Wenger handed the titel to Man Ure and left us even further behind selling them RVP!

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Originally Posted by Grebbo

RVP is the best striker in the league by a mile.

If we'd made him stay this season we'd have got one more season out of him then he'd of left for free. This season/next season, doesn't make much difference. Either way we're left trying to replace the irreplaceable.

There is not a striker in the world that could replace RVP for less than £40m.

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Spot on, and the cost to us for not gaining CL qualification this season? Prob 40million in TV rights and the rest. Should have kept him for another season and allowed him to walk up to Manchester for free. At least we wouldn't have been gift-wrapping him to them. That, for me was the moment I think I knew there'd be no way back for Arsene Wenger - and to hug him at half time in front of the cameras was just as bad as Santos swapping shirts with him. Arsene you were once great, but I have not sung your name this season and probably wont ever again. Now David Dein, come and call me a fickle fan to my face...you slime bucket, power hungry, sell-out.

i wouldn't say a mile at all - suarez is definitely up there and is great fun to watch as a neutral. a different type of player, granted, but proving to be just as effective and even more so for a team with far less ability. even if the little diver doesn't score, you can be sure he'll give maximum effort and do enough to keep his team mates on their toes.

for rvp's contract, once he decided not to sign, we were fucked either way. there is absolutely no way in this world that wenger and co would've been patted on the back for letting him go for free - after a season where there was every danger rvp could've 'invented' more injuries to keep out of the action, or just not given his all.

the club fucked up not getting rid of him with two years left on his contract. that also wouldn't of meant that we didn't make top four after his last season with us, because the world doesn't turn like that. you don't just pluck someone out of a situation and the space left behind just remains as it was - the dynamics would've changed, we could've got in other strikers/AM's whatever - the point being we wouldn't have been fucked over by the s**** and could've controlled WHERE we sold him - ie, abroad.

If we got rid of Van Persie with two years remaining on his contract, we most likely would not have qualified for the CL this season, nor would we have received as much money.

Had he seen out his contract it would likely have been cost neutral as the foregone transfer fee would have been recovered via CL qualification next season.

How can we control where we sell someone? Players do have a choice where they sign.

it would've given us more options that's for sure, instead of being backed into a corner where one team - our biggest rivals in the league - take him and reap the benefits.

@GB - the point i'm making is you don't look back on history and remove someone or something and everything plays out exactly the same, minus that person. the dynamics change, quite dramatically. maybe we wouldn't have made CL football but given this seasons likely outcome, what would be the difference. it may also have stopped this theo situation or anything similar taking place again as we sent out the right message.

i don't really care how much money we get back from him, as that money is never properly invested anyway, so it makes no difference to me. especially as i cancelled my season ticket, from a completely selfish point of view, the money means nothing anymore. what does grind me and seemingly a large majority of fans is selling him to the best team in England and making them even better, seeing him run about scoring every week and gloating his big dutch face in celebration.

there is no ideal outcome to the situation - either sold with two years, one year or for free - either way whatever i am saying is easy with hindsight, i know that. but looking back i would much prefer the club gave itself more options than the singular one it was left with in the summer.

I agree with your sentiment, but I disagree that they had one option during the summer. It would also have sent a message had he been made to fully honour the contract. Additionally, where he subsequently signed would have been his business alone and would not have involved the club sending out the message it did by selling him to a rival.

I would certainly have preferred having him see out his contract.

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Originally Posted by GB.

I agree with your sentiment, but I disagree that they had one option during the summer. It would also have sent a message had he been made to fully honour the contract. Additionally, where he subsequently signed would have been his business alone and would not have involved the club sending out the message it did by selling him to a rival.

I would certainly have preferred having him see out his contract.

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So would I, but realistically, that could never happen.

Why not?

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Additionally, where he subsequently signed would have been his business alone and would not have involved the club sending out the message it did by selling him to a rival.

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This is a key point (aside from the fact I think keeping him could have been the difference between CL footie this year and Thu nights on C5)

The club made a statement. Money is everything. There is nothing else, just money. The fans, rivalry, tradition, the message we sent to every other team in the league, our ambitions, name any aspect of football and they said fuck it, it's just about the money. 100% about the money and fuck all else. Their talk about not being able to afford to let him go on a free will be bullshit if we don't scrape 4th this year and even if we do it will hardly be the case of them making the best plans to ensure it. It'll be a fluke or a case of our closest (also-ran) rivals being even shittier. Guarantee their profits and gamble with the football, that's what they do. ****s.

Arsenal finally proved that old cliché wrong. One man can be bigger than the team. The board made this team very, very small when they sold RvP to Utd.

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Originally Posted by GB.

Why not?

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If he'd privately gone the manager and asked to leave, and the manager said no, fine.

But the way he went about it, he knew he was making his position untenable.

So yeah, fuck him.