Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Plenty for Arsenal to celebrate on quiet weekend

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Not much happening with Arsenal over the bank holiday weekend. Usually that means something will occur about 8 minutes after publishing this blog.

Whilst not much has happened over the weekend in regards to Arsenal, there has still been plenty to enjoy and celebrate.

On Saturday night Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.

Not just is the result a joy to behold – any Arsenal fan who wanted Liverpool to win needs to take a look at themselves – the fall out has been equally excellent.

The petition set up by Liverpool fans to get Sergio Ramos bans is embarrassing.

Not only was someone sad enough to set it up, over 300,000 people have signed it.

Is that really what modern football is? Petitions and cry-arising?

Ten we have Jürgen Klopp.

He lost his 6 final in a row, but all is forgiven because he sang a song about Real Madrid and wore a baseball backwards.

I have found the press response to Klopp interesting.

The German is now 6 years without a trophy. The year before He took over at Liverpool, they finished 6th.

In the 3 seasons he has overseen the club, they have finished 8th, 4th and 4th. And lost 3 finals. Yet the press defend him and his failures.

1 League Cup won in 12 years. For a club of Liverpool’s size, history and previous success, that is a decade of failure.

Nearly as big a failure as Spurs winning just 1 League Cup in 19 years – and Mauricio Pochettino trophyless in a 10 year managerial career.

Interesting how do Klopp and Pochettino, failing to win trophies and finishing top 4 is seen as a success.

Meanwhile the press have criticised Arsenal’s appoint of Unai Emery. A serial winner.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1000512913776488449?s=21

Liverpool fans showed their well documented classlessness in fall out of the defeat.

Death threats aimed at goal keeper Loris Karius and his family are not banter. They are a criminal act. The press will not criticise Liverpool’s fans for fear of boycotts. Liverpool will play the victim as they do so well.

The second cause for enjoyment this weekend was Fulham’s victory over Aston Villa in the play off final.

Anyone that has done Fulham away will know that it is one of the greatest away days.

Whether you go on one of the many booze boats that will be run on the day of the game, or drink somewhere in Fulham, it is always a top day.

Welcome back Fulham.

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend, and hopefully next week brings some more Arsenal news.

Keenos

10 reasons why Unai Emery is the right man for Arsenal

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  1. At 46, Unai Emery is one of the best managers under 50 on the planet
  2. But having taken his first managerial role at 32, he has 16 years experience
  3. At Valencia, he finished 3rd on three consecutive occasions, despite having a restricted budget
  4. In his time at Valencie, he bought through a group of young players and turned them into stars – the likes of David Villa, David Silva, Juan Mata & Jordi Alba
  5. At Sevilla, he won the Europa League on three consecutive occasions, despite having a restricted budget
  6. Sevilla Director of Football Monchi, would deal with transfers, mostly bringing in young or unproven players, while Emery as a coach would make them better
  7. At PSG, he had to deal with huge ego’s, the likes of Neymar and Edison Canvani
  8. 5 trophies in 2 years. Has any manager won more in the last two season?
  9. He likes to play possession football, but also press up high. His team has always had space for a magician – Silva, Mata – like Mesut Ozil
  10. If everyone’s minimum target next year is “challenge for the Europa League; return to the top 4” there is no better candidate with a proven track record of doing just that

Keenos

Ivan Gazidis sticks two fingers up to crying journalists

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The “fall-out” from the appointment of Unai Emery has been hilarious.

Journalists and ITK’s across the country (and beyond) trying to slate the club, and Ivan Gazidis over the appointment.

They have attempted to highlight a messy process, one which Ian Wright called “like being in a Sushi restaurant”. I have seen people moaning about Arsenal talking to 10 possible candidates.

The reality is, Arsenal did not leak what was happening, and no one on the outside knew what was happening.

This resulted in journalists and Twitter attention seekers literally making stories up for clicks, for attention. And it was this that made it appear the recruitment process was messy.

Whether it be Max Allegri house hunting, or Mikel Arteta “all but signed”, these outlets literally created the appearance that Arsenal did not know what they were dong, with fabricated stories, than have the cheek to then write that Arsenal did not know what they were doing, based on how many of these fabricated stories were out there.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/999017823098802177

Ivan Gazidis, in discussing the appointment of Unai Emery, put a sword into the heart of every journalist and Twitter ITK that pretends to have inside knowledge.

Gazidis on appointing Unai Emery:

“I know that [Emery] came as a bit of a surprise & perhaps there was one or two rewrites necessary [in the press]. Those who know won’t speak & those who speak won’t know

Gazidis on the process:

“We formed a three-person committee lead by me with Sven Mislintat & Raul Sanllehi. We wanted progressive, entertaining football, a personality that fits Arsenal’s values & a record of developing young players – pushing players & demanding more from them.”

“We analysed & looked through, on the basis that every coach in the world would be interested, & made a long list of eight coaches, all of whom were interested & who took place in extensive, in-depth interviews with the three of us. None of them withdrew their interest.”

“We interviewed Unai on the 10th of May, as part of that process, making a unanimous recommendation to the board on the 18th of May, with a 100-page dossier that supported his candidacy.”

“We met with London-based members of the board this week & then flew to Atlanta to meet Stan & Josh Kroenke. All of the board members were energised by the recommendation & enthusiastically supported it.”

“Unai has a competitive passion, detail & a love for football that made us feel this fit was exactly right for Arsenal.”

So there you have it.

Nothing was linked. It was a tight circle of people who know. And those that knew did not speak. The appointment might have “come from nowhere” but Emery was actually interview 2 weeks ago, and recommended to the board last Friday.

All the talk of Arteta being offered the job, or Vieira being called Monday for a “token” interview is clearly made up rubbish.

Gazidis, Mislintat & Sanllehi did everything right.

They spoke to plenty of people. Made a decision. Kept it quiet. They have done a good job.

And journalists and ITKs are a little upset that the club did not leak anything to them, and are taking out their upset on the club.

PS: Fair play Emery for conducted his press conference in English. Another 2 fingers up to the press who clearly do not have a clue.

Keenos