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AGM: Was that really an AGM?

Posted by :devday On : October 27, 2011
8

Category: Arsenal, Thoughts

Yesterday was the AGM (the annual one, not the ones in between)… and it was an informative AGM to some degree but at the same time, it was a bit of a run of the mill marketing exercise from the management. I don’t mean to devalue the meeting, but hearing Stan Kroenke, Ivan Gazidis, Peter Hill Wood and Arsene Wenger say pretty much the same thing, but in 4 different ways isn’t quite what an AGM is all about.

Putting that aside, the fact that they all did come and listen to the questions and the fact that we had so many representatives down there was quite impressive. Our ever present @j1mm7t was present and reporting live from The Emirates. The start of the AGM was a little more heated that you would have thought – particularly towards Ivan Gazidis and Peter Hill Wood.

The problem of course is down to our start of the season, and multiple losses – coupled with the departure of Nasri & Cesc to two teams who seem to be doing very well… but in the last month, our form has turned around and the mood has changed a bit. Perhaps it’s quite timely that this AGM didn’t happen a month ago.

Arsene summed up the start of the season, and it did seem to add perspective to what has been an awful start.

“Not many people at the moment are behind us, but I believe we can be a positive surprise so let’s stand behind the team this season. We started at the Emirates this season with a very difficult environment because people were very sceptical, but they understood two things – firstly if they do not get behind the team we have no chance, and secondly they have realised that this team has the right attitude and spirit. Even during the difficult periods in the last few home games, the fans have been absolutely fantastic and behind the team. It is time to realise that, yes, times are more difficult, but yes we can still be successful under one condition, that we all stand behind the team, and are united. Then at the end of the season, we will see where we stand. If we give absolutely everything and fight together for every single game in every single competition we can still look back at the end of the season and be proud of our attitude and what we have achieved,” he said.

And the boss is right – but the major question is why we had these issues. Why did it take all summer to sort out a very simple set of transfers. The problem is that this mad management of transfers seems to happen every year. Either we don’t strengthen in the right places or we strengthen too late and find ourselves a month behind the rest of the Premiership.

After the AGM, the interviews with the supporters who attended were clearly abject, with many supporters questioning the direction. I personally think that’s a bit harsh on the management – it seems like a lot of people want everything and forget the efforts that it will take to get there.

The speeches at the AGM have been made public & free on Arsenal’s website, so check it out if you can:

http://player.arsenal.com/home/player/1117-wenger-at-the-agm

I’ll be back tomorrow for the big Chelsea vs Arsenal preview…

devday

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  • JayJayGooner

    I agree, not too sure what was gained from the meeting. Seemed like a lot of discontent.

    Interesting news about Van Persie though, let’s hope we can sign him up quick quick.

  • robin

    The only heartening aspect of the AGM farce is that AW received an ovation (deserved) and Hill-Wood was heckled (even more deserved). Mr K’s promise to ‘stay around’ is as empty as his claim to be a fan. He is a businessman plain and simple; with gates dwindling, with qualification for CL (if we are honest) unlikely and with sole ownership blocked by Usmanov, it is hard to see how he can he can ever cover the interest on the money he has borrowed, let alone make a profit. Hopefully, the next (and last) time we sse him will be Jan, welcoming Mr U as the new owner.

  • devday

    There are mixed reports about Van Persie – apparently no-one said he is signing a contract but Arsene said he wanted to keep VP!

  • niech

    What a load of horse shit. Same old crap year after year. When will someone be held accountable?

    PHW is a complete fucking waste of space. If he had a decent bone in his body he’d step down after it was made perfectly clear that nobody wants him at the club anymore.

    Stan’s “speech” was of someone who actually doesn’t give a toss about the football club, but only cares about his investment.

    Wenger said trust the team and they’re a good team and blah blah blah same thing we’ve heard for the last four years.

  • niech

    Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Wenger gets a rousing reception.
    Gets to feed us more garbage about our inability to compete with the big resources teams (whilst failing to mention he earns more than all their managers, and failing to mention he has continued to spend a net of sod all in the market and botched the Mata transfer).

    He gets to tell us ‘we need to be united’ but will be the first to dismiss fans on television when pressured.

    I cannot believe the lack of pressure this man is under. This is like a sick twisted joke now. EVERY YEAR Wenger pulls the wool over fans’ eyes, and they swallow it, ask nothing (not all, but many) and just carry on.

    The latest charade is that it’s all the board’s fault apparently Rolling Eyes
    Yep. They put Almunia in goal for 4 years, they gave Diaby his contract extension, they refuse to appoint a defensive coach, they spent £14 mil on Oxpot-Chambermaid, they blew their load on Arteta etc, they lost the CC final to Brum pfffft….

    Wenger shoulda been heckled. He HAS to be made to know that the fans – the proper ones – are disgusted by his performance, his arrogance and his shocking inaction over the summer transfer window and that the fans will no longer stand for it.

    At least, I’m pretty sure this is how it would work at a big club.

    At AWFC?

    He gets a fucking OVATION! Shocked

  • robin

    I’ve long ago lost my respect for the gang of three, the triangle of doom that are kronke, gazidas and hillwood. Listening to them bleat on and on about how well they are running the club makes me sick to the stomach. A well run club does not has it’s best players leaving in droves year after year. It won’t has the 1st team performance getting progressively worse with each passing year. Conceding all those late goals was frustrating, conceding 4 2nd half goals at Newcastle was a hard pill to swallow but getting thrashed 8-2 was unforgivable. A well run club my foot. As for Wenger, the king of spin, by his own admission he accepts full responsibility for our self sustaining model. Does it means he was given funds but refused to buy? If it does he should be hung out to dry. He’s now even pleading with us to trust him. Really? I take it that he will now work on the defence to prevent more goals from set pieces? Or that he will finally drop Walcott after 5 useless years on the wings. Or he will strengthen in areas that need strengthening? Trust has got to be earn Mr Wenger.

  • robin

    Wenger stuck his head in the sand and denied Fabregas and Nasri were leaving right up until the day they both left. He has done nothing about our aerial weakness which has cost us goal after goal for the past 6 years, it even cost us a goal as recently as Saturday, and he has done nothing about bringing in a quality striker to take the weight off van Persie. Chamakh has proved a disaster even allowing for the fact that he was free he still cost too much. This is the scenario going into the transfer window, Wenger had only bought Gervinho who isn’t by any means a top player. We needed players before Fabregas and Nari left after they both jumped ship as fast as they could Wenger still did nothing. When you make deadline day signings and you are so desperate that you don’t even bother with medicals it tells me Wenger had no intention of signing anyone until the BofD twisted his arm. As for Steve Rowley that was reported in the press, appeared on a number of Arsenal websites and was even reported on here by a relative of the man himself. When you have no plan for replacing quality players that you know are leaving it’s bad management, nothing else.

  • Berth

    Robin your statement is so unnecessary now. Thought fans would have moved on by now