Remember when Kevin Keegan showed how cross he was at something Old Red Nose said? He was wearing a pair of seventies headphones and started to echo the thoughts of most football supporters in the land by saying he would love to beat the red Mancs, love it. Nothing particularly exciting about that, at the time we would have loved it if anyone beat them. I in fact still enjoy seeing or hearing that they have been defeated, it’s one of life’s little joys.

Sadly for all people with a scintilla of sense and decency the media took that moment as their cue to start praising the purple veined old coot for his deft employment of psychology to unsettle his managerial opponents. Or in their lazy shorthand, mind games. In fact Keegan’s little show of passion was only notable because someone in football had just told the unvarnished truth, and had done so in a way that made it transparently apparent that they in fact meant what they were saying. I don’t think it had much impact on the outcome of the title. We all know that in a tight race the more experienced, settled team (with the weight of the football establishment behind them) will often succeed and Keegan’s Newcastle just didn’t quite have enough to stave off the vested interests and the red mancs.

What’s always struck me is the way we have since been told to view Keegan’s barely suppressed anger as an outburst or a rant. Who really used mind games here? I suggest it was the media. Repeat a lie often enough and everyone will accept it. The interview is passionate, honest and relatively mild by any reasonable measure. And yet the media felt the need to over react and do everything possible to destabilise the rival to their favourite. It’s not much to me, a meh moment really, they have an agenda, big deal, so what? That’s not news. But last week they were at it again.

I read on the BBC news feed that Rafa Benitez had ‘ranted’ and been guilty of an ‘outburst’. The BBC. An organisation which used to be rightly famed for some degree of journalistic integrity. Not a tabloid, not a Fregie fawning satellite channel but Aunty Beeb herself. Intrigued despite myself, I looked up and found a video of this drooling, wild eyed, ill advised crazy harangue to which the poor unsuspecting journalists had been subjected. And surprise surprise, what did I find? A rather diffident, polite gentleman calmly and rationally explaining that he was working for a shamelessly non-supportive organisation and that football fans have a role and that role is to get behind their team. Their role was absolutely not to make defamatory banners nor to chant abuse at the club they purport to follow. I say the club and not the manager advisedly. These buffoons at Chelsea will always claim they have the long term good of their club at heart and are in fact merely ‘having a go’ at an inept manager.

Bollocks.

You shout abuse at your manager and you are shouting abuse at your club. As George would say, simples.

We of course at Arsenal are familiar with what is happening at Chelsea. Not the manager go round nor the ownership model, I don’t mean that, but rather the unrepresentative berks getting their names checked by an all too willing and complicit media and claiming to speak for all of the fans. The prats who think they know more about tactics and player selection than a man who clearly has more experience and professional acumen than they have acne blocked pores. I don’t have much sympathy for Rafa – he knew precisely what kind of horrible organisation he was walking into. But I do think he was absolutely 100% correct in everything he said. And more than that he did not rant and it wasn’t an outburst but the media have decided that we must all think it was.

Here’s my question. And I expect an answer so sit up straight at the back. What do the print journos, the radio and TV people gain from raising up these revolting little men (who I refuse to name here) that claim (wrongly) to represent fan unrest? Who benefits? Beats the hell out of me. A conspiracy needs a clear aim before it makes sense to simpletons like me. So maybe they just like stirring the shit. Maybe it makes life more interesting.

One thing watching Rafa reminded me is how wise Arsene is to treat the press with such gently smiling benign contempt. I am astounded when supporters think it is they who are on the end of his subtle dissembling, that he aims his careful political double speak at the humble football fan. It is a duel with the media and one he conducts with a cautious dignity, choosing when to swat them aside and when to dangle a tidbit. Mind games? Compared with the oafish clumsiness of the sot from the North Arsene is like the child of Gary Kasparov and Machiavelli. When he blithely states that he makes no plans for Gareth Bale on Sunday do people really seriously start screaming that he’s a fool and he’s lost it? Or do they think he ought to tell those press hounds all of his plans and just hope no one from the Lane gets wind of them.

Given the enormous task Arsene has faced over the last few years and the revolting way he is treated it is quite incredible that a genuine rant or outburst has never happened. He should be instantly forgiven it it did, but instead he tolerates the imbecility of the press pack with an avuncular patience and a patronising indifference which you nor I would have little hope of maintaining. Just one more thing he does rather well in my opinion.

And with that I’m off to try to fill a football free Saturday.

The conclusion of a two-part article from ArsenalAndrew

After the Russians tanks arrived in 2003, firing £50 notes, they were later joined in 2009 by the sandstorm from the desert and both Chelsea and Manchester City were free to wreak fully funded havoc in the EPL as the global economy seized up from the effects of the credit crunch.  The Arsenal Master Plan, if not in tatters was in serious danger of collapsing in on itself.

That the club, somewhat against all the odds, was able to repeatedly steady itself and push on through the maelstrom is thanks largely to two of the most mis-maligned and harshly judged men currently in world football.  Yet history will surely judge that the stability – if not the spending funds – latterly provided by Stanley Kroenke off the pitch from 2011, combined with the uniquely extraordinary abilities of Arsene Wenger on it, fused together to forge something future footballing generations will come to see as being little less than a sporting miracle.

Stability is what Kroenke has given to the club.  Joining the Board in September 2008, he did it at arguably during its most vulnerable point in its long history.

He gave Arsenal Football Club a space to play and to trade itself away from the edge of the abyss.

There is little doubt Kroenke’s investment will reap a very substantial reward for the American in return for having huge sums tied up in the club for an indeterminate period.  A return, incidentally, that was never a given.  Equally, it can hardly be denied that Arsene Wenger has been appropriately recompensed for living and breathing Arsenal for every waking minute of the last sixteen-plus years.

But were it not for these two individuals, Arsenal could be a very different place today.  And quite possibly playing a very different, and very likely, a far less joyously exciting brand of football. However, it wasn’t merely the style of football being played that was effectively safe-guarded at this point, but the very essence of the club itself.

Some say the club were the architects of their own problems when they chose to move away  from Highbury.

Yet not leaving Highbury was never an option.

Evidence of this is provided by the failure to develop Anfield and Stamford Bridge, and the impact of those lengthy delays over in Middlesex.  All are salutary reminders of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities some clubs are facing as they peer into an uncertain and, for one or two, a quite possibly unhappy future.

Yet the cost of leaving Highbury, whilst seemingly high given the short-term absence of trophies, could have been so much greater.

On the balance of probabilities, given the nature of football, it’s likely that most owners would have struggled to absorb the impact of successive trophy-less seasons. Yet this is exactly what Kroenke has done, albeit aided by the club’s remarkably consistent ability to qualify for Europe year after year.

The Abramovitch ‘model’ of football management HAS brought a measure of success at the Bridge.

Whether it was because of his model or in spite of it is a highly moot point given the vast sums expended on the playing side.  Yet regardless of those somewhat tarnished, if not quite devalued, trophy riches, one is nowadays hard-pressed to meet a happy fan of a club for whom an unofficial name change has come to symbolise for so many, so much of what is wrong with major aspects of the game today.

Chelski are now utterly reliant on the continued goodwill of one man.

To the extent that, in public at least, few fans of the club seem prepared to risk going beyond criticizing their manager despite their deep-seated concerns for the future of the club. The long-term sustainability of Chelsea’s success is today predicated on little more than a whim.

For Arsenal to have risked ending up with an owner like Roman would have been to risk the loss of all our integrity and respect, our heart and our credibility.  Our west London neighbours have now been reduced to being little more than a money-laundering operation with an outlook as short-term as their owner’s profile is high.

During the recent match against Bayern Munich, though Arsenal were clearly beaten by an excellent, more established and settled side, it would take a mean spirit to fault the endeavour of the Arsenal team.  Though we were the lesser of the two sides on the night, Arsenal were not a million miles off the German pace.  And whilst rightly acknowledging the achievements of Bayern Munich, it is pertinent to reflect on the absence in Germany of a Chelsea or Citeh equivalent of financially ‘advantaged’ sides in a league which now has more in common with the EPL of the 1990’s than today’s ‘top heavy’ version.

It is pertinent also to note that Arsenal today, with a little help from Financial Fair Play and our own commercial activities, are on the brink of effectively joining the financial powerhouses of Europe – the four clubs of Spain and Manchester, PSG and, for now, Chelsea.

But not just for one season.  Or for a temporary Liverpool-esque cash splurge of the kind squandered by ‘King’ Kenny.

But for all seasons.

This year has been another of dramatic ups and downs in a sequence of seasons that have provided a sporting white-knuckle ride for all followers of the club.  A ride of sufficient velocity and unpredictability to see more than a few previously firm hands loosen their grip on the bar of unwavering support.

Before the Bayern game, we had to endure the Blackburn encounter, against whom, for Arsenal, the goals just would not come.  We eventually lost to a break-out fluke of a strike to the audible anguish of all following the unfortunate home side.

The ‘backlash’ of an anticipated goal-fest against relegation threatened Villa then failed to materialise in front of another home crowd that was, largely thanks to the results of the two previous cup games, nervous and jittery and which, some would say, successfully transmitted that collective state of mind to the players working so hard below.

We were, however, watching our third league win in a row.  Though you would never have believed it from a glance of the next day’s cheap headlines or the intellectual vacuum of Twitter.

Regardless of the ups and downs, none of the results seen this season – the good, the bad or the ugly – in the overall context of Arsenal’s Emirates-era challenges, are legitimate grounds for turning on this club – its players, its staff or its owner.

And given the squad transformation seen since Cesc’s departure (which must render the place virtually unrecognizable to the recently benched one), Arsenal’s present position remains competitive, as we sit two points behind Chelsea in the league, and still, as of March,  fighting hard in Europe.   A squad teeming with talent, now populated with experience and youth in near-equal measure, an intriguing, growing English ‘core’, augmented by some of the most exciting young talent from Europe and beyond, is clearly and self-evidently beginning to flourish on a solid bedrock of management continuity and fiscal stability and growth.

Yet to still willfully ignore ALL of that in the context of the events of the last eight years or so, can only be politely described as lazy ignorance – or mischief making – of the lowest order.

So yes. If there is to be a backlash against all that has gone before, let it begin now.

Let us, as positive fans, hit the boo-boys, the doomers and the negativistas as hard as we can wherever we encounter them.  With our arguments and with our reason.  With our sense of history and with all our expectations for the future.

In print.

Online.

In pubs and bars, cafes and restaurants.

At our ground.

At any ground.

Wherever we are in the world.

And let the lads do their talking on the pitch.  And with our full uncompromising and unconditional support.

If the on-field backlash happens at White Hart Lane, so much the better.  But if it doesn’t, then, despite the obvious disappointment, as followers of the club we must derive solace from what we know will follow and what will be.

Take our understanding of the club’s recent history and appreciate just how close we are now to where we want to be.

And where the club deserves to be.

Understand all of that and help others to.

Understand Arsenal, and be a part of something.

Yesterday’s news that Arsenal is to unveil another statue at the Emirates is just another example of wasting fans money on players that simply aren’t good enough any more. (That OK Mr Usmanov? Usual fee in a brown envelope please.)

Returning to the real world, Dennis is set to take his rightful place alongside Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, commemorated as one of the true greats of Arsenal’s recent history. Dennis described himself as honoured and proud and told us that he loves us, which is just peachy because, guess what DB – we all love you too. He was a little circumspect about the unveiling sounding like Nick Clegg talking about the cabinet following the next election, saying he’d do everything he could to be there which when you put it like that sounds like he might very well not be there.

I don’t know about you but Dennis holds a particular spell on me. I have been known to watch Ajax matches just hoping for a glimpse of him on the bench looking suave, casual smart in a chic suit and open necked shirt – no tie. Like many of you (I suspect) I harbour a secret vision of him winning Dutch and European trophies before taking over from an eighty year old Arsene Wenger who, having won his third consecutive unbeaten league title, decides to step aside. Dennis then goes on to be as good a manager as he was a player. And I die a happy man.

We all have our favourite DB10 moments of course. There were so many crazy good goals, such strength and control, such vision and precision that if you had to choose one as an all time best you’d become a gibbering wreck. How do you separate the turn one way send the ball the other against Newcastle from the solo dribble and thunderbolt against Southampton or the “I’m going away from goal no I’m not I’m turning leaving you behind and chipping the keeper from outside the box” against Leverkeusen? How do you separate any of them from the right foot, left foot, left foot, right foot hat trick goal against Leicester? Better not to even try.

Oddly enough my favourite isn’t a even a goal. The moment of DB magic that had me screaming at the screen and still gives me chills is a simple assist. Simple for a football God that is. It was another great European night (we all have so many to thank Mr Wenger for don’t we?) Arsenal versus Juventus December 4th 2001 at Highbury. You remember it? 2 – 1 to Arsenal with the end of the match in sight, Dennis receives the ball on the far corner of their area does some Riverdance shit for the fun of it then turns two Juve defenders inside out like pillowcases. In the meantime he has mesmerised every other player in their team which allows Freddie to skip through undetected but unfortunately on Dennis’ wrong side. No problem for the maestro. He just turns it around the corner with the outside of his boot to deliver the perfect pass, perfect assist which Freddie banged home with glee. I love that moment for it’s audacity and invention, for his strength and vision and above all his team play. For a ruthless goal scorer Dennis was always a team player first and foremost. I would imagine Ian Wright, Davor Suker, Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry would all agree that they shone that little bit brighter for basking in his reflected light.

I read some fatuous baloney from people bemoaning the fact that we don’t sign players of his calibre any more. I’m not going to explain why here, we all know the reasons we can’t afford the most expensive talents in world football right now but that isn’t the point. The real issue is that there is only one Dennis Bergkamp with his unique skill set and icy calm in front of goal. These guys don’t come along very often so rather than make negative comparison with players we have today why not just revel in the memories he gave us. Oh yes and tease yourself a little about his future managerial career. Why not, it can’t hurt to fantasise can it?

Returning from the warm nostalgic glow of Bergkampian memory to the present day and I have just begun to take an interest in the league table. The reason was brilliantly summed up by Zimpaul the other day with his 800 metres analogy. In that particular discipline, he tells us, it is the final bend before the home straight that makes or breaks the runners. It is there that you win or lose the race and to his way of thinking we are approaching that bend now. As a consequence I have to begin to consider the importance of other teams and their results. Usually these days we see the two moneyed Mancs, Chelsea and one plucky outsider in contention with us for the much prioritized top four finish. Sometimes Everton show promise sometimes Aston Villa, Spurs or Newcastle have a season beyond their wildest expectations and come close to the holy grail of Champions League football, and of course usually they fail to make it over the line.

This time around those plucky little cocks from the Lane are actually having, by their standards, a pretty good season. No point in allowing our silly rivalry get in the way of the facts, they have shown bottle, not least to come back against a pretty average Bolton Ham United on Monday in a game which, had Fat Sam’s men put away their chances, they really could have lost. St Bale the Chimp Boy Of Nazareth and media darling is finding his shooting range and looks determined to finish his Spurs career on a high. For the first time in an unimaginably long time we are actually going to have to work really hard to overhaul them. I shan’t easily forget wasting my Monday evening watching that tripe but as ZP says this is where the race is won or lost and so our rivals’ matches become ever more important. For all the heroics from their talismanic if under-evolved simian striker, our near neighbours still have many problems. A poor West Ham found holes in their creaky defence and an over reliance on one player, well, lets just say we know how that can sometimes hurt you. Don’t discount the possibility of both us and them making the top four at the expense of the Chavs; stranger things have happened. And don’t expect anyone to suddenly turn into Dennis Bergkamp and ride to our rescue. We have many top quality players but the important thing is the team not the individuals. When we’ve destroyed people this season we’ve done it as a beautiful free flowing single entity not as scattering of shining stars.

The most important derby for a long time draws near. We’re on the shoulders of some of the early pace setters. Time to hold our nerve and get into the right place for that final sprint to the line.

This is part one of two articles from ArsenalAndrew

There has been some talk in recent days amongst fans and in the wider media of the need for an Arsenal backlash.

For the side to ‘finally’ stand up and be counted, ideally in the most spectacular of fashions.

Preferably, against Spurs, if at all possible.

Well, it equally has to be said – because it is there for all to see – that even in the games that haven’t ended well for us recently, as a general rule, there has always been signs of a beautiful machine about to click into place.  Only by the narrowest of margins have passes been cut out and moves broken down. This much has been evident all season long.

And it is this single, simple observation, that goes to the heart of my personal frustration and anger at those who persist with the negative nonsense.

If those same critics were as willing to get behind the team as they are to ignore the progress being achieved by a group of players still getting to know one another, let alone their opponents and the wider demands of the EPL, then I’ve no doubt Arsenal World would be a much, much better place.

We are told in all seriousness by The Ones Who Doubt, that the Arsenal players should know each other’s game inside out by now.

But this fundamentally fails to grasp the finer points of Arsene’s Quantum Football Mechanics which relies on a near telepathic understanding of where one’s team mates will be found at any stage of the play.  The absolute killer attacks are not founded on a leisurely survey of the pitch before a pass is played.  Players like Emanuel Petit have said they always knew where their colleagues were, pretty much to within a few inches – in Petit’s case he was referring specifically to his playing relationship with Patrick Viera.

These relationships do not gel overnight.

At Man U, Ferguson has had the great good fortune to be in a position to largely manage player exits so that ‘fallow’ periods have been relatively few and far between.  It’s not to attack Arsenal to give United credit for this.  And it’s equally telling that the loss of a star player – in their case Ronaldo – was just as problematic for them to deal with as it has been for Arsenal to make adjustments in the wake of the Fabregas and Persie departures.

That Ferguson was able to retain the services of the formerly ‘want away’ Wayne, at vast cost to the Mancunian coffers, at a stroke provides as succinct and near perfect illustration of the impact made by the difference in the circumstances between the two clubs in recent years.

With the benefit of hindsight it’s perfectly possible to suggest Arsenal entered that period (as defined by the club’s new stadium project) financially ‘undercooked’ and in doing so, left themselves vulnerable to player movement on a scale not seen further north.

Or indeed anywhere not involving a club crushed by relegation.

But to condemn Arsenal FC for this is to willfully ignore the impact of two game-changing events that no-one – least of all the club’s harshest critics – predicted.

In some ways one might assume there should be no real need to spell out the effects on Arsenal and it’s wider operating environment when these two developments came to pass.

And yet there appears now to be a widespread failure on the part of many observers – including amongst them, many of the club’s own fans – to properly understand that no conventionally funded club in the world would have been able to withstand with impunity an equivalent double-whammy of the kind that befell our club and its carefully laid plans.  To cope with the sudden appearance of two over-funded, under-regulated mega-rivals – a development which crucially coincided with the global Credit Crunch responsible for strangling the club’s access to vital funds at the most critical stage of its post-stadium development.  As fluidity within the vital property market all but dried up, so too did our ability to acquire – and retain – the top, top quality players we had only recently grown used to having around.

The arrival of such competitors, their unlimited funds and their propensity towards player ‘theft’ all hit Arsenal at exactly the point our projected funding stream slowed to a trickle.

With our supporters now being asked to pay some of the world’s highest prices to watch home games, the club’s ability to truly compete – and win competitions outright – at the highest levels commensurate to those ticket prices, had been compromised.

And almost fatally so.

How close Arsenal FC itself came, if at all, to some sort of collapse has yet to be fully revealed.

How the club somehow absorbed the attendant pressures will one day form the most remarkable of stories.  Certainly, not one you could make up.

From Fever Pitch to Boiling Point, it’ll be another best seller, some day.

Part 2 of this article will appear on Positive Arsenal in the next few days and takes a look at what happened next …

Hello and welcome to this week’s round-up.

We’ll start with the visit of Bayern and their ridiculously good players. The crafty Bavarians went 2-0 up in the first half and all seemed lost until our very own German, Lukas Podolski, gave us a glimmer of hope by heading home from close range. Then Theo set Giroud up with a great chance but his effort was hit straight at Neuer. Bayern grabbed a third and the first leg ended in anguish for the Gunners. Arsenal have been doing their best work in the second half games so I’m predicting a 5-1 win and a comfortable route through to the next round. It hasn’t happened yet so don’t you dare take away my dream!

Amidst what was a calm, measured response from the media, the news broke that some old guy shagged one of our strikers. We all have our theories of who it might be but for me it’s clear. That Van Persie always looked a right slut.

Arsene faced the press ahead of the Villa game and was in much better spirits than when he called out the filthbags who had been printing lies about him. This week he challenged a writer to a game of 1v1 football. Personally, I don’t see how it could work. How can you play Wengerball alone? How can you play 500 passes without shooting if you have no teammates? Only Arsene knows.

Wenger also spoke about the club’s desire to get Bacary Sagna to sign a new contract but reports are saying that he’s been bragging about the wages he will receive when he leaves the club. If you believe that story, you’ll believe the one I’m about to tell you;

I am the Arsenal striker who shagged that old guy.

So the Astons of Villa came and Arsenal disposed of them a lot more comfortably than the 2-1 scoreline would suggest. Arsenal defended with all the resistance and virtue of Jodi Marsh but, on the ball, we played some exceptional stuff. Obviously, every Arsenal fan acknowledged this and was extremely happy with the result. And if you believe that story…

I did not shag that old man! (Bill Clinton voice)

Santi has been receiving great praise from his teammates for his display and brace at the weekend. Mertesacker reckons that Santi is ‘The PERfect footballer’. Can he take a long throw like Rory Delap? Bloody doubt it, so…

Now we march on in the race for third which could see us finish second if everything went our way. We will make it difficult, we will cry, bitch and moan and we will get there. We are the Arsenal!

Last up is the announcement of the financial results for last year. Last year! Typical bloody Arsenal! What about this year? The money-men are as bad as the medical team, if you ask me. David Dein would give us the figures for the next ten years, if he were still at the club. The whole thing is a shambles.

That is all from me for this week. Thank you for reading.

Up the Arsenal!

A continuation of the 3 part ownership series by @Gooner_optimist. Some of you might already be well versed in the knowledge of what transpired to bring us to the current situation, and if you do, feel free to skip this piece.

Continuing on from my first post about Arsenal’s Ownership, let’s jump straight into what were the reasons for David Dein’s fallout with the rest of the board? There are several theories but as I understand it, it is down to two main differences. First, it is well known that he preferred that the club move to the Wembley and lease it out instead of building a new stadium, something that was opposed by the rest of the board, especially Danny Fiszman. Second, he saw Abramovich changing the equation at Chelsea and sought to adopt a similar external investor approach by introducing Stan Kroenke to the board.  However the board at the time refused this move due to their wariness at the time toward American investors after seeing the goings on at United and Liverpool with the same (“We don’t need his sort”).

These differences and more led to his ousting and while there are many positives and a few criticisms of David Dein we will not get into them here lest this debate turn into a “bring Dein back” one that features frequently in Arsenal discussions these days. His mention in this blog ends with his ousting from the board in 2007, when he sold his shares in Arsenal to Alisher Usmanov for a nice little sum of £75 million. Interestingly  you could conclude that this current tussle between two owners that we see right now is partly down to Dein himself creating it.

While the fallout between Dein and the rest of the board was continuing, Kroenke was picking up a few shares of his own by purchasing the 9.9% holding that was with ITV subsidiary, Granada, and slowly building up his shareholding. Fast forward in history again to 2011, a time when Danny Fiszman, a man who was Arsenal through and through, was suffering from throat cancer and his failing health meant that his shares in Arsenal needed to be sold. By this time, both Kroenke and Usmanov had managed to pick up shares over time to get very close to the 30% mark, the achievement of which would mean they were obliged make a takeover bid for all shares.

The decision of who to sell shares to, in my opinion, was partly down to the board warming up to Kroenke in time. I believe he was the one who most convinced the board that he would let the club continue in line with its historical principles, especially that of being self sustaining. These defined the long term plan of the club as well at the time as the goal was to achieve success the hard way, using our own resources instead of relying on an external benefactor. On the other hand, there is also a chance that the sale might have been governed to an extent by the aftermath of the fallout with Dein and to keep the one he sold to (and had strong links with) at arm’s length.

Thus it came to pass that Fiszman sold his 16% of shares in Arsenal to Kroenke, 2 days before his death, and Kroenke launched his takeover bid as he was required to upon crossing the 30% threshold. Usmanov, as the other largest shareholder was entitled to provide a counter offer to Kroenke’s and allegedly placed an offer that was higher than Stan’s. For a board that often gets accused of chasing profits, an important question needs to be asked here, why didn’t they go for the bigger money offer? Why did absolutely NO ONE sell to Usmanov? Why instead did Stan become the majority owner with over 60% stake in the club by adding shares from Fiszman, Lady Nina Bracewell and Peter Hill-Wood etc?

Another thing is that the board is questioned about is how much (or how little) they care for the club and its long term future. On one hand, this is rather odd when you consider that the likes of Peter Hill-Wood and Ken Friar have been on the board for many years, whether it’s the successful Graham years or the even more successful Wenger ones. They were also the deciding factor in giving us our amazing stadium, the revenue from which, helps keep us competitive. To accuse them of suddenly not caring or not having the club’s best interests at heart after all these years might be a bit harsh.

This leads me to the last point regarding why they might not have sold to Usmanov, and that’s a simple one, that someone like him shouldn’t be anywhere near our club which prides itself on its integrity and class. Why you ask? I’ll save that for the next and final post in this series that will form my main argument about why we need to keep Usmanov far away from our club.

Another dodgy ‘stream’ at the Emirates yesterday.

Blackburn’s Pedantic George grapples with the ‘internot’ and ‘iffy’ commentators as Villa fail to make themselves at home at the Emirates

Well, that was like getting teeth pulled.

I was watching on a very dodgy stream that kept freezing.

We started sharply and scored early.  We thought the flood gates would open and all the frustrations of the last week would come gushing out; we were going to smash them.

However, as I was watching a never-ending series of freeze frames on my screen, I had to rely on the unbroken commentary from what sounded like a Brummie abroad.  That was a mistake.

From the little I could see – but mainly from what I heard – Aston Villa were killing us on the break.  Our defence was dire and our midfield had failed to migrate from the dressing room.  Jack kept losing the ball.  Diaby was slow and Mikel was playing for line-outs by constantly passing straight into touch.

Brilliant, I thought.

The second half, apparently, was us pressing but creating nothing.  Then they scored.  A fantastic breakaway goal – and they were more than good value for it.  We made some changes, and got a bit of a break when Nacho cut a hopeful ball back into the path of Cazorla who drilled it home.  Robbing the visitors of a well-deserved point, apparently.

Meanwhile, nothing I was seeing on Twitter led me to think all was not as described above; people there were saying we were clinging on against one of the worst teams in the league.

The thing is, I have now had the chance to actually see the game and I don’t recognise ANY of the above.

Without ever reaching our free flowing best, we were pretty bloody good.  There was loads of one touch football.  Players overlapping, neat triangles and plenty of threatening possession.

Giroud worked his socks off.

Santi was magnificent.

Jack dynamic.

Mikel safe and solid.

Nacho super efficient.

Diaby was elegant and treasured the ball.

I felt Theo had a poor game – not his best, but not a stinker either.

We played some really good stuff and easily deserved to take the points.  Was the handbrake on?  Yes, it was a bit.  But after the last week that was always likely to be the case.

Aaron Ramsey replaced Diaby and was excellent in midfield.  When Lukas came on for Jenkinson, Aaron dropped into the left-back spot and was faultless.  When Theo left the field late on Ramsey then moved seamlessly to the forward-right position.   The boy is the ultimate ‘utility’ player.

Three points won and a good display.  Everton drop points and Positively Arsenal remains unbeaten in the League.  Excellent stuff.

So all in all, a good day.

The run in should be great fun.

Backlash.

That’s what we need today. A backlash against the boo boys and bad luck and a disappointing first half of the Bayern tie. We need a victim, a sacrificial offering to the football Gods. We need them gagged and bound and prostrate on the alter of The Emirates. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the programme Dexter, but the hero is a deranged serial killer for whom you can’t help feeling a certain bizarre sympathy. His favourite thing is anaesthetising a bad guy (or gal – he’s an equal opportunities sociopath) then fixing him (or her) to a table with acres of clingfilm. When the victim regains consciousness Dexter selects one from a glittering array of surgically sharp bladed weapons and despatches him (or her) with care, brutal precision and evident relish. That’s how I want Arsenal and Villa to look this afternoon.
Anaesthetise them with the kind of scintillating attacking play we saw against, say West Ham, or in the second half against Liverpool, literally have them punch drunk, reeling and chasing shadows and then when they are reduced to prone, helpless prey deliver a series of viscous and yet beautifully crafted killer blows.
We all know the team have it in them. We know it because we’ve seen it, plenty of times. I’m watching highlights of some of our matches from this season and we have played some seriously joyous football, we really have. Even before the season started we saw some breathtaking stuff against FC Cologne. At just after 23 and a half minutes into the game a good interception by Gibbs led to a counter of such sure footed, quick passing that it was a travesty when Giroud’s curling shot was saved at the end of it. Personally I’d have given the keeper a yellow at the very least for Deliberate Ruination Of A Lovely Move. If it isn’t actually in the rule book then it bloody well ought to be.
Then when Southampton visited in September they ended up looking like one of those trailer parks after a tropical storm has landed. The quick thinking and freedom with which we moved the ball around, the intricate passes in and about their goal area and the merciless way we finished left their defence in tatters. They weren’t the only side to end up being designated a state of emergency after a visit from Hurricane Arsenal this season. Coventry, West Ham, Spurs, Reading and Newcastle have all been declared a disaster area after meeting our boys on the wrong day and in the wrong mood. When it’s worked for us this season it has worked to devastating effect.
Now I know and you know that there have been moments where things have gone less well. Sometimes we’ve been the architect of our own undoing, and even in the games where the opposition have been shrink wrapped on the table staring in wide eyed astonished terror at the shining blade they’ve somehow managed to sneak a goal or three. Doesn’t matter when you bag six or seven but as Liverpool proved it matters when you only match their two. But what is the point in dwelling on the negatives? It won’t cheer us up, it won’t send us into the match filled with optimism and hope and so what possible good would it do anyone beyond a criminally deranged masochistic depressive who has deliberately stopped taking his meds? Frankly, fuck that for a game of soldiers. I’d much rather watch and rewatch the opening one minute and thirty one seconds of the second half of the West Ham game at the Emirates:
Whistle.
Jack to Santi back to Tommy V. Tommy V wide to Bac who slips it first time down the line to Theo. He wriggles and squirms, takes three or four feather light flickering touches then passes to Giroud who plays the most sublime pass across his body, one touch, infield to Santi as Jack and Theo take off like greyhounds one inside the other out wide. Santi needs no touch to control Giroud’s perfectly weighted ball but rather sweeps it forward down the inside right channel for Theo to race onto. Twenty five seconds have elapsed when Theo sends the perfect cross into Jack’s flight path and only an heroic intervention from Tomkins who very nearly scores an own goal prevents us from taking the lead.
From the corner, taken short, Jack loops a high cross over their area and they head it clear. Gibbs picks up the knock-down and at this moment we still have eight players in and around their area. Gibbs plays a one two with his Captain then puts over a cross which is headed clear, Ramsay on the edge of the area, performs some ball juggling acrobatics off his chest and then delivers what looks like a contortionists pass with the outside of his right boot. It loops perfectly into Santi’s path and he Lukas and Gibbs tie a cats cradle through and around the visitor’s defence who just manage to hack it clear for another corner. One minute seventeen seconds gone.
Theo’s corner, from our left this time is driven to the near post where Per is waiting for his trademark flick on. Except he isn’t there. For some reason he abandoned his position peeling away back towards the penalty spot. And as we looked on bewildered Olivier Giroud appears from nowhere to redirect the ball inside the near post with a touch so exquisite, so skilful that the extraordinary difficulty of playing such a shot is not immediately apparent. One minute and thirty seconds gone and West Ham who had managed only four desperate touches of the ball were looking into the eyes of a remorseless killing machine, and could barely twitch in response.

That is what I’m hoping to see against Villa. When all the countless hours of work that Arsene and his coaching staff put in with the players pays off, when the beautiful engine he has assembled from so many diverse components of world football purrs into life then growls and then roars. That ninety seconds of play is what I see in my mind’s eye when someone tells me this team are past it, not good enough, didn’t cost enough, that Steve Bould can’t coach and Arsene can’t manage. Because believe me that wasn’t a fluke, that was what they work towards every day and that is what they can deliver. With confidence and consistency those special passages of play will become too numerous to separate in our memories. The deft touches, the assurance that a pass into space or made fast under pressure will find a team mate ready to nudge it around his marker or already be running onto the expected return, these things are all there, sometimes bubbling frustratingly close to and yet under the surface but ready to be unleashed in a venomous backlash.
Let it be today, please Arsene, let it be today.

Today’s quick post is the first of a three part series by Akash (@gooner_optimist)

Alright, so I finally get the honour to write for Positively Arsenal. As my first series of posts here, I felt it would be rather insightful, if I could discuss something that has troubled me lately.

There has been a huge divide within the Arsenal fan base, regarding who should run the club. There is one group (albeit a small one) that is ok with Silent Stan Kroenke (begrudgingly so), and there is the other group (one that is fast growing) that swears by the name of Alisher Usmanov. I would like to clarify that those of us who are “ OK” with Stan are not Pro Stan but would rather have the lesser of the two evils (Stan) at the helm. You’ll see what I mean by this as this series of posts goes along. For this post however, I would like to get people thinking first.

I have always wondered, if those who are pro Usmanov actually have a clue about who they are vouching for? What is his background? What is his motive? I just feel that many don’t this might be the right time and place for me to just share what I have read and researched about him over the past year or two.

To start with, why is one section of the support vouching for Usmanov? Is it because of his alleged claims offering massive investment into the club?  His alleged love for the club?  Or is it the lack of patience and desire for instant gratification? Or is it down to the well-timed PR statements that echo the words that fans want to hear but come around only when the chips are down?

My question is have people ever wondered why is it that the board is not willing to accept him into the executive committee of the club? Or if Usmanov is indeed passionate about the club and willing to be a generous benefactor, as he claims, why can’t he just invest in the club as he is, rather than demanding a place on the board and access to confidential financial details of the club?

To answer this, I would like to dig deep into the Arsenal history, back to the day, when Sir Henry Norris the then chairman of the club, placed an ad in the Athletic News, seeking a suitable candidate for the Arsenal top job in 1925. What is interesting is the content of the ad placed, which read like this.

“Arsenal Football Club is open to receive applications for the position of TEAM MANAGER. He must be experienced and possess the highest qualifications for the post, both as to ability and personal character. Gentlemen whose sole ability to build up a good side depends on the payment of heavy and exorbitant transfer fees need not apply “

If you take a closer look at this ad, you can see the similarities in which the club is run today, just like it was back in 1925.  Then and now, the club has never encouraged the idea of over spending and wanted a team to be built within its own resources and developed to be successful instead of bought.

Does that answer the question of why even Silent Stan is preferable to Usmanov? No. If anything that doesn’t even tell you how either one got to be aligned with our great club. For that I would like to fast forward history and side track to David Dein, a man who did a lot for us and for many years was Arsene’s right hand man, but in the end was ousted due to massive differences with the board. This however, will continue in my next post as there is a lot that can be said on that topic.

So, the first half is done and dusted and in a couple of weeks time our brave lads will look to beard the enemy in his lair. I for one fully expect a repeat of some of our most inspiring and courageous second leg performances. It was Bayern’s great good fortune to play us during a lull in our confidence and form, and also when we were without a left back. Congratulations to everyone who helped hound out Andre Santos. I have no doubt that a run of good results in the Premiership will help heal the pain of falling behind in the Champion’s League and not having to play in front of a mass of hate filled booing and groaning will obviously make it easier for our players to perform with the freedom and élan we have come to expect.

There is nothing we can do against the barrage of abuse and the systematic undermining of our manager however. Any result this team achieves will be done against far greater odds than those faced by any other British side. This was brought home to me by a couple of comments I heard yesterday from non football fans. When I say non football fans I mean to the level where they didn’t even know Arsene’s name. What interested me was when, upon discovering I supported Arsenal, both people independently of one another, dredged up the only things they knew about the club. This was that we have a failing manager who is hanging on by the skin of his teeth and about to be replaced due to a decade of abject failure. It seems the media, aided and abetted by twitter twats, bannerwankers and anti Arsenal non support everywhere has done it’s job. It’s the reason we have pulled up the drawbridge and barricaded ourselves here into the PA citadel, it simply isn’t safe out there and in any event there is no point in trying to engage in intelligent civilised conversation on the subject of The Arsenal because the tide of misinformation has already drowned the gullible and there’s hardly anyone left without its polluted water in their ears.

If this is how we feel then how must Arsene and his players be affected by the torrent of unfair criticism and abuse? It doesn’t bear thinking about. Bob Wilson, that fine elder statesman of the game has recently been quoted as saying

“he (Arsene) puts his heart & soul into this club. It may come a time where he doesn’t put up with, frankly, this disrespect”

and frankly who could blame him? I hear lots of talk suggesting the current maelstrom of revolting lies and undeserved opprobrium being heaped upon our great club, its leader and his players may serve to foster a bunker mentality. The theory being that this could be the silver lining which bonds them and helps them find the angry determination to succeed . I’m not too happy with the idea of a bunker mentality. It conjures images of The Führerbunker of the Reich Chancellery. The scenes of debauched excess and suicidal despair of those trapped with their crazed leaders is actually the fallacy being foisted on us by the press and their craven agents in the negative Arsenal blogosphere. I’d much prefer it if the team could adopt a siege mentality.

Surrounded, without hope of outside relief, the besieged members of Castle Arsenal must rally around their brave and visionary leader and look deep inside themselves and to their comrades and find their strength and mutual support they need to see them through. The barbarians gathered around the Arsenal island think that by infiltrating the minds of the most feeble elements of our support that they have successfully installed a fifth column inside the Emirates. But these people aren’t traitors they are merely weak and fickle. We all know that a run of good results (regardless of the performances) and maybe a bauble or two will have them singing the great man’s praises once again. As much I am galled at the thought of sharing our inevitable success with those who have booed our players for the crime of being unlucky (eg versus Blackburn) or daring to return from injury (Eboue, Santos, Ramsay) I’d rather have them cheering than moaning. They don’t deserve Arsenal and Arsene doesn’t deserve them but they are a fact that we must accept.

In any case, buck up and remember not all sieges end in disaster, starvation, surrender and defeat. In 1944 India was saved from falling to the Japanese advance thanks largely to the heroics of an outnumbered group of British and Indian troops. Surrounded and cut off from the outside world by a massive Japanese army, they held out until their besiegers were forced to withdraw and the words of one historian bear uncanny resemblance to our similarly beleaguered troops today

“The British, Indian and Ghurkha soldiers stood up to the heavy and incessant strain, largely due to the high standards of leadership, the mutual confidence and friendship between all races and creeds in the Indian divisions, the magnificent work of the medical authorities – and by no means least, to their innate sense of humour in the most adverse circumstances.”

So get your heads up people, if the team can lift themselves after falling behind I’m damn sure we can, after all; we’re not the ones in the firing line.