The only way to rid Man Utd of the Glazers, and Kai Havertz as Arsenal’s Brexit…

Editor F365 05 Sep 2023 8:47 AM

Manchester United owners Joel and Avram Glazer, and Arsenal forward Kai Havertz.

The Mailbox debates how to get rid of the Glazers, and Kai Havertz's start at Arsenal.

The Mailbox ponders what options remain for Manchester United fans desperate to be shot of the Glazers, while the fallout continues from the Red Devils defeat to Arsenal.

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…

Only way to get rid of the Glazers
So there’s talk of the Glazers not wanting to sell now and wait two years when they hope the valuation of the club will have miraculously risen to £7-10 Billion. That will be a club that is famously inept in the transfer market (both in and out), has no guarantee of ever being in the Champions League for more than one season running, and one that prevaricates over whether to keep a player who has been recorded being particularly horrible to his partner. Good luck with that.

Of course the Glazers are entitled to this opinion. And they may well be right because whilst their presence has been consistently and increasingly protested since they bought the club, they have been able to continue leeching money from the club and it has been come a bigger and bigger money making machine. Because people still go and watch. People still watch United on the telly. People still engage with and about the club on social media. This means that companies are more than happy to sponsor United and this keeps the Glazers happy.

I think it’s fair to say that most United fans would love to see the back of the Glazer family. But it’s all fair to say that current methods of getting rid of them have not worked. So how do United fans get rid of the Glazers?

Gotta hit them where it hurts – Don’t go to the games. Don’t watch on telly. Don’t engage. Delete the app. Unfollow the club. Cancel your membership. Don’t buy shirts. Then go further – do the same to the sponsors. And that includes Sky. And then do the same for whoever sponsors Tampa Bay.

If you don’t hurt the Glazers in the pocket they will continue their parasitic existence at the club and it will continue to crumble. Literally and figuratively.

It would also be worth reminding the Glazers what happened when they tried to sign us up to the Super League. A small group of fans actually stopped a game being played at great cost to the club. England isn’t really a place for revolution but what if United fans got really desperate? (I’m not advocating anyone do this by the way, I should imagine they’ll be in legal trouble given the latest crack down on protesting).

In the meantime – Joel, Avram – take a hint: F*ck off.
Ash Metcalfe

Arsenal’s Brexit contingent
If you want to know why I refer to a sizeable section of the Arsenal fanbase as “Brexiteer-esque”, Chris the Gooner is a perfect exemplification of this Arsenal-Brexit malaise.

The evidence is startling and abundant: Havertz is piss-poor, and has no excuses because he’s had years in PL football. £65m paid but the “sunlit Havertz uplands” will soon arrive – just can’t say when! When justifiable scrutiny is given on Havertz’ poor form and facts provided (air shot from three yards out, abysmal passing, no goals or assists or chances created, responsible for gifting ManYoo a goal etc), those facts are dismissed as inconvenient, and you’re told to ignore the evidence of your eyes and “just believe”. To do anything else of course, is treachery!

When tangible evidence is requested of the “Havertz Brexit benefits”, you are responded to with “incredible benefits that you don’t yet see, as it’s unseen and can’t be verified by the naked eye”. Ah yes, the invisible talent we were once told Denilson, Flamini and Senderos all had. Can’t remember seeing that on the side of the red Arsenal bus lol. The general Havertz preseason boasts were of a “fantastic capture, we beat Bayern/Madrid to his signing”. The bravado has died down upon contact with reality though and, much like Brexit, the preseason Havertz champions suddenly want to “move on”. Funny that.

My personal favourite though, is that when you point out that this £65m millstone is playing to an unacceptably low standard, and that it’s such a self-inflicted act of self-harm, that will make the whole team worse off, and worse still, you paid a premium for it…you are greeted with “Havertz needs time”. But without a hint of irony, those very same apologists will eulogise over Rice, Zinchenko, Saliba etc. No remote self-awareness to realise that Havertz has actually been in the league already for three years! So he really shouldn’t be this bobbins.

Kai Havertz is Brexit. It was a completely ridiculous, expensive proposition that “solves” a non-existent problem. It has made the whole worse off, created huge issues that weren’t previously there and is an evident bureaucratic burden. It’s clear it was an epic cock-up, and the powers that be (and those who champion it) need to get real and own up to it. But that won’t happen, and instead, the “Havertz benefits” might start to materialise in 2074, when we are all dead.

After years of Wenger-years bleating about how unfair it is that other teams spend money, quite a few Arsenal fans are now unable to explain how £200m+ could be spent, and already you have to write off £65m. Just like that.
Stewie Griffin (All we need to hear next is that “because of the pandemic”, Havertz is taking longer to adjust. Cos it only affected his career, of course. 😂😂🙄)

Arsenal in-fighting
I must get something off my chest about a certain element within the Arsenal fan media who now have the audacity to blame other fans for Kai Havertz mediocre performances – it’s their lack of support which is diminishing Havertz apparently. Rubbish.

First, not a single fan I know of has wanted Kai Havertz to fail – they would be happy if he succeeded. However, just days before the initial interest, not a single content producer, vlogger, pundit, or fan I can recall ever suggested Kai Havertz should come to the club. So, let’s be clear this is all down to Arteta.

That 65 million could have been spent on any number of players who will prove their worth – James Maddison, Moussa Diaby, Domink Szoboszlai etc. but for some ‘galaxy brain’ reason Arteta spunked the funds on a rehabilitation project. I personally would have targeted Romeo Lavia as back up for Thomas Party who has (surprise) a problem with injuries.

One of the arguments a few pompous vloggers use is it has only been a handful of games, so it is outrageous he is being judged. No, it’s been three seasons of us all watching Havertz listlessness and his move to North London has given no indication (yet) anything is about to change. It might.

But until that time, the idea Arteta is disrupting the team (a winning one) and disregarding players such as Viera, Trossard and Smith-Rowe to boost Havertz has become infuriating. If Havertz comes good, the entire fan base will back him and it’s disingenuous nonsense to suggest otherwise.

However, if certain condescending Arsenal content producers want to define who are good or bad supporters around support, or lack thereof, for Havertz failure to launch, then redirect your misplaced ire in the right direction which would be Mikel Arteta.

Then maybe consider supporting a manager regardless of them (potentially) making mistakes is particularly spineless.
Dom

City’s business and Garnacho narrative
I have two things for the mailbox please:

Firstly, Dave RPL touches on a subject that I too pretty much agree with. There is something off about Man City, they appear untouchable, and unpunishable. I’m not saying I’m right, or that Dave RPL is right, but what I am saying is that it appears likely that we’re not entirely incorrect. There are 115 charges – CHARGES!! (not accusations) – of FFP breaches and… nothing. I can only assume the Premier League is building an astonishingly watertight case against City.

And… to add to Dave RPL’s list of, “hmmmm… someone needs to take a close look here”… about Man City. I’d like to add my suspicions about their transfer policy. Firstly they sign incredible players that no other club wants, and then they sign these incredible players for extremely fair prices. Jack Grealish is probably the big outlier here, but for the rest of them, go check it out. No other clubs seem to be in for the players they want. It’s weird.

Secondly, the Garnacho offside. I am a dyed-in-the-wool Wengerite and I can’t stand Man Utd, and I don’t really have very much time for the PGMOL either. VAR I DO have time for, just not the people who manage it in the Premier League. Anyway, I wanted to agree with what Eric Ten Hag said after the game about the “wrong angle” being applied. I agree with him, but not for the same reasons.

When I was watching the match, Garnacho is played through and he puts it in the back of the net splendidly. It’s a glorious finish, it truly is. However the very split-second that pass was made I wasn’t worried, I just said to no one in particular, “that’s offside”. To me it wasn’t a close decision. In real time, to a clogger like me with Arsenal bias and 7 ciders in me, I could see straight away, “he’s off”. I knew it would go to VAR, and I knew it would be chalked off, because it was that obvious he was offside. And he was.

What puzzled me though, was the angle of the replay when they added the lines. I thought it was a bit odd because it made the offside a LOT closer than it actually was. I don’t even think it was a tight offside, I really don’t. I thought he was obviously off. So why the angle? My thoughts are that Sky wanted to make it look like it was a mere toenail offside. Why? I don’t know. All I can do is stroke my chin smugly and say “narrative”.
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite

VAR worked fine
I know a lot of people have a problem with VAR and the ‘clear and obvious’ error thing.

But I don’t have a problem with the way it worked on Sunday.

It was offside just about and while there was contact, there wasn’t enough for a penalty to be awarded to Havertz.

So VAR got the big decisions right in the end and for me, that is all that matters.

There are those that think VAR spoils the spectacle of football and allows ‘rerefereeing’ of games but when the standard of refereeing is so poor, VAR is needed.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

…Every time I read an article or commentary on VAR it comes down to the same thing, a focus on VAR rather than on the implementation of the technology.

Football is a pretty simple game, and that’s what makes it great. The only thing you require to play football is a ball. Many other sports require bats, pads, sticks etc., and ice hockey requires a sheet of ice that even in freezing climates needs to be maintained. As long as you have a ball you can play football. No goal, no problem. You can use tree trunks as goalposts, or just put down a couple of sweaters like we used to as kids.

Having said that, technology has vastly improved the way the game is played. Heading the ball on a rainy day is no longer like being hit in the head with a breeze block. Studs no longer need to be nailed to the boots, which while they apprently offer no protection to your feet at least make the game more comfortable to play. In professional grounds the devolopment of drainage and undersoil heating mean that a match no longer needs to be played in a lake or on a concrete block. All of this technology has improved the way the professional game is played.

Who of us doesn’t wish goal line technology had been in place for the 2010 World Cup. I still hold that the game might have been very different if it were tied at 2-2. After seeing the razor thin margin of Swedens penalty win over the USA at the Women’s World Cup I have even less idea whether the ball crossed the line in 1966. But I digress…

The first thing to remember about VAR is that it’s “the” VAR. The VAR is a person who is using technology to make refereeing decisions which will impact the outcome of the game. The problem isn’t the technology, it’s how that technology is used. There are a number of changes that could be made to improve the way technology is used in a match.

The first thing that needs to be done is to centralize the VAR process. Each match requires a referee, two assistant referees, and a fourth official. From what I can see it appears that officials are only assigned to one match per week, but I may be mistaken on that. If that is the case then each game week requires 40 referees and 4th officials. When you add a VAR to each match it significantly dilutes the pool of available personnel. Major League Baseball and the NFL both use a system where the replay reviews are centralized with a team in New York. That significantly cuts down on the number of personnel required, and adds a level of consistency to the decisions being made.

Secondly there needs to be more clarity on how the technology is being used to make or overturn calls. Offside is not subjective it’s objective, you’re either offside or you’re not. In theory you could bring this down to a subatomic level and call someone offside by an electron, but that’s obviously ridiculous. What needs to be determined is a reasonable margin of offside. I completely agree with the idea that how the lines are drawn makes a difference, and the lines are drawn by people not technology. The thickness of the lines themselves will depend on the resolution of the screen and the degree of zoom. Saner heads need to prevail and agree that if it’s necessary to zoom in to draw the lines in exactly the right place then it’s close enough to go with the original call.

Third is when the technology is used. Premier league officials obviously have a very different opinion as to what constitutes a “clear and obvious error” to… well, everyone else in the world. If a player is stabbed while the referee and assistants are looking the other way then obviously the VAR needs to step in, but otherwise how about we let the referee decide whether he needs help. Maybe give the Manager one review per match, similar to the cricket system, if he thinks a decision is particularly egregious.

The issue with VAR is not technology, it’s people! (Like Soylent Green)
Andrew – (used technology to create and review this letter) Canada

United injustices
I know this probably won’t make the Tuesday mailbox as the game happened on Sunday but given we’re now on an international break, you might want to drag Arsenal vs. Man United out a bit longer!

I just want to address some of these ‘injustices’ many of the United fans seem to claim happened in the match because the way they are being presented as fact by their manager and themselves is just downright delusional.

Firstly, this ‘foul’ on Jonny Evans. Take a look at the angle from the corner takers side. Evans has hold of Gabriel by the neck of his shirt at full stretch. Pretty clear shirt pull, which I don’t think you’re allowed to do (although they may have changed the rules this week). Then as the ball goes over their heads, he has Gabriel in a headlock! All this before Gabriel commits the imaginary foul, trying to break free from Evans. So no, Evans wasn’t fouled, he was the aggressor.

Secondly, the ‘penalty’ on Hojlund. In a day and age where players appeal for EVERYTHING, Hojlund went over and just banged his fists on the floor in frustration at not being able to control the ball. He knew there wasn’t a foul but sure, people watching on TV know better. It was a 50/50 tussle and he got out-muscled.

If we want to talk about things going for or against teams on the day, when did they do away with the instant yellow card for kicking the ball away when a free kick has been given like Antony did in the first half? Or I see your Saka yellow/red for fouling Fernandes after being found from behind by Dalot and raise you Lindelof kicking Nketiah in the head as he broke clear! I did enjoy the irony of Martinez getting injured trying to be a hardman though. Good work ‘Butcher’.

So yeah, you weren’t really hard done by at all. Try and actually play some football and you might get the results you think you deserve.
Stew, London

…Sometimes it’s good to let the din and general hubris from opposition fans die down after a tough defeat. For the second time this year, Arsenal have mugged us off late in injury time but, in all honesty, this one hurt a lot more.

I say that because I couldn’t begrudge them the 3-2 win in January. They were clearly the better team and deserved 3 points, even if the winner was a close offside VAR call that (once again and correctly so) went in their favour. Small margins again but no complaints, the better side on the day won.

Fast forward to the game on Sunday and in the first half it was clear that our tactic was to play out from the back and encourage Arsenal to press, then play around the press and break at pace. Now, whether Arsenal made a tactical decision not to press or were sh1t-scared of being opened up is neither here nor there. They didn’t press as normal, clogged up the middle with 427 players and did a good job of cutting off passing options, that made it a fairly drab affair as we had more of the ball in our third and middle of the pitch. It was only when we sprung on the counter after a mistake, and actually used the ball well (for once) to score, that they opened up a bit. Had we not committed the cardinal sin of conceding quickly after scoring, the game was heading right into our hands.

The second half played out more like the “usual” Utd vs Arsenal games do. We sit in and let them have the ball, particularly in wide areas, laugh in their faces as they run out of ideas and then hit them on the break with a well-timed sucker punch. It was all going so well until VAR gave us a big old kick in the nether regions. What a goal that was by the way.

It wasn’t to be and they got a jammy deflected winner, then a third as we pushed for an equaliser. Was Rice even on the pitch before the 90th minute? I couldn’t tell you so maybe he was doing his “hidden” defensive work well, the type you can only see when you’re in the stands and wearing an Arsenal top. Either way, we were good value for at least a point and the signs were positive compared to last season. We definitely need to invert the MF triangle and have two battlers in there for bigger games; hopefully Amrabat can fill that role.

Finally, imagine not having the guts to give your name after coming off with guff like this, “Whisper it, but down the road, the Mighty Reds are looking ominously good”. You’d think after last season some of them would learn to keep their powder dry for a bit, but no. Embarrassing, so maybe staying anon is the right approach as you enjoy mega European Thursday nights against Lask, Toulouse and the mighty Union SG.
Garey (hoping for Union SG in the EL knockout rounds) Vance, MUFC

Tall story
I saw my second-ever game at Anfield yesterday (the last one was the 1-0 win over City last year):

Great weather over the weekend… The pitch looked perfect. The crowd was loud and the KOP never stopped singing… while the location of our seats were really great, the seats themselves are tiny. I’m 6’5” and I started getting cramps in the second half… I can see the attraction of the standing spaces.
TalLFC

One short of perfection
Anyone else notice that Garth’s team of the week was only 1 defender short of his perfect team of the week – all 11 players scoring?

Pickford’s funny as f#ck own goal setting up the opportunity to go for 11 of 11 players scoring. I can only imagine the mental anguish poor old Garth was going through on Sunday evening before he called his ghostwriter, wrestling with the fact that he simply had to include Joe Worrell.

Mark my words, the next time a keeper pops one in his own net, or even the opposition’s, bosh, Garth will be all over it for 11 scorers.

A quick word in your shell-like Garth, your column is still pants.
Phil The Hammer (Norway)

The Real Real Premier League
The proposed “Real Premier League” doesn’t go far enough! Removing City is a good start. But sadly this would just mean reallocating their titles so Man United (3), Liverpool (3), and Arsenal (1) add more trophies to their Scrooge McDuck treasure vaults. Forgive me, but gifting the three most historically successful and richest teams in the league additional trophies provides about as much romance as a night with Mason Greenwood. The proposed RPL is simply robbing from the rich to give to… the rich.

So I propose the Real Real Premier League which discards the rest of the ‘Big 6’ along with Man City. Sporting and financial domination has existed long before City’s current stretch: Chelsea before them, and Man United before them, monopolising top spot; and the ‘Top Four’ and ‘Big 6’ clogging the Champions League places for the last two decades.

The Real Real Premier League makes for a far more compelling list of champions – set out below. Great teams like Blackburn under Kenny Dalglish, Newcastle under Kevin Keegan and Bobby Robson, and Leeds under David O’Leary all dominate the first decade, with Robson and O’Leary both achieving threepeats. Then there’s Everton’s period of domination under David Moyes winning 7 of the next 10. Koeman wins titles with Southampton and Everton either side of Leicester’s 2016 miracle. Then there’s titles for Burnley and Wolves before Rodgers wins 2 with Leicester and Moyes’s redemption with West Ham.

1992-93
Villa
2nd

1993-94
Blackburn
2nd

1994-95
Blackburn
1st

1995-96
Newcastle
2nd

1996-97
Newcastle
2nd

1997-98
Leeds
5th

1998-99
Leeds
4th

1999-00
Leeds
3rd

2000-01
Leeds
4th

2001-02
Newcastle
4th

2002-03
Newcastle
3rd

2003-04
Newcastle
5th