summer '22 transfer craziness and stupidity

[I am invisible]

I hear you, I don't really care if you re right or wrong because I couldn't give a toss about this club any more. But for fans who do, I hope you are right, although I think you are probably more hopeful than confident. The real cost of second best is measured in many ways. One wolf whistle from a genuine top tier club, which Arsenal no longer is (by choice), and I place precisely zero value on the integrity of the player. I think they are all whores, personally. Out for top dollar above all else. I can't think of an example that says otherwise. But surely there is one, somewhere. Arsenal needs eleven, on the cheap. Can that happen?

Not really.

There’s always another player out there. Always. We just need to get back to what we used to be the best in the business at: clever scouting and unearthing gems (for the bulk of our squad-building, anyway - there’ll always be room on top of that for targeted investment). Sure, we’ll probably always have the mega-rich clubs sniffing around our players, but we’ve always had to put up with that - even before the billionaires and nation states rolled into town we had Madrid and Barcelona picking off Anelka and Petit and Overmars, and constantly unsettling Vieira and Henry. This is nothing new for us - the only thing that’s really changed is that we’ve become really, really bad at cashing in and moving on. It doesn’t have to be a problem, though - we just need to get good at it again. Stop trying to be Chelsea and get back to bring Arsenal.

Can we ever be successful that way when we’re up against a bunch of state-backed clubs with unlimited resources? Maybe not. Who knows? Tbh it’s less important to me than being able find interest in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, and being able to take some enjoyment from following the club and the game on a more day-to-day level. Only one team can ever come out on top each year anyway and there’s more piranhas in the tank now than ever - you have to be able to enjoy the ride as well as the destination otherwise you’re going to spend most of your time as a fan absolutely miserable and resenting every stinking minute of it.

For me, all the fun and the interest has always come from the challenge, and if the modern game is anything it’s certainly challenging! Maybe even impossibly so, but I’m still enjoying seeing if we can find a solution to it, even with all of the various handicaps we’re working with, and even if it’s ultimately doomed to failure. Hand on heart, it would fucking kill me following a club like City or Chelsea, where you just have all of the answers handed to you every year, and never have to work around any problems - where’s the fun in that? Where’s the challenge? It’s the challenge that makes it a game.

100% it’s hope over confidence - I’m not lying to myself or kidding myself about our chances. I can see exactly what we’re up against and what the problems are with the game - I’ve just chosen to take what I can from it rather than rage against things I have no control over.

[I am invisible]

I am on the same page as you.
Am I still in love with Arsenal Football Club? Not really.
I am 55 (yep, very old!) and remember the club as it once was, traditional.
There is no way that I can totally switch off and not look at their results. But I certainly won't lose sleep if they are doing bad.
The strange thing is that I hate Spur#s just as much! Not sure why, but I do. Some things never change I guess

Man, I feel for you guys, I really do. I’m not one of those ‘well fuck off and support someone else’ types - following a club is a life sentence and it must suck to be tied to something that you can’t walk away from and that is bringing you no joy. Wish I could help, but unfortunately it’s a personal journey - I can’t tell you what you find interesting and what you enjoy, I can only tell you what I’m finding interesting and what I’m enjoying. Odds are you won’t feel the same.

Try not to blame the club too much for the way it’s changed, though. It’s not just Arsenal or even just football - everything has changed radically over the last half a century. That’s just how it goes - shit changes, life moves on. You move with it or you stand still and get left behind. It’s not always for the better, but it’s not always for the worse either - nostalgia has a funny way of making you only remember the good times whilst completely ignoring the bad. There’s a lot of stuff I miss about football from 20 / 30 / 40 years ago, but there’s a lot of stuff I’m really not sorry to see the back of either.

[Chippy]

Man, I feel for you guys, I really do. I’m not one of those ‘well fuck off and support someone else’ types - following a club is a life sentence and it must suck to be tied to something that you can’t walk away from and that is bringing you no joy. Wish I could help, but unfortunately it’s a personal journey - I can’t tell you what you find interesting and what you enjoy, I can only tell you what I’m finding interesting and what I’m enjoying. Odds are you won’t feel the same.

Try not to blame the club too much for the way it’s changed, though. It’s not just Arsenal or even just football - everything has changed radically over the last half a century. That’s just how it goes - shit changes, life moves on. You move with it or you stand still and get left behind. It’s not always for the better, but it’s not always for the worse either - nostalgia has a funny way of making you only remember the good times whilst completely ignoring the bad. There’s a lot of stuff I miss about football from 20 / 30 / 40 years ago, but there’s a lot of stuff I’m really not sorry to see the back of either.

No need to feel sorry, I enjoy being miserable about Arsenal Football Club.

I have just reached the conclusion of "If they don't care about us (the fans), why should we care about them"?
As you say, it is impossible to go and support another team (unless you are truly plastic). I guess also that I am getting to that age where other things become more important than getting bogged down with things you cannot change.

I certainly don't blame Arsenal Football Club for paying players far too much money the fact that because they are paid too much money people are charged a fortune to go and watch them.

Like you, I enjoy things about he modern game (safer stadiums and pitches having grass on them all season rather than the first few months)

I am still hopeful that we get a new Manager asap so that we can improve rather than players wanting to leave or not wanting to come back (Guendouzi and Saliba to name two).
I can understand that they do not want to play for a rookie Manager that throws his toys out of his pram every five minutes.

[Globalgunner]

No need to feel sorry, I enjoy being miserable about Arsenal Football Club.

I have just reached the conclusion of "If they don't care about us (the fans), why should we care about them"?
As you say, it is impossible to go and support another team (unless you are truly plastic). I guess also that I am getting to that age where other things become more important than getting bogged down with things you cannot change.

I certainly don't blame Arsenal Football Club for paying players far too much money the fact that because they are paid too much money people are charged a fortune to go and watch them.

Like you, I enjoy things about he modern game (safer stadiums and pitches having grass on them all season rather than the first few months)

I am still hopeful that we get a new Manager asap so that we can improve rather than players wanting to leave or not wanting to come back (Guendouzi and Saliba to name two).
I can understand that they do not want to play for a rookie Manager that throws his toys out of his pram every five minutes.

We are of similar vintage. Im old enough to have seen Charlie George in the flesh and can remember my dad screaming about the lunacy of paying £100,000 for Malcom MacDonald (You could buy 3 decent houses for that, he said). Harold Wilson and his pipe. Arsenal are run by a bunch of no hopers. You would be a masochist to get all het up about the nonchalance of the club. No sincere team hires a plain rookie to win things. The people who get my goat are those who cannot see this and call it a "process". Others say it simply our time to be shit. Next year they will be bringing out Vernier callipers and Micrometer screw gauges to measure our infinitesimal progress.

[Mac76]

No need to feel sorry, I enjoy being miserable about Arsenal Football Club

I am still hopeful that we get a new Manager asap so that we can improve rather than players wanting to leave or not wanting to come back (Guendouzi and Saliba to name two).
I can understand that they do not want to play for a rookie Manager that throws his toys out of his pram every five minutes.

i thought Saliba had said he did want to come back - it's Arteta who keeps insisting he's 'not ready'

but on your toys/pram point, I couldn't agree more - Arteta's playground posturing (and the way some people seem to think it's acceptable) is the most annoying thing about him

[GP]

https://www.arsenal.com/marquinhos-a...o-paulo-brazil

Great player.

I've never been disappointed in this guy whenever I've seen him play.

[dazthegooner]

Well that's it then if Nketiah sign's his new deal that's our forward lineup for next season...

[Mac76]

https://www.arsenal.com/marquinhos-a...o-paulo-brazil

Great player.

I've never been disappointed in this guy whenever I've seen him play.

good news indeed - i look forward to seeing him put out on loan for three years and then sold for £15m to a leading club for whom he scores 30 goals per season

[Letters]

Try not to blame the club too much for the way it’s changed, though.

Agree with this. Arsenal are certainly complicit - the fact they even contemplated joining the Super League shows that basically we are chasing the money as much as anyone. But we aren't to blame. And what's the alternative? If you want to even attempt to compete in the modern game you have to do these things. It is a shame how football has gone. Some things have got better - a lot (if not all) of the thuggery and racism has gone, it's certainly safer and more inclusive these days. But the spiralling money has caused a change from club to business, the fanbase have become customers of that business. Back in the day there was a small club shop by the Clock End selling scarves and badges, now there a megastores with catalogues of endless merch. I mean, just stop and think a minute at how ridiculous it is that fans are now expected to buy a new shirt every single year, at £60+ a pop. Clubs have somehow conned fans into being excited about the new shirt release (I saw Spurs' one the other day - they went with white again... ). And the fans - or a lot of them - just go along with it. I guess the younger ones don't know different. Then there's the blanket coverage, the rise of the Champions League, the billionaire owners hoovering up trophies. It's all gone to shit.

I have found it impossible to completely detach. But I'm nowhere near as invested as I used to be. When I was young I'd have been watching avidly and devastated by a 3-0 loss at WHL. Now I kept a bit of an eye on it, thought "knickers" and got on with my day. Getting older and having a family is definitely a factor in all this, my priorities have changed. But the way football has gone is a big factor too. Sky started a lot of this. They promised "a whole new ball game" and boy did they deliver...

[Niall_Quinn]

We are of similar vintage. Im old enough to have seen Charlie George in the flesh and can remember my dad screaming about the lunacy of paying £100,000 for Malcom MacDonald (You could buy 3 decent houses for that, he said). Harold Wilson and his pipe. Arsenal are run by a bunch of no hopers. You would be a masochist to get all het up about the nonchalance of the club. No sincere team hires a plain rookie to win things. The people who get my goat are those who cannot see this and call it a "process". Others say it simply our time to be shit. Next year they will be bringing out Vernier callipers and Micrometer screw gauges to measure our infinitesimal progress.

Wasn't Super Mac's fee £333,000? I recall seeing that in one of those little write-ups in one of those Panini sticker books. Which, admittedly, is not the Encyclopedia Brittanica.