The Positive Aspect of No European Football
The loss at Spurs has all but confirmed no European football next season at Arsenal for the first time since the 92/93 season. Barring an absolute miracle of us winning our final three games (including beating Liverpool), and other teams dropping points as well, those die-hard away supporters can save a little money next season. Mid-table obscurity has finally arrived! Something that was actually predicted as far back as 2010 by some of us who dared to question the powers to be at Arsenal. Clearly waiting until almost the end of the decade to make major changes worked out really well! Anyway, let’s not open that can worms too much, as I want to focus on the positives of no European football.
No European football next season would hardly be a surprise given our form since game week 3, and our overall regressive state over the last 12 years or so, but I wonder if it could be actually be the perfect tonic to our problems? Missing out on the Champions League (CL) is a huge blow, but I wouldn’t say there’s a huge difference between the Europa League (EL) and no European football, for a club like Arsenal. I mean no disrespect. I am not one of these fans, where it’s the CL or nothing. I love the EL as well, and would love to see us win it, especially given our poor record in European competition throughout our history. However, we haven’t coped well at juggling the league and Europe for many, many years. Maybe a year out could do the club some good?
Certainly, it will help Arteta. A reduced fixture list, will allow him more time to work with his squad on the training ground. Our players will be fresher, and fitter for the league, allowing us to really go full tilt at each game. Hopefully less games, and travelling less will help with the amount of injuries we consistently sustain. I really feel that without the distraction of Europe, especially Thursday night football, we have a much greater opportunity to achieve something in the league. One should remember that a lot of our youngsters are already heavily involved in the first team, and will be next season in the league, which leaves less room for rotation in those early European fixtures when the youngsters are usually blooded. It’ll be Arteta’s first full season as a manager, so the less he has to worry about the better in my opinion.
The obvious negatives of no EL football will be a drop in revenue, and probably no more Aubameyang. He would be a big loss, but I can even see the positives of his departure. The club won’t have to dish out another monstrous contract, that will also have an affect on the rest of the squad, and future star signings (although Auba is deserving of such a contract). The money from his sale can be reinvested into the squad. Most importantly, we don’t even use Auba in his best position anyway, so his departure would give the team a better balance. Our transfer business may have to alter slightly with no European football, but again, I get the feeling the board were planning on no CL football next season anyway, so the drop from EL to nothing shouldn’t affect our transfer planning a great deal.
Will no European football next season be a good thing for Arsenal, what do you think?
ThirdManJW
I think from a sporting point of view it is the best thing that could happen. Of course, financially it would hurt but perhaps if you are going to miss a season of European football the coming one might be the best to miss if games are played in empty stadiums. Empty stadiums would mean loss of revenue.
The big question will be how missing out on European football will affect our summer transfer business. We still need to strengthen the squad. Will we have the funds?
But as a fan, I won’t miss our Thursday games against obscure teams. And the good it will do for the team to focus on the PL and for Arteta to get more time to mold his team massively outways playing Anderlecht or any other team in the Europa League.
Arsenal beaten finalists last season couldnt even win the home tie against Olympiakos to progress beyond the last 36 this season.
Without major changes to the squad, Arsenal only faces humiliation in Europe.
Remind me again why Arsenal left Highbury; supposedly it was to compete with the best in the EPL and Europe?
I think as the article says. We all saw this coming from a long time ago. Now it is time for the club to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to invest in the club and strengthen in the areas that need it. It may mean spending extra cash but we truly have the ability to restart now.
As for auba. See ya mate. Sign da ting or bog off. Love the guy but no player is bigger than the club. Let’s try and swap him for griezmen or something if he doesn’t wanna stay. His loss I think. If he goes to any other club he will not be remembered and loved as he is and will be at arsenal.
No Europe at all will affect who we can bring in. Players would want at least Europa.
Can’t see the likes of Upa, Auoar, Szobsolai etc not coming without any European football
Yes, I would like us to miss out on Europe altogether but then I also want us to win the FA cup…
What a joy it would be to see Ceballos, Cedric, Lacazette, Torreira, Aubameyang and Arteta lift this trophy…
This team is devoid of “big day” match winners tbh. We used to have that in Ramsey and Sanchez but this group of players are bunch of disappointments.
Aubameyang does not deliver in the biggest moments…In short, we need a miracle to win it.
I’m a sad gooner right now…
You and me both ☹
OT:a thought for Serge Aurier whose brother was shot dead in the early hours in a nightclub in Toulouse!
Bloody hell, that’s terrible…
I don’t see any benefit to not winning the fa cup.
The fa cup is still the 2nd most prized domestic trophy, teams like Tottenham would rip your arm off to win it and it gives us another chance to qualify for the champions League by winning first the fa cup and then the Europa league. We might be good enough to win the Europa League next season, but will be good enough to finish in the top 4 of the EPL? I think winning the Europa League is easier.
No one is safe from senseless violence. Condolences to the family.
But he’s from the team that beat us the other day. It’s like them mourning Wenger when he dies. No way.
Meanwhile the article is wrong, pretty sure we weren’t in Europe in 95-96, the season we signed Bergkamp
A totally crass and classless comment.
Indeed!
No positive unless you’re competing for the title.Top four was possible but we kept failing 😔.We can’t blame it on Europa league.Arsenal officially a mid table club without European competition.We have to rise up
It seems Arsenal fans’ minds are manipulation been prepared to accept mediocre. For God sake Arsenal should be playing CL.Why are we lowering the standards of this club?.If we accept this today tomorrow they will tell us being a midtable club is normal and eventually fight for relegation is also a norm.
We have been out of CL for 3 continuous seasons and now completely out of Europe and someone thinks it is OK.don’t you thinks we are falling gradually?
Most of the players don’t deserve to play for arsenal. They play football as if there was nothing to play for.Did they have CL in mind when they were playing games? From the way they play I don’t think so.Some play matches as if they in training grounds.
We miss Cazola, Rosickey and Alexis too much.They never look backward in the team is attacking.But what do we have today Xhaka and Cebalos the backward and sideways brothers.
The pros and cons of not qualifying for Europe have been covered well in your article TM.In practical terms, unless you win the Europa Cup, the net loss in terms of income is unlikely to be substantial and I doubt if it would have an adverse impact on attracting players, particularly those in the younger category for whom the prospect of performing in the Premier League is the major attraction.I prefer to look on the bright side and I would hope Arteta , with the backing of our Executives, use next season to a) clear out 6/7 of our current first team squad and b) give our talented youngsters real opportunities to prove themselves.That does not mean we have to impose a transfer embargo but we will have to restrict acquisitions, with our first priority being to bring in a quality DM.If we cannot sell, then we cannot buy as I am pretty sure our owner will not invest more cash at a time when he may well be under real financial pressure in a number of areas.
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Missing out on Europe, especially the Thursday games could be a blessing in disguise. It might mean not being able to sign certain players but at the moment we don’t seem to be willing to pay the really big fee for them anyway. Also, other teams in the past few seasons that haven’t qualified for the Champions League have still signed bit name players as their clubs were willing to splash the cash.
TMJW’s argument makes sense. It fails to mention the reputational damage to our club to be out of Europe altogether though; its standing within the football world , in other words, which will have a knock on regressive effect.
One season would not by itself be calamitous and it is an even call whether or not it is a plus or minus, so I do not blame the authors stance but it was an incomplete argument and that is all I have to say for now.
Really believe me, THERE ARE NO POSITIVES TO BEING OUT OF EUROPE, only negative and negative spiral.
Reggie as is normal in most sensible comments, whe someonewrites”really, believe me , etc….” It is normal to give actual reson WHY others should believe you. You chose not to do so, merely stating there are no positive s in missing out Europe for a season, which is of course merely your personal opinion , to which you are entitled but that does not make it true.
HERE ARE SOME OF THOSE NON EXISTENT POSITIVES THAT YOU CLAIM DO NOT EXIST: A season without extra fixtures will put less pressure on injury situations. We will have an advantage over clubs involved in Europe in that regard. We will have less presure from moaning fans when we fail to do well in Europe, as it won’t even apply. MA will be able to try more younger player out without having to play in high pressure situations, with just thr Prem and both domestic cups – or perhaps just the one ,if theLeague Cup is cancelled, as seems possible.
There are also a number of cons but as you DO see those, but don’t see the positives, I HAVE ONLY MENTIONED THOSE YOU HAVE NOT SEEN, AS WE AGREE ON THE CONS . Or some of them, anyway!
Jon, i am growing weary of Arsenal excuses and problems, i have written in the past many reasons why it is bad to be on the European scrap heap, i didn’t and dont see it as important. But i will give a few more. Reduced revenue from sponsors from not being in Europe. Players we are paying wages too that we budgeted for, for European revenue (which was expected) now not getting. Clubs around us getting European money and exposure that we wont be getting. We are a million miles from CL football, we are not getting into CL places and are not doing, E L is the best European competition for our standard. No European football means regular mid table football because we are and will fall too far behind and not be able to catch up. The direction we are taking is down, i see no reason without European football that will change, thats plainly obvious.
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Jon, with all due respect to your opinions, I personally do not wish to partake in Europe if we are only to make the numbers and not even try to win it. For a season, it might do good, provided we really focus on the title and FA cup. My concern is complacency would set in, and not being bothered about Europe might be the new norm for the ownership, coaches, players and even more mediocrity would set in. Remember we dropped from title holders/challengers to top four to top six, now top ten. If the focus remains being out of Europe there is every possibility of us being top 17 the following year. Regarding players not joining us, if we have the revenues (which we wont) most players would like to join as nowadays players are more interested in what they earn rather what they contribute. We do have a number of white elephants in our club.
Only losers can accept the fact that, not participating in European competition is a positive
If positive is not being able to strengthen the team because our finances wont allow for that, then that should increase the chances that we never qualify. So that will make some happy. Anyways it looks like it will all be tested this summer because we aint qualifying for anything so a few scenarios will really hit home. We think we are in a bad way now, i fear for how we might be in 12 months time after a season with zero money from europe and teams like Wolves,Sheffutd, and Leicester getting the march on us and the big boys off in the sunset.
Reggie, Realism is to be applauded but unrelenting pessimism and being unable or perhaps even unwilling to see the several positives is a hasty reaction and not worthy of your intellect,so I suggest you calm down and look again.
The world won;t stop if we fail, as I think we now will, to make Euro qualification. There ARE positives to not making Euro and think when you have calmed down you can easily see them. That is IF you want to. Do you want too? I do not say I prefer it but I do say there are pros and cons EITHER way and my friend, there really ARE!
No jon i do not see any positives by not getting European football. There is a movement behind the scenes to form a breakaway European competition involving the big 16 or 18 clubs. It is suggested it will be fuelled by the big 6 European teams and invites to successful and big clubs around Europe. We were in the top 15 involved in talks. That now cannot be guaranteed and most probably not the case anymore, it is fluid as to who will be in and who will be out but clubs like Arsenal and AC Milan are rumoured to be not in the teams deemed big enough for the group. This breakaway has been shelved for obvious reasons at the moment but if it goes ahead in the future teams like under performing Arsenal and AC Milan will be replaced and left out of not only negotiations but the breakaway group. Being out of the CL for 3 years has been a disaster, being out of the EL will be catastrophic to our standing. Fact, we are not the club we were, fact we will be overlooked. It is all about prestige and finance, both of those are dropping like a stone for Arsenal. Being out of Europe will hinder far more than it will help. It isn’t about pessimism, its about what is happening.
Just a little reminder jon, Nottingham forest and Leeds fans never thought that they would drop like they did and if it wasn’t for abramovich arriving with the cavalry Chelsea would be with them after dropping out of European competition and ultimately the first division/prem. Im not suggesting we are near that but i am saying we are dropping at an alarming rate and just like those clubs, all of a sudden big club becomes little club. Do we have an Abramovich to save us from extinction or are we Leeds or Forest.
We have become what Stan always wanted us to be a mid table team, this was all writing on the wall but Arsenal fans never saw it unfortunately. Now dropping out of Europe is not blessing it’s more like grapes are … Lol! We will actually fail to attract any capable player and no matter how much rest you give to avg donkey players (no matter how fresh they are) they won’t turn out to be Ronaldo and Messi on football pitch. We are mid table team and will stay there until we are bought by an owner who is interested in making us great again. For all the Stan supporters who were calling other objecting supporters dump and quoting City ban as proof …take a slap in face, City are staying in champions League and they have won the case. UEFA FFP has always been joke. So stop using it as an excuse to defend Stan.
During our 17 years of CL participation, United Chelsea & Liverpool have all sat out of European competition for at least one season. But then again their owners are committed so their season away from Europe got them back in the following season.
Arsenal just treading on financial egg shells because after paying off their stadium they sold out to the American leech who couldn’t care less if the stadium got bombed.
Why on earth should no European football be seen as positive. Chelsea had been winning the league with or without European football while people taught they won the league because they were not in Europe is beyond me. They won because they were the best team that season…
Things keeps going worst and everytime things goes wrong it becomes a norm to fans and failure becomes a positive.
I think we need 3 seasons without European football so that the players we get used to playing fewer matches..
It’s a positive too
Against the spurs we had more days to prepare for the match yet bottled it.
Well said. Also, Chelsea’s squad was still way better than ours is right now. It’s not even a comparison. Hazard had one bad season and then ran through the entire league the next. Who is going to do that for us? Nobody. This is not a Chelsea situation because we do not have the talent.
Cons:
Loss in revenue, and
Even harder to attract players who could improve the team.
Pros:
Fewer fixtures, and
We wouldn’t need such a big squad. E.g. we have 8 CBs, right now, could do with 6 with the reduced fixture list. In an ideal world sell 3 and bring in someone who would be an upgrade!
This is final proof that the self-sustaining model, adopted and pursued by the current owner has failed. And this no surprise when we are competing against owners with very deep pockets and endless piles of cash. Perhaps our only hope for the future is to become the Leicester City of London. I am looking forward to cheap ticket at the Emirates.
Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na – EUROPA – goodbye
Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na – UEFA – goodbye
The player and financial assets of Arsenal have been mismanaged by the Board and senior executives. If you compare the transfer budgets/net spend of Arsenal to other clubs in the EPL, it is not representative of the Club’s league position.
Where has the money generated by participation in the Champions League gone?
Remind us again why Arsenal left Highbury to compete with the best clubs in the EPL and Europe? This season Arsenal couldn’t even beat Brighton and Hove Albion home and away!
It’s not good news. The only good thing that can come out of this is if Arsenal magically get their crap together and actually get top 4 next season. Let’s remember Liverpool and City are smashing point records and will 99% both be there next season. That leaves two spots. United blow hot and cold, Chelsea blow hot and cold, Leicester the same thing. They all have squads that are much better than ours though. We ar still a team that can barely win an away match. We are still a team with a HORRENDOUS away record against top opposition. How is Arteta going to make this team winners in one transfer window. We are underestimating how far behind from our opponents we are. It’s bad. Arsenal need to completely revamp the way they scout, and stop going for expensive players like Pepe, stop offering stupid contracts like ones to David Luiz and Pablo Mari, stop buying junk players that will inevitebly not go anywhere. Step it up!! We need more than just a squad change too. We need a whole damn culture change. This is gunna be a long process, ladies and gentlemen. Being out of Europe, and losing money in the meantime is just not good. Again, the ONLY way this turns out well is if Arteta gets absolutely everything right and we get top 4 next season. That is so far from a guarantee. I dont care how much rest that back 3 gets, they are poor players and will get smacked by half the league as they are now.
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We need to invest in two creative midfielders who can score goals and a DM.
Leicester won it and every season we have had better players than them. The problem is the management, the coach and the players. I put most blame to the players followed by the coach. I have doubt with Arteta as well. The lack of experience shows with playing the best striker in the world right now on the wing and his ineffective traditional three kids subs. The fact that he is a yes man is a cherry on top.
Yes the management has issues but as a coach you have make the best of what you have. A top coach will certainly finish top 4 with the current team and seriously challenging or winning the title.
The problem with our players is that they don’t care if we win or lose. To them is just another day at the office and at the end of the week their bank accounts are getting fatter and fatter. The only pain I have seen from losing is from the great Auba when we lost to Olympiacos. Others are just meh!
Auba the best strike in the world. You make me laugh there. Where do you put Lewandowski, Suarez and that wonder boy Haaland. Please to give this guy more praise than he deserves. He is good at putting the ball in the net (mostly tap in) and absolutely poor at doing everything else with ball.
He is good at putting the ball in the net. What else do you want him to be good at? I would rather have players who are good at putting the ball in the net than being good on something else.
Haaland and Suarez better than Auba? Are you for real? Lewandowski is good but below Auba.