Tag Archives: Arsenal F.C.

Ticket Price Rises, Andre Villas Boas, Bayern Munich and Luis Suarez

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Ticket Price Rises

Arsenal announced before the weekend defeat against Manchester City that they were planning to rise tickets in line with the rate of inflation – a 3% rise. Now under normal circumstances, I would understand this. Costs go up every year, so all companies have to squeeze their prices up a little every year. Either that or find additional revenue elsewhere. And that is my problem, the new Premier League TV deal will increase clubs income by 71%. The new Champions League deal is expected to double a clubs income, and the new Puma kit deal is a 428% increase on the old Nike one.

By my rough maths, once these new deals kick in, Arsenal will be increasing their income by around £83 million (£25m extra in sponsorship, £25m extra in CL money, £35m extra in PL money). This will see our revenue increase to around £335m, or around a 38% increase.

So why, I ask, are prices going up with the justification that it is ‘inflation’ when our increased revenue from other area’s far outstrips the inflation increase? As I have explained before, the club could have decreased prices to just £21.25 and maintained the same revenue as now. Where is all this money going to end up? Will it go straight to the players pockets? Will the board give themselves pay rises and bonuses? Or will they start paying out a dividend.

All I know is that with this 3% increase, the club have taken us for mugs. Will I continue paying? Yes, because I am a mug.

Andre Villas Boas

Tottenham, the gift that just keeps on giving. Just over a week until Christmas and they have already handed out their presents. A 5-0 loss at home to Liverpool was followed up by the sacking of AVB. To think, he spent £100 million and managed to get Spurs fans to think that they were title contenders, before a ball was kicked. They have been in a negative spiral since they beat Arsenal in March.

No matter what you might currently think of Arsene Wenger, it must bring a smile of joy to you that he has seen off:

  1. Francis (1994–1997)
  2. Hughton (1997c)
  3. Gross (1997–1998)
  4. Pleat (1998c)
  5. Graham (1998–2001)
  6. Pleat (2001c)
  7. Hoddle (2001–2003)
  8. Pleat (2003–2004c)
  9. Santini (2004)
  10. Jol (2004–2007)
  11. Allen(2007c)
  12. Ramos (2007–08)
  13. Redknapp (2008–12)
  14. Villas-Boas (2012–13)

Bayern Munich

So after finishing 2nd, we knew we were in for a tough draw, and for the second season in a row, we have been drawn against Bayern Munich. For me, this draw brings happiness and sadness.

The happiness is we have proved they are beatable, having won 2-0 at their ground last year. For me, Munich hold no fear, as I am of the honest belief they have gone backwards this year. They spent over €60 million on just two players in the summer (Thiago & Mario Gotze), 2 players who they did not need due to the fact they had many other similar players already in their squad (Kroos, Ribery, Robben, Shaqiri, Muller). They also let go Luis Gustavo, who was a defensive rock for them last season, and Mario Gomez, their only proper striker.

Guardiola is trying to copy his Barcelona style of play, but there is a problem, he does not have Lionel Messi. They might be top of their league, unbeaten, having scored 42 goals in 16 games, but this is more of an indication to how poor and uncompetitive the Bundesliga is, than how good Bayern Munich are. It is certainly a league currently on a downward spiral, and you have to wonder whether Munich will struggle to get up for the game competitively after playing so many easy games in Germany.

If we take confidence from our win their last year, and put in a better performance at home, we could win the tie, comfortably.

Luis Suarez

17 goals in 11 league games this season. We offered £40,000,001 in the summer, we will have to offer a lot, lot more now. The controversy surrounding the deal is up for debate. In my opinion, we were under the opinion we could sign him for anything over £40,000,000, hence the bid of £1 extra. Why pay more when £1 was enough to trigger the deal. And offering £40,000,000 is certainly not a derisory offer like same pretend. You have to think, however, after having that offer knocked back, should we have pushed further. Told Liverpool to name their price? In hindsight, paying £60,000,000 for Luis Suarez in the summer would have been a good piece of business. But I can imagine the uproar had we signed him for that price, considering he was due to miss the first half dozen games.

What he has shown is the importance of having the something special upfront. The difference between Manchester City and Arsenal this season could be Sergio Aguero. The goal scorer who can turn a draw to a win on his own. We do not have that. Is there going to be someone available in January of sufficient quality? Who knows. But if Lewandowski or Suarez are available, we should be leading the race to sign them.

Keenos

Mansour’s millions the difference for Manchester City

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Looking at this mornings league table, Arsenal still sit top of the league. 2 points ahead of Chelsea, 3 points ahead of Manchester City. There is still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our title chances.

Yes, we might have conceded 6 against Manchester City, but it was one of those freak games where every shot on target went in. There were 13 shots on target in the entire game, and 9 goals. City had a converted 6 of their 7 shots on target. It was a freak result.

City deserved to run out winners, despite Arsenal having 2 goals chalked off incorrectly and being denied a blatant penalty. To point to those 3 referring decision as the reason Arsenal lost would be in denial of the overall performance. City seemingly being able to go forward and score highlights why they are averaging over 4 goals a game at home and have now scored in 58 consecutive games at the Etihad Stadium. Their home form in the league this season reads: Played 8, Won 8, Scored 35, Conceded 5. That last one was Conceded 2 before yesterday. With home form like that, City have to be everyone’s favourites for the title.

The difference between the two sides could be seen on the substitutes bench. £129m worth of talent on the bench. Arsenal’s starting line up cost just £97m and cost of their entire match day squad £140. When you take into account that £42.5m of those totals was Mesut Ozil, it shows just how far behind we are in City. Yes, we have money to spend, and should be spending more than it, but City, with their now settled side and spending money like it is going out of fashion, we should not be too downhearted.

When it comes to finance, what Manchester City spend is staggering. They have a wage bill £60m more than Arsenal’s. The majority of their squad is on £100k+ a week. Arsenal meanwhile have just 3 players over this figure. With Arsenal having a reported £100m sitting in the bank, were we to try to compete with Manchester City in terms of wages and transfer fees, this money would not go very far at all. Last year, we made a profit of just £6.7m. A £60m blackhole in wages would see us start to run up massive losses. Manchester City, remember, lost £97m in 2011/12.

Last summer, having finished 2nd to Manchester United in the league, and having made horrendous losses, Manchester City went out and spent £90m. They spent more on defensive midfielder’s than we did on Mesut Ozil. It highlights the financial strength they have that they were able to go out and buy long-term Arsenal target Stevan Jovetic for £22m without really needing him. It was perhaps and example of them signing a player who they do not need just to ensure other Premier League sides signing him.

Now I do not have an issue with Manchester City’s grotesque spending. If a man has billions of plans, who are we to tell him how to spend it. Remember, we did not moan in the late 1990’s when Danny Fiszman was bank rolling us – albeit on a smaller scale – enabling us to build the 1998, and eventually the invincible sides. What the financial difference does show is how much of a challenge winning the Premier League is for Arsenal. With both Manchester City and Chelsea having an endless pot of gold. Arsenal could go and spend the £100m they have sitting their, but Chelsea and Manchester City would then respond by spending £150m. Do we keep chasing them? Do we spend the most we can and still finish 2nd/3rd and say ‘at least we tried’ or do we spend sensibly, on the right players, and hope things, at one point, will become fairer?

The last option is we Alisher Usmanov. He is supposedly willing to put in similar amounts of money into the club as Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich. Do we move to demanding to be bank rolled by an oligarch, with a questionable background, or do we say ‘We are Arsenal, we do things in the right way’. Having a sole owner leaves us in a precarious position. Yes, they could be and Abaramovich or Mansour, but they could also change the name of the club, change the club’s colours, or do anything they want…People have differing opinions, both are valid.

A few final points, Per Mertesacker showing he is the real captain of the side bollocking Mesut Ozil. It is a none story and as Wenger was quoted as saying;

“That is the Germans, they will sort that out between themselves.”

They are probably sitting around Per’s house this morning sharing a bratwurst. The second point is the laughable banner in the Manchester City ground ‘Manchester thanks you Sheikh Mansour’. A sign, perhaps, of a club who’s fans have sold out to modern football.

After 3 games in 6 days, travelling to both Naples and Manchester, Arsenal now have a 9 day break before the Chelsea game. It is time to rest the legs, re group and ensure we come out fighting once more. A defeat to Chelsea could see us truly enter a downward spiral, and if Spurs win their next two games, the gap that looked so large just a few games ago will be down to just 2. Let’s back the time.

Keenos

Wenger’s tactics, Facing Madrid et al, Throwing the CL, Coefficients, Cazorla/Draxler swap and more…

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Did Wenger get the tactics wrong?

Last night, Arsenal played if they had to lose by 3 goal to be knocked out. They set out defensively to do this. Was this wrong, or should Arsenal have set up more attacking to top the group? What is clear as the game went on was that we were more concerned with qualifying than topping the group. The Ramsey substitution over Theo Walcott is a perfect example. The game was opening up, Walcott’s pace could have been a game changer, yet Wenger chose the safer option of keeping the middle strong, and retaining possession. Would Arsenal fans have moaned had Wenger stuck Walcott on, he lost the ball in the build up to a goal and Napoli won 3-0? We probably would have.

From the defensive line up, to defensive substitutions to running down the clock when 1-0, Arsenal players a management succeeded in their goal of losing by 3 goals or more. We set up cautiously to ensure we went through. We got out of a tough group, but should the goal have been to top the group?

Facing Madrid, Barca et al

So finishing 2nd means we have to play one of; Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid or Barcelona. It is no easy task, and leaves many a fan frustrated, especially when you look at the list of those sides we’d have faced if we topped the group (Leverkuson, Galatasary, Olympiakos, Zenith, AC Milan, Schalke). I am however, a firm believer that you have to play the best to win the best. At its kindest, you could possibly avoid Europe’s top teams up to the Semi Final stage, but this would still leave us facing 2 of them. We would have to beat them anyway, so playing them in the 2nd round does not matter.

People running round saying ‘We finished 2nd, so we are out” are basically admitting that as soon as we face a big side in Europe, we will get knocked out, so surely then they are happy we finished 2nd, as in their eyes, we can not win the competition, so we are better off out early so that we can concentrate on the league?

Personally, I am rooting for either Real Madrid or PSG. For the former it is because the Bernabeu is one of the few major European stadium I have yet to visit, for PSG, the EuroStar will be messy.

Should we ‘throw’ the Champions League

Arsenal have now been in the Champions League for 16 years on the trot. Only twice have we come close to winning it. The final defeat to Barcelona in 2005/06 and the QF defeat to Chelsea in 2003/04. No other season have we had the starting 11 or the squad which is good enough to win. Therefore, it makes me wonder, what is the point of the Champions League if you go into it not expecting to win it?

The point is money, and lots of it. That money allows you to buy better players, pay higher wages, and build a team which gives you an advantage on a domestic level. Last years winners got €55m from the competition. Arsenal made €32m. That is a difference of €23m or £19m. A big difference, yes, but it is not too disastrous. It is clear that financial wise, it is just as important to qualify for the Champions League (Chelsea & City, both knocked out in the groups, got around €30m) as win it. It makes me wonder then, why do we bother? Why not just qualify, then put out or kids. Rest the 1st team for the Premier League battle. Take the €30m and run. It might be defeatest, but as we saw with Everton, freshness is a factor in the Premier League.

Coefficients

A discussion yesterday with @simonrichardafc about the effect that continually getting knocked out of the Champions League 2nd round could have on our European Coefficient. After studying the UEFA website, it is clear you need around 100,000 coefficient points to remain in the Top 8 of Europe. Our recent history shows that by making, and getting knocked out in, the 2nd round gets you around 22,000 points. Consistently getting through the knock-out stages is enough.

Yes, if 8 teams continually start making the QF, this will change, but that is unlikely. A look at Dortmund’s current ranking, as a team on the way up, highlights the safety Arsenal have. They currently sit on 69,000 points. If they win the Champions League this year, they will not be in the Top 8. They will have to win it this year, and get through to the 2nd round next year to make the Top 8. PSG would have to do the same. But obviously only 1 can win.

And if you agree with my ‘take the money and run’ mantra of earlier, our coefficient does not matter, as the importance, money wise, is qualifying for the Champions League, not progressing.

Cazorla/Draxler swap

Santi Cazorla is looking a frustrated man at Arsenal. He has gone from main man last year, to now slipping behind Ozil, Ramsey & Mertesacker in importance. He is continually the ‘1st sub’ and his performances this year have been poor. Yes, he has suffered from injury, and has had to re-adapt to playing left wing (although he played out there a lot), but you have to wonder, if he, due to turn 29 tomorrow, has peaked and is starting a downward spiral in performances. With the interest in Draxler, who looks most comfortable on the left wing, you have to wonder if this could be Cazorla’s last at Arsenal. With a man 9 years his junior coming in.

At best, if we sign Draxler, Cazorla will become a squad, and a bloody good one. At worse, we will get our money back on him moving him to Spain. What I do not want to see is an Arshavin type decline.

Downward Spiral

No wins in 2 games. Some Arsenal fan’s are starting to talk of a downward spiral. Hopefully it is the same downward spiral that followed defeat at home to Munich earlier this year.

Keenos