Whilst I agree with you to an extent, when a Team comes along and simply takes your Players off you, as City, United and Barcelona have, you have to re-evaluate your status as a an important Club. AFC have been a great credit to English Football, but just like Liverpool, because you were up there, doesn't mean you have any right to be, and looking down your noses at the nouveau riche is both unwarranted and unnecessary. After all Arsenal were the nouveau riche once.
LFC fan in peace Savage is a t*t and talks out is a*se almost all the time Arsenal are a MASSIVE club, prob 3rd biggest in Engerland , and are the biggest club in London EASILY,and always will be!!!!!!!!!!!
Now let me explain, we are technically a big club, but a big club in the sense that Newcastle and Spurs are also big clubs, with a big fan base, history, tradition, and all that. So in that sense, we are a big club. But when I say Arsenal aren't a big club, I mean that we're not longer an elite club, a big club with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona etc. We have lost that status we had many years ago, and it's quite clear, the club doesn't mind that. All one has to do is look at the ambition of this club. Yes, we're told about how this club looks to challenge for major trophies, but that's part of the con, because many of us fans still view and hope Arsenal are an elite club, so we would expect no less. If the board and Wenger came out and said we're not really challenging for major trophies, that would anger a lot of fans, and a lot of the shams that this club has managed to get away with, would not pass. I doubt Arsenal fans would start turning up every week paying the highest prices in the country, if the board came out and sand yeah we're only challenging for top 4. When you pay high prices, you expect something, but if you're told that all you will get in turn is selling your best players and getting 4th, many will say **** off to that and simply not show up. But even though they haven't openly said this, all the actions the board, and Wenger have done, shows what they're true ambitions are. As they say, actions, speak louder than words, and you will know somebody by their fruits. To begin with, we have gone trophyless for years now, and it's the same story over and over again, fighting for a top 4 spot, with basically no improvement, some might say we're getting worst. Has anything drastically changed to turn this around? The answer is an obvious no, that's why we find ourselves in the same position every year, if the club truly had big ambitions, we would find a big improvement that saw us realistically challenging for titles, but every season comes and goes, and it's fighting for a top 4 spot, so that shows you the board, and Wenger, are content with the way things are, getting the top 4 spot, and maintaining our place on that spot, is the main priority. Just look at the policy of consistently selling our best players, and that says it all, and also reveals another agenda of the club, to balance the books and to net a profit. At this moment, surprising as it may seem, AFC is a very financially successful club, so why would the board want a drastic change, when they're netting major profits? Challenging for a top 4 spot, and maintaining that position, continues to balance the books, so there's no need to change it as long as their pockets are getting lined up. And one of the key ways they're making that profit, is by consistently selling our best players for major money. We have made 80 million alone in the past 2 seasons from player departures, yes, 80 ****ing million pounds. Some of that money has been spent on new players, but when it's all put together, you will find that we are consistently making a net profit from our transfer dealings. Plus, the new players that are brought in, are brought in to maintain the status quo of challenging for a top 4, and eventually, they will also be sold off for a profit, and be replaced with someone else, and the status quo continues. Now you can't convince people you're a big club with big ambitions if you're selling your best players year in year out, even WENGER SAID THAT. What this actually shows is that there is a policy of selling players for the $$$, and it also shows there's no policy in bringing major improvements to the club, because you can't improve your position if you consistently sell the best you have with replacements, and then only to sell the replacements later on for more $$$, and the cycle continues. If we had any true ambitions of being an elite club, like we once were, we would keep hold of our best players, and ADD NEW PLAYERS to the squad, rather than getting rid of our best players. So all of this alone, shows we are no longer an elite club, because no elite club, whether it be Madrid, or Manunited, would ever accept what's happening at Arsenal, that simply challenging for a top 4 spot year in year counts as success, and a trophy, lol, are you ****ing kidding me? The day Wenger said that ending in the top 4 is our trophy, is the day he officially sealed the fact that we were not an elite club. The fact that we can't keep a hold of our best players also testifies to this fact. When Arsenal were an elite club, our main players would barely ever leave us, the only clubs that were a better prospect to play for would be Real Madrid, or Barcelona, two of the biggest clubs in world football, two clubs that practically every footballer would love to play for due to their prestige etc. But you would never find a case of Henry leaving to Manunited, or Vieira going off to Manunited, there would be no chance in HELL OF THAT EVER HAPPENING. What would Henry or Vieira gain by joining United? Arsenal were already a successful title winning club in England, making history, and on par with United, so there wouldn't be anything to gain by joining United. However today it's different, you can see the appeal in joining United, such as RVP, whereas back then we were equal with United, winning things, and challenging them, now it's a very different story. United continue to be a successful club, winning titles, challenging etc, so they are a very very interesting prospect to join over a club like Arsenal, who are doing none of those things but simply challenging for a top 4. You give me the choice of fighting for a top 4 spot, or fighting for the league, I know which one i'd take. Back in the day of when we were a top club, the only reason you'd leave Arsenal, is because you wanted a new challenge after doing everything there is for Arsenal, so that's why a player would be swayed to join Madrid or Barca. For example Vieira was linked to Madrid, especially after our unbeaten season, and he seriously considered moving, but the only reason he considered moving wasn't because we weren't a big club, but because he had already achieved a lot of success with Arsenal, winning 3 leagues, and 3 FA Cups, not to mention the 3rd league he won with us was a history making league. So he'd done it all with us, and so a team like Madrid, provided a new challenge for him, to go to another major club, in another major league, and to try and gain success with them. That's essentially what happened with Ronaldo at United, he had accomplished everything he possibly could have with United, so Madrid, provided a new challenge for him, another major world class club to go and gain success with, something new. But that's not the case these days, players leave us not because they've done it all with us, but because they haven't done it with us, and are moving on to another bigger club, where success and winning trophies is a major guarantee for them. It's sad that it's come to this.
Can you keep it all in one thread please? Maybe the mods can rename the combined thread to "Prelude to Arsenal87 cutting his wrists". You have made your opinions known, no need to spam.
Even though I'm optimistic I can't disagree with this post. We're no longer rivals to Man Utd, Chelsea and now Man City. There was a time when we would enter the CL with genuine ambitions of winning it and now, if we're to be honest, we're just there to make up the numbers. I don't doubt we'll have a decent run this season in the compeition but when you look at the other teams in the Champions League, we are no where near their level and we continue to regress. At best, I think the FA Cup is a realistic piece of silverware we can win. The PL and CL are way out of our reach due to the reasons stated by the OP.
Hey, if I'm wrong, then feel free to point out any mistakes I've said? Oh right, everything I said are facts, and some simply want to ignore the reality. Face it boys, and come to the light, we are not an elite club any longer, we have no realistic ambitions of challenging for major trophies, and our only realistic hopes for every season is fighting for a top 4 spot.
As for cutting my wrists, this Arsenal club aren't worth even that, why would I kill myself over a hopeless useless piece of ****, which is what AFC has been turned into by this useless board and financial manager. If i'm going to kill myself, it has to be over something worth it.
I gave up reading when i got to the bullshit about us paying the highest ticket prices in the country.
Everything I said are facts: -We consistently sell our players for big profits every season, failing to keep hold of them. CHECK -We never build on our team, we sell our players, and just buy a few replacements. CHECK -We have been trophyless for 7 seasons. CHECK -We consistently find ourselves fighting for a top 4 spot. CHECK -We consistently find ourselves behind other elite clubs, that are winning trophies. CHECK So which part of my whole argument was wrong? ;-), go ahead pal, make my day. You have no facts, all you have is blind optimism, optimism that is refuted, by the empirical evidence, as all the optimism you bring up, was brought up in seasons gone by.
We do, we're one of the most expensive teams to watch in the land, Is that wrong? NOPE. And not just ticket prices, have you seen how much our beverages and food costs at the stadium? They've raised the prices on ****ing food and beverages.
