In the post Leicester City presser, Arsene Wenger made some powerful statements in what appears to be a continuing counter-attack against the mainstream media and their ever faithful echo chamber on the interweb who continue to slander and malign him for not “spending” in the transfer window. Speaking of Rob Holding, his most recent signing (note the irony) Wenger remarked that the young man had an “outstanding performance” noting :
“He’s 20 years old, he’s English and it’s a great reason to be happy. As long as players don’t cost a huge amount of money, people don’t give them any qualities.
“We have to be stronger than that and just acknowledge how good he is. “
Yet according to the Sage of Dublin in his pre- and post-Liverpool vituperations, it was “criminal”, it was “unfair” to play Holding in a PL game, it was like throwing a baby into the deep-end and many more over-the-top metaphors. Instead, Wenger should have bought a more expensive defender, especially after Mertsacker’s injury and using the Sage’s logic, he too should have been thrown into the deep-end given that whoever was signed would have absolutely no PL experience, a necessary rite-of-passage for any defender coming from outside of England. I only quote the Sage, despite my past efforts to document his rampant fear-mongering and duplicitous attacks on our manager, because he is the Pied Piper of Arsenal blogs with thousands following like little lemmings repeating and magnifying his many inaccurate prognostications.
How does fear mongering gain such traction despite the consistent success of Arsenal Football Club in the twenty years under Wenger’s management?
• Invincible – unbeaten over a whole season.
• 3-time Premier League champions.
• 6-time FA Cup winner.
• Average league position of 3rd.
• Never fallen below 4th in any year.
• Never failed to qualify for the Champions League.
• Never fallen in league position below Tottenham Hotspur, North London rivals.
• Never outside top 7 in richest clubs worldwide since 2007, average 4th position.
As a part-time stock investor, taking care of my small retirement portfolio, Arsenal would be a perfect long-term investment. According to the Forbes’ list of the most valuable football clubs in nine years the value of the club has more than doubled and so has revenues. Wenger, who is supposedly badly out of touch with the market, has doubled the worth of the club while taking very low risks. Contrast this with the spectacular show of “ambition” by Manchester United who in the past three years spent over £300 million on transfers to achieve another failure to win the League, not only finishing behind Arsenal but for the second time in three years failing to qualify for the champions league.
I deliberately mentioned stock market because that is where I see so many parallels with the coverage of football clubs by the mainstream media and their fellow travelers, the big bloggers. As a student of Thomas Herzfeld and Robert Drach, who wrote an investment guide “High Return, Low-Risk Investment” I long concluded no true stock market professional would have any truck with the nonsense written by the commercial press and bloggers like the Sage. Professional investors recognize the media as having a commercial interest in exploiting the emotions of their readers rather than producing sober data-driven explanation of why stocks rise or fall.
A stock market professional would quickly assess that the football industry and the transfer market in particular is made up of several powerful actors, some of them acting corruptly under the cover of normal business practice, with the aim of extracting maximum profit from the competing clubs. No other market is ripe for profit extraction than the biggest market of all, the Premier League. Great fortunes have been made, (Stand up Mr. Mendes and Mr. Raiola) and great fortunes lost (United, Chelsea and City).
Like any market, the driving force is ultimately greed. In this context “greed” is stripped of all the emotional baggage, and must be seen in the sense of making a profit. All the rational parties would want to profit from the party on the other side of the deal. Unfortunately there are some parties whose “greed” is subsumed by some short term political or public relations objectives (City and Chelsea come to mind). Arsene Wenger is a master of greed, selling Adebayor, Nasri and Kolo Toure to Manchester City at handsome profits when AFC was desperate for the money. On the other hand, he waited in the weeds for a long time when trying to buy Ozil and Cazorla, pouncing when their price fell. Most famously he bought Nicolas Anelka from PSG in 1997 for £500M and sold him to Real Madrid for £22.3MM two years later.
Greed to win the title or to qualify for the champions league often lures clubs into the transfer market to pay inflated prices. To justify these prices the buyers, with cheerleading by the media (Sky Sports deadline day) who often equate price with quality as a way of justifying the deal. In that department Manchester United is the recent gift that never stops giving with the likes of DiMaria, Falcao and Martial failing to justify their astronomical transfer fees. Will Pogba be the exception?
According to Herzfield and Drach, next to greed the most important emotion in professional market positioning is despair. Just as greed can lure clubs into the transfer market at inflated prices despair can compel people to sell at low prices. Wenger is a past master at exploiting this human failing, waiting until the very last day of the transfer window to close a deal as the selling club is desperate for the deal to go over the line (Gabriel and Welbeck come to mind). very often many clubs are desperate to sell to not merely balance the books but more importantly to not default on their bank loans. It leads one to wonder whether AFC have Valencia over the barrel in the Mustafi deal with Arsene Wenger biding his time.
The media has a role in exacerbating these two primary emotions. In the last 10-15 years they were up front and center inciting regular investors to buy internet and housing stocks when the professionals knew full well they were overpriced and already bailing out. I recommend The Big Short on Netflix for a dramatization of how the pros made millions by shorting housing stocks which the media were cheerleading during the recent bubble.
It’s no different at Arsenal. The mainstream media all summer and now John Cross and the Sage of Dublin are whipping up greed in the fanbase with delusions that we can buy high priced players to compete with United, City and Chelsea for the title. If that doesn’t work they resort to fear mongering after every defeat. Sell Walcott, sell Chambers, just to mention the two scapegoats du jour. It is complete drivel when you consider 20-years of absolute consistency by Wenger and the 95% likelihood we will be in the top-four and the admittedly somewhat lower probability of competing for the title.
To be fair the psychological pressure is intense. Club football is a very charged subject and fans want (not need) the emotional satisfaction of winning the title. But whether they like it or not, professional football is a business run by rules that cannot be driven by emotion. It is vital to take advantage of the emotions of other clubs not the other way around. We certainly cannot be driven by the emotive caterwauling of the lame stream media and the likes of our Arsenal bloggers and tweeters.
Positively Arsenal 
anicol what is this Europa Cup you speak of
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have seen it claimed that “although Arsenal have scouted Lucas Perez for a year, he is a panic signing, cos he was not our first choice”, I hanker for the days when Wenger did not have back up options, and once our main target was not got, we signed no one, it was a much simpler time for the WOB. No need for joined up thinking.
LikeLike
don’t forget guys, in all your transfer hysteria, the Arsenal u23’s v Liverpool u23’s is live on Arsenal.com this evening, kick off 7pm, show stars at 6.40pm
LikeLike
VfB StuttgartVerified account@VfB
Takuma #Asano kommt von @Arsenal – Mehr dazu auf vfb.de: http://go.vfb.de/asano #VfB
LikeLike
fucking crazy that Asano can’t get a work permit for UK, but has no problem getting one for Germany.
LikeLiked by 2 people
ASANO LOANED TO STUTTGART
Takuma Asano will join German side VfB Stuttgart on loan for the season.
The 21-year-old signed for Arsenal in July, before travelling to Brazil to represent Japan at Rio 2016 where he scored two goals in three games.
The forward has spent the past three years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J-League, where he won two league titles, three Super Cups and the 2015 ‘Rookie of the Year’ award.
We would like to wish Takuma well for his season in Stuttgart.
The deal is subject to the completion of regulatory processes.
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160826/asano-loaned-to-stuttgart-#UcwgQOwwHOv069G0.99
LikeLike
its national dog day
LikeLike
ex arsenal goalie has torn ligaments in his elbow, and is out for a minimum of 3 months, will be much longer if he requires surgery. Might be an opening for joe hart at sunderland now
LikeLike
England u16’s lost the second game v Romania u16’s 2-1, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka scored the England goal
LikeLike
AFCPressWatch© @AFCPressWatch 3h3 hours ago
When asked about Gnabry, Schalke sporting executive Christian Heidel says “All Bundesliga clubs except Bayern are looking at him.” (ESPN)
LikeLike
LikeLike
with Podolski retiring from international football, Ozil has gone from no.8 to no.10 for Germany.
LikeLike
Haha..Anicoll. That’s true enough. Might also explain why I don’t post often. Just prefer to pick up a book or newspaper and sit in the corner of the library while eavesdropping on other blokes’ gossip.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Arsenal players out on loan this season
Crowley (Oxford)
Toral (Granada)
Szczesny (Roma)
Campbell (Sporting CP)
Asano (Stuttgart)
Moore (Utrecht)
O’Connor (Maastricht)
Huddart (Eastleigh)
Pleguezuelo (Mallorca)
LikeLike
Gnabry named in the German u21 squad
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul Merson is a stupid cunt
LikeLiked by 3 people
ZELALEM, EYOMA AND ROSICKY TRAIN WITH ARSENAL FIRST-TEAM PRE-WATFORD
Arsenal held their final first-team training session today ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League game against Watford, with youngsters Gedion Zelalem, Aaron Eyoma and Josh DaSilva all in attendance.
The Gunners have several injury absentees, with Aaron Ramsey, Alex Iwobi, Gabriel, Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck all out. Serge Gnabry, meanwhile, has been given time off following his involvement with Germany at the Olympics.
Krystian Bielik and Jeff Reine-Adelaide weren’t involved in training today, which means they could feature for the U23s against Liverpool tonight.
Former Arsenal player Tomas Rosicky is continuing to train with the squad to build up his fitness.
Possible Arsenal team v Watford
Cech
Bellerin-Holding-Koscielny-Monreal
Coquelin-Xhaka
Walcott-Cazorla-Oxlade Chamberlain
Sanchez
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Gibbs, Elneny, Wilshere, Ozil, Giroud
Posted in Uncategorized on August 26, 2016 by Jeorge Bird
LikeLike
I’d expect Lucas to get the no.9 shirt and Mustafi to get no.20.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with Andrew @ 1:01 pm. There is a reason why the elites have their exclusive clubs. There is no place for pub bore, reeking of liquor, screaming some stupid opinion, demanding attention. I am told it is a place of quiet refuge where real business is done. We have a long way to go at PA. Lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Michael Gooner @MickTheGooner 28m28 minutes ago
Graham Hunter: “Barca wanted Lucas Perez but were told [Wed night] he was en-route to Arsenal – terms were done & it was going to happen.”
Graham Hunter on Mustafi: “It’s a disastrous player for Valencia to sell. He’s very, very good. Arsenal are signing well there.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I pointed out earlier that if we sign Mustafi for the reported fee of £35M, it will leave Arsenal with 4 signings in the top 50 most expensive signings of all time, well if we only look at BPL club signings, it will be 4 in the top 20. the old soundbite about stingy Wenger and money hoarder Kroenke, is looking as brain dead as those that like to spout it
LikeLike
Reeking of liquor ?
LikeLiked by 2 people
anicoll more like reeking of piss
LikeLike
ah the madness crew have shifted again, it was Lewandoski, then it was Griezmann, now its James Rodriguez, all in the hope the club don’t make another massive signing, so they can have a free dig at the club.
LikeLike
debuchy no longer an option on arsenal kit builder, maybe he is to leave, or could be that Mustafi is getting the no.2 shirt.
LikeLike
on the kit builder, joel campbell is still an option.
LikeLike
Everton @Everton 8 Nov 2010
#Everton Reserves are 1-0 up at Arsenal – Shkodran Mustafi heads home Jose Baxter’s free-kick on 15 minutes. #efc
LikeLike
wenger said today that it would be 6 weeks before jenkinson was back training, well going on this photo he is 6 weeks ahead of schedule
LikeLike
Andrew @ 3:20pm I saw what you did there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Man applies for job. Is told he’ll be informed of the company’s decision before the deadline in a month.
A week before said deadline, is told his application was accepted.
His ‘family’ makes fun of him for having been rejected a month ago as not good enough only to now get the job.
Family gets banished to asylum because they’re bat s*** insane? They damn well should.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Arsenal FC @Arsenal 32m32 minutes ago
Arsenal U-23s to play @LFC: Macey, Maitland-Niles, Da Graca, Bielik, Pileas, Bennacer, Sheaf, Reine-Adelaide, Dragomir, Willock, Akpom
LikeLiked by 1 person
think its Dragomir’s debut for the U23’s, i’d expect sheaf at right back and not AMN
LikeLike
subs: Keto, Johnson, Dasilva, Malen, Mavididi
LikeLike
12 minutes in lfc take the lead, afc been a bit all over the place at the back, and the passing has been well off.
LikeLike
arsenal not playing very well at all
LikeLike
42 minutes – 16 year old woodburn with his and lfc second goal, awful defending from arsenal again, once again a poor pass giving away the ball and lfc in and the young lad finished well again.
the game has been noticeable for the poor standard of afc passing, seldom see it so poor as it is tonight.
LikeLike
HT: Arsenal u23’s 0-2 Liverpool u23’s
not been good from Arsenal at all, piss poor passing, lack of energy and movement all over the pitch, lots of nice turns and flicks and even some fine dribbles but final ball poor, and very few players getting in the box. A lot of liverpools attacks have come from our players giving away the ball with poor passes.
LikeLike
Reine-Adelaide and Bennacer probably the pick of the lads in the first half
LikeLike
the passing is still piss poor
LikeLike
66 minutes – willock beats a couple of men, lays it off to Akpom who twists and turns and unleashes a powerful shot to the roof of the net, 1-2
Johnson and Mavididi on for Bennacer and Reine-Adelaide
LikeLiked by 2 people
70 minutes – at a corner Macey comes for the second ball, and gets no where near it and gomes taps into an empty net 1-3
LikeLike
remember Stuart Taylor, the goalie who was one of 3 keepers to win league medals with arsenal in 02, well he has joined Southampton, its amazing that at 35 years of age, and with two league titles(got one at man city without playing a game) and two fac medals(again without playing) he has still not managed to play 100 first team games, his most games in a season was 12 at aston villa.
bob wilson was a massive fan of the lad, he wanted wenger to make the lad no.1 after seaman.
LikeLike
74 minutes – dasilva on for AMN,
LikeLike
FT: Arsenal u23’s 1-3 Liverpool U23’s
a poor performance and a poor result. Poor passing all game, poor in defense, major mistakes on all 3 goals, but especially on the 2nd and 3rd.
Bennacer and Jeff our best two in first half, but both faded badly in second and were taken off, Akpom with a fine finish, but was not in the game much, lots of the players showed flashes of skill, but poor passing was the biggest problem for the team, some players look way off even u23 level, let alone first team.
LikeLike
I do remember Stuart Taylor and a young keeper who did very little wrong when he was called on but was thought up to the mark. Pity really.
Did he get a PL medal at Citeh ? Ironic if he did cos the keeper he displaced at AFC also ended up with a league medal with the Oilers having played no games.
LikeLike
Disappointing result and performance from the U23s. Akpom wasn’t very involved but did well with whatever he had to work with. Willock is a real talent. Jeff probably has some way to go, but his close control allied with his size mark him out as a great prospect. Being played in midfield recently. Almost resembles Diaby sometimes (Diaby’s playing for Marseille these days. He started last week too. Happy for him)
Bielik was very disappointing.
But I think what also needs to be considered is that perhaps these guys, especially those that are regularly training with the first team, aren’t quite match fit. Akpom said post game that that’s the biggest positive he can take from this. Also sounded like he’s still hoping to play for the first team this season.
LikeLike
Aah Stuart Taylor. I really liked him. Can’t say Lehmann was the wrong choice though. Taylor couldn’t establish himself at Villa (I think that’s where we sold him to) but will always have that winners medal with us in which he played an important role (Played in 10 league games. Though the last as a sub)
I never took to Richard Wright though. The other keeper Anicoll mentioned. I don’t know, there was just something not quite Arsenal about him, and I don’t mean just his quality. Irrational, but probably the only Arsenal player I’ve felt that way about, so there it is.
LikeLike
yeah anicol, both he and richard wright got medals at city without playing a game, the rules had been changed by then, before that a player had to play in 10 games to get a medal. At least wright actually played over 400 games in his career, whilst taylor has been a sub for life.
LikeLike
Arsenal only signed Wright after running into problems trying to sign jerzy dudek, last minute hitch and afc jumped ship and signed wright. its said wright just could not handle the pressure of ousting seaman, he may have fared better if seaman had left before he arrived
LikeLike
I’m new here and exceptionally chatty today. And now I’m going to step into territory that is borderline impolite. But here goes. A new signing. (I am not on twitter and only recently figured out what this madness and horse business is)
I know that most naysayers, or should that be neighsayers, are simply spinning the idea of a huge deadline day signing because they want to prepare fresh ground for moaning. As far as I’m concerned, we have our squad for the season once the Perez and Mustafi deals go through.
But, I am not convinced that buying Mustafi was part of our plan for the summer. I felt reasonably assured with our existing CBs and we already bought Holding to challenge/replace Chambers. But a long term injury to Per changed that and since he’s in the last year of his contract, we moved up our plans to replace him for the long term with Mustafi.
What I’m implying is that this CB signing was to be from next year’s budget, and that if there really were a special player available that Wenger believed would help us, we could go in for him. It won’t be James though. Not when his agent is Mendes. Though Wenger did once say that he’s got no reason to not deal with him (it might have been sarcastic. Can’t recall what it was, but something about it read like praising him but actually meaning the opposite)
LikeLiked by 1 person