Fuck yes.
Leader and best player of our British contingent signs to follow his minions.
Has single handedly restored all true gooners faith in football
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Fuck yes.
Leader and best player of our British contingent signs to follow his minions.
Has single handedly restored all true gooners faith in football
Joke. Theo thinks he's worth more than JW. And he's got it.
At least we know it was just about money as was previously suspected.
Well he's our greedy little bastard now so we just have to hope he does the biz. No more Swansea performances allowed.
Always knew u rated and held Sir Jack in very high regards, tbh.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
That post is similar to one of Theo's crosses, high and far off its mark.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cripps
Just read on BBC website the news
He gets 100k which what he wanted and the deal is for 3 and a half years when we wanted 5.
Tell me who came out on top?
Feck it its over now, whether we like it or not.
Now go out and pay the big feckers release clause if you have the balls, because that is a guy that cam contribute all over the pitch and would not be a waste of money because any incoming manager would be over the moon to inheri him
I do rate Sir Jack but til he gets an end product, Theo is more important. Good to see Theo beingnpaidnwhat he's worth when you consider Jack got 80k a week for being injuredQuote:
Originally Posted by JoshGooner
The club have done what's necessary to secure one of our best players. He's our top goal scorer and we don't need the uncertainty hanging over our heads all season. It's good for the squad because of what he brings to the team and morale, yet we've got people still complaining about the wages he's on. It's irrelevant and all this nonsense about what he's worth is crazy because our wage structure isn't based on performance related or based merit. We have a squad full of overpaid players that haven't done anything to warrant a huge wage increase because we have this silly 'socialist' model. As said before, if we cleared out most of the dross, we could afford to pay our top performers extra and this idea of a fair wage structure is suicide. They were discussing this last week on Sunday Supplement and it's something that has been repeated on here several times.
I hope the club have turned a corner with this deal. We have to abandon this socialist model because we will keep cutting our nose to spite our face. Once JW, Ox or whoever else hits their potential and other clubs start taking note, we'd end up losing them during contract negotiations because we'd be reluctant to push pass the £100k mark. As said, JW is already close to that with £85k. A 5 year deal worth £90k a week won't be accepted and would be a slap in the face if we even we even thought of offering that for his next contract. The club needs to think this model through because it's badly flawed and can't believe we have professionals signing off on this model. It's madness. But I hope they have come to their senses. Even if that's not the case, it would have been ludicrous to let Theo Walcott leave on a free transfer anyway. That's when you know they have truly lost the plot. It just doesn't make £ or sense.
If we hadn't sold almost all our quality, the hype over Theo would have at the very least been far less. That there was this angst over Walcott demonstrates how clearly how we have fallen in terms of talent and quality. PnG is right - our pay structure has led us to this situation. It is just a massive massive pity that it has come that far that it is being broken for a player of the quality of Walcott.
Had the Club taken this type of ation three years ago, had Walcott departed today, it would barely have registered and he would be a footnote in the Club's history. That nan has a lot to prove now he has that contract.
£100k per-week for a man who nutmeg himself. Wumger :bow:
@OptaJoe 31% - Theo Walcott has best chance conversion rate of any player in the 2012-13 PL with more than 5 goals (excl pens). Signed.
sent from a fone
Unfortunately it's true, we had to keep this guy because we had to stop the loss of blood somehow. For whatever reason (probably purely because he's English) Walcott is viewed as a top player. So losing him would have been another signal that Arsenal is nothing more than an incubator and shopping mall for the serious clubs.
I think what's really gone wrong with our player policy is Wenger's mistaken belief there is an ounce of loyalty in this game. Maybe there is an ounce, but that's it. He's been bringing young talent in in the hope of building long term careers at the club. I guess he's wanted to build one team behind another for a smooth progression when it was time for young players to make the step up. It's not a bad idea but it can't work when you have comedy teams like Man City and Chelsea in the league. And in all fairness any fool should be able to figure that out. We should have modified this policy sooner but it has persisted too long and has resulted in us obtaining the worst of both worlds, the loss of talent we have carefully developed plus (until recently) a lack of experience that comes about from having a youth policy as an alternative and to the exclusion of a buying policy (Barcelona mixes it up, we don't).
The kids are on higher than normal wages because we want to keep them at the club. This will mean risking silly wages on a prospect that might not make the grade. But it also means the odd Jack Wilshere comes through. Jack is the ideal example of the model working. But he's a rare case. Other supposed stars haven't materialised, Djourou being a good example. Clichy. And Ashley Cole who started the rot. Cole should have been the danger sign and the cue to make a change. Can't remember how many years ago he left now but there has been enough time between then and now to shift to a more balanced policy of youth and splashing a bit of cash on experience. That started happening as a panic measure a couple of summers back and has progressed with signings like Podolski but the damage has already been done and the huge squad we have and the high wage bill has left us at a big disadvantage.
Tie in a billionaire who doesn't want to spend a penny and the result is bland and mediocre from a footballing perspective. So I see Wenger as naive in placing his faith in the character of the modern day player and I see Kroenke as... just a tight, greedy, ignorant bastard to be completely fair about it. Bad combination.
Stats don't tell the story of Walcott. Walcott will miss when you desperately need him to score. The opposite of RvP.Quote:
Originally Posted by AKBapologist
That's not true. Big games like Barca, Spurs, Chelsea....he usually turns up and gets important goals. As a striker, I think he'll get even more chances and with time he'll get better because he's more of a natural finisher compared to Adebayor and once that guy that his confidence he was hitting the back of the net on a regular. As for RVP, at Walcott's age, the guy was inconsistent and would chances, have games where he wasn't involved with build up play but all of sudden score a wonder goal....RVP has hit his peak now and is different player to what he was when he was Walcott's age. It's worth remembering that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
lets stop over analysing things and look at the simple.
when including appearance fees and bonuses (115k-120k), he's on about twice as much as squillaci and chamakh. thats about right.
we rewarded one of our best players with best stats with a new contract. thats about right.
we broke our socialist wage structure to tie down a player. thats about right.
this is the way it should always have been but lets hope this is the start of new things. berate wenger and the board for a lot of things, but rewarding theo with a new contract should not be one.
this wasnt about us standing firm and being stubborn in terms of giving money to a player, this was about starting fresh and breaking the mould. we absolutely had to tie theo down because he was the kingpin of the youth policy wenger believes in so much. theo was here since the beginning and was home grown, you lose theo and the past 6 years would have been a complete waste of time. cesc left because he went home, theo leaving home would have undermined every word wenger has spoken in the past few years. for once the player won at this club and its a relief because its two fingers to the status quo. lets hope we see more of it because for too long we have been far left in our values.
6 british first team players tied down in the space of a month. result.
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
RVP was all potencial and little end product at Theo's ageQuote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
sent from a fone
No he was compared to Bergkamp, in that he could become as good.Quote:
Originally Posted by AKBapologist
Theo is nowhere near the league of Thierry Henry.
Pretty much, RVP was always an amazing talent it was just that he was injured a lot.Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG
Walcott is nothing special, if only we'd broken the bank for someone that was actually worth it, I've long said I'm not that fussed whether he signs on again, there didn't seem to be much interest in him from big clubs which probably made it easier for him to sign.
Pretty much agree with all of this, he's really not a particularly talented player but he's one of our better players which says more about us than it does him.Quote:
Originally Posted by GB.
Theo's the most effective and productive player in our squad. I don't think anyone can doubt that. The stats speak for themselves.
Is this because Theo is a great player or is it because our squad is shite? When you strip the squad of world class talent like we have done you're left with decent players (Theo) becoming your best players. You have to pay your best players the going rate.
Why does anybody care what Theo is being paid? It's not as if we'd have spent his wages on buying a better player so we may as well stick with what we've got.
Name a better winger in the league.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arse n Wonga
There's only one and monkeys don't count.
^^ he's a striker now though,isnt he? :rolleyes:
I agree, although I think Walnut is a decent player lets not fool ourselves here. The decision to cave to his demands out of every other WC player we have sold on is baffling and I am still scratching my head. I think the club knew that if they sold him on the fans would revolt, this signing will cover up for the lack of signings in the transfer period. Wenger will point to signing the players that we have as most important, rather than bringing anyone else in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arse n Wonga
But we had RvP playing for us at his peak and he was scoring goals. Now we don't have him. If we have to wait 5 years for Walcott to hit his peak and we don't intend to get a quality striker while we wait then we're pretty much up shit creek aren't we? We need results on the pitch today as well as in 5 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by AKBapologist
tbf unless he is played centrally most weeks, then it will be hard to make something of himself as a striker.
yes he has to make the most of his chances but he also has to be allowed to grow into the role. that's just being realistic.
Pretty much and I can name a host of better strikers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Lahey
Agree with this, we've done nothing in the transfer window when it was clear a month and a half ago we needed some quality, a few half arsed win and Theo re-signing and it's all forgotten and like you and Wenger has already said getting Walcott to sign was the most important thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Lahey
Still amazes me that a club of our stature can only deal with one player at a time or at least that's what they want us to think, had we been interested in signing players we'd have been well on our way by now.
As usual though Wenger came up with his excuses of players being cup tied for the CL, the Walcott contract situation and players being too expensive, he's football's biggest joke IMO and I say that knowing that he brings it on himself.
I don't mind Walcott signing on, as I've said I don't think he's anything amazing (we sold all those players that were) but we don't have any better so it's not a bad thing, the lack of signings is however.
I know, they scream insults at others, then talk some sh*t about needing to be respected and then make some daft comment about someone's shoes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grebbo
Bale, Hazard, Silva, Mata of the top of my head they've all played on the wing and I'd take any of those over him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grebbo
No f*cker went after Walcott even though his deal was almost up, that just doesn't happen if you're a top player.
but none of them are used as wingers now.
bale maybe but he pretty much goes where he wants.
Yea, it's the general consensus that the league is a bit shit, but no need to further degrade it by stating that Theo is best at anything in it.
Well if Walcott gets what he wanted neither will he be, the point is all of those players can operate as wingers and if someone offered us a straight swap for Theo it would be a no brainer as they are clearly more talented players.Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
however, we dont have time for that. he has demanded he is played up front, he has to take that chance now, or go back to the wing. while it might not be his fault that we dont have time for him to grow up front, and blame can be put at wengers door for poor management etc, theo has to what is best for the team. that means, playing where he is told to play and putting in 100% effort the whole time and taking his chance when he gets it
when did he demand?
the anti feeling toward our own players at times is staggering.
i wouldn't take a direct swap at all, as they would lose a lot of their effectiveness. any of those for someone in the centre of our team, sure no problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arse n Wonga
The new contract shows it was about the money all along, but hes a really good finisher and he will score a lot of goals. don't understand the negativity about this!!!
Theo got one over the club and people don't like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kryptonite
Whilst Theo is not the best player we've ever had I'm happy and I hope this is a sign we're now prepared to push the limits of our wage structure in order to keep those who are most important.
It's all well and good saying so and so is replaceable but that doesn't take into account how it affects the team losing key players and in some cases friends every year. Wenget likes to preach about keeping a core group together and this is a step in the right direction.
Like I said those players have and can play on the wing and all have the skills to do so, so I still say it's a no brainer. Talent wise Walcott is limited.Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz
I don't give a sh*t to be honest, it's about time a player got what he wanted. Trouble is, it was the wrong player to give in to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Overmars
I'm not fussed because he's not a huge talent.