Arsenal’s “humiliating” TV rescheduling, Semi Final Tickets, Thomas Tuchel & Leicester Fans

1 Reply

“Humiliating” TV rescheduling

I had to laugh yesterday when The Sun created a story about Sky TV changing their TV choice for a load of rearranged games. Dropping Arsenal v Leicester for Crystal Palace.

Let’s be honest, it is agenda drivel BS which no real Arsenal fan would take seriously. Those who use it to form any sort of Wenger Out / Arsenal in Crisis are clearly a little bit thick.

Having a TV game switched is no a “humiliation”. Anyone with half a brain would realise that Palace v Spurs would be a more attractable game then Arsenal v Leicester.

In recent weeks, Palace have beaten Chelsea and Arsenal. They are currently in a relegation scrap. The potential for a story is much bigger than Leicester.

At the time of TV scheduling, Leicester were still in trouble. Champions on the verge of relegation. The media would have loved that story and wanted to be there every step of the way. In recent weeks they have got themselves to mid table. They are safe. No longer a threat to relegation. There is no story there.

Palace is now a bigger story to tell than Leicester. And Sky want to tell that story.

This season 70% of Arsenal games have been on tv. That is 70% too many for a match going fan fed up with games continually being rescheduled for a TV audience. We play Middlesbrough on Monday night. Easter Monday. A bank holiday. A disgrace of scheduling.

I would rather be “humiliated” and have Middlesbrough v Arsenal on Saturday 3pm so I can actually go, then have it as a TV pick.

Sky have showed so little interest in showing Arsenal for the rest of the season that in the latest set of TV games, they decided to pick Stoke v Arsenal. A pointless game. A pointless rescheduling. The rest of the Premier League should be humiliated that this is the best offering Sky could pick for this slot.

Arsenal would have been on 17 out of a possible 20 times since the turn of the year up until Leicester and 3 of the next 4 after Leicester will be shown on TV.

We have had jut 1 Saturday 3pm kick off this calendar year. And just 7 all season. 7 of 38 games on at 3pm Saturday.

TV companies do not humiliate football clubs by changing the TV scheduling. They disregard fans by scheduling games without thinking about those who actually go to games.

It is not humiliating. It is an agenda.

Semi Final tickets

Another example of “using a story to suit an agenda” is with semi final tickets. Arsenal have yet to sell out and tickets today (I think) go on sale to fans who have been to at least 10 games and held a red membership over at least the last 2 seasons.

“It shows fans apathy. That they are fed up” has been the main narrative wheeled out by many.

The fact is all 4 clubs have struggled to sell out their FA Cup Semi Final tickets.

Chelsea had to go down to fans who have been to 5+ games to sell their allocation. They are top of the league. Spurs tickets went on sale to bronze members (their equivalent of red members) who had “148 loyalty points”.

Spurs loyalty points system is similar to Arsenal’s away credit, but with a few big differences. It includes home games, they give a different weight to different games, and it includes the last 4 seasons and the current campaign (Arsenal’s is last 2 season + current campaign, away games only, 1 point per game).

Now Spurs even give you loyalty points for just renewing their membership. A bronze member gets 15 loyalty points. So if a bronze member has held their membership for the last 5 seasons 9including the current one), they would have 75 loyalty points without even going to a game. Almost half the points needed for an FA Cup Semi Final ticket. Incredible.

They give out 1 point per Category A game, 3 per Category C and 5 points per Category C game. You can use your own brain to work out which sides fall into which Category.

So if you had renewed your membership every year for 5 years, you would have had to have gone to on average, 3 Category C games a season over that time to be over the 148 points.

So Arsenal are getting hammered for tickets being on sale to 10+ games over the last 2 season, whilst Spurs fans would have had to have gone to just 15 games over the last 5 seasons. Chelsea just 5+ games (I have not researched over how many seasons).

Of course, both these clubs are considerably smaller than Arsenal. Have small grounds and smaller fan bases. So it is only natural that their fans would have to have been to less games than Arsenal (although both sides sell more tickets each week than the 32,000 they have sold for the FA Cup Semi Final).

Then we come to Manchester City.

Manchester City have put their tickets on General Sale. That means any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy one. You do not even have to be a member. Or a Manchester City fan. You could be a Leyton Orient fan, do the Marathon, then head to Wembley.

So all 4 clubs, no matter if they are having a great season or an awful season, are struggling to sell out Wembley. This shows there are deeper rooted issues surrounding tickets and poor sales than “Arsenal fans showing their anger”

  • Tickets are too expensive – Whilst tickets priced at £30 – £60 does not seem unreasonable, the pattern will always be the cheapest tickets go first. The majority of last tickets on sale will be the £60 ones. Fans might be unwilling to pay this much for a single game.
  • Wembley Apathy – I am a big believer, like many, that FA Cup semi finals should not be held at Wembley. I would much rather have 20,000 Arsenal fans & 20,000 City fans at Villa Park. The most loyal of fans. Rather than 32,000 fans, watered down by day trippers and ‘friends of the FA’ at Wembley. Some fans just do not want to go to Wembley unless it is for a final.
  • Wembley Apathy II – This will be the 7th time in 3 years that Arsenal have visited Wembley. Football fans get bored quickly. A trip to Wembley, for many, is not as exciting now as it was in 2014. It is like shagging Kelly Brook. Great to begin with, but after a while she gets boring. It’s why so many blokes end up getting rid of her.

Should Arsenal have sold out by now? I would have expected so, yes. But Arsenal have struggled no more than the other 3 clubs still left in the competition.

What it highlights more than everything is that there is just how fragile clubs membership lists are. Clubs have 100,000+ members, but less than a third of that seem to be willing to buy tickets on a regular basis.

homas Tuchel

One of the names banded about a lot as a potential Arsene Wenger replacement is Thomas Tuchel of Borussia Dortmund.

Now I am all for getting Wenger replaced, but the replacement has to be a manager who can take us forward. Someone like the excellent Max Allegri at Juventus or Simeone from Atletico Madrid. What I will not accept is a sub-par manager. Someone who is not superior to Wenger. I want the best players at Arsenal Football Club. I want the best managers.

When I have previously seen the likes of Owen Coyle, Brendan Rodgers, David Moyes, Gary Monk, Michael Laudrup and Eddie Howe linked with the Arsenal job, it is laughable. It actually strengthens Wenger’s position as it makes it appear that there are no better options out there. People are willing to call for any manger to replace Wenger, as to them it is not about how comes in, but who leaves. More interested in Wenger going then who his replacement is.

Thomas Tuchel is another one who can go into the bin. For me he is one of the most overrated managers in Europe.

The sole reason he is on anyone’s radar is because he was at Mainz 05 and then moved to Dortmund. The identical journey as Jurgen Klopp. They label him “the new Klopp”. But having a similar background to Klopp does not mean he is good enough.

A bit like when Bruno Cheryou, French with Algerian descent, was labelled the next Zinedine Zidane, French with Algerian descent, due to him being French with Algerian descent.

Or those that labelled Abou Disney the next Patrick Vieira because he was tall, black, born in Senegal but grew up in France. Or the countless “diminutive playmakers” from Argentina who get labelled the “next Maradona” or more recently the “Next Messi”.

You need to judge someone on what their own achievements are, not on the achievements of someone who shares similar characteristics. And so far Thomas Tuchel has achieved nothing.

Last night Dortmund were taken apart at home against Monaco. Losing 3-2.

They currently sit 18 points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. It has to be said Bayern are an awesomely strong team so being 18 behind should not be seen as a negative for a manager. But sitting 4th in the league is more damning.

On top of this, Dortmund spent around £100m last summer. Much of which wasted on a lot of unknown youngsters.

So Dortmund spent a lot of money, hide failure behind having a team of kids, sit 4th in the league and are on the brink of going out in Europe. Maybe Tuchel is the perfect replacement for Wenger. If you want to keep mediocrity and the status quo.

Leicester Fans

Talk of Leicester fans disgracing themselves in Spain. Some Arsenal fans have commented on the matter calling them a disgrace.

Let’s be honest, at some point, almost every football fan has travelled abroad, stood in a square topless, drank too much beer, sang some naughty songs and ended up being charged by the police.

It happened in Milan. In Munich. In Lille for the Euro’s. European police do not like us and look for any reason to give us a smack.

The songs about Gibraltar were spot on. Gibraltar is ours and Spain can F Off. It reminds me of being in the square in Lille with England (and Welsh) fans last summer singing “we all voted out, we all voted out, F Off Europe, we all voted out”. We got charged, smacked and gassed by the French police that night.

If you have said, tweeted or commented that Leicester fans embarrassed themselves and England yesterday, please get over yourself. Get off your high horse. You are probably someone who on a Euro away spends all day taking selfies infront of the Eifel Tower. You probably do even more embarrassing things at games then have a beer and a sing song.

Euro aways are the best experience. Beers abroad with your pals. Sadly it seems some fans are so concerned over how they wish to portray themselves on social media that they forget their own behaviour abroad.

What Leicester fans did was no different to what Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs fans have done abroad. And it was great.

Have a good Easter!

Keenos

Arsenal’s shocking transfer dealings exposed

2 Replies

https://shewore.mysupadupa.com/Throughout all of the Wenger stuff, one thing has become increasingly clear. Our transfer dealings this season have been atrocious.

When the summer transfer window shut, I was fairly optimistic about our season ahead. And part of the reasoning behind this was due to our transfer dealings.

Arsenal had signed two excellent experienced players Granit Xhaka and Shkdoran Mustafi, a talented young centre back in Rob Holding, and a fairly unknown forward who had excellent statistics in Lucas Perez. But it all seems to have unravelled. £93million spent on some exciting talents.

Granit Xhaka

When we signed Granit Xhaka, I was excited. I had followed him since his Basel days and was excited that we had signed him.

He looked the complete midfielder. Defensive awareness mixed with a fantastic range of passing. He would add steal to our midfield, protection to our defence, but would also be the man to start our attacks. He was the leader in the middle of the park that we had missed for so long. It seemed he had no weaknesses.

But then it all began to fall apart. His ill discipline that had hampered his early career reared its head once more. Rash into a tackle, he was clumsy rather than ferocious. 2 red cards and 9 yellows this season. And it could have been more.

Yes, he was unlucky to see red against Swansea, but there have been other times when he has been lucky to stay on the pitch.

He has probably not been as bad as it seems, but his position is made to seem worse due to the fact we picked Xhaka over N’Golo Kante, who has taken another huge step forward at Chelsea and is now the best defensive midfielder in world football.

With Xhaka, we are peering over the fence at our numbers Chelsea, seeing what we could have had, and it feels we picked the wrong option.

Shkodran Mustafi

I questioned Shkodran Mustafi’s ability back in December. At the time he had no lost a single game at Arsenal which he had played in. I was mocked in the comments o nthe blog, on Twitter and Facebook. How could I be criticising a player who had yet to lose in an Arsenal shirt?

Well at the time I looked beyond the results of the team and was looking at the performances of the defence.

At the time, Arsenal had not kept a clean sheet for 10 games, with just 4 all season – 3 of which had Mustafi in defence, and the Mustafi / Koscielny partnership was conceding at a rate of a goal a game.

I ended the blog with;

Arsenal defensive frailties have become worse this season. Mustafi has solved one problem but created another.

4 months on and he was part of a centreback partnership against Crystal Palace that failed to make a single tackle. Two crude tackles in the 1st half meant he probably should have seen red. He was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Mustafi has played 17 games in 2017, Arsenal have conceded 31 goals. We have conceded more 3 or more goals on 7 occasions this calendar year. We have kept just 6 clean sheets. 3 of which have been in the FA Cup.

It is not just Mustafi’s fault. The entire defence from Bellerin across to Monreal has been shocking. But Mustafi has shown as huge technical issues which worry.

He tends to chase the ball. He is a poor judge of a high ball. His headers rarely reach a team mate. He dives in to tackles. He is beaten too easily.

I still think he will turn out to be a good player at Arsenal, but at £35,000,000 you would expect better performances than the Sunday League level ones he is putting in at the moment.

Lucas Perez

It is easy to forget the Lucas Perez is an Arsenal player. He ha splayed just 265 minutes in the Premier League this season.

Whether this is because he is a poor player, Wenger does not fancy him, Wenger is misusing him, or a mixture of everything, it will probably never be known.

It would not surprise me of Perez was shipped out this summer with Arsenal recouping what they spent on him.

A hat trick against Basel in the Champions League has been his career highlight thus far. His other goals coming against Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Sutton.

He was clearly a panic buy when it became obvious that Danny Welbeck was going to be out longer then expected. With just Olivier Giroud up top, we lacked a pacey option and Perez was bought in.

Perez has been hampered by the decision to play Alexis Sanchez through the middle. Whilst this did work out for the good, it has meant less game time for Perez. Walcott has had a very good season wide right (18 goals this season) but I perhaps would have liked to see Perez get a run out ahead of Alex Iwobi in a few games on the left hand side.

With Welbeck back fit, Perez is currently behind Welbeck, Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott & Oxlade-Chamberlain to get game time. You would struggle to make a justification for him to start ahead of any of those.

A very expensive panic buy. Not good enough to challenge for the 1st team when everyone is fit.

Rob Holding

It would be unfair on Rob Holding to label him a flop. He is just 21 and has shown good signs when called upon. At just £2million, he was clearly signed with the future in mind.

Unlike Calum Chambers, he does not have the hefty price tag over his head which will lead for calls for him to be ready for the first team.

He ha sonly played a handful of games this season, and could do with going on loan to a Premier League side next season to get some game time.

We could have a decent player on our hand, but he needs game time.

Takuma Asano

Does he even have a work permit yet? Throw him in the box with the likes of Joel Campbell, Wellington Silva, Samuel Galindo, Pedro Botelho & Carlos Vela. Players who we signed, spent years getting them valid work rights, and they ultimately turned out to be useless.

Kelechi Nwakali

Just a baby. We would moan if we signed him, and then moan if, after a trial, we turned him down and he became Yaya Toure.

£3,000,000 is a lot of money for a player who had only every played on sandy fields in Africa, but that is the cost of talented young players these days..

Cohen Bramall

Would be completely unfair to judge him as a flop. And I will not do so.

What he does highlight is just how poor our transfers have been this summer. He was the only signing in January, and he highlights just how little business we did in January. Just a young, non-league full back.

We have barely won a game in 2017. Not signing a single senior player in January is now looking like a ridiculous decision.

 

£93,000,000 spent. Money not well spent.

There is no point moving to the new stadium, having a big load of money to spend, if we are not going to spend it correctly. Just another reason why it is time for Wenger to go.

Keenos

Done with football, done with Arsenal, done with Arsene

11 Replies

I am done with football.

My relationship with the game is dead.

My relationship with Arsenal is strained.

My relationship with Arsene Wenger is over.

I have tried to remain loyal. Tried to work through the problems. Tried look on the bright side, find that silver lining. I have naively thoughts things would improve. Clung on to great memories of the past. Even some good memories of the recent past. But like many a relationship, it is time to call it a day.

I am drained, emotionally and physically. There are only so many beatings I can take. Only so many times I can get knocked down and get back up again. I need to walk away. Get a fresh start. Learn to love again.

Football is something I fell out of a love with a long time ago. The way fans are treated by all clubs, no matter if you are Chelsea at the top of the league or Leyton Orient at the bottom is nothing short of a disgrace.

Clubs simply do not care about regular match day fans. And the authorities, the Premier League, the FA, the Football League, care even less than the clubs.

The commercialisation of the game, the globalisation of it, has ruined it for match day fans. The clubs concern is no longer the well being of the thousands that go through the gates every season, and have done for years, but their extended reach. For a decade now they have cared about income, cared about attracting more foreign fans, than cared about their most loyal fans who would stay with the club no matter the situation.

Fans who go week in week out are trodden on by all clubs as they chase the dollar, yen or riyal. Clubs would rather 60,000 different people turn up to each game, all spending £100 a ticket, going into the club shop, spending many more hundreds, than 45,000 season ticket holders, who go in and out, have a grumble, don’t spend much at the ground, but are happy(ish) to pay their £1,000+.

Ticket prices are not just an Arsenal thing, but a football things. Leyton Orient, the leagues lowers club, currently charge £20 – £39. How is that right? And they are a club that are currently being ruined.

The FA have a fit and proper person test. I would love to know what it actually is as the likes of Leyton Orient have been badly let down. As the clubs chase foreign investment, it seems both them and the football league do not care how shady this money is, or even if it exists. Coventry, Leeds, Leyton Orient, Portsmouth, and more. The list of clubs with dodgy owners gets longer every year.

Add in the TV companies, changing times not matter if fans can get too / from games all for prime time viewing. Add rail companies and airlines hiking up prices as soon as a game is announced. It all leads to a feeling of not being loved. Everyone is out to make their buck. Their slice of the pay. And we as fans are the mugs. We are the ones no one cares about. Yet we are the ones who travel up and down the country week in, week out.

I have not enjoyed football for some time, but what dragged me back was my love for Arsenal. And now that is dwindling.

I moved house early in the year and it has meant that I have been unable to go to as many games in 2017 as I would have liked. It is damning that I have not actually missed football.

2 weekends ago, when Arsenal were playing Manchester City, I did not even watch the game on TV. I was busy in my garden, in the sunshine, painting a fence. I only realised the game was in with about 10 minutes to go.

The fact is, when I have not been at football, I have not missed it.

A few years ago, I made an attempt to go to every Premier League game. I ended up one short. I planed holidays around football. I sacked off family gatherings for Arsenal. My life was about football.

The year before that, I was up at 2am in Thailand watching games. I would not dream of missing a game, whether it be at the ground or on TV. I would get itchy if I was close to missing a game. And if I did miss one, I would spend the entire time refreshing my phone, annoyed that I had missed a game.

But things have now changed. I no longer care. Arsenal do not care about me. Why should I care about Arsenal? I am merely a number. A body through the door. I am not even a bum on the seat, as if I do not take my seat, the club has already got my money.

Arsenal Football Club is rotten from the top down. We have owners and a board who seem happy sitting round their oak table smoking cigars unable to actually make a decision. We have management, coaches, players, all of whom see the club as an employee. A way to become millionaires. They do not care.

We have fans who I can not relate too. And it is not just the selfie holding foreign fans who I can not stand. It is the majority of our fan base. What ever happened to going to a game, having a pint, enjoying time with your mates.

Every is now vying for their bit of attention. Waving to the camera. Trying to be front and centre. Everyone wants their 5 minutes of fame, even if it embarrasses themselves, their family, their children, their club, their fellow Arsenal fans in doing so. Everyone wants to be a celebrity.

No club has fans like Arsenal Football Club. More interested self publicity. Making a quick buck off the club whilst slagging it off. It is all just embarrassing. This isn’t Arsenal.

I always thought I was a fan who stuck with the side through thick and thin. Would stay to the end, no matter what the result. The first time I walked out on a game was the 3-0 defeat to Everton in 2014. I went as the 3rd went on. I have now walked out of the last 3 away games.

At Liverpool it was a couple of minutes before the end. I could not bare listen to the Scousers sing You’ll Never Walk Alone. WBA I went at 3-1. I was surprised when I got back to the pub that a couple of my mates were already in there.

Last night I went at 2-0. I just did not want to be there anymore. I wanted to go home. It was a Monday night. I had a 90 minute train journey to look forward too. I just wanted out of their, I did not like the toxic atmosphere. The toxic performance.

I do feel like a fraud. I should be there through thick and thin. But if the players and management do not care for Arsenal, why should I care for them?

Then we have Arsene Wenger himself.

Those that know me will know I have wanted him going for a few years now. Whilst I will not shout abuse, wish death on him, or undermine his legendary status at the club, I have quietly wanted him gone whilst keeping an unbiased view point with no agenda. I have attempted to be level headed.

The man has now lost it. His selfishness shows no bounds. He sits smugly stating he “knows the future” when it comes to his contract, yet will not tell anyone. He thinks he can do no wrong. He is turning into a Scouser, it is never his fault.

His arrogance, his selfishness, his stubbornness, it is all becoming sickening. It is getting to a point where he is ruining his own legacy.

Whilst remove Wenger from his position as manager will not change the club overnight, he is one of many rotten apples, it would be a start. He should have resigned last night.

He claims to have dignity, class, but if he did he would fall on his own sword. Admit things are not good enough, and leave now. Sadly, he has £8million reasons not to leave. Why would you throw away £16million+ over the next two years if there is no pressure from above to do so?

Wenger has always presented himself as a gentleman of the game. He is now an old man who screams at his long suffering wife to get him a cup of tea, despite him being right next to the kettle.

It is never nice seeing a grand parent slowly losing their marbles, becoming a horrible person, as you have to love them no matter what. As their mind go’s downhill land they become more abusive, you still have to love them. But you will just start visiting them less. Stay for shorter periods. You turn up out of duty rather than love. That is what it feels like with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

There are only 2 games left this season I have interest in. Spurs away and the FA Cup semi final. I doubt I will go to any other game this season.

The sad thing is in a month it will be season ticket renewal time. I will renew my home season ticket. I will renew my away season ticker. And I will go again. I will return home, to a one sided relationship where VI know I ma going to get abused. But there is still love in the heart. And it is that love that will keep me going through the bad times.

I am, like many others like me, a mug.

Keenos