Not a hobby but a business strategy. What makes the NFL very attractive to the 1 percent in America, is there are only 30 teams. Not everyone can have one. So, the valuations go up and up. It's the ultimate club in America. Kroenke knows this. There are 630 billionaires in America, 1000s of companies who can shell out billions for anything. A "commodity" that is scarcer than a rare earth element. Not only that, they don't become available very often. Smart play to own one. An NFL side is the top of the pro sports totem pole in America. More than basketball or baseball, although basketball is catching up. You could buy an NFL side for less than a billion in a small to medium market not too long ago. Now you need at least 2 billion to buy the smallest market (Buffalo, NY). https://www.statista.com/statistics/193 ... s-in-2010/

Kroenke knew nothing of the EPL and how world football worked until Dein came to him. Owning an MLS franchise isn't close to the same thing. He funded a Denver soccer team because it complimented his other Denver sports franchises and he got a sporting goods store as sponsor to soak up most of the coast.

What makes Arsenal much more potentially attractive at the time is football is a global sport and there are traditionally 3 iconic sides in England and he had a chance to own one of them in the world's most popular league. He did the math and it was a fantastic opportunity. If owning one of 30 clubs is valuable, owning one of 3 the most iconic clubs in the world's most popular league even moreso.

Fans are much more loyal than they are in America. Not only that you have a huge fanbase globally. Even if the Rams become dominant, Arsenal will always have far, far more fans globally than the Rams ever will. And the only reason he spends on the Rams is because the league supports him. LA is the 2nd biggest media market in America, the home of Hollywood and one of the biggest media markets in the world. No brainer again.

No folks, this is a shrewd business strategy that has nothing to do with love for the club or sports. We shouldn't have let his grubby hands anywhere close to the keys to the kingdom. Now we are stuck with him and it won't end well possibly. Again, I'll repeat what I said several years ago. if we win, its in spite of him, not because of him. I stopped watching American sports because men like him bought the teams and started calling sports 'entertainment' and using words owners of Hollywood movie studios were using. I knew professional sports in America were done. Rule changes were made purely for profit not for sports. For example, the average NFL game was roughly 2 hours, now its about 3 hours. Why? Extra revenue from more adverts. Fatigue used to be a huge factor in the sport. A few minutes left in a 2 hour game and men weighing about 20 stone (yes, I had to do the conversion) nearly 2 hours of play in freezing weather or searing heat, have to muster up the energy to hold off or score. It made the sport gladiatorial. Now, with all the breaks and they even call them 'tv breaks', these players are fairly fresh 3 hours later.

I said then and I say it now. Allow Americans into the sport and league and they will vote for any rule changes that brings in more money no matter how negatively it affects the play on the pitch. Just like how you could get away with fouls 50 years ago you couldn't now, the NBA and NFL were similar. Some rule changes in the NFL were necessary for medical reasons (charging with your head into the opposition for example) but many of them were designed to help scoring and hurt defending. NBA teams didn't score over 100 points regularly as much as they do now because defending as been made harder due to rule changes.

I hear Nigerian multi billionaire Aliko Dangote still wants to buy the club. He's possibly our only hope if he is willing to pay a hefty premium over the valuation. Hate to say this, but us doing badly helps. Although I'd never wish it. No matter what I want to see us win. Can't help it.

Admit it, you miss him don't you? ha ha...

...and the mercurial sophist Chocolate Gooner? What is he up to these days? I liked Harlow. And what of my compatriot US Martin? A few others I don't mind seeing the back of for personal reasons.

Spurs lost at home

You are correct the memory is hazy. It seems to all blur together.

After another depressing result, a quick game of Fifa with Arsenal winning comfortably certainly makes a difference.

One thing that gives me hope for the rest of the season and the immediate future (January) is that we have not had our best XI out there yet. I will repeat a previous post when I say I think just 3 players alone may make a huge difference. Gabriel, Partey and Martinelli available at the same time. Do we need other players? Sure. Gabriel needs a quality partner. Partey needs a playmaker with him. However, in the interim, I'd like to see what happens when the aforementioned players are back.

I would go with Luiz to partner Gabriel even if they play on the same side usually. Reason is Luiz is a great distributer of the ball and passes better than most of our attacking players. The other question is who to drop in midfield. Maybe roll the dice with one of the younger players. Here is a notion. How would a Partey/Saka midfield work? Willian and Pépé on the wings perhaps or Willock or whomever.

I’ve just remembered that Saliba was given the No.4 shirt this season. His situation is so strange. Fofana his partner from st Etienne is fast looking like one of the best CB in the league. I get that the circumstances are different but surely there can’t be ‘that’ much difference between the pair that one is considered one of the best in the league and the other not deemed ready at all

Is that FIFA 2004 ?

Didn't she switch allegiance to Brentford? Anyway I wish her well.

The Saliba 'situation' is one of the most perplexing. We have been linked to him so long and bought him so long ago and all the build up about him, one would have thought when we got both him and Gabriel that if either one of them was deemed not quite for the PL it would have been Gabriel.

Not sure if its faulty scouting, or what. But its a head scratcher. Not that I doubt the club's assessment, but wouldn't we all like to see for ourselves? Wouldn't you all be curious to see him play a game (against a lower side in the league) to see what the problem is?

Yeh, she's just a glory hunter.

Mind you, if Brentford don't go up we might be playing them next year

Hi Rich,

Totally bizarre and can't be doing much for the lad's confidence or his desire to stay with us for the long term.

When Edu was appointed he had Sanllehi over him. Edu was relatively raw and could be somewhat of a yes man to Sanllehi - who was vastly experienced in his role. Well now Sanllehi has been ushered out by Tim Lewis there is a void as we have a raw technical director and a raw manager. We desperately need an overseeing hand above them. Give them the title director of football and go and get someone (Ralf Rangnick!) who can oversee the complete culture and strategic overhaul of the club.

If you don't know Rangnick this is worth a read
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/spor ... gnick.html

Just seen an interesting statistic. Brighton have won only one home game in 2020.

No prizes for guessing who it was against.

Hi hoy.

If you have Twitter, you can follow Exiled @N5_1BU . He puts up lots of interesting old stuff about The Arsenal.

Thanks John. He is a mine of historical info, which I always enjoyed.

Haven't seen much of Hazuki either. Hope he's OK.

Harlow posted (or tweeted) on Twitter yesterday.

Up to a point. He really did go on sometimes and one wondered about his sanity! A vivid character to say the least.

Golly. I didn't know that Shirley could be a boy's name! One lives and learns.

Shirley Crabtree. Look him up. A Big Daddy of a man.

Given that this current absolute rabble won, you know, the FA Cup four months ago, it isn't exactly (as long as we avoid relegation, of course...) a crisis in the long-term picture of Arsenal FC. For those who suffered, year after year after year in the 1950s and 1960s, and across more or less the span of the 1970s, with barely a quarter-final or semi-final in any competition to speak of, here's the last few years:

2014: FA Cup winners
2015: FA Cup winners
2017: FA Cup winners
2018: League Cup finalists
2019: Europa League finalists
2020: FA Cup winners

Leaving aside the Frankenstein FCs - Chelsea and Man City - how many supporters of other clubs wouldn't sacrifice a grandchild (metaphorically...) for failure like that?

You spelled sad wrong.

Arteta: "Last year we won against Everton with a 25% chance of winning, you win 3-2. Last weekend, it was a 67% chance of winning, any Premier League game in history, & a 9% chance of losing, and you lose. 3% against Burnley & you lose, 7% against Spurs, & you lose."

I really don't like these sorts of quotes from Arteta. He's obviously analysing so much and it feels like from what I've read he's trying to bombard the team with information and ideas and strategies and it is too much for them to take in - which can easily lead to the stifled performance we see. No one is playing with freedom because they are constantly thinking where should I be or what did Arteta tell me to do here - as well as him shouting it from the touchline.

In the long run you weed out players who can't cope or can't manage that process and it becomes ingrained in the team so they aren't needing to think but it is probably information overload at the moment.

There is also the question on whether the information Arteta is basing everything on is the right stuff in the long term

Yes, when I think back to my playground days, as 'the only Arsenal fan in the village', if you'd offered me that run of success (not to mention '89 and onwards), I'd have bitten your hand off.

Does the City cup game count as a bit of a free hit game? Were unlikely to beat City with any 11 we pick so why not throw in some of the younger players and play with some freedom.

It won't happen But I would love to see this team in a 3-4-1-2
Leno
Saliba - Gabriel - Mari
Bellerin - AMN - Willock - Saka
Smith-Rowe
Balogun - Martinelli

Looks fun to me!

Arteta should send them out with a jolly "just have fun lads" and see what it brings. It is as you say a free hit.

Even more so when you add in that Tottenham have won nothing in that period. In fact nothing since 2008 and nothing in the previous 17 seasons either.

Spurs have only won on average a major trophy once every 8 years during my lifetime - or once every 10 years from when I started supporting Arsenal.
Arsenal have won a trophy on average every 2 years since I started supporting them. I'll be more than happy if they keep that record up until I die (hopefully got another 50 years in me)

Poch was the most successful sperz manager in my time as a football fan and I was surprised he never won a trophy. Mourinho
has them seemingly at another level but they challenged under Poch as well against Liverpool and City sides that were playing better.

Interesting to hear Arteta say we need fighters not victims. Absolutely right but I have no faith in there being enough fighters in this team

Also, alongside that you need leaders. We don’t really have any

Picking Saliba? Based on what?

I’ve supported Arsenal since 1967, so 53 years. In that time we won 21 what I call proper trophies (6 league titles, 11 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup which no longer continues and 1 Fairs Cup which is now the Europa League). That’s a trophy every 2.5 years (53/21=2.52).

In fact this Wednesday is the 53rd anniversary of my first Arsenal game, a 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest on 23rd December 1967. That was 11 years to the day before I went to our 0-5 win against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on 23rd December 1978. Still my favourite game in which Arsenal didn’t actually win a trophy.

As I said I know it won't happen, but I can't believe a £25m signing can be that much of a donkey that he can't be trusted to play some games for us ahead of all the other calamities we have in defence. Stick him on the right side of a back 3 and see. It would also be based on being capable of playing top flight french football against some decent players over there. We've got to invest some time in this kid - some may say a cup QF is not the right time but why not. Everyone expects us to lose. Why pick Balogun, why pick Smith Rowe you could go on. The biggest frustration at the end of Wenger was seeing him do the same things time and time again and we all knew what the result would be, you just want to see something different. I am at that point now. If we go with Pépé, Nketiah, Willian we know what will happen. If we go with Mustafi we know what will happen. Midfield of Ceballos and Elneny we know what will happen. Lets just try something different

Oooh heck. Burnley have won one of their two games in hand on us.

Now just a point behind with a game in hand. 16th place beckons?

You expressed earlier the need for fighters. That’s what Mustafi is to a far bigger extent than most of our players. If that’s what knowing what will happen means, I have no problem with it. Did you see Mustafi’s celebration from the bench at Everton when we scored? I wish all our players had his attitude.

Bernard. Everyone remembers Brady’s goal (and rightly so!) but Alan Sunderland was tremendous that day. Ran them ragged. He scored early and put us on the way.Think he got a couple. Great signing from Wolves.

Our goal difference is 5 better (Arsenal’s is -6 and Burnley’s is -11). So as things currently stand Burnley will have to win their game in hand to go above us.

We’ve become a bloody donkey sanctuary. Some of the recent deals stink, love to know what’s really going on behind the scenes.