So, Arsene – what’s changed?
Yesterday I tweeted this:
“Same philosophy, same tactics, same vision, but increased spending power. So, NO, ARSENE HASN’T CHANGED, his credit limit has.”
A few days ago I had this to say:
“Wenger isn’t back, because he’s never been away. He hasn’t changed and he certainly hasn’t fucking listened to fans, or the media.”
It doesn’t take a lot to irk me [No shit – Ed] but the insistence from certain sections of the fan base and the media that Arsène has changed infuriates me to the point where I could punch a puppy.
They are adamant that Arsène has changed. Well, he has. He is older and wiser.
He has not, however, changed in the way they are insinuating.
These idiot halfwits (trust me that is the nicest description I could muster) want us to believe that they were right. He had “lost it”. He did want to feed his enormous ego by trying to win with a bunch of kids and cut price players. He was choosing not to spend the money that was available. He was happy with 4th and a last 16 place in Europe.
They have to think these things otherwise they would have to accept that they have been wrong.
Very wrong.
Completely wrong – and they won’t do that!
They have been wrong about Arsène.
They have been wrong about Ivan being incompetent.
They have been wrong about Stan being an asset stripper.
In short, they were wrong about everything.
However, having spent years talking absolute bollocks, they have to find some way of justifying their stupidity.
They want us to believe that they were right. Their lack of support for the great man – our greatest ever manager – is to be excused because “Arsène has changed“.
You hear things like, “we wanted him to buy world class players and now he is“. Completely ignoring what has been clear to anyone with even half a brain for 10 years.
He didn’t have the money to spend!
Or this little gem “We wanted to win trophies and now he has!” Again ignoring that he didn’t have the players to do it given that there were three clubs spending north of a billion pounds to buy up the said trophies.
I repeatedly hear “mistakes were made” and yet the vast majority of these perceived mistakes can be put down to the simple lack of funds.
They will do anything, and say anything, rather than admit they were the ones that were making mistakes.
Arsène is the same as he was last year, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 18 years ago when he first tipped up.
These people were unable to understand the simple economic realities that hamstrung the club. They spent years writing blogs, doing podcasts and tweeting about how they could do a better job than Arsène and the board. Make no mistake, if you are telling someone how to do their job, it’s because you think you know better.
Well they didn’t, not a single one of them.
The divide in the fan base was caused by them. It was not caused by those people who held their position of simply supporting the club. Both sides of the divide were not to blame. It was the uninformed pea-brains that thought they had the answers. Not those who just wanted to support the club.
It’s alright to be wrong. We are all wrong from time to time. But it’s not alright not to accept being wrong, look for an excuse for your wrongness and hide behind it.
The most popular excuse seem to be Arsène has changed.
Well he hasn’t, so admit that and stop digging.
By pedantic george @Blackburngeorge
Positively Arsenal 
Yay! Well said, George, and I agree with every word of it.
And while we’re at it, the same people love to try to include others in their previous folly. “We *all* did or said X,” they say. No, we didn’t *all* do or say X. Take responsibility for your own actions and words and enjoy that humble pie.
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Nice one George and well said, above, FunGunner.
Arsene’s changed? Talk about clutching at straws.
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Absolutely spot in George! Unfortunately, some of our fans really believe in their own self importance to no end. Last season it was because of fan pressure that Arsene grudgingly and reluctantly went and bought Ozil. Some guy even had the temerity to tell me that it was because the fans were boycotting games and not renewing their season tickets, hence the board has decided to act by inserting a clause in Arsene’s contract that demanded he spent money on new signings!…….I just gave up cos otherwise, it might have detoriorated to the point of trading punches! You see, such fellows are not arsenal fans to me! Never! You cannot be happy when we lose and dismissive of our victories and call yourself a supporter of our club……..not having it!
Which brings me to yesterday’s post (great work Swales). It’s a shame that our fans have also joined the arsenal hating band-wagon (grumpy bus if you will) and now that we are where we are, financially and in stature, it will only take a good helping of humble pie to bring the grumpy bus riders back on side……….and in the words of Sam Alladici, they can’t take it………hahaha! They can’t take it!
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I am sure I have said this before, maybe elsewhere, but in order to be as good at his job as he is Arsene changes constantly.
He learns, he experiments, he tries some new thing out, if it works he uses it, he discards it is it does not work, he refines, he sharpens, he listens, he watches, he ruminates , he ponders. The resources he has to effect change alter, sometimes he has exceptional personnel, at other times lesser human capital. Sometimes it is £££, others not.
Arsene is a shark, moving constantly through the football ocean, constantly in motion, feeding, moving forward.
And among the constellation of knowledge, stimuli, resources that whirl through the sea water around him he draws us forward, into another glorious season.
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I’d seen the gaffer as more of a vulture then a shark in recent years, but shark works for me too!
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“The divide in the fan base was caused by them.”
Plenty of evidence for this. Plenty.
I wonder if the Groaners will attempt to respond. If like them to.
The trolling upon various blogs by the same people/IPs was recorded. The smearing of any and all who disagreed with them with the invented slur “AKB” which was previously a self-endearing term used by supporters of the club. Who can forget the genius “cult” meme, that was successful…yes…plenty of evidence of the depths to which these Arsenal holes sank.
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I think the perfect example of the dishonesty and opportunism of the publicity seeking Groaners is the meme they created around one Dick Law.
As anyone who grew up reading 2000AD, wholesome British punk sci-fi for those who don’t know, you don’t mess with the law! Only, well, only an idiot would do that. Speaking of which, I bet these self same Groaners enjoyed the performance of Joel Campbell this weekend. You couldn’t make it up. Except they do!
So many other examples aside from Dick law of the Groaners conduct and lies. So, so many…
Such as the one about the goalkeeping coaches! Wholesome slagging off of the arsenal coaches on a podcast of course. Very pleasant. Support!
These would be the very same coaches that have helped to bring through from youth level three of the PLs first team keepers in 2014/15. Mannone, Fabianski, and our very own pole in goal. What percentage is three out of twenty? I’ll leave the genius Groaners to make that calculation. You couldn’t make it up!
So, so many other examples.
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@ anicoll5
I think you may be missing the nub of George’s article. Arsene was supposedly previously a) choosing not to buy the best established talent, b) choosing not to win trophies, c) choosing not to buy pay large talent, d) choosing not to buy players early in the transfer window (factually incorrect anyway because he has always done *some* business early) etc, etc. And all because of his massive ego/fear/greed/shortsightedness/lack of ambition/inability to manage big players – delete as applicable. Without regurgitating George’s article, the point is that AW did not *choose* any of that – he was temporarily constrained by the club’s relative poverty.
He remains committed to achieving value for money in the transfer market, for respecting his valuation of a player and to spending within his means – the only difference is that our means are now greatly increased.
He still buys young players and gives them a chance.
He still believes in the same football philosophy which he has espoused and promoted since he came to the club.
What you are talking about is his willingness to learn and to embrace new technology or developments in any field which will help his team to win. That has not changed, either.
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@ finsbury
Very good points.
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A vulture ?
Well I suppose Arsene is looking a bit more lined around the neck and face these days but a VULTURE ! Hmmmmmm ( banned s******)
Interesting week coming up, CL qualifiers coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by the draw for the knock out final qualifiers on Friday with our name in the hat.
A trip to Zenit/Bilbao and Besiktas would probably be the least attractive and Lille seem a decent side. All beatable but after yesterday the banana skin warning sign is on.
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I thought I was agreeing with G’s article !
The probably failed to make sufficiently clear is that for all those fans with tiny, tiny brains, myself among them, we have no idea at all what is going in in the man’s mind.
The feeble insights of the Groaners are laughable, as G points out. Always have been, always will be.
In truth however I have very little idea what is happening and why. As I say the Great White Arsene glides across the ocean floor, finely tuned, relentless, ever alert.
I just sit back and enjoy the outcome.
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To be fair to myself it was when he swooped upon the carcass of Malaga that I had the impression that the old bird had been coasting up there upon the thermals. Biding his time, waiting for the right moment to strike.
But since that day the Arsenal manimal has evolved (BT & Puma deals) and started to attack the big fish, it’s true. Arsene smells blood.
–
Zenit a goal down from the first leg, but they should win the home tie.
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Not unsurprisingly George’s sentiments are in line with the majority of us. But the points made by posters are excellent and and just as god as the blog itself.
Obviously the malcontents who turned on Wenger as well some of our friends will be quick to say George is simply resurrecting old disputes and furthering the divide. But reality is very different. Many of these Wenger has Changed-ers have simply become advocates for scapegoating any of our players whom they have annointed as not being world class. Yesterday’s nonsensense on Twitter where Giroud and Arteta were roasted in a pre-season friendly is a first taste of what to expect. Seems more things change the more they remain the same.
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Spot on, George. I can’t foresee many of the Groaners acknowledging that they were wrong. In my opinion, there at least three reasons. They like the (delusional) feeling of power that they somehow helped to change things (far better than to acknowledge that what they did had no positive effect). They may want to play the “Wenger out” card again – they can’t do that as easily if they acknowledge that he was right all along. And they are too self-absorbed to recognise that their actions have harmed the club and, ironically, helped to prolong the trophy drought that they so desperately wanted to end.
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Well said George. I’ve raised this very point myself on twitter to both of my followers. I presume by their silence that they were in full agreement.
So many fans actually must believe that they could do a better job. Criticising everything that they can. The papers have picked up on this and give them fuel to use ripping our own team down.
The only changes Wenger has made is to have an air of caution over how he treats our fans. For all he talks of us fondly and dedicates positive events to us it seems false somehow. Who could blame him though. Hopefully he is well aware that there is a strong voice of reason that is entirely grateful for his fantastic achievement over the last 8 season.
Great post.
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@finsbury
Fantastic points made there. I think a large bunch of the less positively inclined posters has some sort of negative obsession with the higher-ups at AFC. They just plain out refuse to give the likes of Mr. Law, Ivan, etc. credit where it’s due. Ivan in particular has been given so much stick when most of those abusing him probably don’t even understand what his role is. But now we have the new Puma sponsorship, the Emirates deal etc. do we see those same people praising Ivan for getting the job done? No, of course not.
Those same people will often start questioning if we aren’t paying Arsene, Ivan etc. too much money, but in the same breath they will call for the signing of whatever player is currently flavour of the month, even if that player will be on astronomical wages and we don’t even know how and if he will fit in our system. Hypocrisy at it’s best but the simple truth is that we are paying those people the money they are earning because they have delivered. Ivan has delivered (especially over the last couple of seasons by renegotiating the Emirates deal early which in turn allowed us to flex our financial muscles a season earlier than planned), Arsene has been delivering every bloody season he has been with us.
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Love the analogy Anicoll5.
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Powerful reading. Has to be said, so thanks for saying it.
But the fools do not he have the humility to admit fault.
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Tell you what though, something surely even the most troubled fans must want to stay the same. The value for money that we get. Even whilst financially shackled we’ve gotten Koscielny, Cazorla, Giroud to go into the first team. All of which are punching way above the weight of their transfer fees. Even those that don’t rate Giroud must see he is far above the average striker you’d get for £10m.
I’m expecting both Özil and Sanchez to seem like steals by the end of this season.
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