Hello there, a bit to get through this morning so we’ll just crack on. Arsene Wenger has had texts from the players who were away on international duty and according to them they’re all ok. I did enjoy this line from the manager:
We are still waiting for Campbell, Alexis and Ospina to return, but they all texted back to say they are OK, so we just have to see if they were objective in their assessment.
I suspect that last bit might have been in reference to Alexis, who was pictured after the game with his entire groin and thigh slathered in Deep Heat. We know he had a problem going over there, the Chile coach admitted playing him while he was hurt, it’s really just a question of whether or not he’s made it any worse. Fingers crossed that’s not the case.
Laurent Koscielny faces a fitness test for the weekend after his hamstring injury, and other than that we appear to be in good shape. I say that with the caveat that until players get back we can’t really know, and from time to time there’s an unhappy surprise so fingers crossed we don’t have that.
On the whole though, it’s been a good Interlull for our attacking players who have gone off, scored goals and will come back full of vim and vigour and ready to score more. Their international efforts have been offset by the fact that most of our defensive players didn’t do anything at all, so they should be in good in shape and not at all fatigued. This might well be an important thing for the game on Saturday, as I’m not sure Watford have had as many players away as we have.
Meanwhile, ahead of next Tuesday’s Champions League game, a group of Bayern Munich fans say they’ll make a protest against the price of football tickets by entering the stadium 5 minutes late. In a statement yesterday, FC Bayern Worldwide said:
This kind of a price structure makes a stadium visit impossible for younger and socially disadvantaged fans. It destroys fan culture, which is the basis of football. In England, this development has already taken place.
The first five minutes of the game in London will be, what future football will look like if this madness continues. Empty seats in the stands and no singing or emotion in the stands.
I think any efforts to make a point about ticket prices should be welcomed by football fans, but I remain unconvinced that doing anything other than not buying the tickets will make the slightest bit of difference. That really is the only way to make a significant protest about how much football costs these days.
It also strikes me that protesting at Arsenal, at a superb stadium in London with great views for everyone, isn’t really the right place for it. It’s high profile, of course, but it doesn’t truly represent the rip-off culture that is a genuine problem, nor is it a new thing. I remember going to Villarreal in 2009 and paying practically as much for a match ticket as the Bayern fans will for the game against us, and we were behind a chicken-wire curtain with a huge bar in our way which covered an important chunk of the pitch.
From my blog back in 2009: As such I sort of saw Senna as he scored his goal and when Adebayor scored in the second half I just about made out his foot as it came over the top of the bar. I only knew it was a goal when someone jumped on me and started vigorously frotting my face.
The thing is, the people that run football know that the only real way any point can be made about ticket prices is if fans refuse to pay and refuse to go to matches. But fans want to go and watch to see their team, it’s a captive audience. Some people have been, and will be, forced out but the consequence of that is simply that others take their place.
The demand is still there, home and away, regardless of prices – and these days a match ticket, overpriced as it might be for a restricted view at various Premier League grounds, isn’t often the most expensive part of the day. Travel, food, drink, merchandise, all things that fans will spend their money on, can tot up to more than the ticket itself.
There’s certainly a discussion to be had, and it’s hugely important that clubs recognise the need to make the game affordable – especially to the younger generations who will provide their lifeblood as the older fans drift away – but I struggle to see how fans of one of Europe’s richest clubs buying tickets and turning up a bit late does anything significant in that regard.
Bayern, of course, have subsidised tickets to Arsenal before. Back in 2014 they sold £62 tickets for £37, a fantastic gesture for their fans, but it was as much a PR move as anything else. And this ‘protest’, such as it is, only causes a problem for stadium security staff, nobody else. The money is in the coffers, as it will be for the next game and the next game and the next game …
Meanwhile, the Arsenal AGM takes place today. Expect questions about our finances, the money we have in the bank that wasn’t turned into players on the pitch, and hopefully a good grilling regarding another £3m payment to KSE for ‘strategic and advisory services’.
“I strategically advise you to pay me £3m!”
“You’re on. Let’s go spend it on matching Prince Alberts!”
Last year’s explanation was: “This fee was proposed by myself and Lord Harris (of Peckham) for the wide range of services provided to Arsenal Football Club by Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.“
Hopefully somebody will posit that a) that’s not an explanation, b) we still don’t really know what those services are and c) they’d want to be pretty exceptional to be worth £3m every year and there’s been no obvious evidence of them doing anything of that value.
I remain firmly unconvinced that we’ll find out today though as Kroenke doesn’t give a fish’s tit what anyone thinks and as the majority shareholder he can fudge his answers because what can anyone do about it anyway.
Arsene Wenger will give another great speech and that will calm things down a bit until KSE decide to put ticket prices up by 4% for next season or something. Anyway, we’ll have a full report over on Arseblog News later. Tim Stillman will be there, and you can read all about it later on.
Right, that’s that, I’m back tomorrow with more bloggy goodness and an Arsecast.
