Category Archives: finances

pshhh to FFP, plus nerves from players to give them the edge?

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Please forgive your humble narrator, but I’m in a bit of a rant mode right now…

Last night there was a cup competition that was won by a certain London team that was not Arsenal. It was won in the harshest of fashions against Benfica in the last twenty seconds. We all know who that team was that won it. But what I want to know is:

Where are all of the footballing gods? What ever happened to karma?

Somebody needs to explain to me how a team that makes a mockery of financial fair play, has a captain that if he wasn’t a professional footballer would be doing time, a left-back mercenary that will swerve off the road at the thought of a £55,000-a-week deal, as well as fans that boo their own (interim) manager, win yet another European trophy. How is this possible? What sort of monkeys paw do they possess that every other team does not?

Last season we had them being outplayed in no-less than three Champions League competitions and still emerge with the trophy on penalties. And now this? Why? When Roberto Di Matteo sold his soul for the luck of a thousand leprechauns last year, was there enough left over for this season as well?

I genuinely despair sometimes. All victories last night tell me are that if you throw enough money at a situation you’re going to win football competitions. And that saddens me. I am not naive. I know that football is now just as much a business as it is a recreation for some of us (although I can’t say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it very much – too many nerves, especially of late!), but I wake up this morning and feel sad that the only way to compete in this football world of ours is to have your very own billionaire bankrolling the club.

I love the way Arsenal are trying to achieve success. It’s the last bastion of hope I have that we can. It’s the final thing that we can hold over Chelski fans i.e. one man bought you success, the collective entity that is The Arsenal (fans, players, board, etc) achieved ours. But on mornings like today all I feel is bitterness. Bitterness and a worry that FFP will be as useful as a fork with soup. I don’t want us to go the same route as Chelski and have Usmanov use us as his plaything. No, what I want is to see football succeed more over financial doping, a la Wigan triumphing in the FA Cup over Moneychester City.

I think it’s probably also made worse by the fact that I live and work in London and I’m surrounded by ‘johnny-come-lately’ Chelski fans. Yep, you guessed it, the type that wave the flags placed on their seats by their club to create an atmosphere.

Anyway, I’ve calmed down now and am happy to just focus on Arsenal because, let’s face it we’ve got a very big game on Sunday afternoon. A season defining game. Because the game is away, I’m not sure if Arsene will do his presser today or tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.

The most pressing concern will be whether or not Mikel Arteta is fit to play. Last season I wrote a blog stating how I’d completely underestimated how important the Spaniard is to our team, and if he is out for this weekend, it will most definitely be a hole in the midfield that we will find difficult to replace. Yes, we have very talented players that can come in like Wilshire, but he is not a like-for-like replacement for Arteta, and there are also question-marks over his fitness. Mikel is a player that keeps us ticking over. Always available for the back four to release to the ball to, his accuracy of passing this season has be phenomenal, he really is ‘Mr Dependable’. He supports the build up play for us expertly and his energy and drive is something that has been vital to our success this season. If he is injured for the game, I suspect Le Boss will opt for Jack, but the midfield will have to shuffle around a bit more. We’ll probably see Ramsey anchored as the deepest lying midfielder and Jack will probably need to curb his natural enthusiasm for getting forward, because Rosicky will no doubt occupy that position and Jack will no doubt suffer for his ability to be a bit more versatile than the Czech. Jack and Tomas are very similar in what they bring to the team, so one of the two might need to be a slightly squarish peg for the midfield round hole we’ll need filling. We shall wait and see I guess.

Since the Wigan victory we’ve also seen Arsene speak about the nerves of the players before games. Not exactly what you want to hear as a fan before the season finale, but he does temper that response by saying that there has been that in place for a while now and we have still managed to win games. The only worry from this here writers perspective is that it doesn’t become so nervous on that pitch that it inhibits the players natural abilities and desire for success. Whilst we’d obviously much rather be in the position that we are in rather than the Spuds, the fact that they know it’s out of their hands will probably allow them to play with more freedom than our players. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that Tottenham have won by three or four goals come 6pm on Sunday. As for us, well, you and I both know that it won’t be that easy. There is no way in a million years that we’ll see the same Newcastle side that gave Liverpool the freedom of St.James’ Park to roam a few weeks ago. Nope, we’ll have to do it the hard way.

The nerves and that adrenaline Arsene speaks of has to be used as an advantage. It has to be used as the steam that powers the engine forward and on to victory. If you’re a professional footballer that plays for one of the bigger clubs, the only way you can succeed is through a combination of skill, hard-work, determination and the ability to handle pressure. I’ll put my faith in whoever goes out there on Sunday and hope they have all of the above.

Anyway, not a lot else going on that I can see at the moment, so I’ll leave you to the rest of your day.

Adieu.

Baffling Usmanov tells on school chums

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Believe it or not, the thing that I love blogging about is Arsenal and football, but of course mainly about Arsenal. I enjoy talking about the highs of victory, the controversies and the implications for us fans of activity that is on the pitch.

So I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you lovely people to learn that what I don’t love talking about is politics and finances in football. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive enough to think that the world of football as it stands can survive without politics or finances – it’s just part of the world we live in – I just don’t really care for talking about it. It’s not the reason we all started playing, supporting or watching the beautiful game, so in my mind it is merely a sideshow. I know there are people who’s job it is to make sure the books balance, and I know that’s important because I don’t want to see my club on its knees because somebody decided to spunk a load of cash they didn’t have, but I am a simple man and I simply have eyes for what happens on the pitch.

Which is why it irks me when all I have to talk about on a Wednesday morning train journey into the office is the politics of the boardroom struggle that has been going on at Arsenal over the last few years. Alisher Usmanov is the culprit, determined to stoke the fires and dig in at the existing board whenever he can.

Quotes appeared yesterday from the shady oil oligarch about the way the club is run and in particular, Stan Kroenke and his vision (or lack of) for The Arsenal. Usmanov spoke of the fact that Kroenke is not interested in building a winning team, only a team that is profitable, and that finishing third or fourth would be more than enough for the American tycoon. He also made some bizarre veiled threat/comment about the end of the season and weighing up his options before deciding what to do. The reason it was bizarre was because in the same interview he gave he also said he would not sell his shares.

Now, to me, I assumed that his options were pretty clear. A) buy more shares (probably off Kroenke – which wouldn’t happen – not at the moment anyway), or B) sell his existing shares. So surely by admitting he won’t sell he’s already making a decision himself about what his options are, isn’t he?

What is the purpose of veiled threats like that? Does he expect Arsenal fans to raise up arms against the club and demand that the board accept his generous billions and spunk a load of money on 11 Messi’s? Does he want a seat on the board? If so he’s not going to get it by effectively calling them all useless – even if they probably are. And by constantly poking at the beehive of Kroenke, he’s hardly going to get him to give up his honey (shares) is he? The more I read about this person the less I seem to understand about what his true motives are.

I must confess I don’t know all there is to know about Usmanov. I’ve read a few unsavoury articles about his dealings but nothing that goes into too much detail. But what I do know is that I want to support a team that isn’t left to the whim of one man. Sure, we can look enviously at Chelski’s and Moneychester City’s millions when they lift a trophy, but talk to any genuine ‘been going all my life’ individuals of those two sets of fans about their thoughts long term about the club and they will tell you they fear what happens when the rich kid gets bored with his toys. We really don’t want to be in that position, do we? Plus, we’d have the shadiest of all of the billionaires, who isn’t shy of a TV or newspaper article. If we think Chelski’s affairs are put out like last weeks dirty laundry in public, imagine what would befall the club if Alisher sat on the throne.

The AST says that we should at least listen to what Red & White Holdings have to say and, for the most part, I agree. But I suspect that Usmanov’s plan is to rule with the kind of dictatorial approach that would see a board effectively removed and him making all the decisions. We’ve already seen what happens in football when non-football people do that. It doesn’t end well.

I agree that our current way of working on the board isn’t, well, working. We have an old boys club of men who don’t seem to have a decisive bone in their creaking bodies. We also have an owner who prefers ice cool home-made lemonade on his ranch in Colorado than visit the club more than once a year to make sure the bricks and mortar are still standing at his UK based assets. I suspect we’ll see Stan skipping off merrily into the sunset once the club takes full control of all of the sponsorship agreements in a year or twos time and he can sell an asset from his portfolio for much more than he bought it. However, I fail to see how it helps Arsenal football club for Usmanov to continuously try to widen the divide between the fans and the current senior management and owners. It’s like the annoying kid that goes and tells the teacher that as well as breaking the window by kicking the football against some glass, the school fish tank smashed and now all the fish are dead. It doesn’t help to try and stoke more fires and destabilise the club.

I’m pretty sure that none of this will affect the players. As long as they all continue to focus on the aim of getting a top four spot and keep getting paid it doesn’t affect them at all, but it doesn’t really help the club at a time when the collective goal should be talking about the football at a crucial time in the season.

Whatever anyone’s view, if you’re an Arsenal fan or have any kind of affiliation with the club, surely the only thing you should be concerned about is its continued success?

That’s enough from this ranty blogger for one day. Hopefully Arsene will say some things tomorrow and we can all be reminded that we have got a game this weekend.

The need to spend?

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He’s been out of the blogging game on a short sabbatical recently for reasons that I’ll let young Ben elaborate on shortly, so I’ll leave today’s soapbox firmly planted beneath his feet Nd hand the reigns over. Take it away Ben…

Recently becoming a father, I have had time to think, probably too much time to think….So you can blame the sleepless nights and the international break for this…

Will the Increase of TV money make the strong, stronger and the weak, weaker? Or will it even out the playing field?

Richard Scudamore (Chief executive of the Premier League) on the effects of the new TV deal “The money is not just put into the hands of the top three or four clubs. The way this money is divided means our smallest clubs are able to compete and, on a match-to-match basis, take on the big clubs. In our league that happens more than anywhere else and as long as we can still have teams in the bottom three beating teams in the top three every season, then we have a compelling competition. And as long as that continues, people will continue to want to invest in buying that content.”

Richard Scudamore seems to think it will level out the playing field but is that the reality of the situation? If you look at the positive side of it, you look at Swansea – Having a manager of Michael Laudrup’s calibre, years of success springs to mind. Maybe that could be the success of Swansea, but perhaps their success is limited until he is grabbed from the clutches of the swans by a so-called…’Big Club’.

Laudrup has been a breathe of fresh air for the league. He has brought a touch of class but combined that with his ruthlessness in the transfer market. Signing the players he has needed to move his and Swansea’s footballing philosophy forward. He has been very clever, and signed players from his own back yard – La Liga (Spain). A place he knows very well. Michael Laudrup’s move to the Premier League is similar to that of Arsene’s when he first arrived in England and his dealings in the transfer markets, i.e. being able to exploit an untouched market…

If a manager can sign players of the ability of Michu and Jonathan De Guzan with a small budget, is sky the limit with an extra £15Million to spend?

Will the influx of cash cause a domino effect in management casualties? Some clubs seem happier than others to splash the cash – Having so-called, ‘faith in the manager’. Take West Ham for example. Will clubs want ‘modern football’ with a philosophy? Will a club like Stoke want to lose the stigma of the ‘cavemen football’? We’re already seeing evidence of this by the fact tjat even some of the Stoke fans are now turning on Pulis. If a newly prompted team (For example, Cardiff) have the windfall off the Premier League distributed funds, will they want to continue with the work of the current manager or seek a Roberto Martinez (assuming Wigan are relegated) type character? The divide between the Championship and the Premier League will get larger and larger. Finically and technically. It will be a very exciting, but scary for a lot of managers and aspiring Championship clubs…

The current finical climate has had a huge say in what has been spent in the last few years. Varying from the fees paid for players and the current fashionable leagues to shop. Spain and Portugal are the current hotspots, because of the state the country’s finances. (The perfect timing for Laudrup’s move).

During the summer transfer window the total spend of the Premier League was £262.55m. By previous transfer windows standards the growth wasn’t as large as expected. £250m was spent in 2012. 2011: £180m; 2010: £200m; 2009: £85m; 2008: £215m; 2007: £240m. (Figures from Deloitte)

The Biggest spenders where Chelsea – Spending a eye watering £81m. (The Champions League winners money was the majority of it, would of been interesting to see what they would have spent, if they didn’t win it)

The top five most expensive purchases of the summer transfer window, as follows -

Eden Hazard (Lille to Chelsea) £32m
Oscar (Internacional to Chelsea) £25m
Robin van Persie (Arsenal to Man Utd) £24m
Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund to Man Utd) £17m
Javi Garcia (Benfica to Man City) £16m

Chelsea winning the Champions League last season (I don’t like to keep mentioning it, sorry..) was the only reason for the large figure. With clubs having a an extra £10-15million to spend, will that force clubs to spend? For example, will newly prompted clubs spend spend spend, or will it force neighbouring clubs to spend because of each others transfer movements? Will an ‘almost’ club like Everton be propelled into a lucrative top four position? Lots of exciting and unanswerable questions… But only positive signs for Premier League as a brand in my opinion.

A late night, and the transfer of Ricky Van Wolfswinkel from Sporting Lisbon to Norwich sparked this all off for me. The canaries have splashed out £8.5 million for the Dutchman for a 4-year deal, starting from the 1st of July. The fee is nearly double what Sporting paid to buy Van Wolfswinkel from Utrecht in 2011, but they will receive only 35 per cent of the income due to a third-party arrangement. Exploitation at its finest..

It took me a few minutes to process the transfer. What it meant, especially for Norwich. A swing in the divide? Sounds mad, but he is a very technically gifted player, he would of been a great signing for a majority of teams in the division. Maybe Scudamore is right?

Van Gaal on Ricky van Wolfswinkel: “He’s a potential international, he makes a good choice, the English league is higher than Portugal’s”

Looking at the fee itself it’s huge for Norwich. Considering the most they have ever spent on a player is £5.5m on Sebastien Bassong at the beginning of the season. The largest fee they, as a club have dealt with is the £7.5Million they received for Dean Ashton 2006. At the beginning of the season Norwich spent a very similar fee, £9.5m on -

- Mark Bunn
- Alex Tettey
- Sebastain Bassong
- Michael Turner
- Robert Snodgrass
- Steven Whittaker

Good players. Players, with the correct management and ‘know how’, can get the job required done. For Norwich, staying in the Premier League was the only objective…

I’m a big fan of Chris Hughton. The work he has done at Norwich and especially with his previous clubs, he has a very positive record. He is the sort of manager I would like to see with some disposable income. With these next figures he maybe writing his cheques as we speak.

These next set of figures I’ve taken from the very talented – The Swiss Ramble – Regarding Norwich’s finances. Norwich got paid roughly £45 Million of the Premier League distribution funds at the beginning of the season. The estimated growth between the 2014-16 season for Norwich City will be roughly £17 Million. Giving them a future grand total of £62 Million. Impressive to say the least.

With that extra (lets assume disposable) income. Hughton could take Norwich to a new level. Start a new philosophy for Norwich. Really make something of the club. If Chris Hughton went back to Sporting and said “I’ll take, Eric Dier, Diego Capel, Bruma and Jeffren” (unrealistic I know, just an example) you would see a very, very different Norwich. A completely different style of play. A force to be reckoned with.

Ricky Van Wolfswinkel may have opened his mouth a little to soon. The Dutchman has spilled the beans on Chris Hughtons future plans…

“The intention is that the club in the coming months will also capture an attacking midfielder and two wide players. I recently went to see things for three days in Norwich and the conversations I had with the manager and what the technical director claimed were decisive.”

Exciting for any football fan. Especially for the Norwich supporters..

When it comes to finances and Arsenal football club, it is a touchy subject for many of the fans. It’s a debate we could all talk about for hours and hours and still not come to any agreement. These next set of figures will add even more petrol for the fire (if money isn’t spend in the summer).

The estimated Premier League distribution money for 2014-16 for Arsenal will be *drum roll please* …£80.1m. That is only for domestic fee. Previously we were paid £56m. Quite a difference, and a welcomed one for the Arsenal board and Arsene Wenger.

If you believe reports we had – £60m available for the January transfer window to spend (remember the cost of wages are included in that price). So if you where to add season ticket renewals plus the extra tv money, also the remaining property money, you have quite a kitty. Saying all that, it must be remembered that if we were not to make the Champions League, that would make a big difference with the money available. So, to put all those figures into my magic Suburban Gooners calculator…..Roughly, £90m to spend? I’m not a finical expert at all and I’m not going to pretend I am… I understand the very basics, but even I can work out we have enough to make the adjustments to the team…

The last two seasons have been poor for Arsenal football. An unbalanced team on the field and a disjointed board off it all tied together with a strange transfer policy has lead to many fans calling for the managers head – Never has it been so prominent…Which isn’t good for all aspects of the club.

I personally believe this will be the summer to spend. Not just because the money is bulging out of the chastity belt of the club. The stadium debt at an all time low (Keep in mind we wouldn’t pay it off the stadium debt – The penalties for early repayment, won’t be worth it), players will be leaving, freeing up squad places. The majority of the possible candidates, their contracts are expiring, so there wages can be used for possible new players. Having ‘better’ players will obviously improve the team but also give Arsenal the weight when it comes to renewing expiring deals, the kit manufacturers for example.

Others teams near us will able to spend and won’t hesitate in the way we have in the past. Tottenham may be able to buy that world class striker they have longed for, Everton, could improve the quality of their squad, The Manchester clubs could double the already gaping chasm between the teams. Alarm bells anyone?

Surely we’ll buy now?! Surely….

I personally believe the ‘Bigger teams’ will still blow the others out of the water, but the gap will slightly shrink and with improvement for football will be fantastic. The issue will be for the promoted teams from the Championship trying to play catch up -a huge ask. It makes me lean towards the ability of the manger and the bottle of the board…

All makes for an exciting League next season…

I’d like to personally thank The Swiss Ramble for letting me and The Suburban Gooners use the figures from his blog. Please, if you’re not already, check out him out on Twitter – @swissramble and his website -http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/ – Very, very talented writer.

If you would like a more in depth look at the figures used, check out -
In The Premier League, The Sun Always Shines On TV – http://swissramble.blogspot.ch/2012/06/in-premier-league-sun-always-shines-on.html

Cheers for reading,

Be Happy,

Ben

NLD Aftermath

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Spurs 2-1 Arsenal – Doesn’t make for pretty reading does it..

A very strange game of football, where we eventually came out second best to the enemy. On chances created alone, we should of lost. But on the pattern of play, we where very much in the game. We just didn’t take the chances that did arise for us. The game turned out to be a battle of high lines, and whom ever played the right passes in behind would be victorious.. There is not exactly any major differences between the teams, mind you. they have a seven point lead and have a high flying Gareth Bale..

The game started off very cagey. The nerves where very clear to see on both sides. We dominated the very early stages and things looked promising. We created a very early chance (By our standards anyway) 10 minutes in, Giroud was put through and was bearing down on goal. With a lovely ball over the top of the Spurs defence. But the very impressive Jan Vertonghen caught him and the chance went begging. It was to be Spurs who broke the deadlock 36 minutes in. Bale, with a well timed run and a very acute finish. Adebayor dragged the Arsenal defence leaving space for Bale to exploit. Sidgurdson was left with the simple task of finding the unmarked Bale. Diabolical Defending. 1-0. Shamefully, it only took Spurs three minutes to double their lead. With an almost identical goal. Lennon was slide in, rounds the very lonely figure in Chesney. 2-0. Halftime couldn’t come quick enough.

The second half begins, very similar to the first, Arsenal possession, not leading to much penetration of the spurs back line. We managed to get our goal five minutes into the second half. A Bale own goal. I could give it to Mertesacker but a Bale OG just sounds better. After some very tenacious work from Ramsey to win a free-kick right in the spurs half, near the corner flag. Walcott swung in the eventuall free kick. Mertesacker with the flick on, straight onto Bale’s head with the ball ending up in the Spurs net. 2-1. Game on. Or so we thought. A few minutes later the ball broke to Monreal who was free at the edge of the box. The Spaniard shanked his left footed shot into the White Hart Lane crowd. We continued to attack the Spurs end. Jenkinson broke down the right-hand side and just before reaching the by-line. He swung in a beautiful cross. But the very impressive Lloris intercepted and gathered perfectly. But to then only spill the ball…unfortunately our frenchman was caught napping and too engrossed in his usual ‘celebration’ of disappointment. 59 minutes in, Bale should of made it 3-1. A well timed crossed ball from Sidgursgon before Bale skied it. A let off. Again Spurs should of finished the game. Sidgursgon through on goal and unselfishly tries to play in the again unmarked Bale, only for Mertesacker to intercept. A minute later Defoe drags a half chance wide of the goal. Another let off. The 80th minute was our next major, and final chance. Ramsey was slide in, the welshman was on the corner of the box. But with a very tame effort, he misses the target. FT. Spurs win the bragging rights, for now..

It’s really difficult to analyse and understand why we where defensively an absolute shambles.
To quote Arsene Wenger

“We were not efficent in the zones where it mattered (At either end). We were not dominated. it was a strange game to lose”.

We where in the game. We just didn’t have enough on the day. A boring and dull cliche, but true. We just couldn’t answer the question that where asked of the team. The game was very similar to our previous encounters with an AVB team – Chelsea (5-3) springs to mind. High lines and defence splitting passes. As I mentioned before individuals let us down, not the pattern of play. What has been a very worrying about this team this season – Every big game this season we have thrown away. It points to lack of quality, as well as the dreaded, ‘mental strength’. Too many poor displays from the major pieces of the ongoing Arsenal puzzle. The better players on the day have to carry to team. You can’t conceed goals like we do and expect a miraculous come back – Im surprised we don’t get more back injuries…

Personally Im very, very bored of seeing the same mistakes never being resolved and the surprise of the club, when they resurface. We are very poor (By Arsenal AND Arsene’s standards) where it really matters. Arsene seems to be really struggling with everything – Team Selections, tactics, substitutions. If you look at the enemy. Firslty, our decline is their gain. But credit is due because they have taken advantage of that. Im not saying Spurs have a Champions League place wrapped up, but ive seen enough enough of Spurs this season to tell me the managerial change was the correct decision.

The Board. The Manager AND the current approach isn’t working. This can’t continue much longer because the tend is backwards…

Cheers for reading,

try and enjoy your week,

As usual – Be Happy,

Ben

Fanuary – another last one…..

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Morning all.

There’s not really a lot going on at the moment, as we count down to Sunday’s crucial game against Man City. Le Boss might poke his head around the door at the press centre in London Colney, but that’s probably it. He knows he’ll be asked about player availability, transfers and Theo, so nothing new at all I suspect.

With that in mind, I thought I’d re-post a blog on Fanuary that good olde Oaf12 did last week, but unfortunately we were poor in our communication and I posted something shortly thereafter. So let me hand him the floor and tell us who he wants to see with the remaining window days ticking down. Take it away Steve…

Hey party people oaf12 here!

So with all the excitement around the Fanuary series it seems mine was missed – queue the world’s smallest violin :(

The sad truth is that it was actually rejected the the evil bendtnersnettercousin who decided that it didn’t contain enough detail, which was fine. However, he also decided not to bother telling me…….pure evil I tell you!!

Anyway enough of him and back to me, you and the second final Fanuary :)

Enjoy.

Do you honestly think we are going to sign a number of players in January despite similar promises in previous seasons?

Really unsure about this one…..I’m usually very positive but I find it hard to see us signing a quantity of players after (by our standards) such a busy summer.

I know to us fans there are a few areas that obviously need strengthening / back up but what is so gloriously obvious to us isn’t always picked up by the boss – like the fact that Gervinho really isn’t a striker!

As usual we aren’t any the wiser with Wenger saying things like “Can I say we will be active? Yes. Can I say this will be concrete? No.” or statements about his main priority being getting Theo to sign before looking elsewhere – for all we know this night not happen until the end of the month, if at all.

I will remain hopeful though; let’s hope it pays off…..

Do you feel Wenger needs to buy a ‘big’ player in January in order to make a statement to the fans or just make the right acquisitions?

I don’t think it would hurt, yet I don’t think it is a necessity. I would have included Cazorla & Podolski as big players and I think that’s the level I would like to see us look at more – i.e. not Messi / Ronaldo level but still top class players. I would have definitely included Huntelaar within this level but he has signed a new deal at Schalke now :(

I know it’s not likely but a signing like Lewandowski or Cavani would be one hell of a statement and would be a great boost to the team. It would be a nice middle finger to players such as RvP and Nasri too.

The only negative would be that if they performed we would then need to worry about how long we keep them for, not a nice thought but unfortunately a reality at the moment!

Which position needs the most strengthening and which player would you sign to improve this area of the team?

I would say up top and cover out wide. Regardless of results and how we have been playing the stats are positive towards the number of goals we concede; we are just missing that clinical player up top to finish the job for us. Could this be Theo? Maybe – but should we put our eggs in a basket that may potentially be gone before too long, I’m not sure.

I’m also puzzled as to why Giroud seems to be playing fewer games since he looked like he had hit a bit of form….

I would have LOVED to see Huntelaar come in for two reasons 1) He is pretty damn clinical and is used to being the focal point up top 2) He doesn’t seen to like van Loser (as my son calls him).

With him out of the picture one of the two I mention above would be nice. I can’t see this happening though so let’s hope we pull another gem from somewhere…..hmmmm. We should have snapped up Ba.

Squad wise we need a keeper (I don’t even want to think about an injury to Szczesny right now some decent back up / competition like Butland, or us making it worse by him playing with one like last season), a left back (would love to see Baines come in but Shaw at Southampton has also impressed but the my hinder Meade) due to Gibbs’ fitness record and maybe some steel in midfield. I don’t have anyone in mind for this so can only point you in the direction of Ben’s post as he clearly has a preferred choice here.

I’d like to see Eisfeld get some game time too though.

Are we still in a situation of where we need to sell before we can buy?

I don’t think so but that’s probably not the view from the club. It would be good to get some of the players off the wage bull to make room for some of the above – unfortunately I would probably include Diaby is this.

It looks likely that Chamakh, Squilacci and Djourou may be out which is good for both them and their careers but also for our wage bill.

With Diaby my main concern is his injury record. Every time he comes back seems to coincide with a transfer window and he is hailed as ‘a new signing’ he then plays one good/great game out of 5 but is worshiped for this before getting injured for a few months just as the transfer window shuts.

We cannot rely on this and must sign reliable players and see his (and possible Rosicky) fitness as a bonus as and when it happens.

Saying that, knowing our luck, should these players leave they will probably never have an injury again and go on to play consistently for another team.

Do we need to sign replacements for potential summer outgoings in this transfer window?

Yes, without a doubt! Theo has actually been a bright light so for this season. We’ll need to replace him should he go and the sooner that is done the better. I’m sure that if he stays one extra man in the squad won’t derail the whole team.

Squad players (Chamakh and co) always need replacing but hopefully with more quality so that we can actually use them. Bringing Gervinho on or rotating him as a starter is really hindering us at the moment. His form at Lille and some of his early form shows he is obviously capable but at the moment he can’t even kick a ball cleanly – kind of important for a footballer – and constantly just runs into defenders. A decent winger to replace him and having the Ox (to remove some pressure) as back up would make a real difference.

Sagna is still one of the best right backs about (despite recent strange form) so if he heads off young Jenks will need some help and ideally another potential mentor. The French right back Debuchy impressed at the Euros and if he was willing to go to Newcastle…..

Would you like to add anything?

It’s been such a frustrating season so far as I had such high hopes for this team as on paper we look very good.

I don’t think major surgery is required (I seem to find myself saying that every year) but wouldn’t say it will be a simple key-hole job either.

We need to stop putting blind faith in players such as Diaby and also need to be harsher when assessing ability / form. Gervinho gets 90 mins when he is less effective up front than Mertersaker would be – this needs to stop.

I know I have focussed on our attack more than the defence but for me a strong attack really does help the defence. They are out under less pressure and there is always a focal point, conceding a goal isn’t as soul destroying and actually if you look at our (1st choice) defenders individually there are plenty worse players out there but not piles of better ones.

We also need to stop paying the mid-tier of players so much money so that clubs aren’t put off by their wages. We seem to have this the wrong way round – our worst players can’t find new clubs as their wages are too high, yet our best players could go to Liverpool and get more money.

Seems odd to me…..

Thanks all, until next time.

oaf out

Southampton: fire not fizzle required

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Morning fellow fans of the fabulous North London red and white football team known to us all as ‘The Arsenal’. It’s a New Year. A fresh start. A time for resolutions, plans for new beginnings and an opportunity to write history.

At the end of 2011 I was glad to see the back of it from a footballing perspective. With 2012 now consigned to the ‘what was once, has now past’ part of footballing memories I have stored away like my old Arsenal programames in my shed, I am now ready to start afresh with a New Year and a renewed vigour of hope. As you can tell from my vivacious opening to this blog, I’m excited about what this year could achieve for Arsenal. How long will that excitement last? I’ll tell you come 8pm tonight.

Yes folks, the start of a New Year heralds an almost instant opportunity for the current squad to lay down a marker for how 2013 will pan out. Should we see three points and a dominant display against a dogged Southampton, then the optimism I have shall continue into this weekend’s FA Cup tie to Swansea. Should we fizzle out like an overpriced November firework bought from a back alley merchant on the A10, then I upset the fire of excitement might just be extinguished quicker than we all hope.

The team news is pretty much as we expected. Barring the usual afflictions to the usual suspects (Diaby must surely now be looking more like Kevin Spacey before we find out he’s Keyser Söze than ever before with his dodgy knees and ankles), we’ve got an almost full complement to choose from at St Mary’s today. It is enough to send you giddy with excitement I tells ya. So we can expect to see Szczesny (Thanks to JackGoonerski for keeping me on my toes!) start with a back four of Sagna, Gibbs, Vermaelen and I suspect a return for Big Per at the heart of the defence. The three musketeers of Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshire will continue in the heart of the team, but the decisions up top will be more challenging. In fact, you’d probably say it would be easier for Le Boss to start with those that haven’t got a hope in hell of making the squad and work back from there. Arshavin: you’re cut. Gervhino: you’re out. Chamakh: I saw some good hustle with that Shisha during the week, which is why it was so hard to cut you.

I think Arsene will plump for the same three that started the game against Newcastle on Saturday. How could you not in all fairness? All three were on the score sheet and the contract rebel himself grabbed another hat trick. It is harsh on Giroud, who could have also have had a hat trick had that pesky crossbar not conspired against him, but you can’t drop a player that has just bagged three goals. In addition, I suspect that Theo and The Ox may just have that little extra juice in their tank by way of an incentive against their old club. I still expect Giroud to have some role to play, but I think it may be just to that of a second half cameo.

Southampton are a team that have no trouble scoring goals – an unusual positive for a newly promoted side to the Premier League – but plenty of problems keeping them out of their own onion sack. Nigel Adkins doesn’t really seem to be confident in any of his keepers and, having spoken to a couple of Saints fans over the last few weeks, it is their defence that they really worry about. Having conceded three to Stoke a few days ago, you cannot say that our attackers will be too concerned about how they might create chances, but when you’ve got players like Lambert who can be a handful, their attackers will be thinking they will get a few chances against an Arsenal team that conceded three against a tired-looking Newcastle. Puncheon has also been a potent player on the right-wing and I suspect that Ba and Marveux’s goals against us will give him hope that he could do a bit of ghosting in at the far post if Gibbs is found wanting again. There could be a positive in the absence of their captain Adam Lallana through injury, who I rate really highly; he is a technically good player and a creative spark that they miss at times. Ramirez came with the reputation (and probably the wage packet to boot), but it’s the young Englishman who I’ve been more impressed with.

We need to be quick off the blocks today. There needs to be the urgency we saw against Reading and the clinical finishing of Newcastle. Southampton will give us chances to break them down – of that I am sure – but there needs to be players that take those chances. It may have only have been a few days since our last game, but Southampton have the same issues as us, probably more so given that they also played on Boxing Day, so excuses of fatigue will not be taken kindly too should the players not show they are up for this fight. We can’t afford to be lacklustre in the first half and spray the ball across our back four for 40 of the first 45 minutes. We need to be laying down a marker. Especially when you look at some of our upcoming fixtures. January is going to be a tough month, so we need to make sure that there are no more slip ups. We’ve already had too many draws and too many defeats. I very much doubt Reading (playing the Spuds), Fulham (against West Brom) and Newcastle (against Everton) will do us any favours, so we need to make sure we’re keeping track of those around us by winning games – even winning ugly will do at this time of the year.

Mercifully, the TV gods have allowed us gooners to have a late kick off, which means that many of us will be able to shake off any New Year’s Eve partying by the time kick off arrives. Sing up for The Arsenal gooners, and here’s to a very Happy Neew Year.

New kit deal signals instant on field success. Or not

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Alrighty Arsenal maties? How goeth it for thee?

Lots of noise being made yesterday evening about the new kit deal that Arsenal are potentially unveiling today, so we all wait with baited breath as to what that REALLY means for the club. Will be see a return to the Arsenal of old, wearing that yellow top with three diagonal navy lines? Will Paul Merson come back to model it with that fashion disaster of a long-haired semi permed look? Or will it mean absolutely nothing whatsoever except that the players will have a different logo?

Whatever the deal means, the increase in revenue for the agreement which currently stands at £8million a season (you might have to scroll down a bit on the link) will no doubt do two things; a) give Arsenal more revenue to demonstrate that they are becoming more competitive with their commercial deals with other clubs, and b) give some of the naysayers the opportunity to grumble that Stan, Ivan, Arsene & Co won’t spend it anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

Personally I don’t care who is our sponsor, how much they have paid and what it means for the balance sheet; numbers make my head hurt and have always done so since my mum (an A-level Maths teacher I’ll have you know) made me spend countless hours completing test GCSE papers in prep for my final exams. No son of hers was going into a Maths exam without being able to recite Pythagoras’ theorem in their sleep, as my brother would also testify (if you ever met him, which you probably won’t). Anyway, numbers and Arsenal, where was I? Ah yes, I don’t care too much for them. I’m a marketer by trade and so am automatically at odds with the bean-countery of number crunching. I prefer shiny things that make cool noises. I’m just not fussed about percentage signs and varying fiscal intricacies. I know I should, I know that the correct running of the club is something we all should be concerned with, but I leave the worrying to people that have a better grasp of it than I.

With all this furrowing of brows and analysing numbers going on at the moment, it’s easy to forget that this weekend we have some sort of activity that is being played on some green turf in the Midlands somewhere. Momentum is everything in football sometimes and whilst we’ll get something from Le Boss during the course of the day, he’s already updated us on the state of the squad. Santos remains sidelined, Theo too, plus Tomas and Abou, both of which are longer term injury issues but the former has started training with the first team now so we must all hope he can put in some first team minutes on the pitch as the games come thick and fast. We’re going to need as many quality bodies as fit as possible if we want to secure our position towards the top of the league, so a fit and firing Rosicky is a must.

Will there be some basic level of squad rotation for tomorrows game? I’m not so sure. Although the makings of a title winning side has a core strength of squad of 16 -18 players that could genuinely stake a claim to be first teamers. We have a few in the squad, but there are certain key positions where there is clearly a heavy reliance on one individual, for example, Santi Cazorla. We saw what happened to David Silva last season when the games started to come thick and fast, but whilst the oil mercenaries were able to rotate with some strong players, I get the impression that Arsene isn’t so confident about who could rotate for Cazorla in that playmaker midfield role. Arshavin seems the most natural fit, but it seems his time at the club is drawing to a close, so his use is inevitably being phased out by the manager. I still wouldn’t mind seeing him a few times ‘in the hole’ to see if he can still deliver a telling contribution, but much like Theo’s desire to play up top, I’m not sure it is going to happen.

There’s also been a bit of noise from Arsene about bringing Thierry back and whilst I idolise him – even more so after his wonderful cameo last season – I think it’s time we started to look at more effective options than a 35 year old who is not getting any quicker. Enough has already been written by better bloggers than I, I’ll just leave you with my thoughts that I don’t believe lightning strikes twice, and neither should Arsene.

Catch you on the flip side dudemeisters.

*Face Palm*

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Hi People,

How do? Its been a while, hasn’t it? This isn’t ideally the way I wanted to my grand Jack Wilshere-esque come back to blogging, but hey ho, such is life.

Saturday was rubbish wasn’t it?…The reality of our season spanked us across the face – A last-minute turn-a-round push-for-fourth extravaganza and a non-inspiring cup run. Great. I almost feel cheated on. Or maybe I just had beer goggles on for the first few games and I woke up with a stinking hangover and whale in my bed…#Winning

The most frustrating thing about the game was the lack of ‘get up and go’. Nobody grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. What was needed on Saturday was a classic smash and grab (Mannone did neither). Champions, ‘Winners’, would have come away with 3 points. Not with their tails between their legs.

I don’t think anybody had a good game on Saturday – nobody. We all have favourites, even they are not safe, but there’s no shying away from the fact that even your favourite didn’t perform. I could go on and on, but I won’t bore you with my frustrations. ‘Send in the culprits’ – Don Vito isn’t good enough. End of. Harsh? Yes. He got away with one against Liverpool and toward the end of the West Ham game was found wanting with a high ball that you would have expected Andy Caroll to hit the target on. Yes, all young goalies need to make errors to improve but basic keeping is to push the ball away, not roll it down the gully of a striker. He had the look of a rabbit caught in the head lights. Also, I’m not having this ‘The ball swerved, it was a great save’ rubbish. Nope, I won’t…To make matters worse, it then took him what seemed like an eternity to get to his feet to dive on the ball, but as you can remember, that scenario didn’t end well. 10 minutes later he had a chance to redeem himself by diving on the ball and taking Grant Holt out in the process. ‘Not for me’ he thought ‘I know, I will shuffle at him like a crab on crack’ *face to palm*

Mr Catch 22, Gervinho. Answer me this Suburban Gooners: Was he put into the team in the first place to threaten Walcott and his position in the starting XI? If so Mr Wenger, poor hand, very poor hand. I’m going to say something silly here, I don’t understand Gervinho, but more importantly what he offers. At the start of the season he was on a great run of form and scored some great goals, but sadly those have fizzled out in recent weeks. Strikers can get one opportunity in a game and it has to be taken, Gervinho was doing that. On Saturday he was more of a hinderance…Running down blind alleys. Not crossing the ball. Not releasing the ball fast enough. Countless times Cazorla ran over to him to play a one-two, but he had to back off him because Gervinho fluffed his lines. He looks like that ‘lost boy’ at the end of last season – When he came back from the African Cup of Nations after that penalty miss. damaged limitations for him. Seems ridiculous saying that after so few games this but it’s just how I feel when I watch him play.

Olivier Giroud – Juries out for me. Flashes of quality every time he plays but yet to see a complete performance. His movement off the ball is second to none. Does he need time? Yes he does. Simple as that. I feel sorry for him. You can see it in his eyes how much he wants to succeed (and those are dreamy eyes) at Arsenal. I have my fingers crossed for him, he seems like a decent chap.

On the whole, Do we lack quality? Depth? Are we good enough? Yes, yes and no.. that was easy wasn’t it? *thumbs up*

For the last, how many years, we have had something missing. How many times have you said or you heard the words ‘imagine if we had [inset a saviour]‘? *Opens door to time machine* – Imagine if we had bought Cazorla last season or a striker when Eduardo got injured or even that illusive Goalkeeper we have longed for. With money in the bank this week’s AGM isn’t going to be a happy place to be. especially after Ivan Gazidis has made the mistake in saying

“Arsenal have a very healthy cash position and we do have money to spend as and when the manager feels it will push the squad forward”

*Palm to face*

To be continued….

Cheers for reading,

Be Happy,

Ben

The Arsenal model, Theo and hope

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Good day to you fellow wearer of the red and white cannon.

I haven’t blogged for two whole days, so stepping on to the Metropolitan line first thing on a Monday morning, I was hoping to be greeted with some interesting Arsenal news with which to form some sort of opinion on. Unfortunately, we are in the bleakest of Interlull’s, and as such are afforded plenty of time to be creative with our content, but not by picking topical stories of the day. There is some bumf from Arteta on the official site, with the chiselled looks of the Spaniard featured with a pic, followed by some prose by our metronomic midfielder on how he has had to adapt his game. It’s good to hear because its what we’ve all seen and what we’ve all been saying, but because it’s been the topic of conversation amongst fans already this season, it’s not exactly blogging material you can hang your hat on as a main feature for discussion.

Instead, I think I’ll turn my attention to one of our wounded internationals, Theo Walcott. I watched the England game on Friday, partly out of boredom but partly because I wanted to see how our two young attackers would get on. Unfortunately for Theodore, he didn’t bank on being levelled by a plumber (or whatever it is that keeper does for a living). As he hobbled off to hospital, it got me thinking about his contract situation, and about Arsenal’s approach to contracts in general.

We all know that Arsenal will remain steadfast in their value of a player from a wage perspective. That is what has seen the collective of mercenaries leave the club over the last four years or so. You all know about the way Arsenal deals with players like Nasri, Adebayor and van Persie when they want too much wonga (sit down Mike Ashley). I don’t want to go over the rights and wrongs of this policy as much has already been written that is much more entertaining than my ramblings. But what moved my grey matter into contemplative mode this morning was a couple of questions:

1. If Financial Fair Play doesn’t work, as I suspect it won’t, what is the next move for Arsenal?
2. Are we as fans just going to have to get used to The Arsenal Way’ of competing which leads to an inevitable high churn of players?

I suspect that the answer to question one lends itself very nicely to the answer to question two. Arsenal seem to be putting a lot of their footballing eggs into a basket that I personally think will have more holes in it than grandpa’s old socks. Unless the footballing authorities do something about the attempts to get around it, we’ll surely see someone like Chelski sell their youth team training kit to ‘Acme Industries’, a subsidiary of Abramovich’s companies, for a bajillion pounds, which will be very handy for them when they spend £46million of Falcao next season despite posting pre-tax losses.

I can’t see FFP being anything that the clubs won’t just loophole their way out of, so Arsenal will have to compete without the billionaire sugar daddy model, which unfortunately leads me to believe that this high churn of players will continue for the foreseeable future. Players that are of course committed to the club will be shown the potential of the green elsewhere and will move on. Every man has his price and that is no more evident than in football today. Could Arsenal become a grooming ground for good players to become great before moving on to teams that pay exorbitant wages? Possibly. If it does happen, we will just have to accept our position as a team that will not be able to keep players that are in it for the money.

That’s a little doom and gloom I know, but there is still hope. The first time Chelski spent big, Arsenal had the Invincibles and were able to keep them at arms length. Players were paid well, but won things at Arsenal, so were inclined to stick around. If we want to keep our best and brightest, we’ll have to succeed against the backdrop of pressure from other teams willing to snap up our talent, and I think that will continue even after we have started winning competitions.

I think Theo will be gone in the summer. I cannot see how this situation will be resolved with him putting pen to paper with the club not giving in to his demands, not playing him in the position he wants to play (although I don’t believe that he would avoid signing if he was getting everything he wanted financially), and not having any recent history of winning any silverware. However, the team that has been assembled this season looks capable of victory, so whilst I personally believe our hopes for Theo staying have faded, my holes that we can keep some of our other young stars remains a little brighter. Let’s hope that some silverware can have not just the added bonus of joy for the fans and players, but also the conviction in the current squad to stay together for the longer term.

Until tomorrow.

Accounts schmaccounts, I want football!

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Morning fellow fans of the red and white. Yesterday we had the announcement that the club has made pre tax profits of just under £37million with ‘cash and balances’ of just under £157million and a wage bill of £143million. Aside from the fact that you could build a vault like Scrooge McDucks in your back garden, i find myself asking the question ‘what exactly does that mean for me when I go to the Emirates this weekend and from now on?’. Well the short answer is not a lot really. The team will not change much in the short term, the players will all get paid and not go on strike, and John Terry will still remain the most morally bankrupt man in football. I had a dream where I played football with Frank Lampard last night, and after my initial irritation at the man, when I realised he also hated ‘JT’ and ‘Ash’ and hoped that we’d smash them in this weekend, I found Frank and I had more in common than I thought. Anyway, I’m moving off piece. Where was I? Oh yes, Arsenal made profit, the wage bill went up, the world keeps turning.

I know I should probably care much more about how the club is run, as it secures its future for the long term and ensures we try to remain competitive for generations to come, avoiding the whimsy of what side of the bed a millionaire wakes up on. However, as for going into the minutiae of the figures and dissecting/analysing them for hours, I’m afraid that’s just not me. I have quite a short attention span and so figures and numbers just don’t float my boat. I got into this football supporting lark to watch great football and cheer on my team. I want my team to be competitive and it’s good to know we are maintaining our future, but I leave the quizzing of the clubs finances to the waiting media, supporters groups and other bloggers. They’re just better at it than me.

One thing I will say though, before I move onto actual footballing matters, is that I hold a firm belief (and have done so for some time) that Stan Kroenke has bought into Arsenal for one reason and one reason only: investment. He can talk (via Ivan, obviously) all he wants about the clubs policy and sustaining our future, but I don’t believe there is an American out there that buys into ‘soccer’ because they love the game. The Glazers take their slice of Man Utd through ‘management fees’ in the accounts, and whilst Mr Kroenke hasn’t yet taken a dividend yet, I don’t believe that will last forever and I believe he’s looking to make a bit of cash from Arsenal. It may even be by selling up after all of the commercial deals have been in place and the club is worth more than what he has spent, but ultimately I see Silent Stan as somebody who is looking at his London investment expecting to make a return soon, whichever way that is I don’t know but I’m not liking the idea of.

Actually, one ‘final, final’ thing on the finances – I wonder how many of the people who wanted to pay Robin and now Theo ‘what they want’ are also the ones complaining in the increase in wages?

Yesterday we got a bit of Wenger-Time when he went through his pre-match presser routine, where i’m sure he was asked a host of interesting questions probably a little bit around cash and transfers in January, then some stuff around contracts, THEN he even asked about the game tomorrow! What’s that you say? A game tomorrow? Well how about that. How novel.

Seeing as I’ve just broken my Sarcasm-o-meter, perhaps I should consider some of the burning football questions I’d love Le Boss to answer. I’d be fascinated to get his thoughts on Andrei Arshavin and see whether he is now looking at him as a ‘reserve Santi’ following his midweek performance. Yes, Coventry aren’t exactly your average Premier League team, but you could tell that the diminutive Russian was in his element, and I just think that we should be giving Santi as much time off as we can allow, when we can allow it. If a game is won, bring him off and wrap him in cotton wool until the next one. Andrei is in his last year of a contract and I doubt the club will offer him a new one, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play a useful role this year.

He wouldn’t tell anybody, but I’d also love to get an inkling on who the front three will be tomorrow. Gervhino’s indifferent performance against Moneychester City must surely lead to an opening vacancy at the top of the formation tree and whilst Giroud scored, so did Theo, so it would be interesting to see who gets the nod. My gut feeling would be Giroud because Chelski at home is no time for a trial of a formation, but you never know.

I’d also love to get Arsene’s thoughts on who will be playing in the heart of the defence. He now has three defenders whose form has been outstanding in the games they’ve played, giving the manager a fabulous selection headache to choose from.

The team has just come back from a brilliant September and will want to continue the form into October, so it will be great to gauge the jovial attitude of the manager at today’s conference, as I’d imagine there might be a few juicy sound bites to copy and paste into some text for tomorrow. But for now, I’ll leave you in peace and wait in anticipation for tomorrows game.