Has Ozil been proven right not to accept a pay cut?

So Ozil Was Correct to refuse a pay cut? by Dan Smith

This isn’t another pro Ozil article, but hopefully you now see how he is being mistreated to save Stan Kroenke money.

During Lockdown it was leaked that Ozil was one of 3 players who had refused a pay cut. Ever wondered how/why this information was leaked? A coincidence that the only name the press was able to identify happened to be our highest earner, the man the club wanted off the wage bill.

It was a PR move by Arsenal. They knew at a time where people were losing their jobs, businesses were being closed down, the NHS was being stretched …. here’s a greedy footballer refusing to give up his 350,000 pounds a week.

The majority of fans reacted how our owner wanted them to do, blame the ‘greedy midfielder’ while other staff lost their jobs. As long as they are focusing on Ozil, no-one is asking what’s the Billionaire in charge of the club doing to support those who work in THE Armoury or food stands, office personnel, etc?
Ozil saw through this. After all, if anyone in our dressing room knows how far the Gunners will go to save some cash it’s him.

Since his employers regretted the deal that THEY offered, they have tried leaving him on the bench, leaving him out of squads, loaning him to Turkey, not supporting his views on what’s going on in China, and now even went to the length of banning him from Wembley this past weekend.

So Ozil was smart. Instead of refusing anything he pointed to the charities he helps and simply asks until he agrees to a pay cut, he wanted to see what his bosses intentions were? How much are the Kroenke Family financing to save jobs? The money they are saving on the wage bill, who or where is that going to?

I defended Ozil on here back in April because why should he give up 12.5 percent of money he’s legally entitled to, just to make a Billionaire richer? This is Silent Stan’s responsibility. It’s no different if you own Tesco or Costa or McDonalds, if you purchase a business, you have to be prepared for disasters to happen. You can’t expect your employees to bail you out.

Now I’m not a mathematician (so feel free to help me out) but if a squad of 23 are taking a 12.5% pay cut and executives have waived their yearly income by a third, plus the 30 million of qualifying for Europe, that’s a lot of money made?

In terms of outgoings remember they still get those contracts worth billions to share with 19 other clubs, as that’s why they agreed to a version of football with zero fans and a congested fixture schedule

In a club statement they say they ‘face more significant and longer lasting reductions in our revenue then we hoped.’

So Ozil was correct?

Don’t look at this as Ozil the player, whether you rate him or not. This isn’t a football debate but morality. Players gave 12.5% of their wages to look after all the backroom staff, but at a time when they can afford to offer 250,000 pound a week to Aubameyang they have to make 55 people redundant?

What does their statement even mean? Surely, they sat down and knew how many staff needed paying? Surely when they originally said 12.5 would be enough to save jobs, they factored in worst-case scenarios (no Europe, no match day revenue for the rest of the year)? They miscalculated so much that 55 people have to lose their jobs.

I asked in numerous articles (and still haven’t had the answer); why do you think Ozil played every game under Arteta pre-lockdown, but can’t get in squad post-lockdown? It wasn’t the team because we were unbeaten in 2020 with Ozil playing so it was working. In fact, in the game before the break Ozil assisted the winner against West Ham.

So, to clarify, when Arteta had no inclination finances were about to take a hit he played Ozil all the time. The moment Stan Kroenke says we need to slash our overheads, Ozil never plays again?

If the club needed that 350,000 pound to save jobs, then I get that – but that’s simply what they want you to think and Ozil saw through it. Because you can’t on one hand make 55 people redundant, call Ozil greedy, then give Auba 250,000 pounds a week. You can’t have it both ways…

So, players have taken a 12.5% cut, so have executives, and now other staff will lose their jobs? Stan Kroenke? His wealth during the pandemic increased by 305 million during this crisis. A man with a worth estimated at 6.3 billion will save 2 million a year by sacking 55 people. That stinks.

So well done Ozil for having principles. Liverpool and Spurs fans pressured their clubs to reverse similar decisions, shouldn’t Gooners should do the same?

Dan Smith

154 Comments

      1. Dear Admin,
        This is the first time i am directly replying to you.
        I have not read the article nor do i intend to read it. I immediately clicked on it because i wanted to make a comment and i immediately saw Top Gunner’s comment, which basically said what i wanted to express. It was a rhetorical question from him obviously (if Ozil is the only Arsenal player you can write about) and your response was rather rude i might say, killing of the comments section in one blow. This is a website about Arsenal and you are constantly posting Articles about a fringe player that causes controversy when you can focus on the issues that actually concern the fanbase, such as the rumours about the transfers of Willian, Coutinho etc, discussion about the formation and manager’s plans for next year, how will Saliba be utilised along with Mari, what our targets should be (maybe polls etc) or even articles about other Arsenal players that actually played very well in the last months. I know some articles covering these issues were already posted, but why not focus on these or similar matters instead of writing an Article that will most likely rile up supporters? I kinda responded to myself on the last sentence there didn’t i?

        1. As I wrote the article mate I feel the need to reply
          I write on whatever is in the relevant news and give my opinion on that
          I didn’t decide on Arsenal deciding to make 55 staff redundant and it just so happens that Ozil was the player named who didnt accept pay cut
          I would understand if it were a top 10 Ozil goals followed by top 10 Ozil moments but we are only following the current news
          BBC for example when reporting redundancies referenced Ozil as did Piers Morgan
          We do have to cater for everyone and by the amount of comments people want to debate about Ozil
          we can’t stop just because a few don’t like it
          I still don’t understand your reasoning of simply not clicking on the article ?

        2. 8 other articles on main page you could choose to read not concerning Ozil
          can I ask if you commented on any of them ?
          If not why would you comment on 1 article that offends you lol ?

          1. The article did not offend me in any way and I apologise if my response made you upset. As I said, the contents of the article are irrelevant to my response. And if you read my post carefully, you would see that I did not even read it and that the focus of my post was not about the article itself, but rather I complained about the volume of articles about the specific player, when we can focus on other players and matters. As you mentioned the starting page, if I scroll now through the whole page I can see 4 articles mentioning ozil on the headline. My intention was not to complain about this post, but at the filtering of articles by the admins.

          2. Not upset mate
            Just don’t understand that mindset
            Be like me putting on a football match , watching Super Sunday then ringing Sky saying you hate watching so much football
            Give you an example I wrote a piece on Anelka which has two.comments
            I wrote 2 articles on Ozil.has over 100;and 200 comments so that says there is an audience who want to discuss Ozil
            You can’t ignore them just because a couple of people can’t cope with an Ozil article

          3. Your example should have said: Be like me putting on a football match , watching Super Sunday then ringing Sky saying you hate watching the same football match from 3 months ago, just with different commentary.

    1. Wenger was constantly written about since 2007 to 2018.
      That is how it goes.
      Rooney was written about and debated amongst United fans until he left for North America. He was on a reported £300,000 while his performances were deemed insufficient. So he was pelted until he left.

      Bale is going through the same if I am right.

      If Sanchez had remained at United on a reported £500,000 and putting up performances deemed as not value for money then he would have been pelted. But he showed a desire to redeem his career so moved to Italy.

      If Ozil was on about £100,000 a week I don’t think we would be talking about him like we do. His fans hyping him, making excuse after excuse for his nonexistent performances season after season also keeps the stories going. Because every cringeworthy victimhood card / excuse that is made up by his fundamentalists entices some of us to come out and shoot it down on a constant basis.

      His stinking attitude puts some of us off. If he was performing season after season I don’t see how there would be any criticism of him earning his £350,000 a week.

      So basically until his last day as an Arsenal player he is going to be criticised until he can show us value for money on that football pitch.

      1. your missing the point
        this isnt about Ozil the player
        or your opinions of him
        This is about he was hung out to dry for refusing a pay cut
        His stance was he didnt believe that money would be used to save jobs
        Koronke took money off the squad and lied

        1. That could be classed as a defamatory remark
          How on earth can you conjure up that answer as being the truth? You want it to be but you have no more idea than I do. In the same way that you assume Arteta is in Kroenke’s pocket. As another contributor on here keeps writing… show us all the facts
          Please show me that you have proof

    2. Another useless article it’s been very predictable this days that I am slowly losing interest about this site entirety

    3. Is the hate this much that you Mesut haters want to even what dictate what articles people write? Why don’t you start a petition then for all media to stop reporting and mentioning his name.

      Last I checked there are a hundreds of articles on this site and personally I don’t read most of them. I read those that interest me and Ozil is one of the subjects I am interested in.

      Funnily enough I don’t see most of you commenting on the kind of articles you are recommending but you are the first ones to comment in every Ozil articles.

      An article is lifeless without readers discussion. So next time maybe you should try to bring life to the other articles you desperately want.

    1. Dude this isnat about defending Ozil as a player. This is about telling ourselves the truth, how do you tell the players and coaching staff to take a pay cut so nobody will lose their job, while everyone took the pay cut, three senior players asked to be told exactly what the money would be used for and because they couldn’t get an answer, they refused.
      Right now everyone who took that pay cut looks sorta stupid, they were scammed by our own board!!
      You really think this is about Ozil as a footballer? My feelings about him as a footballer ain’t hidden, but drop that for now and go with the truth

      1. hard to disagree with anything there eddie. at the time i couldn’t get my head around players taking a pay cut when our owner is a billionaire multiple times over.

      2. Im not talking about what’s going on im talking about how people cant see what Ozil is actually doing or not doing. Wether he is on 350 k a week or 3k a week, he is doing nothing, absolutely nothing to earn that. I cant defend his attitude and i can only see the damage he is doing to our club with his attitude. Im no comfortable with his stance at all, in fact im sick of him.

        1. @Reggie, Is Ozil “doing nothing” because he wants to do nothing, or is he doing nothing because he is forced to do nothing?
          Dude played many games when Arteta took over and did his part. Fast forward to project restart and he suddenly can’t make the team, simply because he wants to know what the money saved from a paycut will be channelled to.
          Now the team has won the FA Cup and I read somewhere that the implication is a drop in the percentage of paycut from 12.5% to 7.5%. Next thing we’re hearing is that 55staff will lose their jobs. What on earth is wrong with Arsenal??

      3. How can anyone that took a pay cut feel
        Sorta stupid. They just look like real empathetic human beings.
        Isn’t it?

        So how do you think those 55 staff that got made redundant feel when the name Ozil or Kroenke are mentioned?

        I would have thought they feel like Kroenke lied to them and Ozil showed zero empathy. Just little gestures like taking a little cut on your wages shows someone that you have a heart and care.

        That’s what I think.

        Smh

        1. Ozil should not be blamed for not taking a paycut! Kroenke should be! He is the one who employed these people and he’s responsible for paying their wages.. Does Ozil deserve the weekly 350k? Not at all! But he’s not to blame for it he didnt offer himself that contract did he? .. Blame the board for this nonsense.. I for one would not be taking a pay cut if I was in Ozil’s shoes

          1. Ozil andxhis agent negotiated his contract and then went about not earning it or not trying to justify it. He doesn’t care that his bank account is bulging every week and he isn’t that bothered about it. How can anyone defend the attitude and lack of effort.

        2. How about you do a little research and find out how many charities and people in need Ozil helps on a daily basis?

  1. Everywhere where this news is being reported Mesut is mentioned. Some even headline the 55 layouts in conjunction with Mesut wages. Even the BBC commented on that although it is not as bad as the Sun.

    I would not be surprised and it is my conspiracy theory based on the reaction of a lot of people blaming Mesut for this mess, that it was the intention of our dear management that Mesut name should be tainted with this news.

    Will it work? Let’s wait and see!

    1. There is definitely a conspiracy theory in my mind Would the club really go to these lengths to discredit him? Would Kroenke casually make Arteta and the other players look total chumps as well ? What a pathetic scenario then that a billionaire resorts to that, expecting that no one would actually see through his dastardly behaviour.

      I don’t know what is actually going on inside the club but these redundancies awful as they are for those involved, are not about Ozil in my opinion. He is staying put, his agent assures us so can we not leave it there?

      T

      1. If they can ruin 55 people lives to save 2 million they don’t need, it make sense (to me anyway) that they will go full force on 1 person to save 18 million that they actually need.

  2. “Arsenal players not happy with 55 staff being made redundant. They agreed 12.5% wage cut in April after receiving assurance nobody would lose jobs. Yesterday’s news left squad angry & they plan to raise it with #AFC bosses.” – David Ornstein

    Now I’m not Ozil’s biggest fan but you’d really be dumb if you still drag him into this, and all the while he was right to question what the money would be used for.
    Now it’s the whole squad getting angry, they were lied to, even Arteta was misled, these people took pay cuts without questioning only for the money be used for something else?
    Ozil was right for not taking that pay cut, the board and the owner are shameless and disgraceful. Now we even lie to our players to swindle them?

    To make things worse, Arteta doesn’t need all this drama, that man has made a lot of improvements bringing fans, players and staff together.. Now it’s all under Jeopardy again by the club itself??
    What kinda club is this?

  3. I thought it was a good – over the surface article but I doubt Arteta would not play someone for money reasons if the team needed him. On the rest, I agree. However as usual there will always be parts of the story we don’t know. I do believe that the Kroenke’s were wrong to ask the players for a pay cut and they should fork out to protect the club.

    1. “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? We know that he is fit to play. We also know that Arteta has no issues with his contribution to the team as he used him in all pre-lockdown matches with satisfactory results. Why then after the lockdown and after refusing the paycut he is not playing?”

      ~Sherlock Holmes.

      1. Because the possibility remains that on the training pitch since the return Ozil hasn’t hit the ground running

        I’m not buying into that conspiracy theory. Arteta would be a fool to jeopardise his career by ‘getting into bed’ with Kroenke

    2. Let’s get this straight, Arteta isn’t the issue or the one with the problem wif Ozil, but the management is, for him refusing to add to their wealth, yet after the pay cut from others we are now to deal with 55 redundancies?? So absurd!!

      1. Ozil was fit to play after the lockdown so who told Arteta not to pick Ozil the board or Stan somebody must have told Arteta not to select him WHY?

  4. While it is ridiculous to blame the redundancies on Özil, it is a step into the ludicrous to try to suggest his decision to keep all his money to himself is anything but selfish. You make it sound like the full 12.5% savings are going straight into the owner’s pocket when the Kroenkes spent an enormous amount consolidating the club’s debt.

    The nature of a limited liability company is that the balance sheets of the owner and the business are separate. Owners take a percentage of a club’s profits after responsibilities to debt repayment and shareholder dividends. If the club makes a loss, the owners get nothing. If they did, the stock price would plummet.

    Trying my best to be measured in my condemnation, I understand the impulse to defend Özil against attacks related to redundancies, but his intentions were against the interest of the club despite the PR campaign that him and his representatives have continuously engaged in.

    1. Fair call…but right now I’m glad he didn’t take that pay cut. I’m glad he refused. I think a lot of people ignored the fact that it was reported he wanted to know what the money would be used for and he didn’t refused for personal reasons.
      This is someone who engages in different charities every year, even at his wedding.
      You really cant give him the benefit of the doubt?
      If anything, the kinda person he is outside football should let you know his intentions weren’t selfish.
      Right now, the PR stunt made the club in revealing his name is coming back to bite them isn’t it?
      Go online and Twitter and IG and see people suddenly defending Ozil now that the rest of the players are angry at the board

      1. The Kroenkes also give generously via the Kroenke Sports Charity. So does Donald Trump and just about every millionaire and corporation on the planet. The benefit of the doubt works both ways.

        Özil may have been interested in knowing how savings would have been spent, or it may have been more PR.

        There are two sides of the narrative and fans tend to pick whichever fits their own biases, whether it’s despising greedy owners or greedy players. I don’t claim to know which is more valid but it seems like a significant leap of the imagination to praise Özil for keeping more money.

        1. Sean and So far he’s looking like he made the right decision.
          The same players who took the pay cut are now planning on questioning and meeting the board how come staffs are losing their jobs?
          It doesn’t beg the question that maybe they should’ve asked what the money were for in the first place??

          1. Just to be devil’s advocate here, should we really be getting so wound up about redundancies as with every business it happens all the time. Terribly sad for those involved but we are going to see this in nearly every sector going forward its the fundamentals of business.

          2. But your argument rests on a counterfactual: that the paycuts were directly correlated to other staff members keeping their jobs. Who’s to say that if players had not agreed to the cuts, we would instead be reading about 150 redundancies. How on earth can you say Özil was right when none of us even know what his true motivations were. If you choose to see the best without evidence, isn’t that the definition of a bias?

            We have no idea of how Covid is affecting the club’s balance sheet. We have no idea how the ratio between income and expenditure is shifting in this period. Wages are one part bit there are thousands of costs and revenue streams that don’t seem to be factoring into your somewhat black-and-white framing of the situation.

          3. Just what Ozil planned on doing so as to prevent his hard earned money get psyphoned to the wrong channel… Before they all took it all upon him as d bad apple

          4. Sean M, but everyone said he was wrong, without knowing all the facts – that is the problem today, as it becomes clear, from the other players reactions, we never knew the story, but were quite content to make conclusions

        2. Well, he didn’t “keep” more money, he kept what he was entitled too and said he would donate more than the 12.5% once he knew where the money was going.

          This has really brought home the worst of kronkie and the fact that the other players realise they were duped is proof enough of the situation.

          1. He didn’t keep money and yet he kept money. Not sure what you’re trying to say here.

            He is legally entitled to keep his earnings as are we all. Most players chose not to in order to help the club. The club announced losses and therefore the Kroenkes received none of the 12.5%. If he uses this money to spend on causes that he cares more about, we are not in a position to judge, yet of course, we all care more about the club and would prefer that all players helped to cut costs during these difficult times.

            I was harsh calling him selfish. What I meant was that he decided to not help the club. The claim that the Kroenkes benefit from the pay cut is, unfortunately, without basis.

      2. In total agreement with you Eddie and Dan also agreement
        I am not his biggest fan but he did the right thing in my opinion in not taking the cut
        If he did then his NI and tax contribution would have been substantially less paid which is more harmful.
        Really bad PR for us and afc cannot justify this at this moment in time
        Stan doesn’t now need to stand up and justify this terrible move at the agm meeting as the outright shareholder it is scrapped
        My heart goes out to the 55 for the stress and pain they must be going through
        Some might get a decent pay off but there will people in there at there wits end.
        I do hope they see sense and be big enough to seenthry have made a mistake and retract this

    2. Sean , TWO SEPARATE MATTERS HERE. On OZIL, I’m totally with you. On Kroenkes debt restructuring, what he is doing is making more money in so doing, by effectively granting a longer mortgage but at lower rates(That is the EFFECT and is technically not a mortgage in the true sense, as we understand it but a debt refinancing).

      I speak as one who knows a great deal about how corporate finance works, so trust me on this, as I am right. This will give Kroenke more interest repayments in the longer term than otherwise and take some pressure off Arsenal in annual interest repayments. In the long run AFC will now pay MORE in total to refinance that debt and total repayment will take longer.

      But be in no doubt; this is being done for Kroenkes benefit, not Arsenals. Anyone who labours under the misapprehension that KROENKE CARES ABOUT THE CLUB, OTHER THAN AS AN ASSET, HAS NOT BEEN WATCHING EVENTS SINCE 2007, WHEN HE ARRIVED.

      For what it’s worth, Dans article was also mixing up two separate matters and wrongly trying to clear Ozil of clear personal selfishness by, rightly, criticizing Kroenke.

      1. Yeah Jon, I’d agree that restructuring debt helps Kroenke. I read the club’s financial statement and there was no detail on how interest payments would be modified now that debt has been brought in-house. I don’t think it was necessarily to improve interest rates, it was more about avoiding unmeetable deadlines for repayments. Basically, Arsenal’s owners decide when the club should pay the next installment rather than the banks and investor groups who had previously financed debt. I can’t see any incentive for the Kroenkes to make conditions more difficult but if you have some evidence to the contrary, send away.

        1. Sean, hard evidence is impossible to provide. I much prefer to use the experience of thelast 13 yrears of Kroenke owning us with his “care only for his own wealth” attitude. It is certain , as I wrote, that more interest than otheriwise will now be paid to Kroenke in a longerterm structured refinancing deal. With borrowing for almost all sound businesses at an all time low interest rate, Kroenke knows he will be on sound ground in the longer term and in the short term is primarily concerned that his prime financail asset, AFC, would founder if left unaided. Yes , you can say that both sides OUGHT to benefit but it is certain that Kroenke will benefit. I also think that if world economy goes even more pear shape than he thinks, in his long term back stop planning , he would sell AFC, down theline though. There are always multi billionaires who willstep in to buy him out,IF the selling price is right. Kroenke knows that well and his prime instinct, as ever , is to ensure his own future wealth.

  5. It’s very said that 55 people have lost their jobs and there will always be finger pointing at owners and players etc.

    Yes, the owner is a billionaire and could cover the cost. However we live in a real world here and ALL business are restructuring their businesses which unfortunately means redundancy, example HSBC, Virgin etc. Arsenal is run by a business man, and these guys are are ruthless and always look at ways to restructure staff as technology improves, smater ways of working.

    Everyone is mentioning Ozil, but he does need to be left out of this as he is also not to blame.

    The fact is COVID19 has made some jobs non existence, therefore you could not justify a role if it is shown you can continue business with these roles are not being used.

    I am not a Kronke fan and would hope he would sell the club or even bring back David Dein to the Board as the connection between the businessman and the football club is nonexistent.

    1. I’ve only mentioned Ozil because I don’t think he has anything to do with the redundancies. I think you have made very good points

  6. Pepe also made the winning assist in FA Cup final, but it was just a simple pass. Ceballos won the heading duel, Bellerin risked his legs to dribble past three players and Aubameyang scored with a skillful finish

    Stats often make a player look good, if we just pay attention to one or two particular stats. Coutinho’s attacking stats made him look decent at Bayern, but he only produced when Bayern were dominating their opposition and when they faced weak teams

    Regarding Ozil’s salary, it’s completely Arsenal’s fault and I was highly disappointed when they decided to extend his contract. Ozil could legally refuse any types of pay cut, while most of his teammates agree to it for the team

  7. Dan, Ozil was not asked to give up his full wage of £350k per week (figure provided by you), but originally 12.5% of that amount, now adjusted to 5%.
    The amount required to cover the salaries of the 55 staff is reported by the BBC as being approx. £2 million.
    How does this money end up in Kroenke’s pocket, when there is no evidence of any payments to him since the management fee was removed some years ago? In fact his Arsenal asset has reduced in value by a reported £150 million.
    Do you have any evidence that Kroenke has taken any money out, when he has in fact taken on more debt to KSM by rationalising the stadium debt?
    By the way I want Kroenke and KSM gone from the Arsenal, because of their lack of personal involvement, interest, hands on management/oversight of the Board and senior executive, which have led to the player and financial mismanagement of this Club.

    1. Simple – players were assured that pay cuts would.save jobs
      That hasn’t happened
      So that’s 55 salaries he won’t pay and less wages to players so he saved money

      1. But regardless, Dan any savings will appear in the Arsenal books, not in his accounts.
        At this stage we are not aware of how much Arsenal has lost due to still paying staff, employees and players during Covid19, when gate receipts, catering and other income have been greatly reduced. As others have stated, there are sporting clubs, including Association Football clubs which will go to the wall due to this virus.

          1. If the players had not been reimbursed the 5%, then that would have more than covered the £2 million in outstanding salaries to auxiliary staff an employees.
            The question is why we’re the non working auxiliary staff cut loose? Were they entitled to Government unemployment benefits as in Australia? Do their redundancy provisions give them preference for re-employment on return to normal match day operations?
            As has been stated elsewhere, Arsene Wenger thought the staffing levels were too high: maybe the opportunity has been taken to reduce staffing levels? It would be interesting to know if the people concerned were entitled to redundancy packages and how much? Hopefully AST will find out.
            In any case it is understandable that the players are upset, given that a pay cut for them, was to insure the livelihoods of the staff and employees

        1. Don’t you think that when the board decided on 12,5%,they thought about the worst case scenario?like not qualifying for Europe which brings around an extra 30M, prize money for winning the FA cup is another 3M,what would have happened if we had lost?

  8. Just get rid of Ozil and the 18 million he makes for nothing. “Money for nothing!” and you can support the staff for 9 years! Don’t berate Auba, he worked hard for his salary raise, consistently banging 20 goals with limited service. KDB is on 280, so Auba is asking only 250K. Unlike the shameless, who could not let go 43.75K to help out those losing their jobs. Shame to him! Shame to the board for paying off agents!Shame to the ownership for doing nothing to save these employee’s jobs. More jobs were saved by the contributions of other players, so do not try to say Ozil was smart not to take a pay cut. IMO, he is smart in everything other than performing season after season on the pitch. He was smart to con the board to increase his wages with one fluke season made good by the efforts of Sanchez and Carzola. Carzola would carry the ball, this man had to pass to Sanchez and there you get the assist with the efforts and skills of Sanchez’s goals.

    1. Well said. And thank for you using some logical economics as well. Auba adds value to Arsenal in terms of performance on the pitch, and revenue off the pitch. Ozil’s 1 goal 2 assists for 350k per week does not do it and is making this club hemorrhage money. For nothing really. Ozil has no shame. It’s sad that people fall for his act. He’s playing fornite and making 350k a week, and people are happy for him. How can you claim to support Arsenal if you are happy with that?

  9. If Ozil wasn’t the only player that didn’t take a pay cut like you ozil Avengers say, how come he’s the only one being axed out of the team. This only makes it clearer that he, not playing has nothing to do with his refusal to take pay cuts but for purely footballing reasons which ozil has become poor at.

    1. The one fact you have chosen to shamelessly ignore is that those two players were never mentioned. Do you know them? If the club decided not to shame them in public like they did to Mesut it stands to reason that Mesut is the only one axed from the team.

      1. What reason would the club have not to reveal the identities of the other 2 and reveal only ozil’s? I don’t buy that lame excuse in the least possible bit. Ozil was axed because the coach gave him another chance and he failed to impress yet again. Was there any talks of pay cut before emery ad lungberg axed him out of their teams also? Why are you guys so quick to finding any possible excuse to come to defense of ozil. You lot are clearing grasping at straws.

        1. Why haven’t they revealed them then? Why reveal only one player name? Just answer those two questions straight to the point no need to beat around the bush.

          1. Everything is conjecture until the truth comes out and that is what you are putting your faith in

          2. Exactly right, Sue. Seeing a team mate being paid a lot more than you, with in your opinion minimal effort or contribution to the team, breeds dissention in professional sport.

    2. Kstix, EASY ANSWER TO YOUR NAIVE QUESTION IS THIS: OZIL IS THE ONLY PLAYER IN THE SQUAD WHO NEVER GIVES HIS ALL ON THE PITCH. N SHORT HE CARES FOR HIS WAGE ONLY AND “HANG THE TEAM” IS HIS ATTITUDE.

      MA sees that only too well and has thus, correctly, decided not to use him . Simple answer really, I’d have thought!

          1. Oh yes I will and don’t you dare try speaking for me again . I have the guts you lack to speak my mind. He was finally dropped as he had many chances and was too idle and lacking character to liveup to the faith MA had in him. MA learned better and then dropped him, Nothing to do withhis wage at all A huge red herring is that fallacious argument.

        1. Yes he along with his team mates were given a clean slate by Arteta. Mustafi and xhaka who were previously poor and on the bad sides of the fans improved, ozil did not. When Arteta benched AMN for the fact that he said he needed to see AMN do more in training. You lot didn’t come to AMN’s rescue to ask what’s going on but when it comes to your favourite player, all of a sudden, there’s more to meet the eye than what Arteta is saying. Get off ozil’s back, he’s finished. Period. He was not axed for simply refusing pay cut, he was axed because he hasn’t convinced Arteta in training. The excuses are really getting lamer by the day

          1. but in his final game he made an assist which is his job
            Then without him we lose our next 2 games where he’s on bench
            so two defeats with zero creativity leads to him kicked off the bench
            makes no sense

        2. But what did Arteta say when he took over?
          He said that he was going to give all th players, seniors players a clean slate before starting to cut them.
          That is why Mustafi, Kolasinac, Xhaka etc all got another chance and they took it. Artea dropped AMN, Ceballos and even Laca. Remember when we used to say that Laca runs out of gas very quickly? But he seems to have worked hard to increase his fitness levels and Arteta rewardes him.

          These guys have been grinding since they came back from lockdown. Not pretty at times but some of us do appreciate that effort.

          Your cult hero as always keeps being exposed.

          Madrid saw his stinking attitude and signs so they got rid. I bet you they couldn’t believe their luck when we agreed to pay £42 million. 😊

          Germany saw his stinking attitude so they got rid.

          Wenger bent over backwards to accomodate his £42 million reco d signing. He had to make it work, his reputation was on the line.

          Emery smelt the stinky attitude straight away and exiled him.

          Ljungberg smelled the stinking attitude and exiled him.

          Arteta smelled the poor stinking attitude and exiled him.

          But with all this evidence in our faces, the Ozil fundamentalists keep burying their heads in the sand shouting “Wa wa wa, la la la la la, can’t hear you when you criticise our cult hero”

          🤦‍♂️😊

          1. Right words “stinking attitude” end of story. Shame others cannot see it. Using every excuse to defend him. Its over for him! Why has no one come for him? Answer “Stinking attitude”

      1. Well Jon,you need to check Ozil’s stats,distances covered…and tell me if they are those of a man who doesn’t give his all!

        1. Because he doesn’t earn his money, for which in Australia, we have a good descriptive noun: such a person is called a “bludger” (look it up).

  10. Amidst all these, I’m only hoping it doesn’t soil Arteta’s relationship with the players as he’s tool the board use of in convincing the players to take the cut

    1. I think if he has to become a great manager he should learn to stand on the right. If and I pray not, he is not playing Mesut because of pressure from the board then he has put himself in a very difficulty position.

  11. You are not wrong Buddy just another manifestation of
    Corporate greed and malfeasance.

    Roy Keane said it years ago players are just a commodity to be bought and sold depending on their use so who can blame them if they sit on a contract.

    As soon as they get too old or lose form they are deemed surplus to requirements and of this fact they are quite aware.

    Shame on this once mighty club.I will never step into the Emirates again until these shysters Kronke and Salheni and Kia are gone.

    Save the 55.

    1. Sanllehi and Kia are complete parasites. People cannot see it now, but they are doing so much damage to our club and using Arsenal to enrich themselves. It’s gross. These super-agents are parasites. And Sanllehi is happy to play along.

  12. We have a serious management crisis. The earlier we look into it the better, even Championship teams don’t complain about money as we do.

    1. I’ve been arguing the incompetence of the Arsenal Board and senior executive in managing the Club’s financial and player assets for years.

  13. 12.5% of £350K = £44k PER WEEK. Maybe if he had taken the cut, then they wouldn’t be losing 55 & we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Used to love him, but he is tarnishing the good memories whatever anyone says

    1. If you believe these redundancies are solely down to Ozil not taking a pay cut then you are sadly mistaken.

      1. Yes He does deserve 250K comparing his performances to those of Ozil who supposedly gets 350K. The man just gave us a cup with his brilliant 4 goals? What has your fella done?Oh that wonder goal against Newcastle or 19 assists years ago?

        1. didn’t say deserve , said need
          your asking Ozil to take a pay cut not to save jobs but to pay someone else wages ?
          If they want to give Auba 250 000 pound a week they can’t then say Ozil we are poor can you help pay our staff because we have zero money

          1. yes he needs the money because he delivers top performances year after year. If he goes we need to spend top dollar for like to like replacement.
            So take from the useless and reward the deserving.
            Also those 55 do more productive work than the one on 18 million a year wages.
            Shame! One man gets 18 million for doing nothing worth it and 55 hard working staff get 2 million and likely to lose their jobs.SHAME !!! What can isay about those supporting the 18 million man.

        2. So If Ozil left this summer do you think Stan Koronke would use that money to give everyone their jobs back ?

          1. Yes, the club is a self sustaining model.And prove to us that Stan is drawing money from the club these days? Any stray thought cannot be made a logical conclusion. My grief with the ownership is for not investing and not setting clear goals for the club and not getting involved to look into the club operations with passion and desire. The answer to your question is that if Ozil goes, there will be more money to spend on operations.

    2. Simpliciter ….What was the contribution of the owner to ensure we wouldn’t reach this situation? From the statement the club issued in April it clearly stated that only the players and the coaching staff wages were cut by the 12.5% . None of the administrators wages were cut and also that of the the board members staff.

      1. He does not get 18 million LC it’s about 10.5 million
        They have to pay 45 %tax so you could ya that he is given more back to the country by paying more in .

        1. hahaha! Now another new excuse to garner support for the fella. Nice, keep them comming. Congrats, no one thought of this one!
          Next what? contributions to the sewerage plant?

          1. Loose Cannon, well at least they are fecats, not made up lies that you are continually being called up for – unless you don’t pay tax?

      2. Klose, “the administrators” apparently took a 30%salary reduction for 12 months.
        As for Kroenke, KSM have reportedly suffered a £150 million reduction in the valuation of their Arsenal asset.

      3. Ozil is a giver to many charities and causes mainly Muslim or Turkish ones. If he really wanted to, he could pay the wages of those 55 redundancies from his own salary and show what a great footballing icon he is.

        He was right to refuse to accept the BLM movement, when the club and governing bodies refused to get involved in the politics of genocide against muslims. He was also right when he refused to take a paycut without guarantees that there would not be redundancies after.

        However, he has also made mistakes and could now simply put himself beyond all of them by offering to pay the wages of the 55 for the final year of his contract, hold out his hand to the club and manager and put in the performances that he once did for fun.

    3. So tell me what is 44k/week to a multbillionnaire? nothing is the answer,I could think of many ways him and his family could save that much without even noticing it!

  14. Great attempt DAN but this hogwash, on Ozil, from an avowed Ozil supporter convinces nobody. You make a lot of fair points about Kroenke and on a deal of your article I can agree.

    But when you try to make out OZIL IS RIGHT NOT TO ACCEPT A WAGE CUT, YOU MAKE YOURSELF LOOK FAINTLY RIDICULOUS AND THAT MAKES YOUR SENSIBLE POINTS HARD TO MAKE AN IMPACT.

    YOU ARE IN FACT MIXING UP TWO COMPLETELY SEPARATE MATTERS AND WRONGLY, IMO, USING THE RIGHT ARGUMENT ON KROENKE TO BACK UP YOUR MISJUDGED AND MISTAKEN ONE ON OZIL.
    THERE CAN BE NO RATIONAL AND SANE EXCUSE FOR THE DIABOLICAL AND SELFISH WAY OZIL IS TREATING ARSENAL.

    Nor by Kroenke, but we agree on that one!

    1. It convinced me! As you have already been advised 40 million and 1 times, stop thinking your opinion is that of everybody else!

      1. HH, (HIDING BEHIND A PROFILE OF NOT YOUR OWN NAME, UNLIKE ME) You have not the intellect to debate with me, so stop thinking you are my parent and telling me what to do. You are an intellectual midget.

          1. HH, I know this wasn’t the intention, but that has tickled me and made me think of that song “What does the fox say” 😄

          2. Quite frankly he sounds like a 14 year old trying to make out he’s knowledgable and experienced.

            The shouting, “opinions”, and self-promotion indicate puerility and an inability to put forward much of substance or value.

          3. Sue didn’t know the song before but I just watched it on YouTube. The 1st comment made me laugh out loud.

  15. I wonder if we can pay 2 million less sign-on bonus to Willian so that we can reverse the redundancy action.

    Or if Willian is noble enough to propose that he will take less sign-on bonus?

    Or if super agent Jia will donate his commission to save jobs for a good customer like Arsenal?

    Or if Raul and Edu will play the hard ball on their friend to deliver their promise “to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can”?

    1. Or Ozil gives up something from his 18 million (to score 1 goal) and show his love to the club staff? Charity begins at home! If he comes out and states that he will do whatever it takes to save the jobs of these employees, I will bow down to him and forever stop criticizing him.
      Until then 18 million wages paid for one EPL goal!

      1. are you not understanding ?
        Players took a pay cut to save jobs and they were lied too
        So why should Ozil now give up his salary when the club have proven money saved won’t go towards saving jobs

      2. Have you any idea how generous Ozil actually is with supporting charities and those in need with both money and his time?

        1. Yes we all know how generous he is. He has a good deal of compassion

          I would add that many other footballers do likewise, but of course, generosity is based to a degree on how much they earn.

          I’m impressed with Rashford too. Think of all the children on free school meals who have his intervention to thank

          1. You couldn’t help to just admit the guy is a decent human being.

            The comparisons as I have interpreted them was just to refuse him the credit he deserve.

            When someone does something good it does not make it less just because so and so does them too.

            Rashford and Mesut are good human beings because they give to community how about that.

  16. Its funny to see Ozil alone gets the stick for the misfortune of the The 55.If there is no conspiracy against Ozil,why dont we get the names of the two other players who refused the pay cut too so that we can heap the same amount of blame on them.I am not an Ozil fan but I am getting tired of seeing the guy blamed for every misfortune that befalls Arsenal FC.

  17. In case it has escaped your notice guys, due to a global pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs throughout the World.Arsenal FC is not immune to the resulting financial disaster and to relate the 55 casualties to a decision made a few months ago by a multi millionaire employer is with respect nonsense.In the same way to criticise our Owner for restructuring debt at a time when we have severe cash flow problems is unjustifiable in my view.I am not a fan of Kroenke ,and while his status as a billionaire will always be subject to attack one way or another he has acted in a responsible manner with a view to alleviating a cash flow crisis at our Club by borrowing funds through KSE.

    1. True, except you grossly underestimate the number of people having lost their jobs so far.
      You can count them in tens of millions worldwide and there is a big risk, we haven’t even reached the bottom of this economic crisis.
      There could well be much more to come, also at Arsenal and other football clubs.

  18. So everyone who has been furlonged to 80% pay should refuse it for the full 100%. After all ozil is sat at home doing nothing as is the people who were furlonged.

  19. Does this show Özil was right to refuse a pay cut?
    Or does it show how wrong his refusal was?
    Or are the 2 things logically connected in any way at all?
    Take your pick, as any angle can be argued for, but none can be factually supported.

    1. It shows he was right
      He didn’t believe the pay cuts would save jobs
      55 staff have lost jobs
      he was correct
      Sorry it’s not what you want to hear mate

      1. @Dan.
        It really is just your opinion, which you are entitled to.
        I am merely pointing out, there is absolutely no facts to support the view, or even to prove this was his reason for refusing. On top of that, you can just as easily say, his refusal to take a pay cut, has now a part in other people getting the sack.
        But that would not be fact based either.
        As it is pure speculation, you can speculate either way.

        1. Well that’s what reports claim
          Now you could say ‘ reports could be wrong ‘
          In which case reports could be wrong about Ozil refusing a pay cut
          Can’t have it both ways ?
          What Arsenal have confirmed is players took a pay cut
          Yet 55 staff lose their jobs
          If that is then used to pay Auba 250 000 pound a week.that stinks

          1. In general we could probably agree, that the wages for football players are out of touch with the realities for the rest of society.
            But your attempt to use the 55 redundancies in connection with an Özil support is very far fetched.

    2. This is exactly what I have been posting
      There is not a shred of evidence produced so far to support the claim or not If at a later date the truth comes out then I will be happy to review. Until then it is all whispers

  20. As I already brought to you and is now being reported innthe media Auba’s verbally agreed to a contract. There’s also an agreement in place for Willian as reported too.

    Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Gabriel Magalhães. A fee must be agreed with Lille before the deal goes any further, but Lille have communicated that he’ll cost €30mil. Gabriel has met with representatives of both Arsenal and Man Utd and he is set on Arsenal. Both ckubs stole a march on Everton in Everton who agreed a fee for him.

  21. They are all greedy. Our billionaire owner is greedy together with our highest paid player in all Arsenal history.
    Ozil came off as very selfish not accepting such a small percentage of his not deserved wages.

    Billionaire Kroenke also come off as a not give interested money maker.

    They all stink for me in this situation. None comes off looking good.

    1. Don’t Know , If Ozil taking a pay cut is just to help Stan Koronke save money and not jobs
      I rather Ozil keep it ?

    1. apparently Sue yeah
      He just wanted to wait and see what Koronke did himself
      as well as proof that this was going towards saving jobs which clearly it hasn’t

  22. these ppl still lost their jobs. Clearly Kronenke and the board are liars (shocking!), but if keeping the jobs is what was on Ozil’s mind, what does holding onto your 350k per week accomplish? I’m confused. Is Ozil getting praise for keeping his money for himself, unlike the Arsenal players that tried to do the right thing, and are now working together and pressuring the club? I’m sure many things are happening behind the scenes we dont know about. I think it’s silly to applaud a rich player for staying rich, and to say “told you so” for players that tried to do the right thing. The fact is that Kroenke is a scumbag that got richer during the pandemic, is a horrible owner, and needs to get these ppl their jobs back ASAP.

    1. The Ozil fundamentalists will just bend and twist any thing just to cover for their cult leader.
      If you wanna know how deeply entrenched they are into their Ozil cult just ask them to remind of a time in Özil’s 6 or so seasons here where they have ever criticised him. Any kind of criticism.
      I bet you most of the have never criticised Ozil for the stinking attitude he has shown since that game we lost to city 6-3 in his first season here. When he refused to applaud our travelling Away fans. Mertesacker told him off infront of the camera.
      Don’t for get his stinking attitude in that Europa final.
      And so many more.

      These people just never see any fault in whatever poo poo he steps in. They always try to rationalise his stinky attitude.
      Lol

  23. But Ozil DID accept the pay cut along with everyone else after it was fully explained where the money saved was going to so why keep peddling the myth he didn’t?

  24. Ozil can not be blamed for this, he signed a contract and club are legally bound to honour that. Why should he take a pay cut, I would not. The club employee are club’s responsibility not Ozil’s. Stop blaming him for everything.

    1. No one is blaming him for the 55 redundancies.
      We are just pointing out how a guy earning more than £350,000 a week refuses to accept such a small pay percentage on his wages to show a sense of empathy to those that earn so little compared to him.

      It is just a good will gesture. Small gestures like this mean so much. So what do you think these 55 staff think or feel about Ozil and Kroenke?

      I don’t think any of them is jumping around celebrating “See, Ozil was right not to take a pay cut. He was right.”. Lol

      I bet you they look at him as an out of touch pampered, entitled millionaire that is greedy and selfish. He has this “Me me me attitide”.

      Ozil and Kroenke are the most toxic figures at Arsenal. It used to be Kroenke, Gazidis, Wenger and Ozil.

      We got rid of 2, now Kroenke and Ozil remain.

        1. Declan
          I missed that news
          Are you able to point me to a link because I was unaware he had taken a cut for this year?

        2. Apparently he heard Martin Keown and Tony Adams was prepared to lace the boots again and come to training for tackling practice.

      1. I think biggest toxicity at the Club are the fans, who have no respect for club legends who made Arsenal the brand it is also who keep changing their moral stance to support their argument. When LK refused to play then all these fans were jumping up and down saying he should honour his contract. He has no moral values and now when some one is trying to keep to his contract people are labelling him as unsympathetic and insensitive person. He is bound by the contract like LK was.

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