I am not sure you are right. Over the years, Wenger has brought players who he believed and assessed can fit the team but also value for money. I have seen over the years that he is quite rigid in sticking to his principles. Very rarely if ever will he pay over what he assessed a player is worth. And I do not think the board stands in his way at all. I remember there was a player ( cannot remember who now) who preferred arsenal but the sellers wanted 25 millions. Wenger said he pulled out because he is not paying that sort of money. Another EPL club bought him for that price. SAF paid well over the top fr RVP. Nearly 30million for a player 30 years , very often injured? I thought at the time he fergie had gone bonkers. Wenger will NEVER buy such a player. But Fergie buys on the premise that the player can do a specific job for him and because of competition he needs to pay over the odds. Arsenal these days only gets players that Chelsea , city, united, spurs and other top clubs do not want. I wouldn't blame the board for that. The reality is that wenger does not need to do that as the club s a massive and rich club. It makes huge profits for the shareholders. It is like the billionaire saying he would only buy himself VW instead of a RR.
Sure but there's also this issue of ethics. Wenger has REPEATEDLY shown his disdaine for the big spending in football. We all know he's been after Karim Benzema for years (hell he even admitted it) - but he was never willing to offer Lyon/Madrid the 25-30 Million that was needed to buy him. The board are certainly to blame for our sales but the lack of big money signings partly comes down to Wenger. I just wonder how bad things have get before he changes this. If we're still midtable by XMAS - will spend on some genuine quality?
I am so sure of it that it will happen. If we are mid-table or finish outside the top 4 this season, you see the panic set in at Arsenal. They have become so complacent with finishing top 4 and scooping up the money, nothing else really matters. Guaranteed, we will see some more urgency when this happens. As i keep on saying, champions league qualification has been a curse to us.
On this issue of Wenger's ethics on spending: I think it's precisely because of the fact that we've not had the money of the mega rich clubs, that Wenger has baulked when a player is offered for ten million more than he's worth. enger has always had an eye for spotting unearthed talent and molding them into top players, the trouble is that everybody else has learned this now and the players with 'potential' are also being snapped up for mega bucks - AOC is a prime example of this. Back in the invincibles era, he would have been snapped up for a pittance. It's also not entirely true that he won't spend big when needed. Reyes, Wiltord and Arshavin are all examples of us paying the 'market' rate. The trouble is now that the 'market' has been set by City and Chelsea and we couldn't compete with them for the best players. What may have changed now though is that Arsenal are in a better financial position due to the imminent end of the Stadium debt, good savings and new commercial deals. This coupled with the fact that we are going to get left behind if we don't qualify for CL may mark a sea change on our spending principles. The one thing I think is clear, is that Wenger is one of the best managers out there. With the right spending power, for me he is still the man for the job. I like Guardiola, but he has never built a team from scratch and he's not demonstrated that he has the guile of Wenger to succeed. When things aren't going right a lot of people simply call for the head of the manager believing that it will wave a magic wand at the problem, reality however is far more complex than that
Could it be a mindset that has enveloped the Emirates these day? I see everyone talking about the need to spend big in terms of transfer fee and wages to get the players you need to take you back to the top. Are you sure this will solve the problems? Yesterday Swansea outplayed your team for large chunks of the game yet how much have they spent in the transfer market compared with you, Liverpool whom they dumped out of the Capitol One Cup, and Chelsea who had a difficult time there the other week. Also what about Wigan last season playing with huge amounts of intelligence at the Emirates?
We've been beaten by Hull, Wigan, Swansea at the Emirates over the years, but have any of those teams ever finished above us ?
The poster is referring to the reason for the loss in those individual games not overall league position. Those teams had not spent as much as us yet they beat us...so money is not the only reason. I think mindset has been an issue ever since our captain starting crying in the penalty area after a loss...the successive departures of subsequent captains/best players has not helped the issue. We have never regained the tough winning mentality ever since the likes of Viera left. I know all top sides have their fair share of losses to so called smaller teams but i think we suffer more than most due to a lack of grit and determination/belief.
