How does Man City situation affect Arsenal? by Konstantin Mitov
Well lovely Arsenal, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Let’s go straight to the elephant in the room, City have been charged with over 100 accusations of breaching PL rules. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Revenue bigger than Real Madrid, Man UTD and Bayern Munich?
I don’t like oil/state backed clubs, but let’s have it clear, even if they are guilty (and in my humble opinion, they have definitely breached rules, more than once), they will do what Man City does best when they have to solve a problem – throw money at it. A lot of money if necessary. And football’s governing bodies are famous for their corruption, so we shouldn’t relax in any way based on this story.
Any potential punishments, from points deduction to radical stuff like titles removed and expulsion, are very unlcear and it’s very possible they won’t come in place before the season ends. My point is, we should remain fully focused on winning games and eradicating performances like the one at Everton.
But, people are emotional creatures and this will affect the psychology of our title tussle 100%. You could see something was wrong at City before the bombshell. Cancelo left, Pep dropping De Bruyne and Foden, I mean it is the perfect time to capitalize on that. But it could actually galvanize them. It could be the “us against the world” mentality so we must stay firmly focused on our job.
We play them in about a week. The only thing we should be focusing on is beating Brentford first and then when City come I think it’s time. I’m sick and tired of losing to them. We had them on the ropes last season before bad refereeing and individual mistakes cost us, but 6 points from the next 2 games sets us up very well for the rest of the season.
That won’t happen if we play like we did at Goodison park, that’s for sure. That performance reeked of last seasons Arsenal, and it’s also the first time we’ve lost 2 games in a row so a response is necessary, but the one reason to be optimistic is that so far we’ve responded well to disappointment.
Maybe, because we’ve been so good this year is why the first really bad performance hurts me so much, but I really want to see a flying start on Saturday 3p.m. Journos actually marked this as a blip, and we need to confirm it. If we put another stinker vs Brentford I’ll be worried, but I back the boys and I think they won’t let us down.
You know me already if you’ve been on this forum long enough. Typical me would still be moaning about that performance and it was poor, but this set of players is so likeable… Martinelli, Saka, Jesus, Gabriel, Ramsdale, Zinchenko just to name a few.
Let’s get back on track, COYG!
Konstantin
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Yes, the penalties won’t apply this season but the effect on players’ mentality could be City’s issue.
Many will be planning their next gig – and on that note, is the timing interesting? It was announced 6 days after the end of the January window, so the players are there for the season now. I wonder how much City pulled strings to avoid the announcement being made while players could still leave.
I’m not sure Cancelo is more than a coincidence since if he knew then they all knew and if that were the case then I’d expect to see more heading out the door in January.
There will almost certainly be no retrospective stripping of titles and of course they can’t let clubs into the CL retrospectively, but although the PL won’t/can’t award damages clubs can sue City in court. It will be a difficult case to make though, you’d need to be able to show the effect on their performance if City spent within the rules and also show that it meant City finishing below the club suing them. And obviously you can’t do that – you can’t guess at who they would buy if they spent a bit less or how those players would perform.
But I hope the PL has had enough of this behaviour now and are in the mood to break new ground and make the punishment fit the crime. But I won’t hold my breath, I expect their punishment will be disappointing for other clubs.
A mature, life experienced and sensible post as I HAVE COME TO EXPECT FROM YOU, IDKWIC.
Your point on Citys motivation of the presnt squad is a key one and the outcomeof this seasons title may well depend on which way if affects them. I have written extensively on the other City article by DAN, if you wish to read it.
I have endorsed much of what you say here though I make other points too in particular that I THINK A MERE FINE, ALONE, WILL NOT BE THE CASE AT ALL.
Other way of looking at it is that Pep will have the players fired up for rest of the season…them against us scenario !
Let’s see….whatever happens Arsenal have to get back to basics . Certainly teams like City and Brentford are unlikely to park the bus which suits us
Brentford though are on a hot streak and City have the wood over us … all games are important but these two especially so as people are again questioning our resolve.
COYG
I have a feeling the players of City KNOW that the club is having some shady dealings ongoing.. I mean the club pays the highest salaries, highest fees and yet the stadium is often empty.
What you are forgetting though, is the same scenario applies when we were seeing many empty seats at the Emirates under AW, UE and MA..
They were season tickets that had been paid for and the revenue was already in the coffers and don’t forget the sponsorship deals that city, along with united, have made.
We were ridiculously panned by the media for giving 60,000 match attendance, but the seats were always sold.
Ken its true, but it is, in THIS situation, just a side issue and I would much like to read YOUR detailed thoughts on what this whole City saga will mean for us and for others, if you have time please.
BTW, I have posted a long detailed post of my own on Dans other article about City.
Jon, I have read all your posts on both Dan’s and Konstantine’s articles – both of which I enjoyed reading.
In answer to your question regarding how it will affect The Arsenal, I have no idea my friend.
While we have chelsea, united and newcastle (to a lesser extent) spending money like water, we will continue to lose out on certain players, as has been the case since the PL was formed.
I hope this will be seen as a warning sign for others, but I take Pep’s words as a barometer of what managers really know about what goes on in the boardroom… and as fans (no matter what the club is) we have even less idea.
City go back a long way and their history before the oil money came along, is one that their fans should be proud of.
As you say, it will be a long, drawn out legal battle and, perhaps, you and I won’t even see the outcome!!!
But I have to say, there has been signs that all is not well at city on the field and I wonder if the grapevine was filtering down to the manager and players?
Not much more I can add to the views already given, but I really do feel for their long term supporters.
By the way, my point about crowds and empty seats was a direct reply to the point made by DaJuhi – always good to point things out, wouldn’t you say?
Thanks a lot Ken. I guess we are in agreement then. I echo your thoughts on all not being right at City and I think Haaland and in particular how he is being used as either a goalscorer or else effectively a passenger, has overall, regressed their effectiveness.
IT MIGHT SEEM CRAZY TO THINK THAT WHEN YOU LOOK AT HIS GOALS.
But I look at Citys total goals per game this season compared with previous seasons and see no real improvement there at all. And their defence is more porous now too.They often look less dangerous these days than last year.
Also agree on the dressing room and manager, plus we fans, having little or in fact ZERO knowledge of how financial matters are run from above. I foresee Pep leaving quite soon, TBH!
BTW, I did not mean to belittle your fair comment empty stadiums reply to whoever it was. It was just that I was intent on debating the City saga and other mattters seem less important somehow.
Apart from this weekends game of course. Hope to speak on phone soon!
Jon, I have replied to you, but I don’t know where it’s gone!!!!
KEN I expect it will turn up ere long.
I notice that articles just written, DO swiftly appear on the rigt hand side , under the headings listed ,but it seems to take a very long time before they actually reach the written topic site itself. Dont ask me why!
But I am really keen to know YOUR thoughts , of all people and hopefully you will have written in some in detail.
We can all only guess the outcome I suppose but I simply do not see the PL , having now issued 115 charges, and that after many years in the making , not having a watertight case , at LEAST ON ENOUGH CHARGES TO CONVICT CITY. But definitely NOT this season .
THERE IT IS JON!!!
We Don’t Need To Panic But Just Keep Calm As We Have Always Done.. It Wasn’t Arteta’s mistake And No body Expected Everton’s Losss
We looked really tired… Can’t even single out any player who had courage to go forward… Arsenal were simply awful to say the least!!!
I think it will galvanise their players to get behind the club and in my opinion has come at the wrong time for us, especially playing them midweek after a fixture against Brentford, having just lost to Everton. People will be saying that we will beat Brentford easily but they also said that about Everton.
In my opinion, if found guilty on just half of the 101 charges, City will face massive sanctions from the PL, not just fines but a minimum of points deductions (next season, not retrospectively) possibly player contracts being cancelled and/ or, even relegation.
We should have played our first 11 against City in FA Cup
After I read the post-match reports I’m not convinced that it was about resting players. After the match Guardiola said in an interview that he was surprised by Arsenal’s tactics of one to one marking.
So it could’ve been a case of picking the team best suited to playing that way?
My thoughts go out to the city supporters on this scebario.
Imagine if it were us and we, as. Fans, just followed the club from the terraces.
If they are guilty, then I hope the punishment will be aimed at the owners and not the fanbase and before anyone says they knew what was going on – no they didn’t, just as we don’t know the intricate details of how our club is run.
Good point and I am with you.
I agree Ken – as far as the real fans go, those like yourself who’ve followed their home club from childhood.
But so many top sides have a lot of plastic fans who’ve jumped on the bandwagon and I don’t have much sympathy for them.
That accusation could be levelled at me, I know, but I was a fan of the style of football Wenger brought in, not only its success in the early years. And I’m as much a fan of the way Arteta is playing equally stylish attacking football now and succeeding with it in the modern game.
IDKWIC, it’s not how long one has supported a club, it’s whether or not it becomes part of one’s life.
The fact that it was AW’s wonderful football teams that got you into The Arsenal is really not the issue.
It’s if you support the club through thick and thin, for better or worse, through sickness and in health, forsaking all others and keep the faith….like being married I suggest! 👰
My wife thinks that is the case anyway and who am I to argue?
I think you have caught the bug, that’s for sure!!
The punishment should fit the crime, and those who are responsible; not the fans. I’m pessimistic and feel that fines will be the majority of the punishment which City owners could easily pay.
I’m doubtful that relegation will even be considered, and skeptical of points deduction of any meaningful measure.
Massive fines, oversight of their sponsorships and financial transactions, and a hard spending cap are likely outcomes.
At the very least I hope this will be used to justify changing the rules around reporting requirements so that clubs can no longer obstruct investigations.
If the PL can see a snapshot of a club’s position that’s up to date whenever they want, that would prevent the kind of flagrant abuses that City have been up to (and which I think Chelsea may also be up to now).
And suddenly every Arsenal fan upset at the way Stan runs the club has to eat a bit of humble pie. Same goes for Levy. Unpopular guys but if their refusal to play along with the likes of City and Chelsea keeps us clean then it is hard to be too upset. Not that we are exactly low spenders but when you have Todd Boehly over at Chelsea making Abromovich look like a tight arse and chucking 300m + during the January window it maybe we shouldn’t be too harsh on old Stan.
Absolutely agree and I think Stanley Kronkie will be ultra carefull after he got his fingers burnt moving his franchise to LA.
I believe he is becoming a very good and sensible owner.
I don’t know why some people are surprised. I’m surprised this charges didn’t come sooner. With a stadium smaller than Man Utd, Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool, with fanbase only accumulated after Arab money and with no CL trophies, I wonder how much financial drugging the owners done especially with countless expensive buys and wages. Man City are equally guilty as the Chelsea owners(previous and existing) in destroying English football.
At a capacity of 53,000 plus, with plans submitted to increase that above 60,000, I wouldn’t underestimate the true fanbase of one of the most loyal supporters in the PL.
Again, it’s the owners who have brought this upon themselves and I fully expect chelsea to be looked at again as well.
By the way, we have no CL trophies either!!!
One thing I’ve yet to understand is how much of the financial dealings constitute ongoing debt for City as a club.
If the owners were putting their own money in they can do a lot more than if they’re lending it to the club, so the fact that there are charges at all suggests that the owners are lending money not giving it (I don’t follow much about City other than their results so I’m not aware of their finances to the same extent as Arsenal’s).
The significance is the position it leaves City in when they depart. The future may not be rosy for them.
Konstantin, you’re suggesting that City will bribe the Premier League to get out of this situation. I’m very surprised that the Just Arsenal moderator let that one through, as the PL may be a lot of unpleasant things, but they are not corrupt.
Yes, City will throw money at it, but only in the direction of their lawyers who will slow this down by obfuscating and time-wasting on every one of the 100+ points until they get the huge fine and wrist slap that will get them the satisfactory result.
JAX I am truly surprised that you saw in Konstantins article, any hint of him saying what you allege. I SAW NO SUCH MEANING AND I READ IT CAREFULLY TWICE THROUGH. He merely mentioned that authorites are corrupt where money is concerned. THAT was IMO no more than a general comment and he made no such implication , at least not in my eyes, about our Prem league accepting a supposed “CITY BRIBE”( your words!).
It simply was not said, old son. You imagined or at least misconstrued it !
I’ve got a number of friends who are Chelsea fans and they all talk with great fondness of the year they had the transfer ban and Lampard made them competitive with a bunch of academy players.
I swear the PL would be a much happier and competitive place if they dialled the greed and money back from 11.
Sometimes I really wish I could give up this obsession and just go down the road to watch my local Conference South team…
Voyageur, read my reply to IDKWIC at 4.11 and just accept you have been hooked, lined and suckered 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I feel the same way Voyageur.
I saw a documentary recently which said that the Celtic side who were the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967 were all born within 3 miles* of their stadium… that’s real football.
* I think it was 3 miles from memory, but whatever, it was very close to it.
The truth is, we have no idea how it will affect us because we dont know how we would do without it all. Plus the last time City were under investigation from Europe, they went on a run and won loads. Players should not and will not involve themselves in how the club is run but do their job, whatever.
I agree Reggie, but the owners biggest concern must be the comments by Pep and his threat to leave if these allegations are proven.
Wow. I hadn’t seen that. He won’t be alone either, I suspect there’ll be a punishment to deter other clubs from doing the same – and it’s not City’s first offence.
I can see them getting put in the 4th tier and a transfer-in ban. That would see a mass exodus. The only reason they might not do that is because the owners might pull the plug and leave City massively in debt, so the punishment should be hitting the owners more than the club.
Ken i believe Pep is involved in back hand payments. I may be wrong but that is what i have been told. Obviously being accused and being guilty are different.
Not heard that Reggie.
My only reaction would be WHY?
Also, if that’s the case, then one would think that some of the players would be involved.
A can of worms and Pandora’s box is well and truly opened!!
Arsene’s warnings and belief about this, is now becoming a reality.
Reggie , extremely unlikely for two good reasons. Firstly, Pep is an honourable man IMO and all his life til now he has been a winner but also a decent man and clean as a whistle, IMO.
SECONDLY, iT WOULD BE TOTALLY STUPID, WHICH HE PATENTLY IS NOT, TO PUT HIS CAREER AT RISK FOR MERE MONEY WHEN HE IS ALREADY FABULOUSLY RICH. Not even a chance you are right.
Oh so you dont know about Guadiolla, the pandora files and his little tax avoidance scheme. £500,000 hidden away in an offshore bank account. Yes really honorable. NOT!!!!!!!
And for a self proclaimed so called intelligent man, who is joining in a conversation about footballs integrity or lack of, the greedy world of football, to use the word honorable about football, or one of its employees, is foolish in the extreme.
Your post in fact says that ALL footballers and ALL its employees are not honourable. That is so far from the truth as to be an incredible position totake SOME players and SOME employees are certainly bent. But ALL OF THEM? That is crazy!!