Simon Jordan thinks Arsenal have become “a joke football club” while he also had a go at AFTV over their YouTube channel.
The Gunners brought in Mikel Arteta part way through last season with the Spaniard guiding them to FA Cup glory, while their performances started to convince Arsenal fans that he could be the man for the job.
12 months later and there are now doubts in the fanbase over whether Arteta can take the club forward with the Gunners sitting eighth in the Premier League table.
OPINION: 16 Conclusions: Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal
If they miss out on Europe, which looks extremely likely, it will be the first time in 25 years that Arsenal have failed to qualify for a European competition.
On top of that, the fans – who have been unhappy with Stan Kroenke’s ownership of the club for years – have been protesting after Arsenal were one of six Premier League clubs who were willing to break away to form the European Super League.
The owners later apologised but that hasn’t stopped angry Arsenal fans from gathering outside the Emirates Stadium before matches to protest their ownership.
And Jordan claims that Arsenal are now only a “big club in image and reputation” with their team nowhere near good enough.
Jordan said on talkSPORT: “The fact of the matter is that despite the advancing of the thought that Mikel Arteta was going to be a good manager, by people like me… I’m beginning to think that’s unwinding.
“But I also think the reason for that is that Arsenal are a joke football club right now, in lots of ways.
“They’ve got an owner who is disengaged, an owner that’s happy with mediocrity. They’ve got a director of football who I don’t think is pulling up any trees, and they’ve gone for a manager who sounds good on paper, but when it comes down to it, I’m not sure he’s got the chops to do what Arsenal need him to do.
“Arsenal have just gone in a self-appointed organisation of the top six clubs… but they’ve worked their way backwards in the league and they are now a big club in image and reputation alone, because they are not a big club in any other department right now.”
Jordan added: “I don’t have an agenda against Arsenal. The simple facts are they are eighth in the league, out of the Europa League losing to a manager you thought was a joke.
“What are you? Are you a winning football club, a club in the ascendency? You’ve got a group of fans that run a TV station just to vilify their own club.
“I’m sorry – I think they’re a bit of a joke at the moment.”