139 Comments

Ivan Gazidis Lets Arsenal Fans Down !

“So what have the Romans ever done for us ?”

Well for much of Arsenal blog world in recent days that should read

“What has Ivan ever done for us (that we don’t take offence to)”

Seriously, what on earth has Ivan said that could possibly offend these great minds and leaders of opinion, or the sheep that accept their agenda driven bullshit?

In case you missed it, Arsenal CEO, Ivan Gazidis, gave his usual pre-season interview to some media outlet or other, this time ESPN. I’m sure many on here could, without seeing it or reading it,give a good guess at what he had to say. Now that is not, like the malcontents claim, because we are some sort of cult, inducted into the mantra of Stan’s(or should that be Arsene’s) mouthpiece, and we lap up and repeat addendum. No its because most of us know the history of our club, not just the Wenger era, or the GG era, I go back to the Mee era, and by saying we know the history of this club, i’m referring to not just what goes on on the pitch, but in fact how the club we support, is actually run, and has been run in the vast majority, if not all its, long history. Arsenal is run, and has been as long as I’ve been a Gooner (almost 50 years), as a self sustaining club, that, does not do panic, that by and large, sticks by its managers, its players, and does not let the media influence or disrupt our plans, long or short term plans.

We would have expected Ivan to tell us that Arsenal are

behind our manager
still believe in him
believe in him, not for his history, but cos we know the work he is doing for us now, and that he still has the vision, the drive, the talent and the forsight that is good for the club,
disappointed that we did not win the league last season
top 4 is not good enough and we want to win the league
are continually upgrading all aspects of the club, not just the team/squad, but also analytical, medical, training, infrastructure, you name it, we are trying to improve it
we have, or to be more precise, we are working, to a long term plan
this long term plan is reviewed and amended where needed continually
we have lots of money
but others have more
we can not spend £100M on one player
so we have to spend our money intelligently
getting the right player, is more important than getting the most expensive player
just because a player is highly talented, it does not mean he is suited to our style of play or would improve us,
it’s getting the player that fits,
we buy big too,(Xhaka remains the most expensive player bought by a BPL club so far this summer) but we also believe in promoting from within
Leicester showed that there are more ways than one to skin a cat, and we should copy the best bits from them, just as we copy bits from other clubs as we see fit.

Guess what? Ivan did tell us all of it, – AGAIN, Ivan with the same as he said last year, and the year before, they say, totally missing the point, that we, just as he told them, again, this year, and last year and the year before, are working to a plan, a short term one, and a long term one. So why the feck would we abandon the path we believe in, we believe is right, believe is TRUE, to the ethos of the club?

Now a certain section of the fan base is up in arms, in fact they tell us they are offended, by Ivan’s words. These are the sort of people that like to tell us that Arsenal embarrass them, that they are ashamed to support the club, and on that note, many of them seem to have a very loose definition of what support is, as they never have a good word to say about anything AFC, they say they do not spend on merchandise, and loads of them (almost as many as claim to have been at WHL last game of 71 season, or to be more relevant to most of them, maybe I should say, almost as many as claim to have been at the league winning game at Anfield, in their favorite managers era, yes bung-meister himself George Graham) claim to have given up their season ticket(no wonder there is so much room for the “tourists”).

So the embarrassed and offended fans, don’t have a good word to say about Arsenal, don’t spend any money on it, and don’t go to games, but it’s the fans who back the club, the manager, the players, and agree with the club being run along the lines it has always been, are the ones holding the club back. Well, that is, after Wenger, Ivan, Stan, Per, Ramsey, Giroud, Walcott.

So I say to the offended, go on, be offended, that is your right, its also your problem, and yours alone, if you need Arsenal to help you in some playground dick swinging contest, and Arsenal are not interested, and this offends you, maybe you should have a good long look at yourself, and your reasons for being an Arsenal fan, and maybe, just maybe, it’s not Arsenal, but you, yourself, that the offence originates in, and yes, you should be ashamed, and offended, and don’t ask what has the Ivan ever did for us.

 

Thanks to Eduardo for today’s post

139 comments on “Ivan Gazidis Lets Arsenal Fans Down !

  1. PG, enjoy yourself:-

    WATCH: Former Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin scores INCREDIBLE solo goal in Kazakhstan league
    talkSPORT‎ – 22 hours ago

    AA 28, must be coming to the end of his career, here is his injury record,

    Description Start Date End Date
    Calf Muscle Strain 31/03/10 23/04/10
    Hamstring 10/02/10 28/02/10

    No wonder, Mr Wenger is blamed for injuries?

    The source is his latest club, FC Kairat!

    Like

  2. rumors that per is out for 4 or 5 months with his knee injury, not sure where these stories come from, but a bit of a meltdown from some on twitter

    Like

  3. it seems that kike marin is the source of the Per out for 5 months story

    Like

  4. former Arsebal player Kyle Ebecilio (22yo) has been diagnosed with the rare muscle disease Guillain–Barré syndrome. Will be out for some time

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillain%E2%80%93Barr%C3%A9_syndrome

    Like

  5. Wenger will be doing a press conference at 10pm tonight, likely to be asked about Per and transfers

    Like

  6. Culann Davies ‏@CulannDavies 2h2 hours ago
    All the right people would be pissed off if we signed Ben Yedder rather than Lacazette and for that reason alone it needs to happen

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Good grief – £75 million for a donkey like Higuain !

    Whatever next ?

    Liked by 2 people

  8. its almost as if Juve expect a massive influx of cash to their club, like if someone was going to pay way over the odds for one of their players.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Ben Dinnery ‏@BenDinnery 4m4 minutes ago
    Wenger confirms Per Mertesacker will be out for a “few months.”

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  10. It’s a quote from Arsenal so BFG out for a bit.
    Long enough for LK6 to be the new skipper? We shall see.

    Never imagined Chambers going on loan. the next he plays will he be RCB? Anyone know which side Holding and Chambers played on for the England youth team?

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  11. Wenger confirms that Xhaka will make his debut for afc v MLS all stars. “Granit Xhaka will play a part on Thursday”

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  12. Wenger on Lacazette: “Lyon are responsible for their own statements, we like to keep our transfer business secret.”

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  13. Wenger also said with Per out we will look to bring in an experienced CB, and we will see our young CB’s in action on this tour

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  14. Wenger: “We have bad news about Per. He played against Lens and had a little pain but then we found out it was worse he had surgery. I do not know how long he will be out but it is definitely going to be for a few month. We need cover. With Mertesacker being out, we are now a little short and I will have to bring somebody in.”

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Eddy, in actual fact Guillain Barré syndrome is a primary nerve disease, not muscular disease. It presents as an ascending paralysis that may involve the respiratory muscles leading to death if the patient isn’t intubated.

    Forgive my being pedantic about it (banned smiley thingy).
    Thanks for all the updates and the excellent comment turned full blog post.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. how very dare Ivan Gazidis give interviews with the american media, while on tour with the Arsenal squad.
    And whats more, its outrageous that he says things the malcontents don’t like. I now understand why the malcontents feel justified in looking to cause a toxic atmosphere right from the first game of this season, v Liverpool.
    Who could possibly blame them, when Ivan is telling them we can’t outspend Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Barca, Real, Juve, PSG and Bayern. How the fuck can they win a dick swinging transfer window contest, with facts like this being spouted by that “LIAR” Gazidis.
    Its bad enough that he is not David Dein, without him actually doing his job so well.

    Its outrageous, and I am embarrassed, ashamed, furious, any other old bollocks you can think of, I’m it, and its all Ivan’s fault, well not Ivan’s, its actually Stan’s, well no, its actually Arsene’s, well now that I think about it, there is no one else to blame except Arsenal FC. But I’m a Gooner till I die, they fucking cunts, can’t wait till Ozil and Alexis and any other of our best players leave, and we finish 5th, or 6th or better still mid-table, when its my right to see Arsenal win the CL and BPL, its my right, I tell you, my right, Ivan promised me, he did, he did, he bloody well did, well I’m sure he did, well I thought he did. well it looked like he did, well the headline on that blog suggested he did, anyway its all fucking Ivan’s fault, the lying cunt.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. from eir sport

    Gazidis: Arsenal need major trophies

    Arsenal need to win major titles and are under pressure to deliver them, chief executive Ivan Gazidis has said.

    The Gunners ended a nine-year wait for a major trophy when they won the FA Cup in 2014 and successfully defended the trophy the following year, but it is 12 years since they last won the Premier League.

    Arsene Wenger’s side looked well place to end that run last season when they topped the table at the turn of the year but a poor second half to the campaign saw them finish second, ten points adrift of champions Leicester.

    Having missed out on the title, Gazidis admits finishing second is not good enough and he is keen to deliver success in a way that is ‘consistent with the club’s values’.

    “We need to win the major titles, and we feel that pressure every day,” he told the New York Times.

    “And so for us, there is a sense of disappointment and frustration that last season we finished in second place. Second place isn’t what we’re aiming for. We’re aiming to win it.

    “Achieving consistency provides us with the opportunity to compete at that level and try to win it every year, and that’s obviously a good thing.
    “But that’s not our objective. Our objective is to win the major trophies, and to put the club in a position where it can consistently compete for the major trophies. And I would add, very importantly for us, to do it in a way that’s consistent with our club values.”

    Lack of success in the league has resulted in a section of fans calling for Wenger to step down as manager but he continues to have the backing of the board.

    “We don’t have any sense of nostalgia,” Gazidis stated. “Our support for Arsene Wenger is not based on the history of what he’s done for our football club, as extraordinary as that is.

    “We’re very focused on the future. This is one of our core values is that we’re progressive and always moving forward. So what’s happened in the past is far less relevant to us as what’s happening as we look forward.

    “And our support of Arsene has been strong, because we see someone who’s devoted to the club, who’s top class in the way he conducts himself, and in the way he has a positive vision for what football is and what it can be. Now, sometimes we get accused of being naive; I don’t view that as naivety.
    “I think winning football, and winning it with style and grace, are core values for Arsenal, and Arsene is somebody that we believe can deliver that.”

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Wenger: “Zelalem might take a bit longer to mature. He’s physically a little bit behind on body structure. I’m sure he’ll be a great player”

    Like

  19. The knuckle dragging critics do not understand that Arsenals cash reserves sit on the property side of the business and are there to pay the mortgage for the next 12 years. Speculating that money in transfer market would be a dereliction of management duty. The Club has already spent around £40m this summer and will probably push that up a deal more by the end of the window. But I for one will get more pleasure from seeing at least one young player promoted internally (as per the Clubs normal way of doing things) – the risk is far less great and the expense far less as well.

    Liked by 4 people

  20. MARCELO ALLENDE JOINS MALEN AND NELSON IN ARSENAL U19 SQUAD FOR DURBAN INTERNATIONAL CUP

    Arsenal U19s have arrived in South Africa as they bid to retain the Durban International Cup.

    The young Gunners won the competition in impressive style last year and will take on KZN Academy, Sporting Lisbon and Golden Arrows in the group stages. The competition gets underway tomorrow.

    Arsenal have named a strong squad for the tournament, with Donyell Malen, Stephy Mavididi, Ben Sheaf, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith-Rowe amongst those included.

    Also involved is midfielder Marcelo Allende, who is set to train with the club until September. A Chilean youth international who has captained his country at U17 level, it remains to be seen whether Allende will be offered a professional deal by the Gunners.

    Arsenal squad: Hugo Keto, Ben Sheaf, Stephy Mavididi, Kristopher Da Graca, Savvas Mourgos, Marcus McGuane, Josh DaSilva, Donyell Malen, Nathan Tella, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Jordi Osei-Tutu, Kostas Pileas, Tolaji Bola, Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith-Rowe, Toby Omole, Marcelo Allende.

    Posted in Uncategorized on July 27, 2016 by Jeorge Bird.

    Like

  21. Arsenal transfer news: Ivan Gazidis warns fans ‘public pressure’ won’t force Gunners to make signings
    JAMES BENGE 8 minutes ago0 comments

    Ivan Gazidis: The Arsenal CEO has said his club won’t spend just to sooth fans’ rage
    Chief executive Ivan Gazidis has warned Arsenal supporters that their demands for further signings will not dictate the club’s strategy in the remainder of the transfer window.

    Arsenal remain active in the market, with an elite striker at the top of Arsene Wenger’s wishlist. A serious knee injury to Per Mertesacker has also made the need for a centre-back all the more pressing.

    Recent interviews by Gazidis have seen him warn supporters that “outgunning” their Premier League rivals and suggest that their approach to the transfer window will be “disciplined” rather than extravagant.

    The latter comments provoked a furious backlash from Arsenal supporters, even forcing the club website and Wenger to reaffirm the club’s willingness to spend “big money” on the right target before the transfer window closes.

    However Gazidis has made clear that it will be the club, and not the whims of supporters, that dictates whether Arsenal make further signings to add to Granit Xhaka, Rob Holding and, subject to international clearance, Takuma Asano.

    “We don’t sign players in response to public pressure,” he said. “We sign players because we believe they will progress us as a club. We’re really disciplined about that. We have to be. We don’t have the financial resources of some of the other clubs.

    “If we went out and just tried to compete only on the basis of spending more than others in transfer windows, that wouldn’t be a successful strategy for us. We have to be very disciplined about staying true to our values, staying true to the foundations of the club and making sure that we make smart decisions.

    “Looking ahead in this transfer window, we’re going to retain that discipline. We will certainly add players if we think and our manager thinks they add value to our squad. We’re actively in the market, as is every other club. We won’t do it if we don’t see the value that’s added to our squad.

    “That’s the reason why our squad has developed over the last few years. That’s the reason it is stronger today than it was five years ago. I think anybody paying attention to what we’ve actually done with our squad will recognize that philosophy and that approach has given us a squad that is capable of competing to win the Premier League and we’re very hopeful about the direction of travel.”

    Wenger has already seen two leading transfer targets pass him by, with Jamie Vardy choosing to remain at Leicester in June before Gonzalo Higuain chose to leave Napoli for Juventus rather than Arsenal.

    With Olivier Giroud expected to miss the start of the season following his exertions at Euro 2016 Wenger may consider handing the central striking berth to youngster Chuba Akpom for the opening day clash against Liverpool if the 20-year-old can impress in pre-season.

    Arsene Wenger coy on Arsenal Alexandre Lacazette bid
    Giving another youngster an opportunity to shine is something neither Wenger nor his chief executive are averse to.

    “We’ve been really consistent and disciplined over the last three or four years in being very selective about the players that we bring in and not making too many compromises along the way,” Gazidis added.

    “That has meant both developing young players – we’ve got some fantastic young talent that has come through like Hector Bellerin or Francis Coquelin, Alex Iwobi broke into the first team this year and we’ve got a number of young players that we feel very strongly about behind them – but it also has involved spending big money at times on talented players where we believe they’ll add real value. Players like Mesut Ozil or Alexis Sanchez or this season Granit Xhaka.”

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Arsenal’s u19’s in Durban

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  23. Eddy, a copy of the edited and condensed interview???

    Everybody, read the New York Times, The interview was by Andrew Das, July 26th, 2016.

    Quote:- “We would not be successful if we simply went out into the transfer market and tried to outgun our competitors. We’re run in a self-sustaining way, and a way that we believe in, because we believe it gives us certainty for the future, and enables us to plan our future with confidence. That means we can’t afford to make huge mistakes in the transfer market. We can’t afford to outgun competitors that have far more money to splurge on transfer fees than we do. So we have to be very careful, very selective about how we do things.”

    and, the question and the reply:-

    “One player United States fans have an interest in is Gedion Zelalem, who played on loan at Rangers in Scotland last year. Any updates on his status for this season?
    We don’t know yet. Gedion is still very much a developing talent, somebody that has some great attributes but still has a ways to go in his development. He’s come off a good experience for him at Rangers; playing week in and week out in competitive games has been healthy for his development. But what we’re doing now, with Gedion and with a number of the other young players that we have in the squad, is assessing them, taking a look at them in preseason. They will certainly get some playing time and have the chance to impress. And it will be after a few weeks of preseason that we’ll begin to make decisions about what the next steps are for the next phase of their development.”

    edited and condensed, let us see if we can obtain a verbatim report?

    Like

  24. 16 year old Nya Kirby is seemingly leaving spurs academy, he has turned down their offer of a scholarship, despite having already trained with their first team. He recently played for Chelsea U18’s in a friendly v Bayern Munich, and turned out for Arsenal U18’s v Hamburg last week. He is said to be considering his options.

    Like

  25. //Lancelot// ‏@LifeOfPriceless 4h4 hours ago
    Life of an Arsenal fan:
    1) Read a single sentence of news
    2) Make an assumption
    3) Have a meltdown about that assumption as if it’s a fact

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Balotelli was a personal favourite, then there are the usual links to third party mules which work every time credit where it is due (the last time AFC signed up a footballer with a third party owner was…???) but the winner for most hilarious meltdown by a bunch of fuckwits has to be:

    A) Venga on the beach. Playing volleyball. Whilst signing Alexis Sanchez.

    B) The faithful, the pure convincing the club to sign Ozil. Yes. This was their moment of success, when all those years of grunting and groaning finally paid off and they convinced the club to sign a lazy effeminate German Muslim. A core supporters group so loyal they had to pretend to themselves that the funniest transfer in the history of transfers didn’t happen, that Levy was not humiliated in N5 whilst watching his team lose at the same time as his “business partners” went behind his back (who can blame them after they’d taken Modric and Bale there wasn’t much left). Soldado. Etc.

    We are spoilt for choice.

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  27. were we in for higuain cos all i read is that we missed out or else arsenal target higuain signs for juve?

    typical example of what i asked some days back

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  28. just goes to show the type of idiot malcontents really are, so many of them fell for this fake story, I really do wonder how some of them manage day to day things.

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  29. Durban_U19 ‏@Durban_U19 24m24 minutes ago
    Game over ! @kznacademy 2-1 @Arsenal #DurbanU19

    STARTING XI – Arsenal
    Keto, Tutu, Pileas, Graca, Mavididi, Nelson, Mourgos, Sheaf, Malen, Mcguame, DaSilva
    subs used Nketiah in for the goal scorer Mavididi, Dragomir in for Malen and Tella in for Mourgos, Sheaf out for Allende and Rowe in for Nelson

    mavididi had given afc a half time lead, but kzn came out on top with two second half goals

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  30. Arsenal have agreed a deal with FC Dordrecht that will see defensive midfielder, Glen Kamara, spend the season there on loan according to a report from the Holland. FC Dordrecht play in the second division in Holland.

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  31. German defender on his way?
    http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10515773/arsenal-in-talks-for-mustafi

    But, Sky sources have been known to get things wrong…..once or twice…..

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  32. ha ha ha ha, not content with being an idiot on the web, Arsenal Fan TV man heavy d is now going for a bigger audience, and is on BB, and to think some still believe those idiots are not fame hungry, from fake suicide bids, to the banners, and now bb, what next, which one of them will have a sex change.

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  33. Mandy if the Mustafi, Mahrez & Ben Yeddar rumors are true, then its as clear as day, that Wenger is trolling the “Arsenal is for locals” mob, what with Ozil and Xhaka already here, we’d have been totally muslimafied, oh the banter.

    if we do sign Mustafi it will be interesting to see if he qualifies as homegrown, seeing as he spent a few years in the Everton academy. not sure if he was there long enough though.

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  34. Arsenal could have 3 youths on loan in Holland this season, Kamara at Dordrecht, as Stefan O’Connor is on trial at Maastricht, and Tafari Moore is on trial with Utrecht.

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  35. seemingly Alexis was in training at London Colney today, first day back. just the 17 days, and 2 friendlies for him to be ready for the liverpool game. Knowingly how poor a trainer he is, and how unfit he always returns it will be impossible for him to be ready for lfc game, isn’t that how its done, oh and wenger out

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  36. Jeorge Bird ‏@jeorgebird 8m8 minutes ago
    After Reine-Adelaide’s promotion 19/33 (57%) of the Arsenal first-team have been with the club from under 23.

    Liked by 1 person

  37. Interesting Ed…..if we sign that lot, and should Trump become president, he may have to ban half the Arsenal first team from any future pre-season tournaments in the US unless Stan has a word

    Liked by 1 person

  38. Arsenal will increase their bid for Alexandre Lacazette if Lyon reject their latest €40m bid. [L’Equipe]

    isn’t this one of the silliest scenarios put out there, under what logic, if this was true, would lyon accept our €40m bid, if they know we are willing to go higher.

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  39. yes mandy, and i forgot elneny too.

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  40. @ MANDY… Arsenal is coming in from the UK, not yet compromised by terrorists unlike Syria so not likely to be banned! LOL

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  41. Cazorla and Ospina not in the match day squad

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  42. so Wenger once again says Arsenal want to add to our goal scoring capabilities and now that Per is out, we want to add an experienced player at CB.

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  43. cech our captain tonight

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  44. 10 minutes in, Campbell taken down for a penalty, and he scores it himself 1-0

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  45. a few minutes earlier Cech made a fine save from dos santos, after gibbs had slipped

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  46. 30 minutes gone, a water break.

    Debuchy will be glad to see Villa taken off, as he has caused him a lot of trouble. holding and bielik have had little to do, but have looked cool and calm so far.
    Wilshere not in the game enough, but has showed some great footwork. Ox very lively. Theo and Campbell causing their defense trouble. Coquelin with some crunching tackles, elneny working hard.

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  47. 40 minutes in, Coquelin down with a knee injury, looks to be in a lot of pain

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  48. in first half stoppage time Bielik gives away the ball and Drogba is set in on goal, cech saves it, rebound goes to drogba, his shot is blocked, but it goes to him again and he first home.

    HT: 1-1

    don’t know if its a tactical switch to our game, or if its fitness or even the heat, but our fullbacks have not ventured forward very much at all in the first half, campbell has stayed wide a lot, to provide width to our attack, ox is coming in centrally a bit more.

    afc were the better team in the first half, but a give away goal, that also had lots of bad luck in it, nothing new there then.

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