Step back and look at the bigger picture

[Cripps_orig]

I believe what i see.

Wenger has lost it

[Power n Glory]

This.

If we were that financially strapped we wouldn't hold onto Cesc or potentially risk losing Nasri for free.

Exactly. It also demonstrates the amount of power Wenger has at this club. He's come out and said that he's not selling Nasri, it's a technical decision and the board are okay with it. I've heard people suggest we've sold players against Wenger's will or he's powerless to change things but this story suggests otherwise.

He's a man of principles and he himself doesn't want to break the wage structure. Listen to him talk about Man City and respecting rules. Look how stubborn the guy is. He could convince the board that Nasri is worth the wages, but he's not going to.

[Sirjackofwilshere]

The fact that we're trying to keep Cesc and Nasri doesn't tell us anything other than we don't want to give out a message that we're in decline. Isn't Nasri's contentions about his wages the major stumbling block? Whilst any of our main rivals can easily gazump the wages we're offering. We seem to be trapped in this rigid system where our financial perils dictate how much the manager can spend of transfers AND wages.

[fakeyank]

So we move to the new stadium for what? We are not competitive, we are broke.. might as well have stayed at Highbury. However I do not think we are broke. We have a decent amount of money but AW is a massive cock and wont spend the money.

[Niall_Quinn]

But that first article is typical of the over simplified narrative that so many fans are happy to peddle. What about player wages? What about staff wages? What about club expenses? Just because the club has a cash reserve in the bank it doesn't mean it can spunk it on transfers.

Huh? Does that mean they're letting the fans in for free this season? And letting the sponsors off and saying no to Sky's cash? If so then yes indeed, they need to guard the money in the bank very carefully.

[Power n Glory]

The fact that we're trying to keep Cesc and Nasri doesn't tell us anything other than we don't want to give out a message that we're in decline. Isn't Nasri's contentions about his wages the major stumbling block? Whilst any of our main rivals can easily gazump the wages we're offering. We seem to be trapped in this rigid system where our financial perils dictate how much the manager can spend of transfers AND wages.

We just got rid of Clichy. We have £7m in the bank and he's off the wage bill. Why not use that cash to give him a wage increase? We're not replacing Clichy, plus we have Denilson and Bendy on their way out. We can't use financial restrictions as an excuse on this one. This is self imposed. Next year, Rosicky will be out of contract, so will Arshavin and it's unlikey we'll be replacing them either. For a fraction of what their worth we can easily afford to give our top players a top up.

We just signed three youth players. For what purpose? How much are they on and why is that we can find the money to pay and educate players that won't have an impact on our season? They probably won't even make it into the first team. Look what happenend with Nordveit and Merida. We sign them up, pay their wages and then sell them off for peanuts. How much are those guys on? How comes guys like JET can afford a car that's worth £300k to write off? Total nonsense. If we're paying these guys £10k - £30k a week but we're not willing to give our top players a wage increase that's at least competitive, then we have complete idiots running this club. From the manager to board room. We pay our kids more than any other club and that's why these little shits jump at the chance to join us. How backwards is that. We throw the money at unproven talent but penny pinch when it comes to the stars.

These restrictions are self imposed. I thought Rafa was talking rubbish when he said Liverpool couldn't afford to pay players the sort of money Arsenal pay. But then I realised he was talking about our youth/reserve players not the first team. Please, no more talk of financial restrictions and us being broke. It's as annoying as hearing a guy talk about not being able to afford rent but the son of bitch can afford to kit his house out with the latest gadgets and toys. The priorities of this club are back to front, inside out and all fucked up. When you take all the above into consideration, there is no way we talk about not being able to pay a player and extra £30k - £50k a month. We just don't want to.

[selassie]

The fact that we're trying to keep Cesc and Nasri doesn't tell us anything other than we don't want to give out a message that we're in decline. Isn't Nasri's contentions about his wages the major stumbling block? Whilst any of our main rivals can easily gazump the wages we're offering. We seem to be trapped in this rigid system where our financial perils dictate how much the manager can spend of transfers AND wages.

Well every top team wants to keep it's best players, if we want to give out a REAL positive message we should look to supplement some of our current stars with established quality signing, why does it always have to be about projects & signing young potential?

Nobody is saying that we need to spend like Citeh or Chelsea but we could and should be more ambitious in the transfer market, hell Spurs & Liverpool show more amibition in the market than us.

I suspect Nasri doesn't want to sign for two reasons, financial & sporting ambitions.

We're trapped in a rigid system designed by our Manager who is so wrapped up in a idealistic way of doing things he can't see the wood through the trees. Arsene's self imposed financial restrictions and approach to squad building is doing this club no favours. As P'n'G pointed out we seem to be able to always find the money for Youth (even gazumping the likes of Man United on wages for Ramsey), but when it comes to paying our experienced/established players we seem to face issue after issue.

We've created this problem, not our rivals.

[Toronto Gooner]

Going back to the initial post, SirJack, can you fill in some of the "missing" pieces for me. How do you know that this guy has inside knowledge? Am I reading his "tweets" correctly when he implies that Arsenal have another 2 years in the financial trough? What happens after those 2 years? What is this "financial trough"?

What does this mean and who are the ostriches? but fact is Arsenal in a complete mess off the field and its like ostriches. I could be wrong but, given that Arsenal's figures are in the public record, wouldn't there be some level of talk about the finances if they are a "complete mess"? I fully appreciate that accounts and financial statements can be massaged but given the recent history of companies falsifying their accounts, you would imagine that there would be some chatter.

Finally, if Arsenal are in such financial trouble, what are the other clubs (except a few) like?

[Toronto Gooner]

We're trapped in a rigid system designed by our Manager who is so wrapped up in a idealistic way of doing things he can't see the wood through the trees. Arsene's self imposed financial restrictions and approach to squad building is doing this club no favours. As P'n'G pointed out we seem to be able to always find the money for Youth (even gazumping the likes of Man United on wages for Ramsey), but when it comes to paying our experienced/established players we seem to face issue after issue.

We've created this problem, not our rivals.

The point is that the club decides what a player is worth, and not the fans. At the moment, we do not like the way the system is working but I would posit that this is because the club is not being as successful as we would like. If the club had won a few trophies in the last 6 years, everyone would be calling players who leave for financial reasons (and guaranteed that Clichy left for more money), they would be called mercenaries.

Personally, I would love to see Arsenal compete for and get Aguero but I am realistic enough to know that the problems that his transfer fee and salary would bring is almost certainly not worth it.

[Power n Glory]

Do you think Eboue, Denilson, Diaby and Bendy are worth their wages? We don't need them in the squad and if we sell them and we have money for an Augero type signing. This youth project has been a failure and we've wasted time and money on certain players that have no business playing first team football for a top side.