed pre- and post-match analysis on any web site in the entire universe. The Tinies v Arsenal: everything you wanted to know and a load more on the Untold Index.
Watching the Tinies overseas. Just what is it like?
By Tony Attwood
I was so enthused last night I went to bed extra late, couldn’t get to sleep, and then woke up late (thank goodness, not getting a full night’s sleep is not good when you get to a Certain Age – as we Veterans call it) and have hardly got time to write anything.
But here’s a few snips from Arry B. Envelope, manager of the Very Tiny Totts. They are all taken from Sky’s very brief interview with him last night after the game. And how strange, the national media don’t seem to be quoting them much. But then when your middle name is “Brown” you get that.
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“I had so many players who had not played at this level before, and Sandro had cramp so there were three or four of them who were going to struggle in extra time but we just didn’t want extra time and that first penalty did it for us.”
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“The young players can learn more here than they do in reserve games… The first penalty wasn’t a penalty it was a dive.”
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There was also a bit of commentary by Sky about this being Arsenal’s reserve team, but they got that wrong. Our reserve team is what you see on the pitch in EPL and Champs League games, match after match because all the big boys are injured. What you saw last night was a little bit of the first team, a bit of the reserves, and then some newcomers like Lansbury, who I thought really did his stuff, considering how new he is to all this. It showed that the quality we saw at the end of last season was really a sign of what is to come.
So what else did we discover? Here’s ten pointers.
1: Nasri can talk absolutely perfect English. OK the accent is French, of course it is, but the grammar, vocabulary and pure construction of his language is perfection. Upon retirement he will set up a series of language schools to help players who were born in the UK
2: Jack has a little way to go on this front, but with a display like that, who cares?
3: No one outside of Untold’s wonderful commentators who read every word of our post-match report seemed to want to talk about the fact that the Totts committed 23 fouls last night. (Figure from the Guardian this morning).
4: We had almost three times as many shots on target as they did.
5: The last time we did this must have been when Liam Brady scored that goal from eight miles out on the left which bent inwards in the last microsecond, and then he turned to the Shelf and trotted along in that ungainly way that he had with his arms out stretched looking at the Tott supporters who were frothing at the mouth. We won 5-1 that time, and it was a great moment to be at the dirty end of the Seven Sisters.
6: Arry B. Envelope really just can’t take it, but he’ll always be the TV favourite, even after the court case, of which of course I have no prior knowledge and would never like to suggest there was anything in the brown envelope.
7: Glen Hoddle has mellowed a bit, but Ian Wright is as changeable as the wind.
8: There is no point 8.
9: Gloating is a perfectly good and normal reaction, and should be indulged in without any feelings that maybe there is a commandment somewhere that says you shouldn’t.
10: Jack is the greatest home grown talent we have ever had.
Untold’s build up
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Where’s the video?
By Tony Attwood
Arsène Wenger has three Hands!!!
By Paul Blythe
The Phrygian sage Epictetus said: ‘Everything has two handles, one by which it can be carried and a second by which it cannot’.
There may even be a third handle, often not in clear view and the major problem being you need a third hand to reach it, and such people are rare.
The quicker amongst you reason that two people in concert could manage it easily, but Epictetus was talking about individuals.
The modern way of life is a predominantly two sided, after all we as human beings are bilaterally symmetrical. In the realm of sports you may have any number of examples of games consisting of two players, of two teams but seldom if ever three.
I guess we like it that way. Two sides to an argument, definitely if it’s a big issue like war or the awarding of a penalty.
You are either right or wrong. You are either in or you’re out.
You either win or you lose, everyone hates a draw.
The Media love this simplicity; bless them, makes for story writing fit for us, the ignorant masses. All they need is a subject and away they go. Expert quotes for an issue, expert quotes against the same issue, in fact that is what the media have convinced us is news. I suspect that the media are responsible for this over simplification of events creating a bowl of instant, Media flavoured Angel Delight of whipped up frothy feeling, both irresistible and slightly sickly at the same time. Don’t you just love being spoon fed?
Oh and don’t we all fall for it, from massive hits on misinformation blogs, (Arsenal to spend £50 Million) to instant hysteria at the aspersions hurled at our favourites. (Wenger is a whinger!) Rather than just being satisfied to ‘set the agenda’ and give us sanitised ‘expert’ opinions (Alan Hansen anyone?) on both sides of the argument.
I wonder if you remember the slightly nauseating nervousness of the yearly transfer sagas? I do, and yes, I am sad to say I read them too. The purpose of all of this is simply to be to polarise public (baa) opinion.
Remember, two sides are good!
Occasionally the media go one step further and declare without fear of contradiction, what we should be thinking. Saves the expense of the two experts for a start and allows the verbally dexterous Headline writers to indulge in a little ‘campaigning’ redtop journalism.
Remember, one side best if it’s our side but two sides are still good!
When it comes to obviously non contentious subjects like “the environment,” it hasn’t been so easy to polarise the community.
Where do you send a reporter to get a quote in favour of global warming?
Obviously EVERYBODY is frightened of rising sea levels and increased temperatures! (Other than those people that live on a bloody cold mountain.)
Even on subjects such as this the issue had to be recast into one that doesn’t put everyone on the same side—and so it was.
After a lot of pushing and pulling, a lot of tweaking, a way was found to represent the interests of the environment as being opposed to the public good. You can’t get rid of global warming without banning planes and cheap petrol and cows farting. If all else fails, just say it doesn’t exist.
This is kind of mind-boggling but that’s how it’s manipulated. You can’t be for the public good and for the environment—you’ve got to “choose sides.”
Remember, one side best if it’s our side, two sides are good as long as they’re both ours too!
This is an interesting example of taking a thing that originally presented only one handle and rotating it so as to expose two handles—thereby putting the third handle completely out of sight.
But just occasionally chance throws up a three-handed person or two, and on rare occasions many, many of them. Take the Iraq war for example or better still the cold war. Two nuclear nations gearing up with more and more weapons, enough I seem to remember to destroy the entire world 200 times over. The race could never be won and the only outcome seemed to be assured complete mutual destruction and disaster.
All across America students and young people of a three-handed nature protested and were shot down by their own police and army for their trouble. This civilian unrest continued and the establishment’s fear of three-handedness grew, the entire media machine cried Communist, which in America is considered more heinous than just about anything else.(yes even that!) This continued until someone unexpectedly reached for the third handle and Gorbachev (of all people!) said, ‘I am not playing anymore’.
Remember, one side best if it’s our side, two sides are good as long as they’re both ours too, three or more bad!
Everyone in the world knew the arms race was dangerous—globally dangerous, mortally dangerous—to the entire human race and to the planet itself, yet for a generation or more the game continued.
Football is engaged in such a race and any sane person can see that it is mortally and morally dangerous, not to the planet but to the game we all love. You don’t have to be an accountant (though read the excellent Swiss Rambler’s Blog and many by Tony Atwood closer to home) to understand that we are standing on the very brink of the precipice.
Clubs do not exist in a vacuum, they may claim autonomy and encourage the tribal differences that keep the tills ringing, but they are all more interconnected than they would care to publicly admit. They have their leagues, their campaigns for championships, for promotion, to avoid relegation. They need the rivalry, the competition and as fans we need the satisfaction and bragging rights that come with victory and defeat.
They are buying their nuclear-ly expensive talent on credit and the associated costs are growing exponentially and unsustainably. How could clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United go from profitable concerns to debt ridden shadows of their former selves in a matter of a few years? The answer, buy, buy, buy and buy some more. They are by no means on their own, check the number of clubs that spend over 70% of their entire turnover just on players wages! The Sky money will not last forever; the bubble is reaching its elastic limit. Something somewhere has got to give and Portsmouth will become the norm rather than the exception.
It has the feeling of a house of Panini cards, precariously built and the howling gales of the financial winds are starting to blow.
I don’t believe for a moment that Platini is imposing the new fiscal regulations without at least the tacit approval of the boards and owners of the larger clubs. No one is stepping out of line to complain and I imagine the great and good of the footballing owners cabal have the telephone number of a journalist or two. I imagine many of the owners are quite pleased to stop throwing millions of pounds of good money after bad, just as long as everyone else does too. It smacks of a private agreement, dressed up as an imposition. Just don’t tell the fans, might slow down a till or two. Not a whimper will you hear, unless one or other club cannot make the necessary changes in time, or someone gets caught massaging the numbers and then banned form a cup or two, they will start bitching like a stuck pig.
Arsene Wenger on the one hand, saw this coming and with his board formulated a strategy of sustainable football governance. He wasn’t playing anymore.
Or on the other hand fortunately fell into this position of growing strength and stability by dumb luck.
Or thirdly, saw this coming and gave old Platini a shove in the right direction to save the game. Either or any which way it is decidedly a third-handed solution.
And what has been his reward at the hands of the media and the footballing establishment? At best the recipient of criticism, vitriol and misquoted misinformation. So my friends the next time you read the media crucifixion of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, don’t simply settle for the campaign bigotry, be cautiously aware of the two sides you are being spoon fed, but most importantly seek the third-hand way.
As Epictetus also said
In the first place, do not allow yourself to be carried away by [the] intensity [of your first impression]: but say, ‘Impression, wait for me a little.
Let me see what you are, and what you represent. Let me test you.’
Then, afterwards, do not allow it to draw you on by picturing what may come next, for if you do, it will lead you wherever it pleases. But rather, you should introduce some fair and noble impression to replace it, and banish this base and sordid one.
The answer to the question posed by the every spiralling problem of Football’s Cold War of gratuitous greed and avarice?
‘développer votre propre jeunesse, mon fils, faite-le vous-même’.
Grow your own son, grow your own.
Paul Blythe
The Tiny Totts vs Arsenal Reserves
The reason that Tottenham are our bitterest rivals is not at all because the grounds are so close.
How our injuries compares with other clubs
The Arsenal team to play the Tinies in the Little Cup
Retrospective: Read the most detailed review of how Tottenham fix their finances
By Walter Broeckx
Watching MOTD is one of the highlights in my life. I must say that from the days of Jimmy Hill it was always a joy for me to hear the tune at the start of the program. My wife knew that at that moment she could run around naked in the house and I wouldn’t notice it. Well, I would but she just had to wait for another hour.
It had everything to do with the fact that seeing MOTD was the only way for me for all those long years in the eighties and nineties to have the chance to see Arsenal play. So it has a special place in my heart. When I hear the tune there is joy in my heart. And yes I still look at it every week.
But it has changed during the years. First they only gave one game if my memory is correct. Later they gave more games and then eventually they started to give all the games. But in the old days you only had the typical face of Jimmy Hill in the studio but now you have not only someone who is presenting the show but also my dear friends the pundits.
They manage to drive me crazy at a tempo of some 5 times in each programme when they talk about anything that relates to the rules. Or when our 1989 friend Hansen (wasn’t he so kind to run out of position in those final minutes when we scored that second goal) comes up with one of his ‘all you need is grit, determination and character’ or something of that style and this said with a little Scottish accent.
Am I the only one that thinks that when Scotland plays and he is in the studio he talks with a fatter Scottish accent than he usually does? I could be wrong on this. And the expression on his face when he tells “his Truth”. That expression changes according to whether you have those qualities he thinks you should have or don’t have them.
I still wonder if they wouldn’t be better of with more pictures from the games and less talk that nobody is interested in other than the Hansen and Shearer personal fan club of course. Like the pictures from our game in Sunderland where they managed to cut out the penalty we should have for the handball. They managed to cut out a few chances we had to score more goals like the Chamakh chance.
But when they start talking about the rules they can make me crazy and angry or I can fall out of the chair in disbelief or fall on the floor and cant stop laughing until my wife comes down from the bedroom and urges me to be quiet so she can sleep. It all depends a bit on the mood I am in.
For years one of my biggest things I got angry about is the way refs do their job when it comes to protecting goalkeepers. I think I have made it clear with direct quotes from the rulebook what you cannot let go as a ref. So I will spare you those in this article.
Another man has shared my view on the attacking of goalkeepers all those years and I feel a bit proud I share this battle with him. Arsène Wenger has been complaining about it for years when we had to play the likes of Bolton in the past and Stoke and Blackburn in the present. And how the pundits in MOTD brushed if off the table. We just had to be stronger, we had to grow up, we just had to live with it. Nothing wrong when Lehman was taken out by an opponent and he couldn’t get to the ball, nothing wrong when Almunia was pushed away and they scored, nothing wrong when Campbell was pushed into Fabianski so he couldn’t catch the ball. No it was just us being to soft.
And off course it was just that French manager of us who was just moaning and didn’t understand the game and the rules as they are interpreted and played by some English Neanderthals who haven’t learned that the games and the rules have been changed. So fun was made of Wenger and Arsenal when they lost points due to the unfair tactics from the Boltons, Blackburns and other Stokes in the EPL. Did I mention that Fifa used a lot of video evidence for refs to learn them what is not allowed when attacking goalkeepers? Well they did and many images from Bolton- Arsenal featured in it.
But with the pope visiting England some old biblical sentence came to my mind (don’t shoot me if this is not literally correct) : “there shall be much joy for a repented sinner”. Because the match commentator AND the pundits in MOTD suddenly have discovered that some teams do use it as a (illegal) tactic to attack the goalkeeper and to prevent him coming for the ball. They showed it in the Blackburn – Fulham match report a few times and pointed at it. And after the game the pundits told it was unfair and illegal. And the ref should have taken action against it.
Why this change in tune? Have they taken a ref course? Or was it just the fact that this time the complaining manager was a friend of the house? Was it because of this time being it Mark Hughes that made the rightful complaints that they took it serious? Because as you could see on the images time after time Diouf only went out to block Schwarzer. You could see him looking at the keeper and just block him again and again. And the ref did what most refs in the EPL do: nothing.
But now the pundits came up to the rescue of the rules in the game. They said it was a shame. They said it shouldn’t be allowed. Even our Real Madrid manager Allardyce admitted it was maybe a bit wrong but then he immediately jumped to another bad decision from the ref and thus changing the attention to the deliberate fouling of the keeper by all his teams in the past and present.
But hallelujah and joy all around as MOTD and the pundits have finally seen the light. Or have they? It will be interesting to see how they react when we face Stoke or Blackburn again next time. Will they still expose the unfair tactics as they did now for Fulham? To be honest I doubt it but I would be glad in admitting that I was wrong if they do.
But what I would like most is that the FA finally does something about it. That the FA calls its refs together and show them the images and tell them that they have to focus about those things and punish them. That would bring me even more joy. And maybe because of an UK-manager complaining about it this could be what we needed. Sure the FA would never do anything about a complaint from our French manager.
But for the moment I just will be satisfied with the one day conversion from the MOTD pundits. And just hope the FA will see the light also. And who knows this could become a perfect world if even the refs would finally act and let the rules be respected. And then I woke up…..was it a dream?
The Tiny Totts vs Arsenal Reserves
The reason that Tottenham are our bitterest rivals is not at all because the grounds are so close.
How our injuries compares with other clubs
The Arsenal team to play the Tinies in the Little Cup
Retrospective: Read the most detailed review of how Tottenham fix their finances
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The media influence on supporters
by Walter Broeckx
What is the impact on watching a game in front of your TV compared to watch it in the stands?
Yesterday evening when I had finished my match report for the Arsenal Benelux website I went to our forum where the other fans from our supporters club give their view on the game and other stuff. I was in a good mood for various reasons after we had won the game.
Normally we have a rather optimistic view on things and we are happy with every win. But when I went to the forum yesterday I saw a lot of unhappy people. There was a lot of moaning. I even found it necessary to point out towards my other supporters that:
It was one year ago that we had won an away game in the CL: so yes there could and should be some joy for this.
We had an entire team first teamers out injured or on the bench to give them some rest: so yes we could have fielded a much stronger team out there but still we managed to win the game.
Our best players like Cesc, Van Persie, Vermaelen from last season and our best player of the start of the season (Walcott) were not playing: so we there is still a lot of room for improvement that we can expect in the coming months.
Partizan Belgrade had only lost one game so far and that was a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Shakthar Donetsk. A team that has not lost in six games and had only conceded 1 (one) goal in their league so far. And I know that you cannot compare the Serbian league with the EPL but whatever league you are in this is not a bad thing I would say.
We played a team that is very strong at home and has an intimidating atmosphere in their ground and we had to cope with that with some 18 and 19 year old players who just are starting their career like Wilshere and Gibbs.
And yes after a slow start we took over and showed them what we can. The only regret is we missed to much chances and we kept them in the game.
And then I told them that you just cannot expect us to win any game with 6-0. Oh yes, I would love us to do so but this just isn’t possible. So one has to be realistic in his expectations.
But after reading Tony’s article on how biased against Arsenal the match reporters have been I started thinking if this suddenly negative view on our performance was not down to what they had been hearing all evening from those match commentators.
Because we exchange the streams we get on our forum and so we look at the same stream most of the time and it was the English stream yesterday. Now I must say that I hardly listen to what those people say. I’m to busy looking at the pc, write my comments down at the same time. So I only listen carefully when they say the name of who scored as sometimes the streams are too bad to make the difference between Arshavin and Wilshere for example.
And after my little rant at our forum people told me that they hadn’t looked at it that way and yes in fact it was a good result, certainly after what happened last weekend, and yes that we should enjoy it and not act like old grumpy fans after a solid performance away from home in what is the Champions League after all.
So I am wondering if this sudden form of negative thinking came as a result of being told for 90 minutes that we are rubbish? Of being told that we have no decent goalkeepers? Of being told that we lack steal? Of being told whatever they have told?
And if it would be true that our supporters have been influenced by the negative comments from the match commentators I really wonder how many fans are influenced by this. All those fans who have to hear it all the time they see us play. After all we live in a society where the influence of what is being shown and said on TV is taken as “The Truth” by many people.
So after reading the article from Tony today and the unusual negative comments from some of our fans 1984 came to my mind. The ministry of (dis)information at work in 2010?
The season before we had an issue with our sporting channel. We felt that they were so anti-Arsenal in their comments that our supporters club had written to them and asking them to be more neutral in their comments when they showed a game from Arsenal. We suggested them that we could suggest our fans to stop their subscription and look at internet streams or even take a satellite dish and look at other channels who broadcast the EPL.
And much to our surprise they did answer and told us they didn’t realised we felt this way and they would take a look at it. And I must say that since then our complaining between each other about the negative comments on the channel has stopped. So I think they had a word with their match commentators about it.
So maybe writing to the advertisers telling them you will not buy their products as long as they support the anti Arsenal approach from the sporting channel they pay, could make those sponsors react and pass it on to the sports channel. Because if there is one thing that sponsors hate, it is the fact of being associated with liars and bad people.
Companies advertising with Sky Sports (the list will be extended – if you see any more please drop a note in so we can add them to the list)
Partizan v Arsenal: The most disgraceful, appalling, awful, inept…