Football Focus

[Jah Lush]

Certainly not. They could be out in the qualifiers. Should have spent some money Arsene.

[Annette Curtain]

Oh dear, not the standard Arsenal knocking from the other North London club fan

>They could be out in the qualifiers< (as could any other team, it's how the game works)

[Otta]

At lest they got to the qualifiers Jah! ;-)

Something does seem to be wrong at Arsenal, but equally, there hasn't been that much movement of top drawer players except for supper money. Not sure who they should bring in really. I certainly don't think a striker should be top priority!

[Jah Lush]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

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> Oh dear, not the standard Arsenal knocking from

> the other North London club fan.

It's just banter. I got plenty of banter when Le Arse pipped us to fourth (again). I'm indulging myself in a little schadenfreude.

[Otta]

Er, super money.

[Annette Curtain]

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Annette Curtain Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Oh dear, not the standard Arsenal knocking from

> > the other North London club fan.

>

> It's just banter. I got plenty of banter when Le

> Arse pipped us to fourth (again). I'm indulging

> myself in a little schadenfreude.

Indeed you did Jah, so banter on

(i'm sadly in agreement with you previous post tho, twas painfully ominous)

[maxxi]

Otta Wrote:

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> Er, super money.

No, no you stick to your guns Otta - "Look lads, it's either a new midfielder or fish & chips 12 times. Show of hands..."

[red devil]

...''8-4, that'll be fish suppers all round then. I know, let's splash the cash since we offloaded Chamakh, a pickled onion each too!''

http://www.weboptimiser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/GKICLondonJanuaryHandsInTheAir-1024x539.jpg

[red devil]

A West Ham fan living in the Bermondsey area? As if. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/west-ham-hooligan-shaun-sheridan-2189444

Errrr, you've been keeping a low profile recently ???? :)

[Parkdrive]

red devil Wrote:

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> ...''8-4, that'll be fish suppers all round then.

> I know, let's splash the cash since we offloaded

> Chamakh, a pickled onion each too!''

>

> http://www.weboptimiser.com/wp-content/uploads/201

> 3/01/GKICLondonJanuaryHandsInTheAir-1024x539.jpg

Fish suppers, more like Tesco meal deal. We really know how to push the boat out.

[Otta]

You've always been pretty supportive of your manager PD. Where do you stand at rhe moment?

BBC reporting today that the ox is out til November.

[StraferJack]

Question was for PD but as another Arsenal fan...

Summer transfer (in)activity has been baffling but strangely familiar. Glad to see so much deadwood go but we are unquestionably thin

There are power/balance issues at manager/board level ? bottom line for me would be to get someone in to do the transfer work/argue with wenger. I know they have a team who supposedly to the negotiations, but more of an individual to close the deals. David Dein keeps being mentioned as some sort of hero in this regard, but not him. Someone like that tho

As for the manager himself ? so much is being written about him now being old-fashioned, behind the times etc etc, it makes me suspicious. I suspect in the long run he will be seen as more heroic throughout this period than he is being given credit for right now

I?m for keeping him.

I understand the debate around him but too much of it is unnecessarily ugly and reactionary IMO

[Otta]

As I see it, he's just the target fir people's frustrations because as manager he's the easy target. I don't think the club's lack if signings is much to do with him.

I think he's a great manager for finding talent and blooding youngsters, but the club need to bring in some top quality experience to meld it all together.

[StraferJack]

I think he is the target Otta, but I also think it?s right that he should be. He is the one who calls the shots about money and investment. If AFC dither about a price, it?s because he is the one who thinks it?s too much money

Where I disagree with the people condemning him is that, ok he errs too much on the side of caution, but in a game gone mad, a game where people openly talk about how mad everything has become, he is one of the few people not only saying it but sticking with his principles

Are those principles costing Arsenal? Arguably yes and that?s what should be discussed. But people are losing their sh** with him in a manner which is out of order

I say arguably yes btw ? but when the Great Football Crash comes... if he is still in charge he will hold most of the cards

More likely, is he will be moved on/up, we appoint someone new who spends more than we have (because that is what the winning clubs are doing) and we MIGHT (spending money doesn?t guarantee anything) have some success, only to be in same boat as everyone else when the crash comes

[El Pibe]

I'm with SJ.

We've been saying the bubble will burst for ages, and it will eventually (at least deflate anyway).

When it does and the likes of Chelsea and Man City have to Slash wage bills at the cost of their effectiveness whilst Arsenal continue to turn a profit, he may retrospectively be seen as the club's saviour.

[Jah Lush]

You don't miss your water until your well runs dry.

Gooners calling for Arsene Wenger's head is a bloody nonsense. Spending shitloads of money does not guarantee success. Obviously, they'll be Arsenal fans casting envious eyes at us lot down the road with the amount of money we've been spending on players recently but in the 18 years that Arsene Wenger has been in charge of the Goons they've finished above us every season and won more silverware. It is bloody galling for us every season but it's a fact.

I hope he gets the sack. ;-)

[red devil]

If Arsenal fans' only hope is to wait for this 'Great Football Crash', then they may have a long wait. We're going through the world's worst financial crisis, and football has hardly blinked. I'm sure there will be a correction, but by then Arsenal may be so far behind it won't make that much difference in the new grand order. Chelsea and City are much more commercially astute then they were a few years ago, and over time will become less reliant on their cash rich benefactors. In the here and now, if Arsenal fail to qualify for the Champions League, there will be a crash of another kind...

[StraferJack]

This Arsenal fan isn?t ?hoping for a crash? for any reason ? just observing

The world?s financial crisis was also dismissed before it happened, (and even those who predicted something didn?t grasp how bad it was)

Would I rather compete and win trophies? Yep. At any cost? Nope

If that means falling behind Chelsea et al then so be it. But I would keep Wenger in charge to manage the club well. As soon as he goes, our drift behind will accelerate massively

Not qualifying for CL this season a disaster? It won?t help us attract players for sure, but it will think out our fixture list and allow a bit more focus.

I?m not hoping that happens either but I?m a bit fed up of the binary All or Nothing thinking around football

It is just a sport. Played by millionaires with no connection to the clubs. Excessive emotional attachment to such an institution comes from a different era...

[El Pibe]

The final point being something else I agree on.

I for one have lost an emotional conection with it; I got more excited by The Hamlet's 4-0 win over Cray than the Hammer's win over Swansea.

The Football steamroller blunders on, thanks in large part to growing interest in the rest of the world and the noveau riche of E, SE, S Asia and Africa.

But I wonder how it will fare when the increasing Helloisation of football causes passions among the grassroots to begin to fade.

Possibly just wishful thinking on my part as I've turned from loving to loathing what the beautiful game represents.

[Otta]

The match going fans of every club will never turn their backs, and that is kind of the problem. They'll protest and they'll say they're being treaterd unfairly (they are). But they won't stop going, so the clubs will continue to treat them unfairly.

SJ

"He is the one who calls the shots about money and investment. If AFC dither about a price, it?s because he is the one who thinks it?s too much money"

Does he really have that much power within the club?

[StraferJack]

Yup. Top to bottom at arsenal, he calls the shots

[Otta]

I don't think that's a good thing personally.

[StraferJack]

I might have overstated it slightly but largely tru from what I understand

is it a good thing? maybe not. But it's how Man Utd and to a lesser extent Arsenal dominated much of last 16 years until the BIG money came in .

There are pros and cons. But for sure I think he does need someone strong enough to push back a bit

[Otta]

Yeah, once upon a time the boss was the boss, but it's a different world now and I think you need a football boss, and then other people dealing with the money.

[El Pibe]

You say that Otta, but it's a very different world now and the attractions on offer are far more heterogenous, and you need to combat that in order to pass on that passion across generations.

Perhaps the glamour of the big clubs can keep up a base, but what purpose does that serve when the rest of the league finds the business of business untenable. Even Championship clubs are often struggling to get bums on seats now, what say in twenty years time?!

I suppose we might end up with that dreaded European superleague after all *sobs*