Top of The Morning to y’all
The hullabaloo surrounding Alisher
Usmanov’s letter to the board in the wake on van Persie's announced departure
from the Arsenal last week seems to have quieted down over the weekend and it somehow
seems that the fans are ready to move on. To face the new season without the
only world class player and unarguably the best striker in England. There have
been rumours of impending talks between him, the manager and Gazidis but am not
very hopeful of a change of heart from him. The Usmanov letter has attracted
widespread criticism from many fans calling it ill-timed and aimed to disrupt
the club even further while some others have accepted it and asked for the
heads of Kroenke and Gazidis.
From the tone of the letter just
as its generally accepted in Arsenaldom, we are over 90% owned by two men who would
not see eye to eye and both claim to love and have only the best interests of
the club at heart. A claim which I find really hard to believe. This morning, I
will be examining the letter from a neutral perspective, point out where I disagree
and where I think the board should take seriously.
Right from the outset, I think the
timing was impeccably wrong. It came barely a day after van Persie released the
statement that that he will not be renewing his contract and fans over the
world were still reeling from and yet to recover from the after effects of the
shock. It was an opportunistic attempt by Usmanov and his people to strike the
iron when is hot and strike they did. Blatantly questioning the clubs financing
model and pointing out the van Persie exit just a day after was very
opportunistic and aimed to get more supporters for his cause – whatever that
might be- and supporters he did get as just hours after the letter was
released, social media sites were awash with debates and some people gladly
jumped onto the Usmanov bandwagon.
Despite the hideous nature of the
letter, there were some concerning issues that were raised that need to be
taken seriously. The continuous loss of our best players every season and
replacement with cheaper less effective ones is definitely a cause for concern.
Over the years, we have seen the likes of Alex Hleb, Kolo Toure, Adebayor, Cesc
Fabregas, Samir Na$ri, Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy and almost certain to leave,
Robin van Persie. Arsene Wenger himself has admitted that some of these players
have left at an age when they can make a difference for Arsenal. This trend
becomes more worrying when you consider the fact that Theo Walcott is yet to
sign a new contract and players like Alex Song and Thomas Vermaelen have two
years left on their current deals and we could be in this situation again next
season with those players.
I recognise the need to pay off our debts and funds
from every means should be made available but losing our best players yearly
and not replacing them with players of similar quality has truly meant that we
have suffered on the pitch even though injuries have also played their part. One
thing that has always bothered me is if there was no other way around selling
our best players to our rivals. Arsenal have sold to Man City alone Kolo Toure,
Adebayor, Samir Na$ri and Gael Clichy. Three of those four have been voted into
the Premier League Team of the Year at different times in their time at
Arsenal. As a top club that's unacceptable.
Another thing that bothers me is
that our two biggest shareholders will not sit and talk. Just as claimed in the
letter, Usmanov had sought a meeting a meeting with Kroenke which has been
turned down. I have always wondered how much of the interests of the club these
men truly have at heart if they cannot cast their differences aside and
deliberate on the best ways to move the club forward even if they differ in
their views. Whether they agree to their differences or not, both men have been
thrown into the same ship by Arsenal and it’s up to them to bury their hatchet
and deliberate on the best ways to move the club forward.
I really don’t know much about
money other than spending it but bringing it down to lay man terms, if you owe
money, you pay. Usmanov has reportedly asked to inject £100million to the club
that has been turned down. Reports claim that Arsenal’s outstanding debt is
just over £100million. What I wonder is if you are owing money and someone
offers to pay that debt, the natural inclination would be to take the money,
pay the debt and be free of it but that's not the Arsenal way. They have
refused to cut corners or better still refused the ‘scoping of the sugar daddy’.
As it stands, arsenal will be done
with paying back its stadium loan by 2015 when it will be free to pursue
commercial sponsorship for stadium naming as well as jerseys rights. What baffles
me is why we can’t accept usmanov’s gift, pay off the debt and invest the
amount that we could have used in financing the debt into the squad and by so
doing, we will not only have signed on better players, we would have convinced
the other stars in our team that we are ready to compete for trophies on all
fronts and players like van Persie will have no lie to throw at our faces. Well
like I said earlier, I don’t know anything about money other than to spend it
and apparently the politics surrounding within the board is as serious as the
United States presidential elections.
The final part of the letter
claims that the R&W will do everything to ‘ensure success for the club we
all love’. I had to laugh when I read that. It’s the fans that truly love the
club, not Kroenke and definitely not Usmanov. They are both businessmen whose
long term interest is the profits they will make from the club. After all, a
man like Kroenke who heard about Arsenal FC just 10years ago cannot claim to
love the club as much as the fans that have supported the club all their lives.
All they want is a positive return on all their investments.
Finally for today, I think Kroenke
should break his silence. He can’t remain Silent Stan while the club goes
through this crisis. He is the major shareholder and therefore should give some
assurances to the fans on the direction of the club. I also think he should
meet with Usmanov. Despite conflicting interests, their stakes in the club mean
that they have been thrown in the same boat and they have to work together for
the progress of the club except they want to tell us the fans that their
individual egos is bigger than the future of the club that WE THE FANS love not
them.
That's it for today folks, be back
on Wednesday for another one.
God bless the Arsenal, Iree o
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