David Ornstein interview with Arseblog

[Hunta]

A one hour long interview with David Ornstein after the January transfer window. This is a great listen. One of the interesting things he mentions is how the new 'transfer team' view Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan as the start of getting Arsenal challenging for the PL and CL. Specifically mentions 2019 as the year he thinks the squad will be ready to challenge due to City looking so strong and us probably having no CL next year.

 

[OnlyOne]

I listened to this this morning, was pretty decent to be fair, very telling that we tried to swap Mustafi with Evans in the summer but didn't really target a CB until late in the window. Seems though we didn't have the funds for Auba and a CB until Giroud left.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I'm listening right now. About half an hour in. Just made a post in the January transfer thread about what he said about Alexis and the swap deal.

 

[Baki]

I listened to this this morning, was pretty decent to be fair, very telling that we tried to swap Mustafi with Evans in the summer but didn't really target a CB until late in the window. Seems though we didn't have the funds for Auba and a CB until Giroud left.

Because Arsenal is still a cheap ass club. How can we not have the money when we are net positive on our transfers this season.

What's more frustrating is that clubs like Everton have a much higher net spend then us this season. Which suggests we can go another level financially, but haven't due to the management. Basically, **** Kroenke

 

[Tosker]

fascinating stuff - Ornstein clearly has far more info on what goes on at Arsenal than any pundits or other journalists

 

[samshere]

Because Arsenal is still a cheap ass club. How can we not have the money when we are net positive on our transfers this season.

What's more frustrating is that clubs like Everton have a much higher net spend then us this season. Which suggests we can go another level financially, but haven't due to the management. Basically, **** Kroenke

Why does everyone keep harking on the net spend bit without noticing that we've given out 350k and 200k contracts to two of our players. Wilshere is due for a renewal as well. Only thing we need to take from Ornstein is that the cash surplus is 12m(the amount we bid for Evans). I can see us going for a couple of free players in the summer - De Vrij or Meyer. We'll have around 30m to spend after factoring in the wages of the free players, which should go towards a goalkeeper.

 

[Preacher]

How big will be our warchest in the summer in reality ?

According to Crossy it'll be probably at least £100-£150m.

 

[field442]

I don’t care how connected he is, you don’t go from spending £150m net over three summers to then needing to balance the books to spend.

 

[Dokaka]

I like Ornstein. Pretty much the only media person I listen to when it comes to Arsenal. The rest are just making **** up that seems plausible and earning a paycheck for doing so. Really transparent at times as well.

I think the interview highlights how poor of an owner Kroenke is for you lot when it comes to being competitive. Seemingly unwilling to pump any of his own money into the club, which on one hand you could argue is how it should be done, but at the same time it makes you utterly handicapped when it comes to competing with your rivals. Kroenke might spend when he sees his profits are in danger to drum up more interest and thus share value etc, but that's the only time he'll do it. He has no interest in football.

It's fascinating really, because it's both respectable and sad. In a perfect world, every club would be run like you lot, but you're competing with clubs who value status and glory above.. well, everything really, including human lives.

 

[Vinci]

Seems strange that only after selling Giroud there was money available to make a late bid for Evans. A lot of course has gone towards the wages and signing of Özil, Mikhi and Auba, but we also got Alexis, Walcott, Giroud and Debuchy of the books who were all on big wages.

Anyway, Ornie is a great listen, one of the very few knowledgable people out there.

 

[Tosker]

I like Ornstein. Pretty much the only media person I listen to when it comes to Arsenal. The rest are just making **** up that seems plausible and earning a paycheck for doing so. Really transparent at times as well.

I think the interview highlights how poor of an owner Kroenke is for you lot when it comes to being competitive. Seemingly unwilling to pump any of his own money into the club, which on one hand you could argue is how it should be done, but at the same time it makes you utterly handicapped when it comes to competing with your rivals. Kroenke might spend when he sees his profits are in danger to drum up more interest and thus share value etc, but that's the only time he'll do it. He has no interest in football.

It's fascinating really, because it's both respectable and sad. In a perfect world, every club would be run like you lot, but you're competing with clubs who value status and glory above.. well, everything really, including human lives.

as I understand it, the Arsenal Board will not accept any owner investment as things stand - there has been comment from Ornstein in the past that this might come up for discussion at some future date, but as things stand Kroenke cannot be blamed for lack of investment

 

[Tosker]

I don’t care how connected he is, you don’t go from spending £150m net over three summers to then needing to balance the books to spend.

When listening to or reading Ornstein's comments you have to remember that especially regarding transfers and budgets, he is reflecting what the club want us to believe - of course they don't want target clubs to know we have a much larger amount to spend

even City have started to suggest they don't have unlimited funds, fgs

 

[IslingtonBornandbred]

When listening to or reading Ornstein's comments you have to remember that especially regarding transfers and budgets, he is reflecting what the club want us to believe - of course they don't want target clubs to know we have a much larger amount to spend

even City have started to suggest they don't have unlimited funds, fgs

I guess, we just have to wait and see. I think we probably do have the ability and funds to bid more than 12 million for Evans if we wanted to. Money can't be that tight. I always thought (I might be wrong) that the top European clubs, including us, would be able to play around with their budgets and funds to get deals over the line if they wanted to. For example, if we only had 12 million left in the projected transfer budget, and they wanted Evans and he was 20 million, I'd think they could pay the 20 million and make up for it in the summer i.e selling a fringe player etc.

I felt recently City were saying that, but it was more "we don't want to spend that amount" rather than "we can't spend that amount" but either way, if it contributes to bringing down the transfer fees we are seeing recently then I am all for it but again, I don't know if the recently inflated transfer fees are in line with the current rate of inflation and money in football or if they are completely excessive. Some players like Giroud and Walcott are going for relatively normal amounts, maybe even a little low, but then you have guys like Van Dijk going for 85 million.

 

[Sanchez11]

We have probably altered our budget due the loss of cl revenue. Its smoke and mirrors regarding the lack of budget during the Jan window. It seems obvious we are saving for the summer, as we have trimmed our squad down.

 

[Vibra]

A bit disheartening to hear that the decision to bring in Welbeck came as a result of a board meeting after the loss to Leicester. It always rubbed me the wrong way how clubs like Real Madrid had people that had very little to do with the game itself making footballing decisions and I was mostly under the impression that at Arsenal that factor was minimal

 

[Slartibartfast]

He's got a year and a half on his deal and he's ancient and washed up. You don't let him have final say on players anymore. There are plenty of very successful clubs who rely on a DOF and their trophy cases look better than ours. And in fact I've seen plenty of Wenger apologists like yourself suggest that he's got too much on his plate (among a myriad of other excuses for his horrendous performance) so taking some "powers" away from him at this stage is probably for the best if we're being honest with ourselves. Wenger should be treated like every other manager in the world, subordinate and expendable. The club is much larger than any one man no matter how much people like yourself who think that the club was established in 1997 believe otherwise.

Here's what Ornstein said on these points this morning:

A Change of Things Behind-the-Scenes?

• The appointment of Mislintat, Sanllehí and Huss Fahmy shows a definite dilution of power for Wenger. There are people coming in who Gazidis is handing significant power to.
  
  
• People close to Wenger say that this is a good thing! Many of them are taking on the roles left behind by former Vice-Chairman David Dein, many people even wanted him back.
  
  
• Dein's departure and lack of replacement, gave Wenger more power than ever before, when he needed the dilution more, especially as the window was training and needed support, which he has not had at all.
  
  
• It's easy to paint a narrative that Wenger and Mislintat don't get on given Wenger's comments about lower-league German players, but there is little doubt in anyone's mind that Gazidis is creating a structure for the future, whether or not Wenger leaves this summer, at the end of his deal or signs a new one, the structure is there for the future.
  
  
• The team are preparing more than ever and are planning for the future without Wenger and with Wenger as well.
  
  
• Ornstein says that one thing is for absolutely certain, Wenger still has the final say on absolutely every deal. He will stop and start any deal that he wants to and the new appointments are unable to stop that.
  
  
• Wenger is still very authoritative and although his power is being diluted, he doesn't seem to have a problem with that.
  
  

 

[Trilly]

Convenient timing eh?

 

[A_G]

The narrative that Pep Guardiola was the main reason that Sánchez would join Manchester City seemed a little off, especially considering that Guardiola himself sold Sánchez to Arsenal, when Sánchez was at FC Barcelona.

Ornstein didn't actually say this, did he?

 

[Slartibartfast]

Ornstein didn't actually say this, did he?

I listened to the podcast, but I can't say for sure if he did or not. But if he did he was wrong because they were only together at Barcelona for one season. Pep left in 2012. Alexis was sold in 2014 by Luis Enrique (and Barcelona had two other managers in between).

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Lots of interesting stuff there. Some of it contradicting things we've heard, other stuff lining up. Found it quite interesting that Ornstein seems to think most clubs don't have much forethought or organization regarding transfers.