Question has been asked, are Arsenal a big enough club for target?

Arsenal have fallen so far down the pecking order that the question has been asked, is Arsenal a big enough club for Kieran Tierney?

The question was posed by former Celtic keeper Pat Bonner when he gave his response to the £15 Million offer that Arsenal have tabled for the defender.

“If Kieran was playing in England, he’d probably be worth about £50m,” he said.

“But because it’s Scotland, I would think £25m would be a price you’d start talking about, with add-ons.

“He’s got the ability to go into a club like Arsenal. Whether Arsenal is a big enough club for Kieran Tierney, that’s the question.

“If you were picking out a player in British football at the moment that can play left-back, himself and [Liverpool’s Scotland captain] Andy Robertson are the best two in Britain, if not Europe.”

OK, where to start?

Of course Arsenal are a big enough club, certainly far bigger than Celtic and they remain not just one of the biggest clubs in England but in the world.

Let’s get some perspective here. Even in a bad season we still finished within just one point of the Champions League, were Europa League finalists and are in the top ten richest clubs on the planet.

A poor Arsenal is still a huge club and to say otherwise is plainly ridiculous.

We finished above Man Utd and I do not hear anyone claiming that United are no longer a big club.

I am not going to insult the level of Scottish football and the general quality of their players but it takes some front to question whether Arsenal is a big enough club for a Celtic player.

The questions are always the other way around, is this or that player good enough for the Premier League.

Seems to me that this is just a case of piling into Arsenal because on the face of it we are looking like a club in decline.

But it all goes in phases, every single one of the top-six has had years in the wilderness but it is because they are all huge clubs that they can withstand periods of decline and bounce back.

I understand why the question was asked because of the way Arsenal is being portrayed but that does not make the question any less ridiculous.

95 Comments

  1. Of course not if the young lad wants a club with ambition to compete for major trophies then answer is no be wasting his time would win nothing may as well stay at Celtic and continue winning league and cups until a proper big name club come in for him!!

    1. I don’t think the player would sacrifice championship league football for Europa. He’s captain there and Celtic can easily match what we are offering in terms of wages.

      1. Th14, Ridiculous statement, Celtic can easily match Arsenal’s offer in wages. It shows how much you know about football.

  2. Arsenal is the only team that actually goes window shopping during the transfer window

  3. Arsenal are a far bigger club than Celtic! Heard it all now!!! Next you will be telling us that Burnley are a bigger team than Man Utd. Talk about delusional…..

    1. No, I won’t tell you that but I will tell you that Celtic would struggle to make the playoffs in the English Championship

      1. With all due respect, if Celtic we’re playing in England with the same access to TV money, Arsenal wouldn’t be anywhere near them. Celtic has a far bigger support not only in Scotland and Ireland but also a huge worldwide appeal that teams like Arsenal can’t ever compete with.

        1. Yeah and if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle. You are not playing in the Premier League and therefore you are nowhere near as big, I know it is hard but make a cup of tea and have two hobnobs and you will feel better.

  4. United have money, we are skint broke. Therefore were are a lesser club. In fact, we have less to spend than Leicester or Wolves.

  5. So Arsenal are bigger than Celtic? Revenue-wise sure, but in terms of support, UK or world-wide, I think not.

    1. I am from Zimbabwe, and i travel a fair lot. I can guarantee you this. Even though i may not be happy with where Arsenal are, their support base is way bigger than Celtic. No one in most of Southern And East Africa even knows who Celtic are, except those who have actually been in the UK, let alone support Celtic. An i saying no Celtic fans- no. Im saying you can walk into ANY sports shop in AFRICA and buy an Arsenal jersey. Cant do the sane for Celtic, even the demand is ddifferent.

      I do however agree with the fact that IF and only if Celtic played in the Premier League, they definitely would have been bigger than Arsenal- just not RIGHT NOW.

  6. I fail to understand why you had to start talking about Arsenal being a bigger club than Celtic. Packer Bonnar never said that but was suggesting that Tierney is so good that more successful sides than Arsenal would perhaps be a more fitting destination for the boy’s talents! There was no need for you to get on your “superior” high horse and start denigrating both Celtic and Scottish football. While Arsenal are certainly “bigger” in terms of finance due to the exorbitant TV monies on offer in England, I would suggest Celtic are “bigger” in terms of worldwide support. A bit more humility on your part would be welcome. Tierney by the way is an extremely talented player who like Van Dyke and Wanyama before him,will comfortably display his talents in the EPL

    1. I wonder what global metric we could use to judge that, maybe something like Twitter, I mean they are a global site. An impressive 630.5k follow the official Celtic twitter account, well done on that. Don’t let the 14.5 MILLION Arsenal followers on twitter kick your ass on the way out of the door. Too easy.

      1. Where do I start with you? Twitter? Wise up! Real football fans know Celtic are a far bigger club than Arsenal. But in your EPL bubble Twitter followers and money are more important. Go to Celtic Park someday and gasp and realise all the money in the world couldn’t buy you fans and an atmosphere like we have

        1. Yet still, less of an average attendance than Arsenal get. Come back with a JCB next time, you will find the digging will be easier on your back.

        2. lol. no pun intended but please Celtic is no where near Arsenal in many terms except maybe if they’ve won the champions league before(which I honestly wouldn’t bother to check on Google). as a brand Arsenal is way way too big to be compared to Celtic talk about Asian tours during preseason, would Celtic pull up to 50k fans at a stadium in Vietnam? Malaysia or India.Honestly how many fans would even welcome the Celtics at the Airport? Go to the Americas,be it North, south or Central would you say Celtic is well known or supported than Arsenal? Wouldn’t even want to mention Africa ….Hey bro Arsenal is a Giant where Celtic is

    2. Surely you jest Sir. Celtic more worldwide support than Arsenal? That many people follow Scottish league around the world?

      I’ve heard it all now. I admire the pride and support you have for Celtic, but that’s no reason to spout such delusional nonsense.

    3. Celtic having a bigger worldwide fan-base than Arsenal? Hmmm, I doubt that. I live in Zambia, Africa, and I can tell you you’ll never hear Celtic mentioned by anyone in football discussions. There are really only five teams that excite people here: Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, and more recently Man City and, of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid. The rest are peripheral teams. And as for Tierney being too big for Arsenal, I’m not even sure he is good enough for an Arsenal shirt. If he were as big as you allude you would have all the big teams fighting for his signature. i think it is fair to say most teams are apathetic to this boy and Arsenal is the only team at present interested in him. Why is that.

  7. The article itself got me depressed…. Comparing my Arsenal and Scotland’s Celtic….

    Worse still, the comments so far might render me catatonic… like it’s really turning into a legit debate…

    Oh my Arsenal

    1. Don’t be depressed, I am sending them packing back up north with their tail between their legs.

        1. Unfortunately Admin Martin we can’t compare Glasgow Celtic’s success in Europe to Arsenal’s.

  8. Celtic: We want 25mill for Tierney. Won’t take anything lower
    Arsenal: Okay, let’s bid 15mill. That’ll do it!

    JOKE OF A CLUB

    1. Just pay the asking price. smh, it’s within our budget. One thing is for sure, 15mill bid was a waste of everybody’s time.

      1. Wow. You should be a businessman. 😀

        A club that has regularly overpaid – Mustafi, Xhaka – should be careful when signing players unproven in the PL as of yet.

  9. There’s no where in this present world is Celtic bigger than Arsenal whether commercial or not. Arsenal boast of a wider support base across the continent and the world . How many kids outside Europe have even heard of Celtic let alone it’s history.
    Tierney might be good as per reports but I’ve never seen him plays. And what’s the biggest derby in Scotland? So u see what I mean

  10. Arsenal Far bigger than Celtic? Bigger league without a doubt, support base not sure. More money of course, support across the world difficult to say. Happy for you to sing your teams praises, but please Charled stay objective.

    1. The Arsenal support base is roughly 20 times larger if using Twitter as a metric, higher average attendance and roughly 30 times more valuable. Just Saying

  11. We are simply missing that ‘eye of an eagle’ man MISLINTANT, that department is not doing well, i hope they are not just throwing the £mils and expects the team we are trying to buy from just to accept the figure. We need serious negotiators who can excute good deals at right prices.

  12. Blame Kroenke
    Wenger isn’t here anymore to blame
    In fact he did spend big a handful of times, mostly on players not good enough …. Mostly

    We ideally need another £100 million. We can raise some funds selling Mustafi,Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Xhaka, Elneny, Jenkinson, Chambers

    I reckon if we got these players we would do fine next season
    1. Winger: Ryan Fraser or Zaha
    2. CM: Nkunku or Forlans
    3. CB: De Ligt or Saliba or Keane
    4. LB: Tierney
    5. RB: Pereira

    They aren’t the best but affordable and would improve us

    1. We can rule out De Ligit. Even if he wanted to come here we cannot afford him. Never seen Nkunku kick a ball so I have no comment. If we got Fraser, Saliba (who I also havent seen kick a ball, and i’m going purely on hype here like everybody else), and Tierney, that would be a pretty good window. Still a Ramsey size hole in midfield that will be hard to fill, but important we don’t buy a flop and waste money. For RB, promote Osei-Tutu, Bellerin comes back probably October/Nov/Early Dec. at the latest. Right now I have no confidence in Arsenal getting any good business done considering the clown bid we just made.

      1. Raul doing his best Ivan Gazidis impression.

        What idiot authorizes these ridiculously low ball insulting bids?

        We change management structure, and still behave like amateurs in the transfer market.

        They should know better than £15 million, hopefully Celtic will still do business.

        Good news is IT WILL ONLY TAKE A FEW DAYS to increase the bid. Why a few days? Club need to cash in stocks, count coins, check with mommy first?

        #embarrassingbusiness
        #cheapskate

        1. I also thought we were past these kind of people being in charge of our transfers but clearly not. It is so embarrassing to watch us penny pinch for a perfectly reasonably priced player. Arsenal are not inspiring confidence. Amateur stuff.

        2. And two more than us so does that make Forest bigger than Arsenal then?
          Just asking, and I can’t understand you censoring someone for using words like ‘trash and ignorance’ yet you allow posts referring to ‘Celtic window lickers’ and ‘pints of whiskey in a Celtic fans bladder’.
          Of course Celtic are a huge club, I thought you at least would know some history. Look at their support, Arsenal v Celtic and 40,000 Scots invade London. Celtic v Arsenal and barely 5,000 Gooners make the trip. By the way, some your comments hardly befit someone who is part of the Just Arsenal staff. You should be above mean spirited insults and tit for tat comebacks.

          1. Oh wind your neck in Declan, nothing you state in that comment comes close to justify any claims that Celtic are bigger or as big as Arsenal, every single metric shows that Arsenal are the far bigger club and to say otherwise is being argumentative for the sake of it, as for censoring comments, context is everything and that was that posters first comment ever on the site but of course you knew that didnt you?

          2. Declan, 40000 Scots invade London because it is a big game by Celtic’s standards. 5000 gooners make the trip because it’s a game against minnows. You are a big fish but only in your own little puddle. Outside a few countries in Europe no one knows that Celtic exists. Arsenal on the other hand are one of the richest, well known and widely supported club in the whole world. Sorry. But Arsenal vs Celtic is not even a debate.

  13. This is a seminal signing for Arsenal. This is like what Bale was. Sign a full back and convert him to a forward. This will define Emery and I can see hos vision.

  14. Perhaps some of u need to understand the meaning of opening. Which club goes directly paying the price set by a team for it’s player aside those with release clause. It’s a market and bargaining is allowed.
    Didn’t Man Utd have an opening bid for Pogba which was rejected before they arrived at the fee he was bought for. Recently, Harzard’s.Didn’t Madrid start with an opening bid which was rejected.

    Edited out the unnecessary insults as this is your first comment and you may not realise we try to debate here in a decent manner.

    Make your point without words like trash and ignorance – Admin Martin

    1. 15mill is a waste of time. It’s 10mill below what is widley considered his market value. Even 20mill would’ve been more acceptable. 15mill is an insult. This is exactly how Arsenal lost out on Suarez. Distasteful bids make clubs put clubs off from even wanting to deal with you.

    2. Pogba price and Hazard price was above £80 million; big difference between £25 million.

      Bargaining allowed absolutely, but offering 60% of market value for one of there best players is borderline insulting.

      Joke really, amateur hour. Aren’t we getting like £60 million this year from Adidas? They’re probably shaking their collective heads with the sponsorship.

    3. So you can make comments with “balls” while trash and ignorance are abusive to you. Great.

        1. Telling ME to wind my neck in!
          Try reading through all the replies you’ve posted on this thread again and you will see how people disagreeing with you have got right under your skin. Your rudeness and patronising manner do you no credit at all.

          1. I will take no lessons from anyone when it comes to defending Arsenal to foreign club fans. Hopefully, now that you know that you will go a little less on the faux outrage.

          2. Yes. Admin is right about how big arsenal is when compared to celtic. I only had problem with his biased views about the kind of words he can use while others cannot.

            However, We are many times bigger than celtic just like Real madrid or barca are bigger than us. Atleast we arsenal fans accept facts instead of blindly jumping on to bandwagon tp defend that we are much bigger than RM or Barca

  15. I love this post especially all the deluded Celtic fans coming out.

    Fact as AdMart says……

    Twitter: Arsenal 14.5M………Sunday League team……….sorry…..Celtic 631K

    Facebook: Arsenal 37M……….Irish Team…..sorry….Celtic 2M

    We have more Fans in Nigeria than there are pints of whisky in a Celtic fans bladder !

    It`s the transfer window so it`s ironic that the Celtic window lickers come out in force !

    1. they’re convinced Tierney would never leave too. They do realize all their players that stand out are hoping for an EPL callup?

    2. here for Naija,people didn’t even know Celtic existed until one of our players ended up at Celtic I think Ambrose or something.you don’t go to a viewing center or pub to shout up Celtic peeps gon look at you like “who is this? “there is a brighter chance to find Aston Villa or Nottingham forest fans than finding a Celtic fan. ?????? Pls don’t get me cracked up

      1. Ever thought of supporting a Nigerian side My Fair Prince? I suppose you prefer to be a glory hunter (although not much glory of late to be fair) rather than supporting local football? That, my friends, sums up the EPL in a nutshell.

  16. When your biding for a world class players you don’t have a lot of negotiating options if you want that player you just know your going to pay over the odds, if you are Arsenal which we are no longer considered to be a big club we are going for type of players which there are many of them (good but not world class) so we can negotiate because there’s one or two in every club

    The old boring Arsenal has now been named the broke Arsenal, let’s hope we done become boring broke Arsenal

  17. Lets put this in perspective. Arsenal fan base has risen drastically thanks to the world wide popularity of the premier league. If Celtic had been in the same league for the last 25 years there fan base would be at least on a level with Arsenal. They would also have the same financial clout teams in england have. Celtic historically are a massive side but have been left behind due to geography.

      1. Celtic are every bit as big a club as Arsenal. Like i said they have simply been left behind in recent years due to geography and the financial disparity between the leagues. Like you said these things go through phases. Remember Celtic won the champions league in 1967 and were beaten finalists in 1970. The only way you will ever get a real gauge of club size is if there was a level playing field. Why do you think any time Celtic have made an effort to join the english league they get knocked back?

        1. So, based on that thinking if Valletta, one of Malta’s biggest teams was allowed into the Premier League they would be as big as Arsenal. Wipe away all the ifs and buts and look at the cold hard fact, Arsenal by every single metric are much bigger than Celtic.

          1. Do Valletta have a 54,000 season ticket holders and a 60,000 seater stadium? Have valletta ever achieved anything in european football? Also since when was Valletta in Great Britain? My point still stands.

            1. What point? 650k Celtic twitter followers compared to 14 MILLION Arsenal twitter followers, I can play the numbers game all day long and Celtic will always lose. And Great Britain? In football terms that means as much as if you were in Azerbaijan, absolutely irrelevant.

          2. Arsenal fan base has risen drastically thanks to the world wide popularity of the premier league. If Celtic had been in the same league for the last 25 years there fan base would be at least on a level with Arsenal. They would also have the same financial clout teams in england have. This is my point. This is why Arsenal beat Celtic in your metrics. Well Arsenal and Celtic both play in Britain and Celtic have tried to join the english league, the reason they were knocked back was because teams like Arsenal know that Celtic are as big a club as them. They see them as a threat.

            1. No they do not, they will not allow a team to just waltz into the Premier League without earning it, you want to join the Premier League then do what everyone else has to do, join the pyramid and work your way up and stop saying if, if can be used all day long, it is meaningless, deal with the actual facts today. Celtic are tiny in comparison.

      1. But the likes of Newcastle FC have a 50,000 stadium seater themselves. They are known as a yo-yo club due to the amounts of times they are relegated. They are up and down all the time.
        Celtic fans seems to have this childish way of looking at things. “Oh if we were ever allowed into the EPL we would be fighting for Top 4 consistently and also compete for the Title and CL.”

        These guys think life is that easy. “Just because we are Celtic we would do much better in the EPL.”

        Talk about delusion. Smh

  18. Next time I’m at the Emirates I’ll go on a stadium tour so I can see the premier European trophy on display. Oh, hang on a minute……

    1. Stop by Championship team Nottingham Forest first and foremost, they got two of the buggers, that would be one more than you.

      1. And two more than the mighty Arse, despite numerous attempts to rectify that over the years. Oh well, there’s always next season. Oops. My bad.

    2. Admin, Djmcna was making the point that Scotland are part of Great Britain, Malta isn’t.
      You do show yourself up sometimes by completely missing the point, don’t you?

      1. And you do yourself up terribly by making these sort of comments, Show me the latest Great Britain league table please, show me the latest qualifying rounds for the Great Britain Cup, you cannot, why? because it does not exist, It is as meaningful as the Malta cup.

        1. You really don’t get it do you? He wasn’t referring to a GB team. Try reading* it again.

          1. I suggest you read my reply first Declan. Strange how you are defending Celtic fans.

  19. Arsenal is a richer club than Liverpool, AC Milan, Juventus but the owner is very greedy and only cares about his profits. Unless the true Gooners fans go on strike and insist the owner Evil silent Kroenke is not a soccer fan. He’s only a small minded business man. The more money he put in the team, the more profit he will make but he doesn’t think like that. Most people blamed Wenger, but to me the best manager Premier league will ever have. He was given minimum funds, sold his best players year after year, and still qualified for champions league every year which was what the owner, a small minded business man wanted from him, but when he couldn’t, he was asked to resign. Few years ago, Luis Suarez wanted to leave Liverpool for Arsenal, but now it’s vice versa cos no ambition from the owner, and that’s why everyone is leaving. As a die hard Arsenal fan, unless we go on strike and block all the streets of north London and demand that Kroenke sell the team to Alisher Usmanov, then Arsenal will continue to be a non factor.

    1. Usmanov will now put money into Everton; he was driven out of Arsenal starting by denying him a seat on the board, when he owned 30% of the shares.

  20. Why are all these arguments and counter arguments about by the Gooners and the Celtic fans arguing which is the bigger club between Arsenal and Celtic? For Christ sake, both club sides are big clubs in their respective Leagues. Therefore, this arguments between Arsenal fans and those of Celtic are unecessary and uncalled for. All that Arsenal want to do at Celtic is to sign Kieran Tierney from the club this summer and nothing more. And they have submitted a bid of £15m according to reports to Celtic to get the player’s signature. The player has not said he doesn’t want to come to Arsenal. Neither have Celtic said they don’t want to sell him. So, what is the fuse about? I think the former Celtic goalkeeper who ignited these arguments has one thing on his mind. And that thing is no other than he would block Arsenal from signing the left-back Kieran Tierney from Celtic if he has his ways to do that. He must be an anti-Arsenal person who hates Arsenal and can’t stop hating us. Both Celtic FC and Kieran Tierney shouldn’t listen to him.

    1. Most sensible post of the night my friend. And I sincerely wish Arsenal all the very best next season. All other 18 teams outside of Man City and Liverpool, no matter how ‘big’ they pertain to be, are going to need it to keep up with those 2 as they soar further into the stratosphere away from the pack.

  21. Arsenal need reinforcement in all levels. Need at least 5 or 6 more starters to qualify for the champions league, not talking about winning the premier league. Yannick Carrasco, Kieran Tierney, Thomas Partey, Christopher Nkunku, Frank Kessie, Nabil Fekir, and another central Defender and should let Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Chambers, Jenkinson, Mustafi, Elneny leave to create salary spaces. Aubameyang salary should be increased to at least 220,000, and Lacazette 200,000 or risk loosing them next summer.

  22. My starting line up for next season, Leno, Bellerin, Sokratis, New CD, Tierney, Thomas Partey, Lucas Torreira, Xhaka, Carrasco, Lacazette, Aubameyang. If we wanna do 4-2-3-1. We can remove Xhaka and play Fekir of Frank Kessie. The owner should really be forking out 150million to get all these players or sell the team to Usmanov, a real Arsenal fan for life. He can buy almost any team but just that he’s an arsenal fan. Everton might be leapfrogging Arsenal soon in the table.

    1. Digos, I don’t want Carrasco and his prima donna attitude anywhere near the Emirates.
      As stated above, unfortunately the Usmanov bus appears to have left the Emirates.

  23. The fact of the matter is American Team business doesn’t work the same as European soccer teams. Whether you mean in American team sport or not, you still get your profit, while the soccer world is different. I don’t think any of Kroenke’s team has won a championship while he’s the owner, that’s why he doesn’t know how it feels like to be a champion and what it means to the supporters of that team.

  24. There is no comparison between Arsenal and Celtic. Both Clubs are big clubs in their own right. Celtic have stagnated while Arsenal stagnated and is now regressing. If we continue at the present rate of decline, we would be competing in championship in the next 20 years.
    Admin Martin, I suggest you use a separate account to make personal non-admin related comments. That way, just Arsenal can have an unbiased admin, while you are free to banter with anyone in the group using a pseudo name.

    1. Think about what you have said Abel, a non-biased admin. This is an Arsenal site not a general football site or a Celtic site, by its very nature I am going to be biased towards Arsenal.

    1. I know, right? It is one thing fellow Gooners having a pop but a whole other thing when foreign club fans come in and starting having a go and some Gooners even defend them. Next, there will tea and cake for Spuds

  25. Are Arsenal ‘fans’ saying that Arsenal is not big enough for tierney ?!! If so then that is a pathetic opinion from our ‘fans’ . NO PLAYER is bigger than Arsenal , NO PLAYER.

  26. Well, that was a fun thread. Let’s get back to Arsenal talk now and less talk about “foreign” teams ?

  27. Great great post AdMart and thanks for not listening to the Celtic Transfer Window Lickers and taking my comment down as all that transfer Window Licking along with the intravenous drip attached to a barrell of whisky has made them lose their sense of humour.
    You were on fire AdMart, I`ve seen another side of you which is great to read, well done mate !

    On a historic view, someone said The Arsenal and other clubs have only had a world wide following since the EPL started…………tut tut……in the 1930`s The Arsenal were the BIGGEST club in the world and only the out break of WW2 stopped that from progressing further.

  28. Our coach is not one who will attract talents – young or not. But he don’t mind as he always prefer players whom he has worked with in the past, whether they are still good or over-priced is not his concern.

    For the sake of argument, if Guardiola is our manager, can he attract talent?

    The less money you have, the better manager you need, so that the limited budget is maximised in real effect.

  29. Arsenal are as big as all the factors that propel them at the moment. In terms of history there is no doubt Arsenal are a big club. 15-20 years ago we were BIG. Our name was BIG and our football was BIG. We are now a portfolio club, a self sustaining BUSINESS and not really a giant football enterprise. Under Satan Kroenke it’s not really possible to be a ‘BIG’ club. If and when we get Kroenke out we can become a big club again. Right now we do not have a big club model, We are part of a Portfolio Empire. Sadly at the moment we are not a ‘BIG’ club, but we can become a ‘BIG’ club again.

    1. Check in at 14.00 UK time Sean, I respectfully will rebut your comments with an article scheduled for that time.

      1. We are as big as people see us. At the moment, in general, our meme (in the real meaning of the word) is a little shrunk. Our status in most eyes has shrunk. In terms of stadium and support we are ‘BIG’, but we are caught in a dangerous paradigm which is lessening us to many football people. I would love you to prove me wrong. I want to be wrong.

  30. Just check the FACTS:

    Arsenal value on Forbes Latest list – $2.3 billion ranking 7th.

    Couldn’t find Celtic on the top 20 list (Newcastle were 20th).

    Current value of Celtic on the London Stock Exchange – £219m

    1967 is regularly quoted which is 52 years ago, I presume we are talking about today? I honestly believe that if Celtic were to join the EFL they would be relegated in the first year.

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