A really ugly end to a rainbow.
I know last season was far from perfect, but we had some lovely moments, moments of real palpable team spirit. A kind of ‘Well if you’re going to write us off, we’re going to write you off into the irrelevance of Wrongtown’ sort of sentiment. It was nice. A new feeling, after quite a few seasons of anything but.
And now it’s come to this. I’ve no doubt there are many among us who support Robin van Persie in his feelings toward the club in its current ‘state’. No doubt his beliefs have some merit, even I will not deny that. And no doubt, a man of almost 29 years wants to be planning for as successful a future as can be. No one wants to have been a nearly.
But really, Robin. What have you gone and done?
It’s been almost a week now, since our beautiful, courageous, charismatic, talismanic captain went and sicked up his tea all over us all. Now, I certainly don’t want to adopt the tone of a victim here. I hate that. No one’s a victim here. I’m still chewing-my-nails-off excited about the prospect of next season. Last season was a case of ‘Oh God. Oh God. Oh Godohgodohgod no please don’t start, I don’t want this season to be’. This season, up until a week ago, there was real excitement about what could be this year. We’d signed Podolski. I never, ever thought I’d see Lukas Podolski play for the Arsenal, especially now that we’re a dreadful side lucky to still be able to charge for footb- oh wait, we’re still in the Champions League, good point, I’d forgotten that. We’d signed Giroud. Unproven, most definitely, but a terrifically positive signing exceptionally early on in the transfer window. It doesn’t matter if we defend like handcuffed goats, look at that strike force! We have so many players who will be fit for the beginning of next season, plus the ones close to making the transition from smaller games to the big time.
Then, after van Persie’s delightful statement on his flashy new website, we were in disarray once more. Usmanov and his little gang took the unrest Robin had undoubtedly caused as their cue to swoop in and act as Spiderman, offering up a solution to the poor, fragile, broken-hearted fan base stood on the edge of oblivion. The only trouble is, instead of envisioning Spiderman when thinking of the statement they put out, I think of a really bitchy high school queen touching up her Rimmel in the scuzzy school toilet mirror and turning round to her dowdy girlgang and going ‘Girliiiiiies! This is our momennnnnnt!’ before stomping off toward their target in a cloud of Charlie and breath mints and muffin top.
But enough about them. I don’t really understand the business side of things anyway, so I’ll leave that to everyone else. Back to Robin. I think if we’d all been a room full of people when that statement was released, ‘stunned silence’ would have been too subtle a description. I’ve seen it picked apart in so many different blogs and articles that it’s actually quite tiring to keep seeing it, but, well, I need to do this.
‘Update for the fans’
The fans. The fans of who? The fans of Arsenal? The fans of Robin van Persie? The fans of my super-cool graphic-y, flashy, spanking new website? Be specific, Robin.
‘This is an update for the fans about my current situation. I have kept quiet all this time out of respect and loyalty for the club and as agreed with Mr. Gazidis and Mr. Wenger, but since there is so much speculation in the media, I think it is fair for you guys to know what’s really going on at the moment.’
‘My current situation.’ Oh petal, what happened? Broken knee? Compromised criminal record? Car been clamped? Oh, just your contract situation. OK, I see, I’m on board. Go on. ‘I have kept quiet all this time out of respect and loyalty for the club and as agreed with Mr. Gazidis and Mr. Wenger.’
Kept quiet? Why darling, what happened to you? Sounds like something bad. Are you OK? Oh. OK I see, just your contract situation. OK, I see. Go on. ‘Since there is so much speculation in the media, I think it is fair for you guys to know what’s really going on at the moment.’
Oh sweet Jesus Robin, you don’t know the half of it! Every day, every SINGLE DAY we have it forced down our throats that you are not going to be here much longer. It’s AWFUL. So difficult. Please tell them they’re wrong!
‘As announced earlier this year I had a meeting with the Boss and Mr. Gazidis after the season. This was a meeting about the club’s future strategy and their policy. Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.’
We KNOW, Robster! We had people live tweeting it! It was hilarious, you should have been there. We have about fifteen different theories on what BISCUITS you had! Aren’t we funny? We are funny. I love us! So anyway, listen to me banging on. You were saying? Financial terms. Of course, well, you obviously want to be well paid. You were BRILLIANT last year, and brilliance does not come for free.
‘I personally have had a great season but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days. Out of my huge respect for Mr. Wenger, the players and the fans I don’t want to go into any details, but unfortunately in this meeting it has again become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.’
You what.
Wait, so… what? OH! You mean… what?! You personally have been great. Yeah, of course you have. BRILLIANT. Amazing, we couldn’t have done anywhere near as well as we did without you. Bless you for reaching your potential when we most needed it! To think, you could have been sold to someone like Manchester City five or six years ago when you were perma-gammy and they were shit and poor. Fancy that, that would have been awful wouldn’t it-
Ahhhhhhh, I can’t keep it up. That statement. That STATEMENT. Why. What. Why and what, what WAS THAT?!
A week later and I still can’t quite believe that statement is up there or that it was even issued at all. You have to laugh at the muppet in the stupid waistcoat if he persuaded Robin that that statement would keep the fans on his side. Like we were going look down at the floor and take a deep breath before nodding bravely and stuttering out the best kind of well-wishing message we could muster, before excusing ourselves to the bathroom and collapsing against the door in a sea of tears and mascara.
And if you’re reading this website and positively chuckling at how hypocritical we all are at having altered our opinion on the man so dramatically, I ask you to READ THE BLOODY STATEMENT.
Even if the PR side of it is more disastrous than the aftermath of the BP oil leak, the calculated, nasty undertone of it is still there for all to see. It’s an attack on the Club as a whole, which no one was ever going to stand for, you enormous idiot. It’s an attack on Arsene Wenger which, sadly, some people often do readily take. Fortunately in this instance most people (including plenty of journalists) have taken Wenger’s side. It’s an attack, and apparently a badly informed attack at that, on Ivan Gazidis. That part really irritated me. ‘As soon as Mr. Gazidis is back from his 2-week holiday in America.’ Firstly, it was wrong (at least according to Mark Gonnella who took to his Twitter feed to inform that weaponest of all weapons Piers Morgan of his wrongness immediately after he, that berkiest of fan van Persie and his waistcoat wankers had been trying to target, had simply lapped up the opportunity to attack Arsenal.) And secondly, if he was on holiday, why the poxing hell shouldn’t he be on holiday? Don’t make out like you’re not on holiday yourself, you fool. And don’t talk about ‘respect’ and ‘loyalty’ before throwing them both head first and blindfolded into a vicious inferno fuelled (naturally) by your furious ambition.
The use of ‘you guys’ does not make it friendly. It makes it annoying and stupid. Don’t use ‘you guys’. Don’t use it ever (Andre Santos you can still use it). And lastly, the crux of his argument is that he desperately wants for ARSENAL to do well, but because he can’t see that happening, he thinks it’s best he heads off and leaves us to our own devices. Always useful, captain. I can’t find it now, but there is a van Persie quote floating around out there about how he could go and win trophies elsewhere, but they’d not be the same as they’d not be with Arsenal. Of course, back then he wasn’t fit and PFA Player of the Year and top scorer in the world and everyone’s favourite tabloid headline. I loved that quote. It gave me hope that in a world where pretty much everyone involved in football is a complete arse, there are still people there who care more deeply for their club than for glory and money and all the rest of it. I also loved his ‘I believe in Arsenal as a club, in the fans, in the team. I just love Arsenal’ quote. I loved it so much I named this bloody blog after it.
This past week after that statement has been a weird one. After Cesc left, I was a shadow of my former shelf for a while. Being left for someone else your man loves more than you really hurts. ‘Course, had his first girlfriend been Olivia Osasuna and not Betty Barcelona you’ve gotta question whether he’d have been QUITE so keen to have moved back in with her so sharpish, but that’s just my newfound bitterness popping up I expect.
After that statement it’s unlikely we’ll see Robin in an Arsenal shirt again. If we do, it’ll be very strange. How will it be in the dressing room? ‘Aww you guys, we were so matey and friendly and happy last year… it’s a pity you’re shit and I’m perfect, otherwise we could have been such fabulo friends!’
I’m wondering what Thomas Vermaelen is thinking, having just renewed his contract and come out with all that spiel about being in love with Arsenal and never wanting to leave. I loved those quotes, and I like to think they were said with the knowledge van Persie was planning to be on his way. I think Thomas is different to the rest and means what he says, and his renewal of his contract when we were truly terrible holds up to that theory, but who knows? He’ll probably be off next summer or the summer after it anyway.
I’m looking at Podolski and Giroud and their happy-go-lucky interviews and thinking ‘Oh bless you, I can’t wait to see you in action!’ Then I’m thinking ‘Oh piss off, you’ll probably be brilliant and then shove off elsewhere in pursuit of trophies next, so just stop talking and play football.’ I’m looking at all the players who were here and who left and thinking ‘If you were still here, would we still be trophyless?’
It’s the Wenger part that really gets me. Another player he’d found and brought to England and taught and coached and guided into something bigger than he ever thought he’d be. So big and so good and so clever, in fact, that he’d be much better at Wenger’s job than Wenger. What’s decades of managerial experience anyway when set up against a man trying to wring the best out of the rest of his career? Not being funny, Robin, I love and respect you for all the performances you put in for us this season and all the other parts of season we cobbled together to make your patchwork quilt-esque career at Arsenal so far. You’ve been wonderful.
It’s just a pity you appear to have pretty much ended it in such a fantastically shit way. If this was always on your mind, that’s fair enough. Why bother with all the rubbish about ‘I love Arsenal, look how much my granddad loves Arsenal! My wife really loves Arsenal!’ if this was how it was always going to end?
I know to some of you he’s the worst thing to have happened to the world since polio, but if it wasn’t for Arsene Wenger I’d really be questioning why any of us are still bothering with the shitheap this sport is at the moment. If I could change the name of this, I’d change it to a quote of his. Fortunately, I don’t really have to, as the statement still rings true for me. Now that he’s a superstar though, Robin apparently no longer does. In fact, as it is, our ‘best player’ and captain now presumably leaves us with the message for his team mates that we’re nowhere near any future success and that the manager is not to be trusted and that if any of them want nice things in future, they’ll need to go elsewhere to find them. And that he really really loved Arsenal, but not so much that he wasn’t above throwing a big fat ugly wobbly to get his way, and sod the ramifications it’d have on the people who will remain at the club for the near future at least. Great captaining, sir.
Robin, in the words of a different Dutchman “Do you like Arsenal? Or just Arsenal with a trophy?” Well, I guess now we know.
Ben
320 days ago
While nobody likes to see a good player leave, I feel like Arsenal fans saying Robin Van Persie is all that is wrong with football need to take a look around the leagues. Cardiff City have been forced to change their kit colour of 100 years, Rangers no longer exist and Portsmouth could well follow them soon. You are a team that consistently finish in the top four best in the entire country, and most of your fanbase has seen you win at least one trophy. This makes you better off than 99% of football supporters out there. There are many reasons to hate modern football, but I don’t believe a good player wanting to join a better team is one of them.
Sian
320 days ago
I’m not saying he’s all that’s wrong with football. I’m asking why he bothered with all the loyalty crap before crapping all over the people who’d brought him here.
Sammy
320 days ago
It’s not that we fault a player who makes the decision to leave because of footballing reasons, it’s the fact that he is
A) the captain of the club (captain is supposed to be the last of the sinking ship and all that.)
B) professing his undying love for the club, kissing the badge at every photo opportunity, and setting a false image that he wants to be here forever.
Rob Smith
319 days ago
Dead right mate. We HAVE had it good compared to nearly all other clubs. The list of clubs where the mercenaries end up is diminishing so our players will realise this and suss how lucky they are, so good times are ahead. Great article Sian
Josef
318 days ago
You’re right that Arsenal fans are better off than most fans, but wrong about whether RVP leaving is part of the larger problem with football.
UEFA ought to introduce complements to its FFP scheme: inter- AND intra- league revenue sharing, coupled with a continental salary cap system – with different levels in each league, of course, and perhaps some kind of incentive for drawing well…
Beth
320 days ago
If I could hire you to articulate all my thoughts and feelings into logical, funny, concise paragraphs I would.
Perfect blog on this pissballbag situation. OH ROBIN.
Alex
320 days ago
Good Read.
10/10
Will read again.
He was on his way to hero status. It’s going to be a while until I can wear my shirt with his name on it again.
Let the mutinous bugger trot off to Man City and compete with Tevez, Balotelli and Aguero for a starting role.
Let’s just get ourselves paid first.
This is a sensitive topic.
Nick
309 days ago
Yeah. Great blog piece. My view from America is a hard-bitten sorrow at seeing the honorable game of English football turn into the slime-pit of reductive materialism that is pro sports in my beloved country. I love my country, but as my Sportswriter/father used to say, “It’s a wonder the don’t just put the sports in the business section now.”
The Waffle Mafia
320 days ago
Another fine piece.
I understood all the anger after van Persie released his statements, but I can’t say it came from me. I was very disappointed, especially because, like you, I thought he was different and would want more than anything to play at Arsenal and, more importantly, win trophies at Arsenal.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen. Thankfully, we still have so many great players who love playing in North London. And we have Maestro Wenger, the perfect genius for our perfect club.
As it stands, the club needs to find the team willing to pay the most for Robin and sell him as soon as possible. And then give Arsene some of that money to buy new players that will help the club win those trophies that we all desperately covet. I’m sure he will know where to find players that will be overjoyed to play at such a fine club and will work every single day to make it, as the song goes, “the greatest team the world has ever seen.”
ExTha
320 days ago
Good stuff Sian. I think it’s understated just how truly great Arsene has been in all of this and I hope people start to realize that despite how hamstrung he’s been by restrictions and players leaving, his love for this club and desire to make it better has really only grown. One Arsene Wenger indeed.
And don’t get too jaded about players saying they love the club. For people like Van Persie and Nasri, there is someone like Tony Adams who you can believe.
Paulo
320 days ago
I agree with most of what you say but I can also understand RVP. He could have avoided all the bs but really it all reminds me a bit of Thierry Henry when he left for Barcelona and HE had won stuff!
Fabregas for me was different, the guy is from Catalonya and his first club was Barcelona he was always going want to go back eventually.
But the Nasris, Coles and Adebayors of this world I have no respect for.
Yet it doesn’t shock me, unfortunately. Footballers are ambitious (read greedy) and move because they want more money just like everyone does. They are the usual, the norm.
What is rare is Gerrard and Terry and Adams, or Tottis and Maldinis, one club players.
Alas.
This why the club is and always be bigger than the players.
Adrian
320 days ago
Great article, I think your description of Robin’s character is spot on. It is all about the money and creating a bidding contest amongst several clubs. Loyalty, allegiance etc has been totally sacrificed by his negotiating “team”
From a Dutch Arsenal fan in Wellington New Zealand
irishgray
320 days ago
Sian – I honestly think that is the first time I laughed at an article relating to this bullshit situation. All of RVP’s making it has to be said. I would however like to point to the club’s statement, where they say that they are sure RVP will honor his commitments. I think that is the crux of the issue. Something that most people have overlooked for some reason. I believe he asked for a transfer but was told no, not until his replacement Giroud has had time to settle. That is why I believe he released a statement meant to burn bridges with both club and fans (no matter what he claims) and thereby forcing the club to sell him. It might yet work but I will leave that in AW’s more than capable hands.
As for RVP, hand back that Captain’s armband and go sit on the bench. We may yet need you for the CapitalOne Cup!!!
Alan
320 days ago
Brilliant, Siany. Glad to see that you’ve hit the ground running for the new season. I’ll repeat the good bits…no, too many. As for RVP, don’t anybody try to tell me that this is not about money. Just go.
Thewayforwards
320 days ago
I could pretty much quote this entire thing because it is EXACTLY how I feel about it but I won’t.
I can’t help but feel that Robin properly screwed us over with this. He’s the captain. As a captain he has a lot of power and – as we know – with great power comes great responsibility. Something that Robin has seemingly ignored.
“And lastly, the crux of his argument is that he desperately wants for ARSENAL to do well, but because he can’t see that happening, he thinks it’s best he heads off and leaves us to our own devices.”
- That is so very very very true.
And that is what hurts the most. We all thought he was different, and then it turns out he’s not.
Daniel
320 days ago
What a great read. You say if it wasn’t for Wenger you wouldn’t see any point in following this shitheap of a sport and, you know, I couldn’t agree more at this point in time aside from the fact I think amazing fans/supporters/believers such as yourself also help sway me back into the firey pits of the once beautiful game. And I’m glad of it.
Of all the players we’ve had during Wenger’s reign, I can’t think of many or any others been supported through thick and thin like RvP has. Injury after injury, frustration after frustration but Wenger and the staff kept plugging away and eventually we had the complete player and our captain. Last season felt so rewarding in so many ways. The goals, leadership and fully fit season dashing away any doubts anyone ever had about whether or not he would ever be an Arsenal great. But now he never will. He’ll never receive a warm welcome back and his name will never be heard echoing around the stadium again. All because of one truly abysmal blog that makes you wonder whether Robin thinks we all read and agree with Le Grove (burrrrn).
I really loved him and would have so much more respect if he’d just handed in a transfer request at the end of the season. This is painful and just like him saying we can’t win jack shit… with him. So without you Robin!? EH!! EH! Enjoy yourself, we’ll be back to rub it into your face, don’t you worry.
We survived after losing a better player last season and we’ll do it again. Arsene knows.
Ps. That bit about the girls in the loos was… genius.
Lucie
320 days ago
Why would Van Persie want to spend the rest of his peak years at which hasn’t won anything in seven years. Vieira, Cole, Henry, Hleb, Adebayor, Fabregas and Nasri have all won something since leaving andVan Persie obviously feels he has to do the same so he has some medals at the end of his career. You can bang on about loyalty but from a professional point of view, you cant blame him for that. He single handedly carried Arsenal into the champions league last season and wants to play for a club which considers winning it as success not just qualifying for it. Your anger should be directed at your unambitious board and manager who cant keep hold of his best players. You cant cry poverty with your turnover.
Dont hate the player. Hate the game
Sian
320 days ago
‘I’ve no doubt there are many among us who support Robin van Persie in his feelings toward the club in its current ‘state’. No doubt his beliefs have some merit, even I will not deny that. And no doubt, a man of almost 29 years wants to be planning for as successful a future as can be. No one wants to have been a nearly.’
I think you should read it again, Lucie. It’s not anger at him for his decision to leave. It’s the destructive way in which he’s chosen to do it. I think I make that clear enough. In this instance, it’s really more a case of don’t hate the player, hate the statement.
‘Cry poverty?’ Doll, re-read, re-read, re-read!
Gooner forever
320 days ago
How on earth can you say “single handedly” ? To my knowledge most of the time there were 10 other players in the team. A team set up to maximise RVP’s particular abilities. If it wasn’t for the numerous assists it would have been surprising if he hadn’t scored as regularly as he did. It was a common cry last season “Arsenal are a one man team !” as if every match he lined up on his own and after several mazey dribbles from the halfway line banged in a hat trick. Get a grip.
Josef
318 days ago
“[RVP] wants to play for a club which considers winning it as success not just qualifying for it.”
Nah yo. That’s not how champions do it. Michael Jordan didn’t demand a trade in ’90 after the Bulls when out like punks to the Pistons. H laced up hid sneakers, lifted his own level *and* the level of his teammates, and led them to an unprecedented run of championships when not long prior people had been talking about how Scottie Pippen didn’t have the right mentality, and how Horace Grant/John Paxson/ill Cartwright/etc were just not good enough.
A player worthy of respect doesn’t switch teams to try to win, s/he makes their own team improve enough to win.
Also, you clearly never read what Hleb said abotu his move to Barca: “‘When you mostly sit on the bench, winning titles brings very little joy, while getting to the last eight of the Champions League with Arsenal was unforgettable… I regret my move from London, but unfortunately nothing can be done about it now.”
Finally, I’ll just note that breaking out trite hooey like “Dont hate the player. Hate the game” doesn’t help you case. At all.
Kennyf1283
320 days ago
Is anyone actually bothering to read the post or just whip out the standard ‘Arsenal fans as victims’ standard attack line? The crux of this issue is not that he has decided to leave, it is the manner in which he broadcast his decision. The line in question being “we in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward.’”
If he really loved the club, he wouldn’t have allowed his representatives to release this statement with this content and this tone. If he really loved the club, he would not have implied so blatantly that he believes the club does have the intent and capacity to win at the highest level. If he really loved the club, he would not have signalled to all potential signings that this club can’t get done and so impair the ability of the club to replace him. Even if what he says is true, as the current captain, there is a point when being succinct would have been a virtue. Or to put it another way, after expressing your admiration for Mr Wenger, you should have SHUT THE FUCK UP.
Ben, you have utilised a particularly unconvincing argument. Yes, Arsenal’s problems are not even in the stratosphere as Rangers or Portsmouth. (And I say that as a Rangers fan.) However, bluntly , those clubs issues were brought on themselves. And just because Arsenal’s problems are relative, it does not mean the fans have a right to complain. If you went to a Michelin starred restaurant and they served you a meal with broken glass, you are still entirely justified to complain even though there are starving children in Africa.
I understand the game and I understand why he wanted to leave. This is about how he chose to play.
Tc1168
320 days ago
Another brilliant blog Sian!
Both hilarious to read but also very insightful.. If we can be as bold and createful with the ball as you are with your writing then the new season promises to be one to remember..
Hunter
319 days ago
I’m not thrilled with the way he made his statement. But, to be honest it’s about damn time someone said it out loud and called the board out. The club has no aspiration to win things. At present, they only want to tread water doing the bare minimum and hope that Financial Fair Play bails them out. The policy so far has been a disaster and year after year it’s the same excuses. You can’t go year on year losing your best players and charging ridiculous prices with no end result. At some point someone is going to call you out and that’s what has happened.
I am happy a player finally came out and said what needed to be said.
Definitely could have been done in a better way, but the fact remains, it needed to be done one way or another.
irishgray
319 days ago
Hunter – “I am happy a player finally came out and said what needed to be said.”
And what exactly was it that RVP said that we all soooo needed to hear? That he disagreed with AW’s vision for Arsenal’s future? I am sorry but when did RVP, a truly gifted and brilliant football player, become a professional manager? One, apparently, that knows better than AW who has over 3 decades of experience in management, a Masters in Economics, not to mention EPL titles, FA Cups and 15 years straight in the CL.
Did I mention he also oversaw the building of a brand new stadium, complete with state-of-the-art medical facilities, and did so without bankrupting the club? The very same medical facilities that put RVP back together so he could turn around and release such a statement – for the fans!!? Bollocks!!!! Portsmouth won 1 cup and look at them now! Dilapidated stadium, relegated, millions and millions in debt. So much in debt that they may not exist for much longer (if they still do?).
Like I said – Bollocks!!
Hunter
319 days ago
The problem is that everyone at this club tiptoes around everything and makes excuses for failure. RVP is the first player to come out and directly say that the club is not showing enough ambition.
When the club comes out with the manager and the board babbling about 4th being a trophy then they have surely lost the plot.
Also, trying to equate making the right decisions (like not keeping Almunia, Denilson. Buying Sylvestre, etc.) with teams like Portsmouth is a false argument. NO ONE is asking to break the bank. If we are worried about finances and inability to buy players the first thing that needs to be done is stop putting crap players on high wages. We could save millions just by doing that alone. Instead we have players like Diaby and Denilson on 60k/week. For what? What did they do to earn it? The manager protects the players too often and treats them like children. We hang on to players who clearly aren’t good enough for far too long and don’t fix problems when they could be fixed for small amounts of money. That is the kind of stupidity and incompetence I am tired of.
I won’t even bother going on about Gazidis, that would take all day.
Arsene did some great things for this club but what is in the past is in the past. If he can’t get it right it’s time to move on. The club existed long before him and will exist long after. NO ONE is bigger than the club.
Storm
319 days ago
“NOONE is bigger than the club.”
Sounds hollow.
The Club needs big heads to go forward. And the Board who own and manage the Club think AW is the man. That’s the end of it.
irishgray
319 days ago
Hunter- You are repeating the same old mantra that has been rehashed for years. Why do we have players such as Diaby and Denilson? Simple, becuse before his back injury Denilson showed great promise but sadly never achieved it, nothing unusual there as it happens at every club. Diaby is an astounding player when fit, the fact that AW shows such loyalty to a player is not a bad thing but a good thing. In point of fact, it is exactly that loyalty to an oft injured player that resulted in RVP’s finest season last year.
As far as achieving 4th being like a trophy, I agree it is as I would much rather be in the CL every year, playing the likes of Barca, Milan etc. than winning the CapitalOne Cup year in, year out. You continually question the clubs ambition but fail to understand the financial restraints that were put on the club with the building of a new stadium. The whole point of which was to ensure we could compete with billionaire-owned clubs, without having to bankrupt ourselves. If you would only start looking at the club with your own eyes and not through the eyes of journalists trying to sell papers with sensetionalist shite, you would see that our sponsorship deals are all up for renegotiating soon and should bring in as much as $30m extra a year, same for TV deals as of next year approx. $35m extra. Because our club is run properly, that money is immediately available to the manager. It is not a lack of ambition that is hurting our great club but blinkered fans such as you who live on hindsight (Denilson, Diaby) and have no ability to understand what exactly the club is doing. I would bet if I went back 18 months I would find you calling for RVP to be sold off, as he lay on the treatment table for the umpteenth time.
Micheal
319 days ago
‘I would much rather be in the CL every year, playing the likes of Barca, Milan etc. than winning the CapitalOne Cup year in, year out’. You mean losing to the likes of Barca and Milan year in your out is better than actually winning something. Deluded much?
Hunter
318 days ago
Michael you beat me to the punch. The club will never move forward when it’s surrounded by people with a losing mentality.
Josef
318 days ago
You write that Arsenal “has no aspiration to win things. At present, they only want to tread water doing the bare minimum and hope that Financial Fair Play bails them out. The policy so far has been a disaster and year after year it’s the same excuses. ”
Hunter, you are an idiot and your assertions are contradicted by data. Try reading something other than moron pundits who spout off without any real basis for their opinions.
Soccernomics explains clearly that winning is highly correlated with wages paid to the squad. Arsenal actually outperforms the level their wages would predict. Unless your position is that Arsenal spend money they don’t have (and we can see how well that’s worked out for, say, Valencia, or Rangers, or Portsmouth, or Leeds) or be bought by an oligarch, what they’re doing right now is not only the best they can do but is also (relatively) morally admirable.
You’d rather be cheering for the overpaid and over-entitled employees of an oligarch who screwed his own countrymen to make his fortune, or maybe an autocrat who mints billions by filling our atmosphere with greenhouse gas?
Micheal
317 days ago
Oh get off your high horse you pretentious twat. Football is about winning trophies. Your team is sponsered by an airline from the middle east and your kit is made by a manufacturer which pays about 20p a day to labourers in China. You’re hardly Greenpeace. If City’s money is so dirty why is it, when Van Persie completes his move there, you will have pocketed nearly 100m in transfer fees from them. Hypocrites. Maybe you can hire an open top bus and have a parade for your balance sheets.
irishgray
316 days ago
Michael – Shut up!
Micheal
316 days ago
Fuck off you retarded cunt.
Maddo
316 days ago
Irishgray and Michael
It puzzles me that two people are unable to have a debate, no matter how sensitive the subject without cursing or insulting. It shows a sign of weakness and ignorance of language.
Both Man City and Arsenal have owners who are manipulative in business; both clubs have a history of capitalism and private enterprise.
For five years or less it can be argued that one club has/have far more money than the other and can buy at will any player and pay any wage… so we must live with it. Nevertheless; depending on the side of the fence you sit Arsenal Football Club is perceived as a club that adheres to fair play in business, with added class and culture unsurpassed by many others.
Furthermore I cannot recall any direct connection with child slave labour camps linked with my purchased replica shirt bought from the Arsenal store. I’ve read recently on the BBC webpage that almost all replica football shirts are made in Sri Lanka or Taiwan, to include Man City’s and definitely not at 20 pence a day.
I have always liked Man City as a club and in my opinion during the worst period (Stuart Pearce (before and after), the fans were excellent even when there noisy neighbours were wining trophy year after year.
Arsenal Football Club had/has a vision….. Build a Stadium with managed loan payments, clear the debt over a fixed period , at the same time nurture young creative players in parallel with the years of paying for the stadium and in 6-7 years both plans to collide making the Club stronger. Yes there have been near moments … the season when Eduardo got his leg broken at Birmingham ; we were short by 4 points ( Wigan away when we drew and that Birmingham game when we lost two points), also that dreadful Carling Cup Final and of course the Barcelona CL Final.
And throughout all this… there have been one man…. Arsene Wenger.
So what if RVP goes to Man City what are gonna do? Burn him in effigy (remember Beckham, he got stronger, Troll him on Twitter like Nasri… he won a Championship medal). Man City has money, how it came about (clean or dirty) they are laundering it legally by buying players at exorbitant prices, which we (Arsenal) would be a fool to walk away from. (Ade sold to ManCity for £25m, Man City resold to Spurs for £4, three years later).
But and yet Arsenal must stop being that selling club…. because really! There are fewer quality players out there in the market. no matter how much money you have to spend.
I could write much more about both teams … but I’m getting hungry
Tricia
319 days ago
Excellent as always. I hate that he and his camp decided this was the best way to go about this. Obviously it was his choice to not sign a new contract. But he could’ve prevented such a backlash by keeping shut about the future of the club. It hurts in a much different way than when Cesc left, because I know that somewhere in his heart, he still love Arsenal. Although I don’t think anyone will love the club more than Henry. I digress. Your post summed up all of my thoughts on this whole thing and its so very disappointing and unfortunate that he has chosen to leave the club this way. And I hope we don’t sell him to City. I couldn’t stand it. At all.
Kennyf1283
318 days ago
Birmingham City beat us in the League Cup the season before last. If you honestly think they are a bigger and more successful club than us you’re off your bloody trolley.
Alex
316 days ago
Another pearler Sian, the schoolgirl reference left me in a state!
From when I read the statement, my first thought was “Since when did Robin become a manager
“)
‘
Overstepped his boundaries, the rapport with the fans is done I think, I’d like a good fee from him and him going abroad as unlikely as it is, but if he goes to Citeh and gets crocked 3 games in, all I’ll say is, ‘you could of recovered with us with Love and Care, now you’re going to recover with them with Indifference and Bench
Maddo
316 days ago
Hi Sian
Well done dumpling. (Term of endearment) You look fine. Good Read
If RVP was to return: I can only relate this to a situation at the office when a colleague of mine; an excellent worker and considered as the next best thing for an associate position. She got herself arrested for flashing her knickers after a night out. It was all in the local press and then she returned to the office, all very apologetic but no one took her seriously again.
The added effect here is that RVP thinks his support team are inferior players and without him they are not able to make it. They (the players) will not look at him in the same way as last year, and
I would imagine a large chunk of respect is gone; which means he cannot hold on to the Captaincy.
His statement was foolish but reading it deeply there is lot of RVP speak in the statement. In my opinion RVP made his mind up two years ago to leave Arsenal and unlike Rooney (who is younger and stronger) RVP has given us his best year.
To end:
Arsenal The Club is a Ship where regularly passengers’ board and many alight. The Ship throughout remain strong because it’s made of robust cast iron supported by Rolls Royce engines and We the fans/supporters unassailable assembly on the wharf and wave as each passenger arrives and departs.
Up the Arsenal