Arsenal don't appear to be laughing at us anymore!

You're right, it's not the first time it's happened. I think our board, whilst ensuring that the club have been managing the stadium debt and building the commercial revenue and 'brand', have been way too cautious in the transfer market, to the detriment of the team - and one of the fall outs from that is that players like RVP have seen their futures away from Arsenal. In fact I think it's a minor miracle that Wenger has managed to keep us in the top 4 and champions league in the last 8 years, given our board's open policy of selling our best players to manage the debt; that's why I've always vehemently opposed the view of fans who have called for his head.

The board are now saying that their slavish subscription to prudence has paid off and we're now in a position to spend, and match the wages of the clubs we should be competing with. This summer will be a litmus test of that assertion, I think a lot of Arsenal fans are waiting to see some proof, as we've heard the right noises for a while now, but Jam tomorrow can't wait forever.

 

The reason Modric, Bale and co don't get into the last year of their contracts is cos they learnt from their experience of Campbell (who was allowed to run down his contract under the previous owners)...the bizarre thing with RVP was the same thing happened with Nasri the previously yet donkeys like Bendtner were all signed up on new long term well paid contracts which has made gettting rid of them a nightmare for you.

And what is your problem with Levy being tight? Are you still gutted he didn't let harry bankrupt us as you lot claimed he would?

 

Test.

 

I think that all other clubs have to be realistic about the City's and Chelsea's of the world. Unless, in the unlikely event that the FFP rules do actually bite, there is no way that any of the rest of us can compete, in financial terms.

Yes, Usmanov is supposedly the richest man in the U.K. but he seems a tad more prudent about throwing his personal wealth around in pursuit of success for his team.

I understand that clubs wish to build their commercial revenues. However, selling your star players is surely somewhat counterproductive?

As to Wenger, he has done a superb job over the years. I just wonder if he is not now a little too stubborn, arrogant - whatever you want to call it - in that he seems increasingly incapable of admitting his own mistakes - of which there have been an increasing number, more recently.

 

Wenger isn't perfect, but his approach has served him and the club well over the years. When giving his opinion about the sale of Henry, Cole, Nasri, Fabregas, RVP, he has been consistent in saying that he would have kept every one of them - and before they were sold he insisted that most of them wouldn't; so that suggests a schism between the manager's will and the board's. Ultimately Wenger is an employee and the board have the final say. Whilst I can understand that they haven't wanted to go down the sugar daddy route or load the club with unmanagable debt, I think the board have made some critical errors of judgement over selling our best players and not replacing them properly.

 

You'll never get PESKIE to change his views on Whinger - ever! Many a Gooner has tried (during the frequent and numerous mini-rebellions on their board). One of his own posters likened PESKIE's approach to Whinger as being like "arranging deck-chairs on the Titanic." It was a very funny and apt observation.

To be fair to Whinger, he does seem able to take good advantage of other team's misfortunes. For example, he has managed to forge a massive 2 points ahead of us, as we have gone through an injury crisis. Now, some Gooners may well say that AFC has been going backwards, sliding into (what some have termed as) an inevitable North London Power-Shift, but not me. I think Whinger is merely misunderstood, and that he has been doing a magnificent job, keeping the Gunners fixed in that 4th spot, never really advancing or really ever retreating. It takes a footballing genius to always finish 4th and never to actually compete for titles or trophies.

 

I generally agree but it remains the case that Arsenal are paying out a lot more wages on Spurs for a squad which is achieving very similar results. I still think Wenger's weakness is that he under-rates his own ability and so pays over the odds to players who look good mostly because of his coaching. If we had had Wenger as coach last season and you had had Redknapp I reckon we would have finished about 10 points clear of Arsenal.

 

Possibly . . . ? I agree that it's true that Wenger is a far superior coach to Redknapp. We are currently achieving similar results, and we pay our players more in wages, but that's the price to pay for regular champions league football, you don't get those players on the cheap and they expect wages on a par with other champions league teams.

But what I would say, is that whilst we're currently roughly on a par as far as results go, as a club Spurs are achieving more than they have been at least the last decade, whilst we have been underachieving. The expectations at Arsenal are far higher and I think the board will be expected to give Wenger the funds to improve the squad so that we can compete with City, Chelsea and Utd. For Spurs I think a lot will depend on how long they can keep Bale.

Whilst you could argue that Spurs with Wenger would have finished 10pts clear of us last season, you could equally argue that without Bale, you could finish 10 pts below us this time . . .

 

You make this too easy HIAG

 

You make this far too easy HIAG

 

You make this far too easy HIAG

 

You make this far too easy HIAG

 

What are you trying to say?

 

spazzed out not606

 

What's going on?

What's going on?

What's going on?

What's going on?

There's an echo in here.

 

HIAG needs telling he's a nob more than once

HIAG needs telling he's a nob more than once

HIAG needs telling he's a nob more than once

HIAG needs telling he's a nob more than once



. . . you get the idea

 

I think you'll find that PNP has summed up this situation concisely in the "606 has a bug" thread...

 

Yeah I agreed with that really . . I should stop giving HIAG the attention he craves

 

You say that, but you haven't actually shown any contradiction in my argument. The infamous "North London Power-Shift" was actually an invention of a Gooner.

Sorry to pop you little bubble (yet again), PESKIE.

 

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