All the things Robin did not say: what the media said in return « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

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Publication on July 20th: Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football. The book that re-writes the Arsenal story.

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This article concludes the piece about RVP and his website statement.  Part one of the article appeared here.

By Anne

Now let’s take a look at some of the media response to the RVP web site  “announcement,” and see if it might suggest any specific media agenda in association with the “announcement.” And if there is, you have to question the credibility of the “announcement” itself.

(Please forgive me for not including links in this section, like I normally would. I wanted to get this article up as soon as possible, and I was pulling too many direct quotes to save links to all of them in a timely manner. If you want to check me for accuracy, you can do a google search for any of these phrases in quotation marks “like this” and it will pull it up.)

I’m just going to provide a list of quotes here. All are taken from the same media sources that have established a reputation for being “unfriendly” to Arsenal in the past:

> “Arsenal must decide whether to cash in on wantaway striker Robin van Persie after the captain insisted he had to leave the Emirates Stadium to win trophies.”

>“Arsenal must decide whether to quickly cash in on wantaway striker Robin van Persie after the captain insisted he had to leave the Emirates Stadium to win trophies. Photo Caption: Valuable asset: Robin van Persie will leave Arsenal one way or the other.”

>“Arsenal should sell disrespectful Van Persie before another summer descends into chaos.

If Arsenal were to sell Robin van Persie, it is likely they will be able to recoup the money they have invested on their new strike force, and still make a profit that can be invested in other areas of the squad.”

>“Van Persie has tainted his Arsenal legacy… there’s no way back now

Let’s get one thing straight. Robin van Persie’s statement was not ‘for the fans’, as he so lovingly professed, but for himself….Van Persie deliberately made his position at Arsenal untenable. There can now only be one outcome. Van Persie has his wish and is sold this summer to the highest bidder”

>“Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has warned..that [Van Persie] would be ‘slaughtered’ by Gunners fans if he is unable to secure a move before the new campaign…Merson told Sky Sports News…’He’s burnt his bridges. If he comes back and they don’t sell him the fans are going to slaughter him.’”

>“Arsenal must get rid of Van Persie

Following Robin van Persie’s revelation that he will not sign a new contract at Arsenal, I don’t think the club have any option but to sell their captain immediately…What is the point in keeping hold of Van Persie when replacements need to be sourced and bedded into the team? Not to mention the fact that Arsenal can make some money on him now rather than losing him for free next summer.”

>“The…dilemma for Arsenal is whether they can seriously take a stand and keep a player who has expressed such public dissatisfaction. And what is the point of losing out on a handsome fee in exchange for a player who will have lost the affection of so many supporters in an instant and who clearly wishes to be elsewhere? The logical option is to sell to the highest bidder.”

>[From Sky] “Gooners have taken to the net in their droves to express their displeasure at Van Persie’s decision not to sign a new contract…here are some of the best!….’/#RVP CAPTAIN, LEADER, LEG-IT’…’He leaves when he wants, he leaves when he wannntss, he’s Robin van persie and he leaves when he wants.’”

>“while there was loose talk…that Van Persie and Arsenal could see out their remaining 12 months of contractual obligation, the tone of the 28-year-old’s message surely signals the end of his career at Emirates Stadium. He left little or no room for manoeuvre as he displayed an obvious lack of faith in Arsenal to take him where he wishes to go and win the trophies that have eluded the Gunners since 2005.”

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It all seems to be a new twist on the same old story, doesn’t it? However, another reason that I believe that this is the likely agenda for the appearance of the “statement” is based on Arsenal’s response, which confirms that Robin has decided to leave Arsenal when his contract ends, but which also gives me the impression that this was decided between Robin and Arsenal a long time ago, and under terms that Arsenal has no problem with:

“We have to respect Robin’s decision not to renew his contract. Robin has one year to run on his current contract and we are confident that he will fulfil his commitments to the Club.

‘We are planning with ambition and confidence for next season with Arsenal’s best interests in mind.’”

I personally read this as a statement that Arsenal is not intimidated, and has no plans to transfer Robin early in response to this tactic. I also read it as implying that Robin’s decision to leave was not made for disrespectful reasons.

Personally, I still back Robin 100%, and I don’t believe for a second that the person who slagged off Arsenal in the media using his name was actually Robin. However, I am concerned about the damage that this individual has caused to the real Robin’s reputation, which I believe to have been entirely deserved. And I’m also concerned about the possibility that we might see this “forced transfer” tactic be attempted against other Arsenal players as the season goes on..

As a prerequisite for the use of this tactic, there must always be some move to discredit an Arsenal player in the eyes of the fans. So, from now on, I think that all media reports about Arsenal players should be regarded by fans with extreme caution and scepticism. Particularly if they attempt to attribute statements to Arsenal players that would reflect negatively on the Club.

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