Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League title in 16 years, and watching Chelsea make their moves only highlights how differently our clubs are run.
There has been much change at our club since the turn of the century, with our move from Highbury to the Emirates, and a new ethos of stringent spending in order to pay for the new state-of-the-art structure, but we have since come out the other side.
The luxury stadium is now paid off in full, and it should be time to see our club investing into the playing squad once again, but we are still failing to match our rivals.
What is worse, is that I’m not even going to compare ourselves to the two top teams at present in Liverpool and Man City, but instead simply comparing us to Chelsea aches my heart.
The Blues brought in a young and inexperienced manager last summer, amidst a transfer ban, and yet they sit up in the Champions League places.
Their campaign will already have been a positive experience, and then you realise that they have already made moves to bring in the likes of Timo Werner, who would improve any team in the world, as well as bringing in Hakim Ziyech and WinSports reports claim they have lodged a club-record offer for Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz.
The transfer policy is highlighted by the fact that last summer, we paid £72 Million for Nicolas Pepe and £8 Million for David Luiz, while Chelsea have paid roughly the same total for Ziyech and Werner. Ouch…
I don’t feel like the realisation really hits home until you begin to look at our own signings. The worst of those come with us buying the Blues’ scraps off of them.
If it isn’t David Luiz that we are talking about, it is Petr Cech. Our club will literally pay to have the players are deemed surplus to requirements in West London, as if that is going to turn us into a top team…
The Blues are evident in trying to bring in top players who are going to bring them closer to challenging for the Premier League title again over the next two seasons, but who will Arsenal be signing this summer?
I wouldn’t put it past us to make offers for Michy Batshuayi, Willian or Kurt Zouma…
Are Arsenal’s bigwigs even trying to turn us back into a top side? Should the guys at the top be embarrassed when being compared to our London rivals? Do the Kroenke’s really believe this ideology is acceptable?
Patrick
They don’t care. They’ll still be in charge when we’re in league one and unable to pay for our bowl. That’s how all businesses go under. The business fails but the owners lose nothing.
We are in a bad state.
Regressing every year.
Relegation will be an inevitable fact eventually.
So sad.
I hate watching our games now.
If care is not taking, Arsenal would be the modern day Newcastle. Everything keeps taking a turn for the worse year after year, granted we’ve won some FA Cups in-between but that doesn’t just cut it
So Chelsea bought a striker.. Who have they had as a striker Giroud.. And some kids from their academy.
Hahaha.. arsenal wake up
Can we have a banner that says
“Arsenal lives matter”
Maybe something will be done then?
To be sincere, Arsenal used to frustrate me when I was younger, say 4-6 years ago.
Now I have things I’m working on, dreams and aspirations, I’d rather be frustrated by those.
I watch arsenal and I feel nothing, just looking at the ball moving.
I’m not saying people that are passionate about the club are jobless or have nothing better to do, I’m saying that I’ve detached my emotions from the tumoil.
I haven’t stopped caring, I just stopped caring more than the owners or those benefiting.
My mental health matters
Exactly, mate, same here! My emotions matter more than wasting them on a club that don’t care.
Chelsea aren’t making a mockery of The Arsenal, we are.
You slate Cech, yet he did a good job for us overall and didn’t they make a mess of their goalkeeping situation following his departure?
I agree with the view regarding Luiz, no problem there.
Apart from those two, the only other player involved with the two clubs is Giroud and 50% (roughly) wanted him gone anyway.
I wanted him to stay, but how you think that these incidents are making a mockery of our club I don’t understand.
You forget Gallas, Ken.
But like Cech, he was most of the time actually better than he is remembered, so was not a bad move. Nothing like, say, Silvestre…
Agree Diogenes, but how far back do we go – and remember that gallas deal saw the best left back ever produced at our academy go the other way. .
Alan Hudson was another who never reached the heights for us, but performed so well for Chelsea, perhaps that’s too far back though!!!
I thought Gallas was a very good captain, it is sad that he is only remembered, by some, for his on the field antics after that Birmingham game.
It’s weird that we put our club down so much (yes I know we are looking like clowns at the moment), when we remember players like hleb, petit, song, sanchez, henry, anelka, fabregas etc etc etc who thought they were going somewhere better, then actually admitted they had made a mistake by leaving.
I feel so sorry for many of our fans because they do more damage to themselves than the club does to all of us. They never want to see anything good the club does. I’m not saying I enjoy where we are presently but I just look for positive and dwell on it. I remember the stick arsenal got when Spurs bought Ndombele now nobody is saying what a waste of money he is. Now that Chelsea got two good signings early we are back to the same narrative without pointing to the obvious fact that made that possible which is them not spending any amount in the last two transfer. Getting Luis to extend was a bad decision as bad as signing him in the first place. I know that but I just need to say it once and accept it and move on. I would rather not follow Arsenal again instead of coming here to complain about everything that is wrong with this club, her players and owner on every article, everyday and every year. When you can divorce your wife, abandon your children, cut off from your friends and parents, it will be easier to forgo Arsenal before you do damage to yourself. Please look after yourselves first don’t let be the death of you.
Mobella, they were one minute away from insolvency…that’s how good a club they were before the russian roubles changed the premier league forever.
Like you, I faiil to understand the negativity on some occasions, but that is football and many a marriage has suffered because of the game of football and the passion it brings!!!
I agree Ken ,galas was a top player IMO
One of the better defenders we have had in the last 20 years ,the problem being some fans on here will try to find faults with any signings that was made by Wenger because they have a ego trip with trying to to be right all the time .
I’m with you in what you post ,follow Arteta and see what happens ,if he does not live upto my high expectations then so be it . You and me have been posting on here for a while and you knew my thoughts on Wenger in his last years and we disagreed and have fallen out ,but the constant abuse he keeps getting on here from a certain select few is uncalled for and alittle weird .
Regarding the Article our owner as no Interest in winning and that will be a problem until he either sells or changes his mindset ,the greatest manager ever couldn’t get this squad to the heights some of our fans expect
Dan kit, I’m not sure we fell ut as such, more like a difference of opinion my friend.
Not sure if you followed my posts regarding TMJW’s last article, but I still keep asking the question “How did he do it?” and still haven’t had one reply thay actually answers the question – thinking about doing an article about it sometime in the future, just to see if all those who see him as the devil in disguise can actually supply me with an answer!!!!
You won’t get a reply from him because he falls into that category I mentioned,a fan who has to be proven right .
What bothers me is the mindset of certain fans regarding Arteta like he should be the second coming .
I just hope said fans do t send this club further from where we should be .
The negativity these last few days have All the hallmarks of the Emery era ,which let’s be honest was a mistake we cannot afford again .
You’ve summed it up perfectly in my opinion and I just don’t get the reason for following a team if you derive not one ounce of pleasure from it – even if it’s to laugh at the, sometimes, seemingly absurd decisions…of which Arsene made quite a few of course!!!
Take care and hope your wife is getting some respite from the corona virus wards – my grandson is now back to full time physio work at his hospital, but they are geared up for a second phase…will it ever end?
What they are after is just the fame nothing more, you spend to get good results not buying already used materials to compete. We are at the worst stage of our time which is not supposed to be so. Arsene Wenger left with good records of qualifying for champions league every season. Now we can’t even compare ourselves with Chelsea that came to meet us in the premier league from championship. We are disappointed in the management.
Just shows Kronke isn’t in it for titles as he famously said. He just wants season ticket sales, sponsors, and televised games to make him money.
He has perfected the art of “milking,” and he feeds his cash cow only what is necessary so it produces milk.
He’s like a con man using a pyramid scheme to scam his fan investors, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Mari, Soares, and Luiz are just warm bodies to fill a slot, not improvements we desperately need. Losing CL money, and possibly Euro league money will either be a wake up call or a conditioning for the new normal.
Prepare for excuses from Kronke, Raul, and Edu about our “difficult situation,” and how they promise to do their best for next year.
👍 While we sink further and further into oblivion!
Stan to be blamed for keeping Raul in the job.Point of comparison – we get Pepe and Luiz for 80M they may land Kai and Hakim for a similar fee. Not absolving the earlier regime , we got Xhaka and they got Kante for similar fees. The rest is history.Money is not the prime factor here, money foolishly spent and the owner keeping quiet is the main problem.The owner does spend but we spend foolishly and we are where we ought to be with the players we hired.Period.
Durand, Kroenke knows nothing about football and employs supposed competent people to manage his Arsenal player and financial assets. His confidence in Raul. Ravi, Edu and the Board has been massively misplaced. He better wake up soon.
Remind me again why did Arsenal leave Highbury again? Apparently the teams in the bottom half of the EPL are the best in Europe.
It’s just sad really, how transfers and contract negotiations are being handled at the club. Granted, it’s not certain Ziyech, Werner, and Havertz will set the league alight for Chelsea next season, but it’s definitely a show of intent and ambition on the part of their board, and especially their owner. Can we say the same about ours?, As an arsenal fan, you look and the transfer dealings of Chelsea, and compare that with ours, you can’t help being annoyed, and it’s been happening time and again. I don’t think Chelsea will offer Willian a new contract, in spite of the fact that he contributes more to their team than Luiz could, to our club. It’s just frustrating really. Live doesn’t revolve around football though.
Life doesn’t*
👍
Very well said, mate👍
Why is Chelsea making a mockery of us? We are making a mockery of ourselves. They have an owner who cares and knows what football is about. Ours just has a projection of what he earns and just waits for it. New owners needed. Case and point, Chelsea, City and Liverpool. But we as fans should stop playing victim. We have stood by and watched Arsenal suffer for so long and done nothing about it. We’ve been lied to far too long and it seems like we even like it cos we expect ownership not to spend. After Baku, you will think Fans will demand signings but “Be excited” is enough to make us mute. How disappointing. Let’s keep on buying club merchandise to enrich the Kroenkes. We are always broke, wow. And you accept that. We’ve changed two managers and still, no change. I’m forced to believe that their sacking was not due to performances but when the stadium recorded less attendance, then they got the sack.It’s time to go. Force them out and boycott everything making us money. Then, we can force them out. Survival is better than image. Forcing them out might bring our Arsenal back.
A very passionate answer.
I would love your vision to happen, but none of us want to go to complete rock bottom.
Brad ekow, new executives and Board needed; Kroenke isn’t making the day to day decisions mispending his money and debilitating Arsenal
Very well said, Brad. I totally agree with your views.
I would’ve loved Ziyech….
The inexperience and incompetent head coach of the top PL football club – Arsenal, Mikel Arteta can hid under the guise of insufficient transfer kitty at the club due to the effect of Covid19 to sign the top players he wants to sign this simmer toward his so called rebuilding of the club’s first team squad in his own image. But so far he has signed the CB Maris and LB Soares. And he should be responsible for these duo if they flop for Arsenal next season’s campaign.
Nevertheless, the rest of the current first team squad are former managers Arsene Wenger and the sacked Spanish head coach Emery left over players he Arteta has inherited. But in top football success terms, one cannot really compare the current Blues manager Frank Lampard with Mikel Arteta. For, Lampard was a top draw winner for Chelsea for long on consistent basis during his hay days playing career for the club. So therefore, I think it’s the evidence of the success he Lampard has had at club level us fans are seeing him transforming it to management. This is unlike the over hyped M Arteta by Pep Guardiola for Arsenal to employ to fail whose playing career at two clubs Everton and Arsenal in the PL was characterized by lack of title winning success and injuries suffered.
Samuel, very good observations.Good reading and thanks it was not me who wrote that.It echoes my opinions.
I didn’t know we paid off the stadium debt? News to me.🤔As for the chavs.They will never,ever be in the same class as The Arsenal .They are the Nouveau riche. were They were nothing but mid table mediocrity before 2006 & the financial doping that came along I.e The Arabs & citeh,the oilers & PSG..But these days to compete regularly at the top you need Cash & lots of it( Financial fair play doesn’t exist)Maybe we should tap up Mathieu Flamini,Hes now worth $15 billion.Thats right.worth more than kronke…..
Bloody hell, is he??!!
yes I guess his pharma company has really skyrocketed. Flamini is a really interesting cat – he says he got lucky – but he has to be pretty sharp.
Haha. Flamini is no billionaire. I’ve scoured the internet for the “reports”/ Forbes article that purports he’s some kind of tech billionaire but they are nonexistent.
QD, it seems his company (with a joint owner) is valued at $28 billion dollars – if he sold his shares that would make him a $14 billion dollar ex footballer…if he could find a buyer of course.
At the moment, Stan Kronkie’s net worth is quoted at $10 billion, while his wife is one of seven people who are heirs to $130 billion.
Source http://www.arsenaldailynews.com
@Ken1945
It is the industry in which the company operates that Flamini claims has the potential to”one day be worth £20bn” not his company itself. Besides, the writer in that Arsenaldaily website who is spreading the fake news claims Flamini was declared a billionaire by Forbes which is just not true.
QD, we will never know, unless he tries to buy kronkie out…if he does manage to sell his company anyway!!!
I would add that the pharmaceutical companies very rarely go bust or not make a profit and who knows what the future holds for a very good player who would certainly be on the team sheet in todays squad, along with Gallas…in my opinion.
They win. What good is being in the old order if your mansion gets moldy and you have to sell off your assets – the moral high ground is not a particularly appealing location, it tends to be devoid of trees and nice things.
Great, we have fantastic pedigree and memories. That is all very nice but winning is a lot nicer.
It is like wanting to play the “Arsenal way”. If it is the winning Arsenal way then I am there. If it is looking nice and losing, not for me. I would take a grubby 1-0 win over a 4-2 loss any day.
To quote the great Al Davis – US Football owner of the Oakland Raiders – just win baby!
Plus, except in England, the peasants revolt and cut off your heads!
And Kronke has the ultimate security – his wife is a Walton of Walmarts. So he has his money, and perhaps the backing of far more money if needed.
We never have paid off the stadium debt. The club used to publish accounts every year and the last time I looked about a year or two ago, we had debt of around £200 million. I doubt Kroenke has paid it off. The mortgage is due to be paid off in 2031.
Jimmy James, I’m not sure that is correct, after reading the contributions from Tony Atwood and Calvin Masterson.
Tony (Untold Arsenal) explained that fixed rate bonds will not be fully repaid until 2029 and are costing the club approx. £16 million a year – the debenture bonds C and D will cost £20 million to redeem in 2028, but this is not debts caused by the building of the stadium. It was for the raising of funds to help the transfer budget during that period…thanks Tony.
I have also just read this explanation from a Arsenal fan called Calvin Masterson via @thedanielcowan blog site , that it seems we were legally bound to repay the interest rate every year, before any delving into the transfer market.
It explains why we had to keep selling our best players and ensure we didn’t default on this, as the lender would be able to do the following:
Claim all our match day revenue into the lenders bank account directly – or even foreclose on the loan and take over the club.
Now I don’t pretend to even understand half of the above, but it certainly seems that we are still paying back debts of one kind or the other and it all stems from the decision to build the Emirates….hope this helps and, from my point of view, might explain where the CL money went during AW’s twenty year qualification, who knows????
The Kroenke’s don’t give a 💩 just as long as the stock value is rising, and it is, so don’t expect anything from them.
The Kronks are not in it to win trophies or fans, they are in it for the Kronks. It was a sad day when they were invited to buy into Arsenal. They are dismantling our club with their ideology, they need to be made aware they are not welcome, not wanted, not liked and totally despised. Our club is in the hands of a pirate.
A pirate, who hasn’t chosen his lieutenants and motley crew too well!
Kroenke should wake up and make them all walk the plank, after a good keel hauling.
Arsenal will have to slove Arsenal problems… Arsenal actually needs to get in the market and focus on players that will give her results and will defend the club to the letter.. not just rushing on all free transfer players but players will value and determine and happy to wear ARSENAL shirt.. and Arsenal should loan out her academic products outside for bigger and better challenges.. our players always leaving and can still be better players then most of the free transfer players we bring in…
Arsenal are now a mediocre club and a laughing stock in world football. Thanks to the owner and the board!