Arsenal v. Sunderland – Match Thread

OMG, I just saw a result and made me so happy!
One question to RIP: how does it feel to be Wellbeck's sub?

Man Utd are beaten by Everton, could of been by 3-0. Could it be the curse of RIP?

Hey! you are my agreeable twin! (Perry I got one too hahaha)

I agree :)

Well when i meant soon i didnt think it'd be this soon. I would like to clear up this notion of a bad lingering odour left behind by a certain RVP soon to be RIP.

Loyalty is the state or quality of being faithful to one’s
commitments or obligations. It can
comprise faithful adherence to one’s club or cause
notwithstanding circumstances.

With all due respect to the numerous, plausible opinions out there in both
virtual reality and the real world, the time has come to address the hysteria
arising from Arsenal’s sale of Robin Van Persie to Manchester United.

Being the ridiculously biased gooner that I am, I have been stung into action
by a combination of my grandson’s hyperbolic doom and gloom reaction to the
aforesaid sale and Amy Lawrence’s article ‘Reality bites again at Arsenal but
this is not bad business’ in ‘The Guardian’ on the 16th August. I was also
incensed to read of Roberto Mancini’s inane assertion that Jack Rodwell was
joining a club that was a ‘winning club’. Sorry, did I miss something about the
relative status of Everton and Manchester City based on their successes since
their respective inception?

Like Bacon and unlike many football fans and writers, ‘hypotheses non fingo’
(I don’t make hypotheses); I merely intend to use inductive reasoning when
investigating the ‘form nature’ or cause of a phenomenon such as the above sale,
by including the method of agreement, method of difference, and Mill’s method of
concomitant variation. In doing so, I hope to remove the Idols of the Mind from
fellow gooners so that they may rest assured of the sanctity of their club when
faced with a hostile media.

As with all football supporters, I draw comfort from the old adage that
‘Whereas players come and go, true supporters are permanent’. Sometimes the
former are already or mutate into the latter but rarely to the same degree of
passion and loyalty, especially if there is money involved.

Take for example, the ‘words of wisdom’ uttered by paid pundits such as Alan
Smith or Paul Merson. Such pundits would claim that their comments are objective
and balanced with due regard to their roles as independent experts. We, of
course, as Arsenal fans know that the supposed neutrality of the media is a
myth, with bias, prejudice and downright dishonesty underpinning many so called
rational news reports.
Amy Lawrence writes that, ‘This episode (RVP sale) provides yet more evidence
for those who slam Arsenal as a selling club’. The presupposition here is that
there are ‘selling clubs’ – a derogatory term implied by ‘slam’ – and there are
ipso facto conversely ‘buying clubs’ who are to be praised for buying from the
selling clubs. Furthermore, according to Lawrence, the action of the ‘selling’
club is acceptable providing it’s not ‘bad business’. Let’s attempt some
Baconian inductive reasoning here:

Method of Agreement and Difference

Selling

Arsenal sells many players for a range of prices across a range of different
circumstances and for a range of different reasons. For example, the sale of RVP
cannot be considered in the same light as that of Cesc Fabregas because the
context of the sale is different. Both players presumably wanted to win ‘things’
but the latter wanted to return to his homeland and his first club. Some Arsenal
players are also sold for their own professional benefit so that they can play
regular first team football; Gavin Hoyte, for example. Other players are loaned
out to other clubs for varying degrees of time according to the needs of the
players, the clubs being loaned to, and, of course, Arsenal itself.
Other clubs, such as Manchester United and Chelsea, also sell players but, if
we may, generalise, these players are often not of the same quality as
Arsenal’s. Sometimes the sale is precipitated by the age of the player and the
prospect of a lucrative final contract such as that recently taken up by Drogba.
A club such as Manchester City has relatively few opportunities to sell unwanted
players because of the extortionate wages often being paid to these players
frequently signed in haste.

Buying
It is here, that we begin to stumble when it comes to inductive reasoning.
Clearly Arsenal is a ‘selling’ club but it is also a ‘buying’ club. We do not
need to provide examples of this; just glance at any history of Arsenal and you
will see this ‘buying’ has been going on for many years. The amount of money
paid out for players varies according to supply/demand, era, and ability but
such buying has always been there. Arsenal buys many players, a significant
number of whom are of international status.
Chelsea and Manchester United are also ‘buying’ clubs but because of their
less successful youth development policies are more dependent on the quality of
player they buy. Chelsea has spent a fortune in recent years trying to establish
some degree of football success. Manchester City is the dominant force in the
market place at this moment in time and is totally reliant on purchasing players
from other clubs.

Player Development
Arsenal, along with the likes of Crewe Alexander and currently Southampton,
is one of the relatively few clubs accredited with effective development of
players through its own youth system. The proof is in the pudding not only with
the number of such players in the first team squad but the incredible number of
ex-Arsenal players to be found at or on loan to other clubs at all levels within
the leagues. It is also worth noting at the recent European Championships, it
would have been possible to field virtually a whole team of ex and current
Arsenal players.
Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all attempt to bring through
their ‘own’ players but apart from the occasional few at Chelsea and the ‘Giggs’
youth team of Man U, there has been little relative success.
Manchester City’s contribution to player development throughout the leagues
is virtually non-existent. The club does nothing for football generically and to
use a metaphor, is parasitical, relying totally on the skill and expertise of
clubs such as Arsenal. It is worth noting here, that it is only worth buying a
player if one is buying quality, and it is a tribute to Arsenal, not an insult,
that other clubs, including parasite clubs, want to buy its players. Ask
yourself which players Arsenal have enquired about when it comes to Manchester
City, United and Chelsea?

Financial Management
There has been much furious debate about Arsenal’s ostensible reluctance to
‘go into debt’ by paying out, for example, exorbitant wages and transfer fees.
We read regularly that Arsenal is a model of financial excellence and a club
dedicated to living within its means. Presumably, it was this parsimonious
approach with which RVP disagreed so vehemently; an approach which he could cite
as his reason for leaving, even though, like his colleagues he was extremely
well paid.
Chelsea and Manchester City have enormous wealth and have spent obscene sums
on gaining their recent respective successes. As parasite clubs, they have
managed to buy and blend outside players to achieve this. Their financial
management has been appalling but there again given their wealth this doesn’t
appear to be of relevance. Quite clearly, the playing field is more than a bit
uneven between these two parasite clubs and the rest of the football body they
feed on and live off.
Obviously, RVP is quite happy with poor financial management. He is willing
to turn a blind eye to the asset stripping of Manchester United and the huge
debts being accrued; debts which his transfer fee and salary will no doubt add
to significantly over the duration of his contract.

Football Success
Arsenal’s trophy successes since the club’s inception have been excellent in
spite of the current ‘drought’ (apparently only pertaining to Arsenal)
emphasised by a biased press. Numerous league championships, FA cups etc. are
testimony to this. Add to this the incomparable unbroken run in top flight
football since 1919; 16 year’s successive qualification for the Champions
League; and the remarkable ‘Invincibles’ season and you have a tradition which
many a supporter would welcome.
In joining Manchester United RVP has joined a club with an unprecedented
record of football success and tradition, although the club has not enjoyed the
sustained attainment of top class football since 1922. It may be that RVP will
enjoy some success with his new club if he remains injury free or indeed fits in
and plays as well as he did last year. It should be remembered, though that
strikers rely on team mates for many of their goal scoring opportunities. Time
will tell.
This concentration on ‘winning things’ from players such as RVP and Cliché,
Nasri et al is all rather perplexing. Each speaks about Arsenal’s lack
of trophies as though each were not part of the team not winning trophies? It
seems that for these three players losing to Birmingham City in the recent
Carling Cup Final had nothing to do with them and that somehow it was the club’s
fault.

Method of Concomitant Variation.
Arsenal is a well-managed, well-supported, and ‘selling’ and ‘buying’ and
‘home-developing’ very successful football club with a rich heritage. It has a
very good stadium and is renowned for looking after its players. A recent common
feature of the past few years has been the ‘defection’ of some players to
‘rival’ parasitical clubs, two of which, are very wealthy with relatively little
history of success over the last 100 years. It is clear that two causal factors
have underpinned these transfers:

The perceived opportunity to win trophies
The opportunity to earn ‘silly’ money

Football Player Loyalty is the state or quality of being faithful to one’s
opportunities or self-interest. It can
comprise faithful adherence to the betterment of one’s
financial interests and transfer of allegiance.