The Board

[Niall_Quinn]

What happened in the last 5 years????

I've been in a waiting period since 2005.

That wasn't the waiting period. That was the bend over and take it hard up the arse period.

[Power n Glory]

Certainly an interesting read, if only for the fact the guy bases his whole piss taking argument on a couple of games (which he accuses the dumb fans of doing). If we just forget about the last 5 years he has a point.

I think he has a point because I read a few comments about us having strength and depth in the team a few months back and and now people have changed their tune. Some people were saying this midfield was better off without Fabregas and Nasri and now I'm reading comments about how we miss there playmaking ability. People saying the team was mentally stronger and always said wait until Christmas and when the pressure is really on. It's all a bit up and down. I think people were too quick too assume we'd turned over a new leaf. That's been the problem.

[Niall_Quinn]

I think he has a point because I read a few comments about us having strength and depth in the team a few months back and and now people have changed their tune. Some people were saying this midfield was better off without Fabregas and Nasri and now I'm reading comments about how we miss there playmaking ability. People saying the team was mentally stronger and always said wait until Christmas and when the pressure is really on. It's all a bit up and down. I think people were too quick too assume we'd turned over a new leaf. That's been the problem.

Not sure anyone was saying we had more strength in depth. More experience and fewer absolute fuck-ups and more team cohesion I think was the general opinion. And we do when we can get our players on the pitch, which is hardly ever.

[Özim]

Our difficult times are always after Christmas generally (other than November), we got a few wins before Christmas but how often have we actually played really well and looked a very good side?

Winning when not playing well is great, but rarely playing well isn't, Cesc and Nasri may not have been a perfect fit but they were quality players who had a lot of influence on our results, the players we've replaced them with are decent but don't have that special something that sets certain players apart from the rest.

Been a bit disappointed with Arteta, I thought he was better than he is, whilst he might work hard and do his bit, he really lacks the star quality I thought he had.

[Power n Glory]

Not sure anyone was saying we had more strength in depth. More experience and fewer absolute fuck-ups and more team cohesion I think was the general opinion. And we do when we can get our players on the pitch, which is hardly ever.

People were saying it. Besides the strikers, people were comfortable with what we had.

[selassie]

I personally feel that many people, not just on this board simply do not trust the board & manager at Arsenal. That's probably one of the key reasons why when the team starts to struggle the venom comes out. I personally think the board & manager are walking on egg shells when it comes to the trust of the supporters, how many folks on here are happy with the way the team and to a lesser extent the club is being managed?

[Niall_Quinn]

People were saying it. Besides the strikers, people were comfortable with what we had.

Again, as I recall people were more comfortable about our ability to squeak 4th spot rather than collapse down the league. None of us even hint at the possibility of actually challenging for anything any more. So everything has to be viewed through a filter of much lower expectations. The sheer terror of what we were seeing in the early weeks and the fate of the club was met by a lot of relief when we finally got a few bodies in. We all know we're not the team the media make out, we don't retain the ball any more, our passing game has gone, our attacking force is a shell. We shored up the defence and added a bit of experience in the middle. Speaking for myself I remember thinking thank fuck, at least we won't be humiliated in every game now. Then looking at how poor the opposition was it became conceivable we could grind out 4th spot in unspectacular but workmanlike fashion. Then the new players got injured or fucked off to some nothing tournament in Africa and that was that. It's funny how the circle has completed just as we are getting ready to face Utd again. Funny in a wrist slashing way.

[LDG]

I think the problem lies with the awful soundbites we get.

They wind people right up.

I just wish they'd come up with some better lies.

[Niall_Quinn]

I personally feel that many people, not just on this board simply do not trust the board & manager at Arsenal. That's probably one of the key reasons why when the team starts to struggle the venom comes out. I personally think the board & manager are walking on egg shells when it comes to the trust of the supporters, how many folks on here are happy with the way the team and to a lesser extent the club is being managed?

Plus the fact it's the transfer window when we could actually do something about this shit, but choose to do nothing instead.

[Niall_Quinn]

I think the problem lies with the awful soundbites we get.

They wind people right up.

I just wish they'd come up with some better lies.

To be fair to PHW, "Nice" was something new, but still didn't go down well. The guy can't win. I think people are expecting him to say enough is enough, we've tried doing this by trading football cards and sharing our crisps but now we are going to try running the club as if we want to compete. So the fans are very unrealistic, in fact it's entirely the fans' faults. We are too thick to understand what's going on and for some stupid reason judge everything by results on the pitch. I think until we grow up and accept that football is all about a few people getting very rich we're always going to be disappointed by the way the board behaves.