Arsenal made to look stupid again. Time to respond.
July 5, 2012
It’s difficult when you’re seething with anger about something but you’re not entirely sure who to direct that anger at
Yeah, I know, flicking through the news feeds this morning most Gooners have already made up their minds. It’s Van Persie, right? Or Van P£r$ie as he’s now known (no one went for Robbing Van Purse-y, yet? Give it time). And yes I can understand why.
First of all there’s the decision itself. After eight years of nursing Van Persie through injury after injury, of paying for his treatments and his physio and his surgery and also paying his massive wages and getting not a whole lot of football in return, after building a team around his strengths, taking a risk on playing him as the main man, the lone striker, after seeing that gamble pay off and turn him into one of the most sought after talents in world football at the very first opportunity he’s repaying us by jumping ship.
I know there’s no loyalty in modern football. I don’t need to be told that. I am an Arsenal fan after all. I’ve seen my share of disloyalty in recent years but still… As an intelligent man with a supposed love for the club, a settled family in their favourite city and a team that appeared to be finally building something, throwing off the shackles of their financial constraints and purchasing some quality this summer it’s still a huge kick in the teeth.
Of course for most fans the question of whether there’s any scrap of valour in his decision will come down to whether as the statement on his website claimed he really has left because he and the board ‘in many aspects disagree on the way Arsenal FC should move forward’ or whether that’s just a convenient smokescreen for the fact that his head has been turned by, as seems increasingly likely at this stage, the vast amounts of money that Manchester City have let him know could be his if he travels that ever more worn path from the Emirates to the Etihad.
Probably what’s wound me up the most is the timing of the announcement. It smacks to me of a man trying to force the club’s hand. For all the talk of respect and love for the club and the fans, publishing a statement on your personal website clearly to the surprise of everybody at Arsenal is not an especially respectful way to conduct your business. It seems clear that having heard the trickle of statements coming out of the club in the last few days confirming our determination to keep him even if it means holding him to the last year of his contract this statement is RVP attempting to force a move.
He’ll know that this makes his position at the club almost untenable. But he’ll also know that this severely weakens the club’s hand when it comes to negotiating a fee for him. The likes of Man City will know that they can sit on their hands until the end of August before offering a low ball offer because Robin has already burnt his bridges with the club so he’s near worthless to us anyway.
So yeah, I suppose I’m pretty angry with RVP. But I’m also pretty angry with the club. The seeds for this were sown a long time ago, before last summer even when Cesc decided that he wanted to play in a team that won trophies and didn’t consider fourth place a satisfactory season. Years of failing to strengthen when we had the chance has led to the situation where we’re continually selling our best players. This summer I thought we’d finally bucked that trend. The signings of Giroud and Podolski supposedly to play alongside Van Persie felt like a real statement of intent. We were taking a leap forward. Now they feel like a kind of rubbish apology. Sorry we failed to hold on to yet another captain and talisman. Have these two slightly inferior players instead. At least you’ve heard of these ones though, right?
I know there’s no competing with the stupid money on offer from the likes of Man City and maybe if I’m angry with anyone it should be the authorities who have allowed this farcical situation to go on for as long as it has. For one club to have so much money that they’re able, on a routine basis, to pick off whatever talent they choose from another club in the league, a club as big and relatively successful as Arsenal no less, shows what a joke this situation has become.
But I can’t help feeling that this is another absolute PR disaster that Arsenal could have avoided. Maybe they couldn’t have avoided a player trying to force his way out of the club but there must have been a more sensible way to handle this. The club was scrabbling around last night putting together a statement reacting to a situation that they surely knew was coming. Van Persie’s dig at Ivan Gazidis being on holiday at the moment suggests that he was less than impressed by the care and attention given to trying to smooth this situation out and while that doesn’t excuse his actions there’s clearly something wrong at a club when for all the respect these players have for the boss they’re still prepared to make us look like absolute idiots in an effort to force their way out.
Arsenal will recover from this. Of course they will. They always do. But in one swift statement we’ve gone from a club who looked like we’d be confidently challenging on all fronts next season to a club that doesn’t have any control over its players, its PR or its own destiny. We need to put that right and soon. We need to be absolutely firm over what to do next. Either we’re keeping Robin to the last year of his contract giving him the choice of sulking in the reserves or shutting his mouth and getting on with his stated goal of trying to win trophies or we’re selling him this week to the very highest bidder.
If it’s the latter we need to follow it up with some decisive moves in the transfer market. We probably won’t find a striker of Van Persie’s quality but we can definitely find a defensive midfielder and an attacking midfielder who can improve our first XI. We responded to the loss of Cesc and Nasri last season by finishing higher in the league than we did when they were here. And that was as a result of the great final day transfer scramble.
Imagine what we could achieve if we had time to react to the inevitable annual sale of our best player.
If You Liked This...
Comments
30 Responses to “Arsenal made to look stupid again. Time to respond.”
Leave a Reply
What bothers me most is that he seemed to be the captain we have missed for some time and then he pulls something like this, atleast he could have handled this abit better if he truly cared about Arsenal.
Anyhow maybe this will be good in the end, Podolski and Giroud ain’t exactly bad replacements.
I generally agree with your tone – RVP’s motivations will cause all sorts of discussion and upset, including to myself but it’s basically irrelevant at this point, what I want the club to focus on 100% now is doing what’s best for the club and it’s future. If the offers remain low like the supposed £8 million bid from Juventus then he’s probably worth keeping for his final year as I’m confident if he stays he’ll play his best, anything nearer the £30 million mark should be accepted and then that money should instantly be reinvested in new, quality players.
You simply can’t afford to be sentimental with modern footballers, we’ve had Wilshere and Vermaelenm pledge their playing careers to Arsenal which is nice and romantic but I’m not under the illusion that their heads are un-turnable. RVP cares about personal glory more than Arsenal, that makes him no different to 99% of the footballers in the league – if he wanted to leave and he truly cared about Arsenal he could sign a 1 or 2 year extension purely with the intent of making sure he holds his value in the transfer market – he could at least help us get as much money for him as possible but with this move he ensures we can be lowballed and forced into a corner.
My policy would be to max his price, reinvest and move on, but none of this half hearted reinvestment that has left us slightly too thin on the ground to ever put a decent challenge in on the big trophies but investment that has us well covered in all areas with a strong squad able to rotate and cover injuries.
Get Kroneke out he is the problem money talks bulls**t walks and the sooner we get rid of Kronke the sooner we can compete. It is as simple as that as long as we continue to think very arrogantly in my opinon that we can compete by not giving the wages players will get else were this will happen every season. Get Usmanov in and suddenly without getting in massive debt we can compete for the very best players. This will happen again and agon and again until one of our board members or other influential figures grows a pair and starts of process of forcing this guy out. Until then I will not expecting anything from the club other than the usual sustanable rubbish. I can’t see how selling your best player every season is sustanable. Dropping down the league is inetivable now without a massive purchase. Where would we have been last season without RVP? Not in the CL thats for sure. We need a massive purchase right now to show that we still have what it takes. I mean massive neymar goetze, one of the big boys. I am so angry right now I better go to the gym, seething abousoutly seething.
Keep him and let him play in games against thugs like Stoke. This guy surfs the net and knows the fans’ sentiments. He is just using the fans’ disgrunt against Arsenal. Sad for him, we are gunners no matter a trophy or not! He knows not the meaning of being a gunner and dare to say that he will remain a gunner no matter what happens. Yup, he has already made up his mind to leave then. Stop the excuse about the direction Arsenal is heading.
‘He’ll know that this makes his position at the club almost untenable. But he’ll also know that this severely weakens the club’s hand when it comes to negotiating a fee for him.’
If the fee isn’t considered appropriate, then stick him in the reserves. It appears he is agitiating for a move, which Arsenal can deny him. This time next summer it is very likely there will not be any suitors unless he persuades Arsene to let him back in the team and performs like last season.
The club is bigger than a single player, so let him rot, out of sight to the vast majority of fans.
Very disappointed in him, i must say. Well, whoever knows him should send him this message..HE SHOULDN’T COME TO NIGERIA!!!!!We are a very unforgiving bunch..Thought he was a different, but he’s definitely d worst of them all.Wenger must have cried himself to sleep last night.An absolute let down…
king henry left arsenal what is rvp
with the two signing we already did, yet we are not getting any better than before. are they both suitable for the big big hole left(on pitch & heart) of gooners. i’m afraid we need to start from zero again..
SCAVALDIO:: I agree with everything you’ve said, we need more true Arsenal fans like you to urge this rabble in charge to do the right thing for our beloved club at this moment in time with 2 names
USMANOV! that’s one name! DEIN that’s another!
To hell with RVP ! After all arsenal have done for him.ungrateful soul
pliz van if u r going go now so that Theo can folow u da way Nasri folowd Cesc the early the beter 4the good of the Club so that we can prepair 4next season enough is enough.
Dissapointed with RVP, look at how we were criticised when he was injured and struggld to score goals. We always stood by him when he was injured, he gives us one full season and then says he wants to leave. I understand why as we lack ambition gazidis and kroenke are idiots who think every player has a price whereas wenger’s way is sell once he has about to lose his peak.
The biggest person i feel for is wenger, how long is this man gonna suffer to watch his talents leave elsewhere, wenger created RVP.
I honestly think thereshould be a protest against the board on the lines of supporting arsene wenger.
Will Arsene now offer Walcott the central striking role he craves? Cya Robin – sorry we didn’t have enough money to keep you. Gooner4life (shame you couldn’t be) – thanks for the great goals though!
Good post, horrid scenario.
The whole nursing him through years of injury thing gets me the most. Does he not recognise that? At any other club he would have been ruthlessly sold on. Wenger has put blind faith into a few players and they repay him this way, and you have to put some of the blame on the manager/management team. We shouldn’t try to treat these mercenaries well, they will always throw it back at us.
Would,’t surprise me if Diaby came back and had an absolute blinder, only to do exactly the same. Maybe thats what it will take for Wenger to realise that this isn’t working!
If we could pay off all our debts in a handfull of top player sales it would be worth it, but we can’t, so are we going to carry on like this for another 7-8 years?
This is a problem of Arsenal’s on creation. How many top assets do they need to go down to the wire on their contracts before they try to renew. Patrick Viera and Thierry Henry used to complain that Arsenal was not ambitious enough. Why should RVP not be any different. Clearly Gazidis does not inspire the players to think that Arsenal is moving in the right direction.
We know is type,he’s an ungrateful guy since when we av having patient with him going tru all those injury years well it will teach us a lesson to do away with all those long time injured players(Diaby)bcos if they recover from injury they will bite the finger that fed them.life goes on
once again it all happens at the last minute, with kick off weeks away I felt we were still one or two players short without this carry on. No doubt AW will sign someone on the 23rd hour and we will have a squad that takes until Christmas to start gelling. One day we will look back on the last 6 years and laugh !
Oz gooner, I hope it is just the last 6 years mate…
I agree with most of the sentiments stated but mainly I am extremely disappointed with the way that this has been handled by the club – we look like amateurs and very unprofessional. How do Rvp’s sentiments about the clubs ambitions look like to any big name player that we may be trying to attract. Wenger and Kroenke knew this was coming, they had heard it from him in May. Walcott will be next, mark my words. RVP is 28/29, can’t blame him for wanting to win something and it seems to me that the signings that we have made are our only big signings this summer and RVP knows it! We have only a few semi-superstar players left, the Verminator etc. and we are going backwards – fourth place is going to be a tough ask this season as in all honesty we totally winged third place this season due to the spuds meltdown and Chelski being below par – both will be much stronger this season.
Ok, RVP is one we will not rely on unless of course it a way to state that ‘what you have done in the market so far is not good enough, bring in more enforcements’ Obviously with Giruod, RVP and Podolski on the side we were beginning to look menacing. Maybe there are new lessons he see that he is not telling. This maybe it. 1) Ramsey is being given too much glove handling and should be shipped or loaned out. Rosicky and OX are an ice berg of indicators of what great players can bring to the club. So maybe he is convinced another player that needs to be shipped out is Walcott. RVP and Gervinho have not really jelled into a formidable force and therefore he probably feels that Gervinho is yet o prove himself. This means we get rid of Chamakh, Arshavin, Walcott Ramsey and of course the usual suspects Denilson, Park etc…We sign proven 3 new proven Midfilders. one must be an attacking Midfileder and another a winger but one can be a utility players who can play a range of roles in the midfield. Let me hope that Wenger still plans to slot someone where he has left a hole. I was of the view that we look at trying a new system. 3.6.1. six mid-fielders to totally subdue teams. RVP was going to play an attacking role behind the striker in my squad. Now that he want to leave…Maybe Podolski can slot into that role and we get someone to play in the left wing who is consistent. Antoine Griezmann would be my man. sell Walcott too.
Team
——————–Giruod
Griezmann, Podolski, Wilshere, Gervinho
———-Song
————-Arteta/MVila
Kosienly Vermaleen, Sagna
———-Szenchny
This will be total domination in the middle of the park. It gives Chamakh/Park (whom ever remain in the club a chance to have some game time in their strongest department.it can give our young players (Miyachi, Ox, upfront room to grow into the roles. But if i had my way, Keep RVP for till January to test drive our new system and cash in on 10-12m at that time if things do not work out. imagine the side would be
——-Giruod
Gervinho,RVP Wilshere,Podolski
———-Song
—————-Arteta/MVila
Sagna/Conqelin, Vermaleen, Konsienly
———–Schezny
Wilshere and Rosicky are a doubt to start at the Midfieldinthebeginningoftheseason. Maybe we should get someone to slot in there right away. Could an expensive acquisition like Ganso do?
Why is this always happening at Arsenal? We haven’t had a captain that wanted to play for us since Tony Adams. How do Spurs hold onto Bale without CL football yet our captain wants out for the second year running?
I think the way RVP has handled this is atrocious and I genuinely thought better of him than this – the author highlighted all the reasons why.
I think we offered him the best we could financially, 130k plus a huge signing on fee?
We’ve also brought in 2 attacking players which was obvious that we needed. Very disappointing indeed!
I have to say I’m appalled.
Our best player hands-on releases a statement in which he claims his unwillingness to extend the contract that ties him to Arsenal until June 30, 2013.
There’s nothing there about going to City; in fact, there is a fragment about resuming talks with the club.
In other words: rather than “I want out,” what I read in RVP’s statement is: “You’re rubbish; prove me wrong.”
What I’m saying is, while I can easily see RVP leave, now that he has made his dissatisfaction public, I can just as easily see him stay put. Which scenario is worse? It’s really hard to say. It would be best to have the situation resolved before pre-season games, but we do have Podolski and Giroud, which means RVP’s departure, even on August 31st, will not hurt the team so much. Then, there is the outside possibility that Arsenal will offer RVP such a significant raise (150K?) that he will actually rethink his position. Then, there is another outside possibility, that we do get a classy midfielder and/or an outstanding DM, and RVP will then be totally robbed of his “no ambition” rhetoric.
Either way, to all those saying “not again!” – sorry, but this time you’re totally wrong. When did Cesc and Nasri leave? wasn’t it just before the season? What do we have now? It’s only the 5th day of the summer transfer window! We have easily a month to get all the players we need; our first league game is in mid-August, and if we get all the people we need by early August, we should look good. And we really don’t need so many (2 would suffice).
Anyway, I also think we should keep RVP, by force, if necessary, until a good offer comes in. No less than 25m, even if he begs to be released.
Hmmm. For a player that really embodied the spirit of last season’s fight (struggle) and who was by all accounts a great captain and an indispensable presence in the dressing room, who grew up waxing lyrical about Arsenal (via Feyenoord) he must have felt driven into a corner to force the club’s hand like this.
There is a good piece from Arse2mouse which talks about the mercenary nature of top footballers and in this respect VP is acting like a top professional and looking to define his career/maximise his reward. But the passion for the club was there, once. I’m really glad you picked up on the IG holiday dig and he and Wenger need to sort out some real man-management / business strategy. Why are contracts inflated for the deadwood? Why are important players given power over the club by entering talks with 1yr (or less!) to go!?
Where this leaves Theo and Song, I have no idea. Both seem to have inflated impressions of their ability (the Arsenal false economy of overpaying and praising young under-performers) and by all accounts feel they are above the club. Last year the Guardian had an interesting piece about Theo’s marketing value in Asia, the star of the tour. They won’t want to travel without him this preseason, but in footballing terms he’s been endured more than he’s driven on.
I really believe that we should sell, but could Wenger’s pride take this big a hit? Will he stubbornly force him to play out the final year? Was RVP’s final straw seeing Wenger’s press release about holding him ‘At all costs’? His remarks worryingly suggest that stagnation for the top players at the club is a trend that will remain. I’m also not convinced all, or any, of a transfer sum would be re-invested. Wenger hates widespread squad turnover, even when it is so obviously required. He hates other clubs knowing his weakened hand (money in from transfer + desire for replacement). He also hates the idea of a player coming in to emulate the role of a previous player. I would’ve loved a Goetze last season, but…
I was advocating rebuilding around a new, fresh young team. Young as in tested young (Benzema’s of the world), not untried teens. But I really do feel adrift. This disconnection with the club, its players and its project is something I haven’t felt before to this extent, I don’t think. Lack of continuity can be tough.
For me and for Wenger the replacement for Van Persie is Giroud. Ok so he never scored 37 goals last season, but until last season neither had van persie. Assuming we get £20m for RVP then Wenger has once again he has made a profit that can be used elsewhere, having spent £12m on Giroud.
Then there is Podolski, well again for me and probably for Wenger, he could be the replacement for Walcott, if he decides to go, with Chamberlain or Gervinho, switching to the right and Podolski playing on the left. Is Podolski better than Walcott? well 101 caps and 44 goals for Germany would suggest he is a decent replacement and he will probably again come at half the price, meaning again we can use that money elsewhere.
last season our forward options were
Right Forward – Walcott, Chamberlain,
Centre Forward – Van Persie, Chamakh, Park,
Left Forward – Gervinho, Arshavin, Benayoun
this season they will probably be
Right Forward – Gervinho, Chamberlain,
Centre Forward – Giroud, Chamakh, Park,
Left Forward – Podolski, Arshavin, Ryo
I would obviously have preferred RVP and Theo to have stayed but the replacements are top quality and we could still have a decent sum to spend on improving the team where we really need it. Scoring and creating goals was not our problem last season and i am certain it wont be this season. Our problem was conceeding goals, now we have to spend on the area where it is most needed.
I totally agree with your write up and the least we can do now is to immediatelt sort for a quality striker and i promise you and every other Arsenal fan that we will definitly do better than what we did last season. example Lewandoski or Falcao for instance this is if we really want to start winning trophies and also to keep other players we have else by the end of the season another player will also dump us at the last minute.
Its was coming wasnt it.
We only really had him for last season and his quality showed. Im not so sure he will remain fit and it will take him time to bed in with another team as arsenal went through him everytime they attacked.
I can understand ‘moving’ for a trophy as arsenal are only interested in a cl spot and that is it. They tick over and the profits are shared. No more money goes into the club and they lack ambition.
They have failed since flamini to sort players contracts out in time and there is a repeat cycle of just keeping their head above water when it comes to the cl. We were lucky last year.
On the positive side vermalen will be a far better captain and its best to lead from the back. We have giroud who we are led to believe has an instinct for goal. If he gets the service like rvp did we should be fine. Its important to make sure players who give the service do not leave.
I totally agree with your write up and the least we can do now is to immediatelt sort for a quality striker and a creative midfielder and i promise you and every other Arsenal fan that we will definitly do better than what we did last season. example Lewandoski or Falcao for instance this is if we really want start winning trophies and also to keep other players we have else by the end of the season another player will also dump us at the last minute
From a diff point of view of mine, i think these problem of our star players leaving every season is due to lack of hard discipline & ruthlessness on d side of d manager himself(wenger) wc manager on earth wld pay a player who plays less than average games in a season due to injury never! Dis VANPLASTIC saga has given more indication dt if crocked players like diaby ramsey gibbs denilson etc can put up a spectacular & scintillatin performance they wld come back to indirectly say dt arsenal made a mistake 2 av given them d chance to improve & build up in2 worldclass players by tellin us we lack ambition & dt they want to go….i think im somhw right wit this opinion. But some pple keep on blamin d board & wenger wel i agree to dt 2 som extent bcos the also av their own shares of d blame too bcos if i were to be a manager hw on earth wld i keep a player for up to 4 seasons with frequent injury plight & low input&rate then i must be very foolish to keep such a player in d name of givin him a chance every year why didnt barca give fabregas dt chance wen he was in his teen ages but wen he had become a world class he cld easily remember he has a home dt didnt see any potential in him then?I think u knw d ans already.my dear faithful fans, no player in any way has d right to dictate d running of d club whether in d right direction or not cos player of any class is bigger than a club like a legendary arsenal if a goal machine like Ruud vanisterooy who even had a more goal scoring record on average than VANPLASTIC was not bigger than MAN UTD if AC MILAN survived without a former world best in kaka & dt MAN UTD still won d league title without d great ronaldo then who d h*ll is dis “PLASTIC“ who can even break if hitted by strong steel of stoke city & d likes. I neva expected such statement from him @ all cos he was part of those players we arsenal fans somtimes ago expected to have been shipped out d truth is some players arejust underacheivers i cld remember how many times Robben missed d CL glory wit diff clubs.
I wonder how many people Usmanov has hired to trawl blogs and websites adding pro-Usmanov comments? The one thing we must do at all costs is keep this guy out of Arsenal.
To save our beloved club so we can keep up with the big spenders and, we’re no longer a laughing stock, we need to open the door and welcome Usmanov in with open arms.
Oh! and to have David Dein alongside him would be the icing on the cake…