International break number two is here, and The Arsenal are sitting pretty.
Having already faced 4 of the current Top 9, Mikel Arteta’s side are only one point off Arne Slot’s Liverpool – and with the Dutchman’s side travelling to the Emirates in the second game after the international break, it could be a real statement for Arsenal to make.
Nevertheless, now it’s time for the batteries to recharge – for the fans at the very least. Another set of fixtures where the players jet off to their national sides. A frustrating time for any football fan, but also a time to ponder.
So let’s ponder today by first talking about that second half performance from Kai Havertz. That was a leader’s display once we went a goal down. A ruthless finish, some gorgeous one touch football, and the way he scrapped to keep the ball in play in the closing minutes – top class. He now matches Robin van Persie in scoring for 7 consecutive home matches, and to be in that company means he’s doing something right.
It’s no secret that not everybody was convinced by Kai being brought to the club, which leads me into my main question for the day. Which Arsenal signing or player in general proved you wrong?
Did we sign a player you were vehemently against the idea of before they produced the goods? Maybe you weren’t convinced by a particular academy graduate that then blossomed into a good player? I’m intrigued to hear responses from your guys’ decades of watching the club.
Back to the weekend and someone who has been recalled by their national side: Gabriel Martinelli. After being left in London for last months internationals, Martinelli has regained some of that form that makes him such an exciting player to watch at his best. 2 goals and 2 assists in his last three Premier League matches is the type of Gabby we all love to watch. And outside of the end product, the game at the weekend also showed Gabby looking the most aggressive and direct in his play in a while. With a packed winter schedule and Martinelli’s statistically favourite club to face in Liverpool upcoming, let’s hope he see some vintage stuff from the Brazilian.
Finally, it was a weekend for ex-Gooners that are still held remembered fondly by fans. Aaron Ramsdale made his emotional return to Emirates Stadium with his new team, while Danny Welbeck put another layer on goodwill in the supporters of his former club as he sunk Mate FC after they Spursied a 2 goal lead on the South Coast.
So which former Gunner do you remember fondly? Not an easy option like Thierry Henry and co, but a player who wasn’t necessarily world class but always displayed a level of likeability and a good attitude to be in your good books?
There has been a lot of hullabaloo around the Manchester City trial following Monday’s “results”.
It is interesting to see different journalists and media outlets put their line in the ground over who they are going to support in the case. And their response to Monday’s findings highlight if they are backing the Premier League or Man City.
A bit of advise. Take everything said by anyone with a pinch of salt. Everyone is bias and will present the findings of the case in a way that supports their own narrative. And I include me in that.
If you want to really understand what is going on, read the findings yourself. Do not rely on others to interpret them. And certainly do not listen to those social media accounts with 100s of thousands of followers that are run by 18 year olds from around the world. You would not take legal advice from these incels if they ever ventured out to a pub, so why are you listening to their online views?
I have read the judgement. And in another life time I obtained a law degree. That does not mean that I am in any better position than everyone. But also means that I am in a better position to provide analysis than some social media account that has only read a headline. So here are my thoughts. My opinion…
What were Man City challenging
Manchester City’s challenge was around Associated Party Transfers. Or APT. These are the rules with PSR that mainly govern sponsorship deals. In plain English, they are the rules that dictate all sponsorship deals from associated parties must be at Fair Market Value (FMT)
IE, Etihad can not be paying Manchester City £100m a year in sponsorship, if the FMT for an airline sponsoring a top football club is only £60m.
Man City submitted 25 challenges to the existing APT rules. They were unsuccessful with 23.
On a whole, APT was found to be legitimate, and whilst ultimately Man City and their supporters (Newcastle, Chelsea, Everton), wanted them scrapped, the hearing has upheld them as part of PSR.
It is interesting to note fans of Newcastle, Chelsea and Everton were celebrating the findings on Monday. This highlights that fans were not really understanding what had been decided. APT is not going anywhere, it will just have some tweaking.
Burden of proof
A basic principal of law is that the burden of proof almost always lies with the accuser.
There circumstances when the evidential burden shifts to the defendant. This occurs when it is deemed easier for a defendant to prove why they had something in their possession, rather than the prosecution having to prove why they had it in their position.
In law, you are always taught about drug paraphernalia – it is easier for a defendant to prove why they have scales and loads of little clear plastic bags in the boot of their car rather than the prosecution having to prove what they were used for. My local Indian, for example, would quickly be able to prove that the little bags were to put mints in for takeaways and the scales were to measure ingredients.
The Premier League had decided that it was up to clubs to prove that deals were FMV. the challenge against this shifting burden of proof was successful, and it will likely result in the Premier League having to prove that a deal is not at FMV in the future, rather than the initial standpoint being that the club is guilty.
What has not changed, however, is the “punishment”. It is still down to the Premier League to decide what FMV is, and the ability to discount income above FMV is retained. So those Newcastle fans celebrating that they can get a “£1bn naming rates deal” are misguided.
Shareholder loans
Whilst arguing the parameters of FMV, Manchester City also questions the rules around shareholder loans.
The very valid point was made that if sponsorship deals had to be at FMV, then surely shareholder loans should be as well? And this challenge was upheld.
Under current rules, an shareholder could loan a club a chunk of money at 0% interest. These was deemed to be unfair by the board, as the loan would not be provided at a FMV. The consequence will be that when reviewing shareholder loans for PSR, the Premier League will now have to ensure that any interest paid has been at FMV.
Ironically, the two clubs who have had “interest free shareholder loans” in the last decade or more are Chelsea and Manchester City. So by challenging this ruling, they are closing a loophole that they have previously exploited.
Some in the media have written this as “City get one over Arsenal and Manchester United”, with loads of Newcastle fans (why is it always them?) now writing a narrative that Arsenal are in breach of PSR rules. But how true is this?
Firstly, Arsenal do owe £259m to KSE. This was after KSE restructured our debt back in 2020. There has been zero evidence presented that the money loaned by KSE to Arsenal was not a FMV. whislt there is lots of evidence that the loan was at FMV.
At the time when KSE loaned Arsenal the money, the Bank of England interest rate was 0.1%. A good comparator is Tottenham, who were paying 2.6% on their loan to build the stadium. At the same time, Arsenal were paying around 5.14%, as the bonds were taken out in 2007 when the Bank of England rate was 5%.
Reports are that we currently pay KSE around 2.2%-2.4% in interest. This is a tad lower than what Tottenham’s loan was at, but was also given at a time when the BoE interest rate was at its lowest.
I'm not an expert in these things but I've had a look at Arsenal Holdings accounts for the last 3 seasons and pulled out the amount loans the company has, the interest paid on loans, calculated the (rough) interest paid on those loans and the Bank of England base rate. FMV? pic.twitter.com/AuJlujEoDF
What Arsenal do not have is an interest free loan. There might need to be a small adjustment as to the interest we declare for PSR, but it should not be a huge adjustment.
It also needs to be factored in that the loan to KSE is in relation to the stadium build and other infrastructure. And this spend is exempt for PSR reporting. These loans are not to pay wages and / or transfer fees, or to cover up for huge losses. So the loan to KSE might not even need to be declared as part of our PSR reporting.
Finally, it is unlikely that any rule implemented around shareholder loans will be retrospective. Changes will be made to new loans moving forward. So we really do not have much to worry about.
Final thoughts
It is interesting to see the likes of Everton and West Ham United fans celebrate Manchester City’s “victory” over the Premier League. My feeling is this is to deflect from their own bad owners poor running of their clubs.
Any decision against the Premier League during the case will be in the favour of “state owned” clubs. And Everton and West Ham are neither of these. So by celebrating every Man City victory, they are actually celebrating being at an even bigger financial disadvantage than they are now. Man City successfully challenging points does not favour them.
As for Newcastle, their celebrations show their delusion since their new owners came in. they really think that the Premier League are stopping PFI bank rolling Newcastle to success. I would suggest they spend more time looking at PFI business models and learning what their owners intentions are. It is also about sportswashing and having a share in English football. Not about winning.
The only challenge that benefits Newcastle is that the burden of proof on FMV now falls to the Premier League. Not, as their fans seem to think, that APT is about to be scrapped. Infact the ruling stated the very opposite, and reiterated that APT is both on the whole fair, and important.
And finally, to reiterate my guidance, DYOR. you would not take financial advice off a faceless social media account (although some do), so why would you believe what someone you do not know is presenting as “facts” around a legal case. And I include me in that.
For a long time, SheWore.com became a daily blog. But in recent months it became a bit of a grind to find content every day. I always said that if there was nothing to write about, I would just have a coffee and get on with my day. But in the last couple of years I became obsessed with the “streak” of writing day in day out.
In recent weeks life has got very busy. And on top of that there has been very little Arsenal related news to write about. And I will never be one of those who merely copy and paste’s quotes from the club, without bringing anything fresh perspective to what was said.
One topic that does make me chuckle is that of Bukayo Saka.
I honestly think he is the best right winger in the world right now. I struggle to name someone else who is doing what he does consistently. Perhaps Mo Salah. But he is now 32 and clearly on the decline.
You know Saka is top level because he is the one all rivals try and compare their players too. Meanwhile, we never compare Saka to anyone. We Just sit and appreciate his ability.
Brennan Johnson is the latest to get compared to Saka following a little purple patch where he has scored 6 goals in 6 games. This makes him one of the highest scoring wingers in Europe, and has led Spurs fans to put him on the same level as Saka. Delusion at its finest.
It will probably surprise many, but Johnson is 4 months OLDER than Saka. This highlights both what an exceptional talent Saka is, and what an average career Johnson has had.
Johnson’s exploits at the weekend saw him take his Premier League goal scoring tally to 16. That is not 16 this season. Or this calendar year. It is 16 in his entire career. 16 is also how many Premier League goals Saka got last year.
What makes Saka special is his consistency. Johnson is in the best form of his life, a fantastic 6-game spell, and he is only matching what Saka has done week in, week out for the past 3 seasons.
Over the years we have seen Manchester United fans try and compare Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Alejandro Garnacho to Saka. Manchester City fans continually talk about Phil Foden v Saka. Tottenham comparing Dejan Kulusevski. And more recently Chelsea fans spend their days making a case that Cole Palmer is better.
Meanwhile, us Arsenal fans just there quietly and take it all in. We know there is no debate to be had. No need to make a case for Saka being on their level because we all know he is above them. And Saka does his own talking on the pitch. He does not need fans to bring out statistics and make a case for him.
The debate right now amongst fans should be Foden v Palmer.
Both are City graduates. Both are number 10s who have been played on the wing for much of their career. Both left footed. And Palmer left Manchester City because of Phil Foden being ahead of him in the pecking order.
I like both players, but neither is a world class number 10.
Palmer is clearly a fantastic goal scorer, but he can drift through games and is quickly becoming one of those “if he does not score he does not do much else”. Meanwhile, Foden has always played second fiddle at City. Whether that be to Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva or Bernardo Silva. I do question whether he has what it takes to be the main man.
Saka is the main man at Arsenal. And when not scoring or assisting, he is always involved in the game. The best attacking and defensive work-rate in the league, he influences the game in more than just goals and assists. Very few, if any, wingers in the modern game put in the shift he does, and also get the goals and assists he does.
It is incredible that Saka is still only 23. That is younger than Foden. Younger than Johnson. And just 1-year older than Cole Palmer.
New players will continually be compared to Saka following a purple patch. And that is because Bukayo is the best of the best. He is number one. The man that everyone wants to be when they grow up.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 