The Perfect Pitch

Following on from my thoughts from the other day, here is a very good, if somewhat long, article about the same thing from arseonline.com:

http://arsenal.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=880&p=2&stid=8444900

This quote from the admin of the UWS website is the best bit from the article:

Damn right.

Happy St. Totteringham’s Day!!! The day that Tottenham can no longer finish above Arsenal in the league, an annual holiday that is so popular, even the Spurs players were celebrating it at the end of the match.

Spurs players celebrating St. Totteringham’s Day

We were poor in the first half, much much better in the second, deserved to win, but the luck (3 shots hitting the post, 1 perfectly good goal disallowed, 4 minutes of injury time - where did that come from?) and the usual problems (Bye Bye Baptista) were against us. A draw is still a credible result, and considering how we completely outplayed Tottenham in the second half (without key players I might add), it just goes to show the divide between the quality of the two teams. I was so close with my prediction about Adebayor scoring the winning goal, but he did score, so that’s a good thing.

With Bolton and Everton both losing, this means we are 9 points ahead of the chasing pack, with 3 games left. With our superior goal difference, this should be 4th place all but secured - a point in our next 3 games would ensure it mathematically.

As for the Dein/Kroenke matter, some are saying we don’t have a right to complain about foreign ownership considering our foreign players and manager. There is some truth to this, in that we shouldn’t complain about foreign ownership just because the owners are foreign. As I mentioned a few days ago, the issue is not whether the new owners are foreign, it’s whether they are Arsenal fans or not and also how they plan on running the club. Even if the new owners are English, I would still not want them here if they weren’t Arsenal fans or if they plan to run the club like Roman Abramovich with Chelsea. As Wenger said yesterday, it would be much better to live at the top level with our own resources (which is perfectly possible as we are predicted to become one of the richest clubs in the world in the next 3-5 years), rather than getting someone to pump cash in and artificially holding the club together.

So to sum up, foreign players are necessary if you want the best players in the world (the players most likely to win the Premier League player of the season awards, Drogba and Ronaldo, aren’t English). Foreign managers are necessary if you want the best managers in the world (none of the managers of the top 4 teams in England are English). To have the best owners/board, this means having fans of the club with a fantastic plan for the club, and this is exactly what we have at the moment. No change needed.

With all that has happened in the last few days, one could be forgiven for forgetting that we have a big game on tomorrow (forgiveness only applies if you do not happen to be the Arsenal manager or an Arsenal player).

Cesc could miss out due to a virus, which is a shame. He’s on a scoring streak, and I would fancy him to score one again tomorrow. I fully expect Adebayor to score a goal, the winning goal perhaps, that’s what he’s good at.

This will be their cup final, so they will be up for it and it’s never an easy game up there. However, they’re shit, so we still have a chance if we can somehow manage to be less shitter.

And if we were to get at least get a draw, then that annual holiday St. Totteringham’s Day might just come slightly early this year (compared to last anyway).

Following Dein’s departure yesterday, now might be a good time to discuss if a takeover is something that will be good or bad for Arsenal Football Club.

3 of the top 4 clubs in England have all been taken over by investors that have no previous links and history associated with these clubs. Note I did not mention the word “foreign”, since I don’t believe it is a big issue. The big issue is whether these investors are here to make money, or to be part of a football club which they support.

Chelsea’s situation is different to the other two in that its owner is not interested (at this stage) to run Chelsea as a business, and so the usual rules about spending less than what you make does not apply to Chelsea. Chelsea have spent more money than most other clubs in the Premier League are worth, and while this has “bought” success, it is not guaranteed (their first season was trophy-less, this season they are not running away with the league like previously). Liverpool has only just been taken over, so it’s not clear what the new owners’ intentions are. Liverpool is also seeking funds to build a new stadium, and if the new investors can provide the funds, then this would have been a good reason to sell to them. It is worth noting that Liverpool have won the Champions League recently and are in the semi-finals without the help from any investors. Manchester United has been bought by the Glazers, and they are doing well on the pitch at the moment. However, very little financial investment has been put in by the Glazers, Manchester United’s success has little to do with players that were brought in after the Glazers’ takeover. If anything, Manchester United reminds us that good teams playing good football win trophies, not investors throwing bundles of cash into the mix.

Arsenal’s situation is different to all of these clubs’. We have just spent an enourmous amount of effort and funds to build a brand new stadium, and the benefits from the move will not be evident until a season or two down the track. In the short term, we might need investment to allow the manager to buy players, although looking at Wenger’s past records, it’s unlikely we will spend big even if we have the funds. So the advantages of having an investor step in right now would be to provide short term relief, which would not guarantee success. And even the short term investment would not be guaranteed if the takeover was expensive.

Looking in the mid to long term, the increased revenue from increased capacity at the stadium is already having a positive effect on the financial side of things. Figures for the first half of this season show that turnover has nearly doubled, operating profits rose a massive 150%. Although an overall loss was recorded, this was due to the once-off cost (£21.4m) of relocating stadiums. Without this once off cost, we would have seen a profit of nearly £16m, and this is only for half of the financial year. The new stadium is expected to generate significant profits for Arsenal, even after the debt repayments.

There is also the new TV deals starting next season would also see revenue increase significantly. Even the team finishing bottom would see around £26m, that’s only £4m less than what Chelsea received last season for winning the league. While all clubs would enjoy the benefits, Arsenal would benefit more because its current owners are not in it for the money, and money will be put back into the club. Investors at the other club might also put money back into the club as a means to bring more success (and hence, more profit), but there will be a point where they would expect money to be made and this means taking money out of the club and away from football.

In any case, Arsenal’s mid and long term future means we do not need any investment from anyone. Arsenal have already done the hard part (re-branding, built up our reputation as a major football club with the help of Wenger, building a new stadium), and we are just about to start seeing the rewards. This is perhaps why Arsenal is seen as a fantastic target for a takeover, a club on the verge of a financial boon.

Another issue is that in order to buy Arsenal at its current value of more than £500m, this would require the new owner to seek loans much like what the Glazers have done in purchasing Manchester United. It is still not clear what effects the Glazers’ financial situation will have on Manchester United, except that a once debt-free club is now debt-laden, and unlike Arsenal, they do not have a brand new stadium to show for it.

With all of these points considered, I can only come to the conclusion that a takeover would not benefit Arsenal Football Club in the short or the long term. The combined wealth of our current owners is as great if not greater than the wealth of someone like Kroenke, and this is without going into heavy debt to fund a potential takeover - there is no reason nor need to sell for the good of Arsenal Football Club.

The biggest news today is that David Dein has left Arsenal after 24 years at the club. He still retains his shares, but is no longer a director nor the vice-chairman of Arsenal.

David Dein - up close and personal

It’s hard to know what to make of this, but it obviously relates to the plans by Stan Kroenke to take over Arsenal. It does look like David Dein has been negotiating with Kroenke, perhaps behind the other board member’s backs (hence the “in the dark” statement issued by Peter Hill-Wood a couple of days ago regarding the plans of Stan Kroenke). Going by the statement on the official site, it seems the other major shareholders, Danny Fiszman, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and Richard Carr (who own a combined 44% of Arsenal), have entered into an agreement not to sell their shares for at least a year. While this sounds like a very short term agreement, it is still a very strong signal of intent to Kroenke. Dein seems to have been sacrificed for his support of the takeover, a very brave move by the board, and it looks like we will be actively resisting any takeover bids, at least from Kroenke, for the time being.

What will be interesting is Danny Fiszman’s thoughts on all this. Fiszman bought his shares from Dein and has recently sold shared to Stan Kroenke. If Fiszman wanted to sell, and therefore do not agree with Dein being ousted, then the board could be fragmented. It seems unlikely though, due to his agreement to not sell further shares for a year.

A lot of hacks have put two and two together to come up with five, suggesting that Dein leaving means Wenger and even Henry will be joining him soon. Dein was instrumental in bringing in Wenger and a lot of the players at the club, but that would be expected of any vice-chairman. It is true that he has a close relationship with Arsene, but Arsene’s relationship with Arsenal and *his* team is way stronger than any loyalties he might have towards Dein. The current Arsenal team is Wenger’s project, not Dein’s.

But will all of this stop a takeover from happening? It’s hard to say at the moment. There are still lots of shares out there that Stan Kroenke can purchase, but the hostility of the board towards a takeover might put him off, at least for the short term.

As for David Dein, he has been a great servant of Arsenal Football Club, and has been instrumental in changing the direction of our club and making it one of the biggest clubs in the world. Regardless of what he has or hasn’t done recently, his accomplishments needs to be acknowledged, and I am sure his presence will be missed.

Two wins in a row! That’s no defeats and no draws in a whole two games! And people say we’re in transition …

As the game was on 4:45am local time, and wasn’t being shown on TV anyway, I slept in. A good way to wake up to a result, and once again it was Rosicky, Cesc on the scoresheet (plus the “Beast”). I ended up watching the match through downloading the torrent for it.

Sneaky Rosicky

We started very brightly, very much in good confidence from beating our old friends Bolton. Rosicky scored almost an identical goal to the Bolton one … he really likes to sneak up from behind and score in the box, erm … or something. Ian Darke and Trevor Francis went on and on about how quiet our stadium was, which they probably have a point. “Could hear the drop of a pin”, “quieter than the Sahara Desert as night” (does desert wind count as sound?). It really is a problem sometimes, of course for someone who has only ever been to Highbury (and only once at that), maybe it’s not up to me to say, but a little noise definitely helps the team (although too much noise, like during the last match at Highbury, might disrupt our team since they are not used to the noise). It’s sad when the loudest noise the crowd makes during the entire game is the booing, followed by the sound of 30,000 people leaving around the 85th minute.

Still no goal for Adebayor. He needs a goal the most now. Hleb too (at least he got an assist in this game, sort of). Ade has a habit of scoring important goals, so a hat-trick on Saturday would be nice. Diaby should be back for that game, and what a great tackle that lead to our first goal.

We’re 3rd temporarily, and hopefully we’ll still be 3rd by this time tomorrow.

• A must win game
• Win will help cement 4th place, get us up to 3rd and maybe stay there depending on what happens on Wednesday
• Same team as last game please, maybe Diaby for Ljungberg if Freddie is injured
• Up the Arsenal!!

Finally something good to write about. We completely outplayed Bolton, which is not that uncommon, but we actually got 3 points from it, which is uncommon.

The game started like almost every other game this season - we conceded a goal. It really was sloppy marking, and I have to see it again to see who is to blame, although maybe I’ll skip the blame when the result is so good.

Cesc scores, genuine relief and delight

Rosicky score the equaliser, and Cesc the winner. These two deserve special mention, since they worked hard and for once, their hard work paid off. I’ve always liked Rosicky and I think he can be a special player for us much in the same way as Pires. His shooting technique is great except for the actual aiming, but at least he’s shooting. You can also see the genuine relief and delight when Cesc scored - he’s such a special player. He hasn’t had the best of form recently, and he stuck in there and finally got what he deserved.

Adebayor worked hard too, but he needs to work on his finishing (his other abilities, like holding up the ball, passing, are pretty good already). What a pass by Gilberto too. I’m not his biggest fan since he does misplace passes a bit too often for a central midfielder, but there is no denying his importance to the team. Ljungberg played well, but it looks like he might be injured again, which as I mentioned earlier is one of the three reasons why we don’t need him anymore (the other two being not scoring and not assisting).

We are still making it too difficult for ourselves at times - our intricate passing and one though lay-offs are great to watch, but only if we manage to pull them off. We did manage to pull most of them off during this match, but there are often more direct and easier things that could have been attempted. People will criticize Diaby for not scoring, but he’s not a striker.

Hleb - I thought he played well compared to recent performances. He drove the ball forward, and didn’t misplace his passes as often as he usually does. He still can’t shoot, and that’s not good enough for our current team which already lacks goals. He will be useful when we have other goalscorers in the team, but right now, it just highlights his deficiencies.

Eboue - Lucky not to be caught out for a handball. Possibly at fault for their goal. I also thought that handball apart, he played reasonably well. Was sulking at the end for some reason (some have suggested it’s because Diaby didn’t pass to him for him to score a easy tap in goal at the very end), his mental attitude is strange to say the least. It’s almost as if he is seeking attention and trying to get others to feel sorry for him all the time (hence the diving, and the overreaction to injuries).

And just wanted to add that the entire Bolton team, in the vocabulary of Arseblog, are cunts. Kevin Davies in particular. I would also like to add that if we get rid of Aliadiere and got Anelka back in, it would not be the worst piece of business in the world.

For those that want to download highlights of the game, you should always take a look at the SoccerPulse forums. They have a dedicated Video forum where you can see highlights of almost all the games. You need to register for the forum to read the posts, but it’s free and it’s worth it. The video thread for this game is here. Another great place to download highlights and even full match torrents is at MaXxed Football Forums. Again, you need to register (for free).

Anyway, Man City at home next. A win will most likely secure Champions League football for next season, so let’s hope that’s the case (and also hope that Blackburn win the FA Cup, AC Milan wins the Champions League - I know it’s pathetic and Tottenham-fan-esque to wish for the failure of others, but that’s what being an Arsenal fan in 2007 is like unfortunately - still, our “failed season” might result in a CL place, something that Tottenham has never ever achieved).

A good Friday the 13th to you. [INSERT JOKE ABOUT BLACK CATS, BROKEN MIRRORS AND WALKING UNDER LADDERS]

We play Bolton tomorrow, on the 95th anniversary of the Titanic striking an iceberg - this shouldn’t really concern us, since the good ship Arsenal has already been sinking since February. Unlike the Titanic, Arsenal can still be salvaged, although like any sinking ship, there are already reports (check out The Rumour Mill) of rats abandoning ship (most likely just paper talk + a bit of lost in translation).

A must win, like every other game we have left. If we do win our next two home games, that should be it for 4th place, and we can relax a bit for the game against the scum (go Malbranque!!) and score a few dozen goals against them. Can we beat Bolton? Yes. Will we beat Bolton? Umm…

Stan Kroenke of America is now an 11% shareholder in Arsenal. His intentions, I think, are clear and that is to purchase Arsenal outright. Whether Fiszman, Dein and Bracewell-Smith sells or not, that’s another question. I for one welcome our new Yank overlord. I’d like to remind him that as a trusted Internet personality and devoted Arsenal fan, I can be helpful in the transition from Arsenal Football Club to the London Gunners Soccer Franchise. Go Americans!!

So no fourth defeat in a row. Normally a good result to go up north and get a point, but given that we needed 3 points and the way we played, it was not a very good game to put it mildly.

The players seem to be more afraid of losing the ball, than to actually do something with it. This is perfectly understandable though, due to our habit of allowing the opposition one chance => one goal - nobody wants to be the person to lose the ball and cause us to be one goal down (that is, nobody wants to be another Hleb).

It certainly was interesting to have Diaby play up front. And by interesting, I mean desperate. I feel for Arsene at the moment. Clearly he has a talented squad, and we did play some blinding stuff this season with some very memorable wins, and then everything collapsed. It must be hard for someone so scientific and precise to see well made plans fall apart, partly due to bad luck. It used to be that creating chances was the hardest thing about attacking football, but with us, it’s finishing off the easy chances that seems the hardest. This must make no sense to Arsene, and I can understand his frustration and desperation. Now is not the time to second guess yourself though, because second guessing is when you can turn a bad situation into a much worse one.

I watched last night’s match (I’m in Australia, so the match lasted from midnight to 2am) on the Internet using one of those P2P video streaming services (TVAnts to be precise). These tools stream Chinese TV stations, including sports stations, and they use P2P/bittorrent technology to do so. You know how bittorrent allows you to download files really quickly because you are downloading from hundreds of other users at the same time (while uploading the parts you have downloaded to others)? Well, P2P video streaming works the same way. There is a delay in the stream as you wait for available parts, but the quality is great, and unlike traditional streaming, the more people watch, the faster the stream. The only real problem is that it saturates your net connection due to the massive number of connections, so you can’t do much else at the same time.