Our thanks to today’s guest poster Eduardo @edminton1966
There has been lots of noise in the last couple of days about KSE attempting to buyout the 30% Arsenal shares held by R&W Holdings.
It all stemmed from an article on Arseblog – http://news.arseblog.com/2017/09/kroenke-turns-the-tables-and-makes-bid-for-usmanovs-shares/ – from almost a week ago, but was not taken up by the mainstream media till one of them did a Q&A at this month’s AST meeting. Something I found very odd.
By the way when journos contacted Arsenal FC they said they were unaware of any such bid.
So there was lots of fake panic and gnashing of teeth on Arsenal blog world and across Twitter, with the AST and many of its members to the fore in demanding that Arsenal not be let into a single owner’s hands, you see if this 30% was bought out by KSE that would mean that 97% of AFC shares would be in a single owner’s hands and this in turn would open up the option for that owner to force the buyout of the other 3% of shares. It would be the end of the AGM, it would be the end of accounts on display, it would be the end of endless analysis of the accounts, it would be the end of the 15 minutes of fame some AGM go’ers receive through interviews with the media, where they proclaim how “upset” they are with all things Arsenal, and most outrageously of all it would probably mean the end of the AST (now I know there is a reason they are upset at the prospect of a single owner, but what could it be).
Anyway seeing as Arsenal deny any knowledge of the buyout and silent Stan has remained silent on the topic, the whole of Arsenal world awaited with baited breath for some confirmation of the story, one way or the other. And never being one to miss a good PR opportunity Mr Alisher Usmanov has obliged by releasing this statement.
Usmanov Statement.
“In recent days there has been speculation relating to a possible offer for my 30% stake in Arsenal. As part of that I can understand the anxiety that these rumours are causing to the fans as reflected by the Arsenal Supporters Trust. In light of this, I would like to be clear that I am not holding any talks with Mr Kroenke about a sale. My interest in Arsenal from the beginning was long term and my intention has always been to buy additional shares should they become available. This I did with the purchase of the stake of my business partner Farhad Moshiri with which I increased my shareholding from 15% to 30% and also with my proposed offer for the stake of the majority shareholder which valued the Club at some £2bn. That offer remains valid today. I have always been and will continue to be an ardent supporter of Arsenal and I see my 30% stake as an important aspect in protecting the best interests of the fans in the Club. It has been well documented that I have no say in the running of the club, that my views differ from those of the majority shareholder and that I would like to assure supporters that I am open to various future scenarios – a constructive partnership with the majority shareholder, the purchase of this stake either alone or in a consortium, or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake.”
So that clears that up, or does it.
Has he said an offer was made, no. All he has said is he is not in talks to sell his shares to KSE. So was any bid made ?
Any way I digress. Back to the statement. AU says he is in it for the long haul – finally something he and KSE agree on, that is Stan’s stock and trade line re AFC. Only difference is some AFC fans dislike it when Stan says it but do not object when Alisher says it, in fact they greet it with relief (even AST do, oddly enough)
Now more on the statement content, you see this is where I’m a bit confused, and I think that is exactly how the statement is designed, it’s a fudge. You see AU says that he and Stan do not agree on how the club should be run, but bemoans that he is not allowed any say in the running of the club. Why would anyone bring on to the board someone who does not agree with your views and methods of how the club is run. Who would create divisions in their own board. Oddly this is exactly what AST called for once again only this morning.
That was fudge 1, well fudge 2 is AU saying that he is in it for the long haul, but he goes on to say that he would sell out if an agreeable candidate was buying out KSE shares too.
So reading the Usmanov statement I straight away flagged two scenarios that AU put forward, that I expected to have enraged AST and all those fans who were in meltdown over the prospect of Arsenal being owned by a single party.
1. As stated above Usmanov would consider selling out to a third party if that third party was buying out KSE too.
2. Usmanov would buy out KSE right now, in fact he reiterated that his buyout offer from earlier this year was still very much on the table.
So there you have it, Usmanov, very clearly states that not only does he want to have sole ownership of Arsenal, he is not opposed to someone else being sole owner of Arsenal, as long as that sole owner is not Stan Kroenke, after all big bad silent Stan is refusing to allow him a place on the Arsenal board, just cos poor little Alisher is opposed to him.
Having spotted the glaring contradictions in Usmanov’s statement, and especially seeing his views on single ownership of Arsenal, I looked forward to seeing AST’s response. I expected them, like me, and dare I say most of you as well, to have spotted how Usmanov’s views were so totally at odds with AST’s stance on ownership of Arsenal. So quelle surprise, when I saw an article on football.london with quotes from an unnamed AST spokesman, welcoming Usmanov’s statement.
So what has Arsenal Supporters Trust got to say about this statement. (taken from football.london article
“We got the statement we wanted Arsenal Supporters Trust welcomes Usmanov’s response”
“We got the statement we wanted from Usmanov,” an AST spokesman told football.london.
“It’s actually a reiteration of where he has been all along, which is ‘I would put money in, ‘I would buy it if it were available and I want it to be stronger’.
“There is almost a hint there as well that if someone else came in to break the impasse, as long as Stan sold then he would sell as well.
“It’s as good as you are going to get out of the situation for now.”
“Arsenal is too important to be owned by any one person,” said a spokesman. “The reason we say that is that having shareholders involved in the ownership structure, shareholders as in supporters, is kind of what custodianship is about and what being a club is about.
“But it also keeps accountability. We get the important accounts, which of course have just landed with everybody today. That’s helpful.
“We were able to make such a noise over the last couple of years about the £3 million payment, that’s it’s been stopped. That was mainly an AST campaign that we took into the AGM.
“If it were private, he (Kroenke) could take money out like that and it would be much harder to protest about. First of all to find out it’s happening and then what’s the forum that you protest in?
“So it’s really about keeping the club listed so you get the accountability that comes from it.”
The spokesman added: “And there are other protections that arise if he doesn’t own more than 75 per cent. He can’t do management fees, he can’t change the name of the club, he can’t load debt on.
“It would definitely be a retrograde step if he took it private – which I’m sure is his plan, he would love to if the opportunity arose.”
So you can see clearly from the quotes that the spokesman has seen that Usmanov has stated he would buy out Arsenal, and that he would even allow someone other than KSE to buyout Arsenal, the spokesman still welcomed it.
Oddly enough the spokesman went on to extol the virtues of having multipal owners, “it would be a retrograde step if he took it private”. But he welcomed the Usmanov statement.
Has all it took for this double speak from AST, been Usmanov to imply that he would be a sugardaddy owner “’I would put money in”. The AST spokesman was quick to point out this line by Usmanov.
It seems AST’s principles are as easily bought as any glory hunting fan of any club, the promise of “I will put money in” is all it takes.
Or is AST only opposed to Stan being a single owner. Usmanov is fine though, this despite high ranking AST member Tim Payton tweeting today that it was Usmanov hoovering up shares that killed AST’s FanShare scheme, and also oddly enough that when FanShare offered their shares to him, he refused to buy, meaning KSE got to buy most of them.
You have to ask if the AST want a divided board at AFC, as they want Usmanov given a place on the board despite saying he openly disagrees with their decisions or how AFC is run?
His desire to get to 30% damaged Fanshare as it killed Liquidity and requests for support got nowhere.
Tim Payton also tweeted Usmanov was offered the FanShare shares.
AST have questions to answer, or are they just hypocrites?
Positively Arsenal 
Light the blue touch paper and stand back.
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I’ve tidied out the spam bin especially
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It is quiet – too quiet …..
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Having been called out on their hypocrisy, they clearly have no answer
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Deathly Hallows – Part 1
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Eddie,
Well done for trying to make sense of all the nonsense, and to manage to give it some chronological perspective.
Unfortunately, your brave efforts are akin to flogging a dead horse, as it is ineffably boring and we fans are hapless bystanders while two prats engage in a “my dick is bigger than your dick” competition.
Personally, other than my outrage that things have come to this pass, I could not give a stuff about any of them.
But again, well done for your efforts.
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george, anicol i asked these questions on twitter off AST members yesterday, and others lording usmavov as some sort of messiah, and not an answer yet.
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You will wait a long time for answers eddy
What the perpetually disaffected want is what they have not got. The moment they get “it”, or something approximating to “it”, they immediately want something else.
Do you recall their demand “We want trophies!!” They get trophies and five minutes later it is ” No, no, not those trophies” – and then there was “Spend some farking money on a striker” we spend £50m+ on Lacazette – before the sun was down the whiners were shouting” No, not that striker!”
If Usmanov bought Stan out before tea-time today I guarantee I GUARANTEE before my breakfast porridge had cooled on Friday they would be pining for the days of “good ol’Stan K”
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Anyone got an explanation as to why Usmanov’s statement did not actually claim that KSE had made a bid for his shares. Why the fudge, why the double speak
“In recent days there has been speculation relating to a possible offer for my 30% stake in Arsenal. As part of that I can understand the anxiety that these rumours are causing to the fans as reflected by the Arsenal Supporters Trust. In light of this, I would like to be clear that I am not holding any talks with Mr Kroenke about a sale.”
Why all that waffle, when all he had to say was
“I turned down the offer from KSE”
Did KSE make a bid at all, or is this all more of the PR game from Usmanov, aided and abetted by the usual suspects, AST, Ian Wright, Jim White, some AFC blogs, and big twitter accounts etc etc.
the whole “third interested party of long time Arsenal fans” who shall remain nameless all reeks a bit too. It’s time Usmanov, Third party, and co put up or shut up. And its time AST spoke up, either multiple ownership is a “Core Value” of AST, or its not, stop the double speak, you can’t have a Core Value of plural ownership and “Welcome” a statement that makes it clear that AU wants to be the single owner of AFC and failing that he is open to another single owner, as long at its not KSE.
AST should be ashamed of themselves, but we’ve known for a long time that they are shameless opportunists, much like their latest friend Alisher Usmanov.
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I’d probably be waiting for answers even longer than you though eddy as I am blocked by most high profile scarfists – a burden I have to live with (loud and insincere sigh)
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well Anicol as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I was at service and the message of the day brought those sort of Arsenal fans to mind
Those that are not thankful for what they have, will never be happy, no matter how much they are given.
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Its their evident enjoyment of suffering that catches my eye, scourging themselves until the flesh is hanging in shreds on their backs – by turning up home and away to watch the
Arsenal, writing blogs, knocking out cuff links, appearing on FanTV and spouting off to any journo who calls them up for a quote about how MISERABLE they are.
The notion that they should just fuck off and get a new hobby to moan about never crosses their mind.
Gawd knows how they endure the pain.
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well Anicol I tweeted my points to several, but the most high profile being Tim not so nice but still dim, Payton, and DarrenArsenal. Many other AST guys on the threads. Not a peep, or should that be not a tweet, in reply.
Its the hypocrisy that I can’t stand, AST talk abut “Core Values”, their “principles” etc, yet look at their spokesman’s comments. Look at their members tweets on the subject, its as two faced as you can get.
Give me anyone who straight out wants AFC to have a sugar daddy, and argue for it, I have no problem with that at all, its just an opposing view to mine, no problem there. I can even understand those that admit that they could care less if said Sugar Daddy is the biggest crook or cunt in the world, as long as he makes AFC a trophy laden club. For me that is fair enough, but I can’t stand the run with the hare and bark with the hounds hypocrisy that AST and so many of its members spout. The Usmanov statement should have been dissected by them to a far greater level than my article above did, they should have voiced real concern at its content. They have done their members, and Arsenal fans in general a disservice with their “Welcomed” message.
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must also say I got no reply from football.london writer charlie watts when I tweeted about to him about the hypocrisy of AST welcoming Usmanov’s statement, Watts was the writer of the article with the quotes from the AST spokesman welcoming the AU statement
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I was disappointed to see that we have only 1 player in the England U21s [Maitland-Niles] and 2 in the England U23s [Calum Chambers and Rob Holding].
Even as an ex-colonial I take my support of the Arsenal lads in the England set up most seriously. Other clubs have many more of their youth team players representing their country than we do. Everton for example have oodles of them, it seems.
We have a lot of foreign kids in our youth set up, I can hear someone typing — the best kids Rees Nelson and Willock and Macey are too young for these sides, I will be told — and yes, I know all that, but these three have all played for the Gunners 1st team – and yet they are not chosen. Odd – very odd – to me.
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Ah social media is hard eddy, victories occasional at best.
My one success this week was the Tory party conference and May’s debacle yesterday;
Twitter user “A man with a piece of paper is not a security threat”
AN “What about Neville Chamberlain ?”
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Well I thought it was good anyway
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henryb, there is no Englad U23 team, Chambers is currently injured, Holding not listed on .com for a call up, AMN wrongly listed for an U20 game when he in fact is in the U21 squad, although he is an injury doubt.
Nelson, DaSilva, Nketiah, Willock are all in various England youth squads, U20, U19, U18. Smith-Rowe is in the U17 squad for their upcoming Worlds.
Macey has not played a first team game for AFC yet.
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Twelve of our first-team players have been called up to represent their countries during the October international break.
Scroll down to find out who will be in action and when:
Alexandre Lacazette, Olivier Giroud
France
Bulgaria v France, Saturday, 7 October
France v Belarus, Tuesday, 10 October
Lacazette and Giroud have been called up for France’s World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Belarus.
Aaron Ramsey
Wales
Georgia v Wales, Friday, 6 October
Wales v Republic of Ireland, Monday, 9 October
Ramsey has been called up for Wales’ World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and the Republic of Ireland.
Alexis
Chile
Chile v Ecuador, Thursday, 5 October
Brazil v Chile, Tuesday, 10 October
Alexis has been called up for Chile’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Brazil.
Granit Xhaka
Switzerland
Switzerland v Hungary, Saturday, 7 October
Portugal v Switzerland, Tuesday, 10 October
Xhaka has been called up for Switzerland’s World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and Portugal.
Sead Kolasinac
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Belgium, Saturday, 7 October
Estonia v Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tuesday, 10 October
Kolasinac has been called for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s World Cup qualifiers against Belgium and Estonia.
Shkodran Mustafi
Germany
Northern Ireland v Germany, Thursday, 5 October
Germany v Azerbaijan, Sunday, 8 October
Mustafi has been called up for Germany’s World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan.
Nacho Monreal
Spain
Spain v Albania, Friday, 6 October
Israel v Spain, Monday, 9 October
Monreal has been called up for Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Israel.
David Ospina
Colombia
Colombia v Paraguay, Thursday, 5 October
Peru v Colombia, Tuesday, 10 October
Ospina has been called up for Colombia’s World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Peru.
Mohamed Elneny
Egypt
Egypt v Congo, Sunday, 8 October
Elneny has been called up for Egypt’s World Cup qualifier against Congo.
Alex Iwobi
Nigeria
Nigeria v Zambia, Friday, 7 October
Iwobi has been called up for Nigeria’s World Cup qualifier against Zambia.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
England Under-20s
England U-20s v Scotland, Friday, 6 October
Andorra v England U-20s, Tuesday, 10 October
Maitland-Niles has been called up for England Under-20s’ European Championship qualifiers against Scotland and Andorra.
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/internationals-whos-playing-and-when#QkIO9YJ8RSMeUVF3.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/internationals-whos-playing-and-when#J9s67l6Tp3g3htcy.99
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João Virgínia has been selected in the latest Portugal U20s and fellow keeper Hugo Keto has been included in the Finland U21 squad
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Eddie,
I knew you would spot that.
Actually the Under 20s World Cup Squad was announced on Tuesday, and that included A M-N as the only Arsenal kid.
The U21s Euro Championship Squad included both Arsenal’s Calum and Rob in the squad – but that was it.
If you disagree with the above — then you will need to take it up with Paul Joyce at The Times.
I knew someone would tell me the other kids were too young, which is why I said it. [lol]
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Eduardo,
Your list at 3:36 is excellent and I am pleased we agree that A M-N does play in the U20s WC Squad,
— Ainsley Maitland-Niles
England Under-20s
England U-20s v Scotland, Friday, 6 October
Andorra v England U-20s, Tuesday, 10 October
Maitland-Niles has been called up for England Under-20s’ European Championship qualifiers against Scotland and Andorra.
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Henry that is a mistake on Arsenal.com, those fixtures are U21 European Championships, England play Scotland U21 tomorrow, and Andorra U21 on the 10th
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I know you will be checking, so,
Everton players in England U20s = 5
but, only,
Everton players in England U21s = 2
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Eddie,
I always like to read comments and talk to you on these footbally topics, and I succeeded in luring you away from other matters — and the bugger of it is, just as we get under way — I have been called away myself. Sod.
Tomorrow. lol
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At this time I don’t give a shit……
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Eddy, useful write-up. Thanks…
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Couldn’t give two sh*ts
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Topical tangent on psychology:
‘Psychological brittleness’ caused England’s Euro 2016 exit, says FA CE Martin Glenn
That’s a good one for the FA to admit up to their own failures, though most people in England and especially in English Football 9at least that i have spoken with) would describe our sweet FA as sociopathic and idiotic, not brittle. There is some evidence in recent months…
I can’t imagine Martin Glenn was talking about the footballers? It’s not dysphoria! The inability to trap turn and run and then pass a football without having to break stride is not really the debate he is failing to have, is it? You’d hope not…
It’s not exactly a cosmic mystery why Rosicky kept on targetting Danny Rose*, time after time after time…(and it is most defintely not an opinion!), most beautifully exemplified by that thunderblaster from a a vacant LB area during that memorable Away victory. Tactics? Who needs tactics when you have opponents that can dive but can’t play football!
* In case anyone is wondering why THFC are playing slightly better footy with a settled injury free Davis at LB, it’s because he can do some of those strange things that Rose can’t…you don’t need to ask Mr.Holmes!
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Ben DinneryVerified account @BenDinnery 3h3 hours ago
Francis Coquelin [hamstring] is back in full training while Danny Welbeck [groin] and Mesut Ozil [knee] should return on Monday. #AFC
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Could you please stop the troll from finsbury repeating this shit on Untold
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What shit is that Master?
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Glen hoddle trying to convinve teh viewers that there is World Class talent in this England team. Harry Kane tries a difficult ball down but fails to control it a looses the ball “Oh look at that wonderful piece of control”.
“What a wonderful bit of skill and he done everything right” As the defender clears Rashford chip towards goal.
As Lingard miss controls the ball “That would’ve been a wonderful bit of skill”
As for The Ox, oh dear.
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“Toe Boot”
Ok then
Banned confused smiley
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pedantic george
My bad. He’s copied it from Untold to here. It’s still shite though, and he’s been trolling your blog for years. I can do that with one tenth of the drivel.
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Interesting read. Seems like the AST, and others have settled for the anyone but Stan line.
Which is all fine and dandy, but the thing is, the club were, certainly at the time, behind Stan as they believed he bought stability, and would stick to FFP, and self sufficiency which the club had championed. And of course some in the club wanted anyone but Usmanov, or at least Danny F reportedly did.
If events and other owners have outgrown what the club and Stan believed in, if Stan has turned into something other than he made out, not that I am saying he has, then if there is anyone for the AST et al to blame for a predicament, real or perceived, then it should be the club , rather than Stan, as far as I know, Stan has been pretty consistent from day 1, like or loathe him.
If, as some say, he is withholding money from the club , the transfer kitty, for other projects, over and above self sufficiency, that is something else, but I can see no real evidence of this, if that was the case, they wouldn’t be spending tens of millions on infrastructure, breaking the club signing record, and allowing two stars to run their contracts down.
Stan is not the most inspiring figure, he doesn’t appear to ooze passion for the club, and let’s face it, apart from his initial investment, he has put more money into Donald trump than AFC, but I strongly suspect the main issues his detractors have is 1/ he is not Roman Abramovich 2/ he is not Usmanov 3/ He firmly backs a manager they really do not like
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mandy its complete bollock that stand is withholding money from AFC to use on his other projects, as the money of AFC can not be used on anything other than AFC, there is no money missing, the accounts are independently analysed, the BPL even look at accounts. Its another one of those lies that the ASB like to put out there. Its similar to the one about him leveraging money against AFC, these sort of people are putting forward the notion that KSE is in some sort of need for money, without even the slightes bit of evidence to back it. But they know no evidence is needed, a smear campaign needs no evidence, just accusations
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also mandy you will find Kroenke has put more money into the clintons than he did trump, but again its better to use the money to trump if trying to smear him. Also why should Stan put money into AFC, when was the last time one of our big shareholders gave Arsenal money, probably all the way back to Henry Norris for that one.
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Excellent work Eduardo.
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Tim Payton had a big holiday to the last World Cup. In Brasilia.
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IT does genuinely pain me to say England that are shite, ………without any Arsenal players.
#Southgateout
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No reason he should put money into Arsenal, as they don’t really need it, except to compete with a country which is not realistic, nor would it be allowed if those enforcing FFP were not corruptable, sorry malleable.
You mention a smear campaign, think this is the crux of the matter, there are those with wealth and influence who covet what Stan has and are presumably not averse to using the media for their aims.
We don’t know what Stan would do if the club were private, nor do we know what Usmanov or this mysterious consortium would do, hence I am one of those who prefer the plural owner thing, which it seems, we kind of still have, to a degree, but as you say, Stan has done none of these dreaded things so far. But he has backed Wenger, not only to remain in the job, but to do it his way with his staff. That’s Stans main crime in the eyes of some who want change, change for change sake, any change, Coyle, Moyes, Laudrup or whoever this seasons equivalents are
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Arsenal midfielder performs u-turn and commits international future to Scotland
By Darren Johnstone –
October 5, 2017
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Scotland have got one over on the Auld Enemy after Arsenal midfielder Charlie Gilmour revealed that he has pledged allegiance to his adopted country.
The 19-year-old started out playing for Scotland at youth level before being capped for England Under-17s, but insists his latest u-turn is for good.
The Brighton-born teenager, whose dad Ian was once on the books of Motherwell, confirmed his intentions after playing in Wednesday’s Under-19s’ narrow 1-0 friendly defeat to France at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
News of Gilmour’s decision will come as a coup after the playmaker was an unused substitute in the Gunners’ 4-2 Europa League victory over Bate Borisov last week.
Gilmour said: “I was with Scotland originally, but then I went with England and now I am back with Scotland.
“I have pledged my future now to Scotland. The reasons are that I just really enjoy playing with Scotland. Games like Wednesday are great experience for me.
“My aim is to keep doing well and see what happens. Hopefully, I can keep progressing.”
Having been at Arsenal since the age of seven, Gilmour was thrilled to be recognised by first team manager Arsene Wenger with a place among the substitutes for the recent trip to Belarus.
He added: “It’s been a big season so far with Arsenal and Scotland.
“I got called up for the first team when we played away in Bate Borisov and that was a great experience for me.
“The manager told me I was travelling the day before. I was very surprised to be honest, but I felt I was ready for it.
“You can see that the manager trusts young players because he has given some of the younger ones a few chances, so that is encouraging.
“To get into the first team shows I have been doing well recently and means that the manager has faith in me, I am very grateful to him.”
Gilmour admits vastly experienced former Germany defender Per Mertesacker has helped guide him with the transition into the first team squad at the Emirates.
He added: “I get plenty of advice from the first team players. Per Mertesacker is a big help to me – he always talks to me and gives me advice and helps me.”
Gilmour was a threat in the loss to the French after twice having efforts saved by goalkeeper Alban Lafont in a game that was decided by Lyon striker’s Myziane Maolida’s close range finish seconds after the restart.
And the youngster admits he likes to model his game on Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard and former Spain midfielder maestro Xavi.
He added: “I like to get on the ball and get forward and create chances. I look at the likes of Steven Gerard and Xavi, who were the best players in the world and try to take inspiration from them.
“It was a great experience against France, we did well.
“They were physically a big side, but I thought we could have got something out of the game.
“It was a battle, but I thought we did well.”
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spot on mandy, the fact Wenger got a new contract has seen the hate and the smear campaign against stan stepped up, Jim White and Ian Wright have spoken up in favor of AU, once again, when AU made the buyout offer to KSE, White and Wright were double quick to side with AU, then its was revealed that both had been special guests of AU at Arsenal games, but of course both Jim and Ian said that had nothing what so ever to do with their pro AU stance, yeah right.
AU has been playing a good PR game for some time, sad to see AST lower themselves to be pawns in his game, when I say sad I mean shameful.
Can anyone tell me what was AST’s statements when Usmanov made his takeover bid for stan’s shares, I don’t recall them begging Stan not to sell, or Welcoming his decision not to sell. Odd, very odd, consider their “core values”. Honestly I just laughed at the notion of AST having core values.
AST Core Values disappear if they hear “I will put money in”
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nice article about our belerus fans
https://arseblog.com/2017/10/tourist/
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Jim White has spent recent months obsessed with the power of Everton, and AUs mate at that club, can remember day after day of him telling us clubs, and especially Arsenal should be scared of Everton. As you say, smear campaign. Early days but Everton don’t look that great.
AU is an unknown quantity, there is the implication, but no proof he would spend like Abramovich et al.
Stan has his critics, his other clubs are not great performers under him, his detractors say he tolerates mediocrity as long as he profits, he hides things in Delaware, it seems he doesn’t give or take away, he is reportedly disengaged, yet has reportedly been to more games than Citys owners.
Yet, I don’t want to expose myself or this site to the scrutiny of lawyers, Google doesn’t make a man guilty of anything, but Stan vs Usmanov, I will happily settle for neither having full power, but one seems especially scary , but won’t say which one.
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Looking at England , DC is correct, and the sooner they get a fit Jack Wilshere , the better. They are So predictable.
As for Ox, I have no ill wishes against a clearly personable young man who had his moments for us, but I still think he made a big mistake this summer, he is a talented guy who needs love, patience and an agent who recognises this.
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its a bit silly to compare his teams in the USA to Arsenal, sport in USA is run so completely differently, clubs don’t produce their own players, colleges do, and their is the drafs picks system too, and the over the top wages that star players get. Look at the history of the superbowl for example, no team has ever won it 3 in a row, last time a 2 in a row was done was 05. Its going 50 years and there has been 19 different winners.
there has been 24 winners of the top division of English football since its first season in 1893, with 3 clubs in double figures, Man Utd 20, Liverpool 18 and Arsenal 13 having 51 titles between them,
The two systems are like chalk and cheese
even MLS is vastly different in how its run, and for the record, in its 22 years it has 11 winners, including Kroenke’s Colorado Rapids
19 winners in 67 years if NBA too, and although it had a history of dominant teams, that no longer seems to be the way.
From what I gather USA sport is set up to give more teams a chance of a winning season, from how its run, to how they use and help officials to get right calls.
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yes mandy, Jim White has blown smoke about Everton, but isn’t that all part of being a special guest of Moshir’s buddy Usmanov. All part of the anti KSE game, “hey look Arsenal fans, Moshir’s Everton have won the Transfer Window, imagine what Arsenal could do in the transfer window if the even richer Usmanov was in charge, you know what you have to do”
of course a certain section of our fan base have fallen hook line and sinker for it.
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