This is not totally true, over the last 8 years we have had players and teams capable of winning trophies, not signing players had nothing to do with us not winning the CC against Birmingham, the players just played ****. Even in 07/08 the team was good enough to win the league, again the players threw it away, remember abebyor refusing to pass to bentner when clean through on goal against Wigan? Even the champions league final we could have won in 06 if jens had just let eto threw and not take him down. We have had teams and players good enough to win things in the past, it has only been the last 2-3 years that our level had dropped due to lack of signing, and selling good players.
It's been a combination of things but the biggest factor had been the selling of key players. Since 2006 the whole shape of our team was built around Fabregas.we sold him however before he even reached his best years. For years we never signed a TOP striker because we had RVP. However he spent 60% of his time on the treatment table. When he did finally overcome his injuries.. We sold him. I could go on..
Again a very simplistic way of stating the problem. We didn't win so players wanted to leave. Also any players good enough to win started to command higher salaries than we could afford. We also could not afford to have a player worth 25-35M run down his contract and go for nothing. Saying, "We sold our best players", implies that some executive just sat there and one day said, "I think we will sell our best player!" That's just crap. That isn't the root cause, and it is a highly misleading way of describing the issues we faced and still (to a certain extent) face today.
I'll always remember the game, i think against Villa when he came on and won us the game with 2 goals then went off injured again.
Our board had an open policy for selling our best players though. They actually said at one point that they would need to sell a top player each season to maintain their financial plan and I think and not signing replacements as good as those we sold undoubtedly had an effect on the likes of RVP and Nasri. It looks like we're over this period now, and as painful as it's been at times, it was probably necessary to allow us to get into a position now where, with the stadium paid off, we can loosen the purse strings and make some real quality additions to the squad. That still remains to be put in place and this summer might not see all the pieces of the jigsaw slotted into place, but the club need to demonstrate that this austerity has had a purpose driving it - that is to eventually properly strengthen with the 'Top Top quality' players that Wenger has repeatedly said he needs.
That has to be the most balanced statement I've ever heard you make. I mean that with no disrespect of course.
I don't remember them ever saying that. I do remember a statement at one point that said we needed to sell before we could buy any players. And I also remember them saying that we had made a profit on transfers and that it had helped the club financially. I can't remember them taking that last step and saying that they actually needed to do that. I've also heard them say the point I made about Arsenal being unable to break their wage structure for a player. I just get tired of our own fans trotting out this selling club thing though. It isn't as if we are the only club that has had to sell a star player that has wanted to leave, United sold Ronaldo, Liverpool sold Alonso. Our problem is that we keep producing these great players (rather like Southampton), but even if we HAD won something, I don't see any way we could have kept all those stars paying them 90,000 a week when they could get 250,000 somewhere else. In fact, I think we might have lost them quicker, after all they would have then had a title under their belts and have nothing else to prove. Bear, Scholes and Giggs were on enormous salaries at United, you simply can't compare, and when a club did offer a player more (Ronaldo) he went just as happily as you like. Let's just see if they keep Rooney, paying him 250,000 a week to sulk.
The problem with the selling club thing is that Wenger sells to direct rivals. Spurs haven't done this since Berbatov, which has closed the gap between the two. Recruitment is the main problem. Recently only Cazorla and Podolski can be considered as signings who may have signed for Man Utd, Chelsea or Man City. Arsenal need to sign the best of the best (Bergkamp, Henry types) to compete for the Premier League title. This means breaking this nonsensical "wage structure" that we've been fed for years. The rumours for this summer do nothing to suggest that policy will change. With the most expensive ticket prices can we not expect some expensive signings?
That is a myth. We're actually one of the cheaper PL teams, only our most expensive tickets are very expensive. If that makes sense.
I have a share in four season tickets. Believe me the prices of the most expensive ticket when averaged out with the cheaper ones still make it the most expensive ticket in the Premier League. The match day experience at Arsenal can never ever be described as one of the cheapest!
Sorry didn't make that clear at all. So few of these "cheap" tickets you talk about are available. In theory yes there are. But I wouldn't need to time share four season tickets if tickets could be purchased as an ordinary member. By fluke a member may get a cheapish match once or twice a year. But the thousands I and others spend is the only way to guarantee you can watch any match you want.
The reason we 'cant afford' to pay our BEST players 200,000k a week is that we pay our fringe/squad players WAY too highly. We have a massive wage bill at £143 Million per annum, higher than Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, FAR higher than Tottenham and only 18M a year less than United's. For me it's a cop-out to claim all the players that have left us in recent years did so because they can earn more elsewhere. Some players just want to win trophies and that is'nt going to happen at Arsenal unless they keep their best players. It's a viscious circle.
If we signed Fabregas and nobody else this Summer I would be over the moon. I would do anything to have him back here.
