This is part one of two articles from ArsenalAndrew
There has been some talk in recent days amongst fans and in the wider media of the need for an Arsenal backlash.
For the side to ‘finally’ stand up and be counted, ideally in the most spectacular of fashions.
Preferably, against Spurs, if at all possible.
Well, it equally has to be said – because it is there for all to see – that even in the games that haven’t ended well for us recently, as a general rule, there has always been signs of a beautiful machine about to click into place. Only by the narrowest of margins have passes been cut out and moves broken down. This much has been evident all season long.
And it is this single, simple observation, that goes to the heart of my personal frustration and anger at those who persist with the negative nonsense.
If those same critics were as willing to get behind the team as they are to ignore the progress being achieved by a group of players still getting to know one another, let alone their opponents and the wider demands of the EPL, then I’ve no doubt Arsenal World would be a much, much better place.
We are told in all seriousness by The Ones Who Doubt, that the Arsenal players should know each other’s game inside out by now.
But this fundamentally fails to grasp the finer points of Arsene’s Quantum Football Mechanics which relies on a near telepathic understanding of where one’s team mates will be found at any stage of the play. The absolute killer attacks are not founded on a leisurely survey of the pitch before a pass is played. Players like Emanuel Petit have said they always knew where their colleagues were, pretty much to within a few inches – in Petit’s case he was referring specifically to his playing relationship with Patrick Viera.
These relationships do not gel overnight.
At Man U, Ferguson has had the great good fortune to be in a position to largely manage player exits so that ‘fallow’ periods have been relatively few and far between. It’s not to attack Arsenal to give United credit for this. And it’s equally telling that the loss of a star player – in their case Ronaldo – was just as problematic for them to deal with as it has been for Arsenal to make adjustments in the wake of the Fabregas and Persie departures.
That Ferguson was able to retain the services of the formerly ‘want away’ Wayne, at vast cost to the Mancunian coffers, at a stroke provides as succinct and near perfect illustration of the impact made by the difference in the circumstances between the two clubs in recent years.
With the benefit of hindsight it’s perfectly possible to suggest Arsenal entered that period (as defined by the club’s new stadium project) financially ‘undercooked’ and in doing so, left themselves vulnerable to player movement on a scale not seen further north.
Or indeed anywhere not involving a club crushed by relegation.
But to condemn Arsenal FC for this is to willfully ignore the impact of two game-changing events that no-one – least of all the club’s harshest critics – predicted.
In some ways one might assume there should be no real need to spell out the effects on Arsenal and it’s wider operating environment when these two developments came to pass.
And yet there appears now to be a widespread failure on the part of many observers – including amongst them, many of the club’s own fans – to properly understand that no conventionally funded club in the world would have been able to withstand with impunity an equivalent double-whammy of the kind that befell our club and its carefully laid plans. To cope with the sudden appearance of two over-funded, under-regulated mega-rivals – a development which crucially coincided with the global Credit Crunch responsible for strangling the club’s access to vital funds at the most critical stage of its post-stadium development. As fluidity within the vital property market all but dried up, so too did our ability to acquire – and retain – the top, top quality players we had only recently grown used to having around.
The arrival of such competitors, their unlimited funds and their propensity towards player ‘theft’ all hit Arsenal at exactly the point our projected funding stream slowed to a trickle.
With our supporters now being asked to pay some of the world’s highest prices to watch home games, the club’s ability to truly compete – and win competitions outright – at the highest levels commensurate to those ticket prices, had been compromised.
And almost fatally so.
How close Arsenal FC itself came, if at all, to some sort of collapse has yet to be fully revealed.
How the club somehow absorbed the attendant pressures will one day form the most remarkable of stories. Certainly, not one you could make up.
From Fever Pitch to Boiling Point, it’ll be another best seller, some day.
Part 2 of this article will appear on Positive Arsenal in the next few days and takes a look at what happened next …
Positively Arsenal 
…alas my playing days are over but in days gone by I would have been out on a day like this. Lunch time six a side was always a favourite at Finsbury Leisure Centre..
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Had a pint with Niall Quinn there just after he joined us. Well I say had a pint with him. I bought him a Guinness and he walked off to talk to someone else.
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‘skimblog’ should be a new word in the OED. Skimblog (n), intellectually impaired as a result of chronic couldntreallybearsedness. (syn) lazy, malevolent, cunt.
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Gains (3.56) – yes, agree.
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I do like this site.
Thankyou for the interesting read.
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Nah, Frankie, I think they’re just middle class plonkers whose conservative sensibilities arise from being pandered to by politicians who place them above the plebs.
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skimblog
such a suitable word
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I just read that Arsenal are monitoring Vela. I wonder if thats true?
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Btw Braithwaite House just across the road from Finsbury Leisure Centre is where the Krays were arrested in their mum’s flat. Which is nice.
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Carlos Vela, PaulN?
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Frank, yes.
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Good morning ANDREW
I wish I had your talent for what you do with words. Nicely written.
looking forward to the 2nd installment. So very anxious for our game this Sunday. COYG……
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I would not mind seeing him back in the red and white. He still has talent to burn.
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http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/16/carlos-vela-not-ruling-out-arsenal-return-as-gunners-scouts-look-on-3480483/
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I always thought he had a lot more to offer too, Paul-N.
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Also, just to confuse visitors, Finsbury Park up the road from our gaff is not in Finsbury. Nope. Not at all. It is three miles north of Finsbury. It was built so that the people of Finsbury could have somewhere to feed the ducks. As Finsbury was a marsh and full of ducks it is not surprising that the people of Finsbury rarely went to Finsbury Park. The park is now frequented by people who live in the Finsbury Park area.
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Frank, he is a very talented player. I am still surprised that he did not get into the first team. There has to be something more to the story. It’s Good to know that there was a buy back clause when he was sold. Obviously Arsene feels he has something about him.
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I used to Frequent Finsbury park as a youth.
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How has he been playing for Real Sociedad?
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I wouldn’t mind if Carlos came back Paul N – I feel like he has unfinished business here and I’d love to see a few more chips from him in the red and white of The Arsenal!
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Frank, I don’t get to watch him a lot but from what I always follow the scores and read the reports. It seems he is doing quite well.
I agree Passenal. It does not seem right that he has not done great things for Arsenal. He was the best young player in Mexico also, all of that talent is still there. He needs to come home and help us get to our rightful place.
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I would like that
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Now that was no fat bloke falling over. Technical and athletic ability on display there. Excellent.
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gains69 …there is this silly businessman, dont know if this pedro has heard of him, some guy in america called bill gates who is in computers. Some nerd in silicon valley who is considered one of the richest people on earth. he was facing criticism about his massive cash reserves and how that money should be used for investment. gates allured to a past era when he was still an employee in a software company which went bust and none of the employees got paid….and that he is doing it for his people in the chance that they fail on profits in a year or have some unpredictable “act of god” which could damage the company;s cash flow and its financial responsibilities towards third parties. every company, every household….always stacks up for such evenbs..why should it be different for football clubs?
is it because football has been operating in a bubble as wenger correctly says…..isnt this bubble a haven for some players who still manipulate platini? zimpaul is on the money. if wenger succeeds and half the football clubs start following his model then what will all the money launderers zahavi, harris, murdoch, roman, sheiks, silvio, moratti, perez, rossel going to do?
– near to 4 billion is what sky makes selling the epl to the world….
– id say uefa makes double that selling the champions league… maybe even triple
at first the milans and the juves and the madrids were slaughtering the english teams via uefa so that they could keep the big one within the family….the final between chelsea and united in moscow must have been uefa’s biggest nightmare…americans and russians playing for the trophy which was a ping pong between old europe/ italians french spannish dutch and germans…who brought these fuckers in ? england brought them in …how? when blair and brown changed the regulation for club ownerships. why did they do that? cause the english economy had nothing else left to export, and without exports (strong pound vs weak dollar/euro) an economy cant survive. so we will bring the foreign owners in wherever they are from, the laundring will take place, but since this is still sold as the ENGLISH premier league the flagship will have to include a brittish element…enter honeybunny united and then honeybunny chelsea… as the australian with the pony tail says correctly : its about “national psyche” too. and football is number one in the consiousness of the english/brittish mass as “identity”
so though old europe/uefa was against them at the beginning and was serious about fpp…something suddenly changed when qatar got the world cup…..thats when the arabs got in the game too. even if uefa wanted to uphold some principel or tradition, it is impossible now….the big players will flash the gold and michel and sepp will bend over happily….the funny thing is the complaints coming from england about uefa/fifa corruption when the biggest corruption happened in their soil when money from non footballing activities and from unknown origin were circulated in their league system……
football = opium of the world…and they know it and like every cartel, its all about money and control and sharing the pieces between them. they have something which the masses crave for…
i admit i dont have the ability to write in any sort of order, it might look random , it might look like a puzzle , and it might as well look like incoherent ramblings so whoever manages to understand even 10% of the above andd the “political and economic games” at place, has my respect and my admiration…ive had 11 espressos and no lunch yet ….if i could put all these thoughts down as a lawyer i would..but andrew adi zim are far better to do so.
wenger;s arsenal embodies the change that the old world order is afraid of ….and not only in terms of football but the way of THOUGHT. humanity has struggled enough having a bunch of cunts thinking short term and only in it for the profit, youre here for 70 years give or take ..why seek to improve anything,, why change it..its not like youll live to see the difference……might as well continue in the footsteps of what is the “norm”…..caring about yourself only and your pot and ignore anything else …no we are all one ..we are all together ..we are all fed up of this shit and we can see how religion politics and banks want to keep everything as is to continue exercising their control and securing their profits. the old and selfish vs the new and generous..
ferguson in it for the now..even placing his legacy and his club at great danger for the sake of trophies versus the wenger who wont mind sacrifising his own self and a career if it means he leaves something GOOD behind him. he could easily say “fuck you ” to hillwood and friar and arsenal but he stayed and is taking all the bullets so that our club benefits in the long term. from a young age we are programmed to worry and think about what others will say about us. our principles change depending on who we want to impress and how we want to be remembered when were gone.
can you imagine every serious organisation or service which has to do with the wellbeing of man acting in that manner and not just for silly football? i cant…life has been commercialised from beggining to end..you get born in a hospital ( paid for) and you die in a hospital ( again paid for, if youre lucky or else its the streets/fields) and in this passage thank god for wenger and arsenal, without them i would have say goodbye to the idea that the world can improve.
why spend your life being sensible humble and caring when you can get rich being a cunt and manipulating and commercialising all aspects of living?
will arsene win? it depends on us too…then again….. what the bleep do i know?
following and supporting arsenal goes way beyond the shallow collection of trophies..its a lot deeper and philosophical …wenger and arsenal piss all over barca and their mas que un club bullshit…..
really sorry for the sheet of text ..i had to get it off my chest. i’ll go take a few steadons of 5ml now..( my dog has epilepsy and i must be certain of what i give him, hence the testing … )
arsenal for fucks sake ONLY ARSENAL !!!! i understand!!!
😉
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Great goal against Barcelona Athletic and I would think he will be keen to get out of that shirt. It is so blue it almost brings on epilepsy.
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And, he has 11 goals and 5 Assists in 24 matces. Not bad at all. I think he would fit right in and could be used in quite a few positions. Upfront, on the wings or in the middle.
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Synchronicity there, hunter. It is a sign.
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Do not allow your dog to watch Carlos Vela in his Real Sociedad kit, hunter. It is so blue you can see it in black and white.
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Some really great comments today. The one thing empowering the vocal minority of doubters and the media outlets is the relative silence of the.majority section of true supporters. Defend the club every chance you get. At the pub .the blogs. Radio. Tv. New high bury. Tweeter.
Everywhere. silence the vocal leaders of the anti support and their followers will stop acting like idiots. Two more months to end this
Campaign so let’s make sure THE SQUAD and AW know this true support is alive and kicking. And that they are not in this alone……
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absolutely frank….synchronicity… ..success, the wise say, is a combination of luck and timing..if youre prepared and keep your eyes open the chance will present itself… and we will take it, oh we damn will..jack will make sure of that! and thank you for your consideration for my 4footed friend ! he is in good hands…..and pills..lol…
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goonerkam February 27, 2013 at 7:00 pm
i love you. you love i ?
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With regards to Vela, you might actually find we are looking at Griezman? But who knows?
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Adam, could even be both.
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meh.
Kroos misses an early chance for Muchen at home against Dortmund. Could be a good game.
Hunter great comment above!
I think G69 was right about Kroos: He is known for thumping in shots from distance, Bayern would play to his strengths. Reading ZMs review of the Arsenal-Munchen game, he says Kroos has been a Key player for Munchen this season.
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Like Andrew I look forward to AW’s memoirs, but I fear the editors or lawyers will have to get to work on the draft. The Summer of 2010 may remain a tale to be told.
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Goodness me,Hunter is on one today
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Oops. I meant the Summer of 2011.
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Munchen 1- Dortmund 0 HT. Bayern looking quite scary. Martinez was the star player for me in the u21 tournament that Spain recently won, outshining Mata and others. Only €40 million!
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Paul-N February 27, 2013 at 6:13 pm: “I used to Frequent Finsbury park as a youth.” Me too! To play football & cricket.
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You must be from the Finsbury Park area then, Finsbury?
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HUNTER 13
INDEED mate . Ever since you were CESC ERA. ,, HAHAHA
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Yes, I grew up in N4. finsburyparker was or is my avatar name.
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Dortmund would be happy with a goal from a corner that wasn’t. This game isn’t as intense as the CL game with Arsenal.
Not as strong as the Dortmund team/squad from last season that was beaten by Arsenal, though Gotze and Reus are a year older? A consequence of instability in the squad composition?
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Excellent. A stone’s throw away from Highbury.
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Can someone do an article for Sunday morning.
A match preview but not ,if you get me?
I am looking in your direction Frank
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We’re all looking in Frank’s direction …
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Yep OK
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Great stuff
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Marvellous to have a blog on Sunday but I’m ready
I’m in the tunnel
I am giving BoBo the eye
I know
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“why spend your life being sensible humble and caring when you can get rich being a cunt and manipulating and commercialising all aspects of living?”
You are so wise hunter. This is exactly the crux of the matter.
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