Is it the game that’s funny, the fans or Arsenal’s cash flow?
I was chatting to someone during the game last night who made the point that in the 1960’s and ’70’s we hardly knew who was running the club beyond the Manager. Relatively little was really known about Bertie Mee, even, let alone the Assistant Manager, Physio, the Board, majority or minority shareholders. Attention was fixed on the players pretty much exclusively and, happily, on the wider stage, the ‘culture’ of the game was sufficiently slow and violent to exclude most referees from too much scrutiny. Probably helped that there was next to no football on tv compared to the modern game.
The idea that the ordinary, unbriefed fan might be making judgements about the cash flow of the club in that era would have been completely laughable.
As many are aware, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
But this has been one of the biggest gifts of the online age; it’s ability to throw up wave after wave of those willing to be exposed as having noticeably thin scraps of expertise loosely dressed up as ‘knowledge’ propagated on a platform with almost infinite reach. This indiscriminate dissemination of half-formed views is as efficient as the ability it offers the unwary to dash their own personal reputation on the rock of flimsy logic and foolish conjecture. Sharing their views, fleetingly presented as ‘the facts’ until the white horse of truth gallops in from the wings to save us all.
So, another very decent article from Trader Chris on PA yesterday highlighted that few habits are as potentially risky to one’s credibility as making wild and largely unsubstantiated claims about the club’s accounts whilst possessing next to no understanding of the mechanics of cash flow or the importance of budgeting.
Such people – and this probably applies to 99% of fans – really should just concentrate on the football.
Especially those at the back.
Talking of the football, a decent result last night against a magnificently supported German outfit, none of whose supporters, to my knowledge, appeared to be discussing depreciating assets or waving hi-end A4 “Klopp Out” banners. Someone tweeted me that this is linked to the price of their tickets although I don’t recall seeing similar scenes on the terraces in the lower and presumably cheaper echelons of the English league. But, we are told, the downward pressure on morale caused by having to pay for the ‘most expensive tickets in the game’ is now one of the keys to understanding the mindset of the typical Arsenal supporter.
To me, Arsenal’s German Quarter just looked like 3,000 fans taking pride in themselves as much as their team and they are a credit to their club, regardless of any debate on ticketing prices.
Give yourselves a hand …
For Arsenal, the result was pleasing both in the score and in the manner of the way a team that is still badly fractured by injury went about it’s business.
Some have heralded the significance of the return to form of Aaron Ramsey who has himself recently alluded to the fine-tuning going on at squad-level in training and on the pitch.
The loss to any side of players with the outstanding form of midfielder Aaron Ramsey alongside the injuries to key contributors in attack and defence such as Theo and Kos would have had huge consequences.
That the winner of our Champions’ League group is still in the balance not to mention our place in the English league, is little short of a miracle given the vital importance of these three players alone. Factor in the rest of the injuries and we can see that actually, although not all results have gone our way and in-game finishing and defending errors have clearly been made, what we have here could yet prove to be our strongest squad in many, many years.
That the three of Kos, Theo and Ramsey are about to be reunited is of huge significance both for the Premier League and our future progress in the Champions’ League.
Now if people were to stop wrestling with transfer budgets and get to grips with the realities of the season, they might just begin to appreciate all this.
Sadly, as evidenced last night at least, the joy of an Arsenal win is rarely as heartily celebrated on Twitter or the Blogosphere as are the setbacks, so in certain quarters I suspect the ‘expert’ focus of some may lie elsewhere, for now, at least.
Funny old things, fans.
Positively Arsenal 
Only death and taxes are certain? Not quite, it seems.
Equally certain was that it would be the Liverpool match and not the Arsenal match which would appear on the front page of this morning’s Guardian sports supplement.
Our loss 2-0 in Dortmund, when we were “overwhelmed” (their word, not mine) in a “night of awkward truths” – gleeful front page. Our loss 2-1 on Saturday, when we overwhelmed (my word, not theirs) ManU, but were defeated by the randomness of variance – gleeful front page. Our win last night, when we demolished Dortmund with a mixture of skill, flair and resisilience – buried on an inside page.
And you would have to read the report (which I don’t recommend) to understand that the OED will probably have to beef up its definition of the word “grudging”. To be fair, in paragraph 10, it did concede that “Arsenal played good football in patches”.
Of course, none of this matters.
Except that whether we like it or not, football is a media event. And if a newspaper with skilled writers cannot even make a pretence of neutrality, what hope is there for the slow-witted pundits who slavishly follow the media line?
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Agree, Merlot; media have been particularly revealing in their unbridled anti-Arsenal bias this season and it’s clearly picking up one or two followers prepared to go along with it in an unquestioning fashion.
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Merlot, I found that match report strangely grudging too–the patches remark struck me as well. Telegraph was much more fulsome in praise but I haven’t seen the print edition layout for either. Jeremy Wilson was quite enthusiastic about the team’s potential in the CL. You don’t see that expressed very often.
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Thanks Andrew.
Muted praise for Arsenal’s performance last night from the usual suspects.
Hopefully Kos is back now, with Theo – and hopefully Debuchy will steady the ship.
Ozil will be back in January and will have had his post WC rest (enforced or otherwise).
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The Dortmund fans were a credit to their club. Really only paused after Alexis’ goal. Maybe the drum helps. Was the away contingent bigger than others? Seemed larger than the Galata group but it could have been the angle of my perspective. But it was very quiet in the good seats. Tbh, I prefer the cheap seats at the Clock End and more chanting. A great view can be had on the television but you can’t cheer the team directly except at the stadium. Why waste the chance?
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Elegant post, AA. I do think that the club and vocal defenders have contributed to the financialization of Arsenal support discourse as much as have the complaining “customer” sorts, however. I heartily agree that it is high time we concentrate on the football. Accountancy strikes me as a tedious profession (and you worry about those who have turned it into a creative endeavour!). I avoided career paths that seemed to promise a lifetime of drudgery, so the last thing I want is to dedicate leisure pursuits to it!
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An excellent piece Andrew and one that has been on my mind these past few weeks.
My attention was sparked by the comments of a normally sensible fan, Tim Stillman, who usually rights very readable commentary on matters Arsenal in connection with the receipt of a fee paid between AFC and one of Stan’s US business for “services rendered”, or words to that effect. The sum was £ 3 million. The information was in the 13/14 annual results and there was no further information on the matter although why there would be is not clear. No suggestion that the payment was dishonest or illegitimate, simply the fact stated that it had been made.
Poor old Tim seemed to have got into a terrible state about the payment, to the extent of declaring ” that was it”, over the next year he expected to stop watching the Arsenal, an inevitable outcome of the direction of the club over many years and the £3 million payment was the lever that had forced him to that inevitable conclusion.
The man seemed to have whipped himself into a lather of disappointment, indignation and finally rejected the club he has supported for many years – on the basis of reading the annual results, seeing a payment that he does not understand what it is for, and deciding to exit stage left – and it is ALL THEIR FAULT ! .
I should not pick on Mr Stillman but his response appeared totally out of proportion, ridiculous almost. It may be he has revised his position or moved on.
It did seem to me more sensible that if you are interested in football then do not read the annual results, do not delve in your ignorance into the annual results looking for items that you like or dislike. STEER CLEAR OF BUSINESS YOUNG MAN !
You don’t own the club, you will never own the club, you have no say in the strategic or financial decisions made at the club, and because you delude yourself that you do you make yourself miserable.
Be a fan, you have a duty not to be miserable. Let the football satisfy your hunger.
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Interesting quote from Martinez here ( http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141127/martinez-i-had-to-take-my-chance ) :
‘Martinez was also pleased with the resolute defensive performance the team showed after some recent disappointments.
“We were working on it during the week,” he said. “The boss was organising the defence to try to block counter-attacks early and I think we did a fantastic job.” ‘
Wenger doing defensive drills in training? Bollocks, surely it was Bould sneaking in some while Arsene was away. Doesnt fit the narrative at all!
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Glad Martinez said that. Illuminates and dispels some invidious suppositions.
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Fizman’s non-kosher blood diamond fortune was as fascinating and intriguing to me as Kronke’s ‘tache and toupe combination. What can I say? I like football. Guilty as charged.
There is a tale there to be told about the Arsenal boardroom, the Boardroom War. Probably a boring story, but I can imagine the Coen brothers jazzing it up and making the movie as a sequel to the Hudsucker Proxy. Might be interesting then…
In intrigues me that not one uber blogger, Arsenal-Hole or “Specialist in being an Arsenal fan” hacks/parasites have completely ignored the melodramatic tale of the deathbed handover from Fizman to Kronke. Wolf of Wall Street? This was no metaphorical parody or satire, this was the real thing. Billions of Wonga, blood, boardrooms, bartering, probably a bit of *coughs* banter too. Not forgetting Lady Nina’s horse (not the Arsenal Horse –
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/the-horse-under-the-old-north-bank )
There’s a story there if someone is interested in telling it. Probably not whilst working for or as a PR genius, who has only advised Usmanov upon how to publicly discredit himself in spite of his thirty per cent stake, that takes some doing! Usmanov has clearly been advised by a PR Genius *coughs* – who can forget the scenes when Uzzy tried to head down to his local on the Cally Road (via HighGate). That pub story got some coverage, more then the Boardroom War at AFC. I guess those are the kind of moments the hacks and extreme right wing media that Murdoch’s Murder Inc. have blessed us with believe that Arsenal fans live for: images and fabricated tales of Usmanov attempting to sit down inside a pub that is too small to hold his girth? Who knows why? Safe to say these hacks they like to ignore the football. A friend watched the Dortmund pre-match presser and he noticed how little the hacks’ questions had to do with the Football!
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But, but, but Wenga doesn’t do defence. Or tactics. He doesn’t stand up in games nor does he spend money in the transfer window. Definitely hates Bould.
Everyone nos that, stoopid.
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Limestone,
Don’t know if you remember but for a while I was struggling to describe just how good Chamberlain is/will be.he was the best player on the park before his injury at the start of last season, my pre-season nomination for player of the season (a friend picked Ramsey*…) but I think I have found a term to describe this incredibly exciting player, the player who was signed at the darkest hour as the Groaners groaned at first his signing then his conditioning and training and whisper it “drilling”
It marked the beginning a new cycle, though I’m sure the club would’ve wanted to keep more then they let go
Arteta was described a few years ago by some fans who sit next to a friend as the Spanish Prince. They gave him this honorific because more then any other player he saved the Arsenal from the kind horrors witnessed at Liverpool and Tottenham after they lost Big players (only the one each, as opposed to two – we can look to Dortmund’s struggles there…). They also gave him this title because he is a Leader (shush it’s a secret!) who does tactics (another secret!) and is a master of gamesmanship (if you won’t tell Phil Neville I won’t either – though he did play with Arteta for years…). And he played like a Prince last night. An inspirational opening spell to the game from the skipper, the intensity, the drive, he was magnificent.
For me Chamberlain is:
“The Prince that was promised”
Sorry everyone, it’s another lame GRR Martin reference. I’ll get me coat, and I know where the trap door is…
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The thing about the defense this season is undeniably injuries. I looked it up and the first choice back four (Debuchy-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs) has played together for a grand total of ZERO minutes. During 20 games spread over three competitions (League Cup, Premier League and Champions League) Arsenals best defenders have not been able to play together at all.
And the back four that has played has only recently been settled and able to play together consistently; in the beginning of the season there were changes almost every other game(Koscielny and Gibbs struggling with minor injuries, Debuchy and Koscielny suffering lengthy absences). De-Ch-Ko-Gi one game, De-Ch-Me-Mo another, Be-Me-Ko-Mo for a single game, etc. Even with a additional defender these disruptions would have had an impact, and lets be honest, how many 4th-choice CBs would perform as well as Monreal has?
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Great piece Andrew, wow PA is the place to be…
I have listened to about 40 minutes of the Bergkamp Wonderland podcast with Alex Fynn. So far I have gleaned that the anti-Arsene narrative boils down to not spending money, which has been in PLENTIFUL supply, since 2010. Indeed, Fynn claims AFC were on a par with Real Madrid! (then and since?). He claims Arsene just neglects to spend on the necessary top quality defenders and defensive midfielders (the legendary DM ‘beast’) because he is only concerned with attacking midfielders. However, it all rests on the money that may or may not have been available. So I have a request for TraderChris. Are you able to look at the accounts as far back as 2009-10 and offer a similar interpretation that you did recently? I think that may prove a fundamental platform for the arguments for and against the great man…..
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Good stuff, Fins. The Ox creates such excitement when he plays that way.
We are going to miss Arteta quite a bit. We were very lucky to get such solid years where he missed relatively little time after some bad injuries in his Everton career. Deserved captain.
You are an inveterate fantasy fan, clearly, with all these LOTR and ASOIAF references! Just don’t toss in any Sword off Shannara and we’ll all be fine. Otherwise it’ll be to the Wall with you!
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Flynn hasn’t got a clue. Sorry to say it. But it is true
I can write that because he was also on the Arsecast. Anyone listening to that show would’ve got the strong impression that the Arseblogger (who can have a groan) could not be Arsenalled to listen to his unsubstantiated gibberish. He sounded bored, and slightly embarrassed to be listening to Flynn. His words, not mine! The best bit in that interview was when Flynn sounded a little miffed to have not been approached by the club to do any PR. I can’t imagine why not…
…the Arseblogger did a suitable job of dismissing him in that podcast. Nothing left for anyone else left to add. An uncredible blunderbuss.
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Sword of whatsit? Maybe it’s a good thing I’ve missed that one haha!
I stumbled across some tweets from a LOTR/Arsenal twitter account once, can’t remember the name. They were very very funny. Almost convinced me to join twitter. Almost.
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After several months out courtesy of A.Taylor’s fair and balanced “game management” skills it took Chamberlian a little while to regain his top level fitness. Good form on return but once the initial rush of playing subsided the lack of conditioning caught up with him after a few weeks. Then there was the slight injury over the summer. But just like Ramsey he said a few weeks a go that he was coming back to top fitness, and lo, behold! Listening to player interviews can be more useful then a lot of the rubbish written or spoken about Arsenal out there…
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Georgaki, is anyone ever going to be convinced genuinely by that sort of argument now? I suspect not. The good news is that AW has ample resources now which he has been using the last season or two to construct a team with the quality to go further than last season. I would like him to have the chance to do that and he has a three year contract now starting this new trophy drought ended era. We’ve had a bumpy start early, but as he likes to say, judge him in May. It is quite early yet this season and the real task lies in the future. So if he had more money to spend than thought during that era, would it really change how you think and feel about him and the club at this point? The demands and targets were different, the approach to building the side as well. However it is characterized, the situation is different now and much of those old debates strike me as of less relevance to the present challenges.
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The Arsecast where Flynn bores the arse off the Arseblogger was Arsecast 320
Maybe my hearing is deceptive. Here’s the link if anyone’s interested. I wouldn’t waste my time reading or listening to this weird chap after listening to this exposé: http://arseblog.com/2014/08/word-destruction-transfer-thoughts-jack-arsecast-320/
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As Alan Sugar keeps on reminding these Experts:
“Wenger knows the market”
Better then they do. But they don’t like to hear it. The poor lambs.
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141127/wilshere-undergoes-surgery-to-left-ankle Wilshere out for 3 months. Damn shame.
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: (
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This latest Wilshere injury breaks my heart. I hope his injury problems don’t become so severe that he has to do a Van Basten and retire early.
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A very good Post, ArsenalA.
My ears pricked up, figuratively, when I detected a financial element to the Post, as I can say without any hubris, that I am one of the much maligned, boring, qualified accountants who suffer much bloggers abuse, some of it justified.
I can almost sense the ready yawn and glazed eyes behind droopy eyelids as I type that, but fear not, I am not going to wax lyrical about the virtues of good accounting practice required by all well run businesses.
I am an habitué of a number of blogs, where there are many shades of opinion, and very interesting too for all that. However, I am of a positive disposition, both in person and as a supporter/fan of the Arsenal, and one of my pet ‘hates’ are those fans who would use financial data and statistics to support a weak argument designed to rubbish the club.
The ‘funds available for transfers that are not used’ is an old canard that I hear all too often. When questioned, the outraged fan will tell me he saw it in the Annual Accounts.
To my riposte that the Balance Sheet as at ‘x’ date, is just that, [and on day (x + 1) or day (x + 2), (et seq), will be very different] and allowance needs to be made for payments in respect of working capital, or represents funds received early from the sale of season tickets and will be need to pay future costs, there is inevitably an incredulous horror that I should be so stupid – and that if the Cash at Bank on the 31st May 20xx showed a balance of £300m, then that is what was available to spend on players.
This ignorance then leads to the faulty logic that ‘we only spent £80m on players, therefore there is £220m unspent the tight bastards. And so on………
I have long stopped trying to explain the error in their knowledge of accountancy or in their maths, and so I am saved from opprobrium for not toeing the party line, and the malcontents are also happy in their ignorance.
So you see, your natural and understandable caution concerning accountants should not be aimed at the likes of me, because when it suits their purposes – everyone is an accountant. [banned uplifted visage]
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I was just about to write something about not all accountants being boring and that some of them wanted to be lion tamers when along comes HenryB and undermines me.
Really sorry for Jack – he’ll be down about this; even more than us.
ArsenalAndrew showing his age again I see – in the 1960s and 70s – lucky you put the 19 there or we’d all have assumed it was the 1860s/70s. Bertie Mee eh? Hmm – thems were the days. But interesting stuff, nonetheless – I won’t say any more for fear of “dashing my own personal reputation on the rock of flimsy logic and foolish conjecture.” What a lovely turn of phrase you have, sir.
And now you can all ask, What personal reputation?
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Henry: I am no accountant, nor would wish to be – but am thrilled to have met one who is in thrall to smiley faces.
Is what you are saying as simple as the fact that although monthly salary is paid into my account at the end of each month, I cannot see any of it as spending money until I have serviced mortgage, household expenses, insurance etc – by which time I don’t feel very well off at all.
And a second question to you in your accounting role: in your considered opinion is it likely that the Arsenal have a higher wage bill for their first team squad than Chelsea do for theirs.
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I have nothing but respect for accountants, HenryB; my ire is reserved for those attempting to make the judgement of accountants without the qualification to do so. As you say, the balance sheet on day x is just a snapshot of the business taken on that day; unfortunately far more is ascribed to it by the unwary who might be better off formulating different arguments and observations.
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Erudite as ever and that is perhaps the point H
You see digits for what they are, mere numbers sometimes in sequence signifying something, dependent on the observer’s target and perspective, sometimes out of sequence.
You do not become emotionally involved in the annual results, in order that their content or how you read those columns of figures affects your behaviour, your support of the club or your enjoyment of the football.
Would it be that others could so such forensic detachment !
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ForeverH,
You have pretty much hit the nail on the head with your summation of ‘cash flow’.
Say on the 1st of the month you receive a months salary of £x, you know only too well that you have some fixed payments to meet such as mortgage payments, rates, electricity/gas bulls et al, and then your other essential expenses for food, household expenses etc, before you can do little math and say; Salary £x, Mortgages/rates etc £y, food/household costs £z and work out your available spend on ancillaries like booze, holidays etc = £x – £y – £z = Available funds.
The same is true for Arsenal, just larger amounts, payment of VAT, Corporation Tax, Stadium Loans, Player Salaries, offset by Match Day Income, (less costs) and so on.
You may have read The Swiss Ramble an excellent blog written by an accountant, which shows the Arsenal accounts analysis etc. He is aware of the nonsense over the Cash at Bank as at the Balance Sheet date, and has now included a quick summary of a cashflow to arrive at a ‘possible’ transfer fund, which is very different from the headline figure.
The annual accountants do not require a split of the wages and salaries of the company employees by type, so player salaries are part of the whole charge and are an estimate.
I never concern my self with the accounts of other football clubs, so I cant give you an answer as to who pays the most to their players, not least because some the payments may well be ‘off the books’ in respect of certain rights given to players for them to increase their earnings, in addition to what the club pays them, and they may well put all that through their own books. [Complicated!] <—– that is not another type of smiley thingy.
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dkgÖÖner,
How very dare you!
I wear my boredom as a badge of office. [No, I meant it that way around, Nothing bores me more than someone explaining to me why I am not aware of the club’s counting niceties.] Yawn, yawn, yeah – really?
On the other hand, as I may have said on here before, I try not to moan about others, as that is self defeating – and to let you into a secret – I could care less what people who can only ‘transmit’ say, as part of the deal is that they have be on ‘receive’ sometimes too – or what is the point?
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far to much common sence in this excellent post and in the comments. Its very frustrating when people suggest we have 200m+ leftover just to spend on transfers (normally they tend to forget wages as well) and also forget we are up against teams with unlimited funds so if we go after players those teams want it doesnt really matter how much we offer.
It is a real shame about Jack just as it is for Mikel and Yaya and it leads me even more to discount the old training method arguments about our injuries. It was interesting to hear the thoughts on the hardness of emirates and training ground pitches however if you watch the reruns of the games the amount of tackles coming in just after the ball has left our players is the cause in my opinion. The style of referees in this country allows these to go unpunished.
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Henry
According to our friend NotOverTheHill, who is also an accountant, Swissramble is not an accountant but some kind of financial consultant type (don’t ask me!). Not sure if there is a distinction there but in my work I have to be careful that I don’t mistakenly call a joiner a painter & decorator etc.
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finsbury,
I have often reviewed the work of the Swiss Rambler, and it is top rate.
Regardless of his background (spent his career in finance world wide) he has taken the accounts and analysed them with exactitude.
If I was so minded, I would perhaps have included critical ratios based on footballing comparatives, which would give a financial health check – and though they would be distorted by the artificial nature of so many other clubs’ financial structures in the footballing environment that we find ourselves in, and frankly, that in its own way would simply highlight the excellence of Arsenal’s prudence by comparison.
On the other hand it would be a lot of work gathering the disparate data of the other clubs, only to tell us what we already know. 🙂
[I must keep my promise and no more ‘accounting stuff’ from me!!]
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arse_or_brain – inclined to agree with you in respect of late unpunished tackles being responsible for an indecent number of injuries. I’m sure it can’t possibly be the case but it’s almost as if Jack has been targetted – why ALWAYS his ankles?
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AAndrew,
My theory, having watched Jack from the youth teams thru to the first team, is that he dribbles with the ball for longer than perhaps he should, and normally passes with the outside of his foot at the last second.
When some of the more clumsy tacklers lunge in, he gets the ball away OK, but as a result his foot is then where the ball was when the tackle came in, with the inevitable painful result.
Messi can be like that too, but if you watch, he passes the ball half a yard sooner and the ball is gone well before the tackler gets there, and there is no excuse to clobber his ankle instead.
Evidence of this problem, in Jack’s case, is that he has suffered many ankle injuries over the years, usually resulting in months out of action, so it is not just a current problem, and when I see him run with the ball, I wince each time a defender gets near him – and especially when there are two of them.
Ouch!
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TV5 now out for the rest of the season at barca without having kicked a ball in anger for his new club. sad for him but proves Arsene was right in letting him go even if we were unable to buy a old head to replace him. It is worrying however its another injury collected with us. If we could keep a talented squad injury free we could win everything.
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There were two heavy tackles on Saturday, the Ox on Shaw was similar to McNair on Jack. Shaw is out for three weeks ( reportedly), Jack is out for three months.
No idea why but I remember when Diego Maradona came back to football after his ankle was broken by the Butcher of Bilbao he wore massive strapping round both ankles for years after – God knows how he ran around but might be an idea
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A or B/ Ian
I think Tommy tore his muscle or trained it playing for Belgium at the World Cup. He came in to their third game hoping to show his fitness and to try an reclaim his starting berth for the knock out rounds.
His initial set back after his original injury was caused by him ignoring his physios and rushing himself back, same as Wilshere. Same as many! I suspect that he may have rushed himself back for the WC too, when possibly he’d have been better off resting for the whole summer. But that is an impossible call for a footballer to make.
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BShaw came into start of that game with a niggle and probably should not have played. He was, according to some, in the “Redzone”!
At the least he wasn’t having his best game up till he went off, he wasn’t a hundred per cent.
Jack was fine. Till he got clumped.
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Have to love how Arsenal troll the moaners, Marca report today that Arsenal will sign a central defender from Real Madrid in January, Gorka Zabarte Moreno – he turns 16 in january and is said to have agreed a move to Arsenal, – the moaners will go into meltdown (Again)
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Players get clumped. It happens. But. You would expect an experienced referee to be able to spot someone ankles turning like that. After all, their job is to protect the players. It’s why fouls were invented in the first place. A ref can call a foul if there’s no contact if he feels the defender has simply been not showing enough respect to his opponent. Never a yellow, but why ignore the foul? That is the question. The last niggle Jack got a few weeks ago,vwhere he dived in and injured himself, that followed another uncalled foul. This is a consistent problem, and you can’t blame Jack for these fouls because he’s not holding on too long in every case – such as on Saturday. Or the previous one just mentioned. Yes, like all young players coming back from injury he was holding on for too long etc. at times only now was he regaining his burst of speed and improving in that area.
You can have titanium ankles my friends, but if they keep getting thwacked then they will suffer from fatigue and fail. Spanish football changed after that tackle on Maradonna, not just Maradonna’s footwear (though I would suggest Kevlar socks for AFC and body armour haha!). Messi is protected, no one can even pretend he isn’t. And C.Ronaldo’s comments about prolonging his career on his move to Madrid are there and on the record.
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Ronaldo The Lesser had tendonitis this summer and just like Koscielny would have been he too was advised not to play. But of course he did.
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” he has taken the accounts and analysed them with exactitude.”
Um. According to NOTH the SR did not include in his calculations the full fit out costs for the residential units along Drayton Park. Only up to the Shell and Core stage. This means that the SR assumed that the sub-company responsible for building those units handed them over at completion without any plumbing, lighting etc…you get the idea.
Sorry, that does not match my concept of exactitude. How many houses along Drayton Park? Quite a few. NOTH calculated that minor oversight by SR to be approx a cool £30M. I trust his numbers. Sounds about right to me. That’s not peanuts.
But it does match my experience that many people despite their backgrounds don’t understand how medium to large construction projects are contracted, budgeted, and finally built. And let’s be honest, the division between Shell and Core or Full Fit Out at Project Handover is not that fascinating, and it is reassuring to me that many do not know of such contractual details that are not relevant unless you work in the industry.
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I have now listened to all the Bergkamp Wonderland podcast and the dreary Arsecast podcast, both interviewing Alex Fynn. He certainly had access to both Arsène and Dein in the early years of Arsène’s tenure. However, what is clear is that he lost that access sometime ago and every criticism he makes in that subsequent period is speculation. If I have the time and patience I would go back and make notes because I lost count of the number of inconsistencies and contradictions he makes. He is also guilty of “reverse engineering” much of what he says about Arsène, using the benefit of hindsight to rewrite his narrative.
The cynic in me is also suspicious that he is seeking controversy to promote his new book.
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You probably are right on there, Georgaki. Marketing. Might also resent losing his access.
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What is Prince Harry doing playing for Wolfsburg? He’s wearing the number 14 shirt
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“Fantastic” is Burton’s response when asked what it is like to work for the Frenchman.
“For me, he is the boss. I think I can look most football people in the eye – not physically but metaphorically – but with Arsène I see him as someone who has done things that no one else has done. To me, he will always be the best. He’s done an unbelievable job at Arsenal over a long period of time
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/27/terry-burton-arsenal-
Proper Arsenal
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Sorry, Finsbury, @ 7:12
I have just got back.
The independent auditors of AFC are, from memory, Deloitte, and they signed off the statutory Annual Accounts to the 31st May 2014, as did the Chairman of Arsenal.
When I said the Swiss Ramble had taken — the audited Annual Accounts — and analysed them with ‘exactitude’, I meant precisely that.
I also said that some fans erroneously used the end of year cash balance as being the sum of money available for player transfers.
This year SR has included a ‘quick summary’ of a projected cashflow to arrive at a ‘possible’ transfer fund available to buy players, which is very different from the year end balance.
No one outside of Arsenal knows the actual details of the cashflow budget for the current year which by definition can only be an educated estimate.
So, if NOTH’s estimate disagrees with SR’s estimate, that’s fine.
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