Can Ozil save Gunnersaurus? by Dan Smith
Even Ozil’s biggest detractors would struggle to find any fault with the player offering to cover Gunnersaurus’ salary. While our mascot’s sacking originally was the source of fun on social media given that it happened on Transfer Deadline Day, it’s quite sick that on a day the club can find 45 million to activate a release clause, they make someone working part time unemployed.
Now you could be ruthless and ask what’s the point of the Dinosaur while fans are not allowed in Stadiums? You could argue there’s a good chance the man behind the costume will be rehired once the Emirates is full again. Yet this is the same Arsenal who when releasing their third kit preached about ‘family’.
Remember when Aubameyang extended his contract, how he wanted to follow into other people’s footsteps and become a legend because you know we are …. family.
Yet this ‘family’ can’t look after a man who’s worked for us since 1993, putting smiles on children’s faces.
It’s almost like the word ‘Family‘ was not genuine but just a marketing strategy by Adidas? That’s a rhetorical question by the way.
There’s actually no reason for the Gunners not to take up Ozil on his offer. That’s what they asked for, right? For him to sacrifice his own earnings to save jobs.
The German always maintained he was happy to help but just wanted some more information. If 23 players are taking a 12.5 reduction, that’s a lot of money. He just wanted to know where the cash was going to and what was Stan Kroenke himself was willing to do to help during the Pandemic.
Ozil was proven right.
Not just did the rest of the League function without salary reductions, 55 people were still made unemployed, negating the reason players were taking salary reductions. In other words, our players were lied to.
Meanwhile in America the LA Rams were unveiling their new 5 billion-pound stadium (and people wonder why I think he could do more to help Arsenal?)
If I was a footballer, instead of funding for a new keeper or one of my peers contracts, I would prefer the personal touch of knowing who I’m helping.
If you want to be really cynical, you could call this a masterstroke from the Ozil brand. If the club refuse or accept its a PR nightmare. This was the club who managed to leak out that Ozil refused a pay cut, yet here he is willing to take on someone else’s pay because apparently a Billionaire couldn’t afford to.
Which was always the point. Why was a Billionaire asking millionaires to worry about the payroll?
Yet here’s the millionaire showing generosity that a Billionaire won’t.
Before you write, that’s not how a business works, you might be shocked that more companies then you think try to look after their own.
For example Ed Sheeran owns some bars and restaurants. During Lockdown Instead of furloughing staff, which he was legally entitled to do, he carried on paying their full wage out of his own pocket. Why? Because he can afford to, I guess…
So, I’m sure some will carry on calling Ozil lazy, a thief, etc. Yet in this situation it’s his employers who look a little bit greedy.
When my baby niece was born in March, I walked into hospital with a giant Gunnersaurus’s who now stands in her cot.I hope one day she gets to see him at the Emirates. Maybe because of Ozil, it might just happen…
Dan Smith
Excellent PR from him. People defend him because he’s such a nice guy personally.
That doesn’t make him work harder at training though. 3 different managers and all have excluded him from starting, the player is to blame then. Je probably wants to play well this season so he can move somewhere in the summer but let him rot in reserves.
On a more positive note, next January/summer we will “lose”:
Özil 350k OUT OF CONTRACT
Luiz 120k OUT OF CONTRACT
Kolasinac 100k SOLD?
Sokratis 92k OUT OF CONTRACT
Mustafi 90k OUT OF CONTRACT
Thats 750k a week released in wages! And the best part is, we only need 2 replacements for them for the squad.
If we sell someone like Lacazette, that’ll be another 180k.
Off topic, but we should do a double raid on Salzburg next summer. Patson Daka and Szoboszlai are unbelievable talents, would fit well in our team.
Oh David why did you join us so late? Only two seasons to enjoy him in our colours😌.
Those wages will get us top players.
Lol,,,another ozil debate. Thousands of people lose their jobs on a daily basis, doesn’t mean the senior staffs have to offer to pay one’s salary,and the fact that Arsenal is a family doesn’t mean the club’s gonna provide food for my wife and children when I’m broke, same goes for you. Arsenal is a club and they also have duties, I’m not saying Kroenke and the rest were right, but this things happen everywhere, I’m sure if Auba offered this then no one would wail. Arsenal is not a charity organization, though it might be to ozil as he’s busy collecting his charity fee every week. I don’t blame him, he sees an opportunity and he grabs it with both hands and feet too. Arsenal must not make the same mistake again
Dan is just being sentimental. Maybe because gunnersaurus was present at the hospital shortly after Dan’s daughter’s delivery?
I feel bad when I see the way Arsenal fans disrespect Ozil because Unai Emery and Freddie couldn’t find a way to use him, here is a player that created more chances than any Arsenal player last season yet you find a way to disrespect having in mind that he played less games than other players. Ozil can look lazy to all of us but we all know that we don’t have any player that will do what Ozil does. Talking about his wages being high and him not playing, Arteta knows Ozil is his best creative midfielder but the issue he has with Arsenal is not about his footballing abilities or else someone like Wilock shouldn’t be playing ahead of him.
I agree, the management lack sense….Will the accept the offer or not? Whichever way, ozil wins!
From another point of view, if Ozil, and the other two players didn’t refuse a pay cut, then maybe Gunnersaurus, and many others would have kept their jobs at Arsenal? It is a lovely gesture from Ozil, no doubt, but why only Gunnersaurus though?…Because it’s perfect PR! We can all moan about Kroenke, and rightly so, but we’ve known the deal with him for a decade now. Self-sustaining model at all costs.
Even Wenger said the club had become bloated with the amount of staff employed, so maybe trimming the numbers was always part of the plan for the new regime anyway, regardless of the current economic situation.
So I have no issue with replacing/reducing the amount of employees, especially if they’re under performing, or not even needed at the moment, but the Gunnersaurus situation is very poor PR for the club. Cost cutting measures obviously make sense given the economic situation right now, and for the foreseeable future, but surely they could have kept Gunnersaurus on, as a symbolic gesture at the very least? I doubt the size of his salary is causing too many issues right now. He would only be gone temporary, but still doesn’t look good for the club, and I really hope he’s back asap!
I find it hard to understand Ozil ‘lovers’ or ‘haters’. If he doesn’t damage the squad and changing room spirit, then let’s be pragmatic……there are games he could make a difference in. With Partey in a 4-3-3, a schemer will be important. In home games against teams like Brighton, Burnley and Newcastle, which can be tricky and need a locksmith to unpick crowded defences, Ozil could be that locksmith. Even if it’s only about 10 games, it could be the difference between the Europa league and Top 4 Champions league. Lets be neutral…..Attatchment or Aversion help nobody, and they can be poisonous to everybody.
I am in the opinion we are challenging for the title so top 4 is a given.
You have made a very good point and your view is the right one IMHO. Lovers and haters whether we admit it or not are emotionally invested (not sure if its the right term) in Mesut to simply listen to reason.
Very much on point @SeanWilliams.
I think Arteta should just drop every sentiment and play him in games where he could be useful and make the difference. Is he really worse than the likes of Willock and Nelson (2 players that I strongly believe still need to go out on loan, to develop fully)
Let’s drop all these “haters” and “lovers” sentiment, for the overall good of the team.
Perfect and correct 👌👍
You are spot on
Couldn’t agree more Sean Williams
Wouldn’t it be better for Arsenal to employ Gunnersaurus to go out and engage with fans and the community who can’t presently come to the Emirates? Outreach work at schools and kids clubs, visit sick fans in hospital, organise various inter-club Mascot challenges… With a bit of imagination it’s an opportunity for Gunnersaurus to be used really positively for our club and football during these difficult times.
That would be great!
It’s a really positive idea Ed
I’ve no idea if COVID protocol would allow it but in a post pandemic world that is a great shout
Ed
Totally agree
Brilliant idea Ed it really is!
Absolute nonsense although I agree it was disgusting of Arsenal in the 1st place completely lacking in class and just plain stupid for the amount was on (surely he could still do work with charities etc.) Still doesn’t change that it is just as disgusting for Ozil to try to profit from the situation. I say this as someone who was never on the Ozil hate wagon in the 1st place.
First off he didn’t contact Arsenal or Gunnersaurus privately in anyway what so ever and certainly hasn’t arranged for him be paid in anyway currently. He just went on social media to declare that he would if needed. The only motivation for such an act is to A.) Make yourself good B.)Embarrass and make the club look even worse whilst keeping it and now himself in the news cycle. If your an Arsenal fan you should be unhappy both with Arsenal for doing it and for Ozil trying to take advantage of it to settle scores and boost his own profile. Of course he didn’t offer to pay off the 55 laid off staff did he? Because he would actually of had to follow through on that one and that would actually add up to a sum he doesn’t want to spend.
If it was for the right reasons you wouldn’t of heard about it until Gunnersaurus came out and said that he’d just be paid by Ozil. I doubt such a thing will ever happen regardless. It’s a blatant PR stunt with zero redeeming quality as he’s not even paying any money and he and his team know that they won’t be but they released it anyway to stick to our club.
He wasn’t proven right by anything in regards to the pay cut either. Spending money on things after players took a 7.5% pay cut is precisely the point of the pay cut. Without the pay cut we either don’t get Partey or we lose Auba or maybe both and worse. So it really depends on whether you felt we needed to add players or not as to whether it was worth it. Players with ambition you would imagine would prefer a stronger squad than a larger wage given that club very clearly lost a large amount of revenue for a reasons outside their control. It’s not often talked about but the Patriots recent American football level of consistent success owed a large amount to Tom Brady being willing to take less than what he could get elsewhere (still insane amounts) which gave them more flexibility within the wage cap (and FFP does install a wage cap for Arsenal.)
As an aside there are reports today that Kronke actually funded the Partey deal not the club so there is also that to factor in to all this nonsense. Also the club asked Ozil to take a pay cut. He doesn’t clean Kronke’s house, he works for Arsenal a rich entity in it’s own right. Your Sheeran example is laughable none of the staff Sheeran paid earn what Ozil does in a month in 10 years not remotely comparable. Would you be happy about bankers for instance refusing to take a pay cut to ensure the stability and future success of a particular bank in the current climate? Honestly it does wind me up. Kronke doesn’t take money out the club (took on the stadium debt recently and now apparently paid for Partey.) Obviously if other more generous benefactors had bought the club it would be a little different although not that much but there is nothing stopping said benefactors from putting an offer Kronke can’t refuse on the table either. By all means complain about who he initially installed to run the club but don’t pretend he’s sucking us dry it is a total false narrative and an outright fabrication. We spend and have consistently under Kronke spent more than all but around 10 clubs max in Europe. 3 clubs in England. The entitlement to complain about that is stunning. Complain it’s been spent wrong by all means just don’t pretend it hasn’t been spent.
Final thing Arsenal had ALREADY stated that he’d be back when crowds return before Ozil posted so your last paragraph is somewhat irrelevant.
Brilliant comments such as this, gives me so much joy. Spot on Angus
Angus brilliant post, when I saw the title and it was ozil and the writer was Dan smith I said I wasn’t going to comment but your intelligent post made me comment, good post sir👍
Angus, a fine article with much to agree on but also a few dissenting points, mainly about Kroneke. My contention has always been that Kroenke, being so absent and out of touch/remote for many years, esp before Josh became more involved, WAS personally responsible for the long term damage done by Gazidis.
GAZIDIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN APPOINTED AND SHOULD AT LEAST HAVE BEEN SACKED MANY YEARS EARLIER .
The long lasting damage done under him is still holding us back financially and Kroenke must take ultimate blame for that, as owner.
THAT is where your generally fine article misses a KEY and important point!
jon, hopefully he will redeem himself. The appointment of Tim Lewis appears positive, the leaving of Raul Sanheili and the reported financial contribution to get Thomas Partey all indicate greater involvement by KS&E.
Spot on Angus. What a decent and well thought out counterargument. I guess Dan and a few readers around here are not ready for this discussion. Best counter article in ages!
You seem more angry with a man trying to rehire someone then the club for sacking him
If I was Ozil and the club had sold me down the river to impact my image , I point out my good deed
Think of any charity a celeb does , why don’t celebs donations stay secret
Bottom line is it’s a nice thing to do , If the worse outcome is it’s good Pr , that’s worth saving a job ?
The 55 redundancies saved 2 million a year ?
Do you really think that was needed to help us afford Partey ?
If Stan ha s invested his own money , it’s about time !
That’s what you do when company is failing
Since he arrived on our board is he In top 10 spenders in Europe ?
Would question that
The administration back room organisation was bloated, even Arsene Wenger attested to that. The problem was management shouldn’t have used Covid19 as an excuse.
1.) He didnt rehire him 2.) I said the pay cut paid for Partey, only mentioned the 55 to point out Ozil did not rehire them so thanks for highlighting that again for anyone that missed it 3.) Look up our net spend and wage bill during that period and compare with everyone and get back to me with facts. Worth noting even if we were and we are not 13th/14th in europe my point would still stand regardless and we’d still be top 4 england.
You need these PR stunts to knock sense to blind supporters and fans that your club is not based on a set of value but end of the day is just a bloody business model. The business owners have billions and can layoff workers and when players who have a legal contract but do not accept wage cuts are labelled cynical. Did our beloved Arsenal management team agree for revised sponsorship deals considering the economic downturn?
How was Ozil proven right? Unless Kroenke is withdrawing funds from the club, every penny saved from cost cutting stays with Arsenal.
By the logic of this article, it’s wrong for any company to declare pay cuts during this pandemic, if the owner is richer than the employees, unless he gives a subsidy to the company first. Of all the large corporations in the world that had Covid-related pay cuts, how many shareholders followed what’s advocated by the writer?
I wish arsenal would counter this by leaking how the board and the unredundant management sacrificed during this tough time.
jeboaddis
The executive did take a pay cut
Angus
Arsenal and Kroenke in reality are not seperate. Kroenke is Sole Owner. The board purely Parrot him. Only Kroenke could fund Thomas Partey.
They are absolutely seperate and there are numerous legal things in this regard. Obviously Kroenke is sole owner but Arsenal is still an entity in it’s own right that Kroenke could sell. Arsenal existed before he was sole owner, they exist now he is sole owner. The important thing is that he doesn’t take money out the club and hasn’t leveraged debts against the club (although he does and has benefited from the club growing in value.) Given that he doesn’t take money out the fact Arsenal itself is very rich and all players are also very rich it’s kind of a mute point that Kroenke is even richer and also kind of obvious otherwise how did he buy it in the 1st place?
Angus another brilliant reply sir.
Angus
Kroenke put that money for Partey in. Obviously Arsenal exist, but life is nuanced and not if you have not noticed. Kroenke does not run football. Edu and Arteta do that. In the bigger financial picture Kroenke runs EVERTHING. Not in the general picture of plane tickets etc, but in all the mega finances. I think even you understand that.
Angus, the fact that Arsenal is very rich means what exactly?… It means that kronkie is very rich because he owns The Arsenal.
Are you saying then, that all the debts belong to kronkie, but the profits belong to The Arsenal?
I don’t know how you have come to the conclusion that kronkie is separate to the club he owns, lock stock and barrel.
Any “legal” issues would have been sorted out by kronkie’s lawyers before he bought 100%. of the shares and, once he demanded the sale of any individual shares, the law says those individuals had to sell to him!! Do you think those who had shares would have sold them if they didn’t have to?
Your arguments are misleading, because you are not accepting the premise that there is only one owner of The Arsenal, Stanley Kronkie Esquire.
He actually HAS has taken money out of the club, to the value of over £3,000,000 in consultation fees by the way, something that has been remarked on time and time again.
Let me ask you this, if the club fell into debt, say because they missed a payment regarding the Pepe transfer, who do you think would be liable for that debt and who would the courts pursue to ensure payment?
That’s correct – Arsenal Football Club ie Stanley Kronkie.
“If the club fell into debt, say because they missed a payment regarding the Pepe transfer, who do you think would be liable for that debt and who would the courts pursue to ensure payment?”
Only Arsenal FC would be liable. The courts can only pursue Arsenal FC for payment. Kroenke is not personally liable because Arsenal is a company. A company is a separate legal entity from its owner
Stan Kronkie is the sole owner of KSE UK Inc…and the sole ASSET of KSE UK Inc is the the Arsenal Holding Group…Arsenal Football Club and all other subsidiaries.
As I have said already, Stanley can strip the club of every single asset it has, something he couldn’t do until he had total control of the club – he now has that total control and there is absolutely NOTHING anyone can do to stop that, if he decides to do just that.
He doesn’t have to publish public accounts and, in fact, he can do whatever he wants.
To date, kronkie has taken out of the club £6,000,000 in two separate payments for “consultation fees”
Following the 100% takeover, Arsenal Holdings ceased to be a public limited company…does that answer your point Winston?
If not, just ask Google who owns AFC and the answer is KSE, UK Inc.
If I have these details wrong, perhaps you can lead me to where the above have been updated, until then I stand by my claim that kronkie is responsible for any debt incurred by Arsenal F.C, and he is also entitled to any profits made by Arsenal F.C.
To stand by your claim that Kroenke is responsible for any debt incurred by Arsenal FC is incorrect.
He may have 100% control of the club, but they are still separate legal entities. He is not personally responsible for Arsenal’s debts. Ask any lawyer or accountant and they will tell you that. The principle of separate legal entity is basic company law. Google it
Ken, KS&E stopped taking the annual $3 million management fees in 2015. They have also consolidated and paid off Arsenal FC’s external debt, including penalty payments for paying early. This will allow reduced interest payments (apparently the loans were refinanced at lower interest rates ie as at the time) to be reinvested.
Not saying that KS&E have been the best possible owners; however the Glaziers at Man United have reportedly ripped over 1.5 billion out of the club.
The article’s title says it all, and like I told Sue earlier, Arsenal should hire Ozil’s PR team. They know exactly when to take advantage of situations, when to speak etc. Arsenal apparently doesn’t. They were hoping the Partey signing would drown out the noise of the sacking of the mascot but Ozil found a way to spring it up again, Lol, remember how he did his interview with the athletic right after the 55 staff were made redundant? Funny man, wish he’ll do all the talking on the pitch though. Ozil’s PR team can make him win a Presidential election tbh, look at how much fans are divided and toxic again less than 24 hours of signing a wonderful midfielder in Partey. And the media knows this too and keep toying with us, and so the game continues. If we were wise, we’ld ignore all of this PR rubbish and focus on our upcoming games. This is going to be a really Loooong international break by the looks of it.
Did you want Mesut to wait one month before announcing his intention to help the mascot? The timing is completely Arsenal’s fault.
Fans are divided? We only disagree when it comes to Mesut but I can’t think of any fan who is not happy with the direction the club is going and wanting our beloved team to win. Wasn’t Partey signing universal acclaimed by all fans? Where is the division then?
And for those who have found a new song of some fans wanting Arsenal to lose so Mesut can play, its not some fans who made that comment. It was just one person who may have been too emotional to make that comment and I would be surprised if he does not regret it.
Nonsense. He hasn’t done anything except state he will if needed, it’s a PR stunt. He didn’t talk to Jerry first. Come on.
How should he talk to Jerry first? Is Mesut Arsenal? So he should’ve gone to Jerry to offer him his job back? And you call that sense?
Or you mean he should’ve gone to the board quietly to offer to pay dinosaur salary. But then the club should they agree they would’ve been obligated to make it public that it is Mesut who is paying the wages just like they went public with the pay cut and all. It would still came to where it is now
No wonder the site is toxic on Ozil
It was an internal matter. There are ways of making one’s feelings known about the mascot scenario without Ozil putting it out on his social media platform This would have died down by now if he had kept his actions private
Even more important is that you seem to know who exposed Ozil’s stance early in the pandemic
Do you?
Or will you accuse me of having an anti Ozil agenda again?
No one knows that. But it came from the Emirates. And based on how the events unfolded after that its very easy to point the finger on who is responsible.
Some says it may be a person or players who don’t like Mesut but we all know that is just made up stuff to push an agenda.
We being you then HH
This comment has bias and sentiments written all over it
The unbiased Kstix. Thanks for the laugh.
Icw, is actually more pro-Ozil than you are HH, but even he has given a decent unbiased opinion which i agree with below in a comment. Maybe, borrow a leaf from his book HH. Might teach you a thing or two. LOL
Because his views today agree with yours. In other words your views are the correct ones. Or so you think.
Are you for real HH, with the words Ozil lovers and Haters being thrown around?, even a blind man knows, that in itself is divisive.
And you haven’t seen any fan blaming the club for all of this? the laying off of gunnersaurus, the “timely” intervention of Ozil, Lol are you blind? what’s the point of this article if not that?.
You’re as funny as Ozil if you don’t think this is divisive. And i said in a recent post that the media and Ozil have successfully made the transfer window about Ozil once again, taking the spot light from the fact that we signed Partey.
Some fans are already calling for Ozil to be brought back after his recent “gesture”, don’t you read comments or you’re deceiving yourself on purpose? lol
You have a tendency of taking one fan comment or view and multiply it by hundreds. In your opinion what would’ve been a good time for Mesut intervention?
Yes we are divided regarding Mesut and that didn’t start today and it ends there. I don’t think there is anything else regarding our club that fans are divided about. I would be grateful if you can enlighten me on any other division that you have seen.
By the way how is your name pronounced? I read it like sticks is that correct?
Kstix, that would also go for you, wouldn’t you say?
How about you read Jon Fox’s opinion on what he thinks about the offer Ozil has made?
Perhaps your suggestion for HH, could be a source for you as well?
You must have misunderstood Jon’s post then Ken.
You just contradicted yourself HH by agreeing that the fans are divided which you denied it originally.
And there’s no good time for intervention, you and I know deeply that this move (being made public) is a “stick-it-to-the-man” move by Ozil, we all know there’s no love lost between Ozil and Arsenal. Ozil could easily have told Gunnersaurus privately that he’ll keep paying his wages, and the news would have even been more commendable if it broke from Gunnersaurus himself than the Ozil PR team. It was obviously a tactic that even Icw(never seen anyone support Ozil like he does on this site) agrees the optics looks bad. There was not even much ruckus over the laying off of Gunnersaurus initially(even though i think the club fumbled with the PR there despite that they have every right to lay him off), but the news of Partey covered that up. Ozil’s
“gesture” reopened it again and hence, the divisiveness once more after fans were recently united amidst the ecstasy of Partey signing only for the toxicity to return not even up to 24 hours later, courtesy, Ozil.
You may ignore or pretend to have not understood what I said but no problem I can say it again. Fans have always been divided about Mesut. It didn’t start today or yesterday. You make it like there was no division before the dinosaur news.
But we are all in the same boat in supporting the team, the manager, and we are all hoping for good results whenever we play.
The division currently is only on Mesut, only on Mesut, only on Mesut, only on Mesut who doesn’t even play.
I like Ozil and think he should play but, I think his offer will be more divisive regarding his relationship with the club and instead of going public with his generous offer, should have done it quietly in house, just as he doesn’t advertise his other many charitable works. By going public he has shown the club up big time which will not go down well. It does make me wonder though what his real motive was in all this. A real act of generosity or mugging the club off?🤔
This has been my point from the outset
But having been totally lambasted I wasn’t going to comment
Im sure he did it for well intentioned reasons but was ill advised in doing so in my honest opinion. It was not the right way to go about it. It’s an internal matter and if he felt that strongly he should have raised it with the player rep -( Bellerin?)
SueP: From a distance I agree that he should have kept it to himself but we don’t know what’s happening behind closed doors. Sometimes we forget that this is a business where money talks and greed rules.
One thing we know for sure that the club needs to improve it PR policies. These decisions are not worth the trouble.
Icw, I think this is the first time on this blog that i would agree with you. More of this please.
Agree: On one hand Ozil should have kept it to himself. On the other maybe he was told that he will never play for the club again.
These decisions are never made in a vacuum.
They took a pay cut Jeboaddisi agree on both posts lcw
How did that happen?
Anyway I agree with lcw
lcw, did the club keep the fact that three players who wanted clarification as to where the wage cut money was going in house?
They certainly made sure one name was made public!!!
Would one say that our club went the right way about this incident as well?
As for The Arsenal being a separate issue regarding Kronkie – completely false.
If kronkie wanted to, he could put every single asset within the Emirates up for sale, he could put every player up for sale, he could even put the ground up for sale… and pocket every single penny made from these actions.
He could sack every person he hires and pays at The Emirates, he could refuse entry to his ground and he could apply for planning permission to turn the Emirates into a shopping mall. As long as he keeps paying for the privilege, he is Mr. Arsenal plain and simple.
of course he won’t, but let’s just be clear, he is the sole owner of AFC and that is that!!
The stadium debts are his debts, just as the income from the stadium is his income – how he chooses to act with regards to those two scenarios is down to him.
He chose to take a low interest rate loan and spread the Emirates debt over a longer period, so who benefitted? kronkie aka AFC his club, nobody else’s, just his.
The fact that Arsenal were here before kronkie came along, is as irrelevant as Wimbledon Football Club being around before they became extinct.
The old Arsenal had shareholders, both large and individual concerns, that had a legitimate part to play – kronkie bought every single share and is sole owner, he could have left those with small shares with them, but he didn’t and why?
Because he is now accountable to no one but himself – he doesn’t even have to have a board if he so wishes and AGM ‘s are off the table as well.
When I pay for my season ticket, the money goes to AFC, owned by kronkie, who COULD invest in his ranch if he so wanted to – but he protects his, not yours or mine, HIS investment by putting it back into the club.
As for Ozil and his offer being a PR stunt, wasn’t the club statement that the pay cut was necessary to protect jobs also a PR stunt then?
Did it save the 55 jobs and WHY was it not one other PL club had to resort to this… bearing in mind most of them don’t have a multi billionaire owner either?
In all honesty, if anyone other than Ozil had made this offer, the fans would be lauding his actions – but it’s Ozil and out come the knives once again.
I can’t wait for the end of the season, when both parties can say goodbye – but for me, when the club made Matt Smith part of the FA cup squad and left Ozil out, that’s when our club lost the moral high ground – such a blatant act of disrespect.
This is MY personal opinion and those that see him as filth, a thief, mentally frail, lazy etc etc will have theirs so let’s just move on………… recommend a video that is being aired regarding AW, MA, TW and Gunnersaurus – it is hysterical and will make everyone laugh out loud and forget this shambles.
I GUARANTEE IT!!!!!
Where can I find it, Ken?
Sue, it’s on Google and is priceless, let me know what you think 😂
I think I found it. Is it the dizzy penalty challenge at a very wet Colney?
If so, you’re right, it is hilarious!
That’s the one Sue and what a brilliant piece of humour it is!!!
It just makes one realise how Gunner saurus was involved with the players…something I never appreciated until now.
He was most certainly, at that time anyway, part of the “family” and I can understand why it has upset so many people the way he has been so openly treated.
Why the club handled it this way I have no idea an, at least, Ozil had the decency to offer his support to the man – it is rumoured there were three players who offered to help, but the club are not disclosing who they are!!!!!
The funniest bit for me though, was when he finally got up to take his penalty and got nowhere near the ball…and AW just turned away with the biggest grin I have ever seen from the man.
No wonder they stepped in, Ken, as he was/is so much more than just match days. I’m not impressed with the club for the way it was handled…
Yes, that was funny and you just knew Gunnersaurus was gonna go over!!
Nice to see stuff like that 😊
Ken, I would love to see where the club released Ozil’s name as one of those who refused to take pay cuts? Has any club official come out to say it? As a matter of fact, they were all media speculations as far as i’m concerned till Ozil came out to say it himself in the athletic.
This debacle is really funny, let me provoke your thoughts further hypothetically speaking of course, do you know that it’s possible Ozil leaked it out to the press himself in a bid to have fans come to his support of not taking the pay-cut? do you know the club could have found out about it and could be one of the reasons he’s being sidelined? Arteta even gave an hint recently, when he said he preferred for players to do their talking on the pitch instead of out of it.
The reality is, none of us will actually know the real truth about what’s going on, we’re all just making assumptions off of what the media feeds us.
We can at least agree on your last paragraph were you said you can’t wait for the end of the season, where all these debates, assumptions and half-truths can be gone for good.
Kstix, I’m surprised that you didn’t read the official statement AFTER the media suggestion.
They came out and confirmed that three players were still in discussion about the issue…. including Mesut Ozil.
Bellerin also confirmed this, as the players official spokesperson.
I find it really funny that, hypothetically of course, you put forward the theory that Ozil might just have leaked it, but do not question in any way, what the reason was for the other two players to be still a mystery.
Surely you want to know who they were, simply because they can then be exposed in the same way and we can then all label them as filth, thieves, bleeding the club dry etc etc etc…. for some strange reason these other two players don’t seem to bother you… why is that exactly??
This is a case in point Ken,
1. Does it make any sense for the club to release Ozil’s name and not the other two?
2. The negotiations to take pay cuts is an individual one, Ozil might not be privy to the names of the other two.
And no, the club’s spokesperson didn’t name names, they didn’t even say there were three players who didn’t accept to take the pay cut, it was all media speculation. In fact, the club came out to say that the players had agreed to a pay cut, there were no exceptions in the official statement(I can show you proof if you want ken). can you?
And I didn’t hear anything about bellerin’s spokesperson either. seriously Ken, where do you get all these assumed Information from? The Sun Newspaper?. Everyone knows they’re full of bologneys Ken.
Sorry but I also don’t recall any official statements from the club naming Ozil. It was all over the media at that time. I remember initially thinking it was just speculation, until he went public on why he didn’t volunteer. If you can, please share a link or something
I think it was revealed by Ornstein in the Athletic. Which is as good as a leak from the club as far as I’m concerned
There’s a difference between a leak from the club and a leak by the club. The former suggests an insider went behind the club’s back to Ornstein, the latter suggests the club intentionally went to Ornstein.
Anyway, the claim that there’s an official statement from the club ought to be substantiated
spot on winston, I was about to say the same, Ozil could have been the leak at the club too. who did he agree to do the interview with talking about the Pay cut, wasn’t it the same old David Ornstein. coincidence? I think not
kstix I’m not implying that Ozil leaked it himself. After all, that claim and the one about the club leaking it directly are all suspicions and should not be stated like a matter of fact. Cheers
You think Ornstein would jeapodize his relationship with arsenal by revealing something they didn’t want us to know…?
Please read my post at 2.29, when I said “I believe it was on the official website.”
The David Ornstein article that I believe AdminPat was referring to said that the Arsenal squad were told that 25 of the 27 agreed cuts of up to 12.5% for one year…it appears in the “Daily Cannon” for cross reference.
Following on from the initial article,MO name was then mentioned.
This was later amended to say three players were refusing the pay cuts…. I have just noticed that it says “up to 12.5%, so that suggests there was a difference for some players…not noticed that before.
WOOOOOW
BREAKING NEWS; both ozil and sokratis have been left out of the Europa League squad (daily Mail), so it looks as if this long and bitter division over MO is finally coming to a head, with the same reporter saying that the club are in discussion with him in regards to a pay off agreement – so we will, hopefully see some kind of peace within the fan base if this is achieved and both sides of the divide will become one and we support Mikel Arteta as he continues with his vision.
Source: Kieran Jackson for mailonline 7/10 @19.54
If anyone has seen this before me, then I apologize, but i have just this second read it.
Admin Pat The fact is, no one knows for sure. Even the strongest suspicion is not a fact, until proven
ken1945 Please read your post at 4.21 that I replied to, when you said, “I’m surprised that you didn’t read the official statement AFTER the media suggestion.” What official statement? Does it even exist?
The official statement was used to back up your claim that the club publicly named Ozil, when you said, “did the club keep the fact that three players who wanted clarification as to where the wage cut money was going in house?
They certainly made sure one name was made public!!!” Where’s the certainty in that? Based on a suspicion? An assumption?
Claims that the club leaked it, Ozil leaked it himself or Ozil’s offer to pay for Jerry’s wages was out of spite, are basically all assumptions. It irks me when people say them like they are undeniable facts.
I don’t mean to rub you the wrong way. I’m just one of those sticklers who feel that there should be some distinction between assumption and fact, especially when it’s used in an accusation.
Hopefully the news about the pay off agreement will bear fruit. It would be lovely for the fanbase to move on from a divisive issue
Winston, I “assumed” the Ozil leakage on purpose as I stated to Ken earlier that it was just an hypothesis, not fact. And I brought it up because he chose to “assume” the club actually came out to say 3 players did not accept the pay cut and even went as far as saying Ozil was named and since Admin Pat also “assumed” the club leaked the info to Ornstein, I also purposely “assumed” Ozil could have leaked it. Of course I know my assumptions are not proven facts, I just wanted both of them to know the same about their assumptions and not stating them as though they are facts and we should accept them as such when no one amongst us works for Arsenal fc and knows the inner workings of the club or what is actually going on. Reason why in my first post, I emphasised on how the media was toying with us, feeding us assumptions. And we are falling for them.
Kstix Fair statement. Appreciate your clarification on the Ozil leak. I understand where you are coming from.
It’s alright to assume. We all do that. I have no issues with assumptions, as long as they are not misleadingly presented as facts
Ken: I hope that your post is not addressed to me because we agree on most points raised except for few corporate accounting issues that I am quite familiar with.
No lcw, they were not adressed to you , but what are the accounting issues you are querying?
Ken: Kroenkie owns Arsenal but he can’t directly fire employees unless he is a CEO, CFO or manager of some kind. He can however ask the board to do so. If the board refuses to act then Kroenkie can dissolve that board because he owns the majority (100%) of the shares. In a sense you are right (the long way).
Players can not be terminated ,loaned or fired against their consent unless specified in their contract. The same goes for buying them out. That stands the reason why Ozil, Socratis and other players are still around.
👍 Corporations and Contract Laws.
Absolute nonsense. Arsenal is a separate entity from the owner. Please, learn the basics of company legalities before spouting rubbish. Stopped reading after the first paragraph.
Again could this be the reason?
Ozil would regularly invite underprivileged or sick children to his box on matchdays at Emirates Stadium with Gunnersaurus a regular visitor to enhance the experience.
Two separate issues. Firstly the headlines of Arsenal laying off the faithful club mascot which is hard to defend either for the ‘family’ of Arsenal or a modern ‘self-sustaining’ international football business. Secondly Ozil publicly offering to pay Gunnersaurus’s wages. I have no idea what Ozil’s motivations are but he does seem to have exposed an Arsenal PR blunder.
Interesting take on this matter in todays DAILY MAIL. I will quote a liitle of it now: “…. he could kill with his grace back then, when he was less ornamental. How marvellous to see it again yesterday. To see those instincts for the perfect strike, the sense of timing, the ingenuity of the act, and maybe it was the last time. None of which is to suggest his rescue of Gunnersaurus was anything less than noble. That’s because on a human level in a ropey time, a loyal supporter of the club can now stay in a role for which he once missed his brothers wedding, apparently.
So above all else, Ozil has helped a guy out and undone an act of indecency by the club. But we can still squint eyes and countenance the other possibility in all this, which is that maybe the old trickster has also dropped Arsenal on the deck and the ball is currently climbing out of reach.
A diabolical genius, if even there was one, and a man who is quite possibly determined to get whatever giggles he can get out of the club in his final 10 months. If it is the last finish he produces on this long goodbye, then it was a very good one”.
End of direct DM quote.
My own opinion is that this is a mature and sensible article, giving full reign to both sides of the argument and I see both those sides. I have never doubted, personally, that Ozil IS a caring person.
Equally , I have also never doubted that his laziness and refusal to work hard, and thus be not picked(rightly too, IMO) has harmed our club a great deal.
These are compatible matters, as even basically good people can and do harm, for various reasons , some accidental , some deliberate. I know what I think but I just put this out there for those who wish to comment.
Jon, I take it your first post on the matter is how YOU feel about it – that’s what I take from your posts.
A genuine offer to be applauded I think you were alluding to – please correct me if I am wrong.
WHY is it right for the club to leak only Mesut name of those who refused pay cut but wrong for him to go public with his intention to help the mascot? WHY is it right for the club to taint Mesut name but wrong for him to defend himself?
They wanted to paint him as selfish it is right for him to oppose that and what a better way than actions speak louder than words.
If it is a PR game it was the club who started it and they are losing badly as the article suggest. On our way to our first title in 16 years, Mikel could do without this distraction.
Highbury hero can you share any link where the club leaked ozil name as the one who didn’t accept to the pay cut. I will really be glad if you can share the link
Easy enough to answer Lenohappy, I believe it was on the official website, way back when it all started, Arteta had confirmed it and players like Bellerin, the players spokesperson also said there were three players who wanted more clarification.
Have you ever seen the club deny this then?
If you have, please share the link, as it hasn’t appeared on the official website.
They definitely never named him on the official website. It’s speculation who did leak his name, but even I will agree the club itself likely did it. Arsenal haven’t handled this well. And this whole gunnersaurus thing was a dumb PR move from Arsenal in teh first place. Are they really shocked it came back to bite them?
👍👍
Yes the club never named him on their website
Thanks for the rescue Ken. To his credit what he asked is impossible to find trying as hard as I could. Doesn’t he really know the answer to his question or he took the shortcut so as to avoid making an argument only he knows.
I couldn’t find any link.
If Ozil is not in MA plans, now is the best time for Arsenal to buy his contract and cut him loose.
The club is making some big PR blunders and with Ozil gone they don’t have to worry about him bringing the to the surface.
Very true, although I would prefer to see him rot in the reserves for a year!
ThirdMan: When you or I have the money to buy a club like Arsenal we can choose to make that choice. Till then let’s wait and pray.
*Yawns*
Can’t wait for the next ten months to finally come so we can stop this merry go round crap of Ozil vs Arsenal
Same here, but we both need to wait for more than 10 months.
Ozil has very large following on social media. More than Arsenal. Which means it’s a means to earn money. Even if he leaves, people will use him to generate revenue. It will be longer than 10 months before we finally get rid of this.
Like many others, this website needs revenue and it’s linked to number of clicks/visitors.
Ozil divides opinion and hence u will find high number of engagement from Arsenal fans. That suits business model very well for JustArsenal.
Hence u will see atleast two articles on Ozil today and many more in future. And same for other websites and media/newspapers ….. Write what sells and what better than when you have got Ozil with 85m social media followers Vs Arsenal with 75m followers….. What a
great topic for business……
And no one would want this to get over …. Even if Ozil leaves arsenal after 4 or 10 months.
.. what we might be reading…
Should arsenal have offered new contract to Ozil? Why we did not offer Ozil new contract?
What could have Arteta done to utilize him better? Ozil made 2 assists this month for club in Saudi clearly shows he was not utilized properly at Arsenal. Should Ozil be offered coaching role once he retires from football……
Eddie …..not so easy buddy….not so easy. So hang in and enjoy the web series as it unfolds.
Exactly AJ, Ozil articles would be thrown to our faces even after 24 months
Then we can get Eddie’s pretend transfer ‘ leaks ‘
Cry all you want… After ten months he’ll f##k out of he club I love… And you can keep writing about him all you want
Any intelligent fan can see through this stunt; a team of well paid individuals exploiting Jerry’s current predicament for their own gain which is even more disgusting to me. Ozil’s team know Arsenal would never take on such an offer, so why put it out when there are other ways of supporting Jerry like the more legit gofundme that the silent majority support? Yes the club f**ked up big time and theres no excuse for that. But for Ozil’s team to exploit this with a public offer thats dead on arrival? I mean we are better than this.
It was shocking PR but even a go fund me page is a non starter for me.
Comments made by prominent Arsenal supporters and Arsenal blogs would almost certainly have had the desired result of getting Gunnersaurus reinstated. When Wrighty and the like get involved that’s a really good way of putting a wrong, right
TEN MONTHS REMAINING 🙄
Massive own goal by Ozil.He wont be in Arsenal’s 25 man Premier league squad
Does he wants to be ?
Ozil this, Ozil that. Isn’t there anything else to write about instead of all these Ozil articles that makes fans divided and have a go at each other?
Right now I am just looking forward for him to leave, so we may have more positivity around the club.
I’ve been following Justarsenal since 2012 and have always been reading more than I comment, but I think the standards of this site is on a downward spiral. Often repeated material that seems are posted just to make fans fight, but I guess clicks and numbers of comments are more important than the substance of the comments.
Someone will probably feel upset about what I wrote and have a go at me as well, which only proves my point. The mood didn’t use to be this toxic on this site a few years back.
Hate sells on social media. You don’t know who you are talking to many times. … A 10 year old kid whithout much experience of world may counter your point with pure emotions and may leave you upset emotionally (probably same comment if made in person won’t offend you as u might dismiss it’s a kids talk). You may react to it emotionally further online…
Emotions of hate and fear lingers longer and increases level of engagement vs incidents where you might say good job, thanks and move on.
It’s not a surprise that you find more divided opinions on JA now than before and my two cents are that this will continue and become more toxic… Not just on JA but in general.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I have been reading this site for a long time also but recently started commenting. My personal view is that its on the upward spiral. The owner whoever it is, is running it brilliantly for it to just fall like that. There is a reason it’s the most popular Arsenal blog.
The Admins, writers and readers engagement is excellent to say the least and should be a gold standard for any blog that aspire to reach that level.
Why thank you HH. I am blushing now🤪😦😎
Hear hear HH.
I read the articles daily/commenting occasionally.
So many great writers and varied topics make it a come back to site.
Well done all and keep it up!
Thank you
Increasingly likely he won’t be in 25 man squad. He might already know this actually. Nothing but a PR move to spite the club. Club foolish for sacking this guy anyways. Guy was making a decent salary for a regular citizen and nothing more than that. And on the same day we sign someone who will make around 200k a week. Bad bad optics, and Arsenal should not be surprised this came back to bite them. And should not be surprised it came from a player they are essentially at war with.
Bang on the point Article Dan, great writting and one of the few people who view the Ozil situation as neutral rather then biased club fan.
Does it mean Ozil is playing game against Arsenal ? Ozil vs Arsenal, if that is the situation let the game continue. As for me i support Arsenal not one player, secondly the whole story wont last more than next summer , Ozil will leave, maybe his followers will leave with him.