Why do we torture ourselves with things we know deep down do not make logical sense? After every draw or loss, there is a deluge of anger and melancholy on social media about things we would either know to be mendacious statements if we took the time to examine it obdurately or things we do not have any clarity on.
For example; the Luis Suarez situation. What do we truly know about it? We have read some reports and heard some statements from people on the outskirts of the issue but what do we know to be true? To be verifiable fact? I’ll get into that in a minute but first let me explore the phenomena we torture ourselves with – argumentum ad populum or argumentum ad numerum.
Argumentum ad populum or ad numerum is Latin for “appeal to the people” and “appeal to the number” and is possibly more familiar to you as communal reinforcement. It basically means believing an opinion* to be true because it is repeated by the masses. Twitter is a breeding ground for this. In the aftermath of a poor result, anger takes over, opinions are espoused and they gain traction. Papers then write articles that deliberately and ignominiously enforce these opinions because they know people will click on the article, either to nod themselves into a stupor in fervent agreement or spread the word by taking to social media and shouting “look at what this bullshit rag full of hacks has published” in outrage. And we all fall for this calculated hit-seeking garbage every time.
These articles are essentially an accelerant to the argumentum ad populum fire and retrospectively “validate” the opinion. It then has us arguing over facts and opinions and then after we’ve thrown personal insults at one another, and had our friends weigh into the debate, we have the token level-headed person who says “come on guys, we all want the same thing and we’re all entitled to our opinion”. This is where it gets grammatically murky because most of what we are arguing about is actually belief or prejudice (not the really negative and vile type of prejudice I should clarify).
What do I mean by this? Well, in debate/opinion etc there are four components to what we are saying – Fact. Opinion. Belief. Prejudice.
A fact is verifiable. A fact is beyond argument, such as “mainland Britain is an island”. Facts, however, only have meaning when given context. Facts are the antithesis of argumentum ad populum in construct.
*Opinion, something we all think we are expressing in these arguments, is a conclusion drawn from a fact. For example, ‘Man City spend a lot of money (fact), and they win trophies (fact), so I think we need to spend more money to win a trophy (opinion)’.
Belief is a conviction or viewpoint based on faith or in some cases personal morals. For example, ‘aliens exist’ (faith) or ‘meat is murder’ (morals) . A belief is not based on fact or evidence. Some people may choose to believe there is evidence based on hearsay, conjecture, lack of evidence to the contrary or media “reports”.
Prejudice is a “half-opinion” based on insufficient evidence or evidence that has not been scrutinised. For example, ‘Wenger doesn’t want to spend money’. How do you know that? Because he hasn’t spent as much as others? Spending less than others is not a fact that means he doesn’t want to spend. Such prejudices are presented as fact or opinion. They are neither. We all do this.
We all accept the prejudice of others if it matches with our own and it perpetuates into argumentum ad populum. Prejudices like this aren’t to be confused or banded with “isms” (sexism, racism etc). These types of prejudices are just carelessly simplified views but they are dangerous when they are communally reinforced.
Back to Suarez. There is no doubt that for whatever reason the pursuit of Suarez was totally cocked up in the summer. Was the +£1 so contemptible to Liverpool they decided to flip us off? Possibly. Did they indeed ignore the buy-out clause as was suggested by John W. Henry recently and take the calculated risk neither Arsenal nor Suarez would pursue it? Was the PFA correct in the summer when they claimed it was not a buy-out clause at all?
Certainly the PFA’s statement can retrospectively be claimed as a cause for argumentum ad populum because JWH’s statement contradicts it. Which is fact and which is opinion? Who is more likely to know the details of Suarez’s contract? His club owner or the PFA? That is where belief and prejudice come into play because the ‘facts’ are not verifiable to us mere mortals. Only those in the halls of power of football can clarify the facts and I can’t see them doing that just so Arsenal supporters will stop arguing amongst themselves.
The two worst cases of argumentum ad populum from the Suarez situation relates to Higuain and Sanogo.
The communal reinforcement surrounding Higuain is the prejudiced argument “we missed out”. This “opinion” as people would call it is based on personal interpretation of “facts” and because it has gained traction people take it as fact because of argumentum ad populum.
What we know is Arsenal abandoned their pursuit of Higuain to chase Suarez. Whilst doing so Higuain joined Napoli. The argument is we should have gone back for Higuain once the Suarez deal was dead. How can you miss out on a player who has been sold?
A fair criticism would be saying Arsenal should never have chased Suarez but to say that would mean you cannot complain about Arsenal not signing better players because Suarez is a better player than Higuain and based on information available to the club they believed it was possible to secure the better player. Ignoring the fiasco that followed can you genuinely say you feel the club was wrong to target the better player?
You could also say Arsenal should have gone back for Higuain the moment Liverpool wouldn’t play ball instead of dragging it out. This would be a fair opinion because it would be based on the fact we switched targets and attempted to negotiate with Liverpool. So that would make the opinion/belief “Arsenal missed out on the opportunity to sign Higuain by putting all their eggs in the Suarez basket”. This is quite different. Wording is important. It explains that Arsenal missed something by doing something – the road not taken if you will, which is a fact. The road was not taken. The current argument suggests gross incompetence and negligence which is a prejudice not a fact.
The Sanogo argument ad populum says Arsenal deliberately did not buy a world-class striker in favour of signing Sanogo. This is “enforced” by the fact he has played some games.
Here is a very crude analogy. Complaining about Sanogo is akin to complaining about buying toilet paper instead of sauce to go on your pasta. First consider if the shop had any sauce or if they did, did they have the one you wanted, or a something equally as good? Second, consider what will happen to your pasta if you don’t get sauce. Will it still be edible? Yes. Will it fill you up? Yes but maybe not to the degree it would with sauce and it might not be as tasty. Third, consider what will happen after you have eaten that pasta. Eventually you will need the toilet paper. It is forward planning.
Sanogo, forgive me, is toilet paper. He was not bought instead of sauce; he was bought with the future in mind. Try not to over-analyse that analogy – I realise it isn’t perfect but it makes the point.
He has played because he was needed to, not because Wenger didn’t need or want Suarez. Remember, Sanogo was signed before we bid for Suarez. Believing we don’t buy strikers because we signed Sanogo is buying into argumentum ad populum. It is not a fact and is not an opinion, it is a belief.
And it is these argumentum ad populum’s that we torture ourselves with. We get angry, we scream at the team, we complain about the manager and the board and use these false facts as reasons for doing so. We have righteous anger but we express it in unrighteous ways or use an argumentum ad populum as a reason for the thing that led to the anger.
We were absolutely shocking at Stoke and that is something to be righteously annoyed about and something we have every right to question but false facts do not explain the performance.
It cannot be proven that buying a striker would have changed that result or made the other ten players perform better or stopped the referee from giving Stoke a free pass to stamp on Giroud or give an incredibly harsh penalty. So why use argumentum ad populum to say it would have?
Some people say we should play Podolski more often because he is the best finisher and whilst we lack a world-class striker we should make more use of him instead of playing Giroud but what did Podolski do against Stoke? Not much is the answer. And why was that? Many reasons but one is we didn’t give him enough chances. A striker’s job isn’t to give the left-forward chances all game so a new striker may not have benefited him at all. The midfield needs to take responsibility for that. But that would not fit the popular theory.
We lost to Stoke because we were toothless, because our passing was poor, because we miss Ramsey and Theo, because of bad decision making in the box and because we didn’t create enough chances. These are mostly facts. The chances we did create were poorly executed. Sanogo skied a ball to equalise but that is not proof we don’t want to buy a striker. Cazorla made an arguably bigger error.
As the more experienced player it can be argued that Santi not passing to Podolski or Giroud, who were both in clear scoring positions, was worse than an inexperienced player rushing his shot. But this article is not about blame.
What I am try to get at, in a very long-winded manner, is we shouldn’t make ourselves angry over non-facts masquerading as facts because of communal reinforcement and should recognise them for what they are. We should form opinions on fact, as it always has been not dress up prejudice or belief as fact without verifiable fact.
There is plenty for us to be angry about without adding falsities and unsubstantiated claims to the list.
Maybe impending fatherhood is making me more serene and I’m not saying you are not entitled to such beliefs but I do think presenting them as fact and encouraging others to believe the same through, possibly innocent, regular espousal is causing much unrest. Argument ad populum is for fools and we’re not fools, are we?
Thank you to George and the guys at Positively Arsenal for sharing this post. I’m Daniel Cowan and you can catch me and my insipid views on www.northlondonisred.co.uk or the @GoonerspherePod
Positively Arsenal 
This is an incredibly well reasoned article……………..sadly, for that reason, many of our fans will dismiss it since it does not fit in with their philosophy of irrational argument……………
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Very good Daniel – i think the other interesting thing of social media and its use and misuse among AFC fans, and football fans everywhere, is a total incapacity to say ” I don’t know” or ” I don’t understand”.
Admittedly the purpose of social media is to contribute positively, to declaim a digital “eureka” and to shine the light of your intellect upon your lucky 14 followers. Therefore saying “I really know so little about the matter I cannot contribute in any meaningful way to the debate on …..” is not an often read tweet.
Setting that caveat aside however there is an obsession among fans to understand, to provide themselves, and anyone else who they encounter in the world, with an explanation of every single little thing in the life of a football club, either on the pitch, in the months of alleged activity or lack of it in the window, even combing through the technical notes in the 2010 annual accounts to “prove” some arguable link to Sanogi skying a shot at the Britannia.
Enough I say – there is n meaning – It is as it is.
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Thanks for this Daniel: I really enjoyed it, and like the thought that as well as Positively Arsenal we now also have Philosophically Arsenal. You make some excellent points, but I think at times you are too kind: there is a lot of prejudice out there, which tips all too easily into violent hatred. Twitter at times is like the nightmare Island envisioned by Golding when the adults are no longer around to ensure fair play.
How impending is the fatherhood, by the way?
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Thanks Daniel. Good Stuff.
Carzola, I’m not happy with him (don’t worry, he is still my favourite or second favourite player). I choose to believe that Plodders would have gone on to bury one of those half-chances (IBSF). So, therefore I have no choice but to blame Vengaaaaaar, The Kronk and that diamond geezer Fizman for not selling the club on to my employer, Ooops, I mean for everything as in Everything. Have you seen the price of eggs these days?
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Did Gazprom invest in London in anticipation of such recent developments? Can’t the Ruskies do something useful and ask Gazprom to take their investment out of Fulham. Even better, will the Bank of England claim all of Gazprom’s investments in the UK? Every (mushroom) cloud has a….
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@Mike – I am already seeing it on twitter with such erudite retorts as “Good god” or “incredibly patronising piece”. There is nothing patronising about it. The thing about a generic post that is not aimed at an individual is it can only be patronising if the readers chooses to feel patronised by it which says more about them than the post itself.
@forevereheady – thanks. Impending fatherhood is good. Just a few weeks away.
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Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. Hope to see your avi’s on NLIR sometime 😉
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Fantastic stuff Daniel,up to your usual standards mate-I’m gonna use that toilet paper/pasta sauce number in my next argument with Mrs Mel..
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Haha, glad you liked it Mel. A little more “positive” than my last post on NLIR about sacrificing the Bayern game which wasn’t popular on twitter :s
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I think an FA cup would be magical-that CL is 80% luck/fluke to win-fuck it! Let’s go for the real Cup!
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One of the most intellectually stimulating Posts I have read on any blog. Excellent! 🙂
Perhaps you could also have added ‘argumentum ad nauseam’.
This means that arguing about whether something is true, or not, can become so repetitively circular that everyone eventually loses the will to live – or at the very least becomes heartily sick of the subject, and could not give a monkeys as to who was right, or even to forget who said what about what, or whether any facts were ever involved in the first place. 🙂
You are, of course, right in implying that someone with a shakey grasp of a subject can be emboldened by other people agreeing with a point and elevate ‘opinion’ to the status of fact – without the need for any corroborative evidence.
Without wishing to be vulgar, some of us find the argumentum ad numerum philosophy difficult to swallow, because for its precepts to hold true, the old adage “shit must taste good, because thousands of flies cannot be wrong” does not appeal.
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Daniel,
The toilet paper/pasta analogy is amusing in making your point, because everyone, for personal or business reasons, has to first establish what is needed, and then incorporate a little forward planning, but the choices are not necessarily mutually exclusive as the process can be symbiotic in nature. 🙂
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Sorry, I forgot to add – “as you cleverly pointed out!” 🙂
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a great mind stimulating piece. sometimes we enjoy post that we agree with or is informative or pokes fun at those with which we disagree, however probably the best post on any site is the one that makes you think, so Daniel well done.
One of the best assumptions I always like is when say Sanogo/Giroud misses and the masses say a suarez would have scored that. Obviously jumping to the conclusion that suarez or whoever would have taken up that same position and so might not ever had the chance in the first place.
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The talk of whether or not we should have bought a striker in the summer, after the Suarez debacle, or even more pressingly perhaps in January, falls squarely into your opinion/quasi fact/prejudice analogy.
However, we do have some indisputable ‘fact’ to bring to bear in this respect, as in February, during a press conference, Wenger was asked why he had not bought a striker in the last transfer window.
His response was illuminating. He maintained that he knew that Sanogo was on the verge of returning to full fitness following his lengthy interest and he did not see the need.
Now that leads to conjecture, of course, as to whether or not he was right in his judgement call, or whether he actually meant he would have better options in the summer transfer market, but it does show he was neither being negligent nor simply being parsimonious.
That there is one of those rare beauties — a fact! 🙂
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Just because Arsene says something does not make it fact. “Carzola? I dont know him”
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a_or_b,
Football is such an emotive and passionate sport to become embroiled in, that logical, or rational responses are the first to wither on the vine — and I confess to being guilty of it myself — you know, in front of the TV — “I could have scored that ‘x’ — oh, yes, great pass – GOOOOOAL” so the player concerned has gone from being hopeless to hero in the space of seconds. Rational? Logical? No way José!! 🙂
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George,
The ‘fact’ is that Wenger said it!
I already covered the part that the statement would then lead to conjecture as to whether or not he was right etc etc. Thank you for confirming my point! 🙂
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Daniel,
It is only a minor point, but you said that “an opinion (is) something we all think we are expressing in these arguments, (and) is a conclusion drawn from a fact”.
I cannot agree with that, although I understand the point you were making.
In fact, an opinion is more commonly accepted as a personal view, or perhaps a judgement, based on ‘something’, but not necessarily based on either fact or knowledge.
And that is why the interchanging of ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ leads to so many misunderstandings and ultimately to quarrels between fans/bloggers.
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OK, George, I know my time is up.
Sayonara. (But it really was an enjoyable Post!) 🙂
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@HenryB – Thanks Henry, I wanted an analogy that made that very point and the loo roll one seemed apt enough 😉
@arse_or_brain – Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I used to find myself in periods of deep through and reflective blogging or tweeting every now and then but with the baby almost here I find it is now my default position. I’m glad it got you thinking (and I hope that doesn’t sound patronising).
@HenryB (again 😉 ) – I see your point about the Wenger fact and raise you one context 😉 Did he mean world-class strikers of the ilk of Suarez or did he mean he kept faith with Sanogo over the bottom of the barrel stuff like Monaco fished up in Berbatov? (not to say Berbatov is rubbish but with the money they have it’s a surprise they went for him, no?)
Also, I am talking about the definition of an opinion which has been appropriated to mean “a personal view” and doesn’t need to be based on fact but in this case I referenced the definition of these words as described in “The Little, Brown Handbook” by H. Ramsey Fowler.
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I prefer J. Arthur Hartley myself.
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I understand your point, Daniel, and that is fair enough, because you certainly got the point across regarding the meaning of ‘opinion’ in the context of the Post.
When Arsene makes his comments at press conferences, it is right to treat them with caution, because as I said elsewhere, he has a habit of making them elliptical which therefore makes it difficult to always understand what he is driving at.
Deliberately so? 🙂
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Daniel
I loved reading your piece. Thanks.
Looks like I’ll choose to checkout NLIR with regularity. I clicked links to some fabulous articles from you ver the last couple of months.
You could give us news/updates re your newborn here?
Good luck.
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i think that for an opinion/statement/claim to be valid it needs to be backed up by empirical evidence at least, or else its just hot air, a fart in the wind. the fans who moan and doom are not expressing opinion they are simply activating their animal instinct to shout. If its free speech they mean then they dont realise that free speech must be followed with some sense of responsibility/justification or else they is no order.
Even those who doom under the empirical evidence of the last 8 trophyless years are doing so by using wrong criteria in the questions they try to answer in their minds. When you have knowledge of something you cant be fooled. When you only know half and try to connect dots you can be easily misled. Frustration grows when you cant put 2 and 2 together. You get angry, you lose the plot, you bark…..its what all animals do. humans should use reason.
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A very good post Daniel, very good indeed.
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Are smiley ‘s unbanned ?
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and of course you can critisise as long as you know what youre talking about…but that should be second to supporting. the team is going for big things. now is the time to support not to critisise. judging by the latest behaviours in last couple of home games i think its alot more positive than what the internet would have you believe.
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No Seebs but people using them might be. Good job Frank isn’t around.
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Wow Daniel. Monumental effort. I can’t say I agree with all that you have said but with the main points and the majority of your post . Well done.
For all those that say we shouldn’t have minded all the hard fouls and should have been above it all and produced a better game as a team and come out with more quality I have to say ,it isn’t as simple as that. Aggressive and illegal fouls that come about with some team ,as regular as clock work, have a tendency to effect the players and the team as a whole in a very negative way and can be very deflating. Specialy if said activity goes unpunished. It is too simplistic to say ” oh get on with it and put all that out of your mind. Not if the next tackle or stump can put you out of commission for a long time or even your whole career. All those who have played the game in a competitive spirit know this very well. After a few hard fouls your first thought are about protecting yourself not where the ball is going to end up after your first touch. Compound this by the fact that in THE ARSENALS case any attempt to retaliate is punished swiftly. The referee here takes the majority of the blame not just 50% as our good friend ANDREW asserts. Its a case of the official deciding the final outcome for you and it isn’t really about what you did or you didn’t do. We have all been here before , seen this and done that.
As far as Suarez, and old story that should die a quick death. We have more important fish to fry In the next couple of month and god willing we shall overcome all obstacle placed in our way.
Will get there, and we will do that. I have faith and belief.
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Nice post Daniel. Its quite the essay on the subject.
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@Rantetta – thanks, hopefully will chat with you on NLIR or twitter some time too. I will try to keep you up to date re the newborn
@DC, @Sav – Thanks
@goonerkam – I’d be interested to know what points you didn’t agree with.
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look football is the opium of the people…..wenger’s arsenal is for sophisticated people….the commoners can not get it…wenger is 20 years ahead of everyone…instead of the english sorting out their football practices/philosophies etc they are telling him esssentially to “fuck off this is not how we do things around here”. its more embarassing for england and their lack of effort to get with the times of world/european football rather than wenger doing anythign wrong. the idea thats its ok to kick arsenal is something the fans should be marching about against the f.a, media who enjoy neanderthalism and cannibalism in favour of trigonometric passing and beautiful goals. The goonies are coming out manipulated by media and trolls claiming hysterical things and committing hybris of the highest order on a daily basis. One would have thought that teh first ten years of Wenger would have EDUCATED the fish and chip bangers and mash neanderthal brigades of norf landan but their culture goes as far as beating totenahm and having a manager like graham …thats their ceiling…. how could these racoons ever comprehend what it means to build stadiums and keep the club safe and competitive at the highest level under such difficult circumstances?
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panathinaikos who is now in ruins because of owners doing silly things ( however, we still beat cunts of piraeus 3-0 inside their home haha) enjoyed a far greater prestige as a football club to arsenal prior to wenger….if it werent for wenger and the vieira + henry years i would laugh at arsenal fans calling their club big ( i still do btw) . do arsenal fans realise these things? I bet they would never acknowledge this truth. Porto has major european honours…arsenal has got two laughable fair and cup winners cup whatever….Some old timers even go as back to the fucking 30’s to convince themselves that arsenal was important back in the day….the fucking 30’s …before ww2 …and the people who talk such shit werent even there to witness any of it……imperialism at its forte……” ours were the greatest ever”…… mmmmmmmbollocks……
i press these gits into answering ” what did arsenal’s previous regimes/managers/ownership structures…EVER DO to place Arsenal next to the names/clubs that Wenger has placed us? ………all i get is silence….maybe the question is too clever for them. bangers and mash …….
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Congratulations to Alex Oxlade Chamberlain on his Player of the Month award for February
He has put in some very good performances, scored important goals and played his part in different roles around the pitch. A great comeback after five frustrating months out. Keep fit and he will be a key player in the run in.
Not sure but I suspect this is his first PoM award – the first of many I hope.
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A shame Chamberlain needed the rest on the weekend as described in his England interview. “Four weeks into a return after a five month lay off”, he was wisely rested before this week. I have no doubt that the sports science enthusiasts out there appreciate such wisdom.
Uncle Roy started Chambo at the Euro’s. Obviously he appreciates the players worth and Chamberlain must be a key player now Walcott is lost to him. He was always going to be asked to play midweek for England.
Many of those recently moaning over transfers were moaning over Chambo’s signing, and then moaned when he was coached to play to play CM (including those fabled ‘defensive drills’ that the consistent Experts tell us the Arsenal do not practice) when they called for him to replace the ‘Goal Machine’ Walcott (after all they are Experts!).
A forward line including Walcott, Chambo (when not in CM), Gnabry and Campbell playing around or sometimes instead of others will form a Pace battery which will equal or better that of bankrupt Liverpool. Offloading King Kenny’s dodgy signings at a huge lo$$ may have helped on the pitch but it sounds like the club is still fooooked off it.
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Aha!
From the Manchester Gruniad:
“Ayre praised FSG as “smart investors” who continue to invest in Liverpool, with loans, “to realise the true value of their investment long term”
Loans with a sweet interest charge?. Smart investors? Oh yes they are!
Now, what was the sum of those dividends that Kronke has been taking out of AFC again? I’d better check with the employees of R&W Holdings what they were before I head off to froth and foam about how evil the owners of AFC are. See you all later!
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They don’t speak any English, they just do what they’re told.
My best mate is a Stoke fan.
On my 1st night… she was having a shit behind the car.
When you come across Big Ted, his fur gets all matted.
Preceded by and interspersed with talk of wanking.
That was my 1st time listening to Goonersphere. Loved it. Well done.
Note to self: Time to forget about cancelled driving test in Launceston, and instead, fantasize about the females of the West and South Western counties, where even I might score, albeit, posthumously.
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congratulations to the BFG and rosicky the one i call shakira on their new contract. also to the ox being deservedly voted the player of the month. hope he plays it easy with ingerland and return in good shape for the ten cup finals of the season.
guardian are reporting ramsey is due for a new five year contract in the next 48hrs. hope its true. funny that some are already complaining about the reported weekly wage of £100,000. we are talking about our best player this season. better than mata and shreak put together. we would still be top of the league if he hasnt been injured.
he is also reported to be back in full training already. light and tunnel…
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It’d have been nice to have Gervais still the squad. He’d have been useful cover for Wally. And the returning Chamberlain.
I had heard this repeated by many Experts, that Gervais was the worst player they had ever seen. Sure, he had some poor moments devoid of confidence andI don’t want to be controversial but after this can happen to an athlete. With thousands of his own fans heckling him the club really had no choice but to sell him. But in conclusion I think I’m happy to trust the judgement of F.Totti (& my own eyes!) when it comes to footballers.
And Joel Campbell needed more time etc.
Therefore we can see how the negativity has hindered this squad this season. Undeniable. This is why the bullgrit artists out there, we know who they are, need to be called out by the Twitterati for the damage they have done to the club on the pitch.
Fix up. Look sharp.
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i’m not sure gervinho will want to be a back up under such a hostile climate. if only the fans know that a squad is not made up of only the first eleven they will apreciate the contribution of players who come off the bench to make impact. and even players who dont make the bench but available when some are injured. if some fans can complain about vermaelen, i wonder what sort of players they want on the bench. thiago silva??
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liverpool post £50m loss in a bid to make the top four. they might have to sell suares eventually to balance the book or miss out of the ucl altogether in a season or two if they dont balance their books. with suares current deal, it will be tough for them. all these we have got for nothing in the past fifteen season under arsene wenger.
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carles puyol
respect !
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Well, well, PA just keeps getting better. Great piece Daniel.
I’ve been totally snowed under with work and have not been anywhere near the internet for some time.
I heard PG yesterday on the ClockEnd. I understand that quite a few clubs deliberately have longer grass for when Arsenal visit. George, did you surmise that the grass was long form the way the passes didn’t quite get to the target or is that gem of information independently verifiable?
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I noticed in the warm up that I couldn’t see their feet.
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There is all sorts of jiggery pokery going on with pitches
I am baffled why, in the course of the wettest period of weather in human history since Noah was a lad, that Arsenal insist on watering the pitch not just before the game but during half time.
I am all for slicking up a dry or hard pitch to promote sharp and accurate passing but there are bloody puddles on the pitch, players lose their footing, the ball stops – what is that all about ?
I’m with Forever – set a spec for every PL pitch – get someone qualified to oversee the standards are met – if they fail fine em, ban em etc.
And if you can only manage a muddy cabbage patch then fuck off out of the PL
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Looking forward to seeing how Podolski and Ozil do tomorrow, with a lot less pressure on them.
I would hope wRoy won’t play the Arsenal lads, but of coure he will wreck them.
A game for France might be a tonic for Kos and Giroud, as for the others: Santi, Tommy. I just hope the come hope in one piece.
I hear Sanogo is playing for France U19 tonight. I will search the net for a link. I might be one of the few who don’t see a natural finisher in him, yet. but he is young and any latent talents he has can be developed by Wenger.
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Think the Emirates surface is so well drained that the watering is akin to that on a water-based Astro: it keeps the surface slick. I remember puddles on the pitch derailing our chances away at Villa last season. I always look anxiously at the forecast days before each fixture, as the worse the weather, the more it equalizes teams. I do think that we are sometimes naïve in attempting to play the same way whatever the weather.
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And if you can only manage a muddy cabbage patch or play the game like a neanderthal, then fuck off out of the PL
YES !!!!
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who is spain playing? if its afganistan or eritrea or american samoa, you can expect spain to play cazorla full 95 mins but if they play any top team in europe he may be rested. de bosque is a twat.
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Cracking post fine sir. Will definitely be following your blog from now on.
Anicoll’s thoughts on dodgy pitches had me erupting with laughter btw. Hope to be on more frequently pretty soon. Hope you lot are well.
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