Having been driven around in taxis and having many pairs of shoes reheeled, I have come across huge numbers of arsenal fans over the years , I never liked them, but you do get listening to them and you sometime wonder if what is going on in north London right now is not that different to what is happening over here in the garden of London. Arsenal like us, have always lorded it, quite correctly, over their less than attractive neighbours. Now I believe whatever problems we may have at our club, these problems are compounded by the apparent success of neighbouring clubs. In short, many fans (not singling out anyone here, dicky) are consumed by jealousy. And now mainly due to the efforts of one single player on each team, the Wayne's and Waynetters, of our particular side of the Thames are appearing to overtake and become the major players in the manor. What do the fans do? Well Arsenal fans have a screaming fit and your would have thought the club was sold to gypsies last week given the complete show of panic and hysteria. They demand the club buy players, they let it be known they have 120 million to spend, thereby increasing transfer fees in the process and generally behave like spoiled brats demanding that the board spend money. They go on talk shows screaming rage and brimstone on the board,Ignoring of course, the fantastic stadium, they have, the sound financing of the club and the previous successful years under a manager that perhaps could be regarded as the most astute business manager ever to manage a PL club, after Alan C of course. They create a crisis. Some cafc fans are less subtle. They see the suspension of the catering manager as the Armageddon and the flooding on Saturday as a biblical sign. They form a supporters trust, because, well I am not sure why, but they do. They act like the Westboro Babtist Church praying for a takeover, rubbishing the Board, perhaps even starting rumours like the players not getting paid, and the ground being sold to create homes for traffic wardens. They too forget that just two years ago, this club was spinning rapidly towards administration, and the fourth division. They too create a crisis. Is is not the case that both sets of fans should be careful for what you wish for? A phrase that this club has already been associated with for another 'crisis' that was in truth a minor bump in the road and we are still paying for dearly.
I'd compare Arsenal fans more to the Charlton fans who wanted Curbs out because he'd taken us as far as we could- we needed someone who could take us to the next level. They were unrepresentative yet they were the ones who got on the phone-ins, they are remembered out of all proportion. Typical- if you are not alarmed by the contract situation, how do you read it?
fHB I have not seen or fully understand the FPP regs that have come in recently, but they are quite a kick in the plums for players that are below PL standard and in many occasions players will actually be a lot worse off, particularly renewing contracts as D 1 players into championship. It may be that the players have been advised by their agents not to renew contracts until the regs are law and approved. Equally the club are obviously waiting for the legal position to become clear. This is not new to cafc, lots of other clubs and players are stalling on contracts. Equally, how many players at cafc are worthy of a three year deal? I can think of three players. When you think a three year contract is about 380,000 a year, throwing contracts around on underperforming players is bad business. To be fair, we are talking up Solly here but has any club really be sniffing for him and according to the rumour starters we need the cash? We don't give this board enough credit. Look at their pedigree. I agree they seem uninterested but they look at money like I look at boobs. Aways fascinated and want more. They are not going to let a sound investment just crumble away, it's inconceivable, that they have overlooked contracts here without a plan B, C and Z. Soem are critical of their lack of passion for cafc, I think that may be their strength, when money is involved with sound astute businessmen with proven track records, losing shed loads on a club won't happen. This club was previously run by fans, like Murray and Everett who made a complete balls up of it, they were passionate but blind. Their pride got us into this mess. I understand Murray still holds a nice little golden egg at the club and of course, Rick just wants to sue the club, such is his concern for our financial position.
I am with you on the Trust business. I question the motives of some involved. The whole idea feels a bit like peeing into the face of a hurricane. Its a response to our situation I suppose, just one that will always be hopelessly underpowered. You also have to accept that there is a section of our support who love nothing better than setting up yet another committee. As long as they have the best seats on it. You can just picture some of them at the outbreak of WW2, "Hitler has invaded Poland.....this calls for a new committee.....can I be pictured sitting next to the richest person on it?"
Typical- I agree with a lot of what you say, but still can't make sense of so many contracts, including the management's, running down simultaneously. Church has been given a 2-year contract, presumably because he is on lower wages than his team-mates. So the owners are saying by implication that nearly everyone at the club is overpaid. It also appears to me that they are prepared to risk relegation in order to make the wage bill sustainable. Hardly an ideal working environment. Surely a more sensible way of doing this would be to trim the size of the squad, with the development squad players being used as back-up? This would also give a bit of continuity to the whole set-up, and give great encouragement to those players. This would need the manager to embrace these restrictions, which doesn't seem to be the case with The Doctor, who was saying publicly after our last 2 signings that he hoped to be able to sign more players. So this also tells us that communication between CP and MS is piss-poor, and CP doesn't strike me as being a poor communicator.
I agree vastly with what you say Typical, but the contract thing bafles me, and I can't see anything good behind it. However, things have changed in both camps a bit now. Arsenal have got a couple of wins, which should calm them down, while we had a 3-1 half time defeat postponed,which shows that God loves us. Crisis, what crisis?
We have a fat Cnut who runs our trust. It was started as an anti bates petition, Bates left and 7990 "trust members" forgot they joined this free to join clique. Now we have fat Gary cooper claiming to speak on behalf of all fans when most of us wish he would **** off and start following his local team hull tigers. Get your trust either on a democratic footing or wound up ASAP. It will turn into animal farm if you piss about.
I totally agree there glory H. As joe Pesci said in Casino "you never put street guys in charge of something so valuable as a casino(football club) This lot are no exception, rebels without a clue. The trust is a front for a bovril smuggling operation anyway run by weedy men in cardigans and gola trainers.
I simply don't know what the board are up to. It may be that they have a war chest and not told rick about it. It may be that the board have spoken to the players in confidence and ask them to earn or prove their worth, or some have already signed a confidentiality agreement with the club. Our club grass has left and we have no glass to the wall anymore. We simply don't know why, but I am honestly not that bothered, the players cannot be that stupid, the better you perform, the more likely you are to get a new contract, play badly and it's Millwall time.
Given the Club is said to owe up to £10m in soft loans to Richard Murray alone, let alone debts to the banks, I just don't see how a Trust can help us. What is Richard Murray's view on the Trust ? Presumably someone would ask him, because at face value a Trust takeover would seem his least likely route to ever getting his money back.
"Some cafc fans are less subtle. They see the suspension of the catering manager as the Armageddon and the flooding on Saturday as a biblical sign. They form a supporters trust, because, well I am not sure why, but they do. They act like the Westboro Babtist Church praying for a takeover, rubbishing the Board, perhaps even starting rumours like the players not getting paid, and the ground being sold to create homes for traffic wardens. They too forget that just two years ago, this club was spinning rapidly towards administration, and the fourth division. They too create a crisis." Thanks guys but when exactly has any of the founders of CAS Trust done anything like the above? Interested to see any sort of evidence for any of the above, but then don't let that stop you casting aspersions just because you don't see the need for a Trust. Cheers BR
fact is chaps CAS trust has done more than any group to help our football club, than anyone just forming a committee or whinging from their keyboard or perhaps belittling the hard work of others. We have got out on the streets, and tried to do positive work talking to the fans, and engaging with CAFC. ACV is just one, thing more will come, but pray let me ask what any of you who moan about people wanting to help and protect our club - not a lot I am guessing. The fact that no-one did it before is precisely why we needed to do it this time, and whether you choose to accept it or not (again don't let facts get in the way) CAS Trust is almost entirely new people to any incarnation or attempt previously, including myself.
I am with you on the Trust business. I question the motives of some involved. The whole idea feels a bit like peeing into the face of a hurricane. Its a response to our situation I suppose, just one that will always be hopelessly underpowered. You also have to accept that there is a section of our support who love nothing better than setting up yet another committee. As long as they have the best seats on it. You can just picture some of them at the outbreak of WW2, "Hitler has invaded Poland.....this calls for a new committee.....can I be pictured sitting next to the richest person on it?" What on earth are you talking about? How does sitting next to a board member (not technically true) anyway constitute anything like this. How exactly should CAS Trust engage with CAFC Board, would you prefer it to be in the smokey back rooms? I'm genuinely interested in how exactly you think CAS Trust should conduct itself
Raz Firstly, well done for taking the time and effort to.go through with the Trust. I bought your last publication. My comment about committees was aimed at the people I suspect we both know who love nothing better than sitting on one to get noticed. We have had loads over the years on all manner of subjects from making the Valley a nuclear free zone, to achieving the highest quota of trans gender ball boys.sorry..persons. They achieve very little in reality apart from boosting the egos of those involved. The Trust is different, but have you or any of your members sought Richard Murrays view on it ?
Yes, not sure why you ask? RM was instrumental in 'getting us into the boardroom' nice lambshank it was too... But seriously I doubt if any kind of engagement (with a fan group like the trust) would have occurred without his support, I believe assisted by our thoughtful and positive approach. Whatever you think about the trust or what it can achieve please don't make assumptions that are unfounded about genuine committed and very hardworking people who want the best for our club.
