5 hours from Blackburn all for a 0-0

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Following the legends match at the Emirates where I was part of the prawn sandwich brigade, next match was an U21 match away to Coventry City in the Checkatrade Trophy.

This was a good test as it was against Coventry’s first team. We won 3-0 with over 200 Gooners in attendance made it a satisfying evening.

Next stop was a trip to St James’s Park, Newcastle; always a decent place to watch football with the city centre stadium with walking distance of plenty of pubs. For a reason that still makes no sense to me, we were booked on the 6:12am train from Kings Cross meaning that my alarm was set for 3:30am!

What with my other half being away on Saturday night and 10 hours of drinking, this trip was only going one way and it did……

The match was uninspiring but a 2-1 win, but it meant that for the first time in an age, we won two away on the bounce!

Following a heavy head on Sunday, Monday saw me venturing up to Blackburn for an U23 match. There was a bad accident on the M6 which meant diversions and missing the first 13 minutes. On the way home, I counted 18 different sets of road works, therefore arriving home over 5 hours after our departure; the match itself finished 0-0, not a great day all round!

The only thing I took back with me from Blackburn was a stinking cold which was to stop me going to a few youth & academy matches.

Following this seasons Europa League debut with a easy win against Ukrainian side Vorsla Poltava, I saw our U23s thrash Liverpool 4-0 at Borehamwood.

Next up was a 2-0 home win against Everton where the highlight was keeping our first clean sheet of the season followed by a home Carabao Cup versus Brentford, a team we’ve not played in a competitive match since the 1940’s which we won 3-1.

Next up is the last match of a run of 4 home matches against Watford followed by a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan. Lots of sun and cheap alcohol, what could possibly go wrong?

JW

Santi Cazorla opens up on “lack of belief” at Arsenal

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Really interesting interview with Santi Cazorla on Football Focus last weekend

“We needed to believe in ourselves more,” he told Football Focus.

“To believe that we were capable of competing with the big sides in the Premier League and not just settling for third or fourth.”

“We needed to have made that leap to try and battle it out for the title. There were seasons where you felt like we were in with a shout but then through various circumstances it wasn’t to be,” he said.

“But I think it’s all about having that self-belief, that right mentality. To say ‘We believe in this team, we know we have a great squad and we can go toe to toe with the big English clubs.’

“I believe that they will do that and for sure they will keep on improving in the future. They are going to have a great season, they have a great team and I wish them all the best.”

Santi Cazorla opens up on “lack of belief” at ArsenalSanti Cazorla opens up on “lack of belief” at Arsenal

What he highlights is that Arsenal lacked the belief that they could compete with the best in England. Both during the 90 minutes and over the course of the season.

What this highlights is that Arsene Wenger became defeatist in the latter years. That he started to feel he could not build a team that could compete, and he projected this negative mindset onto the players.

It was poor man management.

Arsenal not being able to compete with Manchester City, Chelsea or Manchester United was a valid opinion. We had a lot less to spend both in the transfer market and on players wages then these teams. But from a managerial point of view, Wenger should have been protecting his thoughts from the players.

He should have been telling the players they are brilliant, that they can become champions. Not trying to soften the blow of a defeat by pointing out that we can not expect to compete with Man City / Chelsea / Man U as we can not spend as much as them (transfers & wages).

Imagine being told by your boss “we will never be as good as our competitor because we do not have similar financial clout”. It creates a defeatist attitude leaving staff to accept second best as an achievement A good manager shields his staff and coaches them to compete – regardless of industry.

This is not just about football, but about management in general.

Managing people is no different in football to a sales office, a hedge fund or any other industry.  A managers job is to motivate and coach to improvement. No matter the industry. Projecting your negative opinion into staff will not motivate them but lead them accepting the excuses.

If players “lacked belief”, then it was Wenger’s job to motivate the players, to install that belief. If Wenger was not motivating his staff, installing belief, then it is poor management.

Keenos

Arsenal should be praised for cheap tickets

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Over the years we have been huge critics of the prices of Arsenal ticket prices. Seasons tickets are too much, they price out a lot of fans. Category A prices, ranging from £64 – £120+ are extortionate.

By the time you add in travel and food, it would cost more for a family of 4 to go watch arsenal v Manchester United than it would for that same family to go to Tenerife for 7 days all inclusive.

A lot of the recent anger stems from the move from the Home of Football, Highbury.

At the time, a lot of fans did not want to move, but at the time it was sold to fans that a larger attendance would mean the club could massively discount tickets. We all remember the back page of the Islington Gazette, announcing that the move will generate these cheap tickets.

But football moved on. As we moved, the rise of mega-rich owners took over, with Roman Abramovich and his tanks full of cash.

Saddled wit huge stadium debt that the club were struggling to pay off, and the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United outspending the club in the transfer market and on wages, the club became heavily reliant on stadium income to finance this debt, and keep some sort of competitiveness.

It meant that instead of tickets dropping, they went up, as Arsenal began to record gate receipts.

In 2010, 4 years after the move, match day income accounted for 42% of the clubs total revenue. In 2017 it represented just 23%.

Ticket pricing issues is not a new thing.

I read a snippet from a news article back in the 1950’s a year or so ago. The article was about Arsenal fans being priced out of football.

Then we have Fever Pitch.

In the brilliant Nick Hornby book, the rising cost of ticket prices in the 1980s in mentioned a couple of times.

Moving on to the 90s, we all remember David Dein’s North Bank Bond Scheme, but what tends to be forgotten is the 38% hike in ticket prices in 1991. In fact, from 1987 to 1993 ticket prices rose 100%.

When you look back at ticket stubs from those years, paying £10.50 for a game looks ludicrously cheap. And it is. But 6 years before it was £5.25. This 100% jump would have priced out a lot of fans.

The point I am making is that looking back, ticket prices will always look a lot cheaper. Everything does. Houses, milk, bread. But back then, it certainly did not feel cheap to go to football. It was still expensive in the early 90s, in comparison to early 80s when you could go to games for 4 times less.

The brilliant blog by the Arsenal History lads has a wonderful excel spreadsheet highlighting Arsenal ticket price rises since 1980.

I am starting to sound like I am justifying ticket prices, I am not. They are still too high and are pricing out a lot of fans.

The issue I will always have is Arsenal get beaten up in the media for having high ticket prices, when the truth is all of football is now expensive.

The BBC publish their Price of Football study every November. It is good in theory, but it often paints a poorly misinterpreted picture, and gives the media a chance to write negatively about Arsenal.

Arsenal usually top the league for cost of season ticket. But what is always ignored is that Arsenal fans get 26 match day tickets for their money,

So last season, Arsenal were 3rd in terms of most expensive tickets.

For the (unbuilt) new stadium, Tottenham’s cheapest season ticket will increase to £795. This shoots them straight to the top of the table and, at £41.84, makes them the first club to have the cost of their cheapest ticket over £40.

Some clubs manipulate the table as well.

For example Manchester City’s cheapest ticket is £299, but they only have a hundred or so of these available, and it is not a fixed seat – you are moved around the ground filling in space where there is available seating.

I always wonder when clubs will begin offering a single £5 season ticket just to mess with the BBC.

Is £34 a game really that expensive?

One criticism of Arsenal’s structure is the 26 games.

Over the years, the likes of the BlackScarfMovement have campaigned for a “season ticket lite” that drops the cup games. If this was implemented, the cheapest season ticket would be £651. That would be a lot more affordable.

A season ticket lite would come with some caveats, such as you would lose your priority for cup finals. It would not be fair for those on the season ticket lite to have equal priority for those on the full season ticket who have pre-paid for the cup games.

Moving the discussion on, whilst the Category A tickets are pricey, as previously mentioned, these actually subsidise cheaper tickets elsewhere. And I to not think the club gets enough praise for making these cheap tickets available.

https://twitter.com/DarrenArsenal1/status/1045124566820028420

For as long as I can remember, back into the Highbury days, Arsenal have offered cheap tickets in the League Cup.

Against Brentford, it was £10 lower tier, £20 upper for adults. Kids were £5 lower tier, £10 upper. And there were plenty available at both prices.

That means the family of 4 that are spending holiday money to go to Manchester United at home could have watched Arsenal for £30. That is not £30 for a single ticket, but £30 for the whole family (£10 each adult, £5 each child).

If this is not affordable, I do not what else fans expect the club to do.

Of course, part of the problem is many fans do not want to go to the “smaller” games.

45,000 turned up to watch Arsenal beat Brentford. 60,000 will turn up for Arsenal v Manchester United. It seems fans do not go to games “to see The Arsenal”.

As a kid, I would not care what game my parents got tickets too. I was just delighted to be at Highbury. Has that mentality not changed?

£10 a ticket to watch Arsenal. Fantastic.

The Europa League also provides tickets at good value.

Despite lazy journalists claiming that Arsenal are watching Europa League football for rip-off prices, you could get an adult brief for just £15.50 and Junior Gunner tickets for £4.25. The most expensive tickets are £23.50.

Again, these are good value.

https://twitter.com/Aliceinsoundga1/status/1045194775727665152

The cheapest ticket to Watch Leyton Orient in the Conference is £16.

It is therefore cheaper to watch Arsenal in the League Cup & the Europa League than it is to watch Orient in the 5th division of English football.

Top end tickets might be too expensive, but the club should be getting praised for the pricing structure in the two cup competitions.

It is also just £26 to watch Arsenal play in a Cat C game. Some fans would call this a fair price for all games, I would not disagree. But this is subsidised by the more expensive Cat A games.

So for £26, £10 more than it costs to watch Leyton Orient, you can see Arsenal in the Premier League. That is the same ticket price as the 2001 season, playing at Highbury, before categorised price structures.

And there is more.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Emirates on a Friday night to watch Arsenal v Spurs in the Premier League 2 – the U23 league. The cost of my ticket? £0. nothing. Nowt. Tickets were free.

So you could go down The Arsenal and watch some of our brightest young players – the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah – for nothing.

I will always campaign for cheaper tickets, and show my disgust when prices go up. But I will also be fair and defend the club against media attacks, and point out when the club are making football affordable.

The cost of the League Cup and Europa League is a good deal. It is cheap.

If you went to all 3 games, Vorskla, Brentford and Tottenham, it would have cost you a total of £25.50.

That is value.

Keenos