Morning Gooner’s,

This is a follow up post from my last one.

When I thought about things after writing the previous post, I started getting idea’s. I imagined that the Arsenal Hierarchy had read my previous post and thought that perhaps my idea of moving The Arsenal from England to a bigger more profitable country, could be a very profitable idea indeed. Now I know that many die-hard’s would be quaking in their shoes at such a suggestion, but like I said in my previous post, The Arsenal is far from English so why should they need to be in London or England for that matter.

Now for a lifetime supporter to even suggest that scenario could happen, many would have me whipped and keelhauled,  but when you look at it, what would be the advantages should such a happening actually happen. Emirates stadium houses just over sixty thousand, it cost over three hundred million to build, that build put the Arsenal back ten years, and we may not be back yet.

Imagine,  say we moved to somewhere like China, not to hard to imagine seeing how we have targeted that part of the world in our promotions.  We have a population of 60 million here in the United Kingdom, and many of that number are not football fans, the ones that are have many many football clubs to follow. Let’s assume that half of that sixty million are young children and a quarter are women. While we have many women supporters, I would say not as many as men, or at least that is the picture I see in the Emirates and other clubs grounds. So in other words there are an estimated 20 million supporters to appeal to .

Now when we look at China for example, they have a much bigger population. And that being the case, labour must be plenty fold, and probably a lot less to pay in wages. The Arsenal could probably buy a piece of land and build a two hundred thousand seater stadium possibly cheaper than the Emirates cost to build. They would fill that stadium quite easily even charging less for tickets, and still make massive profits. I imagine income tax would be lower than England, so we could pay players high wages, and they wouldn’t have to pay so much tax.

What about the Emirates stadium I can hear you say, well we could sell that off to an Arab or a Russian or even the British Government, as they need land for building new housing estates, and as we are also in property development, we could even build more flats or new estates ourselves. The government would really like that idea, and we could earn a massive profit.

Now of course we would be a bit too far away to play in the English Premier league, but I am sure we could enter negotiations with the Chinese government to perhaps start a new league over there. Amongst all those millions of people there must be a good pool of footballers to choose from.

Many of you would ask, why would Stan Kroenke want to move further away than he is now?  Obviously he wouldn’t, so he would sell his shares to a Chinese business conglomerate, where he would make a tidy profit on his investment,  he could even be hired to oversee the rebuild at Islington. Or we could sell the Ems to the Spuds, and that would save them the hassle of a build.

Now just imagine the thought of a top premier clash, where we usually get hammered, we wouldn’t have to worry about that any more. We all say that the team should play for the shirt, that they’re red and white through and through, so lets face it do we really care who is in the shirt, as long as we win. Not many Arsenal players are English anyway, so not many would be affected.

As we only have two or three British players, we’re hardly an English club any more, so it shouldn’t be a problem for hardened Gooner’s to follow their team.  You may have to watch them on a stream, but even if the stream was poor quality you would still see the shirt.

Lets face it, its a win win situation, Stan would be happy, you would save hundreds a season, but you could still watch The Arsenal on a stream, just like our oversea’s supporters, There would be housing built for the overflowing London, either in Tottenham or Islington spuds may just get to play in Champions league, and we can sit with our feet up watching the latest Chinese talent on display.

Then I woke up, and thought oh no, could that really happen! Blimey I hope not.

Written by Steve Palmer

“Give us an E…” I bet you haven’t heard that phrase since you were in Ibiza in the 90s.

But today it is simply the next installment in our Alternative Arsenal Alphabet.

As always, please remember the ‘alternative’ bit – which means there’s nothing too obvious like “E is for Eboue.”

Please make your own suggestions in the comments below.

Europe

We have had some great nights in Europe but I can’t help feeling that, over the years, we have punched below our weight as a European force. Not in terms of appearances and presence (our consistent qualification for the Champions League is an achievement much undervalued by some supporters) but in terms of trophies. We have managed to acquire only the Cup Winners Cup in 1994 and the Fairs Cup in 1970. We’ve had a few losing finals along the way but, as they say, second place is first loser. By contrast the Chavs have managed to acquire one Champions League trophy (admittedly they were the worst team ever to win that particular competition), one Europa League and two Cup Winners’ Cups. Even the poor little Spuds have more European silverware than us (two UEFA Cups and one Cup Winners Cup). All the while we qualify for the CL there is only one Euro trophy we can possibly win – and it’s about time it was added to our CV.

East Stand

For the last 10 years or so before we moved to the new stadium my season ticket was in the Upper East Stand at Highbury – and it was a very special place. The Clock End and the North Bank certainly made the most noise, but the Upper East was a great place for characters. From the ageing rock promoter to a bunch of hooligans who were all old Harrovians and the world’s loudest cabbie, no game went by without laughter and banter. Unlike the West Stand where, as far as I could tell, people just dozed through entire games, the atmosphere in the Upper East could get quite heated from time to time and we would regularly get a round of applause from the Clock End when we stirred ourselves into action.

Empty Seats

All grounds have empty seats from time to time. The Chavs can’t even fill their crappy stadium for important European nights. But the empty seats at The Emirates have become something of a bugbear for fans – thanks entirely to the ludicrous “attendance announcements” made during the games. When you’re sitting in an obviously 80% full stadium it’s just embarrassing when the announcer bellows out that today’s attendance is 61,176. As I haven’t been regularly for a couple of seasons, perhaps someone can tell me whether they are still doing that. (And yes, I know they are basing it on season tickets, but they claim to be announcing how many people are in attendance, not how many seats have been sold. They are often very different figures).

Emirates

And speaking of the stadium, I find it funny that some people still can’t bring themselves to call our new home The Emirates Stadium. You’ll hear people talk about Ashburton Grove or The Grove, but not the E word. Personally I think sponsorship is the way of modern sports and there’s not much we can do about it. Suffice to say that the club would not have been able to build the new ground without the funds that were supplied by Emirates at the time. The stadium has their name on it because they paid for the privilege.

Enfield

No, not the North London borough, but the comedian Harry Enfield, who was responsible for this wonderful homage to the traditions of Arsenal:

Eleven

The Number of FA Cups we have won in our history – joint top with Manchester United. Ah… how nice to think back to that day at a Wembley just a few weeks ago… Altogether now: “What did she wear?”

RockyLives

How much do you know about Arsenal’s Managers?

This quiz will require both knowledge of Arsenal and research work, research is not cheating – It’s acquiring additional knowledge.

All questions refer only to the Managers careers in League Football, with the exception of the questions specifically on trophies.

Good luck and happy researching.

1. Which Manager has the lowest overall goals against per game average?
2. What was the average in # 1?
3. Which Manager has the overall most goals for per game?
4. How many goals for per game did he achieve?
5. Which Manager has the highest % of overall wins?
6. What was the % in # 5?
7. Which Manager has the highest overall % of points won?
8. What was the % in # 7?
9. How many Managers did Arsenal have before we won our first major trophy?
10. How many different Managers have managed Arsenal?
11. How many never won a trophy?
12. Of the Managers in # 11 which one managed for the longest period of time?
13. How many years did he manage for?
14. How many Managers managed for over 200 games?
15. How many Managers have managed for 10 years or longer?

I will not discuss or publish the answers until the day after the quiz is posted.

GunnerN5

Morning Gooners,

Most of us have just started to calm down after a nine year wait for silverware – how excited were we? Our cabinet now houses its first trophy in our new Emirates stadium. Many Gunners felt that years of disappointment may never be turned round after a few defeats at the new Wembley. I know how happy I was to have that Monkey off our backs, and now we can go forward and hopefully add to that FA cup.

How many Gooners tried to get a cup final ticket, but were left disappointed? Arsenal of course made it possible for many fans to watch the game on a big screen an the Emirates Stadium, and many others watched in pubs clubs or like myself at home on television. Overseas supporters watched the game on TV or streams much the same as they always do, which started to make me feel just how disappointed they must feel not being there in person.

The Emirates stadium holds sixty odd thousand, and not knowing, but I guess Hull’s stadium holds thirty odd thousand, now that equates to a lot less than what Wembley’s capacity so why couldn’t both sets of supporters, get to see what may turn out to be a once in a lifetime experience.

Ok we can answer that question ourselves without hesitation. The FA Cup Final attracts many hangers on, even some of my Tottenham friends got hold of tickets, and went for the occasion, which really spammed my brain.

I started to think about this situation once all the commotion was over, and of course after the trophy was locked up in our cabinet. Would you believe what I came up with? Arsenal Football club, does it have to be based in London, does it have to be in England even. I had to ask myself, would lifetime supporters still follow The Arsenal if it played its football in The Bundersleague or even in Spain or Italy, and its my opinion that many would.

I started to think that there is no reason that The Arsenal has to play in England at all, as Arsenal is not even English now. Owned by Americans and Russians, managed by a Frenchman, and captained by a Belgian. Now that showed me that Arsenal have outgrown themselves, Highbury Stadium wasn’t big enough, so we moved just a few yards down the road, and named it after our Arab sponsors so even the home of Arsenal has changed.

Now after a little thinking, I also have seen the changes in other Premier Clubs they too are owned by Russians, Arabs, Indians and Americans. Now this has shown me that football is now, as I suppose it always has been just business ventures, so in all honesty it could be run anywhere by anyone. We could in fact be run by EUFA and based in the middle of Europe where Arsenal supporters could easily, or more easily get to watch their team play live.

Personally I am of the age where travelling to games is only occasional for me, and where I am happy to watch my team play on television or streams wouldn’t worry me if we moved to anywhere in the world. But our world wide audience could go to watch more easier.

I have read that the governing bodies have been toying with ideas of a European league, which would attract best teams in  Europe, and start up a new league. At one time that would be unthinkable but not any more, who would you rather watch as opponents every week, Barcelona Real Madrid, Bayan Munich or Hull and Cardiff.

Football has changed, and I suppose we have to as well. I have seen Arsenal of old and I preferred it, but hey I am old and Arsenal are now a commodity for everyone. Up and at them Arsenal.

What’s your views.

Written by Steve Palmer

Given our new found riches the media are totally focussed upon whom we should buy, but let’s turn this around – who should we sell?

Bendtner, Sagna, Fabianski and Park are already condemned to play away from the Home of Football but if you had your way who else would join them? We have players who are very attractive to other teams – some who may be targets would be a painful loss, others less so.

What about Ramsey? This fellow is going to be a great and not just an Arsenal great. If you had unlimited resources who in the PL would you look at if you wanted a young midfielder? Henderson? You must be joking. Eriksen? Doesn’t deserve to tie Ramsey’s laces. Barkley? Not yet and doesn’t score enough. Now I can hear you say – we will never sell Ramsey, but Spurs fans thought that about Bale! 50+m euros may well make the Board listen.

Just joking – Aaron will stay at AFC until he needs a zimmer frame  to get onto the pitch. Same goes for Wilshire.

“What? I am going to Swansea with Lukasz?”

But what of our other midfielders, could any of them be targets for other clubs? Rosicky? Why not – he is quality. I know he has signed a new contract and that he is coming to the end of his career but  – OK, you are right – no-one will buy him. But what of Cazorla? Given the development of Wilshere and the wonder of Ozil do we really need our Spanish magician? Could he be sold to bring in extra money to buy a Cavani or a Falcao?

Horrible idea but given how many MF’s we have one may well be sold and no-one is buying Diaby!

Arteta or Flamini? Again few possible suitors. They are at AFC until their contracts run down or we can arrange a free transfer for Mathieu.

Except, Except ….. what if we sign Fabregas? Would anyone object to selling, let us say JW or Cazorla, or according to GIE, Arteta, to make way for Cesc? (disclaimer: GIE’s was not proposing selling MA!)

What about defenders? Sagna has gone, but is Monreal available? Is he the man to be a solid understudy to Gibbs and if not should he be sold? I like him but accept his limitations.

Vermaelen? Club captain and a quality player; I am sure Mr Wenger will be unwilling to sell such a superb backup CB but what about Thomas’s ambitions – I am sure he will want away in summer and there will be plenty of teams who would sign him.

And Koscielny will only enhance his reputation in Brazil and become a hot property – Barca are desperate for new CB’s. Kos would be a great signing and not crazy money. Merts? Too valuable to sell.

Upfront we have less to fear from raiders. Giroud is a fine player and could well return to France but where? Monaco have Falcao and PSG Cavani and Ibra – the other teams don’t have the money as OG will be at least double what we paid for him.

Ox? Theo? Ozil? Sanogo? Can’t see any of them leaving but what of Podolski? My hope is that we sign Drexler and if we do there is no place for Pod – fine player though he is. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Podolski leave in summer.

Of course, none of the above are likely to be sold, particularly as we have the finances to keep suitors at bay, but there are players who could and perhaps should leave the squad – especially as we will buy this summer.

Who do you think should empty his locker?

Written by Big Raddy

I, for one, was thrilled to hear the news yesterday that Arsène Wenger had, at last, signed his new contract. We have him for another three years and credit has to be given to the man for wanting to stay in a job that might have destroyed other men.

The stress that he’s been under this season has been etched on his face and he’s often looked really ill when things have gone wrong. I believe he loves this club deeply and if he didn’t think he could improve on this years position he would have walked away.

I’m not opposed to change but I think he still has a job to do and three years gives him time to do it.

We have some great young players in our squad that he knows are going to improve, if I were him I wouldn’t want someone else to get the credit for putting together a great team. You only have to look at Aaron Ramsey to see how Wenger’s faith in a player is rewarded.

I’m not ashamed to admit that my support for his management has wavered in the last three seasons. I have been confused by some of his decision making and have at times felt that he may have lost the dressing room but the scenes of the players hugging him after the cup final win and the crowd singing his name after the parade have banished those thoughts.

Although football is a simple game, it’s not an exact science and so unusual things can and do happen. We were on the cusp of a trophy in 2012 and had we won the Carling Cup we wouldn’t have to listen to 9 years without a trophy. We have a trophy now and hopefully the press will soon stop reminding us how long it took to win one 😉

What I do hope he can ensure doesn’t happen again is the regularity with which we collapsed under early goals. Those defeats hurt all of us although it has to be said we would have been champions if we’d not dropped a few points against lesser opposition. How funny would that have been to have won the title whilst losing those big games? If’s and but’s ………..

The World Cup will be a good distraction for not having any Arsenal for a few weeks but I for one can’t wait to get back to the Emirates and sing my teams name.

Thank you Arsène.

Written by peachesgooner – still a Wengerite