Several years ago we had a lengthy discussion on the Goonerholic blog about Stan Kroenke. It would be fair to say that it was a concerned and slightly acrimonious discussion because we were speculating on whether it would be better if Kroenke or Alisher Usmanov was the owner of Arsenal Football Club. That was not the extent of the discussion because it was framed by the knowledge that a club that we had traditionally considered ourselves superior to were dining at Europe’s top table because of the patronage of a Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, who had purchased Chelsea in 2003 and built them into a highly successful operation.
As Chelsea regularly won trophies and challenged for major honours, boosted by regular and oligarch-funded largesse the natives of N5 were restless and frustrated. Recent events cast those discussions in a different light. The sanctioning of Abramovich and Usmanov by the UK government has emphasised the concern that the source of the funding for Chelsea’s success was highly dubious, possibly criminal and certainly sprang from a relationship with one of the most ghastly leaders in post-war history.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the way in which Arsenal fans have reacted to the changing appreciation of their owner, Stan Kroenke In the light of the revelations concerning the Soviet oligarchs and their connections with the Kremlin. Given the very clear change in the fortunes and direction of Arsenal could we consider whether Kroenke is someone who could potentially lead Arsenal to much happier and more successful times in the future ?
The American connection
Stan Kroenke first became involved with Arsenal in 2007. He was introduced to the club by David Dein, who perturbed by Abramovich ‘parking his tanks on the lawn and firing £50 notes at us’ felt that Arsenal needed shareholders who could enable the club to compete with Chelsea and other ‘financially doped’ clubs ( to use a Wengerism ) who would follow, searched around for big hitters who would take Arsenal to the next level.
Kroenke made his initial fortune in real estate but then considerably boosted his financial prospects by marrying an heiress to the WalMart fortune. His emergence as an Arsenal shareholder came when he purchased Granada’s 9.9% stake in the club and increased this over time to 12.9%. Peter Hill-Wood the Arsenal Chairman was publicly dismissive of Kroenke suggesting that the club did not welcome ‘his sort’. It was a delightfully typical remark from our patrician chairman who regularly thanked the shareholders at the AGM for their ‘interest in our business!’
The Arsenal board changed its attitude to Kroenke when Dein subsequently introduced Usmanov. He became the more acceptable alternative and had experience in running a variety of sporting organisations. His current sporting empire includes the current Super Bowl holders, the LA Rams, a franchise that he moved from St.Louis amid great controversy, the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL team, Colorado Rapids who play in the MLS, Denver Nuggets in the NBA and the Colorado Mammoth National Lacrosse team. When I was seeking to diminish the reputation of Kroenke’s oversight I used the term ‘a mediocre sports entrepreneur’. That may need revision after the Rams’ success, but it should also be noted that the Avalanche have lifted the Stanley Cup and the Rapids were early winners of the Major League Soccer.
Kroenke joined the Arsenal board in 2008 and after increasing his holding beyond 29.9% he acquired the shares of the late Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith in April 2011. In August 2018 after a bitter battle with Usmanov he bought out the Uzbeki billionaire and forced a compulsory purchase of all other shares with a bid that valued the club at £1.8 billion.
The American’s increasing influence extended to appointing his son Josh to take a particular interest in Arsenal. Stan is known to the media as ‘Silent Stan’ because of his reluctance to make public pronouncements. Josh has proved a little more inclined to engage with the Arsenal supporters associations but one senses this was through public pressure rather than natural inclination.
The early years
It was hard to discern much of a strategy in the early years of Kroenke’s ownership. Kroenke was clearly in thrall to Wenger and frankly, why would he not be? Wenger had built enormous financial reserves purely through success on the field and inspired trading, had enabled Arsenal to contemplate and achieve the construction of a new super-stadium and kept the club consistently in the Champions League. One of Kroenke’s rare public pronouncements was to hail Wenger as a genius. The reality was that without Dein and with new mega-rich clubs appearing on the horizon Wenger was declining as a force and Kroenke failed to spot it. He might be forgiven. Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2017 and after the last of these triumphs Wenger slipped into a private meeting with Kroenke on the Sunday and agreed a new two year contract. It was a contract that he never completed. Around Wenger Arsenal was changing. Ivan Gazidis, bullshitter extraordinaire, assembled a team which included Raul Sanllehi, formerly a senior executive at Barcelona, ‘Diamond Eye’ Sven Mislintat who was tasked with spotting exciting new talent for Sanllehi to sign and Huss Fahmy to tighten up the contractual operation at the club.
Self-sustainability
One of the key tenets of a Kroenke operation was ‘self-sustainability’. Arsenal were allowed to spend what they generated. The club whose fans had implored the board to ‘spend some f…ing money’ started to splash the cash. In the summer of 2016 £85 million was spent on Mustafi, Xhaka and Perez. Has Arsenal ever wasted money so blatantly? In 2018 Aubameyang was purchased for £50 million and Mesut Ozil given a contract worth over £300 thousand a week. In 2019 Nicolas Pepe was purchased for a club record fee of £72 million. This was hardly the action of a club whose owners wished to starve the club of funds. In the meantime after Wenger was released, Unai Emery was introduced as his successor but after initially promising signs the team started to fail badly in his second season. Mislintat fell out with Emery and left. Edu joined as director of football and Mikel Arteta was brought in to coach and then manage the team. Covid struck, another FA Cup was won and Sanllehi departed in suspicious circumstances, apparently after scrutiny by Tim Lewis, a corporate lawyer and partner at Clifford Chance who appeared to be becoming the eyes and ears of Kroenke and his KSE organisation.
That moment might be seen as an inflection point, a change in thinking. Yet shortly afterwards we embarked on the disastrous signing of Willian from Chelsea and one started to be confused again. Arsenal struggled badly at the start of the 2020/21 season and had fans been in the stadium we might have experienced the toxic atmosphere that prevailed in the last few years of Wenger’s tenure. That negativity came to a head anyway when the European Super League plans were announced. Arsenal recanted after two days of increasing criticism from fans and media. The apology on the website was unusually frank and admitted to a gross error in judgement. Why did it happen?
It is said that when he acquired Arsenal Stan Kroenke had no idea that a system of relegation was in place in the Premier League. It underlines his lack of understanding of the way in which English football works. He had a steep learning curve to negotiate and hidden in Colorado or wherever he placed himself it was difficult to give Arsenal the attention their fans demanded that the club should be given. But KSE do understand how to run sporting organisations and the success of a Rams team coached by a young, highly impressive coach in Sean McVay might be a template for Arsenal Football Club.
Arsenal have shown faith in Arteta, through that bad period last season and after three games of this season when we’d lost all our matches and were marooned at the bottom of the table. Since that time and that show of faith, the atmosphere has become as positive and exciting as we have seen for years and the team have blossomed into one that has sent belief coursing through the club again.
So are KSE good owners?
Morale among fans at the Grove is as positive as it has ever been. The recent travails of Chelsea and the revelations about their owner’s strong links with Putin have thrown into relief the suitability of the Kroenkes as custodians. The period since they assumed full control of the club has been a turbulent one. They have made many mistakes. In the early years of their involvement Stan Kroenke seemed happy to delegate full control of team affairs to Arsene Wenger. He allowed Gazidis to put in place a structure that was far from fit for purpose and haemorrhaged money. Oversight of transfers was woefully inadequate. He offered a waning Wenger a deal that prolonged the agony for the club. There was a feeling among supporters that in the collection of sporting teams that KSE owned, Arsenal had no primacy. It was just a highly attractive sporting brand situated in one of the great cities of the world that has a global fanbase and huge profit potential. Premier League football is a growing and exciting business, a financial powerhouse but one in which Arsenal had lost their way. Arsenal fans expect their club to be much more than another sporting franchise.
I spoke of inflection points before. The moment when conditions change and a new direction is taken. It would seem that through 2021 a new strategy emerged, predicated on a longer-term rebuild. In a business where managers are sacked after a run of defeats or often even after winning trophies, Arsenal have shown patience and intelligence. They have reset the club and reimagined it with a young team playing a form of football in which Arteta is fully invested. Their net spend in the transfer window last summer was the highest in Europe and the quality and profile of purchases has been excellent, consistent and forward thinking. It seems to me that through Tim Lewis they have proper oversight of the way in which the club is run, in Arteta a visionary and developing coach and they have the faith in their key people which allowed them to release their star player because of the negative effect on team morale, just over a year after awarding him a mega contract.
This season may yet implode but it is hard to escape the feeling that for the first time since Kroenke assumed control the club has robust governance and a philosophy that has galvanised players and supporters. It has taken a long time, an unnecessarily long time, but perhaps we are moving into one of the more exciting eras in Arsenal’s recent history.
Sounds like their money has given the Kroenkes the benefit of learning on the job over a period of many years. Hopefully they have finally hit on something solid and lasting. Many thanks TTG for your fine analysis.
A superb analysis TTG, as befits someone with your vast financial experience. A couple of questions. You say that the club now has robust governance. What is the evidence for that and where, in a privately owned business is the oversight? Secondly the fan groups (e.g. AST) remain steadfast that they want a multi ownership model, preferably with some fan input like the late, lamented fan share scheme. Is there any evidence at all that this may happen under Kroenke?
Firstly , I allowed a misprint to creep through. Kroenke’s association with Arsenal began in 2007 [fixed — eds.]
Secondly those are very good questions C100. In terms of governance the evidence in any private company is much better hidden and I am sure KSE is no stranger to obfuscation . My confidence in the quality of governance is based on comments by people closer to the club than I am. The day after we met Layth at the Oval last year I met two of the leading lights in the AST at the Oval for a drink . They have attended several meetings with Tim Lewis and Josh Kroenke . On your first question they commented ‘ the person who approves everything is Tim Lewis ‘ and the coherence of transfer policy ( I understand transfers are approved by a committee) seems to me to be much greater . They also commented at the time on how impressed they were with Lewis .
As to the multi-ownership model I suspect that KSE will pay lip-service to this . The chaps felt Josh Kroenke is still on a journey of discovery in terms of understanding the culture at Arsenal . This is someone who was complicit in moving a franchise thousands of miles across America . He realises that he is running up against people who have been heavily invested in Arsenal for years and the memorial walls next to the ground show the dedication and depth of the support .
I think there is a feeling KSE will do the minimum possible to accommodate the fanbase but at the same time they experienced a massive backlash against the ESL that a bit of supporter consultation would have forewarned them of .
A thought-provoking analysis, TTG.
“You see them,” Kroenke said. “This team, really, when you look at it, why they’ve been successful is, you’ve got special players and they’re very good and they’re able to talk about ‘we not me,’ and players believe that. [The coach] has created that special culture.”
That was Silent Stan talking about his LA Rams, another team for which Kroenke has hired the youngest coach in the league after winning the NFC Championship, but it could apply to us.
I wonder if the turning point was Kroenke’s vision for a real estate development on the old Holywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, Los Angeles, in which a state-of-the-art sports stadium would anchor a massive entertainment, retail and office development. The key to making it work was a star sports team for the stadium. You can’t be in Tinseltown and not be a star. The cherry on the icing on the cake, so mix a metaphor, but essential to selling the cake.
Kroenke had the team, albeit in St Louis, but not one with the necessary star quality and success. By luck or judgement, he found a template for making the Rams a Super Bowl winner. He is now applying it to the Arsenal. He can see that the business leverage of a sports franchise increases proportionately to its status as a top-table team. Loss of CL football may also have thrown that into sharp relief for him.
Kroenke may or may not have had a grand vision for Arsenal when he started buying us, and he may or may not have one now (although the Super League suggests a direction of travel, albeit via a different path). But he does understand that he now has a business model that can open new possibilities.
TTG,
Excellent and timely piece, Sir. Things in the garden are indeed rosy and the long view which KSE clearly takes is beginning to show benefits. It is a pity that they were t rather more active earlier but maybe their focus was on moving the Rams from St Louis and this took up all their bandwidth. This seems to be rectified now. Let’s hope this continues.
To C100’s point about financial oversight – as well as being privately held, I believe KSE is incorporated in Delaware which has much less onerous corporate reporting requirements than many other states so third party public oversight through financial reporting is all but impossible in a meaningful way.
Oops. I should have closed the italics tag at the end of the second paragraph at the end of Kroenke’s quote, if one of the techs could oblige.
Thanks TTG,
an excellent and readable analysis of a frustrating dozen years for Gooners.
It has taken the Kroenke’s a very long time to understand what football and a club mean to English supporters. Oddly, the thing that drove the message home was the one that caused most outrage at their ownership, the European Super League.
Your insights into the current workings of the club, and North Bank Ned’s into the American system make for a really interesting piece.
C100@2: You make an important point about private company governance. Further, US private real estate companies have a governance culture of their own. Individual projects are siloed, for sensible reasons of mitigating the risk of financial spillovers, with only the owner and a tight group of loyalist insiders coordinating the management. The result tends to be financial governance that makes private equity firms look transparent and accountable in comparison.
Cheers TTG. Interesting recap of the evolution of the ownership situation.
There are lots of variables and parameters, perhaps hiring Arteta eventually after nearly doing it first time was like striking gold. I think the main thing is they didn’t get rid of him when it looked like he was failing, and much credit is due there.
I didn’t know about Tim Lewis’ influence being so decisive (according to your sources), but it certainly seems like there is more of a sensible and good plan now and that we’re heading in a positive direction, and where everyone is sold on the project.
The team spirit seems the best it has been in years, and the fans in the stadium seem to be happier and more supportive too. Looking forward to experiencing the live event soon again!
Thankyou Ned and CER for your interesting and useful additions to my knowledge . I was intrigued by my conversation with the AST chaps who were Gooner readers but individuals I had not met before . I think of myself as an Arsenal nerd but compared with these chaps I have no inside track and weak connections . When we met we had just lost at Manchester City and were speculating on how long Arteta had ! They felt he would survive if results picked up because he had KSE backing and there was no obvious successor …..then! There might be now. My Palace mates tell me they hope Arsenal qualify for the Champions League so that we don’t come hunting Patrick Vieira who is held in very high esteem at Selhurst . I think Arteta deserves a huge amount of the credit for our improvement but he is working inna more secure environment than many other managers.
NBN@6 – consider yourself obliged.
I’m not sure how happy NFL fans are about their teams moving around, but it is phenomenon much more common in the US than the UK – I vaguely remember some shenanigans related to Clydebank/East Stirling; Wimbledon/Milton Keynes is the only other example I can recall. In the case of the Rmas, a quick check on Wikipedia reveals that they were founded in 1936 in Cleveland, moved to LA in 1946, and moved to St Louis in 1994 before returning to LA in 2016.
Perhaps we should be on the lookout for KSE getting interested in property around Woolwich?
Pangloss
Personally speaking Woolwich would suit me . I’m more worried about them moving to Exeter or Cockermouth or even LA but it’s not likely from London I guess ? I remember Brighton playing at Gillingham when they were groundless ( I went once ) and they had a faithful remnant of fans there even though it was about 60 miles from Brighton . I suspect having real estate in a trendy and expensive area of London will prevent the Kroenkes from doing the dirty on us
Lovely place Cockermouth. The wife has family there. Home of the splendid Jennings brewery.
Moving back south of the river, on the other hand ……
South of the river? We’d need visas and jabs and everything…….!
I suppose if we’re going to include temporary arrangements while clubs can’t use their “usual” ground, we should mention Charlton playing at Selhurst Park, and wasn’t there another Club that used Wembley for a while? (Actually two clubs now I come to think about it.) Surely, however, the Wimbledon/Milton Keynes switch is the only close parallel to the Rams travel?
By contrast, it seems to happen a lot in the NFL – Raiders from Oakland to LA, back to Oakland and on to Vegas; Oilers from Dallas to Tennesee; Colts from Baltimore to Indianapolis. Does it happen in other professional US sports?
CER @16 plus I always get lost when I go south (no real excuse, the daughter lived in south Clapham for a couple of years. Always seemed to end up taking a different bridge or tunnel when we visited her). It’s the sign as you come through the Rotherhithe, “Here be dragons” . And if England had piles, they’d be in Elephant and Castle.
Re: Pangloss. Yes, historically clubs moving city has been a very significant factor in the other US sports. Here are some of the most prominent examples: In baseball the San Francisco Giants were the New York Giants until the late 1950s, as the Los Angeles Dodgers were originally the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Atlanta Braves were first the Boston Braves before moving first to Milwaukee and then Atlanta. The Baltimore Orioles began as the St. Louis Browns, while the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins each began as different incarnations of the Washington Senators. In basketball the LA Lakers began in Minneapolis, the GS Warriors in Philadelphia, the Oklahoma City Thunder in Seattle. In hockey the Dallas Stars began as the Minnesota North Stars. There are many more examples although probably not as many in the last few decades as previously because, in my impression owning one of these teams has become more of a moneymaker than it used to be. Lonestar would point out that the NFL’s Tennessee Titans started in Houston not Dallas. Moving seems to be about as American as apple pie actually (not intended to denigrate either moving or apple pie, and especially not apple pie).
C100 @16 – the Elephant has always been rougher than a badgers *rse!
On the topic of ground sharing, may I remind that due to the inconvenience caused by the Austrian corporal, we had to share during the war years with the Middlesex Marshdwellers.
Eeeuuurrggghh.
An overlooked reason for Arsenal’s good season to this point is the relative lack of serious injuries, which in turn is largely attributable to the fewer number of games the club has played, due to being out of Europe and early cup exits. More reason to stock up on players in the Summer because next season is bound to have more games.
Pangloss@11: Thank you. Obliged I am.
Pangloss@12: The Milwaukee Brewers (baseball) moved to St Louis in 1902, which I think was the first franchise to switch cities (although they were just teams back then). So US sports has previous, lots of it — as I have just seen bt8 recount so eruditely.
CER: Are the rumours true that only the clerics can read and write south of the river?
Pangloss,
I take your point about the switches of ground. The Brighton / Gillingham thing occurred because Brighton didn’t have a ground in Brighton because the Goldstone was demolished. They were a cuckoo in the nest at Gillingham for two seasons , I think , and then returned to Brighton playing at the Withdean which was really an athletics stadium . Attendances at Gillingham wereh awful to start with but over the two years they steadily increased . I saw the last game they played there and it struck me it is very hard to destroy a football club .
An excellent synopsis TTG. No one was happy with the club going into forrin’ stewardship with the debate being who was the lesser of 2 evils ( Kroenke v Usmanov ). It’s taken more than decade for us to see how this has panned out. The Russian moved onto Everton ( via Moshiri ) and has now had to withdraw, leaving them in a potential precarious financial position. I suspect Bill Kenwright regrets his choice of buyer now!
Maybe Stan was distracted with the massive project in LA and knew Arsene was a safe pair of hands – declining sporting performance was not of major concern as long as the financials were holding up. With his eye off the ball & matters declining – the people charged with running the club were underperforming and they have slowly rectified this. We now have a stable & focussed management team who have been backed financially. It’s moving in the right direction and the optimism for the future is rapidly returning.
TTG @ 13 – move the team to Exeter, now we’re talking. Now where did I put Stan’s phone number…….😎
Quite superb review, sir. Quite superb.
Messrs Guendouzi & Saliba came on as subs for France this evening in their friendly v Ivory Coast. A certain Pepe scored for the visitors and our old flame Giroo bagged one of the French goals.
As an ownership sidebar, reports suggest that the Chelsea Supporters Trust are concerned that one of the prospective bidders for their club may have historically been complicit in some form of Islamaphobia. Not good form.
Apparently there is no problem being “funded” by Kremlin backed money launderers.
The Bus Stop in Fulham would appear to be an irony free zone these days.
ned@23, thinking of moving the monks’ franchise?
uply@26, agreed, i see no downside of moving arsenal to st. james park! 🤣
ttg, thanks for all of that. i was never at all sure about stan, but was adamant au was certainly not gold the club should take on. the veil of £ that roman threw over the leaders of the prem has finally been shredded, and all who tried (with or without success) to launder their ill-gotten gains through the spin cycle of club ownership thus exposed. next up: the statist clubs…
Scuz@20: 🙂 The monks are always on the move, to keep one step ahead of the bailiffs.
Here is a piece from the Chicago business paper, Crain’s Chicago, about the Ricketts Islamophobia issue, supportive of the home team but laying out the background:
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/sports/look-chicago-cubs-owning-ricketts-familys-business-interests
Odegaard and Erling Haarling. Don’t even think about it.
How come Pepe scores such wonderful goals so regularly for Ivory Coast? Is it just because they play him in games?
https://streamgg.com/v/4phn9xsr
ned@32, the bailiffs take the hindmost, mind.
c100 @34, shhhhhhhhhhh.
Re: NBN and France 2 Ivory Coast 1. That is quite the match for Arsenal and ex-Arsenal names featuring so prominently on the scoresheet, between Pepe, Giroud and Guendouzi who assisted the late game winner.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60882155
C100,
I know a nutter who thinks we will sign Haaland . The bromance can’t do any harm but he looks destined for Citeh . But I think there is a real possibility we might sign Darwin Nunes who you featured the other day . The other striker I saw us linked with yesterday was Weghorst who has pitched up at Burnley who may well be relegated . I don’t think we can sign two superstars simply because they cost so much .
If we spend a lot on a midfielder( Bellingham or Phillips please ) it will restrict our options to buy a second striker .
C100 @ 34 heh yes, don’t. 😂
I didn’t know Laurent Koscielny was still playing actually but he’s quitting so a good time to say thanks for your time at Arsenal.
Interesting piece on Saliba and Guendouzi
https://theathletic.com/3207145/2022/03/25/special-report-guendouzi-is-arsenals-past-but-what-about-saliba/
Also there was a lovely piece in The Times on Bukayo Saka suggesting he is about the most popular player in the country
A belated thanks for an interesting piece to brighten up the usual dull interlull TTG.
A great look at the changing perceptions of Silent Stan and now Son of Stan as time has gone by delivered with your customary aplomb.
We chose the lesser of two weevils* I suppose as Uply said, but I will never warm to an absentee billionaire owner. The day of fan ownership seems as far as ever though so in the real world I will have to go with the conclusion of ‘could be worse’.
*with thanks to the late, great Patrick O’Brien😃
Calvert-Lewin or Rashford? That is the question.
no way rashford. unless you think the taint of the last few years will wash off with water from arteta’s spring.
Hahaha, it has to be good lourdes I hope it’s Calvert-Lewin
Actually, joking aside I hope neither
Rashford. Does that mean that we are going to decide to accept Manchester United discards after finally deciding that we spent years doing self-harm by accepting Chelsea discards? I was going to add Real Madrid discards but still have my fingers crossed that Odegaard will work out over the long term.
Sylvestre was supposed to turn out to be a decent short term signing for us like Jonny Evans turned out to be at Leicester. But did it happen. Welbeck is the exception, he did a job for us. As for Rashford I have a feeling the entire current crop at Manchester United could be damaged goods forever because of the continual trauma they have suffered, not the least of it the trauma of a close if relatively brief association with Mourinho.
Bath@43: I don’t think either of them is the answer.
Both are linked in the Sunday redtop rags. I am inclined to agree that neither is the answer though I do think Calvert Lewin has huge potential if he can stay fit. He offers mobility, link-play, an eye for goal and is strong in the air as well as having a good shot. If we require (and can afford) two forwards I’d take him along with one of the continental names with whom we are linked.
We’ll probably end up making an under-the-radar signing of a striker in their early 20s like Gianluca Scamacca at Sassuolo. He is 23, on the fringes of the Italian national side (if that is a recommendation these days) and attracting the interest of Atletico Madrid and the Milan teams.
Re: “the continual trauma they have suffered, not the least of it the trauma of a close if relatively brief association with Mourinho.”
2 bonus points for anyone who can name another club this might describe. 😉 😉 😉
Seeing as the Kroenkes have loosened the purse strings a tad maybe we should up our sights a tad more and match or better Man City’s offer for midfielder Matheus Nunes of Sporting, who Pep seems to be eyeing lustfully.
Most of his lustful eyeing that I saw was in Spanish so here’s the link: https://www.fichajes.net/noticias/nuevo-objetivo-manchester-city-enamora-guardiola-20220323.html
Double fives on Interlull Sunday. Who could want more?
Double fives the new half-ton, bt8?
Pretty close, Ned. 🙂
Well in at the real half-ton, Bath.
‘Snakes alive’ for anyone old enough to remember bingo calls, bt8.
I agree with Ned. Nunes is a far better target . I think we will go for a second striker too and this may be a less well-known player. I think the midfielder might be Tielemans . DCL has been injured most of the season. Rashford hasn’t played well and both have the premium on their price that English players carry . Broja is interesting but is unlikely to be sold to us
There’s Darwin Núñez the striker and he’s Uruguayan. Then there’s Matheus Nunes the midfielder and he’s Portuguese, although both of them currently play for Lisbon clubs, Darwin for Benfica and Matheus for Sporting. I think TTG you meant Darwin?
Both Chelsea loanees, Broja at Southampton and Gallagher at Palace, have looked like they can really play. Will Chelsea hold onto them after the ownership changes, seeing all the other astronomical salaries they have to pay?
Bt8
I’d never heard of the other Nunes. I was referring to Darwin . I think Darwin will evolve into something interesting
See what you did there TTG 😂
Evolve, TTG? Darwin’s evolution appears to be quite far along already at the young age of 22. He has 20 goals this season, almost one for every year of his life. 🙂
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/darwin-nunez/profil/spieler/546543
Mateus has Brazilian and Portuguese citizenship, having been born in Brazil, but decided to play for Portugal and has four caps for them since his October international debut. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/matheus-nunes/profil/spieler/601883
Transfermarkt lists Darwin’s transfer value at £36m and Mateus’ at £27m
How Mateus Nunes might fit in at Arsenal I have no idea, but if Pep is interested maybe we should be too.
Clickity click Ned😉
Matt & Ned, for the sake of political correctness let’s hope we don’t reach 88 😉
Thanks TTG! A very thoughtful analysis about the Kroenkies learning curve.. I started believing that Silent Stan has a plan other then making zillions. This season is proving you and Kroenke right but.
First of all we haven’t win anything yet not even the infamous 4th place trophy and we all know in football everything can go wrong in a minute. And secondly beware of the greek… The problem with the capability of making money that you start to beleive you can make anything else too. But not, money only.
So I will give the benefit of the dubt until the end if the season and we will see. But of course I hope you are right!
COYG
Uply@67: 🙂
Las@68: My 2-cents is that Kroenke remains wealth-creation-driven but now understands that the route to riches in football lies in having a long-term top-table team as the elite clubs that will end up in whatever the revamped CL/European Super League/Global club championship evolves into will secure a disproportionate share of the sport’s financial rewards. He needs us to be supping with Barca, Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich, not below the salt with the likes of Porto, Dortmund and Liepzig, which is where our FIFA Club Coefficient now has us.
Apparently there was a stray report on the Internet saying that Arsenal are interested in signing Maguire from Manchester United. Excuse me while I laugh. No surprise though that they’re doing all they can to offload him. Blogs does an excellent job of debunking the suggestion here: https://arseblog.com/2022/03/crazy-stuff-and-nonsense-summer-academy-sales/
C100@71: 🙂
The word is out. Man United are a commercial club. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12576950/manchester-united-former-boss-louis-van-gaal-has-warned-ajax-coach-erik-ten-hag-not-to-go-to-old-trafford
Thanks for the blogs link bt8. His usual well-grounded and amusing look at some nonsense, and his conclusion that we will face a tough challenge selling some players this summer is correct. It still looks like a buyers market at the moment though so we will need to be realistic to avoid having too many players we don’t really want come September. On the positive side, MA changing the atmosphere around the club has made a difference in that there doesn’t seem to be any who are acting as a drag on team spirit and must be sold immediately or we have to actually pay them to leave.
In for the double sevens!
Matt, In relation to paying players to leave there was an article today quoting Nacho Monreal saying none too complementary things about Mesut Ozil’s influence at Arsenal. Here’s a peek: https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/nacho-monreal-mesut-ozil-arsenal-premier-league-2022-b991001.html?amp
Thanks bt8,
Nacho was pretty much the opposite of Ozil in his career and attitude at Arsenal – started slowly but worked hard to become an increasingly important player, whereas Mesut…..
His old partner on the left Kos retired this week, best of luck to him.
Two fat ladies (not afraid to say it) and legs eleven. I’ll get me coat.
UTA.
Well in at the round number Noosa, and enjoy your Autumn leaves. 🙂
Agreed about Nacho, Matt. I think of him as a consummate professional. I think one year he filled in admirably at center back, possibly due to a Koscielny injury. He was very solid for us there, surpassing my expectations by some distance.
Monreal trivia I never knew, from his Wiki page:
At Osasuna in his native Pamplona “Monreal became first-choice in 2007–08, retaining that status in the subsequent seasons, with another youth product, César Azpilicueta, being the undisputed starter in the other defensive wing.”
I probably knew this at one time but forgot:
“Upon the arrival of Alexis Sánchez in the 2014 off-season, Monreal took the vacant number 18”
Rumors of Cody Gakpo an exciting transfer possibility from PSG. Not sure about that name but he has goalscoring credentials: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/arsenal-report-42m-dutch-striker-cody-gakpo-psv-eindhoven-to-join-in-the-summer-premier-league-gossip-rumours-signings-transfers-afc
From PSV not PSG, my carelessness.
I am informed that at this point I am supposed to say Torquay in Devon .
Saliba played 90 minutes for the World champions tonight . Guendouzi came on as sub after 80 minutes and scored
Thomas got the goal to take Ghana to the World Cup finals, not such a good day for Mo though.
bt8 @87, Que?
TTG @88, so the Ladies’ Man picks up the two fat ladies! Who’da thunk it?
Did Saliba look good?
Bath @90, Bingo’s not my thing but one website lists that as the appropriate bingo call for 87. Pretty obscure if you ask me so I’ll invent an American version. Stay tuned.
Savannah in Georgia.
Portsmouth in New Hampshire?
Sarasota in Florida?
To provide readers with an array of options.
Personally I’ve never actually been to Sarasota. Or to Torquay actually so I might just be shooting in the dark here.
To be honest I’ve never been to Savannah either.
bt8, I’ve been to all those places. Torquay is rather twee, Savannah extremely atmospheric, Portsmouth somewhat in decline and Sarasota surprisingly youthful compared to Venice down the coast.
Is this the point at which I should say, “Mornington Crescent!”
Always wanted to make the trip though.
Bingo! Saw your 98 Bath. Fellow traveler. 😉
I did spend a few hours in Portsmouth once, and had lunch on the way to a vacation along the coast of Maine about 20 years ago. Portsmouth seemed pretty charming, I thought at the time but I only saw one area.
bt8, you are correct Portsmouth is charming. I’ve been there twice if primarily focused on going to Kittery for the outlets. I was thinking of Portland, Maine whose centre scarred my cortex with the image of urban decline that has stayed with me from as long ago as 1998.
I was also in error about Sarasota. I have never been there. It’s the Italian-American ex-pats I blame for that mistake. We stayed in Naples not Venice (easy to misremember, I would argue), the former being a city of the living dead with card shops offering birthday cards for every year from 80 to 110! From there we visited Sanibel Island which I confused with Sarasota and which we found refreshingly youthful! Mind, that was 20 years ago!
Venice sounds like a veritable Mecca of bingo then, so quite appropriate to mention. I have never been anywhere on Florida’s west coast but did drive from New Orleans to Key West. Appalachicola in northwest Florida is a beautiful south-facing beach, as I recall, and others have told me that Sanibel Island is beautiful as you say.
That’s a nice drive though I don’t know the Florida panhandle section. I have fond memories of a seafood dinner on the Alabama coast somewhere west of Foley and of two drives to the wonderful (outside Spring vac) city of Key West from Orlando and Miami Beach respectively.
The past 20 or so posts show it really, really is time for the interlull to end.
So five subs will be allowed in the premier league from next season. What difference do we think this will make to Arsenal?
“The Premier League is the only major league in Europe to restrict the number to three but club sources say there is high confidence that there is now enough support for it to be increased to five, with a total of nine players allowed on the bench. The decisive factor has been the International FA Board (Ifab), the game’s law-making body, making the five-subs option a permanent rule.”
Extract from a Times exclusive piece saying the clubs will reverse their previous decision to keep number of subs to three.
Re: Ned @106. Ya think so? 😉
Ned @ 106, all Interlulls are toolong, by definition, but if you scour the annals of the bar I suspect you’ll find that there have been longer stretches of far less polite, illuminating and erudite discussions during the regular season.
Bath
I didn’t see tye game but reports appear favourable .
I’ve been to Savannah too. Alligators in the river outside our hotel. Or were they football agents. Bath describes it well. It’s highly atmospheric. Kevin Spacey stars in the film of the book, ‘ Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’. Worth a look or a read or both . It’s baaed on a real murder trial . I prefer it to Portsmouth .
C100
That’s big news and will enable managers to protect players from overuse or injury. But you will need big squads
Laca scored a hat-trick as we beat Brentford B 4-1 this afternoon.
This was the team
Leno
Swanson-Holding-Ogungbo-Tavares
Azeez-Patino
Sagoe Jr-Ibrahim-Nketiah
Lacazette
Subs: A. Okonkwo, Sousa, Dinzeyi, Bandeira, Butler-Oyedeji, Ideho, Biereth.
That’s good to hear on Saliba, TTG, tho’ as Blogs has observed recently his consequent belief that he can force his way into the French world cup (**spits**) squad may have an impact on his desire to return to Arsenal to understudy Ben White.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of the best American novels and encapsulates Savannah society beautifully as does the film with Kevin Spacey – it’s a pity that his moral judgements weren’t as good as either his selection of roles or his acting, both of which were of the highest quality.
Savannah is, along with New Orleans, one of the most atmospheric cities in North America. Indeed I think it is the more atmospheric. Maybe it’s the heat and humidity, the squares filled with trees dripping with Spanish moss, the gigantic bugs or the sense of evil lurking in the shadows – all of which both cities share in abundance. We walked at dusk through three or four squares from our B&B to a fancy restaurant for a fine meal but the restaurateur insisted that we could not possibly walk back and called a cab. This was serendipitous as the cabbie was playing great jazz music and introduced us to Junior Wells’ Hoodoo Man Blues which I added to my collection when I got home.
There’s two types of music according to, I think, BB King. There’s the Blues and there’s everything else:
The title track isn’t the best track. Here’s the whole album for those who are so inclined:
Junior Wells. Top stuff.
When the men finally return from international break they may find they have been superseded by the women if the crowd size of 91,000+ at El Clásico is anything to go by.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60934500
The Arsenal Women really have an incentive to perform at Wolfsburg: They are playing in front of Leah Williamson’s mum, who lives in Wolfsburg and works for Volkswagen. What a thrill for the family and for Leah!
It’s gonna be big.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10669537/Tottenham-Arsenal-stage-North-London-Derby-penultimate-Premier-League-weekend.html
Unlike what the headline indicates here what’s really in play is that Gary Neville should stick his head in a puddle of human excrement.
https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/gary-neville-suggests-mikel-arteta-should-leave-arsenal-if-they-finish-fourth-in-the-premier-league-41506453.html
fuck gary neville. that’s the stupidest piece of commentary i’ve seen about the race to 4th. go where? gary’s only underLYING point is that if arsenal cement 4th his man a are in europa or worse from now on. poor deluded bastard.
fuck gary neville No thanks, I have a headache and good taste..
Meanwhile, I saw this advertised today on the Twatter feed of Charles Dagnall. It may be of interest to some in the bar.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1801500878 /ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_WNSQ9B5W2CDES1Y719YG
That link is buggered. Hopefully this one works
That looks buggered as well. Fuck it, it’s a book about Don Howe coming out in a couple of weeks.
Re: The picture posted by c100 @34. I couldn’t help noticing that Erling Haaland has really large feet.
Shit rescheduling of the Spu*s game, I may not be able to watch it….bah.
Cynic, your link @ 121 works for me and the picture @ 122.
(to be ultra-precise, the link opens the amazon page with the book, never mind the leftover bit of the link to the right, and on the picture there is a link to ‘free preview’ which itself doesn’t work –but isn’t provided by you anyway, comes with the embed– so overall, you’ve done the job very well! :-))
@121, you’re the one who took it as a suggestion, cynic 🧐
looks like a great book. your link through the pic @122 worked for me. thank you!
Cynic @121, this links directly to the Amazon page – it works fine.
However the link through the image @122 says, “Kindle. We’re sorry this link is unavailable”.
It looks like an interesting read. Don Howe was a hugely underrated contributor to our first double and I am convinced things fell apart primarily because he left to join West Brom. When he came back and took the manager role rather than simply being the coach it seemed to be a task for which either he was less equipped or that was too big for him. However it was a period during which my attention was elsewhere and others will have clearer recollections of why he was unsuccessful second time around.
On the Neville theme, I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.
A slight correction on Don Howe .
He had three manifestations with us. He was coach from 1967-71. Had he not leftbwe would have had a much better chance of adding to the double and Fairs Cup.
He returned to help Terry Neill as coach in 1977 and led us to three FA Cup Finals and the European Cup Winners Cup Final . He was a much better coach than manager . He succeeded Terry Neill but he resigned when it was rumoured the boardvwere courting Terry Venables . At the time he left we had an outside chance of the title .
He returned at Wenger’s request to work with Liam Brady as youth team coach . Wevwon the Youth Cup two years running and he developed some very good players . All the players I have spoken to who played for him attribute most of the credit for our success to him . He was also a very good England coach working with Bobby Robson.
A tough man but hugely respected by the players .
He was also a fine right-back but past his best when he joined us. I saw him break his leg at Highbury in 1966. A true legend
Wolfsburg Frauen 2 Arsenal Women 0. Not the result they wanted but they put themselves in a tough situation only drawing at home.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60935406
On the Neville theme, I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire.
I wouldn’t either. I would if he wasn’t though.
Neville eviscerated: https://arseblog.com/2022/04/gary-nevilles-arteta-comments-dont-make-sense/
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