It is hard to know where to begin – but certainly 1 September 2008 will go down as a brilliant day for Arsenal.
The arrival on the scene of Manchester Arab means that CSKA Fulham no longer have it all their own way in terms of buying anything they want. If there’s a top player going, then the fight will be on – and that can only reduce the effectiveness of CSKA.
This is really good news because while the club ownership changes, the players are the same. There is only a set number of really good players who are nurtured and then come up for sale as supposedly finished goods – and now they will be spread over an extra club.
Already we’ve seen WC Milan, Real Mad and the Barbars all trying to compete with CSKA, and now there’s another player in the ring.
And what this also means is that each transfer window when Real Mad and the rest try to upset players and entice them away they will now have another club to fight with – and that can only mean less pressure on Arsenal players of the type we saw on Ade this year.
Second, it must mean more doom and gloom for clubs such as Manchester Bankrupt, Liverpool Liquidated and the Tiny Totts. True, the Totts and the Bankrupts managed to do a spot of business yesterday, but overall what they will find is that the price of the players they want to buy goes up and up and up – while their own income stays the same. The Bankrupts nearly lost Berbatov, and ended up having to pay far more than they ever intended – and that can only hasten their financial demise.
By the next transfer window prices will have all risen another £10m per player (as Manchester Arab will be buying a new team) and that will just about price the Bankrupts and Liquidators out of the market.
Meanwhile, what sort of a threat with the Arabs be? It is difficult to take them too seriously at the moment. The team looks very unbalanced, and it was noticeable that the “Hughes” character who is supposedly the manager spent the day on the golf course. Someone is choosing the squad at the Arabs but it is not the “Hughes”.
As for the Tiny Totts, they must know that they are never going to compete, and the annual whinge of “we’re gonna break into the top 4 this year” will continue to look like the inept and insane ramblings of journalists that it has always been. Lacking in Arsenal’s youth base, and unable to attract any Arab money because of their Jewish background they are now consigned to being also-rans until the oil runs out.
So – the Arsenal. Arsenal is the only club to use a totally different model – the model of buy the kids young, nurture the talent. Players queue up to come to Arsenal because of Wenger and the Arsenal way. Players aged as young as 9 are found and brought through the Arsenal system because of the unique World Wide Scouting model.
If you want one simple example of this, try Jack Wilshere. He will be worth £20m within 3 years – and we’ll have him for nothing.
While every other club is thrown into turmoil by the arrival of Manchester Arabs, Arsenal’s methodology remains in tact and unaffected.
Of course I know that many Arsenal fans wanted a new midfielder, and we did not buy one, but I truly believe that come November we will be trying to work out how to hold on to all our midfielders. We have had a terrible run of injuries – in 50 years of watching the Arsenal I cannot recall worse – but it will come to an end, and we will have a unified squad.
But if for Arsenal it is life as usual, for the Bankrupts and the Liquidators a sale of the shares is now desparately needed. The owners of both clubs will be out touting their operations to every diminutive Arab state with a pot of oil just hoping that something comes along soon. Neither club can pay the interest on its debts, and both are now traumatised by the arrival of a newcomer. And every such upheavel always brings utter disruption. Arsenal is the only stable club left.
Life just got better.
This is the most sensible and calming article regarding Arsenal Football Club I have read all morning. Very well said sir!
Great perspective on things! I am dissapointed we didn’t add to our midfield, but i alsoseriously doubt that it was due to lack of trying. Wenger clearly stated that he will never pay over the odds for a player unless he is sure the player is better than what we already have. I had a laugh at the fact The scum had to pay well over the odds for berbatov in the end and chelsea missed out on Robinho. I have a feeling we could do quite well this year.
Thanks Tony for the constant positive attitude. And why not? Wenger is the best manager we have ever had – no other manager has wone as many league titles in our history. And he has given us so much more than just silverware.
There are so many depressing blogs out there, full of anger, spite and bile. I can’t believe we have so many stupid fans out there who want to attack Wenger, and even want him to leave. Absolute idiots who shame our club. Where have they come from?
I used to laugh at Spurs fans because they had so many boo-boys. Today we have more whingers than them, even though we have dominated them on the pitch since 1987. Don’t they realise how much they damage our club?
hear hear hear
A very sensible article. I agree a lot with you.
Ofcourse a bit dissapointed that we couldn’t sign Alonso or another defensiv midfielder but happy that we didn’t put the club in danger by buying a overrated and overpriced player.
And it’s not becouse you put 11 stars on a pitch that they will produce anything. Football is a teamsport and in every team you have to find the right balance. To many “big names” takes the balance out of a team.
Players have to work for each other and you cannot say that Berbatov for example is a worker on the pitch.
We have a good squad, and it will be the best “team” who will win in the end, not the most ‘big names’.
Being a Gooner is more then just winning trophees, it is being part of a club who does it their way
To suggest transfer day was a ‘brilliant’ one for Arsenal is absolutely deluded. Our team desperately needed strengthening in midfield and we did nothing. I’m not whinging and i’m not attacking Wenger, I don’t boo our players and I am not an idiot. What i am is a realist. there is no point stockpiling cash if we are not going to use it. As the Arsenal board have already stated 30million was available to strengthen, we would not be bankrupt if we used it. Also It may be comforting to speculate that in 3 years time Whiltshire will be worth 20million but who the hell knows that for certain, how much is Theo worth now? Has he progressed as speedily as we thought or hoped? A far more realistic situation is players like fabregas, Van Persie etc getting fed up with a lack of investment and ambition and heading off. Ultimately I don’t think our situation is terrible, we are not up sh*t creak by any means. We have a good team but to say yesterday was brilliant is beyond ludicrous.
To The Oracle
I agree it would have been great to wake up to a new signing. I don’t see you as a whinger, idiot or as attacking Wenger. The blogs should be all about debate and your post makes good and valid points.
The reason for my post is I’m fed up with the genuine idiots found on some blogs saying that Wenger should **** Off and that he is a disgrace and wrecking our club.
I’m sure you’ve seen these sort of blog entries around. Debate is good – it’s the braindead vitriol I can’t stand.
very good article.
its nice too see an article from someone who has actually thought about the current situation instead of some dickhead moaning about ‘we need a bloody midfielder’ or ‘arsne has lost his touch’-which he hasnt.
btw wats with the adding of the numbers?
is it to keep totten**m fans out of the comments section by making them attempt simple maths? lol
To Ian Trevett
I agree with you there mate. I can’t believe people are so quick to turn on Wenger and call for him to be sacked. Perhaps some aren’t even old enough to remember what George Graham left him with. David Hillier, Ian Selley? lol. Nice article, despite my criticism, it certainly cheered me up.
Excellent article. I have been thinking this all along. We don’t have the money, we don’t want to spend what we don’t have and since Wenger has a first class Economics degree as well as a sainthood in football, he will see us through.
Nobody is guaranteed a trophy anymore…
At least we can watch attractive football in sound economic standing..
Hats off to Arsene!
GREAT ARTICLE!!!
At last someone looking at the situation with intelligent perspective. I can’t believe many other blogs who are calling for Wenger’s head. How idiotic can these people be??? I’m sure AW tried to get reinforcements, but as he’s always said, if you can’t find someone who is better than you already have and who’s for sale, what’s the point in wasting money.
Being an Arsenal fan is not all about winning. I’ve waited nearly 40 years for the club to be as strong as they are now and I’m loving it.
I think a simple test of Arsenal worthiness is the following:- If you had as much money as CSKA Chelski and could buy all the top players, whatever the cost, would you be happy? I personally would hate to be a Chelski fan at the moment because I would feel like we’d cheated and any victories would seem hollow.
Please fellow Gooners – support what we have and get behind AW and the team. And for God’s sake stop booing, you’re going to destabilise the team, or is that maybe what you want?!?!
…we can go on and try to make ourselves as positive as possible but the facts don’t change. Arsene knows we need an experienced “holding” midfielder and perhaps a taller CB, and he admitted so….that’s the fact
Why he didn’t buy one or both beats me. He might have tried but obviously not hard enough. He has been very frugal to the teams financial gains but sometimes, it’s about a bit more. A signing, worth it or not, would have done some for the fans’ morale. It would have also affirmed the the ambitions of the teamto the likes of Cesc, RvP, Ade etc, who know they can play anywhere else….
Nuff said, Arsene, I’ve still got your back though I wonder why
Very well thought through. I would only mention Harold. I used to play penny ante poker with Harold and some other guys when I was in college. Whenever Harold sat in, he would raise almost any hand. He would lose of course, but he’d stick around long enogh to make it miserable, because if you wanted to play, you had to bet along with Harold, and you’d usually go down with him.
I think a cartain amount of that is inevitable here with the Arab Strap coming down. It will raise the prices quite a bit.
It was like baseball here in the Home of the Brave in the 70s, and still today to some extent. A few rich teams would set the price by just throwing money around like drunken sailors. But some teams who bought smart could stay with them at a lower cost.
I think with Arsene, we have someone who can buy smart and compete. He won’t be able to buy just any player, because the Russians and Arabs and even Americans can outbid him.
One thing for sure: Hill-Wood needs to rethink his model, because the price of poker just went up.
Gooner for Life.
Crap article. Sure, there is another big club around who can take players off our competitors, but there is also another club around that can steal OUR players and offer them double the wages. And what’s worse is that it’s not a London-based rival, so our players won’t necessarily mind going there.
As for the club’s vision, it only works for as long as Wenger is at the club. What if Wenger leaves? We’re fucked. There is no-one around who can do what Wenger does, no-one. In order to Arsenal we will need money, they will need to operate like every other wannabe big club. So as long as this club is in debt, Arsenal are screwed without Wenger because the board will not buy big. I can see Wenger leaving in 2-3 years when the money overtakes Arsenal – and then board behaving like a collective Doug Ellis, protecting their reputations and pissing in the wind.
It’s precarious.
nice article. i think the best thing about this transfer deadline day is that we dint get rid of any more players.
also, i think its sensible to be debt conscious at the moment. cl qualifying might depend on it, and if were heading into a recession, entertainment is one of the first industries to get hit. who cares how much you won or lost by at the weekend if you cant feed your family.
Very good article.
Sums up the feelings of long-term fans who remember the bad old days. As before, our time will come. With the arrival of the Mad Arabs, our time comes closer.