Overall, your saying prices have to be high to compete. That's justification and that's bollocks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Printable View
Overall, your saying prices have to be high to compete. That's justification and that's bollocks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I'm asking what the alternative is. Where else does the money come from unless you've got an Abramovic pumping money in?Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
I’d take that over a piece of shit like Stan Kronke taking £3m a year from the fans. Also, if we’re going to fleece the fans, at least put the money back on the pitch and not use it to prop up the egos of players that have done nothing to earn a pay rise. Gibbs, Ox, Ramsey and Wilshere shouldn’t be on the wages they earn but they all jumped well ahead of a player like Coquelin on the pay scale without having to battle for their spot on the team. It’s senseless. Coquelin earned his new contract and fought for it. That’s how you should earn it at this club. Being rubberstamped as a future first teamer shouldn’t get you a £50k to £80k contract.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I agree with that actually - players at Arsenal are rewarded far too richly before they've really achieved anything (I'm looking at you, Theo - although you may be coming good now...)
I suspect it's not just us that does it though, if we don't do it they'll just piss off to another club who will - and in some cases we might think "so what" but IMO we've finally got a decent squad now so we don't want too many jumping ship.
Exactly. Theo is the prototype for this. He’s jumped right to the top of the food chain without really earning it. We propped up his wages so high when he was young that when he finally has some bargaining chips going into negotiations we’re looking at his wages going up to £100k - £140k. We’re going to be in the same position with Wilshere, Ramsey, Ox and Gibbs pretty soon when we don’t need to be.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
Fear of them leaving makes no sense either. Where are they going to go for first team football or even the opportunity when so under developed? Even if they do catch their attention, they’d be foolish to leave so early. Most players want first team football at that age and most of the young players that have left us have left because of the lack of first team football and not wages. Coquelin would have been gone if he wasn’t given a chance. It’s the same for most of our young players. They want the opportunity. And if there ever were a case that a club like City wanted then (Sterling) there is no way we can stop that if we’re not winning silverware. We could offer them a fortune but it’s obvious we can’t compete the wages of the mega rich. Trying to keep our young players sweet with bumper wages to ward off bigger clubs is just misguided and waste of our resources. It’s stopped us from keeping a hold of our established talent because we wouldn’t top up their wages or invest in real talent ready for the first team.
Which one, PL or CL?Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
We're cheapskating it and hoping for the best. That's not planned and measured competitiveness. One or two key injuries and we're done because the depth is not there in vital areas.
A final point on the AGM:
Sir Chips referred to our captain as "Michael Arteta". :lol: Just shows how in tune he is with the club he's supposedly the chairman of.
I honestly reckon neither him or Lord Harris actually like football. They're both Tory donors so Rugby's probably more their thing but because they've inherited such a cushy gig here, they're reluctant to give it up easily.
When you add in the two Kroenke dicks as well, you possibly have 4/6 members of the board who have zero passion or awareness of footballing matters which is a far cry from the days of David Dein, Fizzman and Richard Carr.
There's not much in it between him and the fat Russian anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Globalgunner
In fact it wasn't for the alleged dead bodies/crime/violence associated with Uzmanov's dealings (similar to Abromovich), I'd be openly championing him to seize control. He's far more wealthy than Stan (and Abromovich for that matter) and he probably wouldn't be taking money out of the club for his own use.
Even though some of the outbursts during the AGM regarding the matter were cringeworthy in nature they did hopefully have the desired effect of directly displaying to the board the level of anger there is about the issue.
It's a joke really. Three million taken out for two successive years now with no credible attempt to even explain what exactly it's for, the services provided for it or to show that it was a competitive price.
Frankly if I wasnt an Arsenal fan, I wouldnt watch either. Compared to the champions of England in the last decade, we are way up there in terms of prices. I do understand that we are in London and we have a new stadium, but for the price we pay, there is very little value.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I'd rather watch us than Chelsea and their prices aren't that different - their cheapest ticket is more expensive than our cheapest.
There isn't much value in watching top level football these days but if enough people are willing to pay it... :shrug:
Very little value at all and I resent the fact that this club is preaching this self-sustaining model as if it’s beneficial to the fans when it’s beneficial to the higher ups. The Chips’s and the Stan’s. Their attitudes at the AGM epitomises what’s wrong with the sport and I’d rather not see or hear about it because it spoils the illusion and I’m reluctant to part with my money to support such characters.Quote:
Originally Posted by fakeyank
Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
They are Champions. They compete and what are you talking about? Our cheapest season ticket is almost double their cheapest season ticket. Our cheapest ticket is closer to their most expensive.
This is what I mean by justifying bullshit.
The billionaire invested clubs are rightly criticised for inflating the transfer market. But then you have to look at clubs like Arsenal who are helping to inflate the ticket and merchandise prices across the board.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
Bottom line is, there is no escaping the corporatisation now inherent in football. Gazidis, Kroenke, Glaziers, are all there for one thing only. Beyond the current set of owners these 'companies' will only be passed onto similarly cynically minded people purising their own business interests. There are plenty of stories throughout English football from way before the PL began full of corrupt owners fleecing fans. The main difference now is that we live in a far more corporate world and there are multiple 'legal' ways of doing so without being chanted or abused out of the club by supporters.
They might well be but I wouldn't pay to watch them play.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
This is the table I was looking at:Quote:
Our cheapest season ticket is almost double their cheapest season ticket. Our cheapest ticket is closer to their most expensive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34507719
That gives our cheapest season ticket as £1014 and theirs at £750 - I don't know how many cup games theirs includes though.
Their match day tickets range from £52 - £87, ours £27 - £97.
Anyway, I'm not disagreeing that our prices are ridiculous.
So if we went back to a boring boring Arsenal style you wouldn't go to games? Is it the style of football that's being paid for? We haven't always played pretty football.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I can't watch Chelsea play but if I'm honest, I can't just watch any team week in week out if it's not a team I support. It's different when you're rooting for your team to win. A neutral will find the tie boring but when it's your team out there it'd not as boring. Even if watching them defend all game..
I don't go anyway but I definitely wouldn't pay the sort of prices I used to pay to watch boring boring Arsenal. It was so dire in 92/93 that dad nearly gave up the season tickets - the season was rescued by the two cup wins but I remember the games I did go to that year (it was my first year at Uni so it wasn't that many) being awful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory
The thing about football - as Nick Hornby notes in Fever Pitch - is that you have no idea whether you're going to enjoy it when you go along. Go to a show at the theatre or a gig and you're pretty much guaranteed a good time (if you like that sort of thing, and if you don't why would you get tickets?!). With football, you might beat Utd 3-0, you might lose to West Ham 0-2 and it'll ruin your day. Overall I enjoyed going more often than not but the ever increasing prices do make you think twice.
early days yet but with the emergence of Bellerin, Chambers looks to be a bit of a pointless signing, assuming he was signed to be RB.
He wasntQuote:
Originally Posted by AFC Leveller
Debauchy looks pointless with hindsight because Jenks isn't that far off from him.
Funny how things work out, Bellerin would still be waiting in the wings if Debuchy wasn't ravaged with injury last season.
He is absolute quality. The best young player we've had since 10/11 Wilshere. Transformed our right side to the point where we wouldn't function correctly if he was missing, he's that important IMO.
I agree, Bellerin is superb. Apart from I think his first game in the side, cant think of any instance he has played badly. Also as he is a defensive player, Barca and Real might not be looking at him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
They'll come sniffing round for sure in the next season or two. He's on a long contract from this season which is a good thing. He actually compliments Ramsey very well as in he likes to get forward and give us the pace and width on the right we don't have while Aaron has the engine to cover him where needed.
Personally. I would like to see Debuchy moved on end of the season and have Jenkinson back in the team. His loan at W ham has improved him greatly. Glad we didnt sell him. He and Bellerin could push each other on to really excel on that RH. We could even play them both on occasion, one ahead of the other.
Dont be daft. The tapping up will begin this spring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bumble
He's the perfect Alves replacement for them really, they'd be stupid not to have a look.
Hopefully we tell them to FOAD.
true and he does have Barca DNA. And once he goes to the Euros with Spain... he will come back a changed player.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
Wenger's 66th Birthday today. :partytime::partytime::partytime:
Whether you're a stout AKB or WOB, you can't deny the tremendous impact he's had on the club. Deserves respect forever from every single Arsenal fan irrespective of what the future holds.
Wenget :bow:.
This shall forever be known as Wenget Day
:partytime::partytime::scarf::scarf::cheer::cheer: :cheers::cheers::yippee::yippee:
Wheelchair is appearing on Goals on Sunday in 50 minutes or so.
Jack Wilshere on Chelsea's struggles: "We're delighted they are losing!"Quote:
Originally Posted by McNamara That Ghost...
:haha::haha:
The next goal Arsenal score will be the 2,000th in all competitions under Wenger.
Arsenal loanee Serge Gnabry just isn't good enough to play for my team, admits West Brom manager Tony Pulis
Going after him in the media will really help eh? Silly ****
For what it's worth, Gnabry was great for us in 13/14 when he played
Laughable.
He's better than what you have cunt. Maybe if you bothered to give him a chance he'd prove it.
Word on the street (and in all the houses) is Tony Pulis is a cunt.Quote:
Originally Posted by Munchies
Massive mistake sending him to that shithole and that cuntstain.
It's not that he's not good enough, it's that he's not enough of a donkey to fit your shithouse tactics for football.
Might as well recall him now given Ramsey's injury and also The Ox's questionable form.
If there's an option to recall we should absolutely do it. He'd give us another option with Welbeck and Ramsey out
We still have Joel Campbell. Wenger wants him to step his game up so we can play him in the first team. Serge will get his chance.
Crowley apparently recalled.
Reports of him not being considered good enough, but the fans seem to rate him and he's played quite a bit.
This season's Coq?
Bring back Gnabry and Jenks and Zelalem and Akpom and Maitland-Niles too to cover for Giroud, Alexis, Cazorla, Coquelin and Koscielny after they collapse during the kick-off of the Swansea game.
Feo and Ox out for 3 weeks.