Clear the air talks reaction (Burnley, home)

[IBK]

Possibly, although I think there's a lot of mess going on behind the scenes which is why I never felt that replacing Wenger was a silver bullet.
I never thought things could get this bad though.
It had to happen and the best thing about any manager now is they're not Wenger - in the sense that they don't come with his baggage and legacy, they're easier to move on from. But while the mess behind the scenes persists I don't know how effective any new manager can be.

Where to start?

I am astonished that things have got this bad. But I think it is misleading to 'blame' Wenger. What has led to this mess is the result of many factors, but principally the fact that the club came to rely on one man for all aspects of the football club; coaching, management; vision; recruitment...hell even financial affairs. Kroenke bought into this regime, having no experience of football, and bought a club effectively on automatic pilot.

Wenger's abilities declined over his last couple of years, but football also moved on. For some years it has not been possible have a successful EPL club without an accomplished combined team - coaching; director of football; recruitment; finances - all working to a clear vision. Even Wenger had David Dein sharing the load in his successful years. Gazidis was supposed to provide this oversight as Wenger retreated, but he bottled it and then pissed off at the very time that we needed him most.

Wenger's departure in fact laid bare the lack of any proper foundations at AFC, because his abilities over and above his coaching role were masking fundamental problems. The reality is that in these circumstances, Arsenal has been a potential disaster waiting to happen. Without proper executive club management in place, any subsequent football managers were never going to succeed. What has happened in the past 3 years however is nothing short of a perfect storm. Disruption; wholly unsuitable executive level appointments; management civil wars; no direction; no teamwork. And now we are left with a rookie manager who (to my surprise) appears not to have even the basics required; a rookie chief exectutive; and a technical director who also has no EPL experience and is clearly not up to the job. Arteta has shocked me over the last few weeks, but as Letters says, I fear for any manager in these circumstances.

So given that we have a owner with sole control of our club, yes the buck ultimately stops with Kroenke who is responsible for the running of the club, but if we are to blame him, for me its his naivity that is to blame rather than any suggestion that he has run the club down. But he has also been badly let down by those who he should have been able to rely on.

I try (usually), to maintain a degree of equanimity, but the extent and depth of the fundamental problems facing our club at all levels, if unaddressed, mean that we cannot rule out relegation. It has happened to other big clubs, and Arsenal has no God-given right to EPL status. I still don't think it will come to this, but I have come to realise that we should be under no illusions as to the seriousness of where we are. Happy days...

[Letters]

except its being run by the same referees who get it wrong so often on the pitch.

It honestly bemuses me how inept these guys are.
I remember having a debate with a friend when the referees were going professional. He said it wouldn't make them any better, I said of course it would.
He was right. I still don't understand why. Surely professionals should be better than amateurs by definition, yet here we are...

When it comes to VAR. The point is surely that refs are getting things wrong because they only get to see things once in real time from one angle.
Often we were in a situation where you'd have the entire crowd knowing that the ref had got a decision wrong but the one person who needed to know didn't.
So VAR checks doesn't imply any criticism of a referee, it's just that humanly you're going to get decisions wrong where with technology you should be able to get them right. And yet they're still getting them wrong. What you say doesn't make any sense - refs don't need to "protect" each other, this is just about using technology to get things right. Which doesn't mean you're wrong of course.

[selassie]

This is Arteta’s mess in fairness. The Ozil situation probably cost him the respect of the players, ask anyone in that squad who is the best player and I bet they will say Ozil.

I think him trying to lay down the law has backfired massively. Even Saliba was taking the piss the other day.
Not sure how happy the young players are either having to watch this rubbish while they at least do their job with some grace in the euro shit cup.

Unhappy squad = writing on the wall.

[Bumble]

I think where video assistance works is with yes or no decisions. Offsides work. Goal line works. But once you leave interpretation in then the decisions can be varied. Elneny not getting sent off was bizarre. Some penalties given some not. Just dont think VAR is as cut and dry as with cricket or rugby. It might take a few years to iron out the creases after all.

[WGC Goon]

Kroenke bought into this regime, having no experience of football, and bought a club effectively on automatic pilot.

Stan Kroenke doesn't care about Arsenal FC, we are merely an asset to him that he will cash in on when and where it suits him. He turned down Usmanov's reportedly final offer of £2bn for the club but that's nothing to do with the fact he loves Arsenal and wants to invest in it, we are merely a financial nest egg sitting there nicely in case he needs to use it for another commercial project. Trust me, we will not be challenging for the league any time soon because the investment just won't be there, depressing but all very real.

[selassie]

Stan Kroenke doesn't care about Arsenal FC, we are merely an asset to him that he will cash in on when and where it suits him. He turned down Usmanov's reportedly final offer of £2bn for the club but that's nothing to do with the fact he loves Arsenal and wants to invest in it, we are merely a financial nest egg sitting there nicely in case he needs to use it for another commercial project. Trust me, we will not be challenging for the league any time soon because the investment just won't be there, depressing but all very real.

Kroenke's aren't the issue, yes I would rather someone else who is football focused and actually cares about Arsenal run the club, but the Kroenke's have been investing in the team.

We are a mid table club and the past few seasons have spent / wasted millions on attempting to improve the team.

Money isn't the issue here.

[Mac76]

Kroenke's aren't the issue, yes I would rather someone else who is football focused and actually cares about Arsenal run the club, but the Kroenke's have been investing in the team.

We are a mid table club and the past few seasons have spent / wasted millions on attempting to improve the team.

Money isn't the issue here.

the only mistake the Kroenkes have made is trusting a crook like Raul and then a non-hoper like Edu

they need to find somone who can steer the club in the right direction.

[Chippy]

Kroenke's aren't the issue, yes I would rather someone else who is football focused and actually cares about Arsenal run the club, but the Kroenke's have been investing in the team.

We are a mid table club and the past few seasons have spent / wasted millions on attempting to improve the team.

Money isn't the issue here.

Mid Table!?!?

I wish!

Maybe you should check and have a look where we are

[IBK]

Kroenke's aren't the issue, yes I would rather someone else who is football focused and actually cares about Arsenal run the club, but the Kroenke's have been investing in the team.

We are a mid table club and the past few seasons have spent / wasted millions on attempting to improve the team.

Money isn't the issue here.

The Kroenke's issue is lack of experience in runnning a 'soccer' team, not investment.

[Marc Overmars]

Yeah. They’ve reinvested the profits and we can’t say we’ve been left wanting in recent transfer windows. We’ve actually all been relatively satisfied with the business at first glance too. The problem is once these players become fully Arsenalfied they turn to shit.

The Kroenke’s failure has been to employ a decent hierarchy capable of building and running a competitive club. Look at all the chopping and changing that’s gone on over the last few seasons. Smacks of a lack strategy and direction.