Random Arsenal Shit (When it's not worth starting a thread)

[LDG]

What's so frustrating is that AW has shown (effectively with much fewer resources, and lower quality squad players) that he can get a team to third, under all kinds of pressures.

If he just did what we all want the club to do, i.e. stop playing a big game of chance, and adding the extra fabled 2%, we would be up there challenging....it would only take spending the "profit", or, God forbid, making a small loss in the transfer window for once. That loss could eventually be offset by prize money!

Two extra players, 10 to 15mil a piece is all we need to be right up there.

We beat the eventual champions last season, and ran them close in the other games....there isn't as big a gap as people think in terms of quality.

Where we fail, is the ability to replace like for like when the inevitible injury crisis / goal drought / tiredness factor kicks in.

[Letters]

The bottom line is that we are now 4th in the pecking order. Pre-Abrahamovich we were 1B with United as 1A. Now with Abrahamovich FC and Mansour FC we are 4th. It means our chances of winning a trophy each year are closer to 5-10% rather than 40-50% as before those two cretins with cash showed up. It's better to accept that reality than to pretend otherwise.

Having said that, it's quite clear that we could probably stretch a bit more to increase our competitiveness and chances for a trophy. An extra £20-£25m on players (transfer fees and salaries) would ensure we're closer to those teams than we have been. That amount wouldn't sink the club financially and it would mean fans would be happier. Few fans expect us to compete financially and punch above our weight in that regard. But it's clear we could be doing more than we are. But Wenger is frugal and always has been. He's happy to make do with as little as possible. We have a Board and Ownership who are also content to get by with as little as possible. There's that 2% that gets so much press. And there's little sign that that 2% gap will be made good through financial means. Basically if that 2% gap is going to be bridged it'll be through luck.

I don't expect us to compete with City or Chelsea in the transfer market, or even ManYoo. We should be competing with Spurs and Liverpool though! It's only because Wenger's so good that we've stayed top 4 spending so little, the frustrating thing is a couple of marquee signings wouldn't have jeopardised our future and could have pushed us on and we might have won a few trophies over the last 7 years.

[LDG]

The Arsenal hierarchy is like a fucking political parody.

AW - Chancellor
IG - Spin Doctor
PHW - Mayor of London

[bignev]

What's so frustrating is that AW has shown (effectively with much fewer resources, and lower quality squad players) that he can get a team to third, under all kinds of pressures.

If he just did what we all want the club to do, i.e. stop playing a big game of chance, and adding the extra fabled 2%, we would be up there challenging....it would only take spending the "profit", or, God forbid, making a small loss in the transfer window for once. That loss could eventually be offset by prize money!

Two extra players, 10 to 15mil a piece is all we need to be right up there.

We beat the eventual champions last season, and ran them close in the other games....there isn't as big a gap as people think in terms of quality.

Where we fail, is the ability to replace like for like when the inevitible injury crisis / goal drought / tiredness factor kicks in.

This

It's really frustrating

[Unai Tea]

I don't expect us to compete with City or Chelsea in the transfer market, or even ManYoo. We should be competing with Spurs and Liverpool though! It's only because Wenger's so good that we've stayed top 4 spending so little, the frustrating thing is a couple of marquee signings wouldn't have jeopardised our future and could have pushed us on and we might have won a few trophies over the last 7 years.

I think we are competing well enough with Liverpool and Tottenham in the transfer market. I wouldn't trade our transfers in this summer for theirs. They also had significant losses. However, to compete with the top 3 we would have had to have kept RVP and Song. Those two + our additions would have meant we were going to have a real shot at winning something. I understand why they went and that's now water under the bridge but it's another opportunity lost for AFC. Now we're still a couple of quality players away from being thick in the lead peleton and back to minding the 2% gap and trusting to good fortune.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

I think we are competing well enough with Liverpool and Tottenham in the transfer market. I wouldn't trade our transfers in this summer for theirs. They also had significant losses. However, to compete with the top 3 we would have had to have kept RVP and Song. Those two + our additions would have meant we were going to have a real shot at winning something. I understand why they went and that's now water under the bridge but it's another opportunity lost for AFC. Now we're still a couple of quality players away from being thick in the lead peleton and back to minding the 2% gap and trusting to good fortune.

Thing is like you say to compete with the top 3 we would need to have kept RVP, not to bothered about song had we replaced him, but we did not even need to spend big. all we needed was Tiote/Dempsey and Llorente and we'd have been right up their challenging and these would not demand huge wages either.

[IBK]

Thing is like you say to compete with the top 3 we would need to have kept RVP, not to bothered about song had we replaced him, but we did not even need to spend big. all we needed was Tiote/Dempsey and Llorente and we'd have been right up their challenging and these would not demand huge wages either.

How would we have kept a player who went so far as to make a public statement effectively severing his ties with the club?

[Syn]

By telling him he can't go. There's no integrity by giving into those who throw their toys out the pram. Arsenal giving in has allowed Van Persie to set the blueprint for how players can engineer a move. Oxlade, fancy a move? Just say the club's ambition isn't good enough. No fuss, and a quick move to whoever you fancy.

Arsenal have really sold out in a big way. Zero principles. I hate myself for being so addicted to football.

[Unai Tea]

By telling him he can't go. There's no integrity by giving into those who throw their toys out the pram. Arsenal giving in has allowed Van Persie to set the blueprint for how players can engineer a move. Oxlade, fancy a move? Just say the club's ambition isn't good enough. No fuss, and a quick move to whoever you fancy.

Arsenal have really sold out in a big way. Zero principles. I hate myself for being so addicted to football.

I hardly think RVP has come up with an innovative way to engineer a move from his current club. Players have been playing the 'I want to play at a higher level/champions league football/top team' card for years. The only real change is that where we used to be that team players sought to move to because we were at the pinnacle of the footballing world, we're now teetering on the edge of the second echelon and top players are seeking to leave rather than join as often as not. Our history and consistent champions league qualification are what is keeping us within touching distance - though our 'history' is getting worse every year as the glow of having a trophy is fading into distant memory.

The biggest driver for our fall from grace has been the influx of cash at Chelsea and now Man City. That has pushed us down to where we are because a) we can't compete on wages and b) we stand a far worse chance of winning anything.

[IBK]

I hardly think RVP has come up with an innovative way to engineer a move from his current club. Players have been playing the 'I want to play at a higher level/champions league football/top team' card for years. The only real change is that where we used to be that team players sought to move to because we were at the pinnacle of the footballing world, we're now teetering on the edge of the second echelon and top players are seeking to leave rather than join as often as not. Our history and consistent champions league qualification are what is keeping us within touching distance - though our 'history' is getting worse every year as the glow of having a trophy is fading into distant memory.

The biggest driver for our fall from grace has been the influx of cash at Chelsea and now Man City. That has pushed us down to where we are because a) we can't compete on wages and b) we stand a far worse chance of winning anything.

This. Its naive to think that we were in a position to tell RVP to stay. What would that have achieved? A disgruntled player who in addition would have been demoted from captain, affecting dressing room morale for the whole of the current season. If we were a richer, more recently successful club then we might just be able to read the riot act to players. But time has moved on and its the players and their agents who hold the power now - not the likes of AFC. The best the club could do once he openly wanted out was to sell him for the highest figure it could. Which it did.