Kroenke Again Proves Lack Of Ambition! by Dan Smith
Back in December when Arsenal had just lost our 7th consecutive League game, many said Arteta just had to get to January where he could build his ‘own’ team.
I argued that Stan Kroenke wouldn’t have the ambition to invest this month, that the priority would be slashing the wage bill and our best-case scenario was a loan signing we never heard of.
Some pointed out how our owner had spent more than Chelsea (net spend) in recent years, failing to point out that was more due to the Blues being better than us at getting big money when selling players. E.g. look how much they got for Hazard or even Morata compared to us letting a Sanchez or a Ramsey run down their contracts.
A few wins later and it’s papered over the cracks, with many gooners not questioning how a squad who have made their worse start to a campaign in the Prem era will enter February weaker? It’s music to our owners ears. They have saved money this window and manipulated many into thinking that’s a good thing?
I understand that, with it being uncertain when clubs will be getting match day revenue, no one wants to spend unless they have too. Hence approx. 71 million has been spent by EPL sides, compared to 230 million 12 months ago. My counter argument to that would be we are in a position where we need the help.
Compared to the 19 other sides in the top flight, few are struggling to meet their targets quite like Arsenal.
Man City and Liverpool were predicted to fight for the title and they are. Man United’s minimal requirement was top 4 …. they are in the top 4. As recently as December, Chelsea and Spurs were in top 4, their target for the year.
We are told all the time by the Kroenke family that the intention is for us to return to our old levels, but we sit 10th from the top in February (and that’s only after a good run) so surely that’s us nowhere near our targets set in the summer?
When most companies fail, the owner steps in and helps.
I also won’t allow the club to hide behind Covid, as in the January windows before the outbreak we still could only afford loans.
If Leeds and Southampton win their game in hand, we will be 12th past the halfway point (remember when Arsene Wenger ‘ only finished 4th’?) yet last week we had fans boasting how if we won on Saturday (we didn’t) we’d only be 7 points behind Man United instead of asking what’s the plan is to improve the situation.
There’s even one reader who predicts we will be favourites for the title by March!
That’s genius business from Mr Kroenke. Saving money while failing on the pitch, yet some customers think that’s a good window.
Like with Ceballos, we phoned Real Madrid and asked did they have anyone we could use? They gave us Odegaard, with gooners now pretending they knew who he was a month ago. If we had to pay a fee for him would we have been interested or was the priority value for money?
The Norwegian’s salary is believed to be 38,000 pounds a week which can be taken out of the 350,000 pound a week were giving to Ozil.
Like Ozil, we ripped up Sokratis’ contract to save another (reported 92,000) a week and Matt Macey’s (10,000 a week).
Nice are paying Saliba’s entire 40,000 a week pay packet until he returns, Schalke half of Kolasinac’s incredible 100,000 pound a week (plus we got a one off 3 million fee).
Already, since the summer, Hertha Berlin have covered the entirety of Guendouzi’s wage for this season (40,000 a week) while Atletico Madrid are doing the same regarding Torreira (75,000 a week).
Arteta implied a few weeks ago that Edu already had plans ready. It’s the director of football’s job to identify targets throughout the world. He’s had months watching the team struggle and he’s being paid lots of money to make us better.
Yet all we can manage yesterday was loaning Maitland Niles to West Brom (he’s on 35,000 pound a week) and Newcastle borrowing Willock (on 20-000 a week) and tearing up Mustafi’s 90,000 a week contract.
Anyone great at maths feel free to help but roughly, accounting for releases and loans (not accounting for fringe players) we are saving 800,000 pound a week, which adds up to 3.2 million a month, which equates to over 15 million pounds if we say a loan is Jan/Feb to May/June (more if I worked it out properly).
Add 5 million this month for loan fees (3 for Kolasinac 1 for Willock and Miles) and that’s 20 million made from now to the summer. We recouped another 2 million a year by sacking 55 min playing staff.
It’s not Edu’s fault if that is the job criteria he’s been given, but with him and our manager being former players, I hoped they be more then yes men.
Aston Villa, West Ham and Man United have equally lost income during the pandemic but still were able to find 17, 20 and 19 million, respectively.
Three clubs above us who strengthened.
My response to those who say I pick on Kroenke was let’s wait and see in January. As predicted, he continues to save money while we fail on the pitch. Why do I care how much we save in wages if that money will just sit in the bank?
I’m not Arsenal’s accountant. I’m a Gooner who just wants us to be best the version of ourselves.
Anyone who assumes those savings will be reinvested are naive.
We could have invested in the squad now to push us into the top 4, which would have got the American a bigger return in the future. Instead we will fail to qualify for the Champions League and simply use the money saved this month to cover the loss.
Don’t get me wrong; business wise, we had a very good window – but that’s all we are, a good business.
12 months ago when Man United were struggling to make top 4 they brought Bruno Fernandes in January. What did we do this year? We make 20 million. Just say that out loud ….
If Leeds and Southampton win their game in hand, we will be 12th yet are making money.
The sad thing is; some of my peers have been conditioned to think this is a positive. We must be the only fan-base who celebrate and worry about making money. Do you think Man City fans watch their team lift trophies but say ‘I wish our wage bill was lower’?
Maybe in the summer I’m proven wrong and this month’s savings are added to help fund a bid for Jack Grealish. But there are only so many chances I can give the owner to prove he cares
Be Kind In The Comments
Dan
Because arsenal have spent poorly and had an inflated squad we needed to cut cost and save money in order to spend. Quite simple. Dont get me wrong i would love for stan to drop us a big fat transfer kitty but we are running a self sustained model. Are poor financial situation is a result of how poorly the club operating. The club not just stan, there are many people responsible for the mess we are in. And yes stan is one of them but not the only one.
Good observations. The author needs a chill pill. Rebuilding takes time and the management team are having to undo all the crap left behind by gazidis.
That crap never finished 8th
We’re you never 10th in Feb
Totally agree. We were in a mess with a bloated squad, lots of inexperienced or overpaid players and demotivated/ rebellious players. Clearing out Ozil, Saed, Musti etc… will gives us funds going forward as the whole squad needed a reshuffle to get back on track and everyone following the manager. I think we just have to ride out the season tbh take what we can from it and go again in the Summer… Sad I know but it was never going to be a quick fix from the mess we were in.
Yeah I agree with you. In order for Mikel to build the squad he want to realise his vision, he has to trim the current already bloated squad.
Since its not just easy to part ways with unwanted players especially in these trying times I think they have done a good job and are going in the right direction.
I think it’s not time yet Dan to say they have saved Stan money. Yourself you keep insisting our squad is not good enough how then can the club sign good enough players without first make room for them? The team needs further trimming before they can sign impactful players. If they fail then you can say they saved Stan money.
I think the signing of Odegard and the keeper on loans is good because it’s pointless to sign permanent players when the job of trimming is not done yet as we have already witnessed with Willian signing.
I believe the mistakes made in signings in the past are not going to be repeated. We should reserve judgement and see first what Mikel and Edu will do.
It’s not any more complicated than this. I dont see how people can look at our giant inflated wage bill and not think that was a massive problem hampering our ability in the transfer window. I dont know what people really expect in January either. No team made big permanent moves. Everything was a loan because there is also a pandemic and empty stadiums across the world.
And last January and the January before?
Exactly
a number of clubs are in the same situation as us
we have to take a huge loan to cover the club finances during this covid period
okay name me 8 clubs who this month have offloaded 7 players when already failing to meet their targets?
You have to clear the dead wood to allow new growth. It was a very good window in those terms.
Allowing two very talented youngsters to find there feet in the real world is very good too.
Don’t shift the blame from Manager to Kronke. Kronke is supporting the manager, but the Manager is making bad choices in recruitment. Arteta bought Willian, Gabriel, Mari, Soares, and the goalkeeper. He took Odegaard and Ceballos on loans. Elnerny and Nketiah were recalled from their loan spells. I’m talking about 9 players, but there’s no difference in the field of play. We still languish in mid-table. Who’s to blame here? Kronke is a businessman and he’s supposed to make profit. Arteta is failing, PERIOD
Rubbish. Arteta and Edu are putting out fires and building the future.
It’s my opinion, you dont have to tell me that is rubbish. Just voice your facts, let’s hear them
Have you and the writer even paused for a moment and thought why we are 8th or could be 12th with such a bloated squad on inflated wages? Did Kroenke hire or release players or interfered in the transfers? When we get rid of deadwood, Kroenke is termed as having no ambition, when Wenger gave a failed player 350K/week, did Kroenke have ambition then?
Hope you are aware of the homegrown rule.
Unai and Mikel did not take to the pitch last season to end in our worst finish. It was the likes of Ozil who returned with 1 goal (a useless one when we were 2 up against Newcastle) and 2 assists, the useless Mustafi, the error prone Xhaka, If you watch football then you will know that Cedric and Mari are squad players who do a much better job than Kolasinac and Mustafi any day of the year.
Gabriel had one horrible game after being our best player for some months, Partey is a top top player. Runar IMO was a cheap solution, but was corrected with Ryan’s loan. Kepa and De Gea do have howlers, give the lad a break, he will come good. It took Emi 10 seasons to challenge Leno. Willian signing can be debated, Eddie can be debated but he cost us nothing.
A big shout out to Mikel for having the guts to take the ugly player power by the horns and showing it the door. Wenger’s mess has finally being cleared out.What a month for real gunners!
Have you noticed that we have conceded the second least number of goals after City? That is one hell of an achievement for Mikel.
When Mikel won the FA with our worst team in 30 years, did he fail? Such a short memory?
Good riddance to bad rubbish. We now have serious players who will challenge for starting places and have a game changing players coming off the bench.
Disgraceful article in my opinion.
Good Reply LC- and like you I fail to see how Kronke can be criticised when all he is doing is clearing up the mess we are in with the failed buys and contracts handed out by Wenger Gazidis and, to a very lesser extent, Emery.
For an owner constantly under fire for not putting his hand in his own pocket, I have never once heard our managers not getting the funds they wanted. Possibly Aurora last summer, but FFS every club in the world was just coming to terms with the fact that a Global Pandemic was on us and finances were going to be tight.
The club has reduced its salary obligations until the summer, given opportunities to some younger players to get minutes and game times they would not likely get if they stayed, cleared out players who were holding back the younger ones coming through, but still retaining a squad that can hopefully kick on for the EL and Top 6.
Good window in my mind
Under The Great Arsene and Gazidiz, Champions League football was a basic right entitled to any gunner around the world. How can someone say with straight face that the current mess is Wenger’s doing?
Has it ever occurred to you that the current mess is Mikel doing? Who is in charge now, Wenger? Who coach the team, Gazidiz? Mikel is inexperienced and it shows. Let’s support him in his journey and hope that when he is big enough he won’t ditch us for Barcelona citing it was his dream to go back there ( it is always their dreams when they sign anywhere these footballers)
The simple truth is that the great Arsene along with the great Alex were very good at getting the best of their squads no matter how average the squads were. You blame Wenger of giving Mesut a lucrative contract while forgetting (intentionally) the millions of profits he made the club over the years. Pathetic.
When someone who doesn’t know how to drive is left a car of course he is going to make a big mess. Don’t blame the one who left him the car for the lack of driving skills.
Eh HH- was it not your beloved Wenger who actually took us from the Champions League to the Europa League? I think you will find this is so PAL. Snd was it not Wenger who actually signed Mustafi and Xhaka? Two players grossly overvalued and over rated? And actually turned down £60m for Sanchez from Citeh only to lose him 6 months later in a straight swap for Mykitarian ?
Not quite the God you think he is PAL
Mustafi & Xhaka vs Willian & Runarson. The signing of Willian alone is worse than all of the Wenger bad signings combined (except maybe Sylvester).
All of you can make millions of excuses for Mikel but it won’t change the fact that he is starting his managerial career at our expense. Your excuses won’t change our position on the table either, and they wont win us trophies.
Let’s hope it is us who will reap the benefits after he gains experience and not Barcelona or Manchester City.
This bad squad that Wenger left went on a 22 unbeaten run, finished 5th under mysterious circumstances, reached the final of Europa league and won the FA Cup.
You don’t call a squad that achieved those a mess. If the squad Wenger left is the culprit why was Unay fired? If you will say because he lost the dressing room please also tell Mikel what improvements do we see from Mikel who has won the dressing room.
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HH- Wenger did more to de-value the squad in terms of performance and results than either Emery or Arteta, both of whom had to pick up the debris and work with what was left. Yeah Willian is a player who should never have been brought, but Arteta has given himself some breathing space by winning the FA Cup with a squad of players who were going nowhere under both Wenger and Emery.
You mention Sylvestre. Have you forgotten Squillachi? And Santos? And Chamakh? Do you really want this to go on PAL?
As for both Gazidis and Kronke, as far as I’m concerned they have supported their managers with funds for the players they wanted. Wenger chose to ignore the far better choices available to him when buying Xhaka and Mustafi and the Club is paying for these mistakes still.
You have chosen to ignore the debris 22 unbeaten run shortly after Wenger left but I insist.
So when we win the FA Cup it’s Mikel brilliance but sitting 10th is Wenger’s mess.
Great transfer window.
Problem was giving such high wages in the first place and now we have got rid of the problem.
My problem is how we didn’t get a loan fee for AMN or Willock. Do you think any other club would just loan players to us for free like that?
HH-What your saying is so typical. If the 22 game unbeaten run was so memorable, why did it not continue?
What Arteta did last season, especially with our defence, was to transform a squad that had zero direction and a complete lack of cohesion. Just how east is it to win an FA Cup PAL? If you cannot at least give Arteta credit for that then you really are too one-dimensional in your thinking.
For what it’s worth, I’m not too excited with Arteta, but he has earned a free pass this season, providing we get a EL Place at the worst. Anything less will be a failure and if it costs him his job then so be it.
Please, so many times we moan over things. The pandemic has really hit all the Clubs hard, it’s not only Arsenal that is trying to cut costs. Let us still appreciate the efforts the present Management is doing. They met all these problems
I was expecting this masterclass attack on Kroenke from you after getting rid of players.
For you Kroenke is always at fault.
I’ve never seen you called out the real culprits who wasted the funds generated by the club, the so many mistakes of Arsene Wenger who I respect a lot. The lots of mistakes by Gazidis, That Fraud Sanllehi who I saw through right from day 1 and others.
You never attack them or write articles about how they’ve wasted millions of money belonging to the club.
It’s always Kroenke’s fault according to you, since he employed them.
Thing is, Kroenke has turned around to get rid of everyone of them and now the rebuilding is starting from scratch. Finally he employed a few people who are seeing to it that we get rid of unwanted players and we really trim the wage bill to leave space for incomings. Finally a pair trying to write the mistakes of many other failed leaders.
Yet all you always do is attack Kroenke.
If I were Kroenke, I wouldn’t put a personal dime of my own money into the club either seeing how the people I kept in charge were wasteful and are being wasteful without results.
At least I’d also see to it that I get rid of all the bad eggs and make sure I have competent people again before pumping money into the club.
You expect Kroenke to throw money Into the club every transfer window, despite the fact that you of all people know the club’s been very wasteful on the transfer front.
You wouldn’t sing him praises for bringing out his personal cash to see that Edu & Arteta get Partey. Rather you’ll always attack him.
Come on man it’s getting tiring now, your constant bickering of Kroenke. A whole lot of us are not buying into that crap that he’s a stingy man anymore.
That man never takes out of the club and constantly puts his money into the club. Even if it ain’t 150Million he puts in, at least he’s still putting his money in.
Give it time bro, after trimming the wage bill, wait till after next transfer before you start attacking him again.
Don’t you get tired?
Agreed.
Last years of Gazidis and Wenger – incompetence. Overpaid for Mustafi and Xhaka, not selling Sanchez, getting Mkhitaryan in return, giving Özil ridiculous extension, letting Ramsey go for free, buying Welbeck who (now we see) was pretty much worthless.
Sanllehi – total fraud. Pocketed money from Pepe transfer himself, for which we grossly overpaid.
Kolasinac might workout well to be honest if he plays enough to warrant a transfer in the summer.
Same with Xhaka if we can sell him for anywhere £20-30m. Sokratis we overpaid for but the loss on him is nothing compared to the others.
I guess you might argue that Kroenke would put a personal dime into Arsenal if he loved the club as much as we do!
The fact is he has put his personal dime into the club but not all of it was well spent and other clubs that we are hoping to compete with are putting in more.
I’m not always sure that Kroenke’s aims are the same as ours but then (amazing at it may sound given our different finances!) I’m not convinced that Kroenke is as 24/7 gutted as me that Arsenal are not challenging for titles as we used to.
Of course he doesnt feel as bad as us Ed, at least on an emotional level. But on a financial level, maybe he feels worse!
1 He wasn’t born an arsenal fan
2 Arsenal are just one of his several sports teams
3 Although you can care about both, it’s difficult not to put financials before performance when your business IS finance!
If I had money and went out and buy a cricket or rugby team all I would care about would be the business side of things and not what the fans think or their feelings simply because I don’t love those sports nor their teams.
We can hope for a new owner who is a fan (at least of football in general) but to expect Stan to love soccer and share same feelings like fans is unreasonable.
You are so right.
Dan Smith will try to manipulate every thing into being Kroenke’s fault, and there are really no facts to support his constant attacks.
Eddie I said this to you before , if your happy where we are then great , im not
Saying we made money this January is a fact
As for the previous regime , you can’t say they never had criticism
Equally it was never this bad ?
I can’t see, we made money. How do you work that out?
As far as I can see, we have had to sell Mustaphi for a ridicolously low sum, because the market has taken a huge downturn. The write-off on him alone must be quite substantial.
And the loan deals? Do you know the details? There could very well be players, where we have to pay part of their salaries.
I think, we are lucky, if we have in fact only limited the losses.
Don’t understand your question mate ?
If your due to pay a salary and someone else does your saving !money
E.g , if ozil stayed was owed 7-8 million in wages
So by paying him 5 million to go now , you make a 3 million profit
Say if you have to pay kolasniac 90-000 a week
And a club says we will pay half of that and give you three million , you have made money
It is basic economy, and you are obviously struggling to understand it.
If your assets value is dropping, you are losing money. All players value is in something close to freefall at the moment, which the transfer window just have proved, if you open your eyes.
So claiming we are currently saving money for Kroenke is absolutely rubbish.
Arsenal and most other clubs are fighting to limit their huge losses.
no you obviously don’t understand
Arsenal after their deals this window will be paying less wages then two months ago hence they have saved money
If you were paying Wilock 20-000 a week
but now Newcastle are paying him 20-000 a week and giving you a 1 million loan fee you have made money ?
dont no how else to say it
I am sorry. But limiting losses, is simply not the same as making a profit.
If you one week lose £10 and you the following week make adjustments, so you only lose £5 it does not mean you have made a £5 profit.
It is pretty basic, and I am sorry you struggle to get it.
No offence Eddie
Your the type who will get to the summer and pretend ‘ my mate says we are getting grealish ‘
I’ll write this now ..Arsenal will spend net spend 50-70 million
So out of the two , of course I’m negative
I was called negative in the summer for saying we wouldn’t sign Aour or challenge for title
Being positive for positive sake does not help
I simply view it as this mate ……
If you have a squad who finished in our worse finish in 25 years made worse start in decades then made money , then your not going to !magically improve without improving that squad
Many football clubs including Arsenal are losing a lot of money in this pandemic and Kroenke is doing his best to keep Arsenal afloat. Arsenal made many stupid transfer decisions in the past and they’re now paying for it
I find this article strange. Tierney, gabriel, partey, pepe, soares, mari, wilian have all been signed in the last year. These amount to a big investment. Not to mention the fact that clearly partey has been bought with extra funds provided by kroenke. The players moved on are simply not good enough or have been part of the ozil fan club which have been the poison in the dressing room. It is good practice to balance the books especially in the current situation no other club have invested actual funds this window. Rather than spread negative un founded opinion get behind the team and I think over time you will see that this club has actually managed the last year well.
And Mari was relatively cheap (around £10-12m with the loan fee and final transfer, source: SkySports) and Soares was free.
Tierney, Gabriel, Partey IMO have been great purchases.
Willian is the worst, but there is still time to remedy that. He is still sellable, of course not with the wages he is on but he doesn’t strike me as a player who wants to sit on the bench not playing football.
Pepe, well he’s never going to justify his price tag but its not his fault. Maybe we could loan him to Ligue 1 for next season to get some confidence. Heard PSG is on the lookout for new RW with Di Maria leaving.
Again we are 10th
So if these purchases have been so great why is that not reflected in the Leauge ?
It’s akmost like we needed more investment in the squad
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We are 10th but club has been managed well ?
You are way off the mark on this one Dan.You have to clear the decks before you refurbish them.
Dan mate
I tend to be on a similar page to you on most things you write, but not this one, you have blinkers on and focus purely on a money stand point here.
Yes the club have saved some money shipping unwanted players out like Kola, Ozil, Mustafi, Sokratis, which the majority of fans wanted in the first place so we have to give credit where credit is due there, not look at it as just saving money for Kroenke.
Then we have loaned out Wilock and AMN which again isnt about saving money, they are not directly in the managers plans right now but they need game time which they wont get with us from now to the end of the season and along with Saliba will further their development .
You wont use Covid as an excuse, dude times are tough, for everyone and not many clubs want to do business in January.
Bottom line here is that we needed to get rid of players that have no future at the club, Edu and co have done that and yet you moan.
We needed to get game time into players for our future, again they have done that with Saliba, Wilock and AMN and yet you moan.
For me, doing what the club has done this window is fantastic and now they have finally started to put right all the big mistakes the club has made in the last maybe 3-5 years.
Well done Edu, MA and co
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Another predictable and unwarranted attack on Kroenke. At this point, I feel these Dan Smith articles on Kroenke are nothing more than mere click and comment bait. Sorry to inform you Dan Smith, but if the comments above me are any indication, you are quickly finding yourself in an empty Kroenke hate-train speeding into oblivion. We are not children, we all know the club needs to balance the books and investors need to make money just as much as the fans need to see on-field success. If you think any of those objectives is less important than the other then thats your problem and you will always find yourself complaining on JA every other day. As I feel I have said everything worth saying about this Kroenke mud-slinging, I will leave my comment at that.
Soz are you suggesting I should only write what the !majority think
The ends justify the means , under koronke have we failed yes or no ?
Let’s say we finish outside the top 4
The majority saying things are great doesn’t change the reality
No room for AMN or Willock, but room for Willian? Not for me. This manager seems intent on breaking up the legacy of talent Wenger left, boys who are Arsenal through and through, and leaving us with loanees and has beens. I’m not happy.
Its not about room in the squad, its about not playing enough minutes so they are not developing. Its not rocket science. You prefer to leave them on the bench and that they stop in their development? Its not like Willian is getting 90 minutes week in week out, he is a sub player at best atm. I personally prefer to have Willian as a sub and have our talents develop somewhere where they play week in week out, but thats just me..
The truth is,previous management messed up a lot with wrong signings &contract situations.A clean up was a must and am glad we are doing it.
This may help us if we now follow it up with the right investment.
However we have no excuse as to why we didn’t get back up left back & a C.F this window. If Everton with all the firepower could add Josh King,then we should have done better especially with the space we freed up.
Thanks for the article, Dan.
I did think that shifting out some of the players our manager doesn’t wasn’t to use was good. Regardless of whether Ozil was the best or worst footballer on the planet, if you’re not going to have in your squad it wasn’t positive to keep him at the club.
Getting a proven back-up for Leno was sensible. Ødegaard was not top of my wish list but then neither were Wenger or Henry before they joined.
However it is inescapable that under Kronke we are no longer aiming at winning the League in the short term, and in the long term we’ll all be dead!
Hi Dan
Do you read the news?……
There is a global pandemic going on and Arsenal have had their incoming revenue absolutely slashed because no fans can attend the games (arsenal make the majority of their income from match day revenue…..unlike City or Chelsea)
I’m by no means a Kronke fan (in fact the opposite) our decline is interlinked with him taking over and David Deins departure in 2007……along with Abramavich (2004) and Sheikh Mansour (2008) taking over at Chelsea & City. This massively changed the landscape of English football forever……..it also happened in a smaller way back in the early 90s when Jack Walker owned them and bankrolled the signings. We have a billionaire owner who sees Arsenal as an asset rather than him wanting us to be the very best (sad but true)
We had to slash our wage bill as we had a champs lge wage bill when we are in the Europa lge.
Look at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich……in fact did any club heavily invest in this Jan transfer window?….
The only negative from this window was we didn’t manage to get some cover at left back.
The reality is we are…..where we are and it’s going to take at least another 2 or possibly 3 transfer windows for Arteta to get close to a team/squad he would like as we are still trying to clear out the deadwood from Wenger and Emery (Elneny, Torriera, etc)
Up the Gunners!
Okay caught up on the news
Clubs were losing revenue from March
So why could we only afford loans last January … And January before that ?
When fans are back in stadium and we are still being charged same prices I’m sure you will say ‘ have you watched the news’
No matter what happens, some people will always stay negative and fail to see the positives. Some people just always need a scapegoat
All in all good window, only negative thing I can say about it is that we failed to get a back-up for Tierney. This could cost us when the EL is back and no one to replace Tierney. Cedric at left back is a no for me
We’re losing a lot of money through covid – as is the rest of the world – so we always knew this window was going to be about trimming our bloated squad, and what a fine job Edu and MA have done!
Putting right all our wrongs was never going to happen overnight. But this is a big step towards our goal… and hopefully cancelling contracts and watching players walk away for nowt will be few and far between from now on!!
MA is getting closer to the team he wants and looking at our players now, the future is very bright… and I’m definitely looking forward to the summer window!!
Okay Sue
Let’s do this again …..
Koronke prove me wrong in summer lol
Here’s what happens
We get linked with big names , causing some to say we can win title
I say we will spend 50-70 million
Fans will say , Dan your negative
We spend 50-70 million
Fans will say let’s wait till January lol
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Oh Dan, what a desperately sad, gloomy, biased and bitter article., and well said Eddie.
Let’s begin by stating I am not a Kroenke fan, but he is not the root of all evil, and you certainly cant lay the position we are in now in any more than partially at his door.
Your argument (I will call it this rather than a rant) simply ignores anything that does not fit your picture, and appears to be based upon two things – lack of funds and bad financial decisions.
You can’t have it both ways – would you WANT a non-football savvy Chairman making day to day decisions at Arsenal? No. Kroenke followed the acceptable SAO approach of employing (at the time) highly respected individuals to do so, and followed their advice. Easy now to say he hired the wrong people. Recall how excited we all were when they came on board. Like us, he trusted them and the club suffered.
Whilst we would all love an investor who either (depending upon your opinion) “speculates to accumulate” or doesn’t care whether we lose their money, the risk there is that many of these “Sugar Daddies” get bored or go broke. They either pull out or drastically cut investment, and leave a huge cashflow vacuum and a club in serious debt.
Why do fans hate the self-sustaining model? I think because you don’t get an immediate transfusion, a potential short term boost. But it does ensure long term survival and encourages best practice for future stability rather than profligacy. In my experience at my home town club it also fosters a greater feeling of satisfaction, achievement and involvement from fans.
Surely, in time of Covid it makes sense to be careful, as clubs WILL go out of business in the fallout, and as an industry it’s a deck of cards.
I must express my pleasure at the way the majority of writers have reacted to Dan’s article. Of late Dan has made it a pastime to bash Kroenke at every available opportunity for no good cause. The response today will make him a lot more careful in what he writes. If he has an axe to grind with Kroenke let him do so on real grounds not fake ones.
Just last week I responded to Dan’s similar article and advised him to understand the running of all businesses including football. It is ridiculous to express negative sentiments on a subject that affects millions of people without giving sound reasons for it. None of us loves Kroenke for anything but we should not carry out a hate campaign against him for nothing. Let him be criticised for real faults and not imaginary ones. Similarly let credit be given where it is due.
‘ the response today will make him more careful in what he writes ‘
No it won’t lol
It was not a secret about how Kroenke operates his franchises. Yet key board members sold their shares to him to allow him to take control. His main rival in this was Usmanov, whose ambition for Arsenal appeared to be much more expansive and benevolent than Kroenke. However, Usmanov, despite his large shareholding was, unlike Kroenke, never invited onto the Board. David Dein and many smaller shareholders preferred to sell to Usmanov, which says a lot. So I say blame the several board members who refused Usmanov and sold to Kroenke to give him control. Board members are charged with representing the best interests of the club – did they do so here?
Arsenal should be able to generate it’s own income and be sustainable. Arteta has 10 new players who were acquired during his tenure. How many more players does he need to build a team? Arteta is clueless. He’s not gonna take us anywhere
to all my gooner pals thinking arteta and edu are making right decisions already, we have full positions booked for overseas players and we signed runarrson as a backup keeper, surely if thats the type of players we are going to buy, soon we will be fighting a relegation battle.
as for odegaard, all ive seen him is in youtube videos and looks like a decent player, i hope he does not turn out to be a denis suarez,
further, signing ceballos back for another season currently seems like a very poor decision despite all his skills, he hasnt proven to be the signing we wanted.
and as for man management, i think the situation of guendozi, torreira and mkhitaryan and even balogun speak volumes, arteta i presume dint even want to look at mkhi even though we are currently depending on emile smith rowe and odegaard to take the creative burden on their shoulders from attacking mf position. I ask anyone, who is the player we are targetting for summer, that will help us push towards our goals next season. this season, i think the best arteta can do is try and win the europa league which will be very very difficult as proven by last years knockout against olympiacos…
So lets see, and hope for the best,
I guess we’d have to wait until the summer window and see how serious Arsenal really are about having genuine footballing ambitions. With so many high earners out the club, there should be room for a lot of strengthening in key positions.
Bellerin and Tierney need proper competition, they need to buy a new striker, sell Nketiah and Lacazette (I know Laca’s on form but it’s time we start selling players and reinvest those funds properly), and promote Balogun.
Xhaka and Partey need proper competition too. Wouldn’t mind that being Willock, AMN, Guendouzi, should they improve on their loans significantly.
Otherwise, we need four decent signings and one fantastic signing.
Usual nonsense from Dan Smith. No context as always as well!
Almost no one spent money this window because of the great reset, and we have only just got to grips the absolute mess Wenger and Gazidis left.
That’s because he’s got you celebrating ‘ If’ we beat man United ‘only’ being 7 points behind man United
I wish I had the confidence that others have that bloated contracts are a thing of the past but have a look at current salaries. Mari and Cedric are good squad players but are on 80-90k if the site I looked at is accurate. And Martinelli is on 90k – way too much for a promising youngster, that wonder goal against Spurs really cost us! And I haven’t even mentioned Luiz, Willian and Aubamayang.
I welcome the clear out but worry we’ll have to have another one before too long. Happy to be proved wrong.
Chelsea not Spurs. My memory is like a pudding….
Most of us wanted to see the back of those sold this January so well done to the club for that! It’s obvious where the weaknesses are and MA and Edu had addressed that at least. This season is no doubt over as far as top four is concerned. Maybe top six is still on? We need a good run now and push on with full support for the team.
The building though begins in the summer. I fully expect the club to identify (if not already) who and where the weakest areas are and at least have some sort of idea in terms of cash and players needed?
If the club don’t strengthen in the summer though, I would find it difficult to keep quiet. For now though, I happy the club are being positive at least!
Good article Dan,I like you and the rest of us hope that they have cut costs to save for a big summer transfer window, let’s hope so.
A lot of assumptions on loan fees and salaries. Any facts to back it up?
Anyway, you are missing one obvious fact.
Players’s value have absolutely plummeted over the latest 8-10 months. Exactly how much is hard to say, but a fair guess would be by more than 50%, and my personal opinion is, it could well be 60-70%.
But even if it is only by 50%, it means a potential loss of assets of hundreds of millions for Arsenal and other clubs.
How on earth you can imagine, Arsenal/Kroenke are making money at the moment is a complete mystery.
No facts , Just go off reports
That’s like saying how do you know Ozil was on 350-000 pound a week ?
Also common sense mate
Arsenal are not going to loan players and pay all wages
It is still way off.
Arsenal/Kroenke are loosing millions every month if not every week at the moment.
So if you want to use common sense. there is only one way to go: Try to limit the losses.
all make team successful , qualify for CL , that increases revenue , sponsors , etc
attracts better players , etc
or just stand still as a club ?
Arsenal have spent loads of money on new players and and on salaries over the last 10 years. Only the 2 Manchester clubs have spent more.
Yet, in Wenger last few years we went backwards, and we are struggling to get back. So it isn’t the amount of money spent, that is the problem. The problem/challenge is to get the management of the team and the general running of the club on the right track.
I am with DAN TOTALLY ON KROENKE AND HIS UNFITNESS AS AN OWNER ALL owners should care, both financially and emotionally about the busines they own IF it is ever to be a real success . And Kroenke cares only for theprofit it makes him. That makes him an unfit owner!
Worse still, an owner must be personallly responsible for appointing incompetent people to misrun the finances AND for leaving them to ruin things all that time without sacking them.
GAZIDIS AND SANLLEHI. Both ruined our finances and this was Kroenkes responsibility as owner, To say differently is to know NOTHING of how top business works at all. So I utterly reject those who foolishly absolve Kroenke of blame!
Kroenke is out biggest ongoing handicap to real success and that is because he simply does not care about trophy success . He sees success only in bottom line profit . Who will dare challenge me on that truthful comment!!
Al, thnat being said Kroenke is not a fool with his personal finances OBVIOUSLY, and so even he has finally had it pointed out to him by Sonny Jodsh that thinds HAD TO VHCNAGE AND SO HE HAS BROUGHT IN A PROPER ACCOUTANT to scrutinsie contracts and hey presto within no time at all Sanllehi, CEOwas out the door , pronto!
Does anyone fail to see what that ahem, cough cough, “coincidence” tells me! Do they? Cos if you do, then you are not very bright !
GAZIDIS LEFT RATHER VERY SUDDENLY TOO, AS I RECALL! Another coincidence perhaps? And “perhaps” Donald Trump is kind and caring too!
So let all us naiv efans get real and cut to thr chase for once This club has been spectacularly misrun since 2007, the moment Kroenke came on board and when Dein was osted in a cataclysmic day for our club.
I do believe that now, owner apart , we have some fine ethical and deeply caring people running things but we start from a position about a full lap behind all our other rivals , if I were to use a Formular One Racing metaphor!
So my friends we need vision , patience and support for the honourable people NOW running day today matters and less frankly silly nonsense from juvenile hotheads about sacking MA.
Yeah Jon
Atounds me that fans can defend Koronke
His record as a football owner is terrible
Dan- I would never say Kronke is a the perfect owner of our Club, but I’m struggling to see how he is constantly criticised when he has consistently backed his managers with funds.
And as for putting his hands into his own pockets, please show me a single owner of repute who does this, and is still in pocket to this day. Try reading Simon Jordan’s book and it will give you an idea of how owners simply will never have enough money to finance a leading EPL Club.
As for Danote buying Arsenal in the future, let’s just wait and see where that goes shall we. I do t believe it will ever happen. Just another Billionaire with bigger dreams than his pockets.
Always backed manager
Since on board
Sold fabregas and nasri – replaced with Arteta – kept rest of money
Sold Vanpersie to United replaced with ?
Replaced Sancez with ?
Ramsey with ?
Ozil with ?
When we were top but had alumunia in goal refused to pay 2 million for Swazer ( spelt wrong )
That summer we only brought Cech
When we needed a defender , sold Koscielney and brought Luiz
Needed a creative payer – loaned a player
Swapped Mr Wenger with emery
Title challengers when he arrived , now 10th
Now tell me what he’s done well ?
If you take time to see how Arsenal Holdings are structured you will see why Kroenke bought AH. The Stadium and AFC are totally different companies. In my opinion Kroenke was never really interested in AFC and his billion dollar stadium developments in the USA should give an insight to how he works. Although I am reasonably sure that nothing will happen in the short term,redevelopment is in his plans. Of course if the value of the stadium falls significantly then he well might sell. To be fair to Kroenke, he has recently taken out £120 million loan to cover shortfall in AFC revenue due to covid. It is in his interest to continue to support AFC until such time that his USA projects are finished and he can concentrate on London.