President Paul Kagame does not accept "mediocrity" of Rwanda-sponsored Arsenal
Nicolas Pépé (left) and Emile Smith-Rowe (right) on August 13, 2021 when their club, Arsenal, lost to Brentford.
REUTERS - DAVID KLEIN
Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow
5 mins
After Arsenal's defeat at Brentford on Friday August 13 (2-0), Paul Kagame is losing patience.
Rwanda is one of the sponsors of the London club, and the Rwandan president does not hide his annoyance at the results of the Gunners in recent years.
“
We must not excuse or accept mediocrity,
” he insists.
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Arsenal ended their 2020-2021 season in a pitiful 8th place in the league, as in the 2019-2020 financial year.
The London club did not stock its trophy cabinet, apart from the honorary Community Shield won in August 2020. Despite these disappointments, Mikel Arteta was kept in his post, and the Gunners recruited Ben White for 58 million euros in order to replace David Luiz and stabilize a hard defense.
The 2021-202 fiscal year has barely started, but criticism is already descending on Arsenal, who opened the new Premier League season on Friday against Brentford.
The promoted had not evolved in the elite of English football for 74 years.
This did not prevent him from inflicting a crushing defeat on Arteta and his men (2-0).
What to provoke the ire of Paul Kagame.
“Can't we have a plan that really works?
"
Rwanda has been
Arsenal's tourism partner
since 2018
(as well as
PSG since the end of 2019
). The “Visit Rwanda” logo is displayed on the sleeves of the Gunners jersey. The contract between the two parties runs for three years and costs the country $ 40 million. Thus, the Rwandan president tastes very little of the sporting setbacks of the club. After the defeat at Brentford, Paul Kagame expressed his fed up on Twitter.
"
How ?? It's football, it's an Arsenal loss to Brentford. Brentford deserved to win and they did. The game itself aside, Arsenal and their fans don't deserve to get used to this ... NO !!! I say this as one of Arsenal's biggest fans. The change took too long to come!
“, He first wrote.
“We
've been fighting for decades, with ups and downs, more downs so far. Can't we have a plan that really works?
Asks the Head of State, critical of Arsenal's sports policy. “
We must NOT excuse or accept mediocrity. A team must be built to win, to win, to win. So that when we lose ... it is not an expected result! I am sure we all know on which shoulders rest the heaviest burden. I hope they know it too, or even accept it !!!
», He continued.
What ??
It's football, it's a loss of Arsenal at / to Brentford.
Brentford deserved to win and they did.
The game itself aside Arsenal and the fans don't deserve to kind of get used to this .... NO !!!
I say this as one of the big fans of Arsenal.
The change has taken to long to come!
- Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) August 13, 2021
An inexorable decline since 2004
Arsenal's last English championship title dates back to 2004 and the famous “Invincibles” season of Arsène Wenger, Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira, Sol Campbell, Robert Pirès, Ashley Cole, Kolo Touré, Jens Lehmann ... Since then, the Gunners have only climbed the podium six times, lost two European finals (Champions League 2006, Europa League 2019) and won only five FA Cups (2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020). Too little for a former English cador, now overtaken in the hierarchy across the Channel by Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and even occasionally by Tottenham, the rival.
The end of August could prove to be complicated for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (absent on Friday because of injury) and his teammates.
After this defeat at Brentford, Arsenal must welcome European champion Chelsea (August 22, 2nd day) before going to challenge English champion Manchester City (August 28, 3rd day).
Not the start we wanted.
Thank you to the traveling fans last night.
pic.twitter.com/VVNEnwV0yI
- Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 14, 2021
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