Why can’t Arsenal ever sell players for overall profit as other clubs do? And why can we no longer talk freely about players! by Jon Fox
In this article I actually expect, which is in itself unusual, to find major agreement on my view that Arsenal, more than almost any club, fail to sell players we wish to leave us for a profit, or even fail to sell them at all. We often then loan them out and see their transfer value fall and end up with a financial loss, sometimes of ridiculous amounts!
On Sunday I read a fine and detailed article by Lloyd, but which however stole a lot of my thunder. He accurately listed details of a lot of our more recent failures to get players off our books, despite their fast-decreasing contracts.
It seems to be widely accepted that for some considerable time past and still ongoing, our club are unable to achieve proper and sensible sell-on prices for players who we want to leave us, or who want to go of their own volition.
Because of Covid, the last two years have given clubs right around the globe huge problems in getting market value for leaving players. The world player transfer market has largely collapsed for all, save the very top-quality players and this has also worked in our favour, though not as much as it has worked against us, I suggest.
But this is only the Covid period and even now that Covid has largely disappeared, as a direct reason why the market has slumped, its regressive effect on club finances across the world will still be keenly felt for some time to come.
Covid though, cannot adequately explain why we have refused actual offers for such as AMN, CHAMBERS, XHAKA, ELNENY, and several other present or very recent players at Arsenal. I believe this has got worse each year because of a knock on effect where, as we have to keep more and more players we would rather leave, then replacing them without receiving an incoming transfer fee and still having to pay their OFTEN, IN FACT USUALLY, far too high wages, means we have more players on our books than we need and until this last season or so, it was getting worse, not better.
Kroenke’s LONG TERM underfunding of his club is directly a major cause of our inability to buy better players before being able to get lesser players gone. It has got better of late, but we still have a back log of many years to make up for. Remember we, like all clubs, always need AT LEAST a minimum number of players at any one time. IMO this January gone was an example of where we let TOO MANY players go and had insufficient numbers, even of lesser ones, left to play and it cost us fourth place. Big error but mostly because Kroenke would not fund us PROPERLY WHEN WE MOST NEEDED IT, in January, and when the disrespectful Auba was behaving like the little spoilt kid he is, instead of as a club captain. MA was left with no practical alternative IMO, than to get this harmful troublemaker out of our dressing room. But he did it at a cost, courtesy of KROENKES refusal to back MA at that key time, when it MOST MATTERED.
IMO, during the summer of 2021, a major policy change was enacted at Arsenal, courtesy of Edu and even more so by Arteta. This was born of club frustration at the sheer amount of unwanted but unsaleable players, many of them getting older and most or even all “earning” (which means receiving) far too high salaries and thus impacting on our ability to fund new, younger and better-quality replacements.
Together with other Gooners, I have often used the expressions “deadwood ” or “dross” to describe such players as Elneny, Kolasinac etc. Many other Gooners regard those terms as being abusive and say so on here. My opinion is that this is wokery gone crazy.
IF, which I do not, I were to call their character, rather than their playing ability, by such words, then but only then, I believe there would be a case to answer. I am not in favour of the woke tyranny which seeks to deny the priceless gift of free speech and free opinions from those who disagree with so called “group think”!
There is, or at least was until recent times, a widely understood and accepted distinction between criticising the ability of a player and on the other hand, that person’s character. I concur with that view, which is however fast changing in our more and more woke orientated society, where free speech is in danger of being outlawed.
I also make the important point that ALL top-level Prem players are obscenely highly paid, and that huge money comes to them and their greedy agents, indirectly but entirely because we fans pay often far too much money to worship at the shrine of players, SOME of whom treat us with disrespect by not trying 100% in all games they ever play. More and more, though not so much right now though at Arsenal, are just mercenaries passing through and getting more and more rich at our expense by receiving signing on fees, having first run down their contract to leave on a free.
Bosman has a lot to answer for IMO and the player power pendulum has swung in my lifetime from one extreme to the other. Our own George Eastham, circa 1961-2, took his old club Newcastle United to court for unlawfully retaining his transfer rights and then beat them in court; it was justice done but was also the start of a long road toward player and agents having all the power and we “mug” fans having no say whatsoever.
I believe in fairness for all and will stand against tyranny of all kinds, wherever it rears its ugly head! If, by speaking out against tyranny of all kinds against we fans, I need to use blunt, forceful and free (non-filthy and non-abusive) language, than I will gladly do so. So should far more of us, instead of being onlookers, merely wringing our hands and saying we can do nothing about unfairness. That is what cowards and little people do, so stand up to tyrannical player and agent power while you still can do so. If you say no, things will get worse, not better!
In my view that disrespect by SOME, not all by any means, but SOME PLAYERS, and often the most richly paid such as OZIL and AUBA, is more marked and far more obvious to most fans. Pogba too, is a perfect example of a player who treats his club and its fans with disdain and Man United fans cannot wait to be rid of him, as they are not fools and refuse to be taken as such by this arrogant, idle player.
So, IMO, should we Gooners refuse to be taken as fools by ANY player who does not routinely give 100% as their part of the bargain by which we turn a blind eye (while holding our noses) to the stink of their obscene salaries. Paid for by us, LET US NEVER FORGET.
So, then my fellow Gooners, my message is use your hard won right to free speech, but use it wisely and only pick on those who are harming our great club, be they owner, manager, player or whomsoever. We are Gooners and should always love the club far more than any individual, be they sublime like HENRY and Bergkamp, or deadwood like…. well make your own list. There are still enough to choose from, sadly. But things are getting better, IF you have the patience to wait.
Some of you do, others do not. C’est la vie!
COYG
Jon Fox
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