Arsenal win 7-0 against a bunch of overeager part-timers, and social networks have us as favourites to win everything but the Grand National.

Let’s imagine for a moment that Arsenal manage to go on to triumph in the Emirates Cup. Wenger would then break his silence to announce yet again that he believes this current Arsenal squad of players to be his strongest one yet – *yawn*. The same recycled speeches year after year after year…etc. And after the obligatory open-top bus to parade last season’s 4th place trophy to go along with the hypothetical Emirates Cup, Wenger would then sign his new contract to keep pace with being one of the highest paid managers in the world. And only then can Arsenal proceed in their annual pursuit of 4th place.

It’s like a bad dream that recurs annually.

Now Arsene Wenger would not tell you the time if he was handcuffed to Big Ben – he likes to play coy with the media and fans alike. Yet somehow or another Arsenal had been linked to numerous world class players long before the transfer window even opened. Since then we have signed one player on a free and sold or loaned out at least 9 players, which will cut our wage bill by at least £20m a year!

Arsenal are actually rolling in money, make no bones about it.

The increase in TV revenues, shirt deals, merchandising all add up to money, money, money. And don’t forget we have the distinction of being the most expensive side in the world to watch live and have the best stadium in the country, which generates an average of £3m a game. Our beloved Owner “Silent” Stan Kroenke was figured by Forbes to be worth an estimated £4 billion.

Clearly we have money to burn and piss away if need be, but that’s not our way it seems.

So why have Arsenal struggled to even capture a goalkeeper valued at around £2m in Julio Cesar, and do not seem that close to signing anyone of any real calibre? Ehm, I wish I knew, but that is the question of the day month.

I constantly berate Wenger for being a stubborn, deluded narcissist who is now overrated and ridiculously over paid – it may not be the popular opinion, but slowly more Gooners are agreeing. Amidst my constant tirades have I been missing the more sinister bigger picture?

While I can point the finger at Wenger’s signings, his love affair with signing French Ligue 1 misfits and his stubborn reluctance to sign players from the Premiership, his boss “Silent” Stan Kronke seems to be blissfully happy with Arsenal’s lack of success on the pitch.

During the last eight barren years without a trophy and the constant sales of our best players, Chelsea’s owner has terminated some of the world’s best managers, this during a period of winning 10 major trophies including the Champions League. Manchester City treated Mancini like a dog even though last season he won the Premiership. What am I missing?

Apart from Sir Alex and maybe David Moyes, every Premiership manager has been under very visible pressure to succeed or survive, but not the Premiership’s highest paid manager, Arsene Wenger. It seems he has his hall pass renewed yearly.

His club’s success is judged on the balance sheet and not on the pitch, a situation reflected by the fortunes of Kroenke’s other sporting franchises in America. Arsenal have become an American Sports Franchise, and have ceased to be the historically successful North London footballing giants we once were, as pessimistic as that sounds.

Like him or loathe him, Roman Abramovich is hugely passionate and single-minded about Chelsea, and his brand of stubborness is backed by his own personal finances which has brought Chelsea success well beyond that of what their fickle fans may have deserved.

In the meantime, Arsenal have joined Kroenke’s portfolio of the Colorado Rapids (MLS), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), St. Louis Rams (NFL – under his son’s name) hugely profitable sporting enterprises but with little or no success on their own particular fields of sport !

As Fulham fall under the control of yet another American owner in the Premiership, it does beg the question, “What do those darn yankees want from the Premiership?” Is their ever-growing influence on the Premiership good for the game and our football clubs? Based on their current track record I dont think so! After all, Americans play Football with their hands!

Aston Villa’s demise and near relegation has come at the hands of an American owner. One of the world’s great names in football, Liverpool FC, have been set-back a decade by American owners who came bearing gifts and nearly ruined the club. Although Manchester Utd have still had a certain amount of success on the pitch, can we agree that they have regressed and are swimming in a quagmire of complex debt.

American ownership there has split the club and supporters alike, culminating in the birth of FC United “gold and green”.

Is it a coincidence that Arsenal’s current decline, and it is a decline, has come during our current ownership?

Is it a coincidence that Arsenal supporters have become hugely divided in our support of Arsenal and our manager?

Is it a coincidence that historically the 3 global brands in world football, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, are all now owned by Americans?

A quarter of current Premiership clubs are now American-owned yet only Manchester United can now be deemed to be reasonably successful. Arsenal are so financially successful off the pitch we don’t really need success on the pitch. Wenger’s complicity aided by Ivan Gazedis is a frightening indictment of the obvious contempt he holds for the fans who pray for a return to the old days when Arsenal was just a plain old English football club.

Because what is frightening is that While Wenger continues to pay the bills and keep the clubs balance sheet in the black , that will be the success Kroenke will measure him and Arsenal by. No wonder none of them want Usmenov involved in upsetting their personal gravy train. He would want what Abramovic demands; success on the pitch at all costs.

Wenger would not escape 8 trophy-less years on his salary under Usmenov, you can be sure of that! Arsenal supporters have become cash cows for Kroenke and are powerless to have any influence on the direction of our club. And if we do not buy big in this window, we will just become a team of mediocrity a la Liverpool.

Foreign ownership in the Premiership has come at a cost for the English game, but American dictatorship of what used to be our biggest clubs and their influence on the Premiership will I believe ruin English football – you know, the game we still play with our feet?! It’s no slight at Americans, just at American owners who are clearly interested in the money and are too far removed from the game.

Richie Rich

El Presidente

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