Hill-Wood’s mouth hurts Arsenal’s stellar reputation
When I read that Peter Hill-Wood has made a statement to the press, I cringe. The man is an honest football and Arsenal man and you have to respect him for that, but the gloves come off the moment this pompous ass ventures into commenting on people other than Arsenal’s own.
Arsenal are a club of genuine international repute and blessed with a great manager and a squad filled with prodigiously talented players. Sure, they are stable enough to grow on their own and do not need a billionaire sugar-daddy to take out a mortgage on the club and force a takeover (who does?) - but on the other hand they also need to keep the peace with shareholders.
Insulting Kroenke and putting down David Dein in public may have cathartic benefits and get a few cheers from hardcore Arsenal fans, but at the end of the day it does nothing but to help Arsenal and does everything to damage Arsenal’s reputation (if your major shareholders are not exempt from public attacks, how do you do business with this club?).
Arsenal, especially under Wenger, have done wonders in building their reputation, and it’s a shame to see the good work undone by someone with an acute lack of understanding of class or tact.
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Discussion - 15 Responses
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You obviously know nothing about Arsenal if you think Hill-Wood has sullied it’s reputation. He defends the Clubs core values with energy and class.
David Dein, on the other hand, has introduced two scoundrels to the Club - one an american speculator and the other a russian Mafia boss. He now has no shares in Arsenal and no future at the Club whatsoever.
Your articles smell of payola.
What an idiot. David Dein is the person attempting to hijack the clubs reputation. Hill-Wood is standing up for values lost at so many other clubs. Fans, Arsenal or otherwise, will applaud him for this. What an absoloute tool the person who wrote this is.
Danny Fiszman came out in an interview saying that PHW had been misquoted on the Kroenke story.
Secondly, Dein is not an Arsenal shareholder anymore. He’s a PR circus on two legs.
PHW is not the bumbling old school tie fart that the media love to portray. He’s been on high powered boards in financial circles, and if you actually listen to him speak, you’ll find he’s very astute and knows exactly where he needs to draw the lines.
PH-W is absolutely right, and I’m glad he’s forthright in his quotes to the press.
He and the other directors haven’t taken a dividend in years, and have a genuine desire to build the club to new levels. It isn’t about greed or personal gain.
Kronke is an opportunist out to capitalise from their hard work, and it’s true “we don’t want his sort”.
Dein is a backstabbing opportunist, and I don’t think we want his sort either. No matter how much he stresses that he only has the interest of the club at heart, it’s now obvious that he only has David Dein’s interests at heart, and that he’d climb over anyone to get the keys to the Chairman’s office. People can bang on forever about his role in bringing Wenger to the club, but you have to see that if he’d been in charge over recent years, we’d be groundsharing Wembley with the spuds and throwing money at players on a whim like the morally bankrupt outfit at Stamford Bridge.
Who’d want that? Not Wenger.
PH-W and the other long-term board members? We definately want their sort. A class act.
Yes Ahmed let’s haggle with our shareholders instead.
PHW is obviously a midfield bruiser. He leads where others are afraid to comment. He tells it like it is. Great chairman to have. I’ve liked everything he’s said so far. Go PHW!
Nonsense article my friend. PHW’s comments resonate with most Arsenal supporters. He has had to listen to all kinds of nonsense over the summer from the media and now has to deal with DD’s shenanigans. He’s had enough and he had to make it clear because many are not getting it. He is basically saying he did not choose Kroenke and the Russian as Arsenal investors, so they are only that: investors. They have so far introduced so much speculation about Arsenal which does not help the club at all. As for DD, he reserved the best comment for him to the effect that he does not want any more of DD’s S***. DD is the one hurting Arsenal’s stellar reputation with his opportunism.
‘….. if your major shareholders are not exempt from public attack …. ‘ - In case you haven’t noticed yet: football is to some extent ‘public’ and so are the clubs and their policies. If politicians and showstars can take public attacks then so can Russian ex-communists (which I am sure he never was just like no German ever was a Nazi), an English ‘PR machine on two legs’ (thank you for that, Mike - 1o out of 10 for this one)and husbands of rich American wifes who’s hobby love to have a collection of sports clubs. And even though it has nothing to do with the Arsenal I assure you that I will never ever show the slightest respect to people like that Thai piece of shit who ripped of his people and then bailed out with the money to buy an English club. We all should be disgusted!!!
Statements comming from HW and Lady Nina show true dedication to the club!
What exactly are you referring to? Dein is no longer an Arsenal shareholder. Meanwhile the ‘we don’t want his sort’ has widely been misinterpreted as a xenophobic attack against an American when really it was an attack against the investment-types the game has been attracting lately and that most football fans don’t seem to want to see in the game.
“When I read that Peter Hill-Wood has made a statement to the press, I cringe. ”
Much like I do when I read articles like this in which people who don’t know what they’re talking about discuss boardroom events.
Dein - not a shareholder. Doesn’t trigger your “if your major shareholders are not exempt from public attacks” clause, rendering the rest of your article moot.
Erhem…You clearly don’t understand how the old Arsenal institution works.
By the way; Dein sold his shares to Usmanov and sits now as chairman in Usmanovs “Red and White Holdings Ltd”. His is no shareholder in Arsenal. AND Hill-Wood has done a marvellous job defending the club and they’re being right about not needing a sugar-daddy. What the hell would Arsene do with £100 mill.? He can’t even spend the current transferbudget!
Although I understand what you’re trying to say in your article, I can’t help but feel you’re not looking at the overall picture. Of course the major shareholders should be respected at the club, but if you look at Dein and Usmanov, these are two people that no-one associated with Arsenal wants at the club. They have their own agenda and most definitely do not have the club’s best interests at heart. Dein tried to push his views on the rest of the board with regards to Kroenke, he was promptly ejected from the board. Do you genuinely believe that Dein doesn’t see himself in Hill-Wood’s position? He wants control of the club, and he doesn’t care how corrupt those who finance his push for power are. Hill-Wood is 100% justified in telling the media what he thinks, the man has Arsenal at heart, unlike a certain orange heart which is more concerned with his bank account.
”The two share similar views on the best way to take Arsenal forward.”
Yes, moving from an institution that will be be generating millions in the years to come for the benefit of the club and the local community, without paying those that run the club - ie the current board of directors and shareholders- a penny in dividends, to something else entirely.
Their ‘’shared view” is that they should make themselves even richer than they already are: either by cleaning dirty oligarch roubles or by saddling the club with their personal debt a la Glazer family. The choice is corruption or stupidity - co-incidentally the same as my thoughts on why this article was written.
“Dein represents Red and White Holdings Ltd as the chairman”
Well, if Usmanov would like some respect as a major Arsenal shareholder, then he should show some respect to the board.
PHW is quite correct.
The board will talk to major shareholders, not major shareholders’ lackeys.