While Sp*rs bore the brunt of the jokes when the lineup for the European Super League was announced, there were plenty who questioned whether Arsenal deserved to be included as one of the continent’s biggest clubs.
After all, it’s been 17 years since we won a league title, 27 years since we secured European silverware and we’ve not appeared in the Champions League since 2016/17. We’ve also fallen out of the top 10 clubs in Deloitte’s Football Money League having hovered around fifth place from 2006 to 2011.
Sure, we’ve consolidated our credentials as the FA Cup’s most successful teams with four wins in seven years but under the ownership of KSE, who’ve held a majority stake in the club since 2009, the downward trend is marked.
Little wonder they were so keen to accept an offer for a competition that ringfenced an increased revenue stream and took away the problem of actually having to be any good on the pitch.
Asked for his take on Arsenal’s status, Mikel Arteta had the following message to those who think we’re a second-tier club:
“That we are one of the best clubs in the world, and we could not be any prouder to represent this club, its history, and we totally understand the demands and the excellence that we have to be pursuing.
“You cannot deny the history, and that history is attached to results, it’s attached to a certain way of doing things, to certain values, to representing those in the right manner, to having the amount of support and love that we have around the world.
“And that’s not a coincidence, that’s been earned over years and years with merit to a lot of people who have been involved in the history of the football club.”
Major Honours in the Last 30 years (League, main cup, Europe)
🇮🇹 AC Milan 15
🇮🇹 Inter 13
🇮🇹 Juventus 23🇪🇸 Atletico 11
🇪🇸 Barcelona 38
🇪🇸 Real Madrid 29🏴 Arsenal 13
🏴 Liverpool 11
🏴 Man City 6
🏴 Man Utd 23
🏴 Chelsea 17
🏴 Tottenham 0— Orbinho (@Orbinho) April 19, 2021
Now that the Super League plans have stalled, Arteta knows that Arsenal are facing yet another period of fan unrest. Many are expected to protest against the behaviour (and mere presence) of our American owners ahead of tonight’s clash with Everton.
Arteta says he respects supporters taking the opportunity to voice their concerns and hopes the same energy will be channelled into supporting the team when we’re allowed back into stadiums on matchday.
“We want to listen to them and we totally respect that,” he said.
“That they have been loud and clear what they want and that they have been heard – and they are going to be heard all the time because, again, they are the soul of this football club and they are the soul of this industry.
“We are going to try do the best that we can to make them proud all the time and to make their lives better by playing the way we want to play, winning football matches and trophies.
“That’s our responsibility. But if they can help in a way it is by giving support to the team, because that it is going to have an immense effect and it is so powerful that I think they have to realise that.”
Yeah I do believe we are still a big club but we act like sh*t for the pasti 10 years or so
Though the biggest question here is how on earth, hell and heaven can totts join the ESL without any major honors for the past 30 years
Spuds have a high capacity modern stadium in london, that’s why they were involved.
Although it’s rather the income derived from it than the shiny building itself though.
Fewer than Everton, Leicester, Portsmouth and Wigan.
Yep Wigan is better than Spurs in many ways 😂
Money, they’re pulling comparable (albeit lower) crowds to us unfortunately.
Because they have a bigger turnover than us – for the first time in a long while (on the latest 2019-20 figures) and in all three income areas: match day receipts, TV revenue and commercial.
The ESL was formed largely on financial clout, although often trophy success goes with that, which is why the loss of PSG and Bayern Munich was such an early blow to their plans.
We are a huge club, make no mistake. Still the biggest in London in terms of world fans IMO. However very close to Chelsea now. The only shirts you see in Africa are Man u, Arsenal and a few Chelsea ones. Asia is the same. But the ball has been dropped massively recently. It is a huge shame we couldn’t just scrape a Premier League win or a European trophy in that time, it would have changed everything. Arsenal 2021 is a combination of poor management and no external investment. While Chelsea have had £1.5billion of doping in the last… Read more »
And yet some people are still content for KSE and Arteta to remain…..
Again, why the need to throw Arteta into that? He doesn’t run the club.
He runs the team.
Badly.
Did Arteta nick you bird mate? Because you fucking act like he did.
Content with mid table are you?
Our worst league campaign for 40 years – ring any bells does it.
Some of you actually deserve this manager and how shit this has been.
You say some people are still “content” for the owner to remain (I’ll leave Arteta out of this) but how on earth do you suggest we remove him? Saying the owner should go and doing something about it are two massively different things.
The fact is that Stan isn’t going anywhere anytime soon unless or until he receives an offer that will recoup his original layout, and then some. Where’s that offer coming from? Are billionaires really queuing up to buy football clubs, particularly now? I don’t think so.
Stick around, Mr all-knowing financial sage.
Rome wasn’t built in a day…
A totally pointless argument – who cares if we are big, small or medium, just win some fucking games.
Perception can important as well though – particularly if you’re a player thinking of moving with several options. You may well choose the “big” club, all other things being equal.
I do. Because that’s what make us different from the neighbor next door
#WengerOut
Yeah, that was a fucking smart idea…
….not.
Don’t forget Orbinho hasn’t taken into account our ‘Groundsman of the Year’ trophy dominance throughout the Emirates era. Now if that doesn’t get your juices flowing…
There is another reason that football supporters around the world think of Arsenal as a big club–but that won’t last forever. That is the reputation of Arsene Wenger. I think in world football, his name meant more than even Ferguson’s (who was objectively more successful, for whatever reasons). It is a little like (not exactly like) being associated with a generational talent–a Zidane or Ronaldo or Messi. Only Guardiola has the equivalent aura today. We still have it, but I don’t know for how much longer.
“and they are going to be heard all the time because, again, they are the soul of this football club and they are the soul of this industry.”
I’m fast losing respect for Arteta. Sure he’s in a tight spot but he’s making himself Kroenke’s puppet and unless he changes quick that’s all he’ll be remembered for.
“Soul of the industry”…
Problem: capitalism has no time for souls.
If I were arteta I’d be fuming that I’d taken on such a shit job. Football is a joke I’d already planned to boycott the 2022 world cup but I might just stop watching altogether now. Waste of time
I’m finding that tweet from orbinho very hard to read. Can anyone confirm how many trophies sp*rs have?
Is the answer “shit”?
Wish I had scrolled down first….how many was it though?
We were a big club, under Wenger.
We’re currently a ‘big club’ in name only. Big clubs don’t piss about in the middle of the table.
If you like at last 30 years then we are a big club. If you look at last 10 years, we are simply not a big club. But hey, my Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) haven’t won since 1967 when there was only 6 teams in the league and I still love them to death. Only 1 team can win the EPL each year. Does that make the other 19 teams losers? I don’t think so. I still think we’re in a better direction under Arteta. Hopefully we have some smarter signings going forward: young hungry players, not old guys on… Read more »
Norwich are never gonna win the league but they still turn up every week, don’t they?
The better direction is up the league table, not down. Ok?
Just in case you are new to the game.
It’s always difficult trying to define this. Overall, it’s obvious that we’re not the power we were, say, in Wenger’s early years and, overall, we’ve been in a decline since then – despite CL qualification for a lot of that time and a few domestic cups along the way. In terms of finance, we’ve been on a comparative slide for several years and now have the lowest turnover of any of the other “big” six clubs in England (inc. Sp*rs) on the latest 2019-20 figures. That said, our turnover is still bigger than all but a handful of European clubs… Read more »
We’ve put plenty of money into the playing squad in the last few years, we’ve just not made enough good decisions
Still Disgusted… I’m still reeling from this week’s events. If one group of rats puts down the attempted mutiny of another group of rats, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we’re still watching theater in a den of rats. EUEFA, FIFA, The Sneaky Six, the Tawdry Twelve—fuck’em all. Arsenal Football Club has been in decline for over a decade. We’re run by a guy who’s sole interest is financial margins, a guy who could give a shit about club history and competing for major titles (I’m from LA and I see his shenanigans with his US teams up… Read more »
As far as archenemies go, we got a mediocre one at best.
You wanna say we’re a big club? Prove we’re a big club and win the Europa League.
First of all, beat Villarreal in the semifinal.
And… get Stan kroenke out of Arsenal
Obviously europa league is the priority, but I’d still like to finish ahead of spurs in the league. What a crap season.
I’m not saying this because I’m an Arsenal fan but honestly guys how can people write off Arsenal,a team tyat hasn’t missed europe in 25+yrs..been in UCL for like 20+ consecutive seasons for a team like leicester,westham just because we’ve finished 8th n we’re on the verge of finishing outside top 6 for 2nd time in like 2 decades…no team outside traditional big 6 comes close to this legacy
Sorry, how many major honours had Sp*rs racked up? Must have missed it…..
Who cares?
We won the title more times at White Hart Lane than they ever did – and next month it’ll be a mere 60 years since they last won it.
That’s all you need to know, sunshine.
Big tits. I like big.
We are going no where but down. 1) Kroenkes do not understand the game nor care to. We are one of many of their holdings. 2) Venkatashem is a corporate suit. As soon as Wenger was out, I mentioned we were in danger of being exploited. Arsene was the only person with stature to challenge. Instead, Sanlehi blocked O’Leary’s nomination to board precisely so there was less oversight. Frankly we need someone like O’Leary as CEO to provide better vision/direction but also a custodian to our traditions and values. 3) Edu is pliable and also brought in to be under… Read more »
Good to see the turn out today for the protest. I hope we keep it up.
Make it uncomfortabe for the wanker owners.
Hurt them in the pocket. I’m not domeciled in the UK currently but if I had to boycott matches next season to help those in blighty make a point, more than happy to do so.
Matches are mostly insipid anyway.
Stop with the big club guff. 13 losses already. Focus on improving the dire performances of a club in free fall [owned by a parasitic toupee].
I have been reading all the noise about the ESL from the sidelines without commenting. However, all I have seen from fans (Arsenal and the other clubs) is a the hypocrisy that has been the bane of football since the mid 2000s. The driving factor behind the proposed ESL is the unsustainable spending of the big clubs. Many are unhealthy (especially Barcelona and Madrid) and need more money to keep up. The only financially responsible coaches (in the last decade) in terms of spending in the 12 member clubs is Wenger and Pochetino (and AC Millan coaches for the lack… Read more »