By Walter Broeckx
As I had to do some sports today and made a long walk for the company I work for today I was not on the internet today. So I couldn’t write an article and as Tony is still hanging around Barcelona, bringing home Cesc we couldn’t publish a second article today. My apologies if you felt the first symptoms of withdrawal. But I hope we will be back to business as normal from tomorrow on.
What has been going through my head today while walking in the lovely glowing landscape of the south of Limburg in Flanders was about the person whom we have been talking about in the past. The former Arsenal employee Stewart Robson.
I don’t have to remind you of how we have talked about him always being very very negative when commenting games or doing what he called analysis on Arsenal.com or on Arsenal.player. And when talking to other papers or TV stations it was always by criticising Arsenal, the board, Wenger and the players.
Lots of people complained about him and saw him as a spoke person of the according to some non existing AAA. Part of this was because he sang the same tune as the AAA. The tune of “spend some f*cking money”. Missing completely the point that the only money we had to spent was money we got from selling players. So in a way shouting: spend some f*cking money” was saying the same as “sell our best players”. And when we did the AAA could go mad again. And they could go mad again when we bought new players as it weren’t their favourites. People calling for Samba…remember them? And other flavours of the day.
But now that Gazidis talked to the press and said that now finally there is some money to spend I think I can notice a change. Now first of all there is apparently some money to spend but this is not Chelsea of City monopoly money. It is hard earned Arsenal money and there is an end to our money. Unlike those afore mentioned clubs who have pockets as deep as the sea.
And it looks as if Arsenal is going to spend some of that money. No by buying the big big big big superstars but my adding even more quality to what is for me already a very strong team. So if Wenger for the first time since 8 years has more money that he can spend than he had ever before without really needing to finance it from selling players they (you know how) are having a bit of a problem. They said it was Wenger who was sitting on the money, making money for the board, blah blah blah.
Now let us imagine that Wenger spends the money and we spend more than we make out of selling players for the first time since we build the Emirates. So the blame it all on Wenger will not be able to keep on singing their favourite tune. And I noticed the chance on a few blogs, in a few comments and now with the words from Stewart Robson the new party line is clear to see.
The new party line is: you can’t trust Wenger with the money. And then they come up with names that can be said that they weren’t his best buys in the last years. Park was lost money, I agree. But he was the captain of one of the best teams in Asia so one could have thought that he would have brought something. Squilacci also wasn’t what we hoped to be. For years they screamed Wenger to buy an experienced central defender. Well that was Squillaci in those days. Top player for many years in France and Spain. Brought as a 3rd – 4th option and it didn’t work out as we all would have wanted. Chamakh is also mentioned forgetting the fact that he came on a free.
People also mention Denilson, Bendtner and a few others. But those were players Wenger bought as young players and who didn’t turn out good enough when they should have reached their best years. Those things happen.
But that is the current tune being song: Wenger makes too many mistakes in the transfer market so Arsenal having more money will make no difference as Wenger will waste it. Robson sang it aloud and the boys who want Wenger out repeat it even on Untold in the comment section when completely other things are discussed.
I can only say one thing to them: Overmars, Anelka, Petit, Vieira, Ljunberg, Kanu, Lauren, Henry, Sylvinho, Pires, Edu, Toure, Campbell, Van Bronckhorst, Gilberto Silva, Fabregas, Lehmann, Clichy, Reyes, Van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott, Rosicky, Hleb, Eduardo (sniff), Song, Nasri, Ramsey, Sagna, Arshavin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mertesacker, Arteta and let us not forget Podolski, Giroud, Monreal and that little Spanish player known by me as Classorla.
Yeah, sure Stewart Arsène hasn’t got a club about spending his money wisely. You on the other hand with your major and great experience as manager of Southend that not even lasted one month are very well placed to criticise Wenger for wasting money. If it wasn’t sad it would be funny in a way. But it is way too sad that a nobody like Robson can put those claims forward. And especially as this will be the tune the boys who want Wenger out will be singing in the next weeks.
I trust Wenger when he spends the money. Not all turns in to gold of course. But that it something that no other manager can do. Not even the retired SAF who had a few miss buys in his careers also. But I rather would trust Wenger to use the hard earned Arsenal money than a person who after being turned down to be part of the coaching staff at Arsenal turned in to the sour person we all know now.
Robson is not fit to clean the boots of Wenger when it comes to making transfers. He better keep his mouth shut about Arsenal. But then again this is a free country and nobody can forbid a person talking rubbish and making himself the fool he seems to be.
Recent posts
- Arsenal is the fairest team in the league
- Will Wenger be our first signing of the summer?
- Wild rumours and Tony on the man hunt
- Failure? I show you failure after building a new stadium
- We don’t just buy only kids
- Cazorla, Fick Fufa and curry, only on Untold
- Just avoid the mistakes and we could be contenders
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
What an utter pile of drivel!
Pathetic fucking sheep who are so petrified of change! You got the club you deserve, ya mug!
Noise: what have U been sniffing?
@ the noise
Let’s see a top 8 seeded European CL club that took the current treble champions Bayern to the wire in Munich.
16 consecutive years in the CL.
A top 10 global sporting franchise brand.
A new record breaking kit deal.
A beautiful 60,000 capacity stadium which is a crown jewel of London.
The most cash rich football club in the world when others are drowning in debt.
Recognised full internationals in all positions on the pitch.
A vault full of money to spend this transfer window.
Yeah you are right we have the club we deserve. ,!,,
Well written thought out article, I for one of many have written complaining about that prat he is no more than a sad ,pathetic person who as nothing better to do than moan.
Lets face it even if we spent 300 million on all the top players he would moan we should be bringing though youngsters.
As you say a chart came out the other day where Arsenal was top of the EPL for increasing the value of players.
Everybody thinks of Fergie as special but you can count probally 20-30 bad buys over the years costing 10 s of millions.
Good work Walter – keep it up.
Robson seems incredibly embittered about Arsenal. I can only imagine he feels hard done by by the way he was let go or somesuch.
And please leave up the comment from The Noise. It expresses more eloquently than any argument the juvenile, idiotic level of the Arsenal/Arsene haters.
This message must be from the great mouth himself the guy is a never was and attacking Wenger and arsenal won’t change that just pushing his personal hatred will be there for all to see
Great article,I completely agree with the contents. Stewart Robson is a bitter little man. It makes.it worse as an ex Arsenal player so happy to run down our great manager and club.When I see comments and such bad language by people such as ‘The Noise’ I wish we could get rid of these so called fans. The Noise should perhaps think with his brain rather than his rather large tongue! Well done once again for a great article.
The noise…Fuck off with your twatty little handle! Why don’t you go and support an oil rich club you prick
Spot on, as always. See the boo boys crawling out of woodwork already. Yes we got the club we deserve and it’s a great one. Very proud of it. Much less of so-called fans with twisted egos and bellyful of cheap lager. See them in the stands, always loud and showing off to their mates, always talking and half-watching but quick to boo as soon as match finished. Some of them need their nose punched, hard.
Keep it up Walter, great stuff, truly.
Stewart Ian Robson…..anagram…..A no win brat tosser !.
Seems about right !. hahaha
The Noise,
I think our club is changing…for the good of it.
Robson is a twat end off I dont read anything he has to say full of hate he is. I had one major problem with Wenger he didnt focus on the defence of the team I believe Bould have brought aot to this area… Great line said during the season ‘we realised if we dont conceed we dont need to score loads of goals’ pretty obvious it took awhile but we seen the results the last games of the season.
Now the club is over its spell of having to sell players and make transferring profits to fund the staduim move I expect Arsenal to invest what they can each year possibily 20-30m if needed. Will that win us a trophy maybe not but I think if the club is investing then at least we are giving it a go!!!
My wish list for next season is Benteke, Cesear, Wayamma/Fellini.
Shift Bendther, Djourou, Frimpong, Mannone, Santos, Park and Chamakh get what we can release my mutal consent if needed like Denilson at least it saves on the wages.
But every transfer is a gamble you could buy a Falaco or Cavani and they cant settle in England etc there’s o many variables.
I think its a fair enough point there has been afew very bad signings in recent years.
A quick reminder to some of the comments we publish can be found on the main page:
If you fancy writing a comment for the first time, please note that your first comment will be held in moderation until we get back from the pub. Also, if you comment appears to be copied from another site, has nothing to do with the original article, is abusive against another writer personally (as opposed to joining in the debate with reasoned points), comes from an invalid email address, or comes from a computer which appears to be used by one person under different names, we might well not publish it. Dictatorial yes, but some of us are trying to have a bit of a chat here, and those are the tactics used by others (probably supporters of other clubs, but you never know) who seek to disrupt our fun.
Thank you
Great article, I completely agree with the contents. Stewart Robson is a bitter little man. It makes it worse as an ex Arsenal player so happy to run down our great manager and club. When I see comments and such bad language by people such as ‘ The Noise’ I wish we could get rid of these so called fans.
The Noise should perhaps think with his brain rather than his rather large tongue! Well done once again for a great article.
I also would like to remind that if you have not really anything intelligent to say you can save the trouble of typing sentences like “Sack the French Liar” or “Wenger out”.
If you really believe this you could at least try to write an article of some 1000 words why you call him a liar with examples of his lies. And the same for why you want him out and try to include in your deep analysis how we should have reacted to the money inflation brought to us by the rich sugar daddy clubs and the financial restrictions we had because we had to cough up some £500M out of our own pockets to build the Emirates.
So spare your fingers for those one liners or go to “the truth” where you can abuse all and everyone for free.
Oh and don’t try to use different mail addresses and names. The system recognises you and block you.
Sorry to disturb you my dear readers but by now I think you have an idea that I think one person is trying to launch a few attacks on the site by posting the abuse you can find on other sites but not over here.
A few things:
“Missing completely the point that the only money we had to spent was money we got from selling players. ”
This is no defense of Robson, but can you prove that statement to be accurate? Hasn’t the club’s board and even the manager over the trophyless years issued statements saying that there was money for Wenger to spend as/if he wanted to? Has there been conflicting messages coming out of the club’s officials during this period about available money? How do you reconcile previous and constantly increasing profitability/revenues over the period of the trophyless years with the limited spending and increasing ticket prices, and how do you reconcile said profits/revenues and supposed inability to spend with increasing money spent on wages/ arguably higher than market wages on kids/”squad players”/ and increases to sheer number of pros on our books during those years and up until this summer?
“Now first of all there is apparently some money to spend but this is not Chelsea of City monopoly money.”
No AFC fans ever wanted or expected us to spend like Chelsea or City or Madrid, but rather a) use existing wages more efficiently (i.e. not wasting so much on so many that contribute so little, not overpaying kids/average players and underpaying top stars etc.) or b) less quantity and more quality for the same buck. The fact that the club (primarily through Gazidis) regularly and recently has spoken about the need to evolve the wage structure lends a lot of credence to those complaints of folks that some here would term the “AAA”.
“They said it was Wenger who was sitting on the money, making money for the board, blah blah blah.”
Just like Gazidis again has reportedly confirmed in today’s Q/A that the money made is available to Wenger as he sees fit, that Wenger alone decides on talent and how long its kept etc and is involved in wage decisions (you’ve never heard any of this or similar coming from the club recently and before?)…isn’t there at least some validity via the club’s own words (and it’s not the first time) that Wenger indeed has been “sitting on money.”? Or have they been lying? And if so, is that a good thing?
“I can only say one thing to them: Overmars, Anelka, Petit, Vieira, Ljunberg, Kanu, Lauren, Henry, Sylvinho, Pires, Edu, Toure, Campbell, Van Bronckhorst, Gilberto Silva, Fabregas, Lehmann, Clichy, Reyes, Van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott, Rosicky, Hleb, Eduardo (sniff), Song, Nasri, Ramsey, Sagna, Arshavin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mertesacker, Arteta and let us not forget Podolski, Giroud, Monreal and that little Spanish player known by me as Classorla.”
Ironically you make a GREAT point, I have longed pointed out the type of players Wenger bought is generally no longer the type of players he buys. Contrary to the myth that he “makes superstars” and builds winning teams by “unearthing gems”..
Wenger’s winning sides were chock full of players he signed that were largely very experienced players who won all sorts of things including: World Cup, Champions League, Uefa, Euros, Olympics, ACN, Inter-continental French, Scottish, Italian, Brazilian, Dutch, etc league honors, players than played at big clubs and leagues before, big tournaments all BEFORE signing for AFC under Wenger. Those teams also including some of the hottest young properties in Europe wanted by several big clubs (so hardly unknown), and those teams (the earlier title winning teams) also included inherited players that won all sorts of things too, especially domestic honors throughout England etc. Unknown gems and rough diamonds like Toure, Cole etc were the vast vast exception.
Those teams were also heavily featured by physically big and strong players to compliment such experience, quality and experience with winning.
Since then be it for financial or idealistic reasons, he has generally signed a different type of player: Younger players, smaller players (read a stat somewhere that we went from the tallest/heaviest team in the PL Vieira days, to the smallest/lightest team just a few years later) , far less accomplished players regardless of age (i.e. player not accustomed to winning things), far less players with big team, big tournament experience etc etc.
And he has shown a propensity to stick with these players for far too long…and often proving the complaints of the fans questioning them right in the end, but having the large amount of kids that a) never make it, b) have not developed into first team impact players, c) players that have been with us forever and have amounted to little, b) players on perpetual loan, and d) players that eventually leave when their contracts expire without making much of an impact …..
All while the few players that have shown hints of being or becoming class have been sold (as some on this blog including authors may say by us being forced to sell them for financial reasons), and have generally been paid below their market value and/or have not had their ambitions met.
For those saying we couldn’t have spent on quality over that period..
Anyone can draw up a list of no less than two dozen players from youngsters, to fringe players to first teamers who are or were at the club for years and years incurring wage costs and added to transfer fees in some cases, who have a) contributed nothing/little b) played sparingly or rotted on the bench c) never made it into the first team d) played a lot and were poor (Denilson etc)….
Is it unreasonable to suggest that those players could have been replaced for the same if not less money by a handful of quality players especially considering we were close to challenging in some years? And/or is it unreasonable to suggest that the money spent on those players that contributed nothing/little could have been applied more to the top talent we had?
Lastly, in the end if the club does spend (note that doesn’t mean spend like City as no-one was asking for that) and the “AAA” gets happy as a result, why wouldn’t they change their tune? The club will only be finally doing much of what they (and even ex players) have asked for..and luckily over the last couple seasons and the noise it’s making now AFC is finally starting to do and hopefully continuing to do what many have asked for..If/When this happens, why wouldn’t they be happy?
“AAA” has long been calling for more experienced players, the club has started to recruit more experience players in recent seasons
…
People have been long calling for a more sensible wage distribution and utilization and the club primarily through Gazidis has been echoing this of late, and talking a lot about evolving the wage policies….
People have been complaining about ambitions being seemingly limited to 4th as a success, and the club’s management has been making quite a bit of noise recently about ambitions needing to be beyond this (thankfully so have a good few current players to add to ex players).
People have been talking about spending more on quality and the club has been talking about the same…
So in the end (assuming that they follow through) Much of what AFC has done and is apparently planning to do is nothing more than doing what many that I suspect you oppose, and many amongst the football public including ex AFC pros have been long asking for, and thereby those complaints are being validated/vindicated by the club.
The only thing imo really up for discussion is whether this could have only been done now, or whether it could have been done before. I suspect you believe it could have only been done now, however, others, considering the club’s own words (including the manager’s about money being available to him over the years), its profitability/revenues/wealth over this period, considering how it chose to use wage resources etc., think that this seemingly impending change in business could have been started earlier..
I don’t think anyone on the outside knows the full truth.
@ john
if u remember champions league matches 2006 you ll know its Wenger who made those defences tactics
its the same, its just we needed time to gel i guess
but no i dont believe it is bould, it is wenger style when he choose to defend, rarely…
Added to that list above about what the club is now doing that many have long been championing is getting rid of kids that will never make it (money better spent/saved elsewhere)…and with the recent mass culling / non-renewals it seems like it’s happening at an accelerated pace unlike the drip drip before.
Again, maybe as much as you guys complain about the “AAA” the club is recently/now/talking about, doing much of what they have long been (imo sensibly) asking for, thereby validating many of their concerns.
With regard to Mr Robson’s list of ill-advised purchases, can I put up one name in lights: Bébé.
Where is Wenger’s equivalent to SAF’s Bébé purchase?
And while I’m on that subject – could someone here explain to me what was going on at Man Utd when they made that purchase? Dodgier than than a Chamakh volley….
As a fan I don’t much care if we are the most cash rich club in the world because I don’t benefit from it anyway. As a fan I just cant get over wanting to win trophies – or at lease looking like we are going to win one.
Too much to expect?
A.Stewart,
Please find a way to cut to the chase in your responses. Stylistically they are some what verbose and frankly discourage the reader from wading through until the end.
I have no idea whether what you write has any validity as I just don’t have the time to persevere to the end.
Many thanks
Walter,
The moaners will never change their tune, they like to moan, it’s all they are good at. An example being even when Ramsey had brilliant games, the moaners would pick up on one mistake and forget about the 20 pieces of brilliance.
I would bet that if these people had nothing to moan about, they would then moan about having nothing to moan about.
‘But now that Gazidis talked to the press and said that now finally there is some money to spend……………..’
So despite Arsenal mounting their cash reserves – last accounts showed, now what was it, oh yes I remember £123m, you are actually prepared to accept a lack of money as a reason for the disgraceful situation over the past few seasons?
Jesus!!
A.Stewart.
I second ClockEndRider there, your posts are so long and not to the point(and therefore boring) that I dont even bother reading them. You could be saying something very valid as has often been the case, I don’t know, the fact is even the ones I used to read could have been a quarter of the length and got the same message across.
Mystic,
Money in the bank does not automatically mean money available to Wenger, I also vaguely remember we had to keep a certain amount of cash reserve as part of our loan agreement.
First, chamack, arshavin, gervinho, …. Are just good players who couldnt produce under huge pressure of media, fans, and everyone else, foe every one wrong pass they do…..
So the supporters have a job to do, support, do the job then start moaning….
What I am interested in is the motivation of the people who pay Stewart Robson to write and speak such drivel.
Just coming back from the q and a myself tonight I must say I was impressed with Gazidis and the vision he had for Arsenal in the future.
He said that all the money Arsenal generate via sponsorship and endorsements is made available to Arsene for the team. He said it was going to be a busy summer and negotiations are going smoothly. He said that Arsenal are going to be able to turnover 300 mio in a couple of years (same as Munich) and there is no reason we can’t challenge like they do. He said that Arsenals ambition is to challenge at the top of world football. He said that he hopes that ffp works but if it doesn’t arsenals plans will stay the same. Someone asked why he had totally ignored red and white during the evening and he said that if arsenal were to be taken over by Usmanov and he was to spend money freely it would go against everything the club has stood for the last 5 years.
He said he was very upset when rvp left but there wasn’t anything financial they could have done to make him stay. (Hinting that rvp had already agreed a move)
All in all he was very bullish for Arsenal and I for 1 can’t wait for the new season to start.
And as for Stewart Robson – what a sad old man and I am SO very happy that I signed the petition to get him kicked off Arsenal TV
Another thing I found fascinating from Gazidis was that he said that from this year in the premiership there is a salary cap.
Basically it means that if a club does not increase their revenue yearly they are not allowed to pay higher wages than the previous year. He said Arsenal were very well placed to have a higher and more balanced wage bill next season.
I am shocked that some arsenal fans actually believe that the reason we have not been able to buy good players is because of stadium debt. Its okay if u love Wenger,but that shouldn’t stop u from being able to call a spade a spade, cos the truth is Wenger has messed up badly in the few last seasons, by not spending the moderate transfer money well. How much did Ba cost chelsea? How much did Michu cost Swansea? Now think of how much Giroud cost us, think of how much Gervinho cost us. If u are unbiased you will be able to see that Wenger has not been too smart in the transfer market, and this has cost us badly. To castigate the so called moaners for legitimately complaining about the poor state of affairs at the club is quite pathetic, u need to remove ur Wenger-colored spectacles and see the reality. So there, we want Wenger out, because he has evidently lost the plot. He used to buy awesome players, Henry etc, but nowadays, he seems to favor mediocre,short players.personally I think he’s growing senile. He needs to go before he causes any more harm to our great club.
Is A.Stuart, Stewart Robson?
Its clear that this blog views Arsene Wenger as being beyond criticism-and the defender of the faith-irrespective of his record.
Robson is the only pundit who has openly called for Wenger to be sacked by Arsenal. Robson isn’t anti Arsenal- he’s anti Arsene Wenger.
Only this blog regards Arsene Wenger as being Arsenal.
All of those star players who have left Arsenal in recent years wanted to leave-some wanted success on the field, some wanted more money, some wanted both-but the fact remains that we now have a pale imitation of the side we had during the Bergkamp, Henry era and a pale imitation of the side we could have had if players like Nasri, Fabregas and RVP and even Song had stayed.
Arsene’s track record is that he sells high and buys cheap- max 10-12m occaisonally unearths gems like Cazorla, but creates a lot of wastage in acquiring a lot of players who never quite make it.
You can go on about Chelsea and Man City’s oil money- and feel smug in the moral superiority of “sustainable growth” based on charging sky high ticket prices but the fact remains.
Arsenal gets good commercial deals because it is a top brand but it is one which currently has no really outstanding players having been positioned by this Board as a second tier club-and will attract second tier players. and those who regard us as a stepping stone to a top club.
When Arsene stops buying cheap then I might start to believe the speculation about buying top players- until then I will regard the recent annual statements by Gazidis for what they are-season ticket marketing- not lies-but deliberately misleading statements.
A.Stuart is an excellent example of the shortcomings of Rhetoric and how ignorance is a disgrace!
Stuart
Since when have you heard of someone holding about 1/3rd of their mortgage in cash reserves (I believe Arsenal owe about £350m on the stadium)?
You are right that cash reserves do not make available funds, but that is because the people in control of the cash have refused to release – not that I am of the opinion that Wenger would invest properly in order to get success.
Some are never satisfied. They will take the trophies when they come along but bitch and whine when times are hard.
I have always viewed football as a team sport but some seem to view the sport as an individuals moment backed up by bit part players.
Times are changing and people should feel more confident about our chances of challenging, but not overly confident.
The fans who don’t like Wenger need to get some perspective, Wenger’s bosses like him and want him to sign a new contract and there is f*ck all you can do about it.
An interesting article Walter, which has teased some of the AAA (who do not exist) out of the woodwork.
I did comment on an earlier thread that the AAA were all set to knife Wenger should we fail to qualify for the CL; but when we did qualify, after some re-planning the AAA and media decided the next best thing was to attack Wenger on his transfer policy. The pathetic outburst by an already discredited Robson seemed to be part of that later attack. I am not sure how close Robson is to being subject to litigation, but if he continues with such outbursts AFC must take action.
@A Stewart
“People have been long calling for a more sensible wage distribution….”
“People have been complaining about ambitions……”
“People have been talking about spending more……”
Can you define and quantify what you mean by “people”?
Do you mean Arsenal fans or the AAA? Do you mean the agents of a wealthy ambitious person who may be paid to undermine the club? Do you mean the gutter press? How many people or fans – all the fans, a majority of the fans, a minority, the AAA (who do not exist) or just yourself and the guy next door?
Short answer please, long winded answers will not be read.
@A . Stewart .. Stop! Stop this emmediately!!!!. Don’t you know you are not supposed to respond to a blog ,designed to trigger emotional outbursts and name calling ,and make this much sense, give factual information and unbiased opinion . You sir, should be ashamed of yourself mr A. Stewart .
Don’t worry about Stewart Robson… we’ve got Bob Wilson!
You trust Wenger, I don’t. I’ve seen enough for years to know his bulsh!t. He is always making the same f*ck ups. And the club has been taking the fans for mugs with all that ‘We have money and can buy big players now’ bollocks.
Let’s wait and see.
So, if this season is not different it’s the confirmation that the board and Wenger has been making a calculated plan to fool Arsenal supporters into thinking things are about to change. If this is the case, it only shows how disrespectful the club has been towards their fans.
Anyway,in modern football you cannot win a major trophy only by assembling a good/top squad it’s necessary to have a great knowledge of tactics and good motivation skills and Wenger has no such things, I’m afraid.
Hats off to the comments moderators… i’m so sick of certain negative abuse thrown at Arsenal that I have to come across..
Definitely the worst Arsenal blog out there – and I include the awful ANR in that, so it’s not just because of your pro-Wenger stance!! Not only embarrassing reasoning but barely legible given the appalling use of the English language.
Theopants superstar, take it you are one on those le grove types? Can see where you are coming from. We need trophies.
Sperez, you write so much sense only a fool could doubt your words
Gooner Gerry, your words could almost come from the great man that is Myles Palmer. Agreed wenger only buys cheap because he does not want trophies, he just wants to prove a point and the board are in on it. Wenger is a shameless dictator with a supine board…eh? Arsenal came before and will exist after arsene…..in wenger we rust etc
A. Stuart – to answer your 1st question, it’s very easy to see that excluding player sales the club would break just about even every year for the past 3-4 years at least. Swiss Ramble’s blog is the easiest place to see it, but it can be seen in the official club statements as well.
Mystic – Snapshots of cash reserves are a dangerous way to evaluate a club or businesses ability to spend it. It all depends on when that snapshot is taken. For example, the number you’re referring to was probably taken in August or November – in other words after season ticket money has been received but before the majority of expenses are paid (wages, cost of running club, etc.). Cash reserves are not only needed to hold against the mortgage (but terms on large commercial loans are also very different than a residential mortgage an individual would have).
Ivan on spending -“The paramaters he’s operating in are the parameters of what the club could afford”.
Gazidis: “Arsene’s seen us through a difficult period”. Says they’re now able to give him more resources.”
Gazidis says it’s easier to do early deals “if you’ve got an unlimited budget”.
What this means is the club had money but the board probably chose to provide limited amount to wenger to spend. With such limited amount wenger did all he could. all this years some boo-boys were telling wenger wasn’t spending any and sitting on a pile of cash.
It is still unclear whether there will be big-name spending this summer or the next as gazidis went on to say “whenever we reach the levels of revenue bayern generates, close to ₤300m, arsenal will be able to compete signing big name players.
(quotes by gazidis compiled by @ginger4limpar & @darrenarsenal1)
What bothers me most is that so many of the negative “supporters” (term used loosely) will brag about how they bravely endured the barren years. And even worse, start to take credit for instigating the necessary change their club so desperately needed. Sad and desperate on so many levels.
americangooner – if you accept that Wenger did not have the money to spend, then you also need to accept that his silence indicates he was complicit in the way things were run.
Aah another wenger knows best blog, it’s funny that of you felt the need to list all of the good players wenger has bought what I find funny is that you could fit them into one paragraph. You don’t mention all of the flops he has bought which are a lot more. You don’t mention the wage structure the fact that he gives everyone even squad players like Bentner Denilson Squillachi Diaby Sylvestre and many more all 50-60 thousand a year. How many of those players are still at the club.
Those are just some of his mistakes in the transfer market but I disagree with many it isn’t about spending money it’s about buying the right players and coaching the team.
Coaching that is wengers biggest flaw one that I agree with Stuart Robson the fact that we hold a high line and get caught out week after week season after season we get punished by the same mistakes. We don’t have a defensive shape a system a style of playing the fact that we don’t do anything special to stop the other team playing.
I remember fabregas saying before the 2010 world cup saying we are Spain the best team in the world but even we scout other teams and look for their weaknesses and the fact that he hadn’t done that before at Arsenal.
The best example of that is our mathes against Man Utd
Over the last 5 years we can’t beat them we have lost to them the same way every time we keep the ball all match create chance after chance we miss our chances and then they counter attack or score by a header from a cross and we lose. That has been the pattern season after season and wenger doesn’t see it.
how were things run? could anyone other than AW and the board provide any alternatives given the circumstances (oil money, FFP) and costs towards stadium, reliance on youth?
complicit means “Involved with others in an illegal activity”. I dont think so AW was involved in any wrongdoings. there were mistakes made but there is not illegal activity.
I think what you meant was complacent. In that case i think the arsenal model of doing things the sustainable way would have been a barrier plus he isn’t the sort of person who would question the owner, like mourinho, in public. I don’t know whether he questioned the board privately. Even SAF did not question The Glazers in public or during press conferences, even when the glazers were basically sucking on the wealth that ManU generated.
Gazidis said at the Q&A that Arsenal’s revenue would hit 300 mil p/a by 2015,equalling Bayerns current revenue and enabling the club to compete at the top level for players.I don’t suppose anyone has told him that Man u’s revenue by 2015 will have risen to 500 mill p/a (they have signed yet another commercial deal today,with a Mexican bank),and that Bayern’s revenue by then has been estimated at almost 400 mill p/a.The problem i have with Gazidis and co is that they assume everyone else is going to stand still.I really can’t tell whether Gazidis actually believes that Arsenal will be able to compete for top players in the future,or whether he says it because it is what the fans want to hear.On another note,papers are reporting Cesc wants to go to Man U.Is this just speculative bollocks,or is there more to it,because i really don’t think i can take seeing him play for a Moyes team.
“Now let us imagine that Wenger spends the money…….. for the first time since we built the Emirates. So the blame it all on Wenger will not be able to sing their favorite tune”… I’m not sure what tune you are referring to- Wenger not wining trophies or not spending money. If in fact Wenger does spend the 70 million everybody is talking about, the pressure on him to win will increase dramatically , and if he doesn’t win ,there won’t be anywhere for him to hide. Most Arsenal fans are willing to give him a pass for his eight year drought, precisely because they never really believed the money was available to him, despite IG words to the contrary. If Wenger spends big and wins nothing, the blame it all on Wenger will sing their tune louder.
you say spend,
I no spend,
you get mad
I spend
you still moan,
I get mad
Better you get mad
-Confucius.
Forget the money wenger is tactically inept he cannot organise a team he was never a good coach but was a good talent scout but he’d lost that aswell and now the best striker he can find is Giroud.
We have no tactics he’s never beaten Mourinho because he gets out thought everytime and even Fergie the last 4 years his record has been shocking I bet Fergie didn’t even have to come up with a game plan or tactics any more that how easy it got to beat us bet he just said ” right lads Arsenal coming up next you k ow what to do”.
Joke of a manager he really is trophyless it’s simple as that. Even Mark Hughes and Steve Bruce a bad they are as managers would have won something with the players we have had.
I mean come on we had Fabregas Nasr wilshere Van persie Walcott And song all together at one point and we still didn’t win anything everyone keeps talking about how we have lost our best players season after season but we had those players all together at one point and what happened we got dumped out out of three competitions in a week. Why becaus he ha no tactics no gameplay dusnt matter of we’re playing Blackburn or Barcelona he plays the exact same way and we can’t DEFEND.
Why do you think we have never won the champions league it’s because you need to defend it’s not about being the best attacking team you need to be able to defend its no suprise the one season we got to the final we had the best defensive record.
The worst thing is that teams don’t even have to do anything speci to score past us all they have to do is put the ball on the box and we’ll find a way to mess up and and shoot ourselves in the foot and gift them a goal.
To all those fans hoping or blindly believe change is coming.
Seriously?I have something for you all”8YEARS”In those 8years we have not won a single trophy,we’ve been given the same justifications & cheap excuses over & over again,star players looking elsewhere.Blaming X,Y,Z would not help us win trophies,it’s the board,the manager,the coach and the players role.how long would we have to wait again to see our Arsenal back?As Arsenal fans we all want our club to win trophies,is it too much to expect?
@A.Stewart, good piece. Shame some fans have such a small attention span. Guess they don’t have the mental strength to read Walter’s piece either.
Yes Ivan made all the right noises at the latest Q & A. Just what all the believers wanted to hear. Interestingly the RVP sale was nothing to do with making money but done for footballing reasons. If so why sell him to Manu? Let him go somewhere else for half the money. Or if he doesn’t go stick him on the reserve bench. At least IG claims it hurt to see Manu stroll off with league thanks to RVP. I don’t know what he expected though, perhaps he thought Manu having the best striker in the league would “kill” Welbeck and therefore ruin Manu’s season!
Also IG said Wenger has been constrained financially. Now before he said Wenger had money to spend. So did Wenger spend it? Or was it a lie? Just what money was available to spend? Seems as opaque as a bigot’s thought processes.
Mistrust of IG stems from that comment he made last summer when he said Arsenal fans would be excited by the club’s summer business. Then we sell RVP. That disappointment was hardly offset by the arrival of Giroud and Podolski.
Anyway this summer is going to be different, that’s what is being hinted at. I think it might but I’ll wait until the window closes before I get too excited.
A. Stewart, Sperez… Did either of you watch Arsenal before Wenger turned up…?
To my mind – if these people/things (A. Stewart & Sperez etc.) are Arsenal fans they need professional help. To continue paying and investing time in Arsenal when it clearly does nothing for you is the sign of complete stupidity. Why do something that annoys you? To do it once OK, but to keep going is the sign of someone that needs assistance or medical help.
Top 4 for 16 years, 2 doubles etc. etc. Oh and the best Stadium in the Country…. built and pretty much paid whilst working on a budget… Wengers Failure.
OMG some people should really stop commenting on football, Aw tactically inept ?? really ?? not even a blind warthog could agree ! heres whey = unbeaten season those tactics were pure fluke right ! last 10 games of this season obviously the players decided to try harder at this point!
now do yourselves a favour and look through history and see how long it takes a team who have paid there way into a new stadium to compete again ! that we have managed to hang in there is nothing short a miracle no other team could spend what we have and stay in the league let alone the top four. my conclusion too many ppl who have never played the game apart from on their cpu’s ar4e commenting on blogs making themselves look like a bunch of mugs
I think that Stuart Robson himself has signed in using the alias Thierry!
@Rupert – just what the ‘believers’ wanted to hear…yes rightly said, we are the believers and that makes you a non-believer…with your blinkers of cynicism, nothing would satiate you or your ilk…
The moaners will always be unhappy and keep on moaning
Untolders will enjoy the good moments, feel sad at the bad moments but will not let that take away the joy that Arsenal can bring to our lives.
I think that is just the way it is.
Thierry said: “Why becaus he ha no tactics no gameplay dusnt matter of we’re playing Blackburn or Barcelona he plays the exact same way and we can’t DEFEND.”
Well Thierry maybe you should check the league table again and check the goals conceded of all the teams in the PL. And then come back again and entertain us some more.
Another Thierry quote:The best example of that is our mathes against Man Utd
Over the last 5 years we can’t beat them we have lost to them the same way every time we keep the ball all match create chance after chance we miss our chances and then they counter attack or score by a header from a cross and we lose. That has been the pattern season after season and wenger doesn’t see it.
Well Thierry maybe you weren’t born then but 01/05/2011 we beat them 1-0.
I notice a lot of moaners were attracted by the headline 🙂
But I must say some disappointed me as they were still singing some old tunes.
@Walter
Well said.
Walter,
These moaners are people with empty and pathetic lives. You are a happily married man with a job. You are a referee on the side. You have friends and family who love you. You have us fellow Untolders who appreciate you. Same can be said for Sir Tony Attwood. I have my family, job and friends and so do many other Untolders and gooners everywhere. Now, if you have something good going on in your life, you can only be mad at anyone or any entity for so long. I have been mad at Arsenal players (from Henry to Chamackh) as well as Arsene Wenger and the board at one time or the other, but perhaps, because I love the club so much, I have a good sense of perspective and most importantly, I have loads of other positive things in my life, I continue to support the club and everyone involved with it.
I think we should all sympathise with the AAAs because life must be very bleak for them. I have advised a few that I came by physically or on the Internet to take one of the following options if the team’s lack of trophy is causing so much sorrow in their lives:
– Lay low and forget about the team till we start winning trophies again. Don’t worry, we won’t hold it against you.
– Support a trophy winning team with a trophy winning manager. There are many around to pick from. Also, Mourinho’s BACK!!!
– Take your whinging/moaning/lamentations to a sympathetic site. Again there are loads of Anti-Wenger sites. Go there and leave us ‘deluded’ Untolders alone in peace. I never visit anti-Wenger site and if I get there by mistake, I don’t make a nuisance of myself by pouring sugar into their sea of bile.
Overall, moaners, you all need to find something else in your life that will give you the joy which Arsenal, led by Wenger, has failed to fill with trophies.
Thierry, Please do your homework. Do not allow your negative opinion of Wenger to get in the way of the facts. Arsenal had the second best defence in the Premier league last season, the best away defence conceding 5 goals less than the second best away defence!! We also scored the most goals at home, yes more than Man Utd. Like Robson and many of the so called pundits, they concentrate on perception and not the facts. By the end of last season they were all chocking. Similar to Bayern games we were supposed to get hammered at Bayern, yet we won 2.0! Wengers tactics were world class. Poor old Barcelona, they did get hammered !!
I think some of the negative posters on here need to research “Perception management”, as you are the “perceiver”.
Preparation — Having clear goals and knowing the ideal position you want people to hold.
Credibility — Make sure all of your information is consistent, often using prejudices or expectations to increase credibility.
Multichannel support — Have multiple arguments and fabricated facts to reinforce your information.
Centralized control — Employing entities such as propaganda ministries or bureaus.
Security — The nature of the deception campaign is known by few.
Flexibility — The deception campaign adapts and changes over time as needs change.
Coordination — The organization or propaganda ministry is organized in a hierarchical pattern in order to maintain consistent and synchronized distribution of information.
Concealment — Contradicting information is destroyed.
Untruthful statements — Fabricate the truth.
————————————————————
Journalism is a field that organizations, companies, governments, people, etc. will attempt to use to manage the public’s perception of that specific organization, company, government, person, etc. Perception management through journalism has been seen especially in regards to government propaganda and war. The issue is when governments promote certain ideas that they want the public to believe through journalism, without the journalists and media attributing sources properly.
Another issue in the journalism field is between the corporate business of keeping a news organization afloat versus the ethics of reporting and reporting the truth. Just as any other major corporation or even small businesses there is the ongoing silent battle between the reporters and the executives within a news organization. Reporters that have strong ethics are the ones who will want to run all stories that are “newsworthy” but there is the stories that end up censored by editors because the executives have sent a note down the chain specifying that a certain story may or may not run.
Sorry for the long post. I’m learning from A.Stewart.
I actually think Thierry is a…! You mention Cesc, RVP, Song, Nasri, Wilshire, etc. Were they in their best years at the time when they were playing together, ss they are right now? RVP, Theo and little Jack were always injured, when RVP became well he ran away. Many people thought Song was not Arsenal material, now have you changed your mind? Nasri and Abedayor were bought as young players, with no PL experience, when they go alittle bit of it they ran away. I wonder how many games Thierry has managed, he could easily be a desktop manager, who never kicked a football.If AW was tactically immature, I doubt we would still have any relevance to the PL after 8 years without a trophy.
@Bootoomee
“I don’t make a nuisance of myself by pouring sugar into their sea of bile”
Quote of the summer if not the last 8 years … Love it!
I used to try pouring said sugar but their bile sea was far too acidic. Leave the moaners to the whiners.
I still check in to see what their leader Pedro has to say but no longer comment! It makes me laugh! Even when he is being reasonably balanced his posse blast off into an irrational rant!
I’m now speaking to you from London. Will be going out for a walk around Richmond today. Don’t really know what else is happening when, but I thank everyone who contributed to the Guide to London for me the other day. I didn’t have time to come online again, but I did read it and your suggestions were helpful.
Now to the article. Another change that has come about (with I think Le Grove the prime mover here) is that Wenger will spend now, but only because he wants a new contract. Aligned to this is the Wenger wastes money theory which this blog alludes to.
and debunks*
@ Shard,
Flexibility — The deception campaign adapts and changes over time as needs change.
The league has been decides by points scored by as long as i can remember.All this we scored more goals, conceded less goals rubbish is irrelevant.We were 16 points of the top again.
All the slating of this mythical AAA group of people is as pathetic as this blog. It’s so far the other way as make there views just as ridiculous.
The reality is somewhere in the middle Wenger has made lots of mistakes but i think to a certain point his hands have been tied by a lack of available cash.
Gazidis has given it the big build up this year so we will know a lot more come August. As to the real plans of the club and if they are lying again they will feel the wrath of the fans like never before.
Top moaning blogger Myles Palmer claimed to have an inside scoop last week that Cesc was about to sign for us.
Today he’s hedging his bets by saying that if Cesc goes to Manu it will show what little regard he has for Wenger. On the other hand if he does by chance sign for us it is all an orchestrated sham to make Wenger look good and extend his contract. i.e either way it’s all Wenger’s fault!
He also posts somebody’s strange tale about Wenger being in some sort of evil pact with the Deins. (I have a feeling he makes up some of these contributions himself).
What a complete an utter twat this Palmer guy is.
http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/index.php/news/3264/30/Cesc-and-Dein-What-about-Cesc-and-Wenger
Matt,
You can call them AAA or whatever. But there is no doubt some people who have a certain agenda (whatever that might be) who go around twisting facts and propounding theories which not only contradict facts, but also their previous theories. The invariable thread there is that it must show the club or the people running it, in a poor light. Apparently this classifies as bringing them to account.
But yes. I agree with you that the club is sending a message out (they haven’t done this before) that if it isn’t backed up, will lead to a backlash from fans. The club know this. Contrary to what many say, the club is not run by stupid people. Ergo, they intend to increase their level of spending to get the players they want.
mystic,
Financiers & Banks can stipulate whatever conditions they wish when lending money and the conditions are always geared towards making them more money. This is not a £300K house we are talking about.
Matt, why would the club do that? Put themselves out their like that.
It doesn’t make sense.
And, why do you keep commenting on a pathetic blog? wouldn’t that make you pathetic by your own standards, people on Untold are aware of misgivings but choose not to be detrimental toward the club, they hold their tongues in check.
Something people may miss as well, with regards to the wage bill. We have had to keep it high due to the new rules coming into effect otherwise we would not be allowed huge raises over short periods, we are already above the threshold and can only increase wages by 4or5 million a season.
Had we of moved alot of players on before, our wage bill would have decreased and we would have no room for maneuvering giving the richer clubs an advantage.
Again its the bigger picture some fail to see, or rather the media don’t report on. So those that are influenced by the media are not getting the right information.
Matt, I agree, however it is important to rebuff the myth created by Stewart Robson and people like Thierry about us having such a poor defence and being tactically naiive, this is not the case. The defence would have been much stronger had Vermaelen not had such a poor season in the first half. Once Koscielny got into the team there was a massive improvement. Therefore, this has got nothing to do with tactics, but more to do with players under performing.
In the context of this discussion, these points are very valid. Obviously, it’s the points that count most, and hopefully this will improve with a level playing field on spending.
Stroller,
I could imagine from who that story would come 😉
Good Lord! Going by the evidence provided here by some of the acidic-bile comments, Freedom of speech is the greatest injustice ever done to mankind.
If something makes me so unhappy, as some commenters here clearly are, I will stay well away from it. If you have lost so much faith from your support of Arsenal, then do yourself justice and stay away. It is that simple really.
Now, to all of you sadists coming to comment here: 1. Come back and convince us how bad Arsene Wenger is after you have successfully managed a club; even a Sunday league club. Otherwise stay away, You will never win disciples here. 2. Go start your own blog where you’ll be able to pour as much scorn on everyone, especially Arsene, as you like.
We don’t all wish to be sad gits, so take it somewhere else.
Matt,
Goals scored and conceded is only relevant to what you are thinking in your own head however it is ultimately relevant when looking at our defence – as was the case above that you criticise.
I think the best way to settle this is for someone to tell me the name of manager who has not made a mistake. We should then sign them.
Some of them might suggest…. Arry boy 😉
To recap on our position at the season end; we finished the season with a great run and yet again qualified for the Champions League, we have a very good squad and a good base on which to build, we have increased financial clout with which to strengthen the squad with a further increase in the near future. Why are the moaners suddenly so vociferous? Is someone paying them?
If we all had the same viewpoint what would be the point of any of these blogs?
Start the thread talking aboout free speech and then say “Go and manage a club or stay away”. That’s a good one!!
“If we all had the same viewpoint what would be the point of any of these blogs?”
Well yes it would be pointless wouldn’t it however, the point of these blogs is to discuss the subject at hand, something which you tend to not do by criticising a point with a statement not related.
Most of us on here have the same view-point, we celebrate and commiserate together. What we don’t do is go on other blogs who have differing opinions and create discord.
Matt, you are right the Premier league has always been decided by points but the lower leagues have not.
You are right in pointing out that we have finished too far behind the champions. But what good is just pointing these things out, it’s somewhat of an attack on my (and others) intelligence for you to feel the need to point this out, Do you really think we are all idiots?
If you think we truly have freedom of speech in this country then you need to think again. The only people who truly have freedom of speech are the politicians when in parliament.
Matt,
This blog is not about Welfare reform or any government policy and it is run by private individuals, so any talk of free speech is of no significance here. The editors have absolute right to delete or refuse to post your comments and other commenters have the right to tell you to sod off.
I chuckle each time I see you boo boys complain about us mean AKBs (I wear the label with pride, BTW) because I know the sort of vitriol with which you attack those who post on your sites that maybe we should see things in perspective of our circumstances. You know, nuance.
You cannot go to a blog that states its position boldly in its banner, post comments that are opposite of that position and then complain that regulars at the site are clobbering you. I am an atheist but I won’t go to a religious blog, post about my stand on religion and then complain about the adherents attacking me. If I have free speech to to call them deluded fantasists, they equally have free speech to tell me that I am going to hell.
@ Bootoomee (10:26 am):
Lovely perspective. Wish I’d posted it myself.
@ Adam (11:10 am):
A class is missing a good teacher, you know. 🙂
@ Adam (12:10 pm):
Please expatiate on “why we have had to keep it (the wage bill, that is) high”
Slysoulman, How you doing, it’s been awhile.
Its something I have been thinking about, but am open to being wrong.
If you take our wage bill 2012, it stood at about £142million. So over the next 3 years we can increase to £154 million, whereas City are already over £200million so can increase another £12 million.
we are £60million behind in wages alone never mind transfer fees that we cannot afford compared to them.
There are 7 teams in the prem who have a wage bill lower than the £52 million set point. In other words tams coming into the prem can raise their wages upto £52million then over the next 3 years they can add £4million a year as can everyone else. If you look at the difference between our wage bill and cities, some teams operate on that difference.
If we had kept our wage bill lower (by shifting unneeded talent) we would not be able to compete with the wages being paid by other clubs and would find ourselves in the position of mid-table on wages expenditure. Look at Aston Villa they recently cut their wage bill and are now only allowed a £12million increase over the next 3 years.
But we now find ourselves in the position of being able to move players on who were deemed high earners but low contributors whilst being able to afford the transfer fees for better talent.
I hope this makes sense. I was going to try and make an article out of it but am shite with the financial side of things.
Adam
Only people who agree with you or the writer’s of the blog can post on here? or should post on here?
Were you the kind of kid who took his ball home if you couldn’t be the captain or play upfront?
The point i made about the points was in relation to people talking about goals scored and conceded as if that was the barometer of a good team.
Adam
If we are talking about wage bills how comes Spurs have a wage bill £50 million less that ours but managed to compete with us?
Wenger the great!!
Matt,
What you are saying is incorrect.
People were commenting on our GOALS CONCEDED being the second best in the league therefore meaning we have a good defence. They weren’t talking about points!
I don’t know the answer to that question Matt.
But there are only 6 teams in the Prem who over the next 3 years can operate a wage structure over £100million per season.
Liverpool, Man U, Man C, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea.
Arsenal operate a wage bill £60million less than Manchester City, yet people expect us to compete.
It works both ways fella.
Just for your information, I was the sort of kid who went to the park with a whole bag full of footballs usually sizes 4 & 5 as I liked to train with the smaller ball for precision of striking and getting the ball to move more. It made it easy when using the size 5.
Why was you the type of kid who only had 1 football?
It does work both ways but it doesn’t make Wenger some sort of messiah.
I get it, the sort of kid who had to have lots of or the best of everything to have any friends at all.
We had one ball, a group of kids playing football and not very much precision striking to be seen.
Well that’s the difference then. I was lucky enough to work in my spare time for an electrician who was also my weapons instructor may he rest in peace. He paid me £40 quid a day back in the late eighties so I had the money to buy footballs and nets, moulded’s, studs, AstroTurf’s.
So me and my mates could indulge down the local until the posts came down in the summer, we even got some 5 A-side goals in courtesy of my mates dad’s. My best mate made it into the professional game even playing against Arsenal, his old man was manager of Edware Town where we went from the age of 13 onwards training and playing with the first and reserves, he got picked up by Charlton me by Barnet but never any further.
Now you have this information, what do you want to do with it? or will you carry on being detrimental towards me?
we can’t get Arry, he’s GOD. we have to do with earthly mortals!
Adam,
Barnet isn’t that the team mentioned by Monty Python in their song at the end of their movie the Life of Brian? Always look at the bright side of life?
“…my favourite team is losing 0-? to Barnet….”???
at home if I remember correctly? 😉
Don’t know, you got me there? rings a bell though.
Wish some would look on the bright side more often, I don’t know why I get involved. Should know better by now.
Clown shoes you really choose the right name there. Cleary you are enjoying the circus Arsenal are becoming with Wenger in charge.
Working on a budget? How the hell one of the highest wage bill in the PL means budget now?
You are not talking about Swansea or Fulham, stop pretending Wenger ‘makes miracle on a budget’. This is one of the most ridicule things trotted out by the AKB faithful.
The problem of ‘working on a budget’ is when you waste the club’s resources on a pathetic wage parity policy clearly designed to protect Wenger by giving the impression that we cannot pay higher wages and therefore ‘cannot compete’.
Wenger, the hypocrite himself, who praises his socialist model but does not accept to be subjected to his own ‘fair’ policy.
Then, Nasri and RVP are mercenaries while we have the likes of Djourou and Chamakh who would rather rot on the bench than move to other club earning less wages even if it means more playing time.
Wenger created a world of mediocrity and complacency. He rewards failures by overpaying his fringe/shite players (the top ones are financially punished) and Arsenal follows the model by rewarding Wenger, a manager who has a very poor tactical acumen and can’t win anything, very high wages. ‘Oh, and we cannot compete’.
In case you didn’t notice, Wenger has spent over £100m in the last two seasons. But wait!!!!!!’He works wonders on a budget’ and ‘he ALONE was the reason for the Emirates Stadium’. Yes that one we were supposed to be able to compete with the top clubs when it got completed. You’re having a laugh!
So, do you know there was a club called Arsenal before Wenger and there’ll be a club called Arsenal after Wenger?
Stop putting Wenger on a golden pedestal. That guy doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the best managers in the world.
But Wenger deserves a award: The lamest excuse-maker in the world.
Arsenal, a so called top club with a second tier squad, a outdated manager in charge and the highest ticket prices in the world. Arsenal are clearly turning into a big corporate machine while losing any resemblance of a football club. And Wenger is complicit in this farce.
And this may shock you but…
…THE 4TH PLACE IMAGINARY TROPHY IS NOT A REAL TROPHY!
I meant an outdated manager
In many of the discussions about our record and performance over recent years, players who have either not been consistently successful, or have failed to maintain earlier achievements, or have suffered injuries, loss of form etc. are frequently referred to as “dead wood”.
I find this term offensive and disrespectful, especially when used by people who have, in all probability, never played football at any decent level.
Bendtner, Arsahvin, Djourou, Denilson, et al are all capable players, who at some time, have made a contribution to the Arsenal, which should be remembered with appreciation and not devalued.
Nice post.
I was driving up to Huddersfield at the weekend and Stewart Robson was on Talksport. Rather than turn it off I thought I’d give him a chance. He might say something sensible; well he didn’t! I turned it off.
There is mis-information going around here. Gazidis seems to be saying that there has been money to spend and one of the tweets from last nights meeting quoted him as saying that Arsene gets “all of the revenues to spend”. Now, this statement doesn’t make sense to me. Notice it’s not “all of the profit” to spend. I wonder if it was a misquote? Did Tony attend the meeting? Can anybody clarify? I am sure that Arsene has been working to a budget, because that’s what sensible businesses do but Gazidis does seem to be saying something different. Or are people wilfully misinterpreting?
Matt and Sperez are the only ones here who make any sence.
The point about wenger being tactically inept just look at our top 4 record over the last 5 seasons we’ve only beaten man utd once in the league since 2009 wen nasri scored twice and that was a lucky goal at then end of the season from Ramsey that says it all Ramsey you know man utd were having a bad day if Ramsey scored.
We went to the nou camp with Sylvestre in defence and Denilson as cm two of the slowest players we have and we still played a high line giving messi the entire half to
Run into and lob alumunia. Just look at carragher hes not fast he knows
His limitations you don’t see him pushing up to the half way line. The high offside trap we hav is ridiculous.
Then the point on us having a good defensive record that’s not because of the defence it’s because we have two sitting players like arteta and Ramsey and the fact that were not that good going forward any more that’s why we defend a lot more. Why did he not have two sitters when we had fabregas at the club to give him more freedom
Nooooo instead then he had Denilson and a young song playing next to him giving other teams freedom of straight through our spine.
Now the issue about how many goals we’ve scored they don’t tell the whole story we have been flat track bully’s wen we hav won we have smashed teams but otherwise find it hard to score.
It’s not about money and budgets wenger has had the chance to buy good players at cheap prices that would have improved the team bug he hasn’t because he didn’t like to buy established players he wanted to create players we had the chance to buy alonso in 2009 before he had his bet season at Liverpool but he didn’t imagine alonso and cesc.
Just watch this season in the big matches well hve all ball but the end result will be that we lose wenger will never beat mourinho never hes just not clever enough.
It makes no sence that diaby is still here every season wenger says that he didn’t buy anyone because he knows diaby is coming bak even fan knows even the akb’s that hea not gna stay fit but no wengers stubborn.
The worst thing is no other big team even fears us anymore we have nothing about us anymore thats how low we have fallen. Even Henry after The CSKA
Moscow match in 2007 said that arsenal are not a big club in Europe yet.
This is all down to wenger he knows that’s he has built us up to where we are so we should all be permanently gratefull and not question anything he does.
The team we had in 2008 flamini cesc rosicky hleb adebayor we should have won the league but we collapsed just like in 2010 and especially in 2011 web WE DID have cesc song wilshere nasriwalcott and van persie all playing together and all suing well but guess what we didnt have no defence then the complete opposite of now wer our defending has improved but we can’t score.
Sperez,
The stadium has enabled us to compete more and had the oil revenue arrived, we would be leading the way with Man Utd still, had we stayed where we are, we would be comparable to Spurs revenue wise and Liverpool (minus the sponsorship)
I agree with you John.
Dead wood is a very disrespectful expression.
And it does not even consider the many possible reasons why a good player may not perform at one time or another or in different circumstances.
It’s like the people who, when someone is not playing well, always accuse them of not trying.
Remember all the stick Almunia used to get? I still feel pleased when I see him give a good performance in the Championship. He always tried his best and he seemed a decent person too.
Yeah…deadwood (which implies an absolute lack of utility). A player may not be working out with the club or getting starts but it doesn’t mean they are not making a contribution that we don’t see (i.e behind closed doors) or that we should direct vitriol his way. One can make a comment on whether or not they are effective on the pitch or not but to get downright personal (with someone we most likely will never exchange first names with) or to use a very disrespectful term like deadwood is beyond the pale. Let’s not forget that if a player overperforms vis-a-vis their pay one could say that we (the club) are taking advantage of them.
Ramsey was wanted by Manchester United.
If Wenger is tactically inept, what does that make the 88 managers that finish below him in the professional pyramid, I’m sure that 88 professional managers that would call you a cunt.
Wenger is tactically inept but you state he used two sitting midfielders to reduce conceded goals, contradiction, think about it.
Second guessing why a manager has chosen not to sign a particular player is going to get you nowhere.
The comment you wrote could have been put into an article and posted on your own blog, maybe Matt and sperez could visit and you could all agree and expand upon your opinions.
I would visit that site and read with interest.
To all the moaners listen to this song, will ya?
http://youtu.be/SJUhlRoBL8M?t=25s
Thierry the man with hindsight as foresight – makes alot of sence!
@Stuart
Thierry seems to deal in a world of half truths, not an unusual situation for a propagandist.
You can see the present AAA frustration in the likes of Thierry and sperez – they are really struggling hard to please their masters – who still want to undermine AW – but the ammunition to do so is not there – hence they become more vicious and vociferous in their frustration.
Adam,
I’ve been good, thanks for asking. I get your point somewhat but maybe you should make an effort and put that article together. Yes it’s been awhile I posted a comment but not a day passes without me visiting Untold. And Arseblog. And A Cultured Left Foot. And LadyArse. Arsenal in my DNA, you think? 🙂
Slysoulman, have you seen this site, I think its a breakaway from A Culture Left Foot.
http://positivelyarsenal.com/
daaaaaaaaang…AAA out in force…!!! lol…
@theiry,sperez and all the other sewer rats we are not going to spend any monies the coming season so what are you gona do???QPR spent,WIGAN spent where are they??? Magwampiki characters.