The Gunners are currently fifth in the league and five points behind fourth place Chelsea and go into Sunday's game with Manchester United knowing they cannot afford to lose if they stand any chance of finishing in the top four. And chairman Hill-Wood, said: 'We are hanging on in there, no more. From a financial point of view, not qualifying for the Champions League is quite a blow. We have been planning for not qualifying every year, so it is not a disaster, but it would be nice if we could.' Why is this joker still at the club? However loyal a custodian he has been in the past, statements like this say "we don't need to qualify for the Champions League, thus we're not planning to buy anyone to ensure that we do." This basically confirms no new players in January. Saying "we are hanging on in there, no more" screams "we aren't progressing and we have no intention of doing so." Content with mediocrity.
wow that's pathetic. Now i'm even more convinced its the board that are to blame for our lack of ambition.
HW's statement sums up the lack of ambition for the club. The sooner he stands down the better but as he is only a figure head it wouldn't make much difference. We need Usamov more than ever now to spend big and stop the fans being vilified for the poor performance of Wenger and the team.
He admits it'll hit the club financially but he's just explaining that if you missed out it won't mean you need to sell in the summer. It's an attempt to kill off the rumours early but unfortunately I don't think that'll stop the rumours.
I refuse to accept that the numerous years of qualifying for the CL equal mediocrity, where we are at presently is disappointing but it's not mediocrity. We all know that improvements are needed but it's January, we haven't yet failed to qualify, we haven't yet been knocked out of this years comp and we haven't yet been binned from the FA Cup, so whilst I share the frustrations I don't think a 'sack the board' protest is warranted. What will be key for me is Summer 2012 - if we fail to qualify and we fail to convince the likes of RVP to stay and we fail to attract big names, then yes I think I'll be voicing convern at the strategy...
Doesn't matter if we don't finish in the top 4 this season,as we'll qualify automatically when we win the CL this season
I'm inclined to agree with Grizzly. Summer 2012 is the last chance saloon. Even if we don't qualify I think with some serious intent we could still make some quality signings and persuade RVP to stay. Tottenham have managed to attract some top players, if we bought big I think a serious push for the title under a manager like Wenger, a striker like RVP and unhindered by the CL I think we could still be an attractive destination for top talent. Worst case scenario: we lose RVP and Walcott is moved into the striker's role, OXO is moved to the right wing attack and having Wilshere back is 'like a new signing'.
In summary, January is a time to panic and plug gaps, Summer is a time for rebuilding and I genuinely believe that next Summer will see a change in policy (whether we finish 4th or not) and some established quality brought in and players that fall short will be sold. I've said many times that we signed 9 new players only 4.5 months ago, AW is not about to make wholesale changes yet again so quickly, the problem we face in the Summer is that the Euro Champs will get in the way of negotiations and getting deals done and it also means many players are unlikely to report back from Summer until late, probably meaning they will be unavailable for the first few games which, if we're honest, is where our problems were created this year.
My sentiments too As it is we have to get above Chelsea and stay ahead of them. We looked to achieving that last year but we all know what happened.
Darn Euro Championshiop. Wish we could bin that competition. LOL I'm essentially a club-first man you see. If we do have to wait until the return of the players and yes I do appreciate other clubs will have the same problem too, it will be very late in the day and judging by the length of time this club takes to do anything we may end up in a major rush once again for at best, a decent player or two who incidentally will have no opportunity to get to know each other's game. We are here today because of years of under and poor investment. That is why we need change soon. The wait has IMHO gone on too long. In the end the players leave before they achieve anything and it would have been for nothing save for some extra cash in the bank.
I think you are missing something here, you cant just sell under performing players, somebody has to want to buy them. The problem we have is that even players like Bendtner are on big wages, so they wont go unless clubs match those wages, which they wont! Thats why these lemons are out on loan and not sold.
Am i missing something here? All he is saying is that the club will not be in serious trouble if we drop out of the top 4, which we won't.
If my house was allowed to fall into disrepair and I wanted to sell it as long as I've priced it sensibly it will go - the wages argument is valid but very few young footballers who can still play at a high level but are not good enough to drive Arsenal forward (Bendy, Denilson could easily make prem players at a lower club) will want to spend the best years of their careers playing in the reserves, they will all swap a pay cut for regular football IMO
This doesn't only affect buying/selling players it also impacts the clubs ability to negotiate contract extensions, we can pretty much write off any contact with our European players until the end of the tournament which will fall just about the time they go on their 3 week beach holidays when progress will be limited...
