Moshiri talks down Arsenal and gets it wrong anyway
WHEN men who speak publicly as inferequently as Farhad Moshiri do speak, you need to look at why he is speaking as much as what he is saying.
His over the phone interview given to sportsweek yesterday smacked to me of a naked attempt to destabilise the club and to fracture the relationship between the current board and the supporters.
Let us remember Farhad Moshiri is not so much Alisher Usmanov’s business associate as the other man involved in the Russian’s initial purchase of Arsenal shares. He is, essentially, Usmanov. Two years ago when they first got involved, I did some digging on him.
He calls the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor “worrying” and says he would have preferred him to go to any other club. Back on planet earth the reality is that a year ago our front line read RVP, Eduardo, Bendtner, Adebayor. Now it reads RVP, Eduardo, Bendtner, Arshavin. And £12 odd million.
As for the argument of going anywhere other than City, it’s going to take a hell of a lot for me to believe Emmanuel Adebayor will be the difference between us finishing above or below them. Hell, there is even an argument that they are a club with the finances to buy infinitely better strikers than Adebayor and we should be thankful he is all they have snaffled.
One other point Moshiri made that I’ll dispute now (there are others) is the assertion the fans feel nobody has replaced David Dein in the transfer market. Maybe I’m missing something but I’ve yet to meet a Gooner not impressed by Ivan Gazidis.
Will we miss Adebayor? To an extent, yes. Does it open the door to others? Again, yes. Does Wenger need to buy a striker? Not really and certainly not as much as he needs a midfielder. Will he buy a striker? Quite possibly, because he loves attackers above anything else.
Things get interesting over the next seven days. The past five or so have been when the season’s hard graft has gone in on the training field. Now we have four games in a week and by next Monday we will know a lot more about what Wenger has in mind for this season.
If no midfielder does arrive, I think we may see a fair bit more of Ramsey.
27 July 2009 at 5:17 am
am sorry but i have a lot of faith in alex song. the way he played the second half of the season, he looked miles ahead of some midfielders we get linked with. we might end up needing numbers in that role though.
27 July 2009 at 5:24 am
A total ownage of a post and a great read. Well done!
27 July 2009 at 5:32 am
As distasteful as this Moshiri and his partner (may be/are) – they seem to have a basic understanding of how risky this strategy of selling first team player(s) to City is.
What happens to Arsenal with one year out of the Champions League places? Two? Would Cesc stay? Arshavin? van Persie? and down the line – they’d all leave for better wages and champions league football.. And what about Wenger? One season out of Europe would see a loss of revenue of as much as £50M in terms of television funds and matchday revenue.
The reality is that Ade is capable of staying fit and hitting 20 league goals. van Persie has manager the former once in four seasons and the closest he has come to the latter in 11 goals last season and in 06/07. As for Eduardo, we all have got to hope (and if you’re partial to it pray) that he can get and stay fit. Unfortunately, the reality is that he will at a minimum need to be used carefully this season. And for that matter Wenger determined last season that RvP could not start two matches in a week. Behind those two primary strikers we have Arshavin who is needed on the left and Bendtner who has real promise, but may not be capable of shouldering the responsibility of life as the primary striker. Then there is the often brilliant Vela who the Boss doesn’t seem to comfortable using and hasn’t mentioned much this summer.
Why not sell Ade to Milan, Inter, Juve for around £14-15M. It’s a great return on our initial purchase price and we aren’t selling to a direct rival. City might be described as our only rival and the Board’s current business plan is to finish in the CL spots and hope for silverware if possible. Are Liverpool selling any first team starters to City? Let alone United or Chelsea?
If we sell them Toure, then we’ll be left with 1. Gallas 2. Vermaelen 3. Djourou 4. Senderos 5. Silvestre 6. Song at CB. We would be blessed to rid ourselves of the Silvestre. Senderos should leave for his our benefit. There is every sign that Gallas will leave come next summer. We cannot afford to strengthen City and weaken ourselves again. If Wenger and the board have decided that Toure’s time is up, that we need to rid ourselves of the last invincible, then let him head to Milan, Juve or Barca for £7-8M. It’s another fantastic return on a player rumored to have cost as little as £300k and we don’t improve our only real rival for European football.
If we have an economic need to cover expected losses on the Highbury development, why not offer the property to Kroenke (noted real estate developer)? He is the Man the Board have selected as our future principal owner and certainly the small shareholders would welcome that demonstration of commitment.
Usmanov and his Moshiri are clearly trying to get supporters and whatever small shareholders they can on their side, the current Board can stop this from happening by providing capital for investment in the playing squad. However, that would require either loaning the club personal funds below market (Fiszman/Kroenke) or potentially diluting the value of the shares by seeking outside capital…
It appears that Wenger does not have an actual transfer budget. Any look at his net spending over both the short and long-term appears to indicate that not only have the Board decided that the club should be self-sustainable, but more controversially that Wenger should create his own transfer fund through sales…
Adebayor should not have been sold to City. And neither should Toure be sold to them. Just because Usmanov and Moshiri are right about this doesn’t make them the answer to our problematic finances.
27 July 2009 at 6:03 am
I disagree with you, Clockwatcher. Goodplaya has this right.
If we buy a ball-winning, aggressive, high-energy, tough-tackling midfielder we will win the league with the squad we have – and that includes not replacing Adebayor.
Usmanov will plunge the club into real, unsustainable debt (like at Leeds) and, crucially, will want to interfere into the manager’s job (like at Chelsea and Hearts). Both he and Dein have a proven track record of underhand, devious, self-seeking, morally questionable behaviour. That is what will seriously alienate fans like me from the board and the club.
Man City will not be greatly strengthened by the addition of Emmanuel Adebayor. He, like Robinho and Tevez, are sulkers and moaners when not first choice and Hughes can’t play all three. There will be unrest in the City dressing room when he plays Bellamy and Santa Cruz, mark my words.
27 July 2009 at 6:12 am
Damn straight, goodplaya. It was nothing short of an effort to create destabilization and further foment discord amongst the Gooner faithful. Moshiri didn’t say a whole lot new beyond Usmanov’s original reaction to the Board declining his Rights offer, so now we’re seeing just how Usmanov operates – send out a mouthpiece, play the “victim” who’s supposedly just trying to help the club financially. It’s all bollocks. If he wants to help, he can buy Highbury outright, pay off that debt, and have a nice piece of real estate at the end of the day. But Usmanov won’t do that because it doesn’t further his efforts to gain a greater share of the Club or get him a seat on the Board.
27 July 2009 at 6:21 am
Oh, and abut Kolo Toure…
Good player with great attitude. But, since the African Cup of Nations in 2008 he has not been the same man. I think £15 million would be good business.
1. Kolo is in decline now and we’ve had the best out of him.
2. It’s not as if he is irreplacable.
3. He will be out of contention in Jan-Feb for the ACN again.
4. He doesn’t usually play well with Gallas.
5. 14.7 million is a good return on the initial outlay.
6. Who really prospers after leaving Arsenal?
27 July 2009 at 6:55 am
Clockwatcher, £25 mil is good money for a lazy, disruptive, egotistical 1 season wonder, who possibly does not need replacing. As for him going to City, our so-called rivals for a CL place, well, no-one else wanted him or were ever interested in him. The Milans, Juves, Madrids and Barcas of this world were never interested, it was all a ploy by ade and his agent to make ade feel important and manipulate a salary rise at Arsenal. He had to go, should have gone last summer, was the main reason we failed to continue progressing after our previous unfortunate tilt at the title, and will not be missed. Lastly, don’t believe the crap that comes out of the mouths of those three despicable scumbags who are trying to ruin this great club.
27 July 2009 at 7:09 am
How refreshing to read something that hasn’t been maufactured to suit Usmanov (unlike alot of the tabloids).
I have to agree with Goodplaya and it’s sickening the lengths Usmanov will go to trying to take control of the club. What does Usmanov think the fans think of him? does it bother him? Selling Ade was great business – and as you rightly said there are alot better forwards out there than Ade, and the way he played in the semi’s was enough to make anyones mind up – if we kept him we wouldn’t qualify for the top four…
I am confident going into the new season. Song and Denilson both improved last season, but that additional Midfielder would add competition for places and add some hunger in the middle.
As for Kolo – I’m puzzled with this one…. Kolo is an Arsenal player, and plays as an Arsenal player should – which is something that has been missing from the current squad. But I agree with the old git we probably have seen the best of him and since suffering with Maleria he hasn’t been the same player (there was that Gallas thing…) he was. As long as a world class replacement is bought in I would be happy to let him go.
27 July 2009 at 7:14 am
No one should be sold now. Adebayor was a tricky business because if he was kept, he would have been an even more pain in the dressing room. But, the guy is right. Why sell a striker, who has proven that he score 20 goals in his off season, to a new and upcoming rival?
It will not come back to haunt us now, but later, when city have jelled, what then? What if, by some means, Mark Hughes finds a formula to use all of his players? Then we may be in trouble.
I am not saying that if City are going to be the team that break into the top 4, arsenal will be the ones to fall back. In fact, I think them team that arsenal have now is very very strong and they can challenge for all the honors and will them. But when in 2 years, City become a cohesive unit, what then?
Arsenal first team needs reinforcement. Either from outside or quality players from inside.
I think this is the year that we bring in vela, wilshere and our other reserve/young players to speed in playing the league.
I have very high hopes from our team this year. Everyone does. But I really think that the fans who go to Emirates should make some more noise!!
If I could, I would go every weekend and cheer for my team. But alas, I stay in Mumbai and not in North London!!
Good luck to the team and keep the faith gooners!!
27 July 2009 at 7:15 am
Much as though I am against the Usmanov takeover of the club I can’t really see how this man is successfully driving a wedge between the club and its supporters. I have been hearing views like this expressed for the last 3 years personally and through blogs, although perhaps they are more vociferous during this close season. It is nothing new. I cannot really see that selling an average player like Adebayor to Man City matters that much either and they are the only club willing to pay that sort of money for him. Last year his stock was higher but all the clubs scouting him will have seen a side of him during the season that was not encouraging. Where were all the other BIG clubs when it was clear Wenger would sell him? And if Wenger rated him that highly, why did he sell him at all? I think he wanted Adebayor out. It seems clear that with the current board in place operating this business model we will be forever teetering on the edge of success and will quite possibly drop off the pace and out of the CL places. Football has changed and Arsenal need massive money if they are not to be left behind. Usmanov, for the fans is a no go. Kroenke “seems” a better bet, but will he provide the monies needed? I am not so sure. I’m afraid that, if you have the money, you can buy the club. Abramovich is living proof of that and no amount of bleeting by Bloggers will change that.
27 July 2009 at 7:23 am
Glad we’re rid of Adebayor, but I do think the likes of Milan, Inter and Juve would all have been in for him for between £12-15M. They certainly were never going to give us the £20-25M we wanted.
As for Toure, again, he is a significant improvement on City’s current central defenders.
I just don’t understand the gamble of selling players to our nearest rival for a European spot. Why not let him leave for half the reported £14M and head to Barca, Madrid, Milan, Inter or Juve – more or less all of them would be interested at £6-7M. There is too much money at risk (£50M) – not to mention lost opportunity costs with Champions League football to risk strengthening City.
What happens to all those Club level seats, corporate luxury suites and hospitality services if we are playing in the UEFA Europa Cup?
Of course I am not advocating that Usmanov, Moshi or even Dein return. However, it’s clear that the Club needs investment and that the Board simply has not provided Wenger with the needed funds. In recent seasons basically all transfer acquisitions have been funded by sales. I don’t think that model can sustain a continued qualification for Champions League football.
While we will remain odds on for 4th next season at City team with Given, Kolo Toure, Kompany, de Jong, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Tevez, Adebayor will surely present a significant challenge which most Arsenal supporters are really underestimating…
27 July 2009 at 7:28 am
I agree with Goodplayer, anything that comes from R&W needs to be taken with a great big pinch of salt. But am I the only one to think that there seems to be a waiting game being played by AW at the moment? Waiting to see who leaves that is. At the moment, there are question marks over Eboué, Touré and Senderos (presumably he has the option of actually staying at Arsenal) and we cant really do very much until we know whether they are going or not (a coincidence that the former two were good friends of Ade?). Or am I giving AW too much benefit of the doubt?
27 July 2009 at 8:03 am
ClockWatcher, first off, NO ONE WANTED ADEBAYOR. That should say something. It had nothing to do with the money, it came down to no one wanting him for any price. Milan, Juve ect were all not interested in him, at any price. The guys agent called all the big guys for god sake to try and hock him but NO ON WANTED HIM. Doesn’t that speak volumes, that the only only club who wanted him was City?
Second point, Adebayor scored goals because of Cesc Fabregas. Without Cesc, how is Ade going to score in the volumes he did at Arsenal? If some says Steven Ireland then you are completely delusional. I think Ade will struggle without a player like Cesc and when he struggles he will get benched. Even with Cesc he suffered HUGE scoring droughts and do you expect City to put up with those like we foolishly did? Once he is benched watch the shit hit tha fan. That locker room will become a war zone.
Lastly, why is everyone assuming City will be in the top four, or even challenge this season. We are talking about a team that finished 10th. Every year some team spends a lot of money and will supposidely knock us out of the top four and every year here we are. We have the experience of fighting it out to stay in the top four and they don’t. Another thing I want to draw attention too is money doesn’t equal success. All these City senarios are based on huge assumptions. Remember the first Galacticos? All those amazing players and all they had to show for it was one league title. And that ws Madrid who was already a good team in the CL. And with Capello who is twice the manager Hughes ever will be. Let’s get rid of this fear mongering and look at things rationally. City have a ton of egos and a small time manager and an owner who is just looking for a toy. Stop freaking out and support our club.
27 July 2009 at 8:18 am
Good article, spot on sums it up, and I am glad that I am not the only one impressed by Gazidis. You don’t hear about him or hear from him but just look at the amount of players who have renewed their contracts this summer. RvP, Gibbs and so on. This guy has the hallmarks of remarkable efficiency.
On Adebayor, this will be as worrying for us as it was for Man U selling us Silvestre. Adebayor didn,t score a single goal against quality oppositionlast year and should have had at least 35 goals last season. I would argue that it was he who stopped us from improving last year, and for the love of god, why did he never learn the offside rule. Eduardo, Rosicky, Vela, and Barazite, they are already at the club and if Eduardo fulfils his promise, he will be three times the striker that Adebayor is.
Final note: Man C lost 1-0 at the weekend and who missed a sitter for the equaliser, yes the ex-Arsenal man, ..sounding familiar…
27 July 2009 at 8:46 am
I disagree with almost everything you say except for the fact Adebayor is a cretin.Gazidis does seem like a good guy but it took 3/4 years to find him in which time the club has gone backwards in every way.The current board are bleeding the club dry and over 50% is in foreign hands anyway and are not prepared to invest any of there own money in the club so i say give Usmanov & Moshri a chanceThe conversion of Highbury is the biggest financial problem for Arsenal and why is football club doing getting involved in property development do the detrement of the playing side for this the board are inept and should go.
27 July 2009 at 9:06 am
Matt how can you say that the board are bleeding the club dry, when they do not take dividends. It is Usmanov who wants the club to pay dividends.
27 July 2009 at 10:12 am
The whole interview was a stitch up. Davies is an old mucker of David Dein- they were thick as thieves at the FA. Hence the soft leading questions and undue publicity for a man with a clear agenda to destabilise Arsenal. Mind you it could be argued that the current bunch need a rocket up their collective Arse.
27 July 2009 at 10:14 am
I find myself much more in agreement with Goodplaya than Clockwatcher. Above all, I think it is a fantasy to suppose that the big Milan clubs or Barca would be interested in either Adebayor or Toure, whatever the price. But for me the most interesting thing about this whole Moshiri affair is that it implies criticism of Wenger by Usmanov. I simply don’t believe that AW was forced to sell Adebayor against his wishes; his statement that there was a ‘certain resentment’ on the part of the player against the club after last summer’s events (God only knows why!) is about as close as he will ever get to saying in public that one of his players has a bad attitude. And it is equally clear that Adebayor wasn’t overly keen on going to City. In effect, he was forced out of the club, and I’m certain it wasn’t by the Board. It was down to the man that, ultimately, all Arsenal transfers are down to – Arsene Wenger.
So if Moshiri/Usmanov say it was a mistake to sell Ade, they are saying that it was WENGER’S mistake. AW is careful not to get publicly involved in Board politics, but I’m sure he will see this intervention as a sign of how life might be if Usmanov ever took over at the Emirates. It wouldn’t be the same club, and I doubt AW would resist the overtures of Real Madrid next time they come calling under such circumstances.
How would that make David Dein feel, I wonder?
27 July 2009 at 10:16 am
Selling Ade was a great bit of business. Out of 3 seasons at Arsenal he has 1 good 1, plus stats show he can only can score when Cesc is playing. Hardly world class. I think most Arsenal fans are on the same page; we don’t necessarily need a new striker, we’d take one if one came along. Don’t think he’ll buy one as we have Arshavin. Im slightly confident of the players we have Except DM against the top 10 teams. There is no ACN this year as it is a world cup year. Checked Bendner stats and the they improve with each season, i predict 20 goals from him. Am i the only one that thinks we need a new keeper?
27 July 2009 at 12:58 pm
I find it amazing that so many refer to Adebarndoor as a ‘20 goals a season striker’. In the last couple of years a good finisher would have scored many many more than 20 goals from the number of opportunities created for him. His final touch is usually poor. If Eduardo had been given the same number of opportunities he’d be in the 40 -50 goals per season range. We need another ‘in the box’ goal scorer, but we don’t need Adebarndoor. In the unlikely event that Citeh take a CL spot and we don’t, It’ll be because of their full squad playing well (despite Adebarndoor) and us playing badly. We have plenty of strikers that can score a spectacular goal ( as he could occassionally) but we need a goal line tap-ins scorer.
Adebarndoor is/was and always will be dressing room cancer.
.
27 July 2009 at 2:46 pm
The comments on the 2007 Moshiri post make interesting reading. Some types of ’supporters’ don’t change.
27 July 2009 at 3:23 pm
Moshiri and his paymaster should ask what £30m player Arsene would like- no strings attached- and then GIVE him to Arsenal. Then they should step back and enjoy!! What they shouldn’t do is carp from the sidelines, interfere and pretend to be lovers of Arsenal. To me it seems the only aim is to get control- as a freak or to make millions??? Well, there are dozens of other teams to muck about with. Arsenal is an institution run for the fans- by fans and so it should remain. Look what is happening at Liverpool!! No true fan like GIFT to the club forthcoming- then on your bike pal- clear off and take Mosher with you!! True Arsenal fans don’t want you or need you!!
27 July 2009 at 5:30 pm
Everyone is assuming that we sold Adebayor because we needed the money. After Adebayor’s behaviour during the last year or so I’m more inclined to believe that Wenger decided enough was enough and took the highest (only) bid. After all Wenger had publicly stated that the uncertainty surrounding Adebayor caused disruption to the start of the last campaign. only a fool repeats his mistakes.
With regard to the radio interview I agree with you 100%. If Usmanov can drive a wedge between the fans and the club not only does it make a takeover easier to accomplish but might even drive the share price down as well. If the interview were to be successful it would be win win for Usmanov.
27 July 2009 at 5:52 pm
Donnyfan1, who’d pay the £30m players wages. Bear in mind that AW will not break the pay structure because he doesn’t want his players to get into the “he’s paid more than me so I don’t have to work as hard as him” mentality that effects a lot of young men.
I believe AW would say ‘no thanks’ to the offer.
27 July 2009 at 7:53 pm
We’re 2 Matts it seems…. Anyway thank you for that post GP, it’s spot on.
It’s hard to assess how much Adebayor brought to our attack but I tend to agree with Andy Mack. Adebayor had 50 goals in 2 seasons but with way too many misses. He is strong and big and presses well on the defenders but techically gifted he is not. And last season he lost the plot with a ratio of 10 offsides per goal…
As for our attack, has anyone wached the Gold Cup final? Mexico destroyed the US 5-0, all the goals scored in the second half once Vela came in. He was involved in 4 of the 5 goals, the tv guys can’t stop chanting his name velavelavelavelavelavela… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgGy7rSl324
I don’t care if we buy a new striker or not but I really do want to see more of Vela this season!
28 July 2009 at 9:56 am
Ades a cocksmoker matt you cocksmoker
28 July 2009 at 10:05 am
If Usmanov REALLY wants to help the club financially, he should buy up all remaining flats at Highbury Square, injecting capital into “the club he loves” (yeah, right) and securing some good property investment for himself in the heart of London whilst keeping his greasy,fat hands off more Arsenal shares and the controlling interest in Arsenal Football Club that NO ONE WANTS HIM TO HAVE.
29 July 2009 at 8:07 am
I agree Gazidis is impressive, and I like the way he’s sorted out new contracts for our existing players. But lurng good players to arsenal is another skill, and one where I think Dein had the skills and contacts. Arsene is good with young players but I think lacks the will and skill to wheel and deal with agents etc to make the bigger more complex deals happen. I don’t think this is likely to be Gazidis’s forte either although the success of thr Arshavin deal was encouraging.
Far more worrying though is the board’s mantra of “sustainability”. This is not a business where you can have any number of successful clubs flourishing – maybe it used to be, but now the investment levels are huge to be successful, and unfortunately being successful is almost the only way you can attract the players and earn the money to be successful. As City have shown it takes a huge investment and silly wages to try and break the logjam, or a genius like Arsene who constantly buys players cheaply, turns them into stars and sells them on for a fortune, But even his brilliance is not quite enough to get us there by itself any more, it seems. We have to spend some more money, or we will get overtaken by 1 or 2 other clubs, we will drop down the table and our stars will leave. It could take years and a lot of money for us to repair the damage by which time Arsene won’t be around any more. The other reason we have to spend some more money is that Arsenal’s prices are about the highest in the country – that won’t be “sustainable” if we slip off the pace, lose our stars, lose Arsene and make a mistake on the next manager. It’ll be the mid-70s all over again. For those of you under 35, there was a time when Arsenal used to finish lower than fourth, and the football wasn’t pretty.
30 July 2009 at 8:44 am
Goodplaya! Where are you man? We need some incisive comment on Kolo going, Eboue possibly off, PV possible return. Most other blogs are run by stupid children who play FM2009 and try to make it in their warped reality. Please. Give us some comment!