Yesterday afternoon, Sky TV announced their latest batch of televised fixtures. Despite Sky apparently saying they try to giveThis included a change to our home game against Leicester City, only just over three weeks away.

As football fans we're used to being messed around by the television companies. Away trips starting at ungodly hours, late arriving back home, days booked off work, even times when games are re-scheduled and there are no trains available to get back home after the final whistle. Basically, the matchgoing fans - the fabric of the game - are not considered whatsoever, and it's not good enough.

The change to our fixture with Leicester will now leave many fans out of pocket. There are people who've already booked train tickets, booked hotel accommodation, even booked flights from abroad to come and see this game. All fucked up by a television company that will provide no explanation, no apology and certainly no refunds to all those fans affected and those who've had their arrangements ruined.

As such we've been advised that the Leicester supporters' group Union FS is planning a protest to highlight the issues caused by this late fixture change. Below is their statement and you'll see they're planning something similar to what Bayern Munich did earlier this season at Emirates Stadium. Of course Bayern's protest was over our ticket prices and this is different, but ultimately it's the matchgoing fan getting crapped on from a great height, yet again.

We fully support this action by Union FS, and would welcome similar from Arsenal supporters at the game, to show that as football fans we're in this together. Maybe a case of 'watch this space' for that part.

Union FS statement

Once again, Sky Sports have gone above and beyond in their efforts to put out matchgoing fans. No doubt they will point to the millions of fortunate souls now able to sit at home and watch this unlikely top of the table clash.
Of course, the Arsenal game was not the only Leicester City fixture announced for the upcoming games. March's fixtures release includes changes to the game at Watford and at home to Newcastle too. Annoying, particularly for the Geordies who now have to travel to the East Midlands on a Monday night, but at least there are 53 days before that trip and tickets are not yet on sale for 'Pies fans.

A clue above: the March TV fixtures release. Not the first-fortnight-of-February release. Following the initial February release in December, 3,000 Leicester fans had thought it safe to make non-refundable travel and accommodation plans, schedule time off work, stay up to midnight to fight for tickets that were sold out in minutes, book holidays starting on the Sunday, plan Leicester Sunday League fixtures etc (the list of quite frankly ridiculously unnecessary inconveniences goes on and on and on) before Sky decided to shoe-horn a third 'Super Sunday' fixture of the day in just TWENTY-THREE days before the game.

Such is life that there are winners and losers from this move, but all of those losing out have been unfairly done over by Sky Sports and, by proxy, the lack of protection afforded to fans by the Premier League and its constituent clubs.
It is absolutely imperative that football fans show solidarity in these cases, and as such, Union FS are calling for a show of strength against the aforementioned parties.

We are proposing the following action to be taken by all Leicester City fans on the day:

• 5 minute boycott at the start of the game where City fans remain in the concourse, watching the game on the TV monitors installed. Why? To make a point that without fans, there is no saleable product. Just 22 blokes kicking a ball around on some nicely cut grass. We would encourage Arsenal fans to join us with this, as they graciously did with Bayern Munich fans recently. We appreciate that fans want to watch the game they have paid for, and rightly so, but this is an extraordinary issue and we would ask you to join us and make a one-off stand for all football fans.
  
  
• Banners of protest. We encourage all City fans to make their own feelings known in banner form ahead of the fixture, and smuggle these into the stadium. Clearly visuals are a good way of getting your point across but we recognise that these are not easy to get into stadiums. All efforts are appreciated, however.

We close by saying all football fans are inconvenienced at times and it has sadly become part of our game. But in our opinion the actions of Sky Sports on this occasion have gone too far for us not to take action.

Some may argue that a boycott will achieve nothing. You might be right, maybe it won't. But it will certainly notch another visual display of dissent in a country which is starting to turn on the Premier League's ever growing greed.

Help us make a difference.

​Union FS

Plenty of stories have come through today, concerning violence between Arsenal fans at last night's Anderlecht game. This isn't the first time it's happened in recent years; Reading and Brighton away are just a couple of examples where fighting has taken place in the stands.

Yesterday afternoon images of the "Thanks for the memories" flag started doing the rounds, when it was hung outside a pub in Belgium. For those who are unaware of the flag, it's addressed to Arsene Wenger and says "Thanks for the memories but it's time to say goodbye". Needless to say, those who back our manager are never happy when it comes out.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't care if the flag is displayed outside a pub; people are entitled to their opinion and if they think the manager should go, that's up to them. However, some apparently took offence to the flag yesterday and thought they'd get violent towards its owners. Naturally there was a reaction to this provocation... resulting in punches thrown. All because of one man. Madness.

It's sad that it's come to this and it's pathetic we have Arsenal on Arsenal violence. Outside the stadium is one thing, but when it happens in the ground, there are a couple of key issues. 

First and foremost, you're there to watch a football match and support your team. Abuse or fighting among fans can easily filter through to the players and let's be honest, they're hardly full of confidence at the moment are they? So channel your energy into getting behind the team. We all want The Arsenal to win every match, so when the players pull on that shirt and are on the pitch, forget the manager and drive the team on.  

Secondly, football grounds now are so full of CCTV that you're more than likely going to be on film if you're throwing punches at another fan. Therefore expect police involvement, court, and a three year ban from all football grounds.You may want the manager here or want him gone, but don't get so wound up in the ground and get yourself nicked. 

I've never known our fanbase to be this divided, and with the Board seeing fit to award Arsene Wenger a 3 year contract, things will get worse before they get better. It's at that stage where those at the opposite ends of the spectrum are always bound to clash... but when you're in the ground, give it a rest and sing up for The Arsenal.

Up The Gunners.

'Highbury Harold'

At last week's AGM a question was presented on whether the Board was planning to further raise ticket prices next season. The answer that came back was that a decision was yet to be made. 

Of course, the best answer would have been that the Board recognises the financial pressure on our matchgoing fans, that our commercial revenue plus hugely increased television broadcast income is now so big, it means that the club can stick by Ivan Gazidis's words from May 2011 and give our loyal fans a break.

I guess it was no huge surprise though, that the Board wouldn't commit. Given rumours that Stan Kroenke wanted prices up by 8% and was pegged back to 3%, I can see him wanting increases every year from now on. While he sees a season ticket waiting list, it gives him reason to do it... even though that pays no attention to the fact our fans already pay the highest prices in football.

It's safe to say that Kroenke couldn't give a shit about our core support. If he did, he wouldn't have forced a completely unnecessary 3% increase on prices. 

The club didn't need the £3m the price rise generated, but now we've found out that it paid the same £3m in "strategic and advisory fees" to Kroenke's KSE business. Something extremely fishy about the deal, especially the way our Chairman Chips Keswick skirted around questions about it last week. This ambiguity further raises suspicions over how Kroenke will operate from now on.

While the Board say no decision has been made about prices for next season, I don't think anyone would be surprised if they announce another price hike in the coming months. 

Last year's announcement was too much. It was out and out greed and once again milking the club's core support... support which has helped build this club and without which, there would be no Arsenal for Kroenke to come and take money from.

Time to stand up
Arsenal got in quick last year, and ignored subsequent complaints. Both ourselves and the Arsenal Supporters' Trust put out statements disagreeing with the price rise (read them here and here). 

This time as fans we can be proactive. I call upon all Arsenal fans to unite and say NO to even more price increases. Start telling Arsenal that it's no longer acceptable. While Kroenke sees us as cattle that he can milk, he needs to realise that football as a whole is now starting to stand up against the greed among those running our game.

Those supporters' groups that disagree with the club enforcing further price rises will work together and do all they can to get the point across. If this leads to a protest against the greed of our majority shareholder, I'd like as many fans as possible to join in. Love the club, hate the greed. Watch this space on this one.

So, Stan... no more cowboy. Our loyal fans have been pushed far too much already. Over three years ago Ivan Gazidis said the club's increased commercial activity would mean Arsenal wouldn't need to rely on its matchgoing fans like it has in the past. Time to practice what your Chief Executive preached.

#NOMORECOWBOYSTAN

Without the fans, football is nothing.

Up The Gunners.

Much of the media’s focus in the last week has been Arsene Wenger. As he reached the 1,000 game mark at Arsenal there was celebration among many fans and some of the media. Then we conceded a ridiculously crappy goal early on at Chelsea and it went downhill from there. Fast.

After the “accident” at Liverpool, the Chelsea result was branded an “accident”. Apparently we’d put in convincing performances against Munich and Spurs, so it must have been an accident, according to our manager.

Erm, forgive me if I’ve been wearing Stevie Wonder’s glasses, but Spurs was about as far from convincing as you could get. An early goal and a couple of crap finishes apart, we sat back and rode our luck time and time again. How we got away with 3 points I’ll never know, but we beat that lot so that’s the main thing at the end of the day.

At Chelsea, Wenger cut a forlorn figure on his seat. There were no instructions for his team, who went through the motions committing mistake after mistake. The much-heralded 1,000th game turned out to be probably his biggest, most humiliating moment as Arsenal manager. Let’s not beat about the bush, it was an out and out disgrace what happened in that game.

So a “reaction” was called for as out of form Swansea came to town, but what we saw was flat, lacking in passion and ideas, and players who – one minute of the game aside – didn’t look that bothered. We’re actually lucky that the referee didn’t let play continue at the very end (as most refs would have) with Swansea clean through, as we could have ended up with another embarrassing defeat. Not saying a draw is much better, of course – the result was still poor.

Once again questions are being asked of our manager. Is this a blip? Is his time up? Has he lost the dressing room? Will he fight back in the summer? Does he still have the determination? Does he think he’s done as much as he can?

Arguments aplenty have been taking place on social media and elsewhere and the fanbase is as split now as it ever has been. In my time supporting Arsenal I certainly don’t remember fans at each other’s throats like they are now. What is the cause of these arguments? One man.

Extreme Groundhog Day
One thing’s for sure, Bill Murray in Groundhog Day would have spontaneously combusted had he been faced with the Arsenal situation. We’ve seen the same story over and over and over and over and over again; a case of treading water and treading water some more. While some consider playing in the Champions League (nowhere near winning it) and finishing 4th as a good season, I certainly don’t. A top four finish alone is NOT success in my eyes as a football fan. Football is about winning, not balance sheets and profits.

Transfer windows & squad ‘strength’
In the last three transfer windows we’ve bought one starting player. One. We paid for one other player in squad left back Nacho Monreal and we picked up a couple of freebies – one a gamble on a long-standing injury record which made the player consider giving up and being a postman, and the other a short-term loan for a bloke with a broken back.

The shambles of last summer put us in a poxy position in terms of squad strength. Not strong enough. This meant that January became even more vital but as is usually the case, the manager sees “no value” in the January market and “nobody is available” etc. etc. So once again we made do and the wheels fell off.

And as for squad strength, this is what’s needed when we get injuries – but of course injuries is a convenient excuse for the apologists who see nothing wrong with our squad make-up. Yes we’ve got 3,094 midfielders but so what? We’ve got one striker who is okay but not top quality and he’s been shagged so much this season (on and off the pitch) that he’s been running on fumes for weeks. Our other striker is that young would-be postman and yes he’s a lump and yes he tries, but that was also the case for Kaba Diawara. Nothing against Sanogo and he may turn out okay but he’s not for the here and now, and it’s not his fault he’s being chucked in at the deep end with fans crying out for quality up front.

Tactics
Is it worth mentioning tactics? Most people would say “what tactics?”  Previously it was fine – we had world class players who could turn up and take the piss out of pretty much any opponent. Now we don’t have that luxury so when things go wrong, nothing much happens. Unlike most managers Wenger sits there on the bench, hardly up on the touchline screaming instructions. It’s like the team is sent out with a task which it has to stick to. Doesn’t work first half? Change it at half time. Doesn't work second half? Stick a sub on after 70 minutes. And that's it. I know that’s a crude way of looking at it, but when it comes to the best in-game tacticians in football, you wouldn’t put Arsene Wenger high up the list.

“We’ll put it right this summer”
Will we? The people who’ve pointed at the “stadium costs” (even though the published accounts have shown cash available) previously maintained that 2012 would be the turning point. Then 2013. Now 2014. To be honest this summer will be the first REAL chance to go for it in the transfer market given the huge amount of income from Puma, Emirates, and the renewed TV broadcasting deal.

However is it Wenger’s style to go out and splash the cash on a few players of top, top quality in one window? Personally I think at best we’ll see one decent signing and maybe one or two lesser known players. After all, too many signings upset the rhythm don’t they? Look at Spurs. Only thing is, our lack of activity in the last few windows means we’re now in need of a number of top players in key positions. Add Sagna to the outgoing list, that’s then a right back we need, too. So a decent goalkeeper is required with Fabianski going, a right back, a proper defensive midfielder, and at least one top class striker. That should be the bare minimum. And we’re not talking promising kids, we’re not talking cheap (or free) injury-prone gambles, we’re not talking final half hour of the transfer window loan attempts for other clubs’ 4th choice strikers. We need proven, ready to go, QUALITY.

The World Cup Excusefest
But let’s not forget that the World Cup takes place this summer. We’ve seen in the past the excuses that the market is shortened because of this tournament, that the best players’ prices are “artificially inflated”, that the market is “distorted” and so on and so forth. What does this mean? Identify your targets BEFORE the world cup and get deals done then. Wait until after the tournament and we could be stuffed. Again. In the biggest most important transfer window Wenger has ever faced in his time at Arsenal. Mess this one up (assuming he’s still at the club) and there will be uproar like no other. Failure is most certainly not an option.

Stay or go?
This is the biggest debate doing the rounds among Arsenal fans. Should Wenger be awarded with a new contract? Should he call it a day? Should he go even if we win the FA Cup and finish top 4? So many permutations.

Personally I’m someone who is never scared of change so if things aren’t going right I wouldn’t be scared of us changing manager assuming we get a top quality replacement. Ignore those using David Moyes as an excuse. Does a change in manager immediately mean failure? No. Man City and Chelsea don't seem to be doing too badly after changing manager. Pep Guardiola hasn't fared too badly has he? And looking back at our own club, didn't Arsene Wenger win the double in his first full season? Didn't George Graham turn a struggling Arsenal side into winners, and indeed bring silverware back to the club in his first season?

As for me, I'm torn on what I think should happen. Win the FA Cup, I say keep the manager on a rolling 1 year contract while a replacement is sourced, as let's face it, Wenger isn't going to be here another 5 or 10 years. If we fail to win the FA Cup (let's face it that would be a catastrophe given the remaining opposition) and finish outside of the top 4? I'd say time for a change in that case. Who knows, maybe the man himself is biding his time and is yet to make a decision.

But that’s just me. I’m genuinely interested in which option fans would choose, so I’ve put together a very short poll to gauge opinion. Ignore the last two match results – read the options and give your honest answer. There are no hidden agendas, it's purely to get the feeling across as wide a section of Arsenal supporters as possible.

Take the poll here. It also contains a bit about off the field stuff, below.

Ready to renew your season ticket?
I’ve looked at the issues on the pitch but what about off it? Season ticket renewal time is almost upon us and as we know, the club are demanding an extra 3% on top of what’s already an overpriced product. This 3% will give the club an extra £2.8m when it’s already got around £140m sitting in the bank. Fact is, this £140m won’t be spent so your extra £2.8m you’re giving the club will just go in the bank and stay there.

This begs the question…. WHY THE INCREASE?

I’ll give you the answer. Enos Stanley Kroenke. The man with absolutely no clue about the English game of football and no clue about how loyal football supporters need to be valued and treated with respect. He sees demand for tickets as meaning the prices aren’t high enough. Rumour has it that he wanted prices to go up by 8% (yes, EIGHT per cent). He sees Arsenal as a money making machine and absolutely doesn’t care if the club isn't successful on the pitch, as long as the money floods in.

Kroenke has one weak spot when it comes to Arsenal, and that’s Arsene Wenger. With Wenger at the club, we have achieved Champions League football consistently on minimal spend. That equals profits and that equals share prices flying up. That’s why Kroenke will never get rid of the manager while we’re getting into the Champions League.

At the BSM we’ve previously called for the Board to “manage the manager” but that’s where our Board is weak. It answers to one man, the majority owner. And now it’s even weaker as it’s appointed Josh Kroenke. Why is he there? No football knowledge, no links to the English game, no links to Arsenal. He’s a successful businessman in America but he’s a puppet on this Board – he’s there purely in a Kroenke Sports Enterprises function… to ensure KSE can continue amassing cash.

So back to the Board seeing fit to demand a further 3% from fans, is it right? Are you happy at having to cough up even more for your ticket? Some fans have said “it’s only another £40 / £50 / 60” and seem fine with it, but what do the majority think?

Click here and give your view.

Personally I say the 3% increase is a disgrace. It’s an out and out rip-off and gives further evidence to those who maintain that the Board isn’t in touch with the fans, and that it doesn’t care about the loyalty of our hardcore support.

When all is said and done
In closing I’ll say this… As an Arsenal fan you may see some of the above as moaning. You may think everything is superb with the club and that it can do no wrong. You may think that all of our players are superheroes and untouchable. You may be fine paying whatever the club charge. You may think that certain players aren’t good enough. You may think that the Board is ripping off hardcore supporters. You may think the manager is above God, you may think he’s past his sell by date.

At the end of the day, we are all Arsenal fans. Many of us have grown up loving this club, and many have done so before Arsene Wenger came along. Many only know the club under Wenger. But one thing we share… we’re all Arsenal. So if you're going to our remaining games this season, do all you can to get behind the team. They're going to need all the support they can get.

Up The Gunners.

'Highbury Harold'

When Spring turns to Summer, the first week in May. You know you will find us down old Wembley Way!

Let's hope so eh? The FA Cup was already our biggest chance of silverware this season, and even more so now we've knocked out Liverpool. A home tie against Everton awaits; win that and we're two matches from our 11th FA Cup.

Of course what the draw means is we now have a further home match not covered by season tickets and it's a match where Arsenal stand to coin it in once more. Now I'm going to be very crude with figures in this article as I don't have the time to research them in detail, but I don't imagine they're too far from the case. With the average home match bringing in around £3m in revenue to Arsenal, taking the price differentials into account for Category C and Category A matches, I'm assuming:

• Category B pricing: Average ticket cost £49. Matchday revenue c. £3,000,000.
• Category C pricing: Average ticket cost £35 (29% reduction from Cat. B). Matchday revenue c. £2,130,000.
• Category A pricing: Average ticket cost £84 (72% [!!] increase from Cat. B). Matchday revenue c. £5,160,000.

Already there is the match against Bayern Munich which wouldn't have been budgeted for and based on the figures above it could bring in around £5m of income to Arsenal. That's not including TV revenue and prize money from UEFA, but even so it's a fair old wedge.

Now we have another home match, against Everton in the FA Cup. Normally this fixture would be classed as Category B in the Premier League, meaning an average ticket price of £49 (£36.50 for any Everton fans reading this). At these prices and assuming revenue of £3m, this means Arsenal - bearing in mind they take only 45% of the gate receipts for an FA Cup match - would bring in roughly £1,350,000. Of course the game is likely to be televised which means even more income.

Should Arsenal make Everton Category C?
Given the huge outlay made by our supporters and the scandalous decision by the club to charge Category A prices for Bayern Munich, making Everton a Category C game would be a way of giving our loyal fans a breather. Let's face it, we're caned enough with our ticket prices!

If they did make Everton a Category C match, this would mean income of around £960,000 plus TV revenue. All in all over a million quid of extra cash.

How much will Arsenal bring in from these two extra matches?
In total, the two extra matches will bring in between £6m and £7.5m. I'll say it again, this is money they won't have planned on bringing in, and again it doesn't take into account TV revenue and prize money.

Key issues for Arsenal to consider
To my mind this poses more for Arsenal's number crunchers and decision makers to  think about. They must bear in mind the prices they already charge for tickets, which are the highest in football. They must bear in mind that they've already caned loyal season ticket holders with a Category A price for the Bayern Munich match. Two key issues are...

1. What should be the price point for the FA Cup match with Everton; Category B, or do they recognise the huge financial pressures on an already hard-pressed fanbase and make it Category C?
   
   
2. Cancel the planned 3% price rise for next season.

As mentioned above, Arsenal stand to bring in £6m to £7.5m in revenue they hadn't planned for, with the two additional home cup matches (and more could still come). The price rise they announced for next season stood to make them an extra £2.8m. So why not cancel this rise, bearing in mind the club will still be richer to the tune of around £4m? 

Here's some more food for thought, for the decision makers at Arsenal...

• Recognise the loyalty of your core support
  
• Recognise the huge uplift in commercial income
  
• Recognise our Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis, said that improved commercial deals would mean less reliance on fans having to foot the bill
• Recognise the huge uplift in TV revenue
  
• Recognise the additional revenue brought from these two extra cup matches

In short, make Everton a Category C match and cancel the 3% price rise. You've already made more than you stood to make from the rise, so ease up on the greed and consider your loyal supporters.

Up The Gunners.

'Highbury Harold'

It's another one of those Friday afternoons... you know, where the Arsenal PR machine releases a story late in the day in the knowledge that the press won't be able to give it as much coverage as they would, if it had been announced earlier in the day or week. There's the carpet, here's a brush... you know the rest.

The numbers are out, and it's now been confirmed that Arsenal have got around £120m of cash they're sitting on. It could be used for transfers, to give us a squad truly able of competing for honours, but we'd much rather get a free loan deal for a bloke with a broken back. To my mind the fooball season is 9 months long so while it's great we've been up at the top of the table, we'll see over the coming weeks if our knackered and injured squad can cope with the final push.

Emirates are throwing £150m at us. Puma are throwing £150m at us. We've signed a number of secondary commercial deals of late. We're getting an uplift of around £30m this season in TV broadcast rights. It's now been confirmed we have around £120m of cash in the bank. So again it has to be asked...

WHY THE 3% PRICE INCREASE NEXT SEASON??

I'll tell you why. GREED. Out and out greed. The club doesn't need the £2.8m the price rise will bring in, but because they've not put prices up for a couple of years, why not demand more from the loyal, core support?

Our Board can spin all the crap it wants, but fact is they're a bunch of money-grabbing greed merchants.

Up The Gunners

'Highbury Harold'

In December, Arsenal announced that from next season the price of match tickets would be going up by 3%... apparently in line with inflation (even though inflation actually sits at around 1 per cent less). Many fans were outraged; already paying some of the highest prices in football and now hit with another hike, despite the club coining it in from a hugely improved TV deal, announcing new big money commercial deals, and of course sitting on around £100m in the bank.

At the time, we condemned the decision. Actually, we were so pissed off with it that we responded with a statement confirming our disgust, half an hour after Arsenal made their announcement. Did we need time to let the information sink in and consider a response? Absolutely not... this rise was pure and utter greed, an outrageous decision which will simply further punish matchgoing fans in the pocket.

Since then we've had a few pops from people bemoaning the fact that we've not arranged a protest or any other form of action. Yesterday we came in for some stick on an Arsenal Facebook page, because apparently we do nothing and apart from a couple of walks and the odd letter we suffer from a "lack of presence".

It was once stated at a meeting of BSM members that "at times of apparent inactivity, the BSM is ALWAYS active". In other words, we're never just sitting here doing bugger all - there are always plans and discussions taking place about how we could get a better deal for matchgoing Arsenal fans.

So just to clarify, here's a run-down of what the BSM have been up to since the end of last season...

5 June - announced our participation in a protest over ticket pricing
We'd been invited by our friends at Spirit of Shankly to join them and supporters of other clubs, in a march to Premier League headquarters. We invited Arsenal fans to come and join us.

19 June - ticket price protest and meeting with the Premier League
We were the Arsenal supporters' group there on the day, together with groups from other Premier League and Football League clubs. We met with Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, with groups from Liverpool, Man United, Spurs, and the Football Supporters' Federation. At the meeting we reiterated the problems faced by fans, especially highlighting the pressures on fans following their team away from home. This tied in with the FSF's 'Twenty Is Plenty' campaign which we'd got on board with earlier in the year.

1 July - end of season survey results published
We published the results of our 2012-13 end of season survey. Over 3,400 members responded which at the time was (to our knowledge) the largest survey response of any Arsenal supporters' group. Nationwide coverage followed.

18 August - letter to Ivan Gazidis
We wrote to Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis expressing our "deep concern" over the apparent lack of activity at Arsenal that summer, despite his assurances in June that we would now be active in the market. This letter summed up the frustration of thousands of Arsenal fans, and got nationwide coverage in the press and on TV.

24 August - boat party on the Thames
Held a pre-Fulham party on the Thames for BSM members, which in turn raised £1,000 for the Ben Kinsella Trust. Some 200 people joined us on board and the event was such as success we've had untold calls since to organise another.

26 September - discounts for away fans
Announced that the Premier League put in place an initiative whereby all PL clubs had to put aside funds (from hugely increased TV revenue) to help away supporters. This followed campaigning by the BSM and supporters groups from other clubs, which resulted in our meeting with the Premier League. For Arsenal fans this means some £600,000 split across the next three seasons, put towards the cost of match tickets. 

9 October - reciprocal away ticket pricing
Revealed that Newcastle were introducing a reciprocal pricing deal for away fans, and encouraged Arsenal to follow suit.

10 October - letter to Stan Kroenke
We teamed up with other Arsenal supporters' groups, and wrote to Stan Kroenke requesting that he fulfil his promise of meeting with these groups.

17 October - Arsenal AGM
We were present at the Arsenal AGM, and presented all attendees with a flyer which asked questions over whether our current Board was equipped to take us forward and make us a European 'Super Club'. The flyer made the national press within half an hour of the first copies being handed out.

29 October - League Cup atmosphere initiative
We'd already written to all BSM members asking them to buy tickets in blocks 17, 18 and 19 for the League Cup game with Chelsea. This was an attempt to get some atmosphere going inside the ground and the idea was praised by like-minded fans who were up for it... and then in came the stewards, which is another story.

20 November - survey on atmosphere at Emirates
We'd asked Arsenal fans to complete a short survey on atmosphere and safe standing, and here we published the results. Over 17,000 people took part; a huge response and by far the biggest we've ever seen from an Arsenal supporters survey. The results went nationwide and brought a lot of focus on the campaign for safe standing. Since then we've had contact from numerous supporters' groups of other clubs, asking to work with them on future campaigns for the benefit of fans.

27 November - heavy-handed stewarding
We'd had a fair few people contact us over issues with stewarding at Arsenal, so we asked all fans to get in touch if they'd encountered problems. This was so we could feed back to Arsenal and see where improvements could be made.

13 December - condemned Arsenal's price rise announcement
As mentioned already, we were straight out with our response. We absolutely disagree that it is needed, we think it's massively unfair on already hard-pressed fans, and it will make next to no difference to the club.

17 December - Arsenal's response over reciprocal pricing
We'd heard from Spirit of Shankly that they'd written to all Premier League clubs requesting that they put in place a reciprocal pricing deal for away fans. Arsenal had responded to this and we analysed the response, feeding back our comments on what we felt was in essence a letter filled with spin. This highlighted Arsenal's disinterest in offering fans anything above the money they'd been made to put aside by the Premier League.

So there you have it. Not done that much, have we? ;-)

It should be noted that the people who run the BSM (and indeed the other Arsenal supporters' groups) have day jobs and other commitments. We run the BSM through our love of the club and the fact they want all Arsenal fans to be respected by those running OUR Arsenal. We're not in it for ego - we don't go begging hundreds of people to retweet what we say in a desperate attempt to gain popularity. We're not in it for money either - anything we have left over our running costs goes to charity. Fact is we want the best for our fans and our club, and we're prepared to stand up and say it like it is; if there are things the club could do better we're not scared to say so.

Rest assured we are still working on future campaigns and you'll see more of the main Arsenal groups working together, as well as us campaigning with groups from other clubs. Greed is an issue that is spreading through football and those running our game are risking its long term future. But getting those running our clubs to sit up and take notice is no quick fix. It's not something you can rectify by storming the stadium with pitchforks and burning torches every week... a more considered approach is needed more often than not, and we're in this for the long term. After all, it's OUR game, and football without the fans is nothing.

So, if you're not happy with what we're doing, that's your choice. But before you moan that the BSM does nothing, you may want to find out the truth.  

Up The Gunners

'Highbury Harold'

Yesterday, Bayern Munich made a great gesture towards their core support.

Recognising the effort their fans go to in supporting the team, following the club home and away, Bayern made a statement about their "fantastic" support. The statement went on to say:

"The fact that this loyalty comes with such a high number of games not only means a great deal of time, but also tears a big hole in the wallet. Bayern has therefore decided to subsidise the tickets for the away game at Arsenal with nearly 90,000 euros. Therefore every Bayern fan who buys a ticket for the game in London on February 19 will pay only 45 euros (instead of the regular 75 euros). This is intended as a small thank you for your great support in 2013."

In pounds, it equates to Bayern coughing up £76,000 of their own money to help out their loyal supporters. Instead of paying £62 for their match ticket, the subsidy sees around £27 knocked off the price so it'll cost Bayern fans just £35 to watch their team at Emirates.

In November 2013 we handed out leaflets at the Arsenal AGM which referenced Bayern Munich. Our Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has used Bayern as a benchmark on more than one occasion so we wanted to highlight the differences between the two clubs and how we felt the gap could be narrowed. The image on the right shows the front and back of this leaflet - click on it to see a larger version.

On that leaflet is an absolutely spot on quote from Bayern's President (and former player) Uli Hoeness. This said:

"We could charge more than £104 [for a season ticket]. Let's say we charge £300. We'd get £2m more in income but what's £2m to us? In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan. We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has to be for everybody."

At the BSM we've said for some time that we admire the way German clubs recognise the importance of their core support, and treat them with great respect. We've also said that Arsenal haven't done enough in recognising our own hardcore, and have been more blinded by a short-term dash for cash which has seen many long-standing fans walk away. This means that the chain of passing support onto future generations is broken, and that longer term this is damaging to Arsenal. All well and good looking after the income (and personal fortunes) short term, but where's the real custodianship if you're ignoring the long term health of the club?

Indeed, the recently announced 3% ticket price rises at Arsenal next season have brought a great deal of criticism from fans accusing our club of further pushing our loyal support for the sake of it. That price rise brings in around an extra £2.8m in revenue for the club, which makes Uli Hoeness's quote above even more relevant. What does that £2.8m really mean to a club like Arsenal? But for our fans who already pay more than enough for tickets, further price rises do nothing other than force more loyal supporters away.

Of course the issue of pricing and greed isn't just relevant for fans of The Arsenal. Many other clubs across the country are facing similar, and campaigns against this greed have been gaining pace. A great example was the quest for a fairer deal on away ticket pricing, where we (the BSM) joined forces with other supporters groups on a march to the offices of the Premier League. When there, we met with the Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore, together with fan groups from Liverpool, Man United, Spurs and the Football Supporters Federation. There we stressed the importance of recognising the financial pressures fans were under, right across the country.

Following that meeting the Premier League put in place their away fans initiative which means that £4m will be made available to benefit away fans, for the next three years. For Arsenal fans this means savings of £200,000 this season, and the following two seasons. Take a moment to let that register. A £600,000 saving for our away support, and the same figure applies to fans of all Premier League clubs, with each choosing their own way of how to apply this. 

Without the pressure from supporters groups like ours and those from other clubs, and that meeting we held with Richard Scudamore, would the initiative have been put in place? Unlikely. If we sit on our hands and keep our mouths shut, allowing clubs to charge us whatever they like, as fans we'll keep suffering. And that means more will walk away... so when the core support is dwindled down to nothing, when the corporates continue to walk away (and believe me they have been), and when the 'day trippers' become bored with the Premier League (the bubble will burst eventually) tell me, who is left to come and support the team? Who is left to pay their hard-earned money for match tickets... revenue which supports the club and has done for decades and decades?

Football without the fans is nothing.
Up The Gunners.

'Highbury Harold'

Since Arsenal concluded their ticketing review and brought along the "90,000 cheaper seats" they love to talk about in the press (conveniently ignoring there are also 90,000 vastly more expensive seats more than balancing it out) the pricing categories have been a constant issue among many supporters. Away fans as well as our own have protested, with Manchester City and Liverpool complaining over the £62 they had to pay last season.

In the 2012-13 season Arsenal decided that following the ticketing review, all FA Cup matches would be classed as 'Category B' in terms of pricing, no matter the opponent. So when Championship strugglers Blackburn came to town, fans had to pay a minimum of £35.50 for their seat. The same happened when Swansea visited in the previous round, despite the league fixture against the same team being Category C which meant fans paid at least a tenner less.

Confused yet? 

The prices for last season's FA Cup fixtures were determined as Category B because if they were any cheaper, it would have meant that if you bought match tickets on a game by game basis, you'd have paid less than a season ticket holder over the course of the season. An odd situation for the club to find itself in, especially when you consider that in years gone by, the one major benefit of buying a season ticket was that your loyalty and up front cash payment to the club was rewarded with a tidy discount. The overall price of a season ticket was a fair bit cheaper than if you paid game to game.

Of course in recent years that discount had more or less vanished. What you paid for your season ticket was roughly the same as what you'd pay if you bought single tickets for every home match. Where's the reward for your loyalty there? Some would argue that the 'privilege' of having a season ticket is your reward... but then those people wouldn't have had to shell out upwards of a grand every year on 1 June.

This season Arsenal quietly slipped in that "UEFA Champions League and FA Cup fixtures will be based on 'A' and 'B' pricing". Therefore, any of the 'glamour' teams turn up to play us in the FA Cup, the club would stand to make a shedload more money - and so when the draw was made for the 3rd round of the cup, the bean counters within Highbury House will have been doing The Macarena (or is it The Mertesacker?)  in celebration. Along came Spurs, along came Category A prices, along came a hefty old wedge of cash, and out went Spurs. Let's ignore the fact there were record numbers of spare tickets still floating around right up until kick off.

The draw for the 4th round pitted us against Coventry City; the once-proud top flight team (who beat Spurs in the 1987 cup final) but now find themselves just above mid-table in the 3rd tier of English football. As it stands, 'small' opposition but the pricing strategy already declared by Arsenal would mean it's classed as Category B. Right? Wrong.

Today Arsenal have announced "Arsenal v Coventry City... This is a Category C priced fixture". Erm, eh?!

Now don't get me wrong this is great for fans who want to get tickets as cheap as possible. Not so great for Coventry City, however, considering they're in desperate need of cash and now stand to make a lot less from gate receipts. Not so great for season ticket holders at Arsenal where the cheapest seat averages out at £38 whereas the same seat will cost a day tripper £25.50? Not so sure on that one, as I think the Spurs match price balanced it out and the price of the season ticket still won't be too much different from the overall price had you bought a single ticket for every home game.

What it does do of course is throw more confusion on Arsenal's ticket pricing strategy. All FA Cup games A or B? Coventry come to Emirates? Category C. A serious case of making it up as they go.

As a supporters' group that pays attention to the prices that our fans have to pay, naturally we'll be seeking some feedback from Arsenal as to why they've changed tack for this game and if the 'finger in the air' approach is something they'll be using from now on. I recognise that there's a balancing act in terms of revenue coming into the club from ticket sales, but curve balls over prices and categories only serve to stir up suspicion among supporters as to why the club employ such tactics.

Personally I'm of the view that prices at Arsenal on the whole are still too expensive. Will they come down? Of course they won't; if the club gives with one hand, they'll more than take back with the other. Category C seats with a tenner off? Blinding, except that the same seat increases by £27 when a 'glamour' opponent visits. In the upper tier, have £21.50 off of the seat price for Category C. Category A? That'll be an extra £52 please.

90,000 cheaper tickets? Superb... but hold on, there are 90,000 tickets where prices are a lot higher.

At the BSM we've always said we disagreed with the introduction of Category C tickets because while some stood to benefit, plenty more would get absolutely clobbered. We understand two of the groups involved in the discussions with Arsenal at that time fully backed it, and that's their call, but we'd say the bigger picture was missed. A lot of our fans have suffered financially as a result. 

My own view? Get rid of price categorisation. Yes I understand this means people will have to pay an extra tenner for a certain match, but it means that the same person would benefit from a seat that's £27 less for another match... or a staggering £52 less for the seat if you're upstairs. No price categories? Everything even, one price band across the board. It'd also mean there's a lot less confusion with season ticket holders worrying that the club aren't recognising and rewarding their loyalty (and the tens of thousands of pounds they've shelled out over the years). Finally, it'd save Arsenal major headaches as well as admin time (and that equals money!) trying to work out how they can price matches effectively. 

Up The Gunners.

'Highbury Harold'

Today it's been one year since the sad passing of ‘Army’ Jon Davies and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.

AJ went to bed on 19 November 2012, the day we beat Tottenham 5-2, feeling unwell. Unfortunately his big soft heart gave out and he never awoke.

AJ loved The Arsenal so much he joined the Royal Artillery straight from school and served his country with pride.

He was the drummer for Arsenal band Riders Of The Night. Earlier last year Jon had an operation to remove a brain tumour, yet just a few weeks later he drove from Wales to the south coast to play with the band at a charity event to raise money for a young girl. That was the kind of man he was.

The video clip below shows AJ performing with the band, on stage at The Gunners.

AJ left a big hole in our lives and is missed by everyone that knew him. God bless mate.

Many will know that at the BSM we're passionate about getting a better deal for fans, and that part of this is to get an enjoyable matchday experience for those going to matches, supporting the team. One of our initiatives is 'Bring Back The Clock End' - a move to get season tickets in that area of the stadium, providing a place for like-minded fans who want to make a noise and get loud, vocal support going.

With season tickets not valid for League Cup games, it gave us a good chance of trying to do something similar, i.e. get a good number of like-minded supporters together in the ground. We therefore invited BSM members to get involved, and asked that they buy tickets in blocks 19, 18 and 17 - close to the away fans and not shoved as far away as possible, as the club did with the REDsection.

The idea was greeted with real enthusiasm from our members, and it was great to hear that a good few hundred had managed to buy tickets in this area of the ground. It was all set up to be an enjoyable night and on the concourse before the game, the songs started. The mood was positive and upbeat, and I was looking forward to taking my place in the ground.

Walking into block 19 a few minutes before kick off, our fans in that area of the ground were already in good voice. Volume was increasing and the atmosphere was building nicely. Of course with 9,000 away fans to our left we were up against it and it would take a decent effort to make a dent. But for the first 10 or 15 minutes we held our own and had some good exchanges back and forth across the divide. I saw some good stuff from fans on Twitter talking about block 19 buzzing, and some Chelsea fans have told me today that it was vocal back and forth at the start. But then, it began.

All of a sudden there was a constant stream of stewards up and down the aisle, telling people to sit down, checking tickets and generally causing a nuisance. This carried on all night but from that moment on, all that happened was arguing between fans and stewards over standing, noise, singing at the Chelsea fans, whether they had the right ticket - it was real disruptive tactics and in my opinion this was orchestrated by the stadium management. One female steward patrolled up and down the aisle with a notebook, furiously scribbling notes and ordering other stewards around.

Soon after this, Chelsea were gifted a goal and that invited their fans to start the provocation of our supporters. Standing on seats hurling abuse, acting brave and offering fights to anyone who'd give them some abuse back. When they scored, some Chelsea fans tried to light a blue flare but never managed to get it going. No action from police or stewards, which is puzzling when you think a fan of ours who did that at Stamford Bridge in 2010 received a £385 fine and was banned from football grounds for 3 years.

Don't get me wrong I am up for wind-ups and banter between opposing supporters. It's part of football and has been so for decades. But last night it was a one-sided affair with Chelsea fans allowed to get up to all sorts, while stewards and police caused endless trouble for our supporters with threats of arrest for anyone who "engaged with Chelsea supporters" (that's an actual quote from a policeman last night). One steward then said to the bloke next to me "Sorry, we're under orders tonight". That told us all we needed to know.

At half time I saw two people pulled aside on the concourse by police and get questioned. Apparently this was for being abusive to stewards, though I was informed no such abuse was given. Arguing a point yes, but no actual abuse.

On going back to our seats after half time, stewards then saw it fit to check the ticket of every fan trying to get back in. I've never seen this happen at any home game of ours in all the time I've been going - some 30-odd years. Naturally this caused a huge bottleneck of fans trying to get back to their seats, and many of us missed the start of the second half.

The rest of the game was just more of the same. Hassle from stewards and bugger all happening on the Chelsea side. Over came a bottle from their fans, our supporters reacted angrily and in came the police and stewards to threaten our supporters. Any stewards or police their side plucking out the person who threw it? Of course not. Truly laughable.

Overall, I have to give a big thanks to those BSM members who came along last night with the intention of getting behind the team, creating some noise and having a good time at football. I'm just sorry that an obvious ploy from our stadium management ensured that fans spent most of their time arguing with stewards and police, being threatened with arrest for the most ridiculous reasons, and some even being followed and told off by police after leaving the ground.

Every now and then we hear noises from Arsene Wenger and the players about the need for a positive atmosphere at home games. It's therefore disappointing that the club do all they can to stifle any attempts to generate loud vocal support. Last night it wasn't even a case of pissing into the wind, it was more like pissing into that St Jude storm while being battered with a water cannon of piss at the same time.

Needless to say, we'll be taking these events up with the club and we will continue to fight to get a positive atmosphere back in our stadium. The club may want a big group of people who sit there in silence, tapping away on their iPad or knitting (yes, that has been spotted), taking pictures and clapping every now and then. To us, that's not football. It's not the way football has ever been, or ever should be.

We continue, onward. A better deal for fans, that's what we strive for. It's our club, it's our game, and we won't give up easily. Football without the fans is nothing.

Up The Gunners

'Highbury Harold'

In short, it's "We've done a great job, but how can we push on?".

By now you'll have seen or read that we handed out flyers to attendees at today's AGM and as word spread to social networking sites, a lot of chat, debate, praise, moaning and the usual natter followed. Of course, we have our detractors who refuse to believe or understand what we're about and we knew they'd try to pick holes in the flyer, and true to form out they came. But for those who want to know a bit more about the thinking behind it, here goes.

Why Bayern?
People have asked why we're comparing ourselves to Bayern Munich. They receive funding from others, they didn't have to pay for their stadium, they're this, they're that!

Well as a memory refresher and for those who weren't around back then, when we were looking to move stadium, on more than one occasion our Board used the selling point that moving to a bigger ground would enable us to move up to the level of a "European Super Club". The term was held up there as the barometer; this is where we want to be and where we should be.

In more recent times, our Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis has used Bayern Munich as a barometer, showcasing them as a leader in European football. He's done so on more than one occasion. So if our Chief Exec is putting them up there as a model club, let's compare ourselves and see the gaps we need to close.

We're top of the league!
Correct, we are top of the league. Great, isn't it? But my advice would be to read the contents of the flyer. And as we've always said, at the BSM our focus isn't what takes place on the pitch. It's how the club is run and how the club treats its core support.

So yes it's fantastic we're finally getting a team that looks like it could challenge, this isn't what our group is focused on. We'd much rather get behind the team at matches thanks (come to the Chelsea Capital One Cup game and you'll see that), while outside of matches there are issues that we're looking at.

Stop moaning!
Again I'd say read the contents of this flyer. It's not a moan, it's actually saying what a great job we've done in getting to where we are, but how do we move on? How do we look forward and push towards being one of these European 'Super Clubs'?

Key point is that as a group we feel the Board is in need of change. The average age of our Board members is too high, and there isn't enough football experience there. I wrote an article two years ago touching on this, giving suggestions on how we could improve, and many of the points I still feel are valid today. You can read the article here.

Looking at the Bayern setup, they have ex-players at boardroom level - people who have the club in their blood, who understand the game, understand the fans. We feel that kind of influence would be of benefit to Arsenal.

As mentioned in the flyer, 87% of fans who completed our end of season survey felt the current Arsenal Board is out of touch with the fans, and that change is needed. Of course the usual handful of people have guffawed that it's not 87% of all Arsenal fans. We never said it was, however out of any Arsenal group who conducted a survey it's the highest response rate (around 2,500) and as a matter of fact, these results hit home with the club. After we shared the results with Arsenal they requested time to discuss in more detail the points about fans feeling less valued by the club, and the Board being out of touch. So if you want to try and poke fun, feel free, but the club have recognised the issue and want to work on that, which is great.

It's about the fans
Our ultimate message from the flyer is that while big stadiums, players and trophies are great and help promote a club's standing, it's the fans who make a club what it is. It's our supporters who've helped get this great club to the level it's at today. Loyal, hardcore fans who've paid thousands and thousands of pounds over decades, travelling up and down the country (and abroad) in their love of The Arsenal.

We've always said that the Board needs to recognise the value of its core support and do all it can to ensure our fans are treated fairly. While it's great the club engages with fan groups, there's a lot more that can be done and let's not forget that famous saying "Football without fans is nothing".

Ultimately, as a group we're all about making things better for our matchgoing fans. That's' it.

If you want to see the flyer in full, take a look below.

Up The Gunners

'Highbury Harold'

Take a note of these dates...

7th June 2013

9th June 2013

27th September 2013

17th October 2013

Anything significant about them?... No?

Well - let me inform you. 7th June 2013 Ivan Gazidis and his we have huge financial firepower story. 9th June fresh off the back of his rousing statement we have the fans Q & A session based mainly on his positive spin story a few days earlier.

27th September a rare an uncoincidentally timed story from no other than Stan Kroenke our "majority shareholder" if you live in the UK or, our "owner" if you live in the US.

So, for the last date 17th October? 11.30am to be precise... any thoughts? OK - well it's our AGM date, and after a less than inspiring performance in the last 2 AGM's it appears Kroenke has learned to play the game. Gazidis style. "Get a decent story out in the weeks running up to the AGM Stan, they'll think you know what you're on about, and go easy on you in the AGM". Sadly we're not falling for that one here at the BSM.

We are all too aware of the spin that comes out of that club. OK - we signed 1 world class player, and what a player we hope he turns out to be. But we let 20 odd players leave? Surely that's left us threadbare as a squad? 

I'm not going to dwell on the negative as we've had a great start. Ozil being attributed with laying on the goals but we were doing well without him so he can only help our cause this season. I'm loving the football we're playing. I'm loving being proved wrong about Ramsey, I'm loving being proved wrong about Giroud. I'm loving Matthew Flamini, and I would gladly pay the fine he probably got for that yellow vs Spurs. At 29 he's in his peak. He can share that "play breaker" role with Arteta all day long for me. 

A tough away game this weekend, but in the run of form we're in, why should we fear? Keep those heads held high, play for the crest on that shirt (although the cannon is arseways) and keep us proud gunners fans smiling. 

Come On You Gunners...   

Three months we had this summer. Three months and around £80 million to secure the services of a top-class striker. Make a statement a year after losing Robin van Persie. Don't lump ALL the pressure on Giroud. We'd cleared a load of dead wood which was great, but there was just the cling-on Bendtner to offload to one of the hundreds and hundreds of clubs who were after him. I mean, his dad had been saying for two years that plenty were after signing his son, so surely he was finally off?

Yet here we are approaching October with one recognised striker in Giroud, a couple of fringe player kids in the squad, and.... Nicklas Bendtner. Why is he still here?!

Before I go any further, don't assume I'm saying I hate Bendtner and have never rated him. Quite the opposite; a few years ago I personally thought he was a better striker than Chamakh and could offer more for the team; I wanted him taking Chamakh's place but for some reason, Arsene Wenger saw fit to play him on the wing. A baffling decision, totally Loopyville in my opinion. Unfortunately following this spell as a winger, Bendtner fell out of favour, out of the team, out of the squad, and out of the club, out of the country at one point... basically shipped out on loan to anyone who'd have him.

Since then we've seen talk of the player leaving us for this team and that... only for the deals to disappear and it then falls back to the fans on social media banging on about him being a "greedy bastard unwilling to drop his wage demands". Let's not forget, our manager put this player on weekly wages of £52,000 and signed him to a long-term contract. So ultimately whose fault is it that the player won't accept lower wages elsewhere? Ours. The buck stops with Arsenal, not the player.

So when the transfer window slammed shut and Jim White had calmed himself down in the Sky Sports studio, when the dust had settled... Nicklas Bendtner. There he was, still an Arsenal player. Okay, I thought - poor transfer window overall (aside from the one proper signing we made) and a balsa wood squad liable to break at any moment, but we'd have to make do. Our own fault we'd chosen to dawdle and keep dough in the bank, but Bendtner would just be a cling-on for another few months before we could try and get rid once more. Surely he wouldn't come anywhere near the team.

This is why I assumed that...

"I will never go back to Arsenal. If I can have it my way, I will never play for them again"

Who said those words? Nicklas Bendtner.

For me, any player who says something like that is no longer an Arsenal man. Yes he may be contracted to us but you can no longer play him. Doing so shows weakness and gives the player the upper hand. The player can say and do as he pleases.

"But we've got nobody else" ... "Who should we play there?" ... "Trust the manager's decisions" ... "Our options are limited" ... those are the kinds of arguments I've seen on Twitter. I'll ask again, whose fault is it that our options are virtually zilch?

Once more we have warring factions of fans. Those who can't stand the player and want him gone, and those who are willing to forgive and forget because it's a route our manager has chosen to pursue. I've even seen some going along with the manager's spin that Bendtner can come good and do a great job for us! And right here is where we've got the BIB (Bendtner Is Best) gang against the BOB (Bendtner Out Brigade).

Me? I want rid of Bendtner. I don't want him anywhere near our team ever again after what he said. Call me BOB.

Wow, that was one long and ridiculously stressful summer transfer window. Why did we think it would be any different?!

I won't go too much into what happened over the course of the last few months as it's been done to death by everyone, everywhere. The long and short of it is that we had 2,519 hours to spend some of the money that's been sitting nicely in the bank... and it took us 2,518.5 hours to do it.

Mesut Özil's  signing is big. It's mega. It's absolutely fucking HUGE in the grand scheme of things. In my lifetime and during my time as an Arsenal fan, I can recall three transfers that have got me excited; Charlie Nicholas (my boyhood hero), Dennis Bergkamp, and Sol Campbell. They were three major transfers that shook the football world and sent Arsenal fans wild. Özil makes it number four. He's a supreme talent and someone I've rated for a few years after seeing him ripping teams apart for Germany. I would have loved us to get him before Real Madrid but hey, we've got him now and as stats stack up, this bloke is on a different planet. Take the assist figures of any Barcelona player and this little genuis wipes the floor with them.

While Özil's arrival was a big statement of intent on one hand, the other hand is a bit like a seasoned wicket keeper's with joints out of place and mangled digits very apparent. We had (according to the AST) around £100m available to invest in the squad at the start of the summer and during the close season we brought in around £10m from outgoing player sales, then cleared a LOT of dead wood which freed up around £500,000 a week in wages. Even Stevie Wonder could see that our squad is lacking in a few key areas but despite all the money available to bolster our team we spent a net of around £35m. That leaves around £65m sitting there, unspent.

We're a handful of games into the new season and already have injury issues with key players. Podolski is gone for around 3 months, Arteta is another medium to long term absentee, and who knows when Vermaelen will be back? As it now stands we're relying on Olivier Giroud to stay fit up front as he's our only recognised striker. Yes Theo could be slotted in there but is he a "top, top top quality" centre forward? No, he's not. At centre back, if anything happens to Mertesacker or Koscielny, we'll have to rely on a right back providing cover. That baffles me given the riches we had available to invest, but at least it gives Uncle Ivan the chance to secure the hat trick of "powder dry" comments.

Oh yeah, there were some other players who came in. Sanogo fills me with no excitement whatsoever; the phrase 'injury prone and plucked from Ligue 2' doesn't say ambition to me, it says gamble. Flamini I've never been keen on re-signing mainly because I don't like backward steps (and Wenger never used to either) but also because he walked out on us five years ago. But he was freeeeeee!!!!!! We like freebies. Viviano I can't see as top quality goalkeeper backup, just another Fabianski or Mannone type. Some reviews I've read about him don't really fill me with confidence, and with keepers like Cesar and Begovic attainable over the last few months, someone who was turned down by Fiorentina warrants no more than a "meh" from me.

So overall, it's been a strange transfer window. Last night I asked my followers on Twitter if they'd consider it a successful window if Özil was the only player to come in (ignoring Viviano) and the response was a landslide. No, not good enough. The opinion was that we also needed a top quality striker and further cover at centre back. This morning I saw Tim Payton ask his followers to score our transfer window out of 10, and the result was around 6.

Last night there was a lot of smugness among some Gooners, and the old "Arsene Knows" line I spotted on more than a few occasions. Off the back of one signing. To that I'd say woah, woah, hold on there! One swällow doesn't make a summer so as major as Özil's signing was for this club, we still have a whole load of work to do with this squad, and we need to keep our fingers crossed big time on the injury front. Added to that, the comments I received about "We can spend in January" smack of desperation and are very much akin to Uncle Ivan's powder remarks. It's well known that Wenger doesn't like the January window; he sees no value in it as buyers are desperate... so surely if he really thought we were in need (and with shitloads in the bank) he would have spent this summer, wouldn't he?

Anyway, we are where we are. It's been yet another nightmare summer for Gooners seeing failed attempts at Higuain and Suarez, then Cabaye... ending with us having to wait until the final hour of the transfer window to do anything of note. There's nothing can be done now, so we have to plough on and hope we're up there challenging come January. Who knows, with both Manchester clubs starting the season in topsy turvy form, we could be in with a shout assuming we can keep people fit and keep a good run going.

So if you go to Arsenal games, get behind the team. Ignore all the WOB vs AKB stuff in the ground; don't get involved. Just put all your energy into cheering on the 11 players on that pitch wearing the cannon on their chest. 

Up The Gunners

'Highbury Harold'