Van Persie saga, officially not extending contract.

[ThomasMitchell]

Wenger once again made to look a fool by his star player, and this time rvp has confirmed the clubs lack of ambition for his reason for not signing a contract.
We need to get rid of the cancer that is destroying the club, ie wenger and the whole board, because at the end of the day they are one in the same.

Totally correct. Time is up for Wenger. The line we were always fed about "the top players will leave if Wenger goes" has finally been exposed for the joke that it is. The best players are leaving because he remains. A manager well past his sell by date and a board that have reverted to the days when the Club showed zero ambition for success. Shame on all involved. But don't worry, Wenger will still be cheered to the rafters next season by the ‘real fans’ because Arsenal Football Club did not exist before he came along did it?

[swimmer1]

Can't beleive most people think Rvp is doing the right thing club captain announcing things on his website class act did not see cesc Henry or veira doing that at least they showed a bit of class

[RioGooner]

Ridiculous statement from Arsenal now. He'll ba obviously sold, they probably just want to squeeze some extra money out of the asian tour.

Worst part of all this comotion is to see the self proclaimed paladins of Arsenal's best interest ( AST ppl) lining up with the board and saying everything is alright, it's not that bad

What do you expect them to say ?

I actually don't expect shit from them, as i know they only do it for personal glorification, but It's really sad to see that Kroenke and co. can do whatever they want and most of the fans will applaud it.

[Dan_85]

Can't beleive most people think Rvp is doing the right thing club captain announcing things on his website class act did not see cesc Henry or veira doing that at least they showed a bit of class

Hmmm.... Cesc faked an injury, went on strike and paid out of his own pocket to leave the club.

[franksav63]

If last season's transfers (in and out) didn't just underline Wenger's last few season's reign then surely this has, if class players are jumping ship then really Wenger should show some bollocks and fuck off. Knowing our luck, Walcott will probably sign a contract extension...

[Jock Gooner]

At his age I'm not really bothered about whether he stays as long as we get some serious money for him and it is invested over and above what we have already paid for the 2 new boys. Would be quite happy to do a players + cash deal with Man City if we got Adam Johnson as part of it. Is it me or was it fate that in his penultimate season RVP managed to go through it injury free and scoring aplenty (when he wants in fact). Guarantee hes back on the treatment table next season where ever he is.... in fact that's probably quite a good reason why he wants to get away from Arsenal

When's it going to sink in? How many times before Arsenal fans see what's going on?

Only too well aware of what is going on my friend but I can still express my hopes. The club is now a business first and a footie club second as we all know. You wont find too many examples of change at Arsenal, the last serious change I can remember is back in the 80s when half the North Bank was chanting for Terry Neill to stay and the other half wanted him out and Don Howe in. After a few weeks and some shit results the board acted. But life was so much simpler back then when there were only 25000 of us turning up each week, so if you expect a revolution at the club with the current support base and a healthy waiting list too, good luck mate...sink in, wise up

[Zimgooner]

Good job Robin Van Persie has stated he is leaving. .....he's done us all a favour.

This is what I and many people have been saying that we are not happy with the direction the club are taking. There seems to be an obsession with making money...... giving directors huge bonuses & redistributing earnings to shareholders through large dividends. The most obvious is also that Arsenal are very much keen to keep raising share price & lowering gearing so that directors continue to reap the benefits.

Arsenal are nothing but a cash cow. Forget about the factory worker fan that wears the Arsenal heart on the sleeve & sacrifices their earnings to go to a game....its just a fucking business like any other. We have the dearest tickets in the country, we pay the least wages & generate massive fortunes from player sales. Where is the money going?

Van Persie has had enough of this shit and I applaud him for coming out instead of letting this drag on and on like a soap. If the board really care about us and changing the perception of the club, they have to do something to address RvP & the fans' concerns. The incompetence of a board to let our best players go into the last two years of their contract is unbelievable. You would have thought they learnt their lessons with Nasri but they keep repeating the same odd shit. Mark my words, Diaby will turn up in 2013/2014 season injury free when he is in the last year of his contract, play a blinder a fuck off. We keep getting mugged the same way cause we never fucking learn & we deserve to be.I hope Wenger does something soon & get this mess sorted. RvP has done all fans a huge favour to expose this nonsense early on in the transfer window.

[arseofacrow]

At his age I'm not really bothered about whether he stays as long as we get some serious money for him and it is invested over and above what we have already paid for the 2 new boys. Would be quite happy to do a players + cash deal with Man City if we got Adam Johnson as part of it. Is it me or was it fate that in his penultimate season RVP managed to go through it injury free and scoring aplenty (when he wants in fact). Guarantee hes back on the treatment table next season where ever he is.... in fact that's probably quite a good reason why he wants to get away from Arsenal

When's it going to sink in? How many times before Arsenal fans see what's going on?

Only too well aware of what is going on my friend but I can still express my hopes. The club is now a business first and a footie club second as we all know. You wont find too many examples of change at Arsenal, the last serious change I can remember is back in the 80s when half the North Bank was chanting for Terry Neill to stay and the other half wanted him out and Don Howe in. After a few weeks and some shit results the board acted. But life was so much simpler back then when there were only 25000 of us turning up each week, so if you expect a revolution at the club with the current support base and a healthy waiting list too, good luck mate...sink in, wise up

Me - expect a revolution? When? Where?

And it's your hopes which are hopeless mate.

[Jock Gooner]

At his age I'm not really bothered about whether he stays as long as we get some serious money for him and it is invested over and above what we have already paid for the 2 new boys. Would be quite happy to do a players + cash deal with Man City if we got Adam Johnson as part of it. Is it me or was it fate that in his penultimate season RVP managed to go through it injury free and scoring aplenty (when he wants in fact). Guarantee hes back on the treatment table next season where ever he is.... in fact that's probably quite a good reason why he wants to get away from Arsenal

When's it going to sink in? How many times before Arsenal fans see what's going on?

Only too well aware of what is going on my friend but I can still express my hopes. The club is now a business first and a footie club second as we all know. You wont find too many examples of change at Arsenal, the last serious change I can remember is back in the 80s when half the North Bank was chanting for Terry Neill to stay and the other half wanted him out and Don Howe in. After a few weeks and some shit results the board acted. But life was so much simpler back then when there were only 25000 of us turning up each week, so if you expect a revolution at the club with the current support base and a healthy waiting list too, good luck mate...sink in, wise up

Me - expect a revolution? When? Where?

And it's your hopes which are hopeless mate.

Happy days then, no revolution, no hope.....we're all doomed.

[LeGinge (Northern Branch)]

Made a note in my diary – simply said “Bugger”

[QuartzGooner]

Ridiculous statement from Arsenal now. He'll ba obviously sold, they probably just want to squeeze some extra money out of the asian tour.

Worst part of all this comotion is to see the self proclaimed paladins of Arsenal's best interest ( AST ppl) lining up with the board and saying everything is alright, it's not that bad

What do you expect them to say ?

"We the board and management of Arsenal football club wish Robin Van Persie all the best at his new club. We totally understand why he wants to leave, it is because we are good enough to get third place but a clear distance short of challenging for the title. Money has been a bit tight since we decided to build the new stadium, so we have focussed on developing younger players at the behest of our manager, perhaps a bit too much.

The European economy is in a precarious position, so we have taken it upon ourselves to aim to stockpile the total cash needed to pay off our stadium bonds, because we dread missing a repayment and losing our credit rating. We cannot pay the bonds off early because the financial penalties would be too much, but once we have amassed the total repayment amount we can then pay off the stadium every year until 2031 without worry. We will also then be able to invest in new players over and above the small amount we have since 2005.

Until that point is reached we apologise for getting your hopes up each summer, but what else could we do? Season tickets remain frozen in price, unless you are a club level member or silver member. Sorry about that.

Please enjoy the promising youth players coming through, and remember that even when Financial Fair Play rules fully take effect we will be at a disadvantage against clubs owned by mega-billionaires, who will likely find a way around the rules. But we will be a bit better off than now so will probably win a domestic cup or two. Up the Gunners!"

[Skooner]

Delighted RVP has said what he did. I believe he is genuine and has just told the truth. Some people find it unprofessional that a club captain would be so openly critical of the club, but I don't see what harm he has done. In my opinion the club is being run unprofessionally and if he left and said nothing then people would query if it is about money.

He may have even been partly motivated to say it in public in the hope that it actually influences to change course and ultimately he'll perform a Rooney style change of heart. It won't of course but at least he tried.

Good luck RVP where ever you end up

[Supagoon]

I'll be honest with you i'm not bothered about RVP as a player, I've seen great players play for arsenal and he doesn't really register.

But the fact is this club has no ambition, they believed they could exist as a big club fleecing the fans to pay off the club debts. They even tried to convince everybody that trophies are not in football.

Quite frankly as long as kroenke is in charge this will continue to happen, good luck signing players now.

This club keeps planning for a tomorrow that may not even come.

[flash gunner]

Thank god RVP has put us out of our misery......

Wenger and Gazidis hang your fucking heads in shame

[ThomasMitchell]

Just read Robin's statement. It is clear what he is saying. The Club no longer has any ambition. They are not interested in taking the necessary steps to strengthen the squad and improve our chances of winning trophies. Good for him for saying what he said. Wenger and Gazidis and the rest of the Board are a disgrace. Let's hope the fans who still believe in this shambolic regime finally wake up to reality. I utterly despise the people that run our Club at the moment. Of course they made him stay quiet until the season ticket renewals rolled in.