In The North Bank (ITNB) Arsenal Fan Channel • Live Watchalongs • The Big Sunday Show 🔴⚪ Home of The Big Sunday Quiz 🧠
EN9
Joined February 2019
- Tweets4K
- Following2.4K
- Followers1.6K
- Likes1.2K
If anyone is travelling into Memmingen then Joe Sepps Brauhaus is worth a visit to kill any time before getting train. UTA
1
7
572
NOTTINGHAM FOREST vs ARSENAL! 🚨 Can the Gunners Conquer the City Ground? xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1YGNrboEp…
1
1,141
RIP Ken
It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Life President Ken Friar OBE.
Since our formation in 1886, there have been many inspirational individuals who have driven our club forward, but no one has had an influence on Arsenal Football Club quite like ‘Mr Friar’ and he leaves an extraordinary life of service to the club as his legacy. One that will surely never be matched.
Rest in peace ❤️
ALT Image of Ken Friar OBE to commemorate his life with the following text: It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Life President Ken Friar OBE. Since our formation in 1886, there have been many inspirational individuals who have driven our club forward, but no one has had an influence on Arsenal Football Club quite like ‘Mr Friar’ and he leaves an extraordinary life of service to the club as his legacy. One that will surely never be matched. Rest in peace.
1
131
114/115 Guilty! Man City's Verdict Changes EVERYTHING… Or Does It? xitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1pKkOXVDP…
108
🚨 Premier League clubs planning legal action following guilty verdict against Manchester City relating to financial rule breaches. Lawyers instructed & work under way for some time before #ManCity outcome; would be after any appeals process @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/7630331…
3
246
In 2008/09 Arsenal finished 4th; City finished 10th.
That summer City signed Adebayor, who had scored 16 goals for us in all competitions, and Kolo Touré, an Invincible entering the final year of his Arsenal contract.
Wenger had to keep us competitive while City could buy experience from the very team they were chasing.
2011 hurt even more.
City finished just 3 points above Arsenal. Nasri had scored 10 league goals for us; Clichy had played 33 league games. City signed both. Fàbregas also left for Barcelona.
Wenger then had to rebuild key parts of his team while still carrying the cost of the Emirates.
Arsenal brought in Arteta, André Santos and Mertesacker among others. Those players had their own value, but replacing several established starters in one summer is a huge task.
City strengthened with Nasri and Clichy and won the league that season. That is what this felt like as an Arsenal fan: building a side, then watching a rival recruit from it.
Arsenal built a team capable of going unbeaten, then built a stadium to give the club a future at the top.
We spent years paying for that decision while competing with clubs transformed by owner wealth.
Now City have reportedly been found guilty on virtually all financial charges. Arsenal’s side of this story matters.
6/ Arsenal made mistakes of our own. We lost players, made signings that didn’t work and fell short on the pitch. I’m not rewriting all of that.
But accountability means asking what it was like to build, repay and compete under the rules while a rival was breaching them.
How do you put that right?
1
135
5/ In 2016/17 City finished third on 78 points. Arsenal finished fifth on 75 and missed the Champions League places.
That is a real three-point gap with real financial consequences. It does not prove Arsenal would automatically take City’s place.
It shows why a sanction cannot ignore the clubs on the other side of the table.
4
140
4/ This is where it becomes more than a general complaint about money.
In 2013/14 Arsenal spent months at the top of the league. We finished fourth on 79 points. City won it on 86.
I cannot claim Arsenal would have been champions. I CAN ask what years of financial breaches meant for every club chasing them.
1
141
3/ Chelsea’s takeover in 2003 had already changed the landscape. Their own club history describes the spending spree that followed.
Then City’s 2008 takeover changed it again.
Arsenal were trying to fund a stadium while the cost of staying at the top was being driven upwards around us.
2
148
2/ I don’t regret building the Emirates. Look at the club and the support we have today.
But Wenger’s Arsenal had to repay the stadium debt AND keep a side capable of competing. He said himself that we faced clubs with far greater resources.
That was the price of building our own future.
2
187
1/ The 2002 Double. The Invincibles in 2003/04.
Arsenal had earned their place among England’s best on the pitch. But Highbury could hold around 38,000. To grow, the club committed to a new 60,000-seat home.
That meant taking on debt and planning years ahead, not just buying for the next window.
1
260