I don't think anyone here is saying that about bonuses. I'm annoyed he said it was an extremely good year. It only shows concern for the financial side, not the football side.
Yes, until your club goes into administration, or out of business. Know any Glasgow Rangers fans by any chance?
Wenger and the board do not say they are unwilling to spend money at all. I'm not sure what has given that impression. Everything they say is that money is available - and the recent financial results suggest we are finally in a position where a good amount of money will be available without the need to sell players. I know in recent years the opposite has been true with no big money player signings, but the off field success for me points towards an era where we are able to spend money. If we are ever to have long term success in the way Utd have we need to build the club and i think the board are doing a good job of that at the moment - whether by luck or good decision is an entirely different discussion! The clubs financial success and growth of the business side of the club puts us in a greater position when it comes to setting our wage and transfer budgets. Currently no dividends are paid to shareholders and the bonuses dont matter in the grand scheme of things - which means the extra revenue is free'd up for a larger wage cap amongst other things. We already have large amounts of cash reserves and provided we can maintain CL football that will not be eaten into. How people cannot see how important CL qualification is to our financial model i dont understand. It's about catching up ground on clubs like Utd, Barca etc in terms of size of the club. And if we are successful in maintaining our off the field success we will remain at the top level of football for a long time to come and not do a Liverpool. Personally i'm really happy that the club is doing well from a business point of view. That doesn't mean i wouldn't like to see the squad being improved and us doing better and winning things, but i think Wenger is doing well with the resources he has had avaiulable to him and i think as more resources become available, he is the right man to have in place to bring in the best quality. Imagine if City or Chelsea had Wenger as there manager when there billionaires arrived!
We don't just spend less than the big boys though, we spend less (net) than Wigan, West Ham, Sunderland. They need to get the balance right
Ok here's my two penneth on the AGM. Kronke - Silent Stan earned his reputation as being out of touch with the fans by not even remembering that he'd failed to meet with fans. Failing to give assurances that dividends wouldn't be paid out in the future only served to raise the suspicion of his motives. His total lack of communication with fans is worrying. Our major shareholder has only served to increase the concerns of fans. Gazidis - Has actually done a good job since he's been in post, he's increased the financial revenue of the club to a point where we have a very healthy bank balance. I think he is a bit over cautious about spending it though and it's to the detriment of the squad. He is relying on FFP and if it doesn't work out, then all that penny pinching is going to be good for nothing. Spend some money on the squad and he's pretty much doing a top job. Peter Hill Wood - Totally out of touch with fans. Patronising, belittling, arrogant, pompous and self important. To dismiss a large proportion of voting shareholders as 'the same lot' because they opposed his views is arrogance beyond belief. His old school Etonian approach is totally outdated and completely unfit for a modern football club. Time to get rid and bring in a dynamic chairman who is bold and adventurous and willing to take RISKS. Peter Hill Wood is a has been, with old ideas that are no longer suited to take our club forward. Thank you to him for his service and thank you to his father Dennis, they were good custodians of the club. But their time has finished, time to put the old boy out to grass. Wenger - He is the most successful manager we have ever had. I been saying it since the doom mongers on here last season starting crying Wenger out, that if it weren't for him, we would already be out of the top four. People might be annoyed at the way our club is being run, but Wenger is not the focus for the anger. Arsenal without Arsene Wenger would be in a far worse position. He is the glue that holds this club together. He has done nothing short of a miracle in keeping this club in the top four, given the massive financial restraints and the in fighting at board level. There have been players that have come and gone and the board has changed shape completely since we moved to the Emirates. There has been one consistent at Arsenal that has held the whole thing together and that is Wenger.
You guys have been laughing at our debt claiming for years your self sustaining model was going to triumph, yet you are even further away from us now than ever before. Every year your manager promises signings and every year its bargain basement buys while selling your stars. Uniteds financial muscle was built on success, we have more fans and companies are willing to sponsor us more because we win things. Instead of choosing between maximising revenue and competing you should have been doing both. Your penny pinching has left you teetering on the brink of dropping out of the top 4 and there are plenty of teams waiting to take your place.
Arsenal are hardly teetering on the brink of dropping from the top 4 now are they? Considering that they have been there the longest amount of time! Last season was the first time in ages that we have had to battle to the end to keep our top 4 spot. Infact in the 16 years Wenger has had in the top 4, only last season and one other have looked anything like us competing for a spot (and bare in mind we finished in 3rd). Otherwise we have been comfortably in a CL spot. It is a complete myth that Arsenal have been just about holding onto 4th. We have been comfortably finishing in 3rd/4th - usually after we fall away from the title race. It really is ridiculious that we hear the same thing every season. If any manager and club knows what it takes to get into the CL and get out of the group stages - its Wenger and Arsenal. Currently holding the records for both consecutive seasons in the CL and consecutive seasons qualifying from the group stage. I once again have no doubt we will do what it takes to gain CL qualification. I wish opposition fans would just get over this idea that Arsenal struggle each year to geti nto the top 4 - it simply isnt true.
Mate, i like the optimism, but this year could be the year we drop out. We have an inferior team to last year, Chelsea are already ahead of us, Spurs are ahead, Liverpool are only 3 points behind now etc.
Liverpool? That's going too far. Spurs have been looking sloppy nd when we clean up our act well jump them. Everton will be a challenge but they are beatable. Hell the Manchester clubs aren't even that far away from us. Only 6 points and Cuty and United have hardly been taking the Prem by storm, the only team that is probably momentarily out of reach is Chelsea, but we overhauled a 13 point gap to Spurs we can do it to the Chavs(I hope...probably not but whatever)
We're lucky Spurs are going backwards, Liverpool are still crap, Newcastle had their peak last season, and Everton aren't quite good enough for the top 4. Basically we're nailed on for 4th because we don't have a chance in hell of beating Chelsea, United and City.
We're not going to be able to step it up with average players like Ramsey, and players like Gervinho who will put in a good game or 2 and then go missing for the next 3-6 games.
Twice in the last 5 years we've been extremely lucky to finish in the top 4, people saying theres no chance of us finishing outside it are delusional. Both last season and the Lasagne year we had a better team
@Krome That's exactly what i said - there have been only two years out of 16 in which we have been competing for a top 4 spot, every other time we have been comfortably in the top 4. And of those 2 years last season we managed 3rd. Surely that shows that we are unlikely to drop from the top 4? We hold the record for consecutive seasons qualifying for the CL - and that record is current. No other team in the league has the same pedegree for finishing in a CL qualification spot. The majority of the time we are third or above as well. Surely this suggests we are not likely to fall from the top 4 rather than we are? I understand the league is changing and each year is a different challenge, but everything from the past 16 years suggests we are capable of doing it and likely to do it. Also looking at the league i can't see who you think is going to beat us to 4th - Everton, Spurs or Liverpool just simply won't do it.
