Mikel Arteta was in attendance at the Ball Arena in Denver as Stan Kroenke’s Colorado Avalanche won their 16th straight home game in the NHL.
The Spaniard appears to have flown to the States on Sunday after Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Burnley and was pictured sitting in a corporate box a few seats down from the Arsenal owner as the Avalanche consolidated their position at the top of the Central Division.
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke & Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta in attendance to watch Kroenke’s Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 in the NHL in Denver tonight. 👀 #afc pic.twitter.com/FjixtOroKB
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) January 25, 2022
We’re presuming that Arteta has flown Stateside for face to face talks about his future; rumours circulated at the weekend that the club wants to hand the manager a new two-year deal.
We suspect upcoming transfer business was also on the agenda with the Gunners desperately scouring the market for a new striker while also trying to decide how best to offload highest earner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Arteta won’t be in the US for long. The 39-year-old is due to take the Arsenal squad to Dubai later this week for a warm-weather training camp. After a hectic festive period, the Gunners don’t play again in the league until 10 February away at Wolves.
While Arsenal might have stuttered in January, the good form of the Avalanche – chasing a first Stanley Cup since 2001 – and NFL franchise LA Rams – who are one win from reaching a Super Bowl final in their own stadium – will no doubt be keeping the Kroenke family chipper. In that sense, it’s a good time for Arteta to turn up with a list of demands.
Let’s not presume anything… Maybe the man just wanted a free ticket to a NHL game across the Atlantic 🤣
Sure he had to pay for it…
Stan gave him a ticket then sent him a Venmo request for the full amount when Mikel was on his way back
Stan to Arteta, top four this season or else u are gone. Take another 100 M now but get top four
#motivational
If they are keen to give him a new 2 year deal, Arteta should invoke his inner Conte and give them his conditions.
Everyone knows we need to refresh the attack; we need another deep lying midfielder – someone ready to play while Lokonga continues to develop.
Let the Kroenkes go the whole hog with their investment.
“Hey Stan, you got my money?”
Trying to justify matching Isak’s release clause price ?
“Hey Mikel, scouting for strikers in the NHL now?”
“Hey Mikel, Arteta I got your money, don’t you worry, Mikel
Commmme onnnnn Ted Lasso
Love that show
I would be absolutely delighted to see Arteta sign a 2 year extension.
Me too. Check Piers Morgan trashing Arteta to generate click bait for The Sun, of all rags, today. He reckons Auba is our best player? He isn’t in the top 5 of our best players.
Saka, for the record, is our best player. Stick to growing chins you c*nt.
This is exactly the sort of easy negativity that we don’t need. Yes, January has been disappointing, but we’re still in the mix for top 4 and just need to finish the squad this summer…
Well, that pretty much should decide it for anyone on the fence about Arteta. If Piers Morgan hates him, he must be pretty good. Pep level, at least. And even if he’s not, it’s worth keeping him to make Morgan unhappy. If we can find some way to include Mourinho in the unhappiness, we will have had a successful season.
OK, based on what? Give exact details? You feel you see something in him does not count. Give facts and numbers.
Based on the fact that there’s been progress under Arteta. It’s a shame, however, that progress is only relative to the previous depths he sunk the club to. We’re only just getting back to the level Emery had us at and I’m not even sure we can maintain it.
How many hours has it been since we scored a goal or won a match now?
Well he took a plane that was going downwards anyway.
It looks like he steadied it but with a great cost.
But I am not fully convinced.
I would say the end if this season would be where he should be judged upon.
We are on the mix for top 4 …and top 8. If we are not in Europe, given that we only competed at EPL and given the money he handled, he should be sucked.
I agree, I think he should get to the end of the season, but what I don’t get is what do people see in him? How has he improved us? I really need a true Arsenal fan/die-hard Arteta fan who watches the games to explain with facts how Arteta has improved us or why does he deserve another contract. The best answer I hear from Arteta-loving fans is well is “who is good enough?” Just fking tell me why is Arteta good for Arsenal???….what has he done? how have we improved? I can say personally on a squad level we… Read more »
You really don’t like Arteta huh? I wouldn’t call myself a fanboy but I like the guy and believe he can improve us more than he already has. Namely; 1. Upgraded the goalkeeper when no one was crying out for it. The new guy brought in attitude and aptitude which most of us didn’t see we were lacking until Ramsdale greatly improved both. 2. Sorted a defensive line that pre his arrival was fucking shocking. We now play out from the back with cohesion and we defend resolutely. We have also, largely, stopped our defenders shooting us in the foot… Read more »
Great comment!
Well said.
👊👊👊
I am not a fan boy either. 1. The keeper is an upgrade of we are playing with a ball playing GK. I don’t think he is better shot stopper than Leno. 2. He sorted the defense by destroying the attack. We play a rigid football structured football. Mind that if I have to choose messy defense and 3rd place and tidy defense and 10th place you know what you should choose. 3. 4 5 Talent demolition in the face of Saliba Pepe AMN. I am not sure that Saliba AMN Pepe Martinelli deserved so few minutes. He didn’t sacrifice… Read more »
LOL #7, are we managed by Walcott?
You are an optimist, Bro. Let me share a pessimistic view of your points – 1 Sold Martinez for 17mn, then corrected mistake by spending 30mn. Leno could not be sold then, nor commands any value now. Runarsson, hmm 2 Bought flops like Mari, Cedric, destroyed Bellerin, AMN, Holding. Kept Chambers despite so many offers, then let him go on free. A lot of misses to get the back line right. Though I am not sure on White yet 3 Created a few disruptive characters – Auba, AMN, Nketiah, Pepe, Cedric, Leno, etc – who get paid a lot together,… Read more »
I didn’t want arteta to get the job because of his lack of experience, he’s won me over a bit though. I think it would be foolish not to stick with him now, he’s an intelligent person and I would be very surprised if he hasn’t been learning from his mistakes. There’s a lot that can happen between now and May, I think we’ve a good chance of 4th place, if he gets top 6 I would want us to stick with him.
No, he shouldn’t be.
We need to stop rewarding failure.
Under appreciated comment by the grown ups.
He might actually enjoy that (depending on who was doing the sucking of course)
Please no. I can’t take another three years of the weird decision making and lack of accountability.
How can a manager, we’re still not sure is the real deal, be asking for £200+ million to be spent in a single season. That’s almost half the market value of the 20/21 squad. It’s potentially putting the club’s future at risk.
£200m is 4 decent players these days……we had to change over 10 players a year ago. If we’d beaten Man City or nicked a goal against Burnley we wouldn’t be having this conversation….
All the players know are young and decent, so not sure how we are putting the future of the club at risk?
If anything, moving away from giving 30 year olds £300k plus a week is protecting the future of the club…..and the Krankies can see that 💰
*now (feckin’ spell wank)
Uze. C’mon man. £50m is NOT the market price for a “decent” player. Every player above that price point is meant to be a marquee signing. Other teams sign good players for below that amount all the time. It’s putting the club at risk because whilst we’re a wealthy club, we’re not a sugar daddy club. The Kroenke’s do things the American way. So I’m 99% sure this expense is just going to be leveraged as debt against the club itself. It’s just borrowing from the club’s future and I wouldn’t be surprised if we will have to have another… Read more »
I don’t see how you can judge his ability over just 2 years? He had to stabilise a sinking ship and has already won us the FA Cup too.. We’ve spent £150m last summer on 6 players. That’s £25m a player on average. Most of the 6 have already proven to be good signings. He’s had a couple of dud transfers previously, but they were free/cheap transfers. He deserves the time to rebuild the squad. It looks like the focus has been from back to front, which is fair enough given the state of our back line previously. So now… Read more »
You have not watched Pep’s pressers he basically insists that you can do much without world class players because the system he plays requires the a great deal of specialisation, you therefore need players who have the best skill set to match the role and those don’t come cheap.
*can’t
Why not wait until the end of the season? Still a long way to go. This is the money time of year now. Arteta needs to earn those bucks like anyone else. These “half-season” assessments don’t mean shite if we fail in the other half.
Fair point. Top 6 is an absolute must. Can’t do that then reevaluate. Next season top 4 mandatory. That was my conditions for continued employment anyway…so far, I’ll think he’ll succeed, which is a good thing because the team is showing serious potential to be great next couple of seasons.
“Hey Stan, could you do a job in midfield?”
Looks like that Liverpool twat John Henry with them, hopefully the lads putting the final touches on the DOUBLE SWOOP for Salah and Van Dijk.
What are you smoking over there?
So what would happen if Arteta overstayed in the US?
By the law of non-negotiables, he’d be banished to Spain to watch Copa del Rey until his contract expires
Maybe Arteta was just popping in to say hi, before going on to get Matt Turner for his trip to Dubai.
With Sevilla bringing in Martial does this mean they’re ready to sell us En-Nesyri? We were linked with him quite a bit last year but has since gone quiet in relation to him. Seems a decent signing as replacement for laca in the long term, with another forward brought in this summer.
Nesyri doesn’t appear fit. Hasn’t played 90 minutes since August.
Jonathan David at Lille has a decent goal scoring record this season for a team mid-table.
Jonathan David has confirmed that he will not leave in January. Besides, Lille are in the CL knockout stages.
Dybala’s contract is up at the end of the season. Looks like a good player in a position that might be helpful. I think we should be going after him seeing that Jive are on the brink of acquiring Vlahovic.
Stan Kroenke keeps the cheque book while explaining to Arteta how he got the Avalanche in the running for the Stanley Cup and Rams competing in the Super Bowl final (soon) without spending much, if any, money.
Kroenke money-saver masterclass.
You’re joking right? That Rams team is full of star players and they’ve added more over the season. They won’t be able to keep them for more than this season because of salary cap issues.
Yep, and they’ve got something ridiculous like no draft picks in the first three rounds for like the next 3 years.
The NHL and the NFL are both based on very hard team payroll caps (not “salary caps” as they are often described), and on reliance on new young stars with teams having exclusive rights to sign them (no bidding wars possible) with the order based inversely on league position. And, of course, no relegation (which the Avalanche would certainly have suffered several times). Think about how that would work in football. When Leo Messi turns eighteen (for example), the club that finished last in La Liga the previous season would have the exclusive right to sign him to a contract.… Read more »
The only reason that works is ‘cos the players can’t just fuck off to play elsewhere and bollocks up your fake league of artificial sport made of kittens and unicorns.
Biggest problem with Stan is he isn’t interested by Arsenal anymore, but still refuses to sell. He’s passed us on to Josh which says it all. When Stan wanted to buy the LA Rams, he gave up both the Avalanche & Nuggets franchises to Josh, because of their regulations. Since then, he bought the rams for $750m, invested obscene amounts of money, and also time, and its now worth $5000m. Can you imagine if he had the same passion for Arsenal? This month has been the best opportunity for them to invest because £50m of any spending now will be… Read more »
Whether or not Kroenke Snr is ‘interested’ in Arsenal Football Club is immaterial.
As long as Stan and Josh keep coming up with the necessary coffers for quality squad investment, then we really shouldn’t worry.
To be honest, if we spend a record amount again this summer and fortify the squad as we did last year, then I couldn’t care less whether Stan gives a shit or not.
As far as I’m concerned, the guy is a money tree for this club – nothing more.
Mate you may not care if he’s interested, but ultimately, it does matter. I don’t think Chelsea would be half as successful as they’ve been if Abramovich isn’t interested and left the running of the club some staff. Likewise with City. There’s always pressure on the higher ups to win something from the owners.
Kroenke isn’t interested and so there’s never any pressure on the board to win from him. It’s why Gazidis lasted as long as he did.
There’s only pressure on a board that doesn’t spend.
The pressure for trophies is squarely on the manager – and by extension the players.
Providing he coughs up sufficient money for investment each window, it doesn’t matter what Stan thinks of the club.
Once he stops investing, then yeah, he’s under pressure to justify his ownership.
You make a great point. Though, be honest, if you weren’t an Arsenal fan and just an EPL neutral… Would you yourself bet on Arteta to be the manager that gets 4th place?
But that’s just it, we’re fans. Kroenke is the owner. He literally had a choice of managers to bring in and he picked Arteta. I don’t think he appoints him if he doesn’t believe in him – and by that same notion, he surely has to back him now that we’ve found ourself in a decent position to challenge for top 4.
Downvote all you like, but the sooner they both piss off, the better.
“Stan, are you going to have a word with Josh about that facial hair?”.
If it was simply about his contract, doing so at the end of this very important transfer window would be strange. They must be discussing the signing of a striker. Kroenke probably doesn’t know what a striker is but he might want to hear from Mikel how badly we need one.
The Chicago Blackhawks have just come out and said that all their players are available and the next thing you know, Mikel Arteta is watching them in Denver.
Coincidence?
How has it gone from Dein, Hill-Wood, Wenger and a rickety stadium on a residential Islington street, to this fuck-show?
Capitalism.
The world had capitalism way before dein and arsene, to be fair.
That is true, but the hyper-global-billionaire-oligarch-nation-state era of the Premier League is what we live in now
Without Great Britain, England is a small country. So globalising may not be so bad. 😉
Arsenal failed in the transition from a domestic/continental premier league into a global premier league.
When Abramovich was positioning Chelsea at the front with large investment, Arsenal/Arsene Wenger was shooting us in the foot complaining about financial doping
”Positioning Chelsea at the front with large investment”…?
How about “setting a precedent for indifferent billionaires to infect the game forever more with shameless greed and destroy a relatively level playing field that Arsenal and Wenger were set to dominate”……?
Wrong, technological change meant the audience was growing and the revenue was growing with it. Abramovich spent big early and positioned Chelsea at the front of the growing globalised Premier League.
The mistake you’re making is believing Abramovich brought in the change, when in fact like all good investors he recognised the direction of travel and invested early.
Arsenal and Arsene Wenger on the other hand were acting like the owners of an historic high street chain simultaneously dismissing and complaining about the rise of online retail, and we all know the winners of that particular battle!
Technological change? Oh, you mean Rupert Murdoch and his fellow human blood drinkers at Sky? The mistake you’re making, pal, is to blame Wenger at every opportunity for not whoring this football club out like a two dollar hooker and trying to run it as a football club and not a business. The fact that we as a football club would, in all likelihood, have still followed the same frugal path had Wenger never managed Arsenal, is lost on you. You’ll be blaming Wenger next for Arsenal selling Brady to Juve in 1980, Frank Stapleton to Man Utd in 1981… Read more »
No, i mean the internet, not Rupert Murdoch and Sky. Football’s full expansion hasn’t finished yet and won’t until either the Premier League as a whole or individual clubs are streaming on their own Netflix style platform.
As for the rest of your rant i’ll just say we either keep up or turn into the Woolworth’s of football. I’m not saying i agree or am happy with it, i’m just telling you the direction the wind is blowing in.
Well, thanks for telling me something I already knew two decades ago when Abramovich’s newly rich Chelsea started buying every single young talented English player they could tap up on motorway service stations.
How have you made a living from writing about what you love? Capitalism….
Yes, I am aware of the world we live in.
And you do a damn good job with amazing ethical and always considering the reader’s perspective. Funded by us fans via Patreon, this as noble as content can get. Thanks Andrew and co
It’s cold, rainy and windy in Dubai right now. Doesn’t really qualify as “warm-weather training” conditions…
It’s 20 degrees at 8pm with a slight wind and will be 28 degrees tomorrow. I know your implying it’s a money spinning
Tour which it obviously is but that doesn’t mean it’s not warm water with the training as well it’s freezing in the UK at the minute and this will definitely be beneficial for the team
Surfin’ 🇺🇸
So now we know what to do so Stan can care to attend a home game… Just win 15 home games in a row, get to work boys.
Have you forgotten about that little pandemic thing?
Considering the LA Rams literally went all out to win this year, compiling star players on both sides of the ball (I understand the NFL is VERY different than World football in player transactions, but they moved heaven and earth to build a superstar team anyway they could) – you’d think they could treat Arsenal the same way, at least for the moment.
Y waste Our time on a player that doesn’t want to play for us? We kept pushing and now I learnt juve Have agreed to buy him for €75m it’s a shame. Now we have just feed days to sign scraps to fill d hole in the team
He should be demanding that he gets to keep his job… Burnley… Ugh.
I think Arteta has gone there to tell Stan that he should fuck off and sell the club to Daniel Ek. Now.
Wait till Daniel Ek tries to buy a player by offering another club .0001p per appearance but insists they can make a fortune after the player has played 18 trillion games for Arsenal.
Listen, Arseblog: Billionaires are billionaires because they are very careful with their money. I like that.
Would Ek allow the Arsenal manager to award a £350k-a-week contract to a thirtysomething player and then freeze him out of the team?
I doubt it.
Maybe Arteta has gone to the US to explain to Stan why he’s squandering a fortune on a non-playing asset.
We had a rule about 30something and large/long contracts. It was a great rule. I appreciate players careers are now longer, but… it was a good rule.
AW broke it with MO. Arteta with PEA & Willian. We got out of Willian’s contract, who knows what will happen with PEA.
Weird. people who have never owned a business telling a successful business owner what he should do with management and his own money.
what most miss about KSE is the organization’s willingness to take successful risks with management choices. Admittedly it did a while to get the nuggets right, but the nba is a joke of a sports league.
Are you Stan or Josh?
Erm….How do you know we’ve all never owned a business….? 😜
The vibe when he asks for a new striker will be like a child who broke an expensive toy and now wants a new one. Theres going to be some explaining to do…
Bruno to Newcastle.
So it begins: being outbid by yet another hitherto inferior club from the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s.
What next? Donald Trump buys the Spuds…..
Unrelated to this, but on Aubameyang – I believe his disciplinary breach is more than just a late arrival / missing training… Starting to wonder if he is the ‘Unnamed’ player who is being investigated by FA over betting?
These owners are just pulling the wool over the eyes of gullible fans aplenty. To be fair they have not been shy of spending. But they’ve also entrusted the club to two newbies. Both Edu and Arteta together are a recipe for disaster. We have neglected critical business necessary and over spent in other areas, not managed Guendouzi, Torreira or Saliba (Assets in hand) appropriately. And then the story sold to the Arsenal foolish fan base is we are buying young players of promise for the future and that will be what buys time for the owners, a promise never… Read more »
Edu wasted 50m on White. Now Arteta has to go cap in hand to explain to the owners why he needs more money to add to midfield which should have been done last summer (with Ruben Neves available then). Idiotic.
Really??!!… I think White’s had a decent season so far, what were you expecting VVD mark 2?
I’m on the fence with Arteta but at least let him see out the season minimum, and the million dollar question who replaces him?
We’ll end up like Watford if we’re not careful with a Mgr merry-go-round….and a 90 yr old Roy Hodgson…
The rams stadium is not a home stadium for the rams this Sunday. 70% of the shithole will be filled with 49er fans. This is what you get when your cunt owner decides to up sticks and move his team 2000 miles away after being in St. Louis for 20 odd years. Unfortunately he’s our cunt owner as well. (Let’s go Niners!)
Mikel: Give me 200 millions.
Stan: No
Mikel: 100, then. Without at least 100, Edu must sell his Bugatti
Stan: 50, if you get rid of four-five players you don’t need
Mikel: F.. stingy old miser
Stan: Another glass organic grapefruit juice?
“In that sense, it’s a good time for Arteta to turn up with a list of demands.”
Is the use of “list of demands” an English colloquialism? In the US, line employees approaching an owner with a “list of demands” would suggest an adversarial confrontation, e.g, a labor union preparing to strike. If it came from management, it would be perceived as belligerent.
This is similar to many tabloid headlines that are in the imperious form of “Pundit X says Arsenal MUST sign a new striker”. When I read this, I usually think “Or else what? Pundit is wrong (again)?