Category: Arsenal Opinion

Extortionate merchandise prices are not worth the spend!

I love nothing more than proudly donning the Arsenal shirt and the merchandise in a season. But one thing puts me off buying them, the cost, especially as this pandemic is cutting in to everyones income at the moment.

The day we joined up with Adidas as our kit sponsor, I was so happy. Adidas always produces quality clothes and the Arsenal shirts and merchandise has so far lived up to the high expectations I have had of them.

Over the past few seasons though, I have rarely purchased items from Arsenal direct online or even in store, not because I don’t like what has been produced, no it is in complete contrast, I love them but the money that Arsenal are asking for, for their clothes are so ridiculous that I don’t feel it is justifiable to spend between £50-100 for one shirt, jacket or even some standard T-shirts with the Arsenal logo on.

I feel as though not just Arsenal, but a lot of clubs sell their clothes and general merchandise for round about the same price, however, and I can’t speak for all fans, but for me the price is off-putting. All in all you really are paying for the brand and the club badge.

The Arsenal twitter page on Friday was promoting the Anthem jacket worn by our boys out in Austria, on first look I fell in love with the jacket and even considered buying it, but upon checking it on the online store I was shocked to see the price of £100. Instantly putting me off buying what is an absolutely lovely jacket!

I will forever be proud to wear Arsenal shirts and merchandise whether I go to a game or watch it from home, even when there is no football on I am proud to wear it too but I refuse to pay extortionate amounts just to get that one item of clothing.

Arsenal, lower your prices and maybe more people will purchase the amazing clothes you have on display. I know I definitely would. Gooners what do you make of the Arsenal prices for their merchandise?

Shenel Osman

So, two of our young boys are off to the England camp for the upcoming internationals this month and of course it is a proud moment for the boys, the club and their families, as everybody wants to be called up for their countries at some point or another during their careers.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka have been called up by Gareth Southgate for the upcoming international games against Wales, Belgium and Denmark this month, which shows they are doing something right at Arsenal to be able to catch the eye to join an already talented England squad.

Of course, it is always a proud moment for clubs when players and their hard work during a season is noticed by national team managers, and they are trusted enough to be called up to represent their country and help their country progress through to competitions or qualifiers.

But of course, with that comes an additional worry for clubs and fans, as just as we are beginning to get a fully fit squad, we don’t want anyone to pick up injuries that may rule them out for a key period especially as it is coming up to winter period.

The more players we have sent out on international duty, the more chance there is that they could get injured. Of course stepping out on to the pitch whether it be for club or country, will always bring the risk that they could get injured but internationals during a season whether it means something or is just a friendly will bring that added worry for managers.

I wish both boys and of course all of our players the best of luck for their international run outs over this period and I hope that none of them come back injured, instead I hope that they come back positive, happy and ready to go, for what could be a pivotal few months for Arsenal. Here’s hoping hey Gooners?

Here’s one shocking news about Kroenke’s financial support of Arsenal

Football business reporter Swiss Ramble has just revealed that Stan Kroenke hasn’t put a penny of his money into Arsenal for the past five years.

The Gunners have developed a reputation for being one of the most prudent teams in the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger was regularly blamed for his refusal to spend the cash when he was the club’s boss and the Frenchman improvised by developing players.

One of the reasons why fans wanted him gone was the lack of quality signings, it has now emerged that Wenger wasn’t just being reluctant to spend money, but the money was hardly there to spend.

Since he left, Arsenal seems to have been more active in the market for big-name stars, nevertheless, the club’s owner hardly spends his money on the team, unlike some other teams.

While teams like Chelsea have enjoyed their owners splashing their money on the club, the report reveals that Arsenal hasn’t been spent on by Kroenke, rather, the club even paid his company for services rendered.

The report confirmed: “Arsenal received no funding in last 5 years, either from Kroenke or the bank.

“In contrast, they made £101m payments (debt £40m & interest £61m).

“Also paid KSE [Kroenke’s company] £6m for ‘advisory services’.”

Hi my fellow Arsenal fans. I may seem a little angry through my write up; I may sound blunt and I may sound unpleasant. But one thing I won’t do is to keep quiet while people use every little opportunity to criticize a man who is trying his best to create an impact. We lost to a team in the Europa league and we were dumped out from that competition, but does that make us a failure? Does it make Arteta a failure; no it doesn’t, does it?

After the game, some fans were seen displaying all manner of banners, asking Arteta to leave the club alone. Some even went as far as comparing him to Emery, our last coach before Arteta. They said Emery got Arsenal to the final of the Europa in his first season at Arsenal, while Arteta got us dumped out of the Europa in the round of 32! Well, yes Emery got us to the final, but did he lead the team to glory? No he didn’t. So, why mention the name of a man who led us to a final and got us a beating from our brothers from the other side of London? Emery had a full season to prepare for the Europa final, Arteta has just been here for barely 5 months. Pray tell me, what sort of miracle were we expecting from the young manager? In the Premier league, he is doing well and with the way he is going, he may just make Arsenal a title contending team next season.

Have we forgotten how we all wanted Emery out of the club earlier this season? Despite his modest achievement last season, we still wanted him out! We didn’t spare him from criticism, rather we pushed him out! So, if we wanted Emery out that desperately, why do we now compare him to Arteta? Are we thinking at all?

Now friends, let us chill a bit and allow Arteta learn from his mistakes and improve on his managerial skills. We knew who we were getting when we went for him. We knew the number of years of experience he had before he went for him. We were surely aware of whom we were going for; so can we just chill please.

Finally, can we just think about this? If most of the players at Arsenal prefer Arteta’s pattern to Emery, then they must be something they see in Arteta, that they would want us to see too. We are Arsenal and we are proud.

Sylvester Kwentua

Two months after Emery has been sacked, what he has been getting are bashings and bad testimonies from both his former players at Arsenal and from sport pundits. Unai Emery came to Arsenal with a good coaching record. In his first season at Arsenal, he went 22 games unbeaten, while beating Tottenham in the process and drawing against Liverpool, who later went on to be Champions league winners. He really tried his best to make Arsenal competitive and they were. We played in the final of the Europa League and only lost to Chelsea because we gave them so much respect. He also began his second season at Arsenal with a win against Newcastle. In all, while many may want to view Emery’s time at Arsenal as a failure, I choose to view it differently. Emery was just unfortunate to be saddled with problems he had no solutions for.

Now, Emery is gone and we have Arteta. Arteta may have improved our game but as long as we keep drawing games and are not winning, I won’t join those who are praising him as the best thing to happen to Arsenal. Arteta is really trying his best to put Arsenal back to shape but while he is at it, can people just stop comparing him with Emery and focus on Arteta instead?

First it was Mustafi who claimed the former Arsenal coach was bad at communications. He even went as far as accusing the former coach of not being able to improve the team because of his lack of good communication skills.

As if that was not enough, I saw an article on justarsenal.com about Leno claiming the team was left confused by Emery’s approach, both on and off the pitch. The German goalkeeper, who was signed by Emery, had this to say about Emery’s time at the Emirates “The mentality out on the pitch, I don’t want to say it was a mess, but it was a bit confusing…Everyone was doing different things..We were not a team…Not in the dressing room, not on the pitch and you could see that.” Leno may just be expressing what he experienced under Emery but why would he come out now to say this? Why is everybody suddenly coming out to say things they could have said when Emery was still coach of Arsenal?

Adding his voice to those criticizing Emery’s time at Arsenal, is an ex player of the club, Emmanuel Petit. Petit believes Arsenal was not doing fine under Emery and that Arteta came to clear Emery’s mess. He described Arsenal under Emery as being sick on the pitch and in the dressing room.

These are not the best times for Emery but maybe all these bashings started the moment Emery came out to explain why things didn’t go well for him at Arsenal. Whatever may have happened, Emery is no longer at Arsenal and I wish people would just let him be. We are Arsenal and we are proud.

Sylvester Kwentua