I was already not really looking forward to the trip due Brighton due to the Central Line being suspended from Leyton into Central London. That meant replacement bus services to Stratford, before jumping on the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon, to catch the Thameslink down to Brighton.
Not a huge issue, the replacement bus would be fairly quick. And I decided to use my time on the bus to write the blog.
Then about half an hour ago someone stuck in the WhatsApp group about Brighton train cancellations.
Since this update at 4am, it looks like things have cleared up a little and some trains are running from St Pancras / Farringon / London Bridge. But it does look like a lot of the Victoria trains are cancelled.
Brighton is just an hour train journey, so the reported additional hour is not a huge delay. It will just mean a couple of extra beers on the train, and a couple less in Yates in Brighton.
This is just what away fans have to deal with on a regular. Especially in this current age where there are strikes and overtime bans! This time the delay is caused by a landslide (out of the train companies control).
I often see online about how “dedicated” foreign fans are, getting up at 2am to watch a game. But setting an alarm, rolling over and turning your laptop on is not tough. Try being stuck in Birmingham for 5 hours waiting for replacement busses due to train cancellations and getting home at 5am!
Hopefully by the time we embark on our return journey in about 10 hours time, the situation has further improved. I really do not want to be scrapping around brighten looking for a cab that will take us back into London.
I will continue my journey. Should be into Stratford soon and then it is onto Farringdon. Couple of beer in the John Oldcastle. They we will continue our journey to the South Coast.
UTA.
Keenos
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Those Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City fans complaining should actually drive their anger towards those in-charge of their clubs for running them so poorly. The rules are their, they all signed up to them, and the losses they made would have put their existence in danger had it not been for the rules.
Everton have been one of the worst run clubs in the league since Farhad Moshiri took over. He acted like a Russian Oligarch but he didn’t have those Ruble’s.
So keen to impress when he first bought the club (and show Arsenal what we were missing out in), he quickly made Everton one of the highest spending teams in the league. But it was recruitment without thought and almost all the big money signings flopped.
As Everton tumbled down the table, they could not finance the huge wages and, with the Moshiri money drying up, lost £373m from 2018-21. They tried to blame Covid but in reality the issue was they were spending uncontrollably.
In fact, #EFC £373m losses over the last three years are by far the worst in the Premier League, around £150m more than the next highest losses, which were made by #CFC £222m. All clubs have been adversely impacted by the COVID pandemic, but Everton’s deficit is striking. pic.twitter.com/siBtqSH1yI
Covid or PSR is not the reason Everton are financially screwed. It is all because they are poorly run. Their fans should be grateful for PSR as the rules curtailed their uncontrolled spending. If it was not for PSR, I am sure Everton would have entered administration.
Nottingham Forest are another club that are poorly run.
Since gaining promotion back to the Premier League in 2022, they have signed 47 players.
Forest fans will point to out that they lost of a lot of players when gaining promotion to the Premier League. This just highlights how poor they were run.
Their promotion was secured by having a squad of loan players and others on short-term contracts. The management of the club were not looking long-term.
And since returning to the Premier League, the transfer philosophy has been the same – 12 of the 47 players have been loan deals, and many others (Lingard, Shelvey) came in on huge money and short term deals.
Compare the way Nottingham Forest have acted on promotion to the likes of Brighton and Brentford. The later two have solid recruitment plans in place and are not looking to fast-track themselves based on overspending in the short-term.
And this is my biggest issue about fans who criticise PSR.
Forest and Everton fans make claims such as “PSR exists to protect the top 6”. This is simply not true.
The real beneficiaries of PSR are all clubs who are run well, and spend within their means. Aston Villa, West Ham, Brentford, Brighton and others. All of these are very well run clubs who have had some level of success in recent years (with 3 of the 4 having European football as a reward).
PSR also exists to give an advantage to someone like Luton Town who, upon promotion, have kept a tight reign on their finances. Why should Nottingham Forest gain an advantage over those teams around them purely because they have an owner who is happy putting the future of the club at risk?
Leicester City were once one of the best run clubs in England.
They recruited well, buying players from across Europe that no-one else was looking at, and were rewarded in 2016 with the league title. But since the death of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and the impact of Covid on the King Power International Group, they have struggled financially.
For those that do not know, King Power International Group are a Thai travel retail group whose main business is operated duty free shops. When Covid hit, air travel dramatically dropped which hit the company hard.
Leicester’s biggest issue is that after winning the league, Leicester dramatically increased their spending with an expectation that they would remain a top 8 team, and continue to reap the rewards of European football and finishing in that position.
From 2019/20 – 2021/22, Leicester lost £191m, including a huge £92.5m in 2021/22. They have still not yet published their 2022/23 accounts (when they finished 18th in the Premier League).
It is quite clear that they were spending too much and were in an unsustainable situation. I expect their 2022/23 loss to be north of £100m. Again, their fans will blame PSR but it is not the rules’ fault that they were making huge losses.
One thing I find hilarious is fans blaming PSR for their clubs not spending.,
I see West Ham fans saying PSR is the reason they are not spending big. But 2-years ago that blame was on their owners. Literally nothing has changed in that time, they have just decided to direct their anger elsewhere.
West Ham do not spend as much as someone like Arsenal because they are not as big. They do not have our revenues. And they have owners that run a tight ship to ensure their is a club for the future.
Another to pipe up is Newcastle United.
After one season finishing top 4, their fans got arrogant and thought they have made it. They have since tumbled to 10th and are pointing the fingers at the Premier League.
Restrictions on spending is not why Newcastle have struggled this season.
Since coming under new ownership and under the guise of Eddie Howe, Newcastle have spent in excess of £300m on new players. The problem is not that they have not spent a lot of money, but they have bought some very average players.
They have over £150m spent on Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento, Chris Wood and Matt Target. These are all mid-table Premier League players. None would get a look in at a “Big 6” club.
Their fans will claim that “they have bought poorly but they should be allowed to spend to get out of the trouble they created”. And this is how poorly run clubs behave – instead of trying to improve how you spend, you just continue spending poorly in the hope you get it right.
As for Manchester City, certain fans do not seem to get their head around the fact that Everton and Nottingham Forest have plead guilty to their charges, whilst Manchester City are appealing them. That is why City have not yet been handed a punishment.
Think in the real world. You are caught speeding once. You accept you are speeding, pay your fine and take the points.
I have been caught speeding 115 times, but I have challenged each and every single charge. I have not pled guilty and am appealing my punishment.
You do not have a case to be heard as you have pled guilty, I am awaiting my day in court as I have appealed. I am still going through the process, whilst your process is over.
It is not unfair that I have not yet been punished and you have, despite less charges. You pled guilty, I did not. It really is this simple.
A final thought on this is when fans point out clubs net spend. It is not obvious that the more you generate in income, the more you can spend (and the less reliant you are on having to make a profit in transfer windows?)
The best run clubs do not rely on having to sell players to fund their next batch of transfers. That is done through the difference between revenue and expenditure. Poorly run clubs need to sell to buy because they are not making enough revenue outside of players sales to buy new players organically.
Fans need to upskill themselves in how process works, and stop blaming the Premier League and “Big 6” for their owners running their clubs into the ground.
Morning! We are 8 days into our 19-day break from football. Times like this does make me wonder what those who do not like our great game do with their time? Life is so boring without it.
Due to the lack of senior football, Arsenal.com are using the time to highlight the academy and women teams, so there is a real lack of real Arsenal news floating about.
As expected, the game against Aston Villa has been moved to Sunday afternoon.
Hats off to all those who had worked out that this game would be moved, and as a result the Munich away leg would have to take place on the Wednesday. These guys got some great deals on flights by booking for a Wednesday game before UEFA had officially announced it. I am still not too upset about £230 flying via Frankfurt. Although it does bite that return flights direct to Munich are just £61 the next week!
I was surprised to read yesterday how few players we had on international duty – just 12:
Aaron Ramsdale Bukayo Saka David Raya Declan Rice Jakub Kiwior Jorginho Kai Havertz Karl Hein Leandro Trossard Martin Odegaard Oleksandr Zinchenko William Saliba
Just 7 of the 12 are first team regulars following Gabriel Magalhaes withdrawal. That means the likes of Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Cedric Soares, Gabriel, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Mohamed Elneny, Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah are still at London Colney. Gabriel Martinelli and Jurrien Timber also remain at home whilst they return from injury.
To have 11 senior players training in the middle of the March international break must be a positive for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal. By the time we add in a few of the U21s, the boss will be able to run fairly normal training sessions.
One of those who has joined the senior team for training is goalkeeper Ovie Ejeheri.
I am not sure where the story has come from, but it has been reported that Ejeheri is only 15, which is clearly not true.
It shows how many Twitter accounts just copy and paste news without checking for themselves first. A quick Google of his name brings up his Arsenal.com profile which Ejeheri was born in 2003. In April he turns 21!
The Greenwich born keeper spent the first half of last season on-loan at National League South side Chelmsford City, keeping 12 clean sheets in 25 games. For the second half of the season he joined Finnish club SJK, with Ejeheri keeping nine clean sheets in 14 Veikkausliiga games.
Arsenal have quite a few young goalkeepers on the books right now including:
Karl Hein – Current 3rd choice, 21 years old James Hilson – Current 4th choice, 1st choice U21, 23 years old Ovie Ejeheri – 2nd choice U21, 20 years old Arthur Okonkwo – Performing well on loan to Wrexham, 22 years old Hubert Graczyk – Polish youth international on loan at Slough Town, 21 years old Noah Cooper – Frist choice U18, 18 years old Alexei Rojas – Essex born Columbian, signed from Chelsea, 18 years old Brian Okonkwo – Arthur’s younger brother, recently joined Cheshunt on loan, 18 years old
With Aaron Ramsdale set to leave in the summer, it will be interesting if Arteta believes that Karl Hein is ready to step up as 2nd choice, and if so who from Hilson, Ejehri and Okonkwo will become 3rd choice.
My first thought is that we will probably sign an experienced number 2 to cover David Raya, with Hein remaining as number 3 for a couple more seasons.
James Hilson will probably be moved on, with Ejeheri stepping up to be 1st choice U21 keeper, backed up by Graczyk.
Okonwko (Arthur), will probably be sold on. His performances for Wrexham will probably see him fetch a fee in the region of £5m from a Championship side.
Cooper, Rojas and Okonkwo (Brian), will still all be eligiblefor the U18s next season. One will probably leave on loan to a National League side. We have history of sending the best U18 keeper out on loan so that they can gain some senior experience, so expect Noah Cooper to join someone like St Alban’s City.
It still baffles me why many are saying Ejeheri is 15. Is it a joke (and is then actually tinged with racism that footballers with African heritage look older than they are?), or is it just people not doing their own research?
Enjoy your Wednesday.
Keenos
Arsenal fans – heading out to Munich for the Champions League? Grab yourself a new bottle opener.
Our retro kit bottle openers can be added to your keys, put in your wallet/phone case. No issues getting through airport security. Perfect for Euro aways!https://t.co/lBkFuWS5xapic.twitter.com/H39nZoUvzf
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 