Arsenal

[Dude Ranch]

Arsenal fans should pay upwards of £1000 each for a season ticket and simply tolerate anyone under performing then? I don't think expecting Walcott, or anyone else, to show some form and effort every week is being fickle. This is football. The players are incredibly privileged multi millionaires and they need to perform and show some backbone. That's what they're there for. The abuse isn't for one bad half of football. And the players are happy to take the praise when it goes well.

[The Fox]

Fair point I guess, with Walcott I suppose people just don't have much patience with him after a string of poor performances and a suspect attitude. I know I don't! I don't give him abuse when I'm at the match though, regardless. A groan maybe but that's about it!

[Steve007]

Matt Dickinson has a good piece in the Times today about the abuse of Walcott by the fickle Arsenal support. It's bad enough that it happened, but you'd think Steve would have the grace to not call it "totally justified" in the cold light of day. Get a grip, mate.

Mate, he was having an absolute shocker but redeemed himself with two lovely goals. I couldn't have made my point any clearer.

It will be interesting to see how he performs in his next few games. Will it be the Theo we are used to and fed up with, or the Theo we saw in the second half yesterday?

[George Clooney]

Arsenal fans should pay upwards of £1000 each for a season ticket and simply tolerate anyone under performing then? I don't think expecting Walcott, or anyone else, to show some form and effort every week is being fickle. This is football. The players are incredibly privileged multi millionaires and they need to perform and show some backbone. That's what they're there for. The abuse isn't for one bad half of football. And the players are happy to take the praise when it goes well.

Of course you shouldnt tolerate it, but what difference do you think it'll make to the players shouting at them during the match? I mean, its not like you're handing them constructive criticism and hints on where to improve, its more along the lines of "you're shit" and "get player x off the pitch". Surely its better to encourage the players and show support during the game then let your feelings known about it after if they've been rubbish? Some players may respond to it, but i'd wager there are far more that would lose confidence/play worse because of it.

[Gotters]

I'd forgive Theo trying things that don't come off, what I can't stand is he new found 'charlie big potatoes' attitude combined with a generally lazy approach, smae goes for a lot of the team.

People keep going on about how young he is but he's been at Arsenal for quite a while now, mostly in the 1st team, and he simply doesn't seem to ever improve or learn, which makes you think he's going to be a very frustrating 1:10 matches kind of player.

For a club in the upper reaches of the league and a player being paid very good wages he needs to deliver more often, this isn't a player wages rant, just he's paid at a level of a top flight consistent performer and simply isn't one, so cut the attitude, roll your sleeves up and get better, or ship out mate.

I too don't have a clue where that Rosicky performance came from, more of the same please.

Still think we are a mentally weak squad, despite yesterday, so expect a return to low tempo low energy tippy tappy stuff in the next match.

[SeanR]

I too don't have a clue where that Rosicky performance came from, more of the same please.

must be back on the coke...

[Dude Ranch]

Next time someone should run on and give him a cuddle. I can't believe how he goes from utterly woeful to world class. It's all there for him but he either can't be particularly bothered or mentally he's lacking. Everyone wants him to succeed. I suppose you could let your feelings be known after a game. When it's too late.

Genuinely, I think he's paid enough and the fans pay out enough for him to be able to get some stick when he's tragically bad and seemingly not even putting in much effort. And it's not as if he didn't improve as the game went on. I'm not one for personal abuse in any circumstance but I do believe the fans have a right to voice their concerns in the only way the can, on the day at the ground.

[toythatkills]

Walcott is an easy target, he's like a pantomime villain that the crowd can jump on when in reality, the whole team is playing shit around him as well. Walcott tends to be crap when the team is crap, but good when the team is playing well and with pace, because that benefits him. Holding the ball in midfield for ages and letting Stoke get their defence back before giving Walcott the ball isn't going to help anyone and it's bound to make him look shit.

I'm not saying it's not all his fault, but when the team isn't playing to his strengths it's no wonder his performances are shit. We've seen yesterday how effective he can be when we play with urgency.

[George Clooney]

Next time someone should run on and give him a cuddle. I can't believe how he goes from utterly woeful to world class. It's all there for him but he either can't be particularly bothered or mentally he's lacking. Everyone wants him to succeed. I suppose you could let your feelings be known after a game. When it's too late.

Genuinely, I think he's paid enough and the fans pay out enough for him to be able to get some stick when he's tragically bad and seemingly not even putting in much effort. And it's not as if he didn't improve as the game went on. I'm not one for personal abuse in any circumstance but I do believe the fans have a right to voice their concerns in the only way the can, on the day at the ground.

To late for what though? I mean, what are people trying to achieve when they hurl abuse at him? To get him taken off (which Wenger says he nearly did to protect him from the abuse he was getting) and potentially shatter his confidence? Even Steve says "Theo was getting the worst abuse I’ve ever heard". You think thats justified? Honestly? The fans do have rights to voice their concerns, but it shouldnt be by shouting abuse at players, and frankly the attitude of "they get paid a lot so its ok" is disgusting.

[Art Vandelay]

I don't agree that abusing players achieves anything, but the gulf between fans and club is enourmous and getting wider all the time. Aside from hurling expletives on the terraces there's really nowhere else these no doubt erudite observations can be presented where the club will hear them so I can see why people do it. That and the fact that people enjoy projecting their failures onto others.

[Rev]

I was on holiday in Iceland and I went over my 3G allowance at 5-2 (I'd already spent a few quid being updated with the equally ace Sheffield derby). I then dashed around Reykjavik trying to find a wifi point to confirm a final score.

I've not seen any of it, so I feel entirely qualified to say how amazing it was. It was amazing.

[SeanR]

I think theo gets a lot of abuse because the expectation of him is higher.

or something...

[Daley]

Swiss Ramble does his thing on Arsenal following the financial results that were announced yesterday.

http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012/02/arsenals-mystery-dance.html

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

This made me smile this morning. Imagine the cost of the stadium repairs!

[Stagger Lee]

I think theo gets a lot of abuse because the expectation of him is higher.

or something...

I don't think the expectation is higher. He's just expected to put in a bit of effort. He often looks bored. I'm glad he got a couple against Spurs but that hasn't redeemed him in my book.

[Lucky]

According to Arsenalinsider.

Not sure how accurate this is but some of it is quite interesting if it's correct.

Arsenal wages…

(pw/k) WAGE (p/yr)

Robin van Persie £90,000 £4,680,000

Andrey Arshavin £80,000 £4,160,000

Mikel Arteta £70,000 £3,640,000

Theo Walcott £70,000 £3,640,000

Thomas Vermaelen £70,000 £3,640,000

Yossi Benayoun £70,000 £3,640,000

Gervinho £70,000 £3,640,000

Manuel Almunia £60,000 £3,120,000

Per Mertesacker £60,000 £3,120,000

Sebastien Squillaci £60,000 £3,120,000

Tomas Rosicky £60,000 £3,120,000

Bacary Sagna £60,000 £3,120,000

Aaron Ramsey £55,000 £2,860,000

Alex Song £55,000 £2,860,000

Jack Wilshere £55,000 £2,860,000

Nicklas Bendtner £52,000 £2,704,000

Marouane Chamakh £50,000 £2,600,000

Abou Diaby £50,000 £2,600,000

Andre Santos £50,000 £2,600,000

Carlos Vela £50,000 £2,600,000

Denilson £50,000 £2,600,000

Johan Djourou £50,000 £2,600,000

Laurent Koscielny £50,000 £2,600,000

Lukasz Fabianski £40,000 £2,080,000

Wojciech Szczesny £40,000 £2,080,000

Ju Young Park £40,000 £2,080,000

Kieran Gibbs £40,000 £2,080,000

Vito Mannone £20,000 £1,040,000

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain £20,000 £1,040,000

Carl Jenkinson £20,000 £1,040,000

Emmanuel Frimpong £20,000 £1,040,000

Ryo £20,000 £1,040,000

Francis Coquelin £15,000 £780,000

Henri Lansbury £5,000 £260,000

Ignasi Miquel £5,000 £260,000

RESERVES

Zak Ansah £1,000 £52,000

Daniel Boateng £1,000 £52,000

George Brislen-Hall £1,000 £52,000

Craig Eastmond £1,000 £52,000

Benik Afobe £1,000 £52,000

Chuks Aneke £1,000 £52,000

Sead Hajrovic £1,000 £52,000

Conor Henderson £1,000 £52,000

Gavin Hoyte £1,000 £52,000

Sean McDermott £1,000 £52,000

Jernade Meade £1,000 £52,000

Rhys Murphy £1,000 £52,000

Nigel Neita £1,000 £52,000

Oguzhan Ozyakup £1,000 £52,000

Sanchez Watt £1,000 £52,000

Icholas Yennaris £1,000 £52,000

Martin Angha £1,000 £52,000

Kyle Ebecilio £1,000 £52,000

Damian Martinez £1,000 £52,000

Elton Monteiro £1,000 £52,000

Jordan Wynter £1,000 £52,000

Jeffrey Monakana £1,000 £52,000

James Campbell £1,000 £52,000

Samir Bihmoutine £1,000 £52,000

Philip Roberts £1,000 £52,000

Ben Glasgow £1,000 £52,000

Reice Charles-Cook £1,000 £52,000

Alban Bunjaku £1,000 £52,000

Isaac Hayden £1,000 £52,000

Zachari Fagan £1,000 £52,000

Jon Toral £1,000 £52,000

Anthony Jeffrey £1,000 £52,000

Serge Gnabry £1,000 £52,000

Hector Bellerin £1,000 £52,000

Kristoffer Olsso £1,000 £52,000

Kyle Bartley £1,000 £52,000

Wellington £1,000 £52,000

James Shea £1,000 £52,000

Pedro Botelho £1,000 £52,000

Samuel Galindo £1,000 £52,000

FIRST TEAM STAFF

Arsène Wenger £135,000 £7,020,000

Pat Rice £30,000 £1,560,000

Boro Primorac £30,000 £1,560,000

Gerry Peyton £10,000 £520,000

Neil Banfield £10,000 £520,000

Tony Colbert £10,000 £520,000

Colin Lewin £10,000 £520,000

Gary O’Driscoll £10,000 £520,000

David Wales £10,000 £520,000

Simon Harland £5,000 £260,000

Kieran Hunt £5,000 £260,000

Darren Page £5,000 £260,000

Vic Akers £5,000 £260,000

Paul Akers £5,000 £260,000

Paul Johnson £5,000 £260,000

Tony Roberts £5,000 £260,000

Marcus Svensson £5,000 £260,000

Danny Flitter £5,000 £260,000

James Collins £5,000 £260,000

Ben Knapper £5,000 £260,000

RESERVES STAFF

Steve Bould £20,000 £1,040,000

Liam Brady £20,000 £1,040,000

David Court £5,000 £260,000

Roy Massey £5,000 £260,000

Steve Gatting £5,000 £260,000

Lee Smelt £5,000 £260,000

Carl Laraman £5,000 £260,000

Steve Leonard £5,000 £260,000

Craig Gant £5,000 £260,000

Dennis Rockall £5,000 £260,000

Richard Goddard £5,000 £260,000

Alastair Thrush £5,000 £260,000

BOARD

Stanley Kroenke £25,000 £1,300,000

Ivan Gazidis £18,000 £936,000

Peter Hill-Wood £1,500 £78,000

Ken Friar OBE £1,500 £78,000

Sir Chips Keswick £500 £26,000

Lord Harris of Peckham £500 £26,000

OTHER STAFF

Wages £300,000 £15,600,000

Total £2,499,000 £129,948,000

[Rev]

I don't think the expectation is higher. He's just expected to put in a bit of effort. He often looks bored. I'm glad he got a couple against Spurs but that hasn't redeemed him in my book.

I think the expectation is higher because we all know he can do it - I mean, everytime he pulls on an England shirt people remember what he did against Croatia. He can do that. He did that on Sunday more or less.

But if you compare it to most matches, it's nowhere near. It's just infuriating, especially when it seems to come from laziness lots of the time.

Also, I only just found out Arshavin went. That seems sudden. Is that him gone forever now then?

EDIT: If that wage list isn't entirely fictional, it's some depressing reading. You can see the last minute panic buying ended up with paying silly wages as well. Santos is on £10k a week more than Chesney? If we're paying the full amount for Benayoun, he's on more than Sagna? Also, Squillaci lol.

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

Just loaned to Zenit till the end of the season, so that he can improve his chances of playing at the Euros. Hey, he's the Russian captain don't you know!

[Art Vandelay]

Alastair Thrush is now my favourite Arsenal staff member.

[Lucky]

Who the hell is Lord Harris of Peckham?

I wonder if he's a relative of the Trotters?

[Art Vandelay]

He's a filthy rich Tory.

[KRP]

Sir Chips surely

[Arc'Tan'Gent]

Boro Primorac is fluent in not one but nine languages.

[SeanR]

Who the hell is Lord Harris of Peckham?

I wonder if he's a relative of the Trotters?

Is it Phil Harris of Queensway/Carpetright fame?

[SeanR]

Boro Primorac is fluent in not one but nine languages.

he's also the inventor of 8 languages...

[Daley]

Is it Phil Harris of Queensway/Carpetright fame?

Yes.

What does Silent Stan do for his £25k a week?

[Rev]

Yes.

What does Silent Stan do for his £25k a week?

That does seem weird, since 70% of it is basically his money. It's basically like he's allocating himself spending money to blow on sweets and comics.

[Dude Ranch]

Vela £50k lol

And I can't believe all those people we've never heard of are on £5k per week. Surely not.

[wev]

Theres only 2 players there who are 'under paid', RVP and Woj

[Art Vandelay]

I think most of those sound about right, but then I get to Vito Mannone. I refuse to believe I live in a world where a player of his standard can earn £20,000 a week for either sitting on his arse or being loaned out to shithouse clubs like Hull. What's he still even doing at the club? It must have dawned on someone that he's not ever going to play for us even semi-regualry.

I guess Vela's wages can be explained by the fact that whoever negotiates contracts at the club is just a huge fan of meaningless chipped goals in the early stages of pointless cup competitions. There is literally no other explanation.