Rival Watch / Other Teams

... no.... I'm proving that wealth doesn't guarantee success ... thank God.

 

You are the 4th richest club in England. You finish fourth regularly. The days when it was you v Manchester United are over. Adapt.

 

I didn't say it did. What I'm saying is that we have underachieved and are frequently underperforming given the favourable circumstances we have. What I'm annoyed about is, yes, partially the lack of silverware at Arsenal, but mainly the same mistakes on the pitch every week, whilst keeping hold of a manager who truly believes he's indispensable. I don't see a team that I am proud of because they are gutless and weak-minded- just like the manager. No-one has said we have a divine right to win anything. I have not said this. You are putting words into my mouth and are just assuming that's what I am saying.

 

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/21/arsenal-leapfrog-chelsea-to-become-londons-wealthiest-club-5636522/

Richest club in London. 7th wealthiest club in the world. Don't spend money on players. Don't show ambition. Have kept a manager who is long past his sell-by date. An owner and CE who refuses to answer the fans questions. Same injury worries. Same tactical deficiencies being displayed. Same blind faith in the wrong players. Same group of players who lack the courage in their convictions. 11 points behind a team who almost got relegated last season. Declining whilst other clubs like Liverpool, West Ham and Spurs, in addition to United, Chelsea and City, all look like they're going to be routinely competitive sides.

What happens next season if we finish 7th? "Oh well, at least you were close to finishing in a Europa spot. Stop complaining Arsenal supporters. It could be worse. You could be relegated".

I refuse to believe that some of the comments I'm reading on here are from genuine football fans.

 

... how, using your logic, have you underacheived if only richer clubs, United, Chelsea and Citeh have won the title since you last did? ... I'll accept that using the same logic you will have under acheived if either Spurs, West Ham or ourselves win it this season ... but hey if you finish above Citeh, Chelsea and United you've punched above your weight too ... every cloud eh?

 

Football is cyclical mate. I remember Arsenal being really rotten and flirting with relegation in the 70's. You'll be back again some day. You have a large income but nothing compared to the Manchester clubs and Chelsea. They can blow you out of the water financially as they have a far larger income and 2 of them have owners who are prepared to invest massively. Your owner has the intention of earning out of his ownership. Whilst that continues it is you who is deluded. Spurs and Leicester fans know what it is to be relegated and play crap for years on end with no hope of anything else. It's the lot of most football supporters. You're guilty of deluded thinking,not us.

 

I would argue that we have had the most stability out of all the other richer clubs who have had frequent transitional periods with the change of managers. When a new manager comes in, they always need time to familiarise themselves with the players and get them all onside. We have failed to take advantage of the other team's slipping up and we never really seem to grasp the opportunities that are handed to us.

We've also underachieved by not revamping certain areas of our squad and being unable to correct the same on-field mistakes each year. We've been whinging about the same misgivings the squad has for the last 12 years. Why have there been no proper attempts to try and break this chain of repetitive mistakes? There is a consensus that we're not making use of the resources available to us which is evidently impacting our results on the pitch and the atmosphere in the ground.

 

Absolutely irrelevant to the here and now. Standing still in the Premier League is, in footballing terms, suicidal. Because you then allow all the other sides to catch up with you once teams get a new stadium (e.g. West Ham, Spurs) and revenue streams increase, like they will for all clubs next season.

As mentioned by another poster, wealth doesn't guarantee success. It certainly plays a large role in it, but a lot of it comes down to shrewd acquisitions in the transfer market and management of players. There are plenty of good, quality players to go around. We're still a relatively wealthy club. And they can't all end up at Chelsea or City.

Which we have every right to be annoyed about, particularly as he refuses to engage with the supporters.

If by 'deluded' you think the word is synonymous with realistic, then yes, I am 'deluded'. It's not me that need the reality check.

 

Ah I get it... So you're suggesting our squad and situation are both identical now to when Wenger took over in 1996???

 

... ... saw my first game at Filbert Street aged 10 in the 1969/70 season ... the old second division (why we were there I do not know ... we had more money than some of the clubs in the first division ) ... having been relegated and lost the cup final the year before ... had a season ticket with the old man until he died in 1979 from which point stood on the old Spion Kop with my cousins and mates ... followed them everywhere home and away during the Jock Wallace and Gordon Milne eras to the extent that I got a coach back from University to climb on a 12 seater mini-bus in Leicester, with another 23 fans, for a trip to the cup replay in Exeter (which we lost) ... arrived back just in time to get a coach back to Universityin the early hours of the morning ... had the heart-break of two consecutive losing play-off finals before third time lucky ... enjoyed the highs of the Martin O'Neil era including having to watch the League Cup final triumph on telly as I couldn't get a ticket despite having been to all the previous rounds ... suufered the humiliation of seeing O'Neils work destroyed by the incompetent Peter Taylor ... contributed out of my own pocket to the fund that saved the club from extinction (tho' I could scarce afford it at the time) ... witnessed the club relegated to the third tier of the English leagues for the first time in it's history and spent a sesom travelling to places like Hereford during Easter that year ...

.... years and years of disappointment and mediocrity interspersed with some modest acheivements ... yet here I am ... just as passionate as I was as a ten year old kid watching Rodney Fern score a bicycle kick in a 3-1 win over Birmingham City on opening day in front of 32,000 at Filbert Street ... by strange coincidence Okazaki has just dione the same in front of similar numbers ...and I experienced very similar emotions during both ...

... genuine football fans support their clubs through triumph and disaster ... not just when they are prime time.

 

I'll pick 1 point although I disagree with your entire response

"Which we have every right to be annoyed about, particularly as he refuses to engage with the supporters."

So,what? Cardiff now play in red. The Glazers have taken nearly £1 billion out of United. Ashley's getting Newcastle relegated. The clubs are theirs to do with as they choose. Football isn't fair to supporters. Irving Scholar took us to the brink of collapse. We got Sugar. He saved us financially but crippled us competitively. Now we're on the up. It's taken 25 years but that's life.

Protest against Kroenke and you might have my support. He's the thin end of the wedge and the more American owners turn up, the more we're looking at no relegation, European Super Leagues, etc. He isn't going to spend the fortunes it will take for you to become more than a top 4 club and that's a fact. So back to the drawing board.

 

Snap. First game in '69. Was at Maine Road in 77 when we lost 5-0 and went down in 22nd place. Went the following week when 26,000 turned up at WHL to watch an already relegated team play Leicester. Will go and watch us no matter how bad we are. "Sing your hearts out for the shirt." Being miserable about football is part of life's rich pageant. Embrace it. Go and cheer on the youth teams for a while. It's great fun.

 

No I'm not. I'm just saying that Wenger improved you tremendously at first and is now doing a bit better than average. There is about a 50:50 chance of you getting someone worse than Wenger if that is true.

 

Good insights into the changing mentality of a footballing fan. The footballing landscape is totally different now so everyone has to bear that in mind. Saying that, I do wish i could go back and be a fan in those days. Life was a lot simpler and it was all about football. Now it's money, money, money and maybe then some football....

 

Where on earth did you get that figure from? Anyways, Arsenal is one of the most attractive clubs to come to at the moment, so we will not find it hard to attract an elite manager.

 

In your opinion.

 

Which comments are those?
The gist of those arguing is that football fans support their club through thick and thin...and tbh things ain't thin for you lot. ..my 1st post was in response to someone saying they couldn't give a toss about any arsenal results for the rest of the season. ..to accuse us of not being "genuine" gootball fans is plainly stupid imo

 

Indeed. But there have been many more examples of clubs going down the toilet after having a long-standing successful manager than of building on success. I can really only think of one in the latter category - Bob Paisley did better than Bill Shankly at Liverpool. You've obviously got no confidence in your Board - why do you think they can identify a good manager? Man U and Liverpool have not managed it and Spurs have had about 10 goes before getting someone above average.

 

• Everyone thought Pep was the second coming, he left and Barca remained strong
• Henicks left Bayern and they remained strong
• Klopp left Dortmund yet they are in a strong second position this season
• Chelsea have changed managers more times than most, yet won the title last season and will be back next season

If you're a well run club then you have every chance of succeeding if you get a competent manager in. Arsenal will carry on after Wenger has left, like many other top clubs have in the past.

 

"I have no doubt about my huge motivation," he said. "I built the club, and the way I did it was with hard work. I had no external resources.

"If you compare the club when I arrived and how it is today it is moved forward, and without any help from anybody. "I am more motivated than the day I arrived, and I feel even more the pressure and the responsibility to keep this club moving forward.

"When you're a long time somewhere you always question your motivation, but I don't question mine. I don't question my dedication. It is 100% and I give more time to my club than when I arrived."

The bloke who made these comments isn't going to resign and his boss isn't going to sack him. Time to start the revolution as that's the alternative to putting up and shutting up.