Per Mertesacker

Genuine question, did they say that?

Ozil never said German national team was/were/are racist.

Rest of the world is on and on about it.

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Honestly I donā€™t know haha I canā€™t remember Ozil or Gundogans exact statements

I think Trion is right when it might be everyone other than ozil calling them racist. Oops my bad :man_facepalming:

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Per Mertesacker is auctioning off a signed Arsenal shirt with us for charity on https://www.unitedcharity.de/en/Auctions/Mertesacker-Shirt. The entire proceeds will go straight, without any deducted costs, to a German charity supporting children in difficult life situations.

If this post is not okay here, please let uns know. Thanks! :slight_smile:

Nice article on Per and his work abroad ā€“ heā€™s set up a football programme for children in a refugee camp in Jordan.

Seems like he is doing really good work. I like this guy a lot.


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Lazy PR

Itā€™s not going to be half as much fun blaming the executive team as it was blaming the board.

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Why?

Per comes across as a very articulate and deep-thinking bloke. I have no idea if heā€™s suited to this executive role though.

However, if he can bring this sort of energy to future discussions then heā€™ll be perfect:

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Moaning for sake of moaning.

Go on Per. Buzzing for him!!

Itā€™s a pitiful attempt to add ā€˜football peopleā€™ to higher levels of decision making at the club in order placate restless and gullible fans

Serious question: How is Mertesacker even remotely qualified to contribute executive team less than one year after his retirement? Look at the qualifications and experience of Sven, Huss and Raul how does Mert even compare? What does Mert add to this team?

In terms of actual football expertise/perspective as an expro, I donā€™t think Mert offers anything unique. He lacks the technical skills and experience to contribute at an executive level so I just donā€™t see where the urge to appoint him to higher levels within the club comes from tbh other than Mert being a reasonably well liked player by the fans as well as being more articulate representative than the average footballer.

Even then there are far more interesting expros who could be groomed into an executive role down the line.

Mertā€™s rapid rise through the club is slightly off putting for me. I donā€™t think he was qualified for a role titled ā€˜academy managerā€™ of a club the size of Arsenal until I heard rumours he was a glorified mascot who basically sat with families and spun them tales about how Arsenal is the best place for their child to come. With the job title and Celebrity to make an impact on impressionable families

I get the sense heā€™s a useful idiot really, appointed by a new and highly perceptive Managing Director keen to keep the image of the club positive by satisfying an historically agitated fan base with cheap guestures. Itā€™s a token appointment that makes no real impact to the fortunes of this club

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FFS, are you for real, even educationally Merts is far from an idiot. I think you are being overly harsh to the extreme, and look a negative moaning post and aussie likes it, fuck me.

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That seems like a massive over analysis.

I definitely donā€™t give a shit that theyā€™ve done this and Iā€™d imagine most are the same. If it was a real PR move theyā€™d have appointed Pires so I donā€™t even think the analysis is ultimately accurate. As head of academy it seems like the sort of role that the person in it should be abreast of the running of the club and I think thatā€™s what it comes down to. Whoever had taken the head of academy role would have been brought into the executive side.

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Harsh, too harsh.

Appointing ex-proā€™s with no genuine merit for higher up jobs happens football wide. Nedved became a member of the Juventusā€™ board of directors one year after he retired. Shit like that just happens.

Yep. Youā€™ve got Maldini at Milan now, Zanetti at Inter, Totti at Roma, Nedved at Juventus.

I know Bayern have Uli and Rummenigge as President and Chairman.

Itā€™s a sensible decision to make. Having ex-footballers making executive decisions with other professionals offers a good balance.

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This sounds really promising. Great interview with Per.

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