I know. Those two are fine but I feel are limited. Maybe that is a good thing. Gilberto knew his limitations and his role and always did it very well.
If AW supposedly learned his lesson from last August, and if Song and RvP were being disruptive throughout the year to the point where they're readily off-loaded, then a) why hasn't there been more action about a replacement for Song before and b) why is he waiting till the season starts to remedy the situtation? Again?! It's as if Arsenal exists solely to drive us all to drinking even more heavily.
How can you replace Song when he is still at the club? RVP was more cut and dry, he wanted out, had one year left and would have no shortage of takers Edit: with all the Sahin and M'Vila rumours it appears that Wenger has his interest registered in these players in the event that Song goes. I wouldnt be at all surprised if a deal was agreed in principle with one or two clubs depending on off loading Song
I realize that, but with all these leaks and tweets explaining that the reason Song will be shopped is because of his attitude toward other players it suggests this idea isn't as recent as we've believed. So either the reasoning being offered is false (backwards, really) or the talk of a sale is all rubbish. Either way, this club has GOT to home some PR practices for their fans' sake!
At last a smart reply. But I don't think right. If Usmanov just wanted the team, he could make Kroenke an offer he could not refuse. Usmanov is in it for the money too, he is not Abramovich who just wants a toy. Kroenke is probably betting on making money a couple of ways, one is real estate, which is his usual play, if you read swiss ramble. There are many ways for him as owner of the club and its real estate to have the $ going to him rather than the club. The other bet is to run the club cheap, keep it on the edge of being a top club, and then wait for asset values to rise naturally because there are only a few clubs in the world that have the natural attractiveness of Arsenal, and eventually somebody is going to want to pay huge money, even if Arsenal is performing somewhat below where we are now. He can make that sale after he has extracted all the real estate value he can. After some bumps, this what the Dodger owners did, even in bankruptcy they were able to get a huge price because the Dodgers, like Arsenal, will always be a name that somebody is willing to pay a lot for. But its also possible that Kroenke needs to pull money out of the club, he has lots of debt financed ventures in a shaky economy. If year after year we are not investing profits from player sales, than its quite reasonable to wonder where that money is going. One of the things I've learned from watching billionares over the last decade is that they are crooked as hell and its better to assume they are up to no good and make them prove it otherwise. But none of Kroenke's financial motivations match our sporting aspirations, which is to have Arsenal back where it was in early 2000s. Its a big risk to try to spend the money to take Arsenal back to the top , and its a good bet to make a lot of money without taking that risk.
"With Song in Spain and RVP in Manchester, the other 95% of Songs attempted passes to him will land closer now" Credit - @GAFC11
Yeah, refusing to play is a bitch move. A classic example of "I want to leave, but no one better wants me."
Yeah, this is a bad look for Clint. I think it's more of a case of Fulham being firm and refusing to sell at a price they feel is low. Good for them - not being bullied into selling. Refusing to play is such a punk move, I'm hoping it isn't true.
Its true, he has already been fined by the club. The sad thing is there is no way back for him now, why burn all your bridges in this manner??
We all thought that Tevez's bridge was burned at Citeh, too. So who knows. Although Fulham probably have more scruples than Citeh does in cases like these. This situation really disappoint me.
I too am a Dodgers fan and I think that fiasco is clouding your judgement a bit here. American sports offer many things that the EPL does not: regional monopolies granted by Federal exemptions. lack of relegation, collective bargaining agreements and set revenue streams. To assume that you can steal "X" but still stay in the top 4 (and thereby ensure CL status and the revenues that come with it) is akin to a business leveraging to 100% under the assumption of continuing low interest rates. Yes, you might succeed in the short term but, not in the longterm. And for someone who thinks this isn't how Man Utd is run, your examples are straight from the Glazers' playbook: But its also possible that Kroenke needs to pull money out of the club, he has lots of debt financed ventures in a shaky economy. If year after year we are not investing profits from player sales, than its quite reasonable to wonder where that money is going. One of the things I've learned from watching billionares over the last decade is that they are crooked as hell and its better to assume they are up to no good and make them prove it otherwise. That is Manchester Utd. The Glazers are/were strip mall (calm down Bigman, it is a series of retail stores, not a one-stop-shop for strip clubs) barons. When the market went belly up, so too did their business ventures (again, I believe leveraged in that they were heavily borrowed against) and they saw Utd as a convenient cash cow. Perhaps that was always the plan but, most likely something that they intended to only do once the debt of the takeover had been reduced/eliminated and their siphoning would get lost in the massive flows that are the Man Utd cash streams. Kroenke is not stealing large amounts of money from Arsenal. First, he doesn't need to. His empire, unlike the Glazers', is multi-faceted and no one area would be suffering to deplete the overall portfolio. Second, he is not the only shareholder. Both Red Holdings and AST are given the opportunity to review the books. With two hostile parties involved, one with nearly limitles resources, they would get caught and his investment and freedom placed at risk. People don't want to admit that we are just no longer one of the top three wealthiest clubs. We live within our means and two competitors never do (Chelsea and City) and three have much larger means than do we (Utd, Real and Barca). This isn't down to Stan. This is down to a new world order. FFP is the lone hope for restoring balance/sanity but we need to temper expectations. It will only slow down City and Chelsea.
two things surprise me here: 1. i thought this behavior was behind clint...dude is a grown man now...smh 2. his name has not been linked with 'big' clubs as much as i'd expected. everyone knew since april or may or perhaps before that he was looking to leave.
I doubt Kroenke is even paying attention to Arsenal. I'm guessing he is focused on moving the Rams back to LA and financing a new downtown stadium with another team.
really? i'd never heard this either. as lamb said, i remember a blip in the middle of last season about him wanting out but i'd never heard anything about him being a twat. that's a shame. i really did like him.
I do but maybe not immediate back up. I dont fancy him being able to play 25+ matches consistantly or injury free yet. He has a checkered past with 'growing pains' type injuries. I wouldnt trust him in the bigger games just yet either, if we have to depend on him for a month I'd worry. At this stage he is a perfect 3rd choice guy, we will need a deep squad and he will get chances either in the back or in his preferred role. I can see Frimpong being loaned out again mid season when he regains his health
i was kind of wanting us to get dempsey (prior to this) but, let's be real, clubs are WAAAAAAY more willing to "have scruples" with somebody of dempsey's talent than they are with tevez's talent.
That is a very good guess. Not sure that he will shoot for downtown, per se, but definitely will try to bridge the LA/OC convenience divide. The next round of the NFL in SoCal is interesting. Farmer's Field is set for downtown but AEG's ownership requirements will be an issue. The one out in the western suburbs is too far (in my opinion) for the valleys (Simi and San Fernando) and you have a lot of NFL target demos in those two places. Gonna be interesting. If the Rams are the team that gets involved, Stan will be an absentee landlord for a decade. And that is only if his cash position doesn't necessitate selling Arsenal in total. (Possibly selling and the price difference between selling a CL team and a non-CL team is another reason why keeping us 4th or better IS in his financial self-interest, to the earlier discussion).