In football, we mainly talk about the team. We don’t talk about the club.
The team wins games, the team excites us, the team tries to win trophies.
We’re not told what happens in the boardroom. We know that Stan Kroenke was over for a board meeting but we don’t know what they decided.
We’d like to think they approved the spending of £25 million on experienced players. But the latest comments from chairman Peter Hill-Wood indicate that scenario is highly unlikely. However, his caveat could be disinformation.
New CEO Ivan Gazidis has arrived and we’ll be hearing from him soon.
We don’t really know what his job is. To generate more commercial evenue? To work out a clear strategy for the business? To take Arsenal to the next level? To negotiate the sale of the club at the end of the season? To build a close working relationship with Arsene Wenger? Or to hire a manager with the balls to take Arsenal to the next level?
If the club was sold, who could buy it?
Kroenke cannot afford it. Usmanov says he will not launch a takeover. But Gazprom is very rich. The company provides 25% of Europe’s gas and the gas price is directly linked to the oil price. When the oil price zoomed to $100 a barrel and $120 and $130 and $137, gas prices went up steeply. But the costs of producing the gas stayed the same. So Gazprom made a LOT of money. But Putin has told Usmanov not to buy Arsenal right now, as that would look bad to Russian voters.
As I say, we don’t know what Ivan Gazidis’s job really is. But maybe he’ll tell us today, or tomorrow, or next week.
What we do know is this : a football club exists for its fans.
It exists to try and fulfill the hopes and aspirations of its fans.
The fans, being realistic, want the FA Cup.
The FA Cup is six matches.This year it’s five because Plymouth have no chance tomorrow. Arsenal will hammer them because Wenger has promised to play his strongest team. Plymouth’s defending is pub defending, a joke.
Arsenal can win the FA Cup and finish fourth.Or they can win nothing and finish fifth. Either way, we’ll know far more in May than we know now. I’m still watching Aston Villa closely. Their midfield is mediocre but they’re grinding out results.
So we should wait and see what happens in the next 20 games, while remembering that the future of Arsenal will be decided in the boardroom, not on the pitch.
If you like ANR, you’ll love The Professor.
A classic paperback that took 10 years to write. Read the first chapter free.