Arsène Wenger has never seen so much pressure from his own fans. His ability to manage this Arsenal team is being questioned, and according to some, he is losing his grip on the modern game. But is he the only one to blame?
The year 2006/07 saw a major introduction into the Arsenal unit. No, it wasn’t the Emirates, it was the introduction of 2 billionaires. One was a Russian called Usmanov, the other an American by the name of Kroenke.
Have a look at this. Arsène Wengers stats prior to Kroenke and Usmanov make fantastic reading:
Matches between 1996/06
Games: 615, 356 won, 144 drawn, 115 lost
57.8% won, 23.4 % drawn, 18.6% lost
Matches since Kroenke and Usmanov came in 2007/09
Games: 244, 140 won, 54 drawn, 50 lost
57.3% won, 22.1% drawn, 20.4% lost
Matches in the last 2 seasons between 2010/12
Games: 97, 53 won, 19 drawn, 25 lost
54.6% won, 19.5% drawn, 25.7% lost
As you can see, Arsène’s record as Arsenal manager has dropped in the last 6 seasons. But is that his fault? Or are the major shareholders to blame? Prior to 2007 and the arrival of Kroenke and Usmanov, Wenger sold players when he decided was best.
The likes of Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Ljungberg, Henry, Wiltord, Campbell etc were all moved on after we had seen their best years. Since the introduction of major shareholders, we have lost the likes of Flamini, Hleb, Clichy, Nasri, Toure, Adebayor and Fabregas, all at their peak.
Has Wenger had his hands tied, or as an Arsène supporter, am I clutching at straws? To be honest, until the club tell me something new, I may never know. But the reason I split the post Kroenke, Usmanov era in 2 is this: Fans are slating the club for a massive drop in form and ability over the last 2 seasons. Fans claim the club has been dumbed down in terms of ability and quality.
But do the stats REALLY show this? Yes, they have dipped slightly, but should a 3% swing in wins to losses really be deserving of the grief that Arsene is getting right now? Surely one of the reasons for this swing has to go down to the fact that this is probably the most competitive Premier League since it was launched.
There are now 7 teams fighting for a top 4 finish, and that doesn’t even include playing away games at Everton, Stoke and the like. And maybe the move to the Emirates has forced Arsene to look at options that he would have previously disregarded. Either way, if it came to a choice over Arsene, Kroenke and Usmanov, I know who I would rather have at this club.
Written by SlimGingerGooner
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Quick question before I read the post, the figure of 130m for wages, is that staff as well as players?
Excellent article SGG.I am in no doubt that our current predicament is largely due to inept management at board level.
A) whereas before a signing would swiftly be concluded and sprung on us, now the deal is drawn out for months, before being made official.
B) whereas players were sold on our terms now we see increasingly not only contracts being run down but the club continuing to play these players
C) The PR of the club is amateurish . the Arsenal website should be breaking news, not a delayed echo
D) The handling of last summer was an absolute disgrace and showed no structure or cohesion. Not only did we deviate from our usual european pre season ( no doubt for money) but the timing of our transfers were laughable
E) We seem to be the only club banging on about sustainable models as if anyone else cares. First and foremost we are a football club whose aim is to win trophies , solvency is implicit
I could go on and on. I am of the view that what we are witnessing is Gazadis and his buddies learning ‘on the job’. Don’t get me wrong Wenger is not perfect, but the poor man has been forced to adopt the youth model and unfortunately the price you pay for that is patience
Micky,
On twatter it’s been suggested it’s players only.
Ah Chas, the Twattering Classes!
You know how seriously I’ll be taking that then 🙂
Usamov hasn’t had an effect, its just Kroenke bringing the club down, Usamov is worth like 18 billion, i’m pretty sure he’d make some big transfer if he became majority shareholder
SGG,
I should have left my comments on here, as I tend to post earlier in the morning.
One fact that I heard was in the calender year to date we have lost 20 out of 54 games. Not good.
I understood that the wage bill was for all employees. one of us must be right 🙂
Louis says:
February 21, 2012 at 10:03 am
Usamov hasn’t had an effect, its just Kroenke bringing the club down, Usamov is worth like 18 billion, i’m pretty sure he’d make some big transfer if he became majority shareholder
Then we can all play champ manager
Slim,
Great read, thank you. Before I get onto solving all our problems, I do utter a small “eh?” to myself when people keep talking about slump, after al we are fourth in what you rightly point out is a very competitive league. I do realise that we are nowhere near previous Arsene teams in terms of quality, but contrary to what Groveists think, this is not down to spending. We had Petit, Vieria and Henry fo example who were small money buys. They just happened to turn out to be world class, and in the case of Henry, one of the greatest strikers of all time. No amount of spend guarrantees you that. Think Torres, Carroll.
I suggest the main difference between the two era’s was a settled defence, and Henry.
You are right on many, many points but the real issue is the fans see the quality of the players being purchased falling dramatically and a player like RVP can’t carry the team forever. I wonder if your statistics would be so good if god forbid RVP wasn’t available? We need players who RVP can say are as good as him and right now the quality level is so far behind that the fans know hes gunna leave unless the board show genuine ambition and buy the players we all know we need. Please sign the petition that has been started to being usmanov and David dein in as Kronke needs to go as he is not a football person. He allows all of his USA clubs to become mid table teams and he will for SURE do this to us. Its time to act.
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savearsenalfc
Scravldio,
As far as I’m concerned, you can stick your petition up your arse.
I apologise again for not having time to write a report about last night’s meeting of the AST. Here is the link to the financial handout that was discussed
http://www.arsenaltrust.org/news/2012/ast-analysis-of-financial-position-of-arsenal-football-club
There were no great surprises for me, I already felt I knew that qualifying for the Champions Lge was crucial to our sustainabilty. Our biggest problem is the lack of commercial income as we really only currently have a one year safety net to cover the loss of the £45m from lack of Champions Lge football. If we sell RvP that will give us enough to go 2 years without.
As a business we only break even. We have had additional income from the sale of the Highbury Square properties and player sales that have enabled us to spend some money. There is a huge drive to encourage sponsorship from around the world and by all accounts Broadband being widely available in Nigeria will be a market we can tap into. There are thought to be more Arsenal supporters in Nigeria than the UK.
The AST don’t have any in depth knowledge about how the wage bill is made up.
I’m only around for a little while now but I’ll see if I can answer any questions later on if they haven’t already been answered elsewhere.
Pedro from Le Grove was also at the meeting and has written a pretty good summing up http://le-grove.co.uk/2012/02/21/arsenal-spend-10mill-on-loyalty-bonuses-and-agent-fees-hamstrung-for-years-by-arsene/ Obviously any questions to Pedro should be addressed to him on Le Grove
Usamov is the right man to lead the team
George Graham 48.91%
Bertie Mee 44.71%
Herbert Chapman 49.88%
Wenger 54.6% (2010-12)
So even in the last 2 seasons, his worst, Wenger is outperforming 3 of our greatest managers before him.
Jesus
@scravaldio
Before you blow Dein & usmanov’s trumpet you might want to educate yourself a bit on their past, football finance in general, Arsenal’s finance past and values. Then you want to have a look at clubs like Blackburn, Leeds and not to mention Portsmouth and Rangers. Also, if you have the gift of seeing in the future, you need to have a look where City and Chelsea are in, say, 10 years time.
Micky,
I am not sure where the latest “Wages” figure in circulation has come from, but in 2011, the figure posted in the Annual Accounts for “wages and salaries” amounted to £124m with an additional £54m for ‘other expenses’ (probably image rights etc) and would have included everyone.
Wonderman, 🙂
I saw your opening comment and thought, for the first time, that I had found something with which to disagree with you on regarding ‘inept Board management’.
Then I read your list and have to admit that you have put across some very valid points, and our happy concomitant views sail majestically onwards!! 🙂
In that case, Peaches, you could have saved yourself a trip as all that info and analysis was contained in my comment yesterday!! 🙄
AA leads the world, again!! 🙂
Chas,
Sorry that I missed your later Johnners vid/comment yesterday, but I have been back this morning, after reading your 9:41, and had a good laugh. Thank you very much, you really are a star!! 🙂
RA thanks 🙂 I’m sure we can find something to fiercely debate in the future, but it appears for now least we concur lol
Morning all, you have put your point of view well Slim(or is it Fat ?)but for me a more critical measure is how we perform in the second half of the season. I’m sure if you look at the performance in this part of the season for the last 4 years you will see a sharp dip due to the recurring problem of a thin squad lacking in quality and depth collapsing in from February onwards year in year out.
The critical difference this year is that in the last 3 years we have had a fairly decent start to the season, whereas this time we started badly.
This is why there is fear about our postion this year as for the first time in a while we don’t have the comfort of a decent start to the season as a buffer to our annual late season collapse.
One final point, we apparently have 71 players on the books, how does that compare with other Premier League teams ? It seems awfully high to me, and at the risk of sounding repetitive, are we not suffering from sub standard quantity in preference to good quality ?
Thanks RA.
On the more serious issue of your open access pyjama bottoms, how about two strips of velcro and a tube of glue. You could thereby retain the quick release properties currently at your disposal, whilst affording an element of modesty in the face of dwarves, pygmies and midgets. Just a thought.
Fine post SGG
afraid all the comments on any blog today will be dominated by last nights meeting.
Onwards we struggle, best we don’t drown.
Accidental velcro on the pubes. Ouch. 🙂
Morning Charey
71 players on the books, some of them vastly over paid. Still paying for NB & Den, unbelievable.
Nice post SGG.
For one reason or another we do seem to be on a bit of a downward spiral. Having to sell players before they’ve reached their peak in order to generate profit does seem a major factor. Whether that’s because of the new stadium or new shareholders, who’s to say?
Heaven only knows what’ll happen if we don’t get a positive result on Sunday.
Hi Tommy, what embarrasses me is we have so many on loan because we can’t actually move them on due to high wages/no one wants them.
Bendy being a case in point – he was asking for a move to a more ambitous club but no one wanted him.
I think Denilson is much the same and Almunia is still drawing a wage while Wenger hasn’t even got him in our PL squad listing.
This reminds me of the Winston Bogarde scenario….
Just have a look on Le grove, about the AST and put your thought up
Micky, Chas, 🙂
You are both as bad as the award winning Cornish matelot!! 🙂
It might be safer and less painful to buy or pinch a pair of “Tall Girl” tights — wearing them over my head no one will know that the 6’5″, 19 stone culprit was me if all hell broke loose — or anything else broke loose for that matter. Ingenious, eh? 🙂
Tights over the arms and head, grow a beard, do a handstand and you might even get lucky.
Just to update on this.
Matches since Kroenke and Usmanov came in 2007/12 (before Sunderland defeat)
Games 341
Won 193
Drawn 73
Lost 75
Win % 56.5
Draw % 21.4
Lose % 21.9
Ah RA, shops for especially “tall girls”!!! Now that is a very specialist area.
There are 36 players included in the first team photo on AFC, including Thierry, and some of the loanees, as well as long term injured. With the Premier league squad limited to 25 in total.
That does not seem too many to me!
There are approximately 44 reserve, youth and scholars also on the books. Again some are on loan and some are injured.
That does not seem too many to me!
Where is all this leading? Where’s the problem — sorry, but it seems like moaning for moaning’s sake!
Brilliant! I’ve cracked the stats. Things have gone wrong since Usmanov got near the club!!!! Now, where’s that petition I was drawing up?
Chas, you cheeky monkey!! 🙂
Micky, I bet you can enlighten me in that field!! A field of Tall Girls — mmm, that should be exciting!! 🙂
Chas,
That really is a repulsive thought. How does a sick mind come to operate like that. Yuk! Do you have any “unusual” hobbies by any chance?
Redders, the question I posed was how this compared to other Premier League Clubs, it was not a moan for the sake of moaning but 71 players on the payroll, paid for by us, seemed high.
I should do some research to confirm my gut feeling that we have too many youth/reserve players who may also be on above market value wages as well as first tema squad players who don’t play many games for us for one reason or another, e.g. Park, Diaby, Benayoun.
Micky,
Haha, I’ll just go and see what adverts Wigan’s site throws at me to check!
Flamini, Hleb, Clichy, Nasri, Toure, Adebayor and Fabregas, all at their peak.
I don’t realy think any of these were the board.
Flamini was pony until he knew he was going
Hleb thought the grass was greener.
Clichy is no good.
Nasri has doubled his money
cesc ran back to his true love
Ade is a troublemaker that no-one wants (unless they can have him cheap)
Toure Actually I don’t know about that.
Working, back later.
Hi CharyB,
You are not the only one who has raised this, but ‘facts’ seem to be in short supply, and arsenal fans are very good at introducing ‘guestimates’ based on sod all.
If there are 44 youngsters spread among the U16’s, U18’s, and Reserves — at 3 teams * 11 players that equals 33, leaving 11 ‘floaters’.
In fact, I think there are also kids teams for age groups lower than U16’s so those numbers seem a bit light.
I do not know what any of them are paid, but I would guess most of them get buttons, until they reach the first team squad.
I do not know where you would get info on players wages – you know that is privileged info and will not be divulged by the club, so it is back to guessing — but for what purpose.
As to Diaby, Wilshire, Santos, Mertesecker etc — I am sure you are not saying Wenger could have foreseen their long term injuries, or that they should not be paid their contracted salaries while they are injured?
I simply do not understand why some people are starting this latest non productive witch hunt.
Sorry, it happens to be you I am talking to, but I really am getting vexed as the continual drip, drip assassination of our manager is really becoming seriously unpleasant.
Had a quick look on the ManuRe site to look at their playing staff numbers and got 38 on their first team, but some are showing on the reserves page also, e.g ,B Amos.
Had to get off the website before I felt even more filthy and violated though.
Why did no one ask the most important question of all last night?
Why did we buy Park?
Woah there Redders, I didn’t mention Wenger in any of my points, I merely asked how we compared on playing staff squad size numbers.
If we have the fourth highest wage bill(which is a matter of fact) then presumably it’s because we have higher average wages with an average sized squad ? I didn’t purport to know the exact wages of these players, but what occurs to me is that we appear to have a higher than average number of players who miss large periods of a season, Diaby, Gibbs, Rosicky, Vermaelen et al and we may get more injuries to the remaining players as we don’t have the chance to rotate. Diaby and Gibbs are surely too injury prone to be relied on as first team choices.
Again, this question of number of first teamers who miss large parts of the seson must be evaluated to pbe proved empirically but it’s just my perception that we suffer from this more than most.
A final point we seem to have more players out on loan than most, ususally as a precursor to them being shipped out. Denilson., Bendy, Vela, Lansbury, Bartley etc…
These are just my views and debating points on which I’d like views to help confirm or disporve my current and there’s no need to take this as a personal attack on the manager as I’m sure the position we find ourselves is not soley down to him. Every debate shouldn’t just be a case of having a pro-Wenger or anti-Wenger view.
Hoewever the question of whether I want him to go or not is one for another day.
GM – the effect of not getting any playing time this season for Park is that he has been replaced as national team skipper.
Chary
Bartley is coming back this week due to Rangers problems. You could have included RVP in your list of crocks last year.
Not having a go just struggling with anything meaningful to write 🙂
I realy feel for Park. We hijacked his move too. I think it’s classless, disgusting behaviour. Exactly the way we’ll operate when jabba takes over.
No worries GM, Robin has always been quality, so a crock with quality is worth waiting for but is Diaby quality ?
It’ll be interesting to see if the loyalty we showed Robin through his injury problems will be rewarded by him signing a new contract or not.
And on a final pedantic point Usmanov is not russian, he is from Uzbekistan.
I’ve hardly ever seen Diaby chary. Lot’s of people say he is quality. Even PV said he was the new PV.
Chary
If we don’t pay him 150k plus he’ll be going. I think they may let him go free at the end of his contract.
Diaby is very inconsistent – i have seen him run the midfield better than Cesc in one game and then run it like denilson in the next.
In the WC he was France’s best player by a long chalk and i he needs a decent run to properly gauge him –
His injury record is shocking thanks to his double leg break… i would hope he is being sensibly rehabilitated and next year we see the real him..
Otherwise lets take our 50mill and offer the deadwood a cut price deal to sling their hook or train with the youth team.
GM – Diaby seems to have that “1 decent game-1 average game – 3 poor games” sequence when he does play.
Since joing us in January 2006 he has made 121 starts for us, so that’s about 20 games a season, less than half the number of fixtures in a normal season.
I’ve got to cut a manc’s hair now. I’m going to tell her how currupt it all is and what a load of shit her team is (in Europe) 🙂
GM.
Cut a cannon at the back of her head.
Arshavin is playing in the reserves tonight… is this the foot coming down?
It might be getting him some game time before Sunday.
Thank you for the post Ginge.
I would just like to make a few points regarding yesterdays and todays disccusions which seems to focus on the Clubs strategy.
Do people realy want to scarifice our policy of wage parity? As far as ime aware this policy has served the club well for near on 30 years. if say we pay RVP 200K a week and then Jack and Ox become better players in a year or 2 then they will want the same would they not? This could create wage inflation that could undermine our sustainability. The question of resentment should not be overlooked either, which could result in disharmony. The answer is to continue with our current policy because in a few years we will generate more turnover, especialy from new commercial deals, and we could increase salaries according to the parity model.
All this talk about our finances has produced one positive result. people that thought that somehow money was been extracted from the club now realise this is untrue. In other words our owners are not fleecing the club. Of course they will now turn to there next option of screaming for Usmanov, spend some money daddy, spend some money daddy, go on daddy spend some money.
We live in the real world. Not some kids fantasy of football manager, but a world were the football envoirement is evolving constantly to both internal and external pressures. One thing i am sure off, and i dont need AST or anybody else to inform me off its reality, is that we are in a fantastic position relative to our rivals in terms of what is ahead.
By maintaing our current philosophy, our hand will be strengthend in keeping our squad together, whilst our rivals hands will be weakend in terms of luring our players away. This is the fundemental key, to aquire a position were we dictate what our team will be, not others determind to undermine us.
Slim a fine post sir. Thanks
It is in relative terms and it is about the percentages.
I fear that the reason for the malcontent is not the amount of games we win but the trophies.
If we could have won one or two over the last couple of seasons then I think we would not be suffering the maddening rage of many.
Thanks Peaches for linking the AST stuff, as everyone can see they do not report in that document any of the wage stuff that was coming out of the meeting last night. I am sure at any of these meetings it is difficult to keep on tack but the headlines caused by individual wage numbers discussed which aren’t even on the document are harmful to the club and the fans well being.
Chary as I understand it ManUre have around 65 players on payroll, Spuds state Players and Football Administration as 159 people on their financial report (total wage £93m on 315 staff avg wage £295k per annum), we state players separately and have coaches of 47 and 89 groundsman, if that is Players and Football Admin then we have 206 members of staff in comparison (total wage £124m on 454 staff avg wage £273k per annum). In neither case are wages split between categories so no real comparison can be drawn except for total wages against total staff. We also have 200 more temporary match day staff than at the N17 toilet. (834 v 611)
As RA says the £130m must be all staff as it was £124m last season, we lost Cesc, Nasri and Clichy and gained on about 6-7 plus Henry deal, and TV5, Jacks renewal and now JDs renewal.
I would love to see City, Chelseas and ManUres info, I assume they would fall under the Full Disclosure Rules due to size, so reports with all facts and figures should be available from Companies House.
There was also a report “The Global Sports Salaries Survey 2011” which alleged that Chelsea pay on average £71k per week, City, £69k, United £60k, Liverpool £57k, and Arsenal £55k. Altho I have not seen the actual report as they want you to cough up £300 for it.
Hi TMHT,
If I may jump in first and give my answer to your question.
Yes, absolutely we should drop our policy of wage parity (actually that doesn’t exist any way, TV got a big loyalty bonus just for signing a new contract).
Wage parity is the main reason we cannot move on players who have not made the grade and also why we cannot pay the going rate to quality players. It may (but I doubt it) have been a useful strategy in the first couple of years when we moved into the new stadium but it is now a weight around our necks.
If the report that we have just given JD a new £50k a week deal is true, it implies we are continuing with this ludicrous policy and that just means that quality of player in the squad will continue to decline.
AA23 in the reserves tonight, well worth the £3 i’ve spent to see how he fairs against the opposition. Also featuring more importantly are Jenkinson and Afobe. Who i’m looking forward to seeing.
Rasp just to confirm on JD, has anyone actually officially announced it?
I can’t see a quote from Wenger, Djourou or the Club about a new deal.
Hi GiE, that is why I keep placing a caveat when discussing it. It has been confirmed by sources I choose to believe that AW has a belief that wage parity was good for team spirit and morale. That is his ethos, I would say it discourages healthy competition between players, encourages complacency and makes it difficult for us to hang on to our best players.
Also one other thought our coaches number seems high but I guess includes physios?
Hi Rasp,
I accept it is a contentious issue, and am not rigid in its defence. If we can be more succesful by moving the goal posts the so be it. Its a bit of a catch 22 situation,. I like the notion of relative parity, but accept it makes it harder to keep our better players. I suppose the answer for me is to maintain it but generate enough turnover to still pay our best players top dollar, which i accept is not possible at the moment but could be in the future.
Thanks for the reply on Playing staff numbers GiE and as I expected it would be hard to make a wide ranging comparison, maybe 71 is not so unusual.
Hope you have a good game at Carrow Road tonight – I saw the stiffs play at Welling Utd a while back(lost 4-1 after taknig the lead,, ouch).
Craig Eastmond has signed on loan for my local team, I wonder if it’s worth going down to see him for a scouting report. He’s been given the number 4 shirt so it sounds like he’ll go straight into the first team.
This is just a quick reply to those who keep bleating on about our sustainability. We are in the top five clubs for fan base and yet our commercial revenues are 13th in the world. Investment in our core business compared to our rivals is non existent. Fans are giving away there seats and entire sections of our fan base wont even go to the games due to the shocking lack of engagement the club has with the fans. I’m from N.London and I can tell you less and less locals are going, does this seem sustainable? The wage policy is a problem because we overpay average players and underpay world class talent. Our stubborness in keeping this model has cost us players and means that there is not the funds available for new players. We keep asking for Usmanov because he turns up for games and actually cares about the club. I suppose your happy TerryManchiniHairTransplant with an owner who doesn’t even watch the games and will invest exactly nothing? Nothing about the current state of affairs is sustainable except a couple more seasons of profit. Which of course will fall away as CL qualification becomes harder and harder as every other team finds clever ways around the FIFA Financial Fair Play rules. In fact some clubs are already finding ways around it already just in time for the summer.
AFC has many problems but all of them are fixable. First fix the seat allocation and put some season ticket holders in the clock end. The clock doesn’t make the clock end, the fans do. Cut the deadwood from the squad to free cash for players who can stay fit and actually care. Get rid of Silent Stan he does nothing with his US clubs so why should we expect any different. This list could go on for a while and I know for a fact that most fans want to be talking about football and not money but with a board like ours thats all we are ever going to talk about because the football is less important to them. Soz about the rant.
Thanks TMHT,
Wage parity is not exercised in any other sphere of business I can think of. Wages usually reflect the job a person does, how well they do it and in some cases how long they’ve been doing it.
Yes they’re all footballers but there is a reason why strikers cost more in the market than goalkeepers and why reserve team players earn less than first teamers.
Football is not exempt from market forces – unless you play for Arsenal apparently.
This is bound to be contentious, but I find the whole discussion on finances and players wages to be ludicrous.
It’s nothing more than a debate on hearsay or guesses – nothing factual.
The Djourou story seems to originate from the Swiss site http://www.football.ch on 7/2/2012. It’s really interesting to try to track back where a much repeated story comes from!
http://bit.ly/woG9Pv
GN5, the point is that it is no longer just hearsay, there are people in the know and there is an increasing body of evidence to substantiate what is being said.
It was easy for me to dismiss this kind of talk when it was laced with insults, supposition and bias, but I am increasingly coming across very reasonable well educated professional people who are Arsenal supporters (not Piers Morgan!) and who have no reason to speak badly of the club but through their contacts have knowledge of what is really going on.
CharyB,
Sorry I could not continue our discussion, I had an urgent work related ‘phone call.
I was not for one moment intending to put words in your mouth. You did not at any time mention Wenger. No offence intended. 🙂
As I said to you before, I was not addressing you directly in my 11;09 (or anyone else for that matter) just generally addressing the comments raised here and in a number of other sites about the number of players we have employed.
I admit to being bemused by the critical references to the number of players at the club, because I bet the same people who have said that, are the same ones who tell us our squad is too ‘thin’ and we do not have enough cover at left back; right back, or at Centre half – and sod the 25 man squad restrictions by the way.
GIE has shown how the ‘average’ salary can be calculated by dividing the total salaries by the number of employees. But what does that prove? As a comparator between ourselves and other clubs that’s fine, I suppose, but it has no other merit, surely.
In a similar vein, Rasp says –“If the report that we have just given JD a new £50k a week deal is true, it implies we are continuing with this ludicrous policy and that just means that quality of player in the squad will continue to decline.”
But given there is no way of publicly proving the veracity of the contract details of Djourou’s salary, be it £50K or £25K, that little word “if” has a lot to answer for.
Therefore, –“IF” it is not true he has a new salary of £50K— does the corollary also apply that “we are NOT continuing with this ludicrous policy (?) (whatever that is) and that just means that the quality of players in the squad will NOT continue to decline.”
Weaselly little word that “if”, don’t you think? 🙂
Hi RA, I refer you to my comment @ 1:40
The ifs are becoming fewer. We would happily believe what is being said if it were in relation to another club but our Arsenal protective forcefield prevents us from believing anything negative about our club.
Scravaldio,
I didn’t say i was happy with Kronke, ime just not screaming for Usmanov. The commercial deals are a consequence of our move to Ashburton Grove and your dismisal of FFP out of hand is flawed.
As ive already ceded, the wage stucture could be looked at, nobody wants to lose there better players because of that. Dont apologise about the rant, you make perfectly valid points based on your opinion, and ime pretty good at ranting myself.
Oh, come off it Rasp, how can you expect us to simply accept;.
–“GN5, the point is that it is no longer just hearsay, there are people in the know and there is an increasing body of evidence to substantiate what is being said.”
Who are these ‘people in the know’? Where is this ‘body of evidence’? Names – evidence would be handy!!
It’s just a little bit convenient that only people ‘in the know’ who happen to ‘know people in the know’, can ascertain that there is a ‘body of evidence’ to substantiate this or that.
Well are we being told that the rest of us, who do not know these mysterious ‘people in the know’, might just as well bugger off and let these ‘people in the know’ dictate to us what we should believe in then because they have an unsubstantiated ‘body of evidence’.
GN5, you are right – caveats – guesses – lack of real facts; it’s all horse feathers! 🙂
Wenger should stay wit d club nd more cash should b spent on potencial players nd also players under perfemin lik Abou nd so many odas should b sold
SlimGin
A congratulatory post. Lots to agree and disagree with.
I cant for the life of me think of any other club where having 2 billionaire owners has been detrimental to it apart from Arsenal.
The rational itself sounds a little absurd but it is and has been a fact.
Red and White have been outsted and Silent Stan is never around.
We cant say that Arsene has ultimate power at the club and then turn around and blame owners that neither are just not there to interfere.
What you have so far achieved is to expose the fact that Arsene giving the total control he has had with the abdication of Dein has been a complete failure.
No worries Redders, it confirms what I thought, in that there is no hard evidence to prove we have a higher than average number of playing staff; I only have my gut feeling(I know irrational, illogical etc) that we have too many players on the books that are not good enough and we don’t pay wages on a “what you are worth to the team” basis. Amnyway a far more weasly word than “If”(despite being a top 10 hit for Telly Savalas) is “Harry” as in the RedKrapp version.
In the absence of hard numbers one can only speculate whether you think we are efficiently utilising our wage bill.
I say we are not.
Rasp
Who are these people in the know? I just go by what i see and examine our Accounts myself.
Frustration can be a very powerful and negative emotion. It can undermine and destroy years of hard work and i just hope our club dosn’t fall victim to it.
No Rasp.
You said;
“Hi GiE, that is why I keep placing a caveat when discussing it.”
Now you are saying “The ifs are becoming fewer.”
Quite a handy fall back it seems. Which is it to be? Caveats or a reduction in caveats?
There has been a sea change in your attitude to the club, which you have admitted yourself. And that’s fine – it’s your prerogative.
But please don’t insult our intelligence by trying on the old chestnut that if we object to nonsense it is all because we are incapable of making up our own minds because we are “prevented from believing anything negative about our club”. Seriously?
Whereas you are immune to such nonsense I suppose?
Here are a few quotes from the report, peaches pointed us at 10:20 this morning. How much of this is supposition or rumour, how much based on fact? Presumably all of it was mentioned at the meeting last night?
“We have 71 paid professional on the wage bill (we had 48 when we moved to the Emirates). We also fund Nik B and Denilson.”
” Wenger decides player value, hence why so many deals fall through. That’s why Mata isn’t wearing an Arsenal shirt.”
“When Dein was booted from the board, Wenger was promised he was in charge. Hence why he was able to pick his own CEO.”
“David Dein spends more time with Wenger than Gazidis.”
“Nina booted from board for having a Starbucks with Usmanov people.”
“The board have got rich off the self sustaining business model.”
“This has been compounded over the years by a trick Wenger uses to get around the banks stipulation he must invest 25% of transfer proceeds back into the squad. Instead if buying players, he signs his current ones up to new inflated deals.”
Nice one, CharyB. 🙂
I hear what you say, and I am not ‘in the know’, but I just don’t buy this standardization of wages stuff.
In some sports, a salary cap simply means that a fixed % of (say) the turnover of a club determines or fixes the total salary expenditure.
It is still possible to pay (say) 3 players a top salary of (say) £100K out of a total of (say) £600K — which will leave £300K to be split among the other 8 players in the team, in whatever ratio the boss wants.
Any ‘average’ would show the players receive approx £55K each, but as we can see above that is far from the truth.
Arsenal may have a ‘salary cap’ or salary ‘ceiling’ but that is far from saying all the players receive the same average salary.
I know I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs in your case, 🙂 but this simple analogy might help explain how it might work to others, not in the know!! 🙂
Chas,
Thanx for that — and we should not express any incredulity at any of it. Clearly that is all fact! 🙂
So basically we are paying Bendtner to embarrass himself at Sunderland.
And we are paying Denilson to sit on the bench in South America.
One Arsene Wenger!
True Redders, but in our case if we have the average number of players but have above average wages in totla it may show we pay higher wages to lower level/ability players and this gives no indication of salary “bandings” – I think what annoys people is the prospect/possibilty of paying Diaby £60k a week whereas Robin gets only £20k more – is Diaby worth 75% as much to the team as Robin ?
Chas
Is that the one from LG?
Let me ask a question here to the people going on about overpaid players at our club. Do you think this only prevalent at Arsenal? If you listen to City, Chelsea, Utd, fans etc you hear the same gripes.
Not all players are going to be mega stars. our policy of nurturing young players is more risky than most, because we tend to not buy ready made players.
The reasons why we are not in the top 3 and chalanging for the title is not because Bendtner or Djourou are on silly money, its because the ones that were very good, Cesc, Nasri, Adebayor, Flamini left.
RA thank you for saying what i was struggling to
Chelsea and shitty have been paying flop players to be on loan for ages. If jabba takes over I’m sure most peopl won’t give a shit. Notice how you don’t see many green and yellow scarves at old shithole since they won the league. It’s all becoming really tiresome and pathetic.
Ok I’m offski have just had a look at the Reserves Squad for tonight and AA23, Park, Chamakh, and Benayoun are all set to feature. So I doubt we will see Afobe which is a shame as I was hoping to see more of the youngsters.
Hope you and TA enjoy it anyway GIE — wish I was going!! 🙂
Well done to Terry the telescope today.
You are going to be my Supporter of the Month — but don’t tell the award winning Glicster!! 🙂
The thing is though, Mr Syrup, the Chavs and Arab Camel Shaggers FC can afford to overpay who they want – we try and do that and the ticket prices will have to increase, as there appears to be a possibility for such an increase next season, which may explain why gooners get wound up at the thought of paying Diaby over £3m a year to turn out for us occasionally.
GM, exactly right. I hope the team can pull of some great results, especialy restoring some pride by beating Totnumb, qualify for the Champions League and move on from there
Thats true Charry, but my point was that not all players are going to be hits, regardless of the finances at a club. I get what your saying though, they can afford it, we have to pay for it from our own pockets.
Thanks Redders, the telescope is buzzing. hahaha
Chary,
What is Robin on? No guesswork.
Reading through comments, I’m really jealous of GiE and TA. Sounds like a great evening out.
Well said SlimGin….I do have to keep reminding myself that we are 4th.
Liverpool spent £110m since last Jan, and Chelsea £79m just since the summer.
Both beneath us in the table
I’ve just been on a couple of other blogs including lg. I was also reading twitter last night. I wish Wenger would just say “fuck you” and go. If I was him I would. He is getting so much abuse that is so ill-informed. Lets just sell to Usmanov and be done with it. “We want our Arsenal back” what a fucking joke. Bunch of spoilt fucking pussies. I’ve just been talking to a bindipper. He thinks we are like spoilt little kids.
When does this digging end!?
Who gives a flying fuck how much we are paying Denilson whilst he is on loan!? It’s common practice for patent clubs to pay a portion of a loaned players wages. Are we going to start slating Wenger and the board because you get a mucky pint glass in the club bar!!!?
Criticism of the performance on the pitch and the players brought in and out of the club is fair play, it’s down to your own judgement. Anything else, without genuine, hard facts is just heresay.
GN5 1.35. Well said.
On a certain site notorious for talking complete shite and inventing fallacies that become ‘the truth’ by bieng repeated often enough, they have already had to clarify that they ARE NOT saying that we pay all of Denilsons and Nik B’s wages, only some UNKONWN !!! portion.
Rasp, respectfully, whats the opposite of a ‘protective force field’. A muck raker, a shit slinger, a dodgyrumourturnedintothetruthinator (TM.Heinz Doofenshmirtz!)
We all know there are a set of people (/wankers?) out there who could attribute Princess Diana’s death and the Syrian uprisings to Arsene and the board.
Different examples same principle Slim.
My fave was ‘Arsenal have banned us from walking to the ground with a beer in hand’
That article even had a link to the |Arsenal site which actually statedthe truth
I cannot believe that there are not a majority of fans at Pool, Chavs, Utd etc who don’t look at their squads and say “so and so are not worth their wages”, and I’m not thinking of the Torres’ of this world, I’m thinking of the fringe players. Here’s my problem. A year or so ago, I would have put Kos into that bracket, and look what’s happened. Wages everywhere are ludicrous, and of course we can’t match City and Chelsea, and yet here we are above one of them.
As I said this morning, we’re 4th in what we call a really bad season!
People still keep going on about a 6.5% price increase.
My bindipper friend earlier said look where you are now after the the start you had. I’m so fucking mad I can’t even think straight
I know GM and 2% of that was the taxman! And they have short memories because the club also passed on the VAT saving when it went down to 15% I know a fair few of my clients who trade with the consumer who pocketed the extra as they didn’t move their selling price.
Mdi89 – I thought Robin was on around c£85k pw. I haven’t seen his payslip obviously but I’m sure his agent wouldn’t have signed his last deal for much lower.
I know, no hard facts but just discussion points.
What is a hard fact is the average age of the board of AFC is 73. That can’t be good surely ?
GM,
Just the man.
Driving my children to school this morning, I made some comment to my daughter about the amount of time she was spending fiddling with her hair. Her answer: “Dad, you know I love you, but with respect you look like a hedge!”.
In youth speak, is that good?
Hi Slim, nice try to put things in perspective. 🙂
I am still recovering from the shock defeats against Milan and Sunderland and although I anticipated a difficult, transitional year, I must say that those two last performances have left me quite flat. Not only were the results disappointing, but the fact that we were so clueless/lost, and our formation/style of football is totally not working at the moment, have left me quite depressed. I don’t want to poopoo the last performances away with the fact that we are still fourth at the moment. At the moment, I just cannot see how Wenger will turn it around, and that is my biggest concern.
Luckily, GiE and I are going to watch the super-Reserves tonight agaist the Canaries in our home town, and nothing beats a football depression better than a good-old live game! COYRRRG!!
Hi TotalA – is Chippy still in charge of the stiffs ? He was when I went to see them the season before last and they went from 1 nil up to conceding 4 goals Chippy was going mental in the dug out.
Er…. (small voice): I quite like Djourou as a 4th choice CB and I’m glad if we have extended his contract.
He has had bad games (particularly when played out of position at FB) but has had some fantastic games at CB (including putting Drogbreath in his pocket when we beat the Chavs at home last year). I thought he played well against Sunderland at the weekend.
As for his wages… if I had any idea what he gets paid I might feel inclined to comment. But since neither I nor anyone else outside the inner sanctum of the club have the faintest idea, I shall refrain from doing so.
And if I did know what he gets, I would also need to know what the fourth choice CB at ManUre, Citeh, Spuds, ‘Pool etc get so I can draw a sensible comparison. I’m not interested in what Wes Brown was earning five years ago, because football has changed a lot since then.
I’ve had enough. I can’t be bothered anymore. Looking like a hedge isn’t good Mickey. If she’d said ” you look sick dad” that would have been well nang. 🙂
Come on TA,
You are as tactically brilliant as I am. Our first fit XI, as you well know, is only one very good player short, and that is an AM. A Cesc in this team would make the plays for the wide boys, up the goal tally from midfield, and knit the whole side together. One player!!! That’s not a lot.
GM,
Hedges: good for the wildlife.
Slim
Nice piece.
Like you, I was surprised to see that the “worsening” of results in the last couple of years was not more dramatic.
It just goes to show that although clearly not everything in the garden is rosy, perhaps things FEEL worse than they actually ARE.
As others have said, clubs who have spent tens and tens of millions more than us would quite like to have our problems.
TA
I would echo Micky’s 4.03 and add that we have still not recovered from the FB crisis.
Sagna is not back to his old self and we have not had a real left back for some time.
If Gibbs does not play in the stiffs tonight, hopefully it means he’ll be fit for the Spuds and hopefully, with a few games now under his belt, Sagna will revert to his reliable self.
All is not lost.
We will win on Sunday.
Come on GM, chin up.
We’re 4th, we can have a meet up with AA’ers at The Tavern, tool on down to the ground and watch The Ox and still have time to pity dillusional Spurs Fans. It’s alright really.
Guys,
You can keep deluding yourselves as long as you want, if you sit back and look at the evidence it is clear that our transfer/wage policy is not working.
Its not my job to try to persuade you, I am just stating my belief.
RA the evidence for my opinion is at least as strong as yours which, as you’re such an admirable person 🙂 is based on you always wanting to believe the best and one which is in tune with the majority on here.
I do believe the ifs are becoming fewer and that in time this policy will be exposed as flawed.
You may chose to interpret events in a different way, but I believe we are in a vicious circle whereby we are losing better players because we are not winning and we reduce our chance of winning when we lose our better players. The two main reasons for a good player leaving are higher wages and the ambition to win trophies – I believe our wage structure is the main reason for both problems.
I’m even beginning to hope that, yes top four, but another season or two without a trophy might weed out all those chavvy fans. Then we can get on the march to glory with only the good guys on board.
“No to Trophies” I say 🙂
Ooo, I feel another petition coming on!
Working for me already. No pressure for Micky anymore!
GM:
Hedges are good for betting and peeking around.
G5,
Great point. Oh and Funding stuff.
Rasp, what bothers me is the now routine late season collapse, I’m going to do a little research to confirm whether or not I’m barking up the wrong tree on that or not.
Hi guys, I need to be out but get back to you later tonight!
Chary,
Pretty sure its the wrong tree. Last season yes, but we still, and always have finished to four. Things always look worse at the tail end of a season when you drop out of the knockout’s, but then that’s more likely going to happen in the latter stages when you run into the better sides.
Me off.
So let me get this straight, we`re paying the likes of Sunderland and who is it ? San Paulo money to take our players on loan `coz we`re paying them to much in the first place to be able to offload them !. If true then Arsene needs to start getting help instead of taking on everything. I hear he has a qualification in finance or something, well obviously it wasn`t a good one, I`ve got a Football Association leader certificate, maybe I should be taking training, I can tell you some of them fat arse lazy fucks would be fitter under me ( I dont mean litterally under me as the only dodgy ones i like are Lesbo`s ).
I think it`s time to do something drastic with our high waged deadwood who we cant sell, effing simple MURDER THEM !. Whose gunner miss them ?, ” and FIFA World player of the year is…………..Sebastien……….Sebastien …… where`s he gone ?”.
As for Kroenke and Usmanov, who would be the best owner ?. There`s only one way to find out……………FIGHT !
Fine post slim !.
I know what next doors pussies do in my hedges, little devils never shit in their own ! 👿
Rasp,
‘It’s not my job to persuade you……..You can keep deluding yourselves……’
Haha.
Everyone knows you’re right (as always). 🙂
I’m not sure our transfer policy wage structure is working at the moment, it’s all the other tripe we’re meant to believe that I find hard to swallow. We all believe what we want to believe, same as we all see the game we want to see, ask Harry. 🙂
GM,
‘well nang’ made me laugh. I’ll have to go look it up.
It’s called intelligence, glic.
Why shit in your own hedge? T’would be madness.
Instead find one of those people who scoop the poop on a regular basis.
Sorted.
Come on Cornwall, as if Stans got any chance against Jabba Usmanov. That fat fuck will have him on the floor within 5 seconds, and what ive heard about him (alleged), stan will need an anal chastity belt for protection.
Terry,
Stans out of his depth, If he takes it up the Arse he will be Jabbered.
If he tries to shaft Jabba his cock will rot, his anagram ” A Manholes Virus” is not for nothing !
Cornwall,
Stans only chance is to keep distance and to wiggle his arse enticingly at Jabba. This should send Jabba into a frenzied sexual rage (allegedly) which might knacker him out.
Rasper,
You have proved the efficacy of my decision making, at least about not writing Posts, as clearly we are at cross purposes, no doubt due to my inability to make my position clear. 🙂
— I agree that you believe the strength of the evidence to support your opinion is strong.
—- In my case, I admit, and have previously admitted, that I do not have strong evidence to support an opinion. And consequently, I am unable to form, let alone support, any opinion. 🙂
My debating with you earlier was not to gainsay you with the persuasive nature of my opinion (which does not exist), but was to ask you to provide us with the evidence that you believe strongly supports your opinion.
I mooted the view that the evidence, such as it was, that you relied upon to support your opinion was not factual, but simply unfounded rumours, or gleaned from unknown people (well you must know them ….. obviously) who had advanced unknown inside information (well known to you as well……….. obviously). 🙂
If you have ever engaged with a debating society at Uni, you will know that normally the winner is voted on by independent observers.
In this case, I clearly failed to even make myself clear as to what we were debating, and in an honourable way (well, even accountants are sometimes honourable ) I declare that you are the winner!! 🙂
Everyone on AA is too nice and I cannot usually have a good old verbal dust up. Enjoyable!! —- even if I lost! 👿
chas,
My neighbour, the Manc, Has loads of the little *&^$%£ers, they hold them evil Cat Protection League do`s over their, raffleling pussies, nowadays I let my puppy Max gooner chase the Manc loving pussies back over the road !.
I’m not that bothered about the team performances. They go up and down. I get pissed off then I look forward to the next one. I’m sick of all the bitching and the lies. It’s the fans that are depressing me. piers morgan is quite representitive of a large minority of our fans. He’s tweeting that the first thing he’d do is sell Frimpong to spurs. I hope he dies a slow painful death.
Having done my barking and going back to the 2005-06 season I’ve listed our win percentages for each 2nd half of the season(i.e Jan onwards) for all games:
2nd half of season win percentage
2005-06 50.00%
2006-07 46.43%
2007-08 48.15%
2008-09 53.33%
2009-10 48.00%
2010-11 43.33%
2011-12 so far 40.00%
Looking at how we’re doing for the 2nd half of this season doesn’t exactly make me want to do cartwheels…
We gambled big time by awarding young players big contracts but now we are stack with deadwood infested with woodworm and unable to sell them off to chippies for a decent fee.A wage structure based on players ability and not potential should have been the basis of awarding contracts.If a company pays me £90,000.00 just to frank letters i will stay put.This is whats happening to our beloved club we have players like Denny,Alumunia,Arshavin etc who are on massive wages that do not reflect their skills on the pitch.I m afraid we are stack with this deadwork unless someone decides to do a bornfire with them.
*desclaimer
The author of this debate has no inside knowledge of Arsenal and use of this information is at owners risk.
I suppose a slow painfull death would be if Jabba sat on his face at a Board meeting !
I would first like Piers Morgan to be beaten to a pulp by pingpong. Sraight after this beating i would like him to get a good kicking from all those British soldiers he tried to discredit during the Iraq war. Straight after his second kicking, i would like him to be locked up in a cell with an on heat Jabba Usmanov (allegedly.
Hi RA,
My opinion is derived from the facts of events past – Nasri and Cesc leaving, our inability to find a new home for Vela, Denilson, Almunia and Bendtner and the fact that we could not persuade a player like Mata to join us. This is not the gift of hindsight but the analysis of real events.
The other evidence I choose to believe is a consensus of opinion (not LG or PM) from people better placed than I to know the facts. The Arsenal supporting journalist I put up a link for the other day is an example, he described AW’s philosophy of trying to keep the wages all on a similar level that had come from his time at Grampus 8.
The combination of these compelling sources and lack of anything that convinces me otherwise is the route by which I have arrived at my conclusion.
I’m sure up to the 1990’s most clubs kept their player’s wages around the same level, but the modern game has moved on and marklet forces have changed that paradigm.
Cornwall hahahaha, certainly brings a new context to the term face sitting. hahahaha
Without trying to stir some of you into a frenzy. I asked a question last night, What sort of position do you think we may have been in , If the shares rolls were reversed between Jabba and Syrup ?, More signings ? Players staying ? better position ?. I know It`s all hyperthetical ( and who knows the rolls may revert ) but some of you probably have a good vision of what might have been !.
Rasp,
After we won the double in 71, we bought in Alan Ball, who was apparently on much higher wages than the others. This caused resentment, and the club won nothing for 8 years. Ime not saying your wrong about the wage structure, you make a compelling argument, its just that if the cLub does change things it has to be done with caution.
Wasn’t Mata offered twice as much by Chelsea?
That’s what Nobby dahn the pub said, anyways.
GM. We are of similar minds. My love of the Arsenal is being eroded. Not by the team or whether they are successful but by the new generation of “fans”
Anyone can support a winning team but really loving your team is supporting them through difficulties. I like Micky’s idea of no trophies which will get rid of these poisonous “fans”.
I wrote a post which I scrapped about the booing at THOF. FFS. Who boo’s their team half way through a game?. I want nothing whatsoever to do with people who think that is supporting Arsenal. They are not in my gang.
As to the off field stuff, it has never interested me. I am not interested in whether we pay JD 50k or 30k.
What interests me is beating Spurs on Saturday.
Sometimes over the past 2 seasons I have been embarrassed to be a Gooner – the first time I can say that in decades of support.
Thanks TMHT, maybe I was wrong about wage structures up to the 90s, I wasn’t absorbed with that kind of detail in that period (thank god). I think you’d agree that it is common amongst the top clubs to have a considerable disparity between players – Rooney and Tevez are earning a lot more than Hernandez and Dzeko I’d bet. We could get closer to the higher wage bracket if we were less generous at the lower level, but I accept that comparisons with the chavs, city, Barca and Real are unrealistic.
Rasp,
Your logic in saying that if we lose our better (best) players we reduce our chances of winning (trophies) and if we don’t win trophies our chances of recruiting better players is reduced too, in a spiral which is the opposite of a virtuous cycle. Agreed! 🙂
I said to Peaches, yesterday, that if we cannot sell Vela, Bendy, Almunia etc we should, in extremis, give them away. (give them a free transfer). I also believe that some of the long term foreign loanees without visas, such as Galindo, Bothelho, Wellington etc should be looked at with a critical eye, and if deemed not to be good enough, they too should be sold or released.
A similar approach should be carried out with the whole of the current first team squad, especially AA, Fabianski, Benayoun, Park etc, as well the long term reserves, such as Watt, Hoyte and Eastmond etc, these should also be let go if there is the slightest doubt about their chances of making it at the Arsenal.
Clearing the decks like that will make room for better prospects to move thru’ and will free up money from saved wages to boost the salaries within any salary cap band (as I explained previously) which would then be available for a better class of player.
You see, I do believe there is room for improvement at Arsenal, but that is using logic and not engaging in wild speculation (not that I am suggesting you do anything of the sort). 🙂
Doesn’t sound delusional — does it? 🙂
Hi chas, the most infuriating thing is for someone to say they have inside knowledge but they can’t reveal their source.
I can tell you we were very near to signing Mata but our procrastination allowed the chavs in. They did eventually pay him way more than we were prepared to offer and would have always won if it had been a straight battle between the two of us.
Thanks Red Arse, I agree.
BTW I find the phrase ‘clearing out the deadwood’ disrespectful to players who have tried their hardest but ultimately failed – I can add it to a long list of popular football sayings/fan categorisations that I wish could be expunged from the blogosphere.
If a player is that shite that no-one wants to buy them, how can you give them a free transfer? They have a contract and are going to want to continue collecting their wages.
Rasp,
ah,I get it,can’t reveal your source. How infuriating! 🙂
I find it realy sad when i hear good supporters like Raddy and GM get so pissed off with sections of our support, its a view i also share.
The other upsetting thing is that despite our disagrements today, there does seem a general consencous that we are stuck with to many players that are simply not good enough, not even i can argue against that.
Ime off for a good lye down.
Raddy, I love you — that’s official! 🙂
I completely agree with you.
I am despondent and ashamed at being called a Gooner, if I am in the same club as these mistaken fans. I am no longer referring to myself as such, in polite company!! 🙂
I have done my best on various sites to try and put a more balanced view forward, to reason with some of these people, without success.
Many of them lambast the club, the manager, individual players, and the team as a unit, in the crudest terms, and then add a poignant “P.S. “I am a proud and loyal Gooner and I love Arsenal and have done for 40 years blah, blah”
And they do all that without a whiff of irony or how pathetic it sounds to anyone with half a taste for decency. Yeeuw!
Maybe we try to involve ourselves too much in the none playing stuff of Arsenal , we talk like we`re actually involved in the day to day runnings of the club. Before Pre -Wenger days and the internet all I did was watch my team , I didn`t have the foggiest about any of the other stuff, didn`t care, It was just about the team, lets just support our team . Whatever happens, happens, we`ll still love Arsenal .
No source from me with regards to our players wages but i can only assume we pay very well regardless of the player’s ability. What makes me say that ? Well at a small club like Fulham with a very low attendence figure Murphy is the highest wage earner at 40k a week and as mentioned before Dempsey is on 28K a week, so if you add up the number of players it doesn’t take long to add up to 130 million even if it includes all persons employed at the club.
Of course in the worst scenario and we get relagatd we get a 30 million parachute payment 😉
Raddy – unless you are going to N17 to kick a few scummers on the streets, you will have to wait till Sunday for the game 🙂
RA – I don’t think Raddy is ‘that way inclined’, he’s been married to women a few times, proof…pudding 🙂
Chas,
See, the thing is players who are not good enough for Arsenal will find a home somewhere. It’s a value judgement, which varies from club to club.
Not everyone will see Bendy, Vela etc as having no value for their teams. I suspect we have been holding out for too high a transfer price, perhaps.
Rasp, you are right. Some of the phrases dished out to describe players who are unwanted or unloved is simply appalling – but it has always been so. 😦
RA. I love you too….
GLIC. Exactly.
TMHT. Yes, we do have players who are not good enough to be in the first team . It has always been so.
If the club cannot sell them then we take the hit, run down their contracts and say Farewell. No-one can be perfect about predicting how a player will develop and AW + his coaching team are no different.
N.B. My comment above was in no way aimed at any of the fabulous regulars on AA.
You might be onto something there kelsey, theres not a lot of difference wordwise to, Winning the Champions League and Winning the Championship League, Hmmmm good thinking ! 🙂
evonne. Did you get my book list? – I was trying a new form of sharing info.
Glic, I now officially love you too! 🙂
We do get carried away, almost like playing a computer football game.
Let’s just support!! 🙂
And I love you Redders, along as there`s no Semi`s involved ! 😆
Glicster,
I leave the “semi’s” to the telescope man, especially as I do not know what a semi is — we Yanks are ‘fully’s”. Fact!! 🙂
Did you read that Benitez says he is lined up to take over from Villas Goas? hehehe (translated from TMHT) 🙂 Chelski and Benitez deserve each other — don’t you think?
HI All,
just popping on to say whatever happens and whatever direction we take, Arsenal are embedded forever in heart and mind. Arsenal are for life, once a Gooner always a Gooner.
I remember reading the back of The Daily Mirror, Terry, announcing we’d broke the British transfer-record and bought Alan Ball from Everton for £220,000. There was a picture of him with his trademark white boots, crying because he was leaving Everton. Someone I never really took to after that. That, plus the fact he was part of one of the most disappointing periods in our history.
How times and expectation levels have changed.
But of course that was before Howling Mad Murdoch (Is he a Man Utd fan, anyone?) came along to muddy the waters and corrupt our whole footballing set-up.
Herb, 🙂
I didn`t expect anything less from you Redders, as, “Everything`s Big in America “! 🙂
Glic, i might have to give you a contract to lick someone into shape, regardez-vous!! 🙂
Chas, Every time I click on another site, I get ads for more and more delicious women, dressed in less and less kit.
Are you using your brilliant skills to ensure I am distracted from my self appointed good guy role on those sites?
Careful — I have the award winning licker on scramble alert!! 🙂
There`s a picture on Talksport which Micky will like. It`s a picture of the “Arsenal Transfer Kitty”, with Robin Van Purrr-sie !.
Apologies SGG, forgot to say thanks for another fine Post.
Kelsey,
Genius!
If we combine that with my “avoid trophies at all costs” policy, we are in a win win situation. Dip down a division, collect the wonga, shake off the chavvy fans, then straight back up all rich and happy.
Parachutes on!
A picture on a radio station?
Why does anyone use the “we couldn’t persuade Mata” argument?
Why couldn’t the mancs persuade Essien?
Another club who have a sugar daddy who is willing to pay higher wages and had already qualified for the champions league got him.
Manchester united were desperate to get essien and he went to the chavs.
If the mancs can’t compete with the chavs why is Wenger a twat for not being able to?
gm, we were very close to signing Mata, contracts had been drawn up. At that time the chavs hadn’t expressed an interest, we cocked up and the result was the chavs started sniffing around he signed for them. We weren’t outbid initially, just very sloppy.
I’ve rtead on various site that he was waiting to see if we’d Qualify for ther CL
Well we can now all see the importance of qualifying for the CL which is why I’ve continually stated that we should want any team who can take points away from the chavs, pool and toon to win irrespective of whether they are the spuds or either set of mancs.
If contracts had been drawn up why are people talking about Wengers valuation of players? If whoever was supposed to seal the deal screwed up why does Wenger havew to take the blame?
The problem in the end was not the purchase price but the wages – which brings me full circle to what I have been saying all day.
I feel sad because the good folks on here do not want to hear what I have to say on this subject and I feel like a right partypooper!
I don’t think we can compete on wages with the chavs Rasp. They may all be screwed up but we still can’t compete with thyem.
I’ve just bought a ticket for the chavs game. God knows why as I can’t really go as it’s a Saturday. I’m hoping they move it to the Sunday for sly.
Why draw up contracts before the pesronal terms have been agreed? That really is sloppy.
Rasp,
Oh we’re listening 🙂
Without any firm knowledge whatsoever, I happen to think you’re right about Mata, which is why, after the window closed and Arsene made his “could write a book” comment, I interpreted that to lay the blame firmly at the door of Dick Laws. I also happen to think that AW had Mata inked in as a central midfield playmaker in place of Cesc, and oh what a difference to the season that would have made.
Park has scored for the reserves (spuds don’t have a reserve team)
Robin Van Purrr-sie Is on their Website Micky , If your not pulling my plonker ! 🙂
GM,
As a Doctor of Shrinkology, I urge you to stop reading LG. I gather Pedro is a nice guy, but as far as I’m concerned it is a site which only encourages the worst elements of the new money mad spoilt brat breed of hangers on. Why most of them don’t stop following The Arsenal I have no idea. How easy would it be for them to switch to City?
GliC,
That’s a job for someone with thicker rubber gloves than I own!
Raspy, Raspy,Raspy dont worry about all that non – football stuff, your end up going Mad and you know what that means, yes, you`ll be cuffed to Terry in the Cuckoo lounge holding up his telescope as he admires Queen evonne. Get back to the old stuff of just football, It`s what first made you a supporter wasn`t it ?. Come on you Reserves ! 🙂
It’s not just LG Micky. They have really gone downhill though.
Chamakh has been subbed on 29
Raddy – I didn’t, have you mailed it to me? Peaches can be a bit possessive over handsome men, so perhaps she gave you a wrong email address?
I’m off home see you all later
Must off myself.
Hello and goodnight Evonne.
Goodnight all.
GM
Subbed injured?
Or subbed crap?
35mins, due to subs having Man Flu and Shea and Benayoun getting injured, Arsenal have pulled two Arsenal supporters off the terrace . The Worlds cudliest gooner GiE is in goal and he`s just saved a penalty, Incredible !. Total Is on for Benny, My word, how did that scissor kick from 40 yards out not go in, Total almost broke the Bar !.
40 mins, Penalty Arsenal, no ! Afobe on for the injured Chamakh misses after an argument with Total over who should take It, should have left it to Total !.
Hello and goodnight Micky 🙂
44 Mins – Arshavin scores – 2-0
GLiC
You’re mental.
But award winningly mental 🙂
44 mins, 2-0, Arshavin with what looks like a cross floats over the Goalie, good work by Total with goalie goolie tactics . Half Time. Will GiE make it out of the Bar for the Second half and will Total and Benik stop wrestling in the mud over a penalty !
Second Half coming Up live on AA after this short commercial.
” Erectile Dysfunction, are you one of the growing number of Spuds to suffer from this 50 year old affliction, come and see me, Harry, I`m the Whealer dealer to give you a Screamer “
GiE, the only player having Vodka with his Oranges at Half Time.
We`re back underway, Ebecilio on for Jenks. Same formation, GiE playing with his cock, Total playing in the Hole .
Sounds like it could go to extra time… especially if GiE is playing with his cock…
58 mins, Goalll. Afobe makes it 3-0, even more impressive as he had Total strapped to him, he just wont get off his back after the penalty miss. This is one way traffic, GiE hasn`t had a much to do. so he`s f**ked off to Tesco`s for some fag`s.
Rocky,
It`s a great deterent to keep the Canaries away from his goal and It`s working, It looks like a Wood peckers been at it , urghh. A good Tip for Chesney against the Spuds !.
Watching the Chelsea. Who is the complete buffoon co-commentating?
The standard is appalling – the imbeciles who do our games force me to turn off the sound.
GIE would do a much better job
65mins , Goallll !. 4-0, Arshavin after some good work by the impressive Total, GiE just back from Tesco`s to see it, good to see he has bandaged his cock up !.
GLIC. If there is any truth about the correlation between hand size and manhood, then Chesney must be blessed indeed.
After all he is the Pole in Goal
Looks good for the weekend then Raddy !, We need a “Carry on up the Khyber” moment !
GLIC,
You are truly of the straight-jacket variety, but I do agree with a lot of what you say nonetheless!
Why can’t we just support like we did when we’re kids?
I know absolutely fuck all about the AST figures, and why should I? The people in charge of the finances know more about it then me. If someone on here with an Economics degree wants to kick up a fuss about the figures then fair play, but I don’t understand why everyone else wants to second guess what they mean.
I comment on the playing side of things because I’ve played/watched football for 20 years. But that doesn’t give me the standing to tell Wenger his wage structure is all wrong!
The constant moaning at the manager etc is really starting to annoy now. But the biggest annoyance of all is that as a human being, it’s easy to get caught up in all the negativity. The majority of us have let ourselves get caught up in the endless rumours and stories that have been banded around about our beloved club, and I admit that I have made certain comments about things that I know nothing about.
It’s time to take a step back and get heads screwed on to supporting the players for the run in.
Or as some would say, it’s time to check yourself before you wreck yourself!!!
slim,
It`s hard not to get caught up in it all, we`re bashed from pillar to post with endless information whatever the truth, the Web ,twitter ,Face off, Sky, Talkshite etc 24/7 it doesn`t stop, everyone wants a piece of us to kick around and we`re the good guys, lets do what we`re best at, back to the old fashioned loving our club on matchday !
87 mins , Goallll, 5-0, and if ever a guy deserved It, Total, while his drunken mate in goal has been pulling his plonker, Total has been pulling the strings in midfield. Have we found ourselves a new Dutch Master ?
Game Over, what a f**king boring game , dont know why I bothered !
hahahahahaha brilliant commentry Cornwall.
Rasp.
Am I allowed to laugh at Chelsea losing or do we want them to go a bit further in the CL to feck them em up in the League?
I can’t believe how jealous I am of TA and GIE.
Though with glic’s commentary it was almost like being at the game anyway.
Chas 9.13 this morning:
I’ve seen so many figures bandied about in the last 12 hours, I haven’t a clue what to think. It seems as though just one person needs to comment that Squillaci is on 60k for it to become the truth a few hours later. I’m fast coming to the conclusion that the internet is to blame for a lot of the destabilisation (not for the poor season, I hasten to add). Are we contributing in some way to all of this. I’d hope we were a positive force partially redressing the balance.
Chas 9.19
I just want the facts, but they’re always slanted by the viewpoint of who’s describing them.
I wish I’d written both of those.
No offence RHWP..but …sending us to LG for an honest write up of the AST meeting…?? Really ??!!!
Honestly, thats the last place on earth that I’d look for an objective take on absoutely anything. If LG told me that night followed day, I’d sit by a window and wait til it really did get dark.
So, yes I may suffer from a certain amount of ‘auto-rebuttal syndrome’ but I’m just sick and tired of stories like Arsene’s no spending bonus being debated as though it had any credence. Then after a while the debate is almost no longer hypothetical…andf the debate seems to be based on some knw fact.
In a word…its dangerous.
Therefore I will not debate nor pass any comment on the good sense or stupidity of Djourou being on £50k per week. I will not give any fuel to a baseless rumour…
God forbid I actually get angry or annoyed about it…….
Angela Merkel, Arsenal manager !!
To put it frankly, that was frighteningly brilliant …..
Hats off to Total for that one…..
Hi chas,
Laugh all you want, I am 😆
Its good news that terry is out, but in truth we’d prefer they played more games in the CL as long as they don’t win it 😕
Chelsea? hehehe..
If their loses didnt put us into perspective on what happened on Arsenal right now, I dont know what will..
They spend more.
They have a new manager, and a very good want too.
They have sugar daddy.
If you notice, all the things above is what so called Arsenal ‘fans’ want right now.
Mr Sharkey – I was at the meeting and can in all honesty report to you that everything that was mentioned in Pedro’s post today was in truth discussed at the AST meeting last night. Not much of the debate was new – that was my point and it saved me having to write my own. Just saying 😉
Very unsporting behaviour to laugh when one of your rivals gets beaten but nevertheless one of the best bits 🙂 😛 😆
Make some room on your shelf GLIC….massive Top Comedy Award coming your way.
Truly hilarious…and the nuances of GiE are so well captured. but this line is the stand out amongst so many:
“Afobe makes it 3-0, even more impressive as he had Total strapped to him, he just wont get off his back after the penalty miss. ”
Genius !!!!!!
Rob,
Absobloodyexactly!
One of the things that I just remembered was mentioned last night was that Danny Fitzman trusted Kroenke to uphold the traditions of the importance of the Arsenal fanbase having an involvement in the club.
One of the last things Fitzman did was to rubber stamp the Fanshare scheme that is promoted by the AST. The scheme gives supporters the chance to own a part of the club if they so desire. Sadly it seems that Kroenke is not too worried about the possibility of falling attendances as he’d rather build a global brand to ensure a good income stream.
Thats fine for the finances of the club but I’d rather go to a sold out Emirates than a half-filled stadium. It was mooted that Kroenke would rather have income from tv than gate receipts.
What do you think about that?
Fair do’s RHWP…but its like Pedro’s an enigma. You meet him in the street and he’s a decent bloke, but on the blog he’s a nightmare.
Him and the Wizard of Oz were spouting the Arsene’s bonus shite for so long and actually took to challenging people to prove them wrong, if they told them it was bollocks. They even argued about who should bear the burden of proof.
Crazy or sinister….I truly don’t believe anyone is that stupid to ask that the listener should prove that the speaker is lying. Their retraction odf that massive point was very very low key. Pretty disgusting.
Ok thats me done on the ne’er do wells…
Night all
Rob..wash your mouth out…..
How dare you posit that spending money does not guarantee you success..??!!
Its all I’ve heard for years and now you want to stick a pin in my balloon, and say it ain’t so.
At least I can still believe in Father Christmas…thats indisputable right
Hi guys, just back from the Reserves game. GiE and I are writing a short and sweet, combined match report (with proper pictures from the stand by GiE) for tomorrow, so wont say much now, other then: it was a really good game on a surprisingly mild evening. We had seats quite close to the middle line in sixth or seventh row so we had a really good view of the game, and at a princely price £3 we saw Arshavin, Chamakh, Benny and Park etc. Not bad hey? 🙂
GLiC, Afobe’s back is soooo comfortable! 🙂
Wow just in from showing my new teammates how to really celebrate 🙂 GliC you had me in stitches when I was catching up on the comments.
As TA said it was an enjoyable night, good to see some senior players and good to see some youngsters alongside them. And we have a player shorter than AA23!! But his legs seem to move quicker.
Just seen GM has used twitter as an outlet for his penchant for the front bottom swear 😀
RedAction even retweeted! It was a very fair comment I don’t think RedAction appreciated the subtlety.
GiE, just sent you an email.
Good night AAers.
The age of technology?
………………………………………………………………………..
Daddy, how was I born?
A little boy goes to his father and asks ‘Daddy, how was I born ?’
The father answers, ‘Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway! Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and googled each other. There your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button , nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared. that said.
Are you an Arsenal supporter?
GLIC
Total (geddit?) genius tonight…
TA and GiE
I’m sorry. I know your report will be great, but how can it top GLIC’s “play by play-with-yourself” extravaganza?
Gn5
😀
Sharkey 🙂
morning all
What was the final score for the Chavs last night?
I know they have an away goal, so they are already doing better than us.
Well, lets face it, chavs still have a chance, we don’t
Gosh, busy here this morning!
JT is off with a knee injury for 8 weeks, so in real terms for the rest of the season. Good, why should we be the only ones having endless injuries? Plus, Chavs will never make it 4th without Terry
Morning evonne – chavs lost 3-1, could easily have been 4-1 late on. They do have more of a chance than us of going through but they need to win 2-0 at their place and not concede.
GIE
If you are reading and if you have a moment in the near future could you write a post showing games won prior to Abramovich arriving and the steady decine in wins as his money took affect. To me this Kroenke debate, albeit very interesting, is barking up the wrong tree. I ask you this as I think we are on the same page and you seem to know how to use stats and all, whereas I wouldn’t know where to start. Thank you in advance if you are able.
GliC,
Without doubt the best match commentary I have ever followed. Some quite brilliant lines, and although I have never had the pleasure of meeting TA, your images of GiE, the vodka and oranges together with the fag breaks had me in tears.
Superb 🙂
Back later
LB thanks for giving me another post to do 🙂
Would be interesting I’ll look into it.
Evonne Napoli are a very good counter attacking outfit. They will defend like demons and spring lethal attacks.
Chelsea will need 4 goals to go through next week because i cant see Napoli not scoring in the return leg.
Liverpool must be rubbing their hands. Chelsea are terrible at the back without Terry and are in a complete mess at the moment. We are not exactly fairing much better on the field, though a win on Sunday would change everything. With us to play in a week or 2, Liverpool will fancy being in the top 4 in 2 weeks time.
Let’s just hope our lads can put in a performance on Sunday. I know we have injuries but our starting 11 would still be strong.
Szscesny
Sagna
Gibbs/Vermaelen
Vermaelen
Koscielny/Djourou
Arteta
Rosicky
Song
Ox
Gervinho
RvP
If Kozzer and Gibbs are fit then would be very strong. I just pray we play without fear and get into ’em.
GliC has met me once but appears to have figured me out. I think I need a lifestyle change 😀
Looks like we have found the solution to the back up GK problem …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17023316
peaches.
Maybe a lot of what was in Pedro’s report was discussed at the AST meeting, but what I struggle with is how do they know that information. The financial info document you kindly posted a link to, didn’t include any of the bullet points in the second half of Pedro’s report. Where does this information come from?
Where does the following come from you posted at 10:30? Is it someone’s opinion. If it is, then why is it reported as fact.
“Sadly it seems that Kroenke is not too worried about the possibility of falling attendances as he’d rather build a global brand to ensure a good income stream.”
‘Defending like demons’ – love it 🙂
GiE – you do not need to change, you are almost perfect my son
Peaches – thank you, lets hope they will go through but considerably weakened in the process
Raddy – I love Henri Lansbury, he is a great lad. He grew up in Potters Bar and I know people that knew him, all superlatives don’t do him justice
Chas – well spotted. Did Kroenke say he wants to build a global brand and sod the rest?
Morning chas, re your @ 8:18
Sorry, Peaches isn’t in a position to reply at the moment.
She was asked what went on at the meeting and posted the link to LG as it was a reasonable and factual account of the proceedings.
We didn’t set up this site to disseminate false information. I wrote the text for the tabs at the top of the page and I would remind everyone of the passage that reads “The character and standpoint of the site is created by you, the bloggers – there is no single site owner with a drum to bang!”
As I said yesterday, I am not trying to convince anyone of anything, I just feel the need, like the rest of you, to get something off my chest once in a while.
Bloggers can choose to believe and interpret events and information according to their set of criteria. If bloggers feel that the running of the business side of Arsenal is none of their concern and they just want to support the team whatever, then that is absolutely their prerogative.
Morning all,
it is difficult to evaluate exactly what Kroenke’s plan is, as like nearly all majority holders of football clubs or many other businessess, one will not hear him speak, as he employs others to do that.
My instinct is that he definitely wants to increase revenue by making Arsenal a bigger global brand, but at the same time the club have to obtain a high position and eventually win trophies again.
The real interest amongst many fans is the amount of money if any he is prepared to fullfill this concept .
Apologies, Rasp, if my comment was hectoring in any way.
Apologies too, to peaches.
She voluntarily gave up some info from the meeting and my reaction was unwarranted.
I always struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff and my frustration at this gets the better of me sometimes. Everyone was so happy until I came on, too, so apologies all.
chas, no need to apologise, I wasn’t getting heavy with anyone 🙂
We are bound to stray into contentious areas once in a while. Many would agree that the debate yesterday should be shelved until the season is over and since we can do nothing about the squad until the summer, I can see the sense in that.
My crossword mind is always searching for answers and trying to unravel conundrums. Since everything can be explained by mathematcs, I am preplexed that things just don’t add up at the moment 😕
One thought I had watching the match last night was how do you choose who to cut.
There are a number of youngsters at the club (in the Reserves), all with promise, under that there is a full Youth Team/Academy of perhaps 15-18 players, and then there are the full squads from Under 6-Under16. Every year the coaches choose half of an age group for the Academy squad, and then when they reach 18 they have to decide whether they keep them on, at least 6-7 players a year, all of equal promise. I know I couldn’t make those calls, and you’d have to wonder how anyone can.
Morning GiE, I have often asked the same question. I was hugely impressed by Harvard Nordveit when I saw him play in pre-season last year – and lo and behold he was sold a few weeks later. Maybe he just wanted first team football somewhere.
Morning Everybodies, and you, oh Cocky One. 🙂
[Grins disarmingly — all are wondering , who is he referring to?]
Chas, I do not think you did or said anything untoward.
Asking whether a report was factual or just conjecture is the sign of a an agile inquiring intellect —- even if you are a cheeky sod, comparing my visage with my nether regions as a disguise at the pajama party!! 🙂
Hi Rasp,
Was Nordveit not sold in the previous year?
I thought he looked good too, but he has disappeared into oblivion, it would seem.
Shame for all those earnest youngsters who do not make it into the millionaire lifestyle of today’s footballers, but get chopped instead. 😦
chas,
If I could pick your tekky brain …… recently, when I’ve transferred posts into drafts, random words come up as hyperlinks to some form of advertising and I find it very hard to remove them but eventually succeed. This usually happens when the piece has been written on an iphone – do you think something sinister has invaded my system or is it just what happens when iphones are involved do you think?
Yes RA, sorry, you’re correct it was the previous year. He was playing at RB and was my MotM. We could have done with him this season. I don’t know if Jenkinson is a better player, but I suppose the youngster’s own level of ambition has as much to do with their progression as the evaluation of the coaches.
I suspect he became impatient Rasper, and that is understandable, if it pays off!
Rasp i know you didnt ask me but just in case it happened on mine this morning i didn’t use an iPhone.
If it does happen on any of mine I’ll stop using the iPhone WordPress app but can’t think why it would happen.
Sometimes I’ve noticed that newspaper websites will stick some code into a comment if I’ve copied a quote or piece of an article that then hyperlinks back to full article.
Don’t know what browser you are using to access WordPress dashboard but you could perhaps try a different one to see if it continues to happen.
Yep you’re right RA, patience is a virtue, I can’t wait for mine to arrive 😳
Rasp,
Rings a bell. Perhaps a scan for adware/spyware might sort it?
Thanks RA. 🙂
Thanks GiE,
My PC has recently been invaded by ‘funmoods’ a horrible search engine related trojan type thing that is very difficult to remove and slows everything down. It seems there are things lurking in the background all the time that are monitoring our internet use and steering us in directions we don’t want to go.
This thing with the hyperlinks is relatively recent and may just be another annoying cross we have to bear.
WordPress now place adds under our posts on occasion presumably because we attract a healthy number of hits.
I guess it’s a lot to do with timings, have we got too many centrebacks or right backs.
If we are overloaded in certain positions will there be room for the youngster no matter how good. Look at Larsson, he was behind Freddie but wanted to play then, same with Bentley, Sidwell and Pennant I guess.
This suggests using Firefox with the ‘no script’ add-on to back up what GIE suggested.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101226195607AAKOluy
Thanks chas, I’ll try it
If you want to ask me to look at an offending post sometime I will happily do so, I wonder whether the links are actually there in the content or whether as you say a Trojan/adware of some kind is spotting words and then giving only you a link, probably wouldn’t affect normal browsing but will certainly screw up a post if they remain.
Oops, just found a txt asking me to publish – apologies for the delay….
….. New post …..
motor cycle reviews…
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