Posts about Arsenal F.C.
In the aftermath of the ESL controversy back in April, the mod team announced in this post that we would be distancing ourselves from the collaborative relationship we had fostered with the club. This was not a decision taken lightly but we believe it was the principled and correct thing to do in the face of the fanbase being completely disregarded by the club hierarchy. Your responses to the post indicated that the community was overwhelmingly supportive of this action, something which we are grateful for.
As stated in the original post, if Arsenal were willing to work with us and the community at large, we would consider reopening communications in the future. In the six months since that post was made, Arsenalโs media and communications department has undergone extensive internal changes, and the new team has offered us a fairly unique opportunity.
In the last week, Arsenal has reached out to the mod team to offer us a chance to meet with some of the directors and discuss how the club is and will continue to communicate and work with supporters and fan-led supporters groups such as r/Gunners. They also restated the desire on their end to recommence collaborations such as AMAs, which is something that we unilaterally distanced ourselves from in the original post.
In the preliminary communications weโve had so far, the club seems to be genuine in their attempts to bridge the gap. At no point have they tried to pressure us and have indicated that theyโre understanding if we donโt wish to reconnect, something which we made clear was in the hands of our users.
It is the opinion of the mod team that the opportunity to directly engage with the club in this way would be productive, but are wary of being used for PR, so our initial thoughts are to accept the invitation to talk with the club, but wait until we are satisfied with their intentions going forward before doing anything like an AMA.
However, we understand that the wound may not have healed for the community just yet, and since the mod team functions as a representative entity of the whole group, we wanted to take into account in our decision-making process your feedback and opinions on whether reengaging with the club is something the community would consider.
Weโre happy to answer questions and go back and forth on this and we wonโt rush this, giving everyone a chance to weigh in.
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2017
Referee: Mike Dean
Assistants: Ian Hussin, Eddie Smart
Fourth official: Kevin Friend
[Pre-Match thread] (https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/7dhb61/pre_match_thread_arsenal_vs_tottenham/) by u/HorseAFC
Match Thread by u/GunnersMatchBot
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SCORE:
2nd Half
ARSENAL F.C. (Sanchez, Ozil, Sanchez) 3 - 0 MANCHESTER UNITED F.C.
If anything is wrong, don't hesitate to PM me. Suggestions also welcome!
Barclays Premier League Tie between Arsenal F.C. and Manchester United F.C.
Date: October 4th, 2015
Kick off BST: 16:00
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Weather: 18ยฐC, 53% Humidity, 6 km/h Wind
Starting XI's:
| Manchester United F.C. | Arsenal F.C. |
|---|---|
| De Gea | Cech |
| Darmian | Bellerin |
| Smalling | Mertesacker |
| Blind | Gabriel |
| Young | Monreal |
| Carrick | Ramsey |
| Schweinsteiger | Ozil |
| Mata | Cazorla |
| Martial | Coquelin |
| Memphis | Sanchez |
| Rooney (C) | Walcott |
Man Utd F.C. SUBS: Romero, Jones, McNair, Schneiderlin, Valencia, Fellaini, Wilson
Arsenal F.C. SUBS: Ospina, Debuchy, Chambers, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud, Campbell.
Subreddits:
Young at LB puts Darmian on Sanchez
Carrick and Schweinsteiger start in midfield, without Schneiderlin or Herrera.
FIRST HALF UPDATES:
0' Arsenal kick off in red, United in the third black kit. Come on United!
2' Arsenal start off on the front foot, winning a free kick and then a corner. But United deal with both.
5' ARSENAL GOAL It's been all Arsenal and they score a quite brilliant goal. Ramsey feeds Ozil through who runs to the by-line and then pulls it back for Sanchez to backheel in. Typical Arsenal goal and United need to step it up.
6' ARSENAL GOAL Mesut Ozil scores. Another good piece of interplay from Arsenal and Walcott runs through, cuts back on his right and squares for Ozil who slots home.
10' Ten minutes in and United already have a mountain to climb.
19' ARSENAL GOAL After some good possession from United, Sanchez picks the ball up on the wing, and steps past Darmian towards the centre of the box before rocketing the shot into the top corner. Disgusting from United right now.
22' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Schweinsteiger is playing so far up the field, he's leaving holes for days in the midfield and Young is stranded as he dives in to try stop Ramsey, but Ramsey gets to it first and is fouled.
24' United look like they have looked for the past few weeks on offence, with passes around the box, but it's not coming to anything. On defence, the holes in central midfield are turning this into an exhibition for Arsenal.
29' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Darmian gets another yellow for a cynical foul on Sanchez. Over an hour to play, both fullbacks on yellows, and we're not looking like creating much.
32' United win their first corner after Martial dispossesses Mertesacker and Mertesacker is forced to tackle it out of bounds. Cech gathers easily though.
40' Five minutes to half time and we need a goal before the break to have a chance in this game.
45+2' HALF TIME
45' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTIONS Fellaini, Valencia ON || Darmian, Memphis OFF
45' The second half is underway, and Arsenal are happy to sit back and let us have the ball.
49' Young with a shot from range that's comfortable for Cech to gather.
50' ARSENAL YELLOW CARD Coquelin goes in late on Rooney on a counter.
55' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Rooney is now in the book. Game's getting a bit card-heavy.
65' Doesn't look like there's any other outcome to this game right now. Arsenal fending off our attacks easily.
73' ARSENAL SUBSTITUTIONS Giroud, Oxlade-Chamberlain ON || Walcott, Ozil OFF
80' ARSENAL SUBSTITUTION Gibbs ON || Sanchez OFF
82' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Wilson ON || Mata OFF
89' Fellaini gives away a late free kick.
90' TWO MINUTES ADDED
90+2' FULL TIME
Streams:
Lee Stephen Mason
Lee Betts
Mick McDonough
A very exciting game today between the best team of Wales, Cardiff who ended with a draw against Manchester United last weekend and Arsenal FC, the team that is currently in the first place of the league and will be after the weekend.
01' Whistle goes, game has started.
02' Wilshere hits the post, so close!
25' Freekick for Arsenal, foul on Kim.
45+4' Four minutes of added time.
45+4' Half time whistle goes. Still 0-1 for Arsenal.
46' Whistle blown, second half has started.
55' Long shot from Catherine ended in Szczฤsny's arms.
72' Events Feed will stop now, sorry. Sudden occurence happened and I have to leave.
Note: If you see something wrong in this feed, don't hesistate messaging me and I will correct it.
Barclays Premier League tie between Arsenal F.C. and Manchester United F.C
Date: February 12, 2014
Kick off GMT: 19:45
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Manchester United FC starting XI:
De Gea, Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Cleverley, Carrick, Mata; Rooney, van Persie
SUBS: Lindegaard, Bรผttner, Ferdinand, Fellaini, Young, Hernandez, Januzaj
Arsenal FC starting XI:
Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud
SUBS: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Monreal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski, Sanogo, Bendtner
Stream(s):
Related threads:
Team news:
Valencia returns to action.
Fellaini's on the bench as Kagawa drops out
No Evans, no Jones
Match updates:
WHY DOES MOYES INSIST ON PLAYING AN OUT AND OUT WINGER. I WOULD HAVE KILLED TO PLAY JANUZAJ, MATA, ROONEY, AND VAN PERSIE!!!! AHHHHHH!
It's not even like Januzaj doesn't track back. He does! And what? Is Mata playing on the left? Is Rooney? Oh Moyesy, please, let me know what goes on in that beautiful Scottish head of yours
Disclaimer: If we win, I didn't say any of the above
HALF TIME:
Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United
SECOND HALF UPDATES:
45' The teams are back on.
45' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Ferdinand ON , Rafael OFF
45' Smalling goes to right back, and Ferdinand's on as Vidic's partner.
46' Mata takes a free kick from the right and Carrick gets a flick on but it goes wide when no-one can get a touch on it.
51' Nothing to report.
55' See previous update.
57' Dear God, I'm so tired. I can barely keep my eyes open. I need an adrenaline rush.
60' An hour gone. Read minute 55.
61' IT'S OFF THE LINE BY VALENCIA!!! KOSCIELNY CLIMBS HIGHEST FROM A CORNER AND VALENCIA GETS IT AWAY. That was by far the best chance of the match.
65' Arsenal controlling the match mostly with good attacking play.
70' See minute 65
71' Changes are about to occur for both teams.
71' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Valencia fouls Wilshere. Mistimed tackle.
72' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Januzaj ON , Mata OFF
72' ARSENAL SUBSTITUTION Oxlade-Chamberlain ON , Rosicky OFF
76' RIDICULOUS CHANCE FOR GIROUD!! Sagna crosses it in across the face of goal and all Giroud needed to do was get a BREEZE on it and the ball would have been redirected into the net. We're lucky to be escaping...for now.
79' BRILLIANT UNITED CHANCE! Carrick steals the ball in the United half and passes forward to RvP who gallops forward, feeds Rooney to the right, who chips the ball back over to the far post, and RvP heads towards goal but Szczesny gets a crazy one-hand on it and saves.
80' MANCHESTER UNITED SUBSTITUTION Young ON , Valencia OFF
83' De Gea with a brilliant save to plunge United out of the depths of defeat. Giroud plays to Cazorla in the box, who plays to Ozil, who plays back to Cazorla who SHOULD score shooting at the near post from about 12 yards out, but De Gea gets down a-la Giaccherini-save earlier this season.
87' ARSENAL YELLOW CARD Sagna for a late tackle on Rooney
89' Cazorla fouled about 19 yards away. Very very dangerous situation.
90' Ozil takes into the wall and Vidic clears the cross back in.
90' Cazorla gets the ball on the edge of the box and tries to powerfully curl it into the corner but De Gea gets down and saves extremely well.
91' It's intense. I'm not going to lie. I don't want to lose this. Please don't let us lose this.
92' MANCHESTER UNITED YELLOW CARD Young fouls Sagna.
93' FULL TIME
FULL TIME: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United
It was definitely a goalkeeper's night today. Good game. Well done United.
After the positive feedback on our post last month about reconnecting with the Club we returned to the club and let them know that we were interested in re-opening communications.
Last week several of the moderators got a chance to chat with two members of the Arsenal communication staff, Mark and Johnnie.
The purpose of the discussion was to further the initial conversation about reopening communication and collaboration between the club and the subreddit.
A little bit of background. Mark is the clubโs Media & Communications Director and has worked with the club for 11 years and Johnnie has been at the club for a short time now and leads the clubโs social content.
One of the big things that Mark stressed was that while the club enjoys and finds importance in the big public relation campaigns (which they consider shop window projects), the more important ones are the smaller more personal things that they can do to support the people of Islington as well as allow supporters from all over to feel more connected to the club, even if it might not get the same engagement online.
As part of the discussion we were able to ask a few questions. Iโve tried to summarize them with the answers below.
We want to make sure that we are not seen as a part of the club. It is important for users to feel like they can be open and honest with discussion topics/comments on the subreddit.
The club agrees with this. They have no desire to interfere with the running of the subreddit but instead see it as an opportunity to expand communication on a more personal level to supporters.
Supporters saw the large number of redundancies last year immediately followed up by spending large sums of money on incoming transfers. There seemed to be some concern over how the club was able to justify both actions as well as how they were communicated.
The redundancies last year were sort of two-fold. There were always plans to identify and address ways the club could streamline and improve processes. The financial implications of COVID did speed up this process.
Additionally, in regards to money spent on transfer funds and how the club is spending money, itโs important to remember the goals of the club. Without player investments it would be even harder to make it back to the top. The juxtaposition between the redundancies and transfer fees is tough and understandable, but unfortunately itโs just part of owning a club. Comparison used was airlines still buying airplanes last season despite air travel being down.
In terms of communication, Mark brought up that between Josh and Vinai (and previously Gazidis) Arsenal higher ups communicate more than any other club in the big 6. Joshโs public appearances and interviews are more than what any club owner or family member has done. As we have heard before, the biggest reason for more communication recently vs before is the Kroenkeโs not having 100% ownership and control of the club until 2018. Unfortunately the model of a โlocal ladโ making it big and buying his club and funding it is no longer the way of the Premier League, but Josh is committed to being more visible and forthcoming.
Dortmund have recently voted on a code of values, are there any thoughts from the club around this and how the club decides which partnerships to accept?
We have to run the football club. We need to use the values of the club as an internal guide but itโs important to remember that financial realities exist. The club does a lot of due diligence on all partnerships, including turning many away. The club accepts and agrees that even with all of the due diligence being done there are always many long debates that could be had about the deals the club does make. The important thing is that the club does a lot of work in the background to be comfortable with those deals. Mark stressed the club has to be careful, but also pragmatic.
Fan openness is something that theyโre trying to improve. The example given was with the recent Socios deal. The club worked with a subgroup from the fans forum who were aware of the incoming partnership. Mark stressed that as a member of the executive team he approaches club decisions from both the fan and club perspective. Additionally the same goes for the executives.
There were of course questions about the club and the Super League and what they have learned from that process.
The club knew that it would not be a popular decision but the train was leaving the station and as the club have stated before โWhat do we want, a super league with or without Arsenal. The train was leaving the station and a decision was made.โ The club felt it was in the best interest of the long-term future of the club. Additionally they learned to very quickly admit their mistake and pull out, even if from a legal perspective itโs a longer process.
Additionally they have introduced the Arsenal Advisory Board which recently held their first meeting. Any large decision, things like a super league, moving from Emirates, etc, would have to go through them first, although ultimately the decision would rest with the board.
Finally the reaction to the super league reinforced what the club already knew. Football clubs are about the fans, and every decision that the board makes is made with the clubs best interest at heart.
There was also a short discussion on what the clubโs goals are for partnership with the club.
They want to bring reddit to Arsenal and vice versa. The initial thought is obviously things like AMAโs with the players, however the club are interested in any ideas that we (the mods) as well as we (the entire subreddit community) have. Additionally there are goals for the mod team to meet a few times a year with the club, as well as an open line of communication.
We want to make it clear that we as mods took this conversation mostly as a chance to continue opening the lines of communication with the club and not a chance to be hard-hitting journalists. Additionally if you guys have any realistic ideas for ways you would want to see us (the subreddit) work with the club, please put it in the comments below.
Note: This post was reviewed by the club before we put it out to ensure we were accurately representing them and the answers that they gave.