John Abrehart
Did you see the gaunt, haggard appearance of Arsene following the United defeat? My heart goes out to the man who has done so much for our club. This forward thinking genius cannot have become a hapless loser who completely lost touch with reality overnight, although recent (non) decision making and lack of targeted activity in the transfer market and tactical naivety would suggest this.
No, I still stand by our man. A comment in the online Gooner by the editor, quoting a report in ‘The Independent’ sticks in my mind. That is that apparently Stan Kroenke told the Board that they must sell Nasri rather than lose £20m + by losing him on a free at the end of the season. There was another comment in the same issue of the paper. That said that ‘we had to sell before bringing replacement players in’. Why? If that was the norm, no transfer business would be done at all. No, this suggests to me that it is the American way of doing business. It would appear to me that they want everything on their terms with minimum risk and exposure.
The downside of all of this of course is that we become the last to able to do business as the other clubs have had the pick of the market. Also, it suits the Man City’s of this world if they are aware of our predicament as they can delay dealings with our players until the last minute but in the meantime, any transfer targets that we may have (???) have been snapped up. Let’s face it, a majority shareholding by any one person means that they control the club. Kroenke is a businessman, he controls other franchises, (how I hate that word). He may be looking at the large sums of money due to the club from the sale of Fabregas and Nasri with greedy eyes with the intention of holding on to £30m or so, thinking that Arsene will continue to transform ugly ducklings into star players again.
The least Arsenal fans can expect is for Silent Stan and Invisible Ivan to make a statement of their intentions. This proud club has become a laughing stock. When Alex Ferguson becomes condescending things really have hit rock bottom. Surely the Chief Executive should be a football man who can advise and intervene. I feel that Gazidis is a ‘plant’ to run things for Stan from within, when a firm hand behind Arsene to guide and assist him to make difficult decisions is necessary, such as replacing Pat Rice with Steve Bould and get him to sort out the defence and tackle our on-field indiscipline for a start.
It is laudable that Arsenal wish to keep to their self-sustaining business plan whilst others are able to use a bottomless pit of petro dollars and roubles but we are in danger of being left behind and fighting a rearguard action against relegation and staying in the Champions League. If we do have to be controlled by one man, I think that it would be better that it was a Russian oligarch who would spend their largesse to sate their vanity than to be part of an overseas cold blooded franchise empire, who have no roots and seemingly little interest in our club. Perhaps David Dein sold his shares to the right man after all. Yanks out anyone?!!
