Morning all.
There’s a bit of stuff to get through this morning from majority shareholder Stan Kroenke who spoke to John Cross and Jeremy Wilson, shaking off the ubiquitous ‘silent’ tag. Those of a cynical bent will suggest that the timing of such an interview, just a couple of weeks before the AGM and on the back of a very good run which sees us top of the league, is no coincidence.
And that would be because it’s not a coincidence, but after so long suggesting that hearing from Kroenke would be a good, perhaps necessary, thing, you can’t really complain when he does finally decide to speak. He’s effusive about Arsene Wenger (no surprise), says he’s at Arsenal for the long-haul (no surprise), thinks winning the Premier League would be ‘the coolest’, and there’s some kinda PR stuff about what the club means to him.
With regard to the manager, he makes it pretty clear he’d like him to stay on, saying:
Arsène knows how we feel, what our philosophy is, what we want to do and I feel like we are totally aligned. I think he wants to do it the exact same way as we do.
Ivan Gazidis spoke about a new contract for the boss during the summer. It was played down then. In the wake of this interview, it’s inevitable that it will be addressed at today’s press conference. I expect Arsene to do exactly the same again. Whether it’s because he feels it’s politic to do so, still wanting to wait until such time as he feels he’s earned a new deal, or because he’s already made up his mind about next summer, I don’t know, but it’s certainly obvious Kroenke wants him to stay.
He touched on the signing of Mesut Ozil and denied that it was made simply because the club had to spend money or were under pressure to use the vast resources available:
We weren’t there to make a statement. It’s absolutely not done for that. It was done purely because our manager views him as worth that money, sees him as a player to help us compete, and that meant we were happy to pay it. There’s an awareness financially within clubs of spending in the US and Europe or whatever which you have to have. But we’ve always said that there are resources available to Arsene. We have always been, and will continue to be, very supportive.
Which all sounds fine. There’s not much in the way of insight and it doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. The club have always said, even pre-Kroenke, that the manager would be supported with whatever funds he wanted (within the resources available to us). The American has maintained that status quo, the difference now is that with new commercial deals and a somewhat changed financial landscape, the money at Wenger’s disposal is now at a different level than before.
But look, the best thing you can do is read the stuff yourself. There are three parts in the Mirror one – two – three and there’s the piece in the Telegraph. It’s not that interesting that it needs to be dissected bit by bit on this blog. It’s good that he’s clarified his position in a few areas, I think it’s generally important that in any organisation there’s a clear message coming down from the top, and there’s something approaching that now with Kroenke.
Again, you can be cynical about it, that’s the world we live in. I’m cynical about most things but find myself more and more not giving a shit about stuff which is supposed to make me cross. Life’s too short. I’m sure this would all feel a bit more important if we were struggling and not top of the league with a feelgood factor surrounding the team that hasn’t been present for quite some time, but we’re doing well right now.
In an ideal world we’d have a club owned by fans, with no one shareholder with the power that Kroenke has, but that’s not the case. It’s not the case at most football clubs and sadly I think it’s not something we’re likely to ever see again in English football. There’s just too much money involved and things have changed too much.
While I’m certainly not a fan of the owner (it sounds an odd thing to be in any situation, right?), there’s a very strong case to be made that Arsenal are a well run club, now capable of competing in the transfer market for Europe’s best players and doing that without the need for Sugar Daddy style investment. We are, at last, using what we have and in a position to improve our situation, on and off the pitch. When you look at the way some owners have run their clubs, it could be a lot worse.
Meanwhile, there’s some early team news ahead of the trip to Swansea tomorrow. While everyone available for the Stoke game should be back having been rested in midweek, there’s no return for Tomas Rosicky or Santi Cazorla. The former is a possible for the Napoli game in midweek while the latter reckons he could make it for the West Brom game. Fingers crossed. We’ll get further updates in a little while when Arsene holds his press conference, assuming he’s asked about more than a new contract.
Press conference updates and other news throughout the day over on Arseblog News.
Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined by Tim Stillman to discuss the wins over West Brom and Stoke, as well as some of the youngsters and the style of play that we’ve seen in the last week. In the wake of his triumphant return to the team there’s something from Mick Bendtner, and there’s all the usual waffle as we catch up after a two week Arsecast break.
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Right, that’s that for this misty Friday. Till tomorrow.
