BURNLEY (6th place play off) HOME 6th May 16:30

[Jock Gooner]

What a fucking horrible day. Turned up at 4.30 on the dot to avoid the bullshit before the game. They had girls outside with fucking big Arsene picture frames for photos - pathetic. Had to do a double take at the faces in our usual area....these aren't the usual suspects.....the bastards have sold their tickets which probably means we've got a bunch of wenkerites on the go. Most of them have put on the t-shirt so they must be - fuck me you give our lot a free fucking anything and they will wear it, wave it or shove it up their arse depending on what they are told to do. Oh deep joy

The first half wasn't too bad...not huge amounts of pro-wenker singing really and the wenkers around us couldn't keep time so we were having a laugh at that. Bellerin looked pretty poor with some of his passing and for a guy who is supposed to be a whippet why does he never use that pace to take on the RB. Yesterday in the first half he wouldn't even use that pace to push on into forward areas when he was unopposed. The two CBs did well and there is maybe mileage there with the right approach. Best chant went to Burnley with - you only came for the t-shirts - spot on guys.

The whole thing felt wrong though. I have never been to a game where I felt such a disconnect with those around me. I just can't forgive TOF for pricking about with my club for the last 10 years and producing the same old same old failings that in a highly paid sport/business is tantamount to negligence as far as I'm concerned. So instead of the planned departure about 5 minutes before the end......we fucked off at half time instead. I just could not bear the thought of sitting there for another 45 minutes listening to the converted. I just don't see success from 14 years ago as a reason for huge celebration and please don't quote FA cups - not interested - it's about far more than that.

The only saving grace was that as we were walking around the concourse there were a number of other blokes leaving in twos and threes - not a huge number but enough to make me think that we weren't the only ones sickened by proceedings yesterday. Can't wait for this time next week and TOF to be finished, gone, departed, forever, thank fuck.

[xisstential]

It was Wenger who put Ozil on 350k pw because he made such an unholy mess of the Sanchez contract....AND we can be very, very thankful that he's leaving because he would have given Ramsey everything he asked for as well.

I'm not a person who lives his life with the "I can never forgive" mantra because it eats away at you, so if Wenger had the humility to stand up and say, " I made mistakes, maybe I should have taken more advice at times, our fans have been wonderful, I didn't acknowledge them enough at times....etc, etc, etc" I would forgive him in a heartbeat. But he didn't and he won't.That..... I'm always right, what do they know disdain and swaggering arrogance still persists and I think he is angry and deeply resentful about the way the club has treated him.. So how do you forgive somebody who doesn't ask for forgiveness, who is never wrong so doesn't think he needs forgiving?

He has built a team that I cannot even recognise and he absolutely destroyed my love of watching Arsenal......a team that personifies himself...arrogant, unaccountable, unteachable, lacking bottle and who hold themselves above any type of criticism. A team that sees the fans as a nuisance every time we have the temerity to criticise them when they don't fight and who, when they do put in a half decent performance, always talk about "doing it for their manager". Does Wenger or his team even realise how angry some fans were, how disrespected they felt and pissed off they were?? I don't care that he never won the Europa, because again, it would have been all about him, the plaudits would have all gone to him and the send off would have been even more cringeworthy. He didn't win in Europe because he does not know how to, he proved that to us...over 20 times...... and the team got the blame. His team!!

So I have gratefully accepted that he is going and have chosen to completely ignore the ridiculous, sycophantic, gushing, hero worhipping accolades over the past couple of weeks. He is gone..it is finally over..one more week...one more week for him to pick up a point to stave off a record that will otherwise probably stand until the end of time.

I honestly feel that Wenger killed off something in me the way I felt about AFC, but I will support the team once he leaves, even this very team that he has assembled, because I think under a proper manager they can be a lot better, they will not be allowed to behave the way they currently do.

A decent manager can win the Europa next season... with this very team (excluding Mustafi of course)

[herbert]

Great team performance and a classy day from the club manager team and support

its been a long time since our motto has summed up our club but yesterday was one of them days

then I come on here and read the fergie thread I had tp do a double check to make sure I was not on onlinestokie

[GoonerMuzz]

Seriously, who gives a fuck about the pukefest from yesterday, its over he's going.

Not really bothered about AW any more, I'm more interested in where we go from here and whether the new manager can do anything with this squad or not so how about we talk about the football played in the match thread and put all the other stuff in the 'bin', sorry Wenger thread where it belongs.

[augie]

Wow at this thread just wow. No doubts Wenger overstayed his welcome by a good few years, but the bitterness seems to know no bounds.

The club has retained one thing through all of this massive change in the finances of football, a touch of class in the way they do things. Vic Akers through all his service is old school, and quite rightly got a rapturous send-off. With regards to Wenger, it's been discussed to death but now is time to move on, we just have to hope the club don't fuck up on the next appointment.

I find it strange how even with the biggest Wenger hater in our fanbase, it's not hard to say let bygones be bygones and thank him for the first 10 years, rather than moan about the amount he earns. That, unfortunately, is a function of modern day football. The salaries are eyewatering.

The biggest issue we have with regards to player salaries right now is Ozil now has a long-term contract on £300k a week, with Aubameyang on half that. No one seems to moan at Ozil though after he pulls out one of his 5 decent performances a season.

Really ?? Are you that blinkered ?? Lets raise some issues then shall we ?

1. The club sues a hat shop lady in spain
2. The club changes its traditional crest for a cartoon crest, and all for the purpose of financial gain through copyright
3. The club chairman dismisses/disrespects the fans who own shares in the club, by thanking them for having an interest in his own and the boards club
4. The manager disrespected the fans that attend week in and week out and lauded the tourist fans instead by calling them real fans


We all know that there are many, many more instances where the club and manager failed to show the class that the club USED to be renown for. You can choose to bow at the feet of a once great manager, but all I see now is a greedy power hungry c.unt, who continued to stay for his own selfish reasons, and wouldnt be going now only for the fact that he was forced out. The man talks about value's of the club, but yet is taking a £10m contract pay off despite trousering almost £100m from the club in the last decade - some moral standards there all right

Why does it always come down to money with Wenger? And now he has gone are you going to start going again week in week out?

Maureen earns nearly twice as much money as Wenger and does he ever get pulled up for the crap, he forces his team's fans to watch week in week out?

With regards to the other points, I didn't know about the hat shop, to be honest, but that is quite amusing, and yes petty if true. We have had several versions of our crest through our history, I liked the old school ones from the 80s/90s but don't see how there is a problem in updating the crest to make money for the club. Commercialism has exploded in football over the last 15 years, do we just sit back and not promote brand Arsenal?

I remember when people moaned about us not getting enough exposure overseas, now we have ridiculous levels of support as a result of brand awareness and marketing all over the world, yet people still moan.

When I speak about the club, I am not referring to Kroenke or any of his cronies. They don't organise days like yesterday, that comes from deep within and something that our club has always has and will be been renowned for. I didn't chant Wenger's name once during the game yesterday but felt it was the dignified to at least applaud the man for those first 10 years, something we will be very lucky to see again in our lifetimes.

There really is no point in being bitter, you can't change the past. Let's actually now get behind the new manager and team and sort those dirty scummy spuds out first, it doesn't sit well with me being behind them for 2 years in the league. They might have a new stadium but they have the job of their lives holding onto their manager and best player especially if they wont pay the £££.

Because the money argument, in my opinion at least, shows up his "values" statement is just more bullshit from an arrogant man - if you loved the club (like he claims to), and if you had of spent the last decade being paid what he has, would you feel the need to be paid up for the last year of your contract ? This is a man that defended the extortinate price of match tickets by claiming that the team give value for those tickets, but has never felt a hypocrite for being paid one of the biggest managerial salaries (was the biggest for a few years) in the world, whilst being (at best) a second tier manager. If moaninho is the bar with which we are expecting our managers to reach, then the arsenal standards are nowhere near where they used to be

Th reason why I refer to the cartoon crest is because, in my opinion at least, changing the crest purely for money reasons, a total contradiction of this "arsenal class" myth. I have never bemoaned the lack of exposure the club gets across the world - brand awareness is not for me (nor most fans I know) even in my thoughts much less a target I expect the club to meet

Btw I fully intend getting behind the new manager - I hope and pray that the club appoint a proper manager (in other words not arteta, henry or buvac) to give us the best chance of regaining our place at the top table, but I will be bitter towards wenger for a long, long time. We did not have to decline to the level we have (even in the years where money was an issue), but his performance and refusal to fcuk off before now has seen us sink to our worst level in over 30 years

[Allgunsblazin]

Great team performance and a classy day from the club manager team and support

its been a long time since our motto has summed up our club but yesterday was one of them days

then I come on here and read the fergie thread I had tp do a double check to make sure I was not on onlinestokie

Wholeheartedly agree with living up to the motto...
Now we shall see what a difficult job this is going to be for the next unfortunate manager, it's going to be a hard slog to get back up there with a very poor budget!...

[herbert]

Seriously, who gives a fuck about the pukefest from yesterday, its over he's going.

Not really bothered about AW any more, I'm more interested in where we go from here and whether the new manager can do anything with this squad or not so how about we talk about the football played in the match thread and put all the other stuff in the 'bin', sorry Wenger thread where it belongs.

Oh the fukin irony
every thread on here turns to wenger is a cu8t,so i will post where the fuck i want to

[nut flush gooner]

Wow at this thread just wow. No doubts Wenger overstayed his welcome by a good few years, but the bitterness seems to know no bounds.

The club has retained one thing through all of this massive change in the finances of football, a touch of class in the way they do things. Vic Akers through all his service is old school, and quite rightly got a rapturous send-off. With regards to Wenger, it's been discussed to death but now is time to move on, we just have to hope the club don't fuck up on the next appointment.

I find it strange how even with the biggest Wenger hater in our fanbase, it's not hard to say let bygones be bygones and thank him for the first 10 years, rather than moan about the amount he earns. That, unfortunately, is a function of modern day football. The salaries are eyewatering.

The biggest issue we have with regards to player salaries right now is Ozil now has a long-term contract on £300k a week, with Aubameyang on half that. No one seems to moan at Ozil though after he pulls out one of his 5 decent performances a season.

Really ?? Are you that blinkered ?? Lets raise some issues then shall we ?

1. The club sues a hat shop lady in spain
2. The club changes its traditional crest for a cartoon crest, and all for the purpose of financial gain through copyright
3. The club chairman dismisses/disrespects the fans who own shares in the club, by thanking them for having an interest in his own and the boards club
4. The manager disrespected the fans that attend week in and week out and lauded the tourist fans instead by calling them real fans


We all know that there are many, many more instances where the club and manager failed to show the class that the club USED to be renown for. You can choose to bow at the feet of a once great manager, but all I see now is a greedy power hungry c.unt, who continued to stay for his own selfish reasons, and wouldnt be going now only for the fact that he was forced out. The man talks about value's of the club, but yet is taking a £10m contract pay off despite trousering almost £100m from the club in the last decade - some moral standards there all right

Why does it always come down to money with Wenger? And now he has gone are you going to start going again week in week out?

Maureen earns nearly twice as much money as Wenger and does he ever get pulled up for the crap, he forces his team's fans to watch week in week out?

With regards to the other points, I didn't know about the hat shop, to be honest, but that is quite amusing, and yes petty if true. We have had several versions of our crest through our history, I liked the old school ones from the 80s/90s but don't see how there is a problem in updating the crest to make money for the club. Commercialism has exploded in football over the last 15 years, do we just sit back and not promote brand Arsenal?

I remember when people moaned about us not getting enough exposure overseas, now we have ridiculous levels of support as a result of brand awareness and marketing all over the world, yet people still moan.

When I speak about the club, I am not referring to Kroenke or any of his cronies. They don't organise days like yesterday, that comes from deep within and something that our club has always has and will be been renowned for. I didn't chant Wenger's name once during the game yesterday but felt it was the dignified to at least applaud the man for those first 10 years, something we will be very lucky to see again in our lifetimes.

There really is no point in being bitter, you can't change the past. Let's actually now get behind the new manager and team and sort those dirty scummy spuds out first, it doesn't sit well with me being behind them for 2 years in the league. They might have a new stadium but they have the job of their lives holding onto their manager and best player especially if they wont pay the £££.

Because the money argument, in my opinion at least, shows up his "values" statement is just more bullshit from an arrogant man - if you loved the club (like he claims to), and if you had of spent the last decade being paid what he has, would you feel the need to be paid up for the last year of your contract ? This is a man that defended the extortinate price of match tickets by claiming that the team give value for those tickets, but has never felt a hypocrite for being paid one of the biggest managerial salaries (was the biggest for a few years) in the world, whilst being (at best) a second tier manager. If moaninho is the bar with which we are expecting our managers to reach, then the arsenal standards are nowhere near where they used to be

Th reason why I refer to the cartoon crest is because, in my opinion at least, changing the crest purely for money reasons, a total contradiction of this "arsenal class" myth. I have never bemoaned the lack of exposure the club gets across the world - brand awareness is not for me (nor most fans I know) even in my thoughts much less a target I expect the club to meet

Btw I fully intend getting behind the new manager - I hope and pray that the club appoint a proper manager (in other words not arteta, henry or buvac) to give us the best chance of regaining our place at the top table, but I will be bitter towards wenger for a long, long time. We did not have to decline to the level we have (even in the years where money was an issue), but his performance and refusal to fcuk off before now has seen us sink to our worst level in over 30 years

What you say makes perfect sense, but shit happens ehhh? I am not going to agree with 100% of what you say but also not disagree, the crest is a personal preference a lot of Gooners like the new one. We have had 7 or 8 different crests in our history. I am sure each change has not been met by the approval of most gooners, but hey you move on with the times.

Would love to write a comprehensive reply but we have this strange thing called sun in North London, and BBQ is beckoning!

[Clash]

Some fantastic posts here, especially the posts by Augie and Xissential.

Its all well and good saying we shouldn't feel bitter etc. but people should not be allowed to forget the things Wenger has changed. It is clear that to Wenger:

1) our way of playing wasn't what football should be about (e.g. substance over style, desire over technical ability)
2) our culture wasn't good enough (e.g. defensive solidity, passion, winning against the odds etc.)
3) other longstanding traditions were not important enough to be kept and respected (e.g. the captain choosing the length of the shirt sleeves)
4) our crowd wasn't made up of the right type of fan
5) our famous stadium wasn't good enough


To begin with, Wenger added to what we already had and those were great years. But ultimately to create what he wanted, he had to destroy what was there. And he did that.

Basically once he'd had a bit of success, all the things about the club that were not good enough were changed to how he thought they should be done. And other things of importance that he didn't care for were neglected.

Who the fuck does he think he is?

[Allgunsblazin]

Time to move on boys, the King is dead long live the King and all that!...
Looking forward to seeing who is going te replace him, and hopefully he can match or come close to what he has achieved....

[wilko49er]

What a fucking horrible day. Turned up at 4.30 on the dot to avoid the bullshit before the game. They had girls outside with fucking big Arsene picture frames for photos - pathetic. Had to do a double take at the faces in our usual area....these aren't the usual suspects.....the bastards have sold their tickets which probably means we've got a bunch of wenkerites on the go. Most of them have put on the t-shirt so they must be - fuck me you give our lot a free fucking anything and they will wear it, wave it or shove it up their arse depending on what they are told to do. Oh deep joy

The first half wasn't too bad...not huge amounts of pro-wenker singing really and the wenkers around us couldn't keep time so we were having a laugh at that. Bellerin looked pretty poor with some of his passing and for a guy who is supposed to be a whippet why does he never use that pace to take on the RB. Yesterday in the first half he wouldn't even use that pace to push on into forward areas when he was unopposed. The two CBs did well and there is maybe mileage there with the right approach. Best chant went to Burnley with - you only came for the t-shirts - spot on guys.

The whole thing felt wrong though. I have never been to a game where I felt such a disconnect with those around me. I just can't forgive TOF for pricking about with my club for the last 10 years and producing the same old same old failings
that in a highly paid sport/business is tantamount to negligence as far as I'm concerned. So instead of the planned departure about 5 minutes before the end......we fucked off at half time instead. I just could not bear the thought of sitting there for another 45 minutes listening to the converted. I just don't see success from 14 years ago as a reason for huge celebration and please don't quote FA cups - not interested - it's about far more than that.

The only saving grace was that as we were walking around the concourse there were a number of other blokes leaving in twos and threes - not a huge number but enough to make me think that we weren't the only ones sickened by proceedings yesterday. Can't wait for this time next week and TOF to be finished, gone, departed, forever, thank fuck.

Good post. But why did you bother going. It was obviously go to be a Wenger wankfest. Thats why i off loaded my ticket. Kind of a sad day as its the of an era. But that era died for me when we left Highbury. I wanted too keep my ST for better times. But abstained going. Managed to sell a few on TX. Glad he has gone. Thanks for the distant memories apart from the recent fa cups.....Next!!

[Herd]

He's almost gone ,I thought about going but prefer to be with my lil man so didn't go .
I'm glad he had a good send off ,despite his vanity he does love the club and now I can reflect on the good times ,for there were many many under him,I saw football Id never dreamed of !
Theres a lot of rebuilding to be done for the next man so lets move on now !
Au ravoir chef !

[xisstential]

There is still his send off plane at Huddersfield to keep this dream alive

I know the AKB's were aiming for one yesterday as well...I didn't watch any of it ...did they fly a plane over the Emirates yesterday??

[Jock Gooner]

Have to say I'm with Augie on the cartoon crest. Class and tradition aren't achieved by chopping and changing things because the commercial department want to. If you don't hold on to what you value then these people feel they can get away with anything and then you lose traditional items and end up with weird and wonderful away kits...then third kits etc. What next....I wonder if those stupid fans will really care if we change the first kit to pink and purple? Fuck it lets give it a try and lets flog the stadium and build a new one while we're at it. These people do not give a shit about our tradition and will happily piss it all away.

[xisstential]

Wow at this thread just wow. No doubts Wenger overstayed his welcome by a good few years, but the bitterness seems to know no bounds.

The club has retained one thing through all of this massive change in the finances of football, a touch of class in the way they do things. Vic Akers through all his service is old school, and quite rightly got a rapturous send-off. With regards to Wenger, it's been discussed to death but now is time to move on, we just have to hope the club don't fuck up on the next appointment.

I find it strange how even with the biggest Wenger hater in our fanbase, it's not hard to say let bygones be bygones and thank him for the first 10 years, rather than moan about the amount he earns. That, unfortunately, is a function of modern day football. The salaries are eyewatering.

The biggest issue we have with regards to player salaries right now is Ozil now has a long-term contract on £300k a week, with Aubameyang on half that. No one seems to moan at Ozil though after he pulls out one of his 5 decent performances a season.

Really ?? Are you that blinkered ?? Lets raise some issues then shall we ?

1. The club sues a hat shop lady in spain
2. The club changes its traditional crest for a cartoon crest, and all for the purpose of financial gain through copyright
3. The club chairman dismisses/disrespects the fans who own shares in the club, by thanking them for having an interest in his own and the boards club
4. The manager disrespected the fans that attend week in and week out and lauded the tourist fans instead by calling them real fans


We all know that there are many, many more instances where the club and manager failed to show the class that the club USED to be renown for. You can choose to bow at the feet of a once great manager, but all I see now is a greedy power hungry c.unt, who continued to stay for his own selfish reasons, and wouldnt be going now only for the fact that he was forced out. The man talks about value's of the club, but yet is taking a £10m contract pay off despite trousering almost £100m from the club in the last decade - some moral standards there all right

Why does it always come down to money with Wenger? And now he has gone are you going to start going again week in week out?

Maureen earns nearly twice as much money as Wenger and does he ever get pulled up for the crap, he forces his team's fans to watch week in week out?

With regards to the other points, I didn't know about the hat shop, to be honest, but that is quite amusing, and yes petty if true. We have had several versions of our crest through our history, I liked the old school ones from the 80s/90s but don't see how there is a problem in updating the crest to make money for the club. Commercialism has exploded in football over the last 15 years, do we just sit back and not promote brand Arsenal?

I remember when people moaned about us not getting enough exposure overseas, now we have ridiculous levels of support as a result of brand awareness and marketing all over the world, yet people still moan.

When I speak about the club, I am not referring to Kroenke or any of his cronies. They don't organise days like yesterday, that comes from deep within and something that our club has always has and will be been renowned for. I didn't chant Wenger's name once during the game yesterday but felt it was the dignified to at least applaud the man for those first 10 years, something we will be very lucky to see again in our lifetimes.

There really is no point in being bitter, you can't change the past. Let's actually now get behind the new manager and team and sort those dirty scummy spuds out first, it doesn't sit well with me being behind them for 2 years in the league. They might have a new stadium but they have the job of their lives holding onto their manager and best player especially if they wont pay the £££.

Because the money argument, in my opinion at least, shows up his "values" statement is just more bullshit from an arrogant man - if you loved the club (like he claims to), and if you had of spent the last decade being paid what he has, would you feel the need to be paid up for the last year of your contract ? This is a man that defended the extortinate price of match tickets by claiming that the team give value for those tickets, but has never felt a hypocrite for being paid one of the biggest managerial salaries (was the biggest for a few years) in the world, whilst being (at best) a second tier manager. If moaninho is the bar with which we are expecting our managers to reach, then the arsenal standards are nowhere near where they used to be

Th reason why I refer to the cartoon crest is because, in my opinion at least, changing the crest purely for money reasons, a total contradiction of this "arsenal class" myth. I have never bemoaned the lack of exposure the club gets across the world - brand awareness is not for me (nor most fans I know) even in my thoughts much less a target I expect the club to meet

Btw I fully intend getting behind the new manager - I hope and pray that the club appoint a proper manager (in other words not arteta, henry or buvac) to give us the best chance of regaining our place at the top table, but I will be bitter towards wenger for a long, long time. We did not have to decline to the level we have (even in the years where money was an issue), but his performance and refusal to fcuk off before now has seen us sink to our worst level in over 30 years

Sent you a PM Augie