The January transfer window is an opportunity for teams to strengthen for the future and provide a boost to the squad for the season run-in. Once again, despite poor league form by our own high standards, we see extremely limited activity by Arsenal, who have decided that there is just one player, at a price deemed acceptable, capable of strengthening the first team squad. We can only assume this is purely a footballing decision taken by the manager, and that across the squad he feels there were no other options better than the 'two per position' he maintains are both important and available to him. The fact that there is money available for squad strengthening is not disputed. The AST's independent analysis suggests that the amount is somewhere between £50m-£70m. Ivan Gazidis confirmed recently that considerable funds were available to the manager. Failure to qualify for the Champions League will cost the club in the region of £30m to £40m in lost revenue in the 2013-14 season, but this will be compensated for by increased TV and commercial monies that are due as well as income from the sale of the Queensland Road site. On this basis the financial 'hit' is manageable and the AST does not believe there is any case for the present financial austerity. The AST believes that there remain important questions about the way player identification, recruitment and remuneration processes are managed at Arsenal. They seem to be a long way from what would be expected and we intend to raise these issues again with the club. Arsenal supporters pay some of the highest ticket prices in world football, providing the club with considerable financial resources but the ambition and ability to use them appear to be missing. Continued missed opportunities to strengthen are detrimental to the club and are causing long term damage to the squad's competitiveness, evidenced by the ever-increasing points gap between Arsenal and the top of the table. The AST hopes that Arsenal's distant owner and its Board are looking at this situation as critically as its supporters.
We will have to wait and see until the end of the season. Will Wenger's decisions this season be vindicated, we will find out very soon.
Fair play to the AST they are a supporters group who genuinely have the interests of Arsenal supporters at heart.There are other "supporters" groups who seem only interested in creating conflict amongst Arsenal supporters.
I think there is a problem when you describe other Arsenal supporters mongs because you don't agree with them.I also think it's wrong to ask fans to boycott games.Surely our role as supporters is to support the team through the bad times aswell as the good
The January transfer window is an opportunity for teams to strengthen for the future and provide a boost to the squad for the season run-in. True. but not a guaranteed opportunity Once again, despite poor league form by our own high standards, we see extremely limited activity by Arsenal, who have decided that there is just one player, at a price deemed acceptable, capable of strengthening the first team squad. Unsubstantiated bullshit. "Decided there is just one player"..blah! blah! blah! made up bollocks We can only assume this is purely a footballing decision taken by the manager, and that across the squad he feels there were no other options better than the 'two per position' he maintains are both important and available to him. More assumptions The fact that there is money available for squad strengthening is not disputed. The AST's independent analysis suggests that the amount is somewhere between £50m-£70m. Ivan Gazidis confirmed recently that considerable funds were available to the manager. True Failure to qualify for the Champions League will cost the club in the region of £30m to £40m in lost revenue in the 2013-14 season, but this will be compensated for by increased TV and commercial monies that are due as well as income from the sale of the Queensland Road site. On this basis the financial 'hit' is manageable and the AST does not believe there is any case for the present financial austerity. "Present financial austerity" More bollocks. The AST believes that there remain important questions about the way player identification, recruitment and remuneration processes are managed at Arsenal. They seem to be a long way from what would be expected and we intend to raise these issues again with the club. Speculation and opinion from people not privvy to the facts. Arsenal supporters pay some of the highest ticket prices in world football, providing the club with considerable financial resources but the ambition and ability to use them appear to be missing. More bollocks based upon the reader accepting the bullshit assumptions made in earlier points as factual. Continued missed opportunities to strengthen are detrimental to the club and are causing long term damage to the squad's competitiveness, evidenced by the ever-increasing points gap between Arsenal and the top of the table. Of course not strengthening the squad can be detrimental to a club, but the AST are not able to say why we haven't strengthened in this window, only make wild assumptions and veiled accusations. They are not as qualified as our manager and his staff and should therefore stick to opining in their local boozer and not try to pass themselves off as the voice of the fan base. The AST hopes that Arsenal's distant owner and its Board are looking at this situation as critically as its supporters. Clearly just another bunch of haters.
I've added a Poll to gauge users views on the Statement. Personally I think it's entirely correct and think the majority of Arsenal fans will feel so too. It's also very interesting that they seem to now be indicating that the problem is becoming Wenger.
Personally I'd like to see a few more options in the poll - as I agree with some of what they have said - for example, it's true that the gap between us and the top of the table is increasing, and also true that we pay the highest price for tickets in world football (so I'm told), and that we need to strengthen - indeed I find it frustrating and a little ironic that we all seem to think we need a LB, DM and Striker and we let go RVP and Song in the summer and had the chance to sign Vermetonghen (who can play LB as can Vermaelen). But I don't agree with the statements and assumptions on 'financial austerity', 'missed opportunities to strengthen', or that the only reason we haven't strengthened is Wenger is happy with the squad. It could well be that he decided that there was no one better out there capable of improving the side, where if there was someone he may well have bought more. (personally I feel we should have bought M'Villa and Yanga-Mbiwa but I don't feel my footballing knowledge is on a par with Wenger and his coaches/scouts).
The dearest ticket prices in the world argument is a red herring as far as i'm concerned.Whilst it is true that the top price of a cat "A" game is £126 people conveniently forget the cheapest ticket for a cat "C" game is £25.I would love to know the price of the dearest ticket for Barca V Real Madrid or the Milan derby.
The AST just want us to fail so they can say "I told you so". They are not true supporters of Arsenal. They want to create "conflict" between Arsenal fans and disrupt the harmony of support for the club. They want Wenger fired without any replacement lined up. They want us to spend for the sake of spending. They are blind pessimists who want us to fail. Come on, where's this criticism? Is it harder to come out with when it's the AST and not a member of this board?
100% true, and the AST is the mouthpiece for THOUSANDS of Arsenal supporters. Apparently I can't Rep this post again because I Rep'd you recently.
