Good Luck Robin, Thanks For The Memories

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Now the dust has settled on van Persie’s move to United, it’s much easier to see the contribution that he made to the club.

He was here 8 years, and that is not something to take lightly. When you consider how long a players career actually is, 8 seasons is a massive chunk of that. And every time RVP wore the shirt he gave 110%. He didn’t sulk or stroll around the pitch like did Adebayor for example.

For me, RVP is in the same category as Cesc or Clichy. They’re not quite the legendary status of Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp or Thierry Henry, but up there with some of the best players we’ve ever had like Bobby, Freddie and Ashley Cole.

I’ve never really understood the fan’s obsession about how players behaved behind the scenes. We live in a world with 24 hour news updates and every little detail is reviewed over and over again. How do we know how Maradona or Pele were behind closed doors? They could have been complete arseholes for all we know, it doesn’t take away the fact they were some of the greatest footballers we’ve ever seen.

And that’s my point. I prefer to objectively see what a player does on the pitch, and Robin was a model professional and gave everything for the club while he was here.

Footballer’s come and go all the time. The reason why so many Arsenal fans are hurting is because players are leaving at their peak, and the replacements we bring in aren’t up to the same standard. We’ve lost Clichy, Nasri, Song, Cesc and RVP in the last year and they will go on and win trophies at their new clubs. You can say whatever you like about those players, they are top quality and will be successful in the seasons to come.

If RVP committed himself to the club this summer, the opinion of him with Arsenal fans would have been completely different. But I haven’t changed mine just because he’s gone. He was one of my favourite players because he cared and he was a winner. You could see it every time he scored a goal, you could see it every time he went in for a tackle and in the interviews he gave. He completely immersed himself into Arsenal, and I’d always smile when he talked in his Dutch/Cockney accent.

He scored some simply phenomenal goals over the previous 8 seasons against some of the world’s biggest clubs. He scored some truly memorable goals against Chelsea, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham in his time here and apart from that, he would defend the team, getting into countless scuffles with opposing teams players. There’s no doubting his commitment when he was here.

Who knows what happened off the pitch? We don’t know everything and for all we know he is not the villain in all of this. But coming back to my point, to me that’s irrelevant. Whatever the circumstances of him moving on, we should judge how he performed when he wore the red and white of Arsenal.

And in the previous 8 seasons, it was exemplary.

When he was unveiled at Manchester United, with Alex Ferguson sitting next to him, van Persie stated:

“I would like to start with thanking Arsenal Football Club and Mr Wenger for the last 8 years, because the last 8 years have been part of my history, my life.

“They have always been good to me, so I would like to thank Mr Wenger, the players [and] the fans for all their help, the technical stuff involved with Arsenal because as I said they have always been great to me and I look back on a positive note to the last 8 years.”

After watching the actual press conference, you could see that Robin was completely sincere in everything he said about Arsenal and this was made even more so by the fact Fergie looked uncomfortable at van Persie’s praise for his long-time arch rival.

Did he have to say that? Of course he didn’t. With his stock with Arsenal fans you might argue the speech was pointless? But maybe he does actually care about the club he spent the last 8 years of his life with.

You see all kinds of quotes being banded around which are twisted and used by the newspapers to create an issue when there isn’t. His official statement on his website was dissected at great length but why can’t any of it be true?

Is it completely inconceivable that RVP loves Arsenal? And is it inconceivable that he’s tried to win things with Arsenal but feels like there isn’t enough quality around him to make that happen? What is he expected to think when Adebayor, Nasri, Clichy, Cesc and others go off to pastures new and win things?

Loyalty is important but how about the clubs loyalty to their players? Isn’t there a responsibility for the club and the manager to equip the team with the right players to at least compete?

It is an unwritten fact that 4th spot is good enough for Arsenal. And for the last 7 seasons at least, most Arsenal fans haven’t been happy with the transfer activity during those summers and the loss of our big name players. Some fans will argue “good riddance” as none of these players were good enough to win anything when they were here.

But isn’t this because the squad and team wasn’t good enough? You can’t pinpoint people like Cesc, RVP and Adebayor as not being good enough. We all know the weaknesses in the team but they have never been addressed over the last 7 years. We’ve been close to having a good enough team but for whatever reason – financial constraints or the managers stubbornness to admit the teams failings – we’ve just been that bit short. For a few seasons, we genuinely competed, highlighted with the season Eduardo and Adebayor were electric form until Taylor de-railed our season.

Since then though we’ve been also-rans. It’s the same old story – we are just about good enough to clinch 4th spot, occasionally 3rd.

So having winners like Robin van Persie who want more is hardly the heinous of crimes.

For the last few summers, the main topic of conversation between Gooners was how Arsene wasn’t doing enough or signing the right players to allow Arsenal to compete. Need I remind you of the signings of Squillaci, Gervinho, Chamakh, Park, Bischoff and Silvestre? Suddenly, the question isn’t why aren’t Arsenal doing enough to compete or addressing the key weaknesses, but the focus has turned to these villainous mercenaries such as Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie who are “disrespecting” Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.

Maybe we shouldn’t forget the real problems at Arsenal. You ask why do we always allow our best players to run their contacts down till their last year? It’s because we’re a selling club and it’s the easiest way to sell our top players at top prices, without the outrage from the fans. Arsenal can hide behind this “he wanted to leave” rubbish while pocketing the money time and time again.

A clever system that fools almost everyone.

My Opinion On Arsene, Van Persie and Song

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I’ve been away for a few weeks, busy getting married and enjoying my honeymoon, so while I am in mood which could be described as Jamie Redknapp would put it, “literally over the moon”, I’ve also had ample time to digest and take in the events over the last few weeks, from a distance anyway.

Firstly our captain, Robin van Persie.

Looking at supporter opinion, it’s clear the vast majority of people hate Robin, call him a traitor (among other things) and someone that had one good season and has thrown Arsene’s loyalty to him in his face.

Personally speaking, Robin van Persie was a player I loved, I’m not ashamed to admit it. He was dedicated to the cause, gave 110% every time he wore the Arsenal shirt and I loved him because unlike others at the Colney Creche, he cared. He showed it every time he scored. I’ve said one of our biggest problems was not having players that were winners, that cared enough. We’ve only had a handful of winners over the last few years; Cesc, Vermaelen, Nasri and Van Persie. Every time they scored a goal, they went mental. You can tell how a player is when they reacted to scoring an important goal and those players f*cking loved it. But season after season, we ended up trophy-less.

The problem is Arsene heavily relies on loyalty but that’s not enough. Players want to win things and while people will argue van Persie only moved for the money, who else in their right mind would turn down 2 or 3 times their annual wage? And surely Arsenal would be able to pay the top wages if they didn’t reward mediocre players (like Bendtner, Vela, Diaby and the other dead wood) with ridiculous contracts. These players have won f*ck all but get paid stupid money. The gap in wages that top players like Cesc and van Persie were on compared to other squad members like Bendtner was too small.

I don’t blame RVP one bit for moving. Like it or not, Manchester United prove they can compete for the title year after year, and have done for the last 20-odd years. Who wouldn’t want to move there? Clichy and Nasri moved last season and what happened? They won the Premier League. Cesc left and won trophies as well. We lose our best talent season after season, because for some ridiculous reason we let our top players run down their contracts.

Arsene Wenger is not stupid. He obviously wants to sell these players and keep earning a profit every summer. He spouts things like “We want to keep our best players” and then does the exact opposite. He points to players “wanting to leave” but never addresses why this is the case. It’s because we never compete and 4th place will do for us. Top professionals and winners don’t want this. Cesc even took a pay cut to leave Arsenal so he didn’t leave for the money. The fans are fed up with the lack of trophies so why wouldn’t the players?

Van Persie engineered a move because he’d had enough. But does anyone ask why players want to leave? I tell you one thing, if Arsenal were winning trophies and being competitive then there wouldn’t be a question about whether they wanted to leave or not. And now Alex Song is doing the same.

Loyalty is a two way street. Van Persie has been at Arsenal for 8 seasons and only won the FA Cup. He’s 29 and doesn’t see Arsenal winning anything anytime soon. So why shouldn’t he move? If he had assurances we’d compete then he would have stayed, but selling Song isn’t exactly doing that. He’s seen Clichy, Cesc and Nasri all have success elsewhere and wants some of the glory.

Song leaving is also very disappointing. Along with Arteta and van Persie he was one of our best performers last season. You can dismiss his contribution just because he’s forced a move away – he was an important player for us. He made mistakes but created so many chances for vital goals last year and was improving all the time.

We are now selling players at their peak and the anger is always aimed at the players and not the club, which is something I find strange. Why is no-one addressing the reason why they want to leave? You can’t just label all of them mercenaries and gold diggers can you?

We’ve lost van Persie and Song, and brought in Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud. They are decent acquisitions but we can’t keep bringing in new talent then losing others. It’s a vicious circle and we need to build year on year, instead of being at the same level every season. I have no doubt we will do well in patches this season and a Top 4 finish is probably realistic.

But Arsenal’s fans and players want that bit more.

So Who Is To Blame For All This Mess?

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If we weren’t upset enough at the statement Robin van Persie left on Wednesday, Alisher Usmanov also released an open letter to Arsenal, criticising them for the way they run the club.

So who is to blame for all this?

And what are the problems?

The main problem for Arsenal fans is the lack of silverware, the idea that 4th spot in the Premier League is more important than a trophy and the fact that our best players don’t believe in the club anymore and leave year after year.

And those are the key themes from both of those statements.

Listening to Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily Podcast, it is reported that Robin van Persie had a meeting with Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis on May 16th, just after the season ended. They discussed plans for the future and apparently, Van Persie was shocked and clearly taken aback when Arsene revealed that he believed that in the season just gone (where Arsenal finished 3rd and 19 points off both Manchester clubs) that current Arsenal squad was good enough to challenge for the title. It is reported that there was even arguments about where the club was going, the currently playing squad and transfer targets.

So if that is true, then Robin van Persie was long gone before the Euros even began.

But who’s fault that we’re in this mess?

Is it Robin van Persie’s fault for having some ambition and wanting to win things? While he was not right in what he did regarding the statement, that does not mean the contents are any less true.

Or is it the Arsenal boards fault?

Arsene Wenger has done wonders at the club and I saw a clip on Sky Sports News yesterday where it showed that Arsenal were 19th in the spending charts, with a total of -£21 million spent over the last 5 seasons. There is no doubt Arsene is a genius and has done so much for the club, but imagine what he could do if his hands weren’t tied? I think MAnchester City and Chelsea were top of the spending charts, spending around £380 million (I can’t remember the exact figure, but it’s a lot!), just to think if Arsene had even a fraction of that to spend then what could he do with Arsenal.

The fact is this has been bubbling under the surface for the last 5/6 years now. Arsenal fans have been disgruntled at why we haven’t been realistically challenging for honours and with statements from our captain and talisman, and now a major shareholder, it is just now all out in the open.

Where do Arsenal go from here? Resentment towards the club and departing players has never been so high and I wonder if Arsenal can turn this around and make this team we love so much into a successful one.

Do You Agree With Alisher Usmanov?

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Here is his letter to the Arsenal board:

RED AND WHITE SECURITIES LIMITED

To: The Board of Directors of Arsenal Holdings Plc: Peter Hill-Wood, Ivan Gazidis, Ken Friar, Sir Chips Keswick, Lord Harris of Peckham, Stanley Kroenke

With copy to: David Miles, Mark Gonnella

5th July 2012

Re: Open Letter to the Board of Directors of Arsenal Holdings Plc (the “Club”)

Dear Sirs,

In recent weeks a couple of separate actions have occurred, which have caused us, as a near 30% shareholder in the Club, to have serious concerns about the approach of the Board and the management team:

• Firstly, there were some very deliberate and public comments by Ivan Gazidis which were intended to leave the Club’s supporters with an impression that Red & White is in some bitter stand-off with the Board over its desire for a Board seat and that our involvement on the Club’s Board might cause conflict and “destabilize” the Club; and

• Secondly, OJSC MegaFon (Russia) received a cold call letter from Mr Gazidis requesting a meeting to discuss a possible international partnership deal including shirt sponsorship. MegaFon is one of the three largest mobile phone companies in Russia and also happens to be over 50% owned by Alisher Usmanov. Is this really the level of professionalism that is being applied to securing long-term commercial contracts?

Let us not forget that we have invested circa £200 million of cash in the equity of the Club. We are part of this Club and naturally want the best for it, but our investment is less important than the fact that we are loyal supporters and will never do anything that would destabilize or “create conflict” at the Club.

We do however believe that you, the Board, and the executive management team should focus your energies on the most efficient operation of the Club and desist from seeking to create a false enemy in Red & White. In our view it is clear that you are trying to distract attention from the more fundamental issues facing the Club, and which indeed many of the supporters discuss through social media sites and other forums on a regular basis. These are the financial model, the lack of investment and the Club’s future strategic direction.

However, before addressing these points, it is important to deal with the issues surrounding a Board seat for Red & White once and for all. As you all know well, Mr Usmanov has never sought for himself a Board seat at the Club. Indeed Mr Usmanov does not hold any board seat in any of the companies where he is an investor. Since the purchase of our first share in the Club, we have not only steadfastly adhered to a policy of non-interference in the running of the Club, but have consistently supported the management and given no reason whatsoever to be accused of subversion or sabotage. The history of our voting in support of the Board at the annual general meetings is proof of this.

Indeed, in any conversation about conflict, it is clear from a look at the history of the Club in recent years that the Board has achieved conflict without the help of any outside parties, notably the acrimonious departures of David Dein, Keith Edelman, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and Richard Carr, who then reappeared on the Football Club Board. You also instituted a lock-down agreement originally to prevent Mr Kroenke from gaining control and then, later, to exclude our involvement even though there were no grounds or need to do so.

The real conflict seems to be between the supporters’ expectations and your vision for the Club and at the heart of this is the policy of so-called self-financing. The self-financing model was created to suit the major shareholders at the time, all of whom subsequently sold their shares.

The previous decision by the Board to fund the building of the Emirates Stadium with long-term debt was, we believe, certainly not about self-financing. If it had been, it would have been funded through a mixture of debt and non-dividend equity. Instead it allowed, in our view, the major shareholders of the time, who happened to all be Board directors, to load the Club with a liability, to benefit from increased future revenue streams and consequent increase in the value of their holdings, whilst avoiding dilution of their equity.

The Board of the time then appeared to pursue a policy of increasing ticket prices and squeezing the fans to cover the short term cost increases which allowed them to bridge until all of these shareholders and Board directors sold 100% of their holdings and cashed out at vast profits.

This policy does not seem to have changed. We have sought and been refused any meetings with Mr Kroenke despite the fact that we own almost 30% of the Club or to put another way almost 1 in every 3 seats in the stadium. It is clear that our stated policy for the major shareholders, namely Mr Kroenke and ourselves, to inject non-dividend paying equity into the Club by way of a rights issue to reduce the debt and invest in the future is of no interest to the Board. Mr Kroenke was sold a vision by the Board at the time that the Club could be successful without further investment, so he is pursuing a similar policy which is to run the Club without any investment and to avoid any dilution of his equity, a good part of which was funded by a loan from Deutsche Bank AG to KSE, UK, Inc. at the time of the mandatory offer. The status of that loan and whether it is still outstanding has not been clarified by Mr Kroenke.

As a consequence of this policy, which is dressed up as prudent financial planning, it is down to our manager, and not the shareholders, to have to deal with the Club’s tight finances, carry the burden of repaying the stadium debt by selling his best players and having to continue to find cheaper replacements. All of that, naturally, comes at the expense of performance on the pitch.

This policy is leading to the loss of our best players, often to our main competitors, and even causes the players themselves to question their future at the Club and the Club’s ambitions. The situation with our captain and outstanding performer from last season Robin van Persie sums this up. Yet again we are faced with losing our true marquee player at the Club because we cannot assure him of the future direction and give confidence that we can win trophies. Where are the safeguards to ensure that this doesn’t happen again and again in the future? As a top Club we should, at the very least, match if not beat the offers that other clubs make to try and lure our very best players away, and also provide a more compelling vision of the future. You can try and put a good face on a bad game for as long as you want, pontificating about the merits of this model, but it will not hide the obvious fact that it just does not allow our great manager to fully realize his managerial talent and deliver success for the fans who are paying the highest prices in the land. It appears that a place in the Champions League will be the pinnacle of our ambition again next season. Unfortunately, in the future we may see this ambition lowered further. It doesn’t help to turn a blind eye to the reality of the situation and keep thinking of ourselves as being in the same league as Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona. To have a fighting chance of success, which means winning trophies, we need to match them in every aspect, including, if not first and foremost, financial.

So what is Red & White’s vision for the Club? It is simple. A debt free Club, with a big enough war chest to buy top talent players who can hit the ground running and who can complement the Club’s long tradition of developing young players and homegrown talent.

Together they can help the Club win the most prestigious trophies – because it is the trophies which are the crowning achievement for everybody at the Club. The trophies are also key to the commercial success of the Club – they increase the value of the players, the value of the brand, attract the best sponsors and maximize the value of our commercial contracts which should in turn mean that the Club does not have to squeeze any more income from hard pressed fans. We also believe in the transparency that a stock market listing brings so are committed to the Club remaining listed on the stock exchange and to greater fan involvement both through share ownership and also Board representation for the fans.

Today we wish the majority shareholder Mr Kroenke every success in running the Club, even though we have deep reservations about the viability of the policies being pursued by his management team and sanctioned by the Board.

Finally and reflecting our long-term commitment to the Club, we will continue to purchase more shares in the Club from anyone who wants to sell them to us. Also in order to formalize our long-term involvement with the Club and put an end to any speculation over our position, we, as the co-owners of Red &White, will proudly retain our holding in the Club as a long-term investment for ourselves and our family members to benefit for generations to come. We want the absolute best for the Club and will do what is necessary to ensure the success of the Club that we all love.

Yours sincerely,

Alisher Usmanov

Farhad Moshiri

Robin van Persie: Hero or Villain?

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Yesterday afternoon, Arsenal captain and talisman Robin van Persie announced that he was not signing a new deal. He stated that the subject of money had not even been approached, and the difference of opinion in how to make the current squad into a trophy winning one was the reason behind his decision.

On the surface, for me anyway, I thought this was a perfectly reasonable explanation for his decision not to extend his current deal, and essentially leave the club this summer. He has been at Arsenal for 8 seasons, and only has the FA Cup to his name. Looking from this from an objective point of view, he has seen teammates such as Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Gilberto, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry, Mathieu Flamini, Eduardo and even Adebayor leave and win honours with new clubs.

Van Persie is 28 and doesn’t believe that Arsenal can win things.

And what is wrong with that? Of course, fans will look to loyalty but he has been with the club for 8 seasons and as far as I’m concerned, given everything when he’s worn the Arsenal shirt. Arsene has admitted that coming 4th in the Premier League is like winning a trophy and this is a team that couldn’t beat Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final. Of course we were unlucky in the Champions League Final against Barcelona in 2006 and if we had won that we would be in a different place than we are now, but that’s a different argument for another day.

Many, many Arsenal fans have said on more than one occasion over the past 7 seasons that with this current board and this current manager, that we won’t win trophies. That we are a feeder club, a club that can’t compete financially, both in terms of transfer fees and wages, Arsene is too stubborn and won’t sign the additions we need to really challenge for honours, and so on.

Don’t you think these things filter out to the players?

We all think that players are in their own little bubble but Van Persie was an Arsenal player that really did love Arsenal – he showed it when he wore the shirt, he showed it when he did social events and showed it off the pitch as well. He involved himself in more things that most other players and you could tell he loved being at Arsenal. But it’s clear we don’t match his ambition and is that his fault?

The response from the majority of Arsenal fans has been less that complimentary. Many fans point to loyalty, citing that we and Arsene supported him when he was suffering from injury problems year after year. They also say he’s a mercenary just after more money. Then a few get really personal, talking about supporting him through his rape accusations and say how he’s a disruptive influence on the dressing room, has a massive ego problem and we should get rid as soon as we can.

This much is clear though, the response from Arsenal fans pretty much eliminates any possibility of Van Persie making a u-turn and staying at Arsenal, and extending his contract. With the feedback Robin has been receiving on Twitter at least, all bridges have now been burnt.

From my point of view, I’ll be gutted that he’s going just like I was when Cesc left. Whatever you might say, we’ve seen him mature into an outstanding player and last season he gave me, and us, some simply wonderful and emotional moments. Some of those goals were right up there with some of my favourite ever Arsenal strikes, the last minute winner against Liverpool in that smash and grab, the goals against Chelsea (and the one where Terry fell flat on his arse), and so many more. Say what you like, but he was sensational last season for us.

But on the flip side, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that he leaves. We have already prepared for his exit with the signings of Podolski and Giroud, and we still have a talented midfield with Song, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky and Walcott that will create chance after chance for our new strikers. And in all honesty, I just cannot see Van Persie recreating the form he did last season. Before last season his injuries kept him from having any sustained run in the team and his goalscoring rate was so outstanding that it would be a massive ask for him to even come close to doing the same again.

He hasn’t shown the consistency that Cesc, Titi, Bobby or Dennis did over a number of seasons. If he did then I would be even more disappointed but maybe the time is right to sell him before he gets injured again and while his stock is high. Although another point many fans outlined was that he’s essentially halved his value but signalling his intention to leave.

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