The cash balance is £180 million. The FT reported it as £150m in the summer, and it has grown. Usable cash for transfers is around the £110 million mark. I agree we have been hamstrung by the stadium move, which is something the board said would not happen.. The summer is the real window? When we have potentially failed to qualify for the CL? There's no logical rational for not strengthening the squad this window when the squad is clearly weak in areas. It's sad that you view it as a sense of entitlement when fans ask why some of the £100m+ usable cash was not spent to buy a CB, or a back up GK, or a DM, or a striker. And used instead for a reactive, rather than proactive signing.
I don't buy for one second that we have over 100 million of cash that is solely for Transfers. Also even if we did that doen't mean we should be expected to spend anywhere near that in a January transfer window. "Potentially failed to qualify for the CL?" - yes, like every single season....And potentially qualified. Nothing is a guarantee. Doesn't mean we should panic every January. And i can think of some logical rational for not strengthening the squad.... Infact it's really, really easy to think up a logical set of events which result in not strengthening... For example - we have our targets, we negotiate for them throughout the window but the clubs don't want to sell, or we can't negotiate a price both parties are happy with. Or the club won't sell until the summer. Let me give you a scenario - We try to sign David Villa and Barca say "We won't sell him during January, but come back in the Summer and he's yours" - we can choose to wait until the summer and bring in our first choice trarget and world class player, OR we can choose to spend on a striker who isn't our first choice, isn't as good as Villa but is a decent player for the squad. Which would you choose? For me - one of those options is treading water and being desperate not to fail (option 2) and one option means taking a little more risk in the short term (whether we make top 4 or not) but results in a larger pay-off (having our actual target). I only want Arsenal to buy players who are TOP class. If we sign a striker it has to be a WORLD CLASS striker. We already have Podolski, Giroud and Walcott who are very good strikers. Unless we get in someone very good then it's just a numbers thing rather than the sort of improvement we actually want. Same with any other positon - the signings need to be of the quality of Podolski/Cazorla etc at the minimum. I don't want us signing more players for the sake of it only for them to end up being deadwood and having the same fans who where desperate for them to be signed, screaming and shouting at how we can't get rid of them!
Whilst I agree with the sentiment that the AST are expressing and I'd like to see more signings, I don't agree with some pie in the sky argument that Wenger simply 'refuses' to spend. In fact, he said that we were very close to another signing last night, and that money wasn't the problem, but that the selling club refused to sell. So it's not all down to Wenger, there are a multitude of variables involved in a signing. If it was David Villa and Barca had agreed to the transfer, I doubt the AST would have put this statement out.
The rejected bid yesterday was for Capoue. I'd question why we left it until the eleventh hour to make a bid for him. Indeed I doubt the AST would have put out the statement had any weak area of the squad been strengthened with proactive signings.
Well, we've strengthened at LB. We now have two very good options and a third if needed that doesn't mean moving a CB there, so overall that's a decent addition in DF. If'd Toulouse had agreed to sell Capoue then we'd have made some great defensive signings. It wasn't Wenger's fault that they wouldn't sell. So for this reason, whilst I agree with the sentiment about making signings, I can't agree with the AST's statement.
I wonder what position we would currently hold in the league if the AST were managing the team.... nuff said.
I've got some respect for the AST and I agree with their sentiment, but this statement looks a bit knee jerk to be honest. They don't really know any of the details of player transfer negotiations or any of the parameters that Wenger is working with. If they are disappointed with transfer activity and basing it on Wenger chosing not spending newly available funds, then I would have preferred them to call for him to put in effect this summer, rather than slate him because they are frustrated now.
Arsenal fans need to stop and think what happening at the club. Wenger is rebuilding the team and he is doing it well. I look at Arsenal and i see top class players through the team Wilshere Cazorla Podolski Walcott Arteta Sagna Monreal Giroud Mertesacker Vermaelen and players who are getting there Ramsey Gibbs Jenkinson Coquelin Chamberlain and talented players who are not getting a fair deal from the fans Gervinho Koscielny Schesny Diaby and players coming through Toral Bellerin Gnabry Campbell The team has been totally changed over two years. Arsene Wenger realised it needed changing a long time ago unlike what fans say. He has brought in 15 players in two years When Arsenal click there is few teams that can live with them. Only Barcelona (spit), Madrid and Bayern and Utd. This team has all the talent it needs to win win win. The missing ingredient is belief and when it comes it will be beautiful and Wenger will be a god. Arsenal fans need to stand behind the team now. The change is almost complete and Wengers new wonders will soon shine. You will see and when you do you will be proud. I am annoyed at the negativity. Arsenal needs her fans and so do the players. They need belief and the fans can give so much right now to the team. The AST people are wrong how many more players do they want. So many have come in. Arsene Wenger has sorted out many contracts to keep this team together and brought in the new players. When i see football as i did against Liverpool in the second half I think wow it is unstoppable. It is a very small improvement to do that more consistent and it just needs beliefs. I love watching English football and no other club is like Arsenal. Abroad they have so much respect. I saw this video series and I thought about Arsenal fans needing to move on and get behind these great players. The song has a lyric that could be a plea to fans "We push and pull, fall down sometimes, we' are not letting go, you hold the other line" [video=youtube;-NvV-1awdE8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NvV-1awdE8&list=UUpHOss53fUPxf8Q_GCBj1_Q&index=7[/video] [video=youtube;Xx0Wp_MLPm8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx0Wp_MLPm8&list=UUpHOss53fUPxf8Q_GCBj1_Q&index=2[/video] That is my rant. I dont post long posts usually but it is so bad to see these people disrespecting Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. There is a story that Arsene Wenger is coming to Madrid. If he does I will be happy for us but sad for Arsenal. And Arsenal fans will be sad.
I'm firmly in the camp of supporting the team and getting behind the players. I also happen to think that wenger is still doing a good job, building a generational core of English talent (as he said he would) and having just steered the club through 7 years of stadium + team + board + financial issues and still finishing top 4 every season. He's also made some mistakes in that time, which he's freely admitted. I can understand some of the frustration, and I want to see Arsenal properly challenging for the title again, but people are mistaken if they think Arsenal and Wenger in particular aren't trying to do the best they can. Some of the frustration bubbles over into exasperation and clouds people's judgement about what he and this club are actually doing, where they are and where it is heading. In my opinion.
I agree with the sentiment that we have a lot of talented players and when they mature and gel they will improve as a team. I just think that signing some top, established players would help us along and be a catalyst to serious success. In summer our main target should be Cavani. We should make an offer and pay the going rate. He would score for fun in this league and with all the chances we create. Having someone like that up front would relieve so much pressure from the rest of the team, especially the defence. In recent years, all the Premiership-winning teams have had a world class striker. I like Giroud but he's not in the same bracket as RVP, Aguero, Drogba etc. I think its time to show ambition this summer. We don't have to blow all of our funds either; Cavani, Capoue and some competition for Szcezney would be sufficient.
Agree with that I think Giroud is at a point though where he could step it up to become top striker and my personal preference would be to add another CB to that list too. But I agree, we have a decent framework and if we can get the two or three players we want in the summer then that will be the real time to start making serious judgements about whether this board and manager's plan is succeeding.
