Actually, I haven't written about actual playing matters since the Sheffield United game. I'll give the 4 matches that have been played in that period some time at the end of this, but I just wanted to share some thoughts on the fallout - as it affects Arsenal - of the horribly ill-thought proposed European Super League (ESL).
- The announcement was met with almost unanimous disapproval from football stakeholders all over the country; indeed all over Europe. Other clubs (literally ALL of them), players, managers, officials, politicians, journalists and broadcasters, plus people who generally take no interest in football; were all outraged. And, most importantly as it turned out, so were the fans. Billionaires, as we all may well have suspected, live in their own bubble, and we can only assume that this particular lot thought that they could take their toy and play with it wherever they liked. But as it turns out football clubs are not toys, and their owners are merely fleeting custodians
- For them to think that they could easily foist this upon the world of football was breathtakingly idiotic. It was poorly handled - the PR was pathetic - and it was clear that no consideration had been taken of anybody else in football bar this small cartel of super-rich idiots. If they were taken aback by the depth of feeling shown by... well, everyone - then more fool them!
- Although alternatively - and this is perhaps crediting them with more common-sense than they actually have - maybe this was an initial shot by these clubs at getting an even bigger slice of the cake (a slice that they've been increasing by stealth every year in any case) and the idea will merely come back, but shaped slightly differently
- The issue for these clubs - and people in general - is that how much money one has got influences one's propensity to spend. So whether you're a 'lowly' bin man on £350 a week, or a football club with hundreds of millions of pounds of income, you always want more. The more these clubs get, the more they spend on players, and the more they want - and that's why so much of the television money that has bloated the game we love into a flabby, monstrous facsimile of what it used to be ends up flying straight through the clubs and into the pockets of players and agents
- I feel that this was the moment that Stan Kroenke had been waiting for... but equally that he - and the American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United - have completely missed the point with 'soccer'. The set-up of the top echelons of the major sports in the US is so different to what we have on this side of 'the pond', and it simply doesn't translate. The NFL, the NBA, the MBA and even MLS are closed shops, but there's far too much history and diversity to draw that together in Europe
- Saying that, the one thing - and there's only one - that I'd take from those closed shops (and this is something that I personally have been advocating for years!) is a salary cap. That would drive costs down all round; and after all, does it really make a difference to a top player whether he's earning £200k or £250k a week?
And so to Arsenal:
- I am convinced that Kroenke would have been one of the ringleaders of this idea. After all, as we know, what he wants from his 'franchises' is guaranteed income - and to hell with the success. And that he has with his (KSE's) ownership of the LA Rams (NFL - I'll come back to them shortly), the Denver Nuggets (NBA - moderately successful recently), Colorado Avalanche (NHL - won the Stanley Cup 20 years ago but have grossly underachieved since), Colorado Crush (AFL), Colorado Rapids (MLS - exceedingly unsuccessful since 2010 and currently languishing) and Colorado Mammoth (NLL; that's lacrosse, by the way). So what we're talking about here is guaranteed income, and no major need to invest on the playing side
- Where Kroenke does develop is in 'real estate'. And here's where I return to the LA Rams. I won't go into too much detail, but Kroenke - a St Louis native - uprooted the St Louis Rams from their long-time home to move them to Los Angeles; purely because of the catchment area available to him - and the propensity to make money. As one can imagine, he's not a popular man in St Louis, having essentially double-crossed the city and left it with a huge debt and empty stadium, and also disenfranchising the team's fans at a stroke. He has had a most wonderful stadium built to house the LA Rams (at an alleged cost of 6 billion dollars!), but cannot fill it at the moment, of course
- As an outlier to go alongside the Nuggets' Stanley Cup success, the Rams reached the 2020 Superbowl. Kroenke is capable of investing money in his clubs - and this success was as a result of that - but in general he does the bare minimum. But sporting success is not a barometer in which he shows much interest, by all accounts. But the key thing to take from the Rams' move from St Louis is that he doesn't give a damn about the fans, and that has to be a massive concern to Arsenal supporters
- Josh Kroenke's assertion that the ESL train was leaving the station, and he felt that Arsenal needed to be on it or they would miss out, may or may not be true; but either way he and all the other owners and Chairmen severely misjudged the mood. Where this leaves Josh and his father remains to be seen. Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote - the richest man in Africa - has had a fairly long-standing interest in buying Arsenal, and you will have read in the last few days that Daniel Ek, founder and major shareholder of Spotify, has laid down a serious interest. Ek has his own problems, however, as Spotify's share price is collapsing as fewer and fewer people use the music streaming site. However, he says that he is serious and has funding to buy Arsenal in place
- Two things on the above: firstly, Ek doesn't have a reputation for being overly generous with the artists whose music he streams; so why might we think that swapping one billionaire for another is going to make a massive difference (although he claims to be a massive fan)? And secondly, Josh Kroenke has stated that KSE aren't selling. But everything has its price...
- For the moment, we can but hope that this sorry and shoddy state of affairs shames KSE into giving Arteta a bigger transfer budget this summer than had been planned, in order to appease the fans. As you all know, we've all been up in arms about this, and the demo outside Emirates Stadium, with pictures going all around the world, must surely have made a dent even on the psyche of Stanley Kroenke
And now, quickly, to football itself. An easy win over everyone's fall guys, Sheffield United, that was mostly notable for the appearance of a new left back in Granit Xhaka, was followed by a thrilling 4-0 thrashing of the racists of Slavia Prague. For 20 minutes in the first half Arsenal were scintillating, but this is the image that remains with me from that match:
But... but... poor performances against Fulham and Everton at home meant a further 5 points dropped, and the Europa League is where all our eggs are now. And what's bugging me is that every fortnight another side that we ALWAYS beat comes to The Emirates and beats us. Everton followed Wolves, Burnley and Villa as sides who broke long non-winning streaks against Arsenal this season, and it's not just the defeats, but the manner of them.
And, by the way, the Everton defeat showed why Xhaka is not any sort of answer at left back, as Richarlison 'roasted' him for the goal. As for Leno's part in it, I don't think I need to say anything...
I'm sick of hearing that 'we dominated the game; we were unlucky; we should have had a penalty; they shouldn't have had a penalty; VAR is inconsistent'. In isolation that's all probably true, but it's how Arsenal are playing that bugs me. If they can play so well in occasional short patches, what is it going to take to unlock that for longer? I don't want to see constant sideways passing and 'controlling the game'; I want to see incisive, dynamic football.
But if we see that just three more times this season - home and away against (Unai Emery's) Villareal, and in the Europa League Final against Manchester United or Roma, then it will be job done - Champions League football next season and more time for a manager who is learning on the job (last Friday, I looked longingly at Carlo Ancelotti on the Everton bench).
On a happier note, don't forget that, as Chas & Dave once told us, 'It's lucky for Spurs when the year ends in 1'. That's apparently 4 cup finals in a row when they have failed to even score a goal.
I'll leave it there. COYG.
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