To be a big club you act like a big club.
In January there was a divide returning to our fanbase. Many could not believe that our own manager was saying our attack needed help yet was ignored. It was the equivalent of waving the white flag halfway through a season.
From a PR point of view the Kroenke Family were always going to invest this summer after a net spend of around £15 million in the last three windows. There is only so long you can charge your customers some of the most expensive tickets until they realise the money they are putting in is not being matched the other way around.
I pleaded with my peers not to fall for this trick. Spending now does not make the winter window okay. It does not make up for the regression since Stan Kroenke first joined the board in 2008. You would not applaud a chef for finally cooking a steak properly after giving other customers food poisoning. You are not going to thank your broadband provider if your Wi-Fi finally works after buffering for weeks. An Uber driver might get you to your destination, but he or she has let you down if they got lost and caused you to be late.
In Costa Coffee I assume they have coffee, in KFC I expect them to have chicken. That is not doing a great job, just simply doing what is expected of you in your profession. In other words, a billionaire is not doing you a favour for fulfilling his promise once in a while, especially considering how much he charges you to follow a company that is failing to meet its targets. Just like we will not tolerate limited spending in a year’s time because our owners want to recoup the money spent this window. Do not be shocked if that happens.
The dangers of standing still
Of course, we cannot change the past, only learn from it. Yet it is an example of the dangers of standing still. We all hope this more serious transfer strategy is a permanent change of ambition in North London, but just imagine if Edu had been trusted 12 months ago with the war chest Andrea Berta has had.
Instead, while spending over £300 million to catch the champions, not only have our efforts been matched at Anfield, they also got the better striker and midfielder. It is scary in sport that success and failure can be decided by the smallest details. In this instance two billionaires have decided to release major funds at identical times, essentially cancelling each other out.
In a sense that is bad luck, but look deeper and it is not the coincidence you might think. If there was one club in the UK who could have got away with putting their feet up, lighting a cigar and basking in their glory, it would be the Premiership champions. The Fenway Sports Group have instead intentionally tried to improve from a position of strength. That is what Sir Alex Ferguson used to do at Old Trafford. The benefits being not just that you acquire more quality but it keeps a dressing room competitive, ensuring complacency does not creep in.
Arsenal missed their chance
It feels like a long time ago now, but a year ago was our time to improve from a position of strength. We had just finished a point behind Man City but instead of taking that final step, we stood still and let the moment pass us by. That might be the difference between the legacy two American businessmen will leave in England. Both watched Man City dominate for a decade, but when the door was left ajar, Arsenal hesitated while Liverpool kicked it down to the point it flew off.
I remember the Gunners losing at home to Aston Villa, a result which meant our destiny was no longer in our own hands in the title race. Paul Merson’s words have since stuck with me: “These players might never be in this position again.” We let the moment pass us by that afternoon, but as a club we have been guilty of doing that for a while.
There are Gooners who think three consecutive 2nd place finishes have any relevance in the future. Football does not work like that. You stand still, you get caught. One day Chelsea will return to previous levels, then Man United. We will then regret not doing more during this time to take advantage.
Because did we do everything possible to be the best we could be? That is all any supporters ask for. We have done that in the last two months, but is it too late? That is what happens when you stand still.
Dan Smith
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Kroenke, Edu and Arteta messed last summer’s and winter transfer windows up. That is gone now.
Kroenke and Berta have just had a good summer window by signing 8 players, now it is up to Arteta to make use of the available players and try to win us lots of matches.
Let’s see how the season unfolds. By January 1st 2026 we should know if we can stand a chance to win the premier league or if we will be out of contention by then.
I can’t cry it out loud for Arteta to get his selection right, keep things simple and make the players play the ball with more intent, passion and freedom. That is the way we can get the best out of this squad.
The way forward is what we should be focusing on now.
Yes, Liverpool have strengthened with Isak but that does not make them invisible.
Prime Barcelona with, Pep as coach, Messi, Iniesta and Xavi still lost some matches in the Spanish league and Champions League.
We have dropped 3 points on Sunday. The good thing is we still have 35 more matches to play so Arteta should pick the right players, whether injuries or not, and bring in like for like replacements.
Currently, 5 players are injured in Havertz, Saka, Saliba, White and Norgaard, of which 2 are our main starters.
Arteta should just replace them with like for like replacement and stop over tinkering and being afraid to lose.
Up next is Nottingham Forest and we should do all we can to get 3 points and take it step by step and go like that from there.
You seem for some strange reason to make out our owner has not invested in the team. You strangely keep going back to 2008? Why. He became sole owner from 2018. Since 2018, the value of our squad had gone up by mind boggling amounts. Our squad was ranked about 16th, if my memory serves me right, way behind Barca, Real, Utd, Liverpool, Milan, Bayern, Chelsea, PSG, Athletico Madrid, Juve and more. Now our squad is valued about a 100k behind Real and (even with Isak) 200k more than Liverpool. We have moved up 15 or 16 places to the top. I really do not see what you are getting at at all. None of it makes sense. Now are you saying we have failed to win trophies and “act” like a top club, regardless of the massive increase in squad value. Or do you think one of the reasons we haven’t acted like a big club is maybe down to another reason? Like using that squad correctly (which last season was still valued at just a smidge under 1 billion. How on earth do you think a little club would now have a squad valued at 1.25 billion, did it?
We are probably the biggest spending club in the world from the past few seasons so that will make the Kroenkes the most supportive owners, Dan?
The only thing they did to hurt the club is awarding mediocrity by making the substandard manager empty handed Arteta the third highest paid in the world. That is lunacy!
Because mate he’s been on our board since 2008
Since 2011 he has over 60 percent shares so essentially had all the power in how Arsenal were run so that’s 14 years !!
Hence where do you think Silent Stan came from
Even if we just said 2018….you ever wondered why there was a protest outside the Emirates saying Koronkes out
He failed us in January
He failed us last summer
He failed us with the super League
How he handled Covid was a disgrace
I don’t care how valuable our squad is !
If we don’t win the title are you going to say …..yeah but are squad is worth …..
Wow! You really have got it bad. He has been sole owner since 2018, he had different rules to run the club, it wasn’t in sole ownership and do you know what, totally irrelevant to today. And where do you get, he let the club down? Thats plain ludicrous. Lets just forget about the 900 million he has allowed to be thrown at Arteta and say we are a little club because of our owner. Ok, we are a trillion miles apart on this. The owner is NOT the problem.
For me this isn’t financial (acting like a big club) not sacking the manager is not acting like a big club, thats the only thing you could throw at our owner. Not finance at all.
Super League was letting the club down
And every other club in Europe and UK. They ALL got that wrong.
Well not every club … 6
You asked where did he let us down ?
That’s just one example
And maybe misguided, he thought that was the future for European football, coming from America where “sport” is different. But to be fair, they were one of the first clubs to pull out.
Not misguided…..just greedy and out of touch
Only pulled out when they realised the rest of the English sides were
So we were not on our own then.
So that makes it okay ?
It’s okay to do something wrong if others are doing the same ?
What has that got to do with every top club going down the same path to do something that turned out, not the right path. And yes at that time All clubs thought it was right but all clubs since in uk at least have backed off.
You keep saying ‘ all clubs ‘
It was 6 …..who admitted they messed up
You asked me for an example where they let us down
I named you one
Saying ….’ yeah but 5 others did it as well ‘ …..doesn’t make it okay
No, it makes us the same as them, with the same idea. There was 6 because others were not invited.
@Reggie – nice saying
Our net spend is ridiculous over the last 5 years. Admittedly, having 48 left backs and no strikers last season was a blooper.
We just have one more season of boring football while finishing second before they make the necessary change.
There is a solid foundation there and I’m grateful to Arteta for doing that, albeit by spending closer to a billion pounds. What we need now is someone to come in and add a bit of style/attacking philosophy like Wenger did in 97, then, we might be able to make the next step.
You need to let go
You are banging a drum that didn’t need to be drummed
I wasn’t delusional in January
If anybody was it was you
The league was done and dusted
Forget what happened 15 years ago
Arteta in the last 3 or so years has been backed by KSE
The idea that Liverpool investing heavily whilst on top is a new strategy is simply not the case for this happened on a regular basis when they reigned supreme under Shankley before the Fenway Group took over.Our current owners have backed Arteta since he arrived and the fact that we have failed to win the EPL and any other significant Trophy under his stewardship is a reflection of the Management of the Club, not the ownership.
Grandad
Whilst I agree with most of your sentiment, the Kroenke family paid off 2 very highly paid players and were clearly happy to offload others as well. This didn’t actually assist Arteta in the rebuild beyond getting those players out before the slow progress of affording/bringing in new ones and assimilating them into the squad came about
The first 2 seasons were all about that as far as I’m concerned and I’ll judge his position come the end of this one after 3 – 4 years at the helm.
Having revisited
The management is more than Arteta alone. The initial period- which probably impacted Emery who didn’t get the thumbs up from me- was a very different one
Destruction was needed to enable us to rebuild – I don’t know for sure but believe arteta was well aware some players needed to be shifted one way or another and he ensured that it happened, much to his credit. That the owners were willing to let that happen did assist him greatly imo as it allowed for a clean slate, even though it took a year or two of building up the squad to make it competitive afterwards. I’m not convinced arteta can bring us the major titles now but he has made us competitive from what was a pretty poor starting position on a downward trajectory imo. Both the owners and arteta deserve credit for that, but imo you can’t blame the owners for us not getting over the line – that definitely falls on the management (not just arteta, as you say, but largely him imo)
Hallelujah!!!!!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!🤣🤣
Reply to Grandad.
Grandad,
Total respect to your post. I to remember back in the Bob Paisley days, Liverpool would always keep their squads fresh no matter their previous successes.
Way too much negativity on this site. I re-watched the game. Yes we weren’t aggressive enough and yes, should’ve started Eze. But we weren’t that bad, against PL winner at home. There were some real positives – Madueke and Mosquera for starters. The squad looks strong. So does Liverpool, but they’ve massively overpaid (Isak 2x price of Wissa, Wirtz 2x price of PL-proven Eze!), so they’ll have their own pressures and personalities to manage. Long way to go.
I have not read anyone say title race is over ?
Your allowed to question a performance
For sure, healthy too and enjoy the debates. Just think the sheer weight of negativity this week has been unwarranted. Nonetheless, enjoyed your article as always, and share the frustrations.
Normally I agree with Dan a lot, but not this post.
It was never KSE, it was Arteta.
He knew in Jan he needed a striker – what did he do? Try Sesko and put in a bid for Ollie when Villa were short of a striker. Which indicates that either he was naive or not serious.
Zubs, Noni and Nogard are his typical type of signings – how was their performances after 3 games? For me 3/10. The rest seem to be like Berta’s and how was their performances? They were not allowed to perform to their potential. Two years down the line they will be outside Craven cottage pleading for gametime while we phase 10?
Arteta is the problem and is a liability and has turned this club into a circus with his starting 11 and his subs and game strategy. As soon as he is gone any halfway competent manager will take this squad and win major honors.