Arsenal Lobby

Get in ffs. Good luck mate

Did they show full match replay of 3 pm kick offs later on the day ,back when there was no internet/streams?

I miss Lex

With more experience, tactical understanding and strength, I'm sure Guendouzi will be a very good midfielder.

He should fill out with as per the demands of the PL anyway, as right now he's a bit lightweight. Besides that, he needs to curb a tendency to chase the ball. He's one of our most prolific tacklers, but I think half of that is down to him running around like mad. Fun to watch, but not necessarily useful towards a solid team.

That aside, he's got heaps of personality and plays with a lot of courage and authority for someone of his age and experience. Those are his most impressive qualities imo.

I can see him ditching Arsenal if Madrid or Barca come calling

Can we at least start talking about Madrid and Barcelona when he actually becomes a starter for us? Or even later?

Guendouzi is talented but he has a lot to work on, he keeps the ball for a bit too long and is defensively a liability, physically weak. I hope he doesn't become complacent and think he has already made it.

Interview with Venkatesham and Sanllehi:

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-news-transfer-interview-champions-league-ramsey-contract-watch-video-emery-sanllehi-a8643556.html

Nothing eye-opening in there. They were keen to stress that we'll be fine for a little while longer if we don't make it back into the CL, but admitted that the more years we go without it, the greater strain it places on the self-sustainable model.

Former chairman Peter Hill-Wood has passed away at the age of 82.

https://www.arsenal.com/news/announcement-peter-hill-wood

Was chairman between 1982 and 2013. He oversaw several successful periods, helped hired Wenger, played a big part in the formation of the Premier League and in the move to the Emirates.

Gotta say, Unai English has improved immensely after such short time, string together long and complicated sentences with decent fluency.

At one point we used to watch Fabregas and Henry together.

Now one is managing and the other is going to retire under him (if he lasts)

amazing

And both of them could soon come up against Vieira. Which I believe would be the first time Cesc and Vieira have faced each other since 2006. Time flies ffs.

Arsenal's financial report for 2017-18 is finally out:

https://www.arsenal.com/sites/default/files/documents/Arsenal%20Holdings%20Limited%20-%20Group%20Annual%20Report%20ye%2031-5-18%20final.pdf

The key points (curtsey of Swiss Ramble):

- Profit before tax up from £45m to £70m, thanks mostly to £120m acquired from player sales

- However, all revenue streams have decreased, thanks mostly to EL participation (less TV money, smaller matchday attendances)

- Wage bill up 22% to £223m, amortisation up to £92m, other expenses rose to £87m, and £17m was paid to Wenger and his staff when they were released

- Arsenal are projected to make a large loss in 2018/19 due no CL and a lack of player sales

- Excluding players and property development, Arsenal would have made a £55m loss

- Earnings before Tax, Depreciation, Amortisation and Interest (which gives us an estimate of Arsenal's cash operating profit) is down from £144m to £78m (excluding player sales)

- Arsenal earned 38m euros from the EL, much lower than the 65m euros they got from the CL the season before

There has been a major change in how #AFC use cash in the last 4 years: much more is now spent on players and (to a lesser extent) capex, while a lot less goes on financing (interest and debt payments) and just increasing cash balance. pic.twitter.com/5cXC3h7V0S

— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) January 25, 2019

So, remember the myth that Arsenal are just "hoarding" funds? Yeah, just the £232m spent on players in the last four years.

Basically, without owner funding we're very dependent on player sales and CL football to sustain our high spending. Without it, we get January's like this one.

Just to add my own commentary to this:

It's disillusioning to see that the club wasn't as well-run as we assumed it was over the years.

We've known for a long time that our wage bill is nuts. The figure reported above is actually lower than it is now because it doesn't factor in the acquisitions we made last summer. Hindsight is 20/20 but it should never have been allowed to spiral out of control like that.

That's symptomatic of the club's mediocre recruitment, which, combined with Wenger's declining performance, has seen the team get worse and miss out on vital CL money (and declining performances = less games on TV and fans coming to watch = decreases on those revenue streams as well).

The club does have significant cash reserves. It could probably run at a loss for a little while if it needed to (if we miss out on EL again, for example).

Regardless, a major sort-out is required to get those wages back under control, and that could take a while.

As I see it, I can't see Arsenal making a star signing like Aubameyang anytime soon. Maybe they could get one guy like that in, but that'd be it for signings.

Losing Cech (retirement), Ramsey and Welbeck (end of contract) frees up around £14.5m on the wage bill (based on leaks I've seen), but they'll need to be replaced (maybe Nketiah simply takes Welbeck's place, but we'd still need to replace Cech and Ramsey). Moving on Mkhitaryan and Ozil would be a huge help (ageing players, high earners currently not justifying their pay), but in Ozil's case we'd certainly be subsidising his wages.

Meanwhile, we'll need to get used to underwhelming names being linked with us. This is going to be the bulk of the club's recruitment now.

On the more positive side, if we get back into the CL we'll get a boost from that and get more out of our new commercials. Move along some of our big earners on top of that and our spending capacity will be much better.

CL, New commercial deals will boost our finances for sure but we really need to clean up our wage structure. I can't believe that the same wage structure that used to be copied by other clubs is a disgrace nowadays.

Hopefully we can also get rid of some of the squad players on wages too high like ElNeny.

Really need to sell Mkhitariyan as well and let's see what happens with Ozil.

underwhelming names are not really bad because as long as Emery can get the best out of them and they have relative amount of talent then they can help get us CL.

We had a great chance of getting 4th this season but blew it due to the past 2 months unfortunately. Can still salvage it but with 5 days left, i can't see it.

I'm honestly more upset with this team than I ever have been. Back in our new stadium era, we had the promise of future success ahead of us, then we had some money to somewhat compete financially and didn't spend it wisely but at least you knew we could make it all work if we just made those 2 great signings we were chasing, and now the club is holding its money simply due to the greed of ownership on the cusp of when we could finally excel like we as a fanbase have been promised for years.

There is no hope anymore and I can't understand how management and Kroenke don't see the immense risk forming of fans not giving a damn about the team anymore, about their investment becoming a joke to the sport. These guys don't value what is good about this club, which includes the fans, and just arrogantly believe that they know best despite their decisions seemingly having no substance to them.

Our club started nosediving the moment that Gazidis left and Kroenke increased his ownership stake, and now the guys at the top can't hide behind the great man they ruined in Arsene Wenger. These frauds in charge don't deserve our affection...my loyalty to this team is pissing me off at this point honestly.

Vote now

— JB (@gunnerpunner) February 16, 2019

voted bin both
best case for the club,even though Özil is one of my favorite players

Bin Ozil. Give Emery another year.

Around 3:02, shot fired.

According to DarrenArsenal on Twitter, we'll be touring the US this summer to play Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Colorado Rapids.

Apparently we're playing in Washington, Los Angeles, North Carolina and Colorado.

What Arsenal/Football Related Dreams you have had?

last night i had strange but rather good one
Arsenal was playing Man City
it was current team
I recall Auba,Laca and Emery
we were 3-2 down,There is a sub for us
somehow its Davor Šuker wth grey hair coming on,and immediately gets on the end of a Through ball and chips it over the keeper
3-3

cant recall anymore!

Never ever had an Arsenal related dream in my life lol