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So let's say we paid £5m up front. We paid £10m for Gervinho. That's £15m. It's close to the £20m a year NQ wants the board to spend a year and we've gone beyond that.
The Board are in control of the money but Wenger can tell them to sell Cesc on the cheap. He was also able to get him that long term contract.
Didn't Gazidis say he and Wenger were the only two in charge of the signings?
Sorry chaps but you're talking as if the board is powerless in all this, in thrall of Wenger and somehow oblivious of our slide from prominence. I didn't say we should spend £20mill a year, I said we were at least £20mill a year behind on investment. You can add back in the profits the board members have banked and converted into large payouts when they jumped ship. How anyone can ignore what this board has done and try to pin the blame on Wenger is a mystery. It's so simple. Who has pocketed the money that didn't go into the team? Wenger? Sure, he got his wages but are we saying he gets more if he spends less?
1. The team has been systematically asset stripped.
2. The board members have benefited to the tune of millions of pounds.
Which part of this is difficult to understand? The bastards have put NOTHING in. Kicked NOTHING back. The new owner has put NOTHING in. He magnanimously allowed Wenger to spend what was already in the kitty, but only after a much greater amount was earned from further asset stripping.
Did Wenger force through the sales of Fabregas and Nasri? The evidence says absolutely not. He seemed determined to hang on to both players at the start of the transfer window. What happened to change his mind? We don't know, we just know he accepted the sales in the end. Was this because he didn't want to carry players who had already mentally left the club? And did this mentality arise and make the situation impossible once the likes of PHW came out and made it clear Fabregas was for sale? We speculate because we have no way of knowing what really went on.
But we do know Kroenke flew in and it's suggested by people who are closer to the club than us the demand was for Nasri to be sold because the potential loss next year was unacceptable. Maybe that was the right course of action, maybe it was wrong. That's not the point. The board always seems to at least sanction (if not drive through) these player sales in the end. Let's be kind and call it avaricious reluctance. Are they unaware that stripping quality from the team will have a negative effect? They have no place in football if they genuinely don't grasp such a simple cause and effect. They know what's happening for sure and they approve, or else they would use their authority to put a stop to it.
Why are we signing kids instead of the ready made quality we've needed to replace stars like Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira? Because kids are cheaper. Because the board refuses to invest in the team. And we did not spend net £15 million this year. Gervinho's fee was a fraction of the amount brought in from the Fabregas and Nasri sales. And again, his wages will be a lot lower.
I understand why people are asking, why would the board do this? Don't they know asset stripping the team will deprive them of potential additional sponsorship and gate receipts? Why can the same question not be applied to Wenger? Is he unaware that a drop in quality will make his job harder? So who is guilty here? The manager who faces scorn and potentially the sack as the lack of quality bites into his ability to get results? Or the board members who have pocketed millions? Shouldn't we get real about this?
This is why I hate these fuckers so much. It's true - they do know their asset stripping will kill our opportunities to compete. Plainly they don't give a fuck, or else these concerns are very much secondary to their own personal interests. Beyond Kroenke, what is the incentive for any of the board members to even give a damn? They have their money, don't they? What do they lose if the club falters? Kroenke carries all the risk now but, as I've argued, how much risk is it in reality? Does he care what happens to the team or does he care more about property values, share values and a potential onwards sale for a healthy markup? Again, we don't know for sure. We can only make a guess based on his actions. So far his actions have very much pointed to a, "Fuck the team", attitude. We've had nothing from him. Is he biding his time, waiting for us to drop out of Europe before he makes his move to strengthen? That would seem nonsensical. Or doesn't he give a shit about that sort of stuff because he's busy working an entirely different agenda? Plainly he didn't buy in to promote the team on the field. So what did he buy in for? He's not saying. Silent Stan. Why?
Or has Wenger managed to persuade him to buy on the guarantee little money will be spent, the team will collapse and Kroenke will be left holding a lemon? Has Wenger "ordered" him to buy the club? It's all a bit ridiculous, isn't it? Poor Kroenke, poor PHW and the gang. Hapless victims of Wenger and all they have to show for it is either millions of pounds stashed in their bank accounts or a fuck-off huge property asset in the heart of London with a major fan base and prospects to enhance sponsorship arrangements around the globe and then flog the lot for a big profit. It must hurt them when they see the selfish fucking fans moan and whine on about getting value for their money, eh?
Mind you, they probably have a chuckle when so many of the fans come out and berate Wenger for making such a mess. They robbed the bank and managed to pin it on somebody else. Nicely done. The fans have been nicely done too.
Just thought I'd also add what Wenger said a few days ago:
Quote:
"(Owner) Stan Kroenke's words are a beautiful sign of faith but I'm also a realist.
Quote:
"When you lose 8-2 to Manchester United you can't say 'I'm the best in the world'.
"It's not that I feel in danger, it's simply I'd like people who love this club to be happy and you have the taste of failing in our mission when an avalanche like that falls on our head.
"Big disappointments are part of our job. The team is insecure every time we concede a goal."
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11670_7248605,00.html
About this 'Wenger vs. the board' theme that's going on, what are those Kroenke's 'words of faith' that Wenger's talking about?
In other news,
Quote:
He said: "I have periods where I am tired, yes. It's true that the close season makes people think you're resting but it's during that that you work the most.
"I got in the habit of working all the time. I think I must have been lazy in a previous life and was punished to come back in a very tiring and stressing job.
"I'd like to go to Tahiti for a month but I can't. From time to time I would like to because I'm running out of time. Everyone gets older."
.......
He said: "I'm in a job where results count and they decide your future.
Who isn't? I don't doubt he's suffering because he clearly cares about the club, but nobody's forcing him to remain in his job...he gets paid 'handsomely' for doing what he's doing. Actions speak louder than words and all that...a visible change in approach or formation would at least show he's trying something different.
You are ignoring some key points.
15 years ago when Wenger first arrived, he had the most successful Arsenal striker benched for some kid worth £500k. When we sold Vieira, he was replaced for some 16year old kid from Barca. This is Wenger's way and always has been. This isn't asset stripping. It's not like we're Valencia, Everton or Villa and selling players when a club comes in with a huge bid.
It's not as we're selling our players to the higest bidders each time a big club comes crawling. If so, we would have sold certain players ages ago where we would have received more money.
You're looking at this from a flipped perspective as if Arsene Wenger hasn't earned his reputation for finding stars on the cheap. If Wenger has shown in the past that he can replace our all time goal scorer for some unknown kid and still win the title, whose going to question him about the team? If he brought Kolo Toure for peanuts and turned him into a defender that's part of the Invincible team, do you really think they're going go start questioning who he buys and sells now when he has a reputation for for turning water into wine?
Heck, a few years ago, most of us were under the illusion Wenger fouls replace anyone with a younger player. Now that we're struggling questions are starting to be asked but instead you're pointing the finger at the board instead of Wenger. Isn't possible that he's just lost his touch? This isn't asset stripping. Why do you think the Academy was set up? This has been the plan from morning.
Wenger has been the mouthpiece for all this and he's the one that keeps dangling the carrot on front of the fans faces. He backs the self suffiecient model, he opposess financial 'doping', he makes out as if the ticket price increase will help us compete with bigs clubsike Chelsea. If you hate the Board, you have to direct some of that Wenger's way because he's right in there promoting this. Read his comments, look at his philosophy check his transfer dealings from the past. You know during the Invincible season we were written off as title contenders because Abramovich had just arrived and we had only bought a new keeper. During interviews and press conferences, Wenger stressed that something special was brewing in the team so he didn't feel the need to add more numbers for the sake of it. Doesn't that sound familiar?
I dont agree with you here but just for the sake of what I am going to ask, I will... lets say what you are saying is absolutely true, why on earth is Arsene Wenger still at the club? You may say that AW respects his contract at every club he has been at... fair enough.. but then why did he even renew his contract? Surely the board stripping the club of its resources didnt just start this season. It probably started 5-6 years back at least. Arsene, with his masters in economics, brilliant knowledge about cash flow wouldve surely been able to figure out that he was in a sinking ship and ANY chance of getting silverware were minimal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
Why did a winner like AW chose to stay back and take part in the seasonal stripping of our club? How did a man who has a say in pretty much everything the club does or has done just gone into being a wet kitten in the rain? Arsene Wenger, if he had chosen not to renew his contract wouldve easily walked into any top job (specifically Madrid) without any fuss but guess what he had to say about joining Madrid? He said he would not join a club where he does not have control over footballing matters.. so if that logic applies, why is he still with us?
These are all the monetary aspects.. what about the continuous mind baffling decisions on the field? Lets take the defense of the 06 CL team that reached the final creating a world record: Senderos (2.5 mill), Eboue (1 mill), Kolo (150K), Flamini (1 million). How did this bunch of nobodies create that defensive record? Martin Keown- a defensive coach. Dont tell me the board is stopping Arsene from getting a defensive coach!! Look at our defense as of last season- Kos (10 mill), Clichy (250k), DJ (free), Sagna (6 mill).. they cost 4 times the defense of 06 and probably shipped 4 times the amount of goals as well!
What about Arsene Wenger continually playing players out of position? Remember games where Diaby played on the left? Eduardo, Vela, Bendy on the wings? Do you think Stan calls Arsene from Missouri pressurizing him to play these players out of position? What about our formation of 4-3-3? Sure, its an average formation when we have a world class player like RVP down the middle but what happens when he is injured? Chakma as lone striker... Why not switch it to 4-4-2 with 2 strikers up front? Stan or PHW does not make these decisions!
How about last season or a few seasons back when we were one CB/GK away from being close to winning the league? Board wouldve surely sanctioned 10-15 million quid for us to buy a decent GK/CB if that meant winning the title and then making hay out of the profits of winning the PL. A greedy man surely knows when to invest.. they have not turned billionaires without investing or taking a risk once in a while. Stan might be an asshole and wanting to make the most of buying out Arsenal.. if thats the case, he would surely like to have the opportunity to sell 'Arsenal FC- English PL Champions' rather than 'AFC- 10th position in PL'!
And finally an opportunity that I think we missed a couple of seasons back... that was to re-sign Vieira. He wasnt the Vieira of 2005 but he was still better than Denilson and Diaby put together and think of what he couldve done in the dressing room. If I am not wrong, thats the same season where we stayed in the title hunt right till we fucked up in March, lost to Wigan 3-2 after leading 2-0 until 85th minute etc. Think of what PV4 couldve done as an assistant in the coaching staff at AFC now... or may be AW does not want a personality like PV4 around him. Why have a winner like PV4 who very likely would question his methods and tactics.. :patrice: is a safer bet!
I think this season we are at around +17 million in transfers. Over the last 5 or 6 years, we should either have a positive net transfer balance or it will be 0. Stan Kroenke is worth 2.5 billion dollars and growing.. spending 20 million quid a season especially in the last 2-3 seasons when we were one CB/GK away from seriously winning the PL is nothing to him. To put it into perspective, 20 million pounds is 1.2% of his overall wealth. So Stan is not spending 1.2% of his overall worth because he is pocketing 20 million quid?! If he invests that 1.2%, he will get a better return in turn of shirt sales, merchandise, glory hunters and a higher percentage chances to play in the lucrative CL.. why would he not sanction what essentially to him is petty change?!Quote:
Originally Posted by LDG
JSAO mentioned that it seems we are going in the back pages in Japanese sports magazines and newspapers. I can vouch for the same thing here in US.. before fox soccer chanel would bill Arsenal matches as title contenders pushing for glory.. now you dont even get Arsenal match previews.. now its city, chelsea, utd and liverpool. Some of the most lucrative markets for football lie in Asia, US and middle east... Real, Barca, Utd and Pool can vouch for that. Stan Kroenke and pretty much any dimwit with footballing knowledge knows that... so why would he want to hold 20 million a season and make us the fulham, wigans of english football? It does not make any business sense..
Like I said in my earlier posts, the case against the board is very weak. If this was something that could be taken to the court, it would be dismissed before even going on trial.. Arsene's case of literally dragging the club down will definitely bring a guilty verdict!
Even if Stan put his own money up, couldn't that be considered as financial 'doping'? It's something Wenger has preached hard against and just a few pages back, a few posters said it was unfair and killing football. It would be hypocritical of us to be up on our soapbox about what how other clubs should be run and then accept money from our wealthy boards members to buy players. Wenger has pinned himself into a corner with his protesting and some of the posturing on here about Man City fans has a few posters on here stuck as well. Huge contradictions. The Board are getting stick for not putting their own money up but some would say that would tarnish any future success because we bought it. So what are we saying here? We keep going in this direction and let the fans pay for an unsussessful overpaid team? Also, do we want a Board that gets involved with the affairs of the manager and tells him what to spend, where and on who? FK, you made a good point about Wenger turning down the Real Madrid position and Wenger has always hailed the way this club is run and how the Board allow him to do his job.Quote:
Originally Posted by FakeYank
I don't have a problem with owners investing some money in to the club they own, it's their right to do so - even the Financial Fair Play rules (whether they actually do something significant is up for debate) say owners can invest a specific amount in to their club. What I do have a problem with is when a club spends so much money (and don't have anywhere near as much coming back in) that in any other circumstance would see them go out of business. As far as I know that example is what Wenger meant by financial doping.
Wenger preaches spending within your means and spending what the club earns. If Stan throws in money from other ventures outside or Arsenal, that's wrong according to Wenger. I don't have a problem with Stan pumping in his millions.
This is true but the financial doping part of it, I guess is something different. Anyway Wenger was probably opposed to an outside investor coming in initially, so you suspect he'd get over the possibility of being hypocritical and I suspect it would soon be forgotten about (by the media). However with Kroenke only owning a portion of the club, I don't think it'll happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory