Just got an email from the Club offering me Final tickets on my standard Gold memberships. Doesn't look as though demand is that strong.

I'm not surprised. Everyone was moaning about how ridiculous a poxy 6,000 allocation was, but after a bit of delving for my own purposes, and a better understanding of the ridiculously high cost and no-accommodation cattle-class travel arrangements, I thought they'd struggle.

I'm watching Sky Sports and I can't believe this didn't make the short list for goal of the season.

It’s now offering tickets to red members for a cup final, unreal

I’ve never understood the % wage increase rule, I mean I understand the rule but don’t understand why it always gets mentioned with Arsenal when there is no way that Fulham for instance didn’t increase their yearly wages by more than 7% when they signed £100m worth of players last year. The same is true of Everton when they signed Rooney, siggurdson, Walcott, tosun, Mina, digne, no way are those players on less than 7% increase of the wages of the players they replaced.
What about clubs they may have a wage increase across the board for winning the league, staying up etc?
It must be nonsense and everyone is breaking it.
We always hear of bumper new contracts for players mid season, some of these alone may tip the overall 7%.
If you had 25 first team players on an average of £100k per week each, you only have to add £175k per week to topple over the 7%. That’s 2 players.....or it’s 1 player and 2 new contracts. Only 2 new contracts every year in a squad of 25. I just don’t get how it works.

Does it include bonuses ? I mean surely using bonuses rather than salary gets around the 7% thing effortlessly.

It smacks as an excuse of us simply committing too much money for too average players and trying to stop it

That's the impression I got from my Fulham supporting relatives. Terrible in defence (not fit to wear the shirt was their comment, and that was a Fulham shirt not an Arsenal one) but way better in midfield. Wasn't it you who put a dampener on the idea of Chambers in midfield from an away game somewhere, was it Southampton? I'm sure someone did.

Yeah I attended the game at st marys on New Year’s Day when he played in Holding midfield and was anonymous and abysmal

I don’t think he’s our level but hopefully we should get a decent fee for him

Nice thought but my Mrs. is on a long contract - over 43 years so far.

I did see a few of the extended highlights games (over 20 mins) for Fulham and I cannot recall him ever looking anywhere near EPL quality even when he was in the midfield. It would be another very risky move to try him in that position with our club. The lack of creativity and goal scoring from our midfield has not been solved for years and I think he is not the solution.

Chelsea played a post season friendly in the states yesterday and probably lost Loftus-Cheek to injury for the Europa Final.
I think our tactics should be absolutely clear for that game, we have to set up and play at the same tempo that we played in the 2-0 win against them at home.
We pressed high and played quickly, get torreira to press very tight on Jorginho and Chelsea couldn’t cope, they made mistakes in defence without Jorginho as their outlet.
Our front two have the beating of their defence without doubt, also if we can get right to Jorginho and effectively take him out of the game it could open up some space between the lines for Özil to operate in.
4-3-1-2 formation. Play all 3 centre-mids. Torreira can press on high, Xhaka and Guendouzi can drift wider to protect the full backs when needed. Sokratis and Koscielny as centre backs.

https://arseblog.news/2019/05/report-ar ... m=facebook

According to a report from Italian outlet CalcioMercato, Arsenal are interested in Argentine defender Walter Kannemann.

They say that interest in him from Inter Milan and Sampdoria is complicated by the Gunners, with some suggestions that a £10m bid is imminent.

The 28 year old has spent his entire career in South America, starting with San Lorenzo in his home country, before a season with Atlas in Liga MX, before joining Brazilan side Gremio in 2016.

The fact that he’s in Brazil right now, and we’re widely believed to be appointing Edu as our new Technical Director during the summer, might lend some credence to the link, but right now it feels a bit like the usual summer bluster as the machinations of the transfer market get underway.

Kannemann, whose nickname is ‘The Filthy Pigeon’, has 5 caps for Argentina.

------------------------------------

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... er-rebuild
Here is an article saying how Man U have lots of money to support a rebuild - but there is a line in there that says they had a 12.9% increase in wages last year. If the rule is 7% then that is clearly breaking the rule.

I sense that the rule in nonsense or certainly not as simple as 7%.

I also sense that Arsenal hide behind the need to comply with various financial rules in order to not spend huge sums of money - that comes from Kronke for sure

Arsenal have complained to the Foreign Office because dual British/Macedonian fans can't get visas from Azerbaijan.

What an absolute joke. You don’t even get a that at the World Cup. Whole thing is a farce

The 2 clubs should have pulled out in protest

Just a quick one on this.

It’s being mooted we have been offered 2 million more than the release clause on this to schedule the payments

We did exactly the same for Torreira which leads me to suspect it could be true. It could be the club trying to stretch a minimal budget or just Kroenke paddling the club with back payment debt.

Either way I’m only game for it if he has “filthy pidgeon” on the back of his shirt

This is a Club Statement just released:

“Everyone at Arsenal is delighted to have reached the Uefa Europa League final and we are all very much looking forward to the match against Chelsea on Wednesday, May 29.

"However, we are bitterly disappointed by the fact that due to transport limitations Uefa can only make a maximum of 6,000 tickets available to Arsenal for a stadium with a capacity of well over 60,000. Time will tell if it is even possible for 6,000 Arsenal fans to attend the match, given how extreme the travel challenges are.

"We have 45,000 season-ticket holders and for so many fans to miss out due to Uefa selecting a final venue with such limited transport provision is quite simply not right. The reality is that whoever reached the final would not be able to meet demand from their supporters.

"We have received many complaints from our fans about this and we fully share their concerns.

"On behalf of our fans, we would like to understand the criteria by which venues are selected for finals, and also how supporter requirements are taken into account as part of this.

"Moving forward we would urge Uefa to ensure that supporter logistics and requirements are a key part of any future decisions for final venues as what has happened this season is unacceptable, and cannot be repeated. We would be happy to join any future discussions to avoid this situation happening again."

Interesting to note this bit:
Time will tell if it is even possible for 6,000 Arsenal fans to attend the match, given how extreme the travel challenges are.

Tells me that tickets aren't selling.

It’s all very well trying to justify to the Mrs a 700 quid beano to France or Copenhagen but a 2 grand planes, trains and automobiles remake involving using 3 days holiday ? Totally different kettle of fish

The other point that occurs to me is just where are all the other spectators coming from? If the two teams get 12,000, that leaves over 56,000 tickets to sell. We're told the airport can only handle 15,000 arrivals so how are the rest getting there? Can't see the locals being interested, even if they could afford the ticket prices on an average wage of less than £20k.

I bet the stadium will be filled with civil servants plus off-duty army and police. And schoolkids. All of 'em on freebies.

The whole thing stinks.

Well it's a quality nickname. I say sign him up.

5 caps for Argentina in an era in which they have been so bad at the back that Marcos Rojo is a regular.

Not sure where you are getting the 7% from Rich. It is an actual amount and it was £7m but I think it has increased with the new tv money. However, the key point is that clubs can increase their wages if it is funded by increased commercial revenue or player sales. In Man U's case, they are continously posting record breaking revenue so it's no problem. Our new shirt deal should see us able to increase wages without too much of a problem. Of greater concern is the £70m loss we are rumoured to post.

It's an absurd location for a European final. There will be tiny numbers of English fans at the game.

I'm going. Bought the match ticket (£43, but £49.60 with booking fees and recorded delivery postage), return flight with Thomas Cook as advertised on Arsenal.com (£979), and visa paid for ($24 which equates to about £18.50). So the whole trip is costing nearly £1050.

If we win I'll consider it worth it. If we lose I'll consider it a monumental waste of money, which my wife does whatever the result.

HERO

Fair play Bernard good work

Is that a direct flight with no accommodation?

I think because of flight availability many fans are having to get a 2 stop flight to tiblisi then getting an onward train to Baku. I bet that must burn more cash. Dhd is absolutely right the club must be worried about how many fans even with tickets make the call not to go

Any fan going has my utmost respect

I did the Copenhagen final on a fly-in fly-out basis. Spent most of the day in a gloriously long and pissy lunch - Peder Oxe - with a pre-match sojourn at a bar local to the stadium, singing and reminiscing with the locals about Johnny Jensen, all helped by a bucket or two of aquavit. Brilliant build up.

After the match, we were taken - eventually, after an utterly chaotic transfer process - back to the airport to be packed back onto the planes with a seat pitch that would challenge Tyrion Lanister. I have NEVER been more uncomfortable. We landed at Luton at about 3 am. I could barely walk for days. It was the most unpleasant journey I have ever experienced.

That was a 2 hour flight. Baku is 6 or 7, assuming it’s direct. Twice that if it ain’t. And whilst it was a *%^@ journey back, the build-up was fanpissytastic. That won’t be an option in a Muslim city.

As I say, I am in awe, Bern.

Respect.

For the champions league final we drove to Paris and got a through the night ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. It was stacked full of arsenal fans who had the same idea and spent the night drinking in the ferry’s bar and singing themselves daft.

Halfway through there was a major problem with the plumbing in the toilets and somehow gallons of water and urine from the urinals pumped and poured right through the mid section of the ferry all over the place. It was everywhere you were literally walking through puddles. It poured into the main bar area and the stench was so utterly horrendous you couldn’t barely stop yourself sneezing and wincing. Really me describing it doesnt do it justice. The acidic smell of urine, water and chemicals was too much to bear.

How many of our fans do you think left the floor and bar area to get away from the horrendous poison and stench ? Not a single one

For 3 days after the final I was still blowing my nose and having a feeling in my sinus the smell of urine was still there and wasn’t going to leave me.

Following arsenal in Europe is such a laugh. You see so much, putting a final in Azerbaijan is just frankly horrendous and defeats any element of fun.

Inter want Xhaka

https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/16/inter-mi ... r-9579651/

If we could get our money back it would be awesome

First and final bid - going, going gone.

I admire you and also envy you.

As for cost of travel - because airlines and accomodation people gauge you for finals in Oz; after my local rugby league club made the grandfinal in Sydney ( which is just down the track 1047miles) - airfares + accom + ticket for the final cost me about the equivalent of 800 pound in your money.

Speak for yourself .... if I was a Catholic I'd have been cannonised by now .

I'd love to tear those two statements to sheds but nice guy I am I'll desist .

Goddamn elbow giving me a lot of gyp at the moment . Painful , swollen ... thinking maybe bursitis . Not sure what odd ball remedy to try .... comfrey , garlic chillis and dandelions has a nice ring to it

Said to one of my kids the other day "Well me and Mum have been together for about 37 years " ....

Mrs Kiwi overheard .... " Try 48 " next month ........ Instant depression

... but my brother has had one marriage and two de factos .... six kids to the last two . Two of them on P amphetamines with truckloads of problems .

Mine all [ touch wood ] relativity okay .... so I guess it says something for stability .

Gidday Goonie ...when I arrived in England in 1972 I used to avidly read articles in the Sun, Mirror , etc about Cruyff , Neeskins , top Poms all chomping at the bit to sign for Arsenal , sounded great I lapped it up like strawberries and cream
.... but then age sets in , you get wiser and more cynical .

Newspapers have sports pages to fill .... so when nothing is happening .

What to do .... can't just leave that space blank ... invent something

" Harry Kane childhood Arsenal fan wants transfer to Emirates "

Guaranteed to grab the attention of any gullible Arse / Spurs fan ..... papers sold

A monk in Tibet would know we all want Mustafi to please f*** off .... somewhere ... anywhere .

So invent some ficticious destination for departure , decent money ..... to add a nice subtle ring of truth , involve someone with ex Arse connections doing club stuff somewhere else , Gazidis , Vieira , Arteta , Bergkamp , Overmars .......
"make weight in a swap deal plus money with Ajax for Tagliafico " ...... must be true ... we all salivate ... papers sold

On the flip side get someone who is doing well we treasure Lacazette , Aubameyang ..... look around and find a big club who need a striker ... Barcelona , PSV , Man U ...... quote "agents have been seen in the West End" , "sources close to " , ... Voila ..... again all total bll**cks .. papers sold

... too easy I should have been a journalist .

Just watched a video of 19 year old De Ligt giving a post season celebration speech to the Ajax fans after their season. 19! This guy is a proper leader on and off the pitch. Looks like Barcelona are getting an absolute gem

Well you do spin a good yarn from time to time Pete.

And as for the elbow, try rubbing it with liniment. And at your age, you shouldn’t be watching those types of films.

So let me ask this: if Barca come in with a really silly offer for both Lacazette and Aubameyang what do we do? Mind you what Stan does may not accord with common sense.

I suspect if they came calling for Lacazette he might like the idea of CL football and might ask to move. He needs to prove himself at the highest level if he is to break into the french squad. If we beat Chelsea he may want some guarantees that he will be picked for all CL games.

I think Özil will only go to another club if we pay him a big bundle of money to leave. Would you do such a deal to get him off the books? He asks for 20mil to leave - what would you do?

Enjoy.

Santi Cazorla has been called up to the Spanish squad.

This season he scored 7 goals and provided 11 assists.

We still have El Nenny, Iwobi and Xhaka in our squad.

Congratulations to everyone at Arsenal for another job well done.

This is apparently UEFA's response to the clubs complaint about the final.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 18086.html

Blah blah blah but if they really made an assessment of the location, travel, accomodation etc then let them release in full the document to the public. Then we can see how good their assessment process is.

Or have they got something to hide.

At the end of the day if it wasn’t all about money the moment an all English final was announced they would have changed the location to somewhere more logistically better.

Also the response fails to mention the obvious question of Henrik Mhikitaryan more likely having to dodge Kalashnikov fire than incoming tackles whilst in Baku (Jesus Christ it even sounds like somewhere off Star Wars)

Personally I don’t think you can sell either player under any circumstance. We won’t be able to replace their impact on the side.

If we were to sell it would be madness to accept anything lower than 100m+ For each player if Zaha is being touted for 80million.

Surely Barca are going to sign Griezmann anyway. It’s been on the cards for years hasnt it