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Well for the PL, the realisation that the global popularity of their product would collapse if teams started playing to half empty lifeless stadiums.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
For the FA/Gov, fan and constituent pressure and for the latter, the importance of ensuring the economic benefits that the PL brings to the country remains.
:gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
I hold the same view of Gazidis.
Wenger’s recent comments about not being able to lower ticket prices shows where his head is at. He’s smart enough to know that a few million towards lowering prices can make a difference but he’s not saying that. He knows Stan is taking money out of the club but then has the gall to talk as if a few million can’t be spared. I’d rather he just said nothing at all instead of treating us like idiots. There has always been an argument on here that our board lack ambition and won’t put pressure on Wenger. They’re happy collecting their Champions League money. But why must the incentive come from them? I don’t get why Wenger has been so passive and hasn’t been beating down their door for more support, more funds and looking out for the interest of the fans. It seems as though he never leaps to our defence but he’ll defend the interest of very crooked men and that’s why I question the ‘socialist’ persona fans have given him. We shouldn’t even have to look to the FA or any outside organisation to look out for the fans interests. Wenger sits between the fans and the top exec types. He sees both sides so I’m baffled some of his comments and can only conclude the above.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico
Me too, although I think Wenger perhaps has become blindsided by his own principles over the years that has impacted on our effectiveness on the pitch. There is a flip side to the idea that Wenger is the 'good guy,' in that if he still doesn't have access to the larger funds on a consistency basis but allows the directors at the club to constantly speak in bolder financial terms about our spending power, then he has to shoulder blame there too. Especially if he is the one on the front line taking all the abuse in the media and the mongs who shout 'cunt' at him behind their keyboards but upon meeting him in person would become quivering wrecks. If he is sacrificing his own reputation for the good of the club then that would be amazing but I don't think that is the case entirely. He surely has cash to spend and could of secured a Giroud-like striker or Coquelin-like back-up in the summer, amongst other things.Quote:
Originally Posted by Letters
:lol: :gp:Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
Please! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Kano
http://worldsoccertalk.com/2015/10/1...-ivan-gazidis/
Wenger isn't shouldered with anything. He's right there alongside Gazidis making excuses and coming up with his own opinion on the matter. I don't get the sense that he's reading from a script. You don't have to lay into him like some others do, but let's not make excuses as if he's a powerless mute.Quote:
The ticket pricing issue was one of the main talking points at Arsenal’s annual general meeting on Thursday morning, with the BBC survey also finding that the Gunners sold the most expensive season tickets in the English top flight. But Wenger is determined to see prices driven down and feels his club have done well in recent years to freeze their prices: “It is my job to do that. “Overall I feel that we have made a conscious effort in our board meetings to block the increase of our tickets and in seven of the past 10 years we have not increased our prices. “Overall there is a desire on our board to stabilize (prices) and make the tickets more affordable for people. Is football more expensive? Yes, but Saturday or Sunday if you want to go to rugby you will see the tickets are expensive there as well. It is maybe part of professionalism and a modern society.”
It would be nice to think that but we are dealing with people and as we all know we have a miserable history of repeating the same mistakes again and again. Especially when it comes to money. When you look at the age and their lack of emotional attachment to the football clubs they own in the modern age, I would think they are all trying to scoop up as much cash as possible before the bubble burst. The new TV deal is changing the entire landscape in terms of revenue and it wouldn’t surprise me if owners thought fans being present or not would make much of a difference. The recent £30 cap proposal that was rejected by the PL clubs shows they have no interest in entering this discussion. Arsenal’s response is they would rather focus on increasing the £200,000 pot currently given out to each PL to help away fans. They brag about 19,000 £10 tickets being available for 16 year olds, as if that is a significant number, set against the 1 million plus tickets that go on sale for our home PL games across the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico
The NFL salary cap is more complex than it first looks, because essentially teams can roll over any surplus from season to season and contracts are not guaranteed, meaning they can cancel an expensive contract at any point. It’s horribly to speak so negatively about the state of our game but the grim truth is the power was taken away from the ordinary supporter a long time ago and only something catastrophic happening, along the lines of the ITV deal that fell to pieces a decade ago, will force any change.
It may still be essential to get people into the stadiums but if the global appeal and TV revenues and sponsorship deals keep increasing then the match day take will become less significant. The chavs and gypos struggle to fill the stadium, West Ham will play in a half empty stadium. With virtual reality and 3D finally making a breakthrough I can see a day coming (relatively soon) where you'll be able to attend the match from your living room and with social interactivity your mates will still be there, right beside you. It's coming. You'll be able to make your in-game purchases from the club shop, you can already get food and booze delivered to the front door. "Stadiums" will soon be able to hold 2-3 million spectators on match day so who will care about the 60K who put up with the crappy, overpriced transport? This is a consumer product now, the cultural remains actively discouraged and dying fast. Maybe the 60K seats will all become luxury corporate lounges with butlers and hookers in attendance. For football to keep eating itself at the current pace they'll need a lot more than a few seats strung around the pitch to make it work. Who would have thought "friends" would be electronic bits flowing around Facetube rather than flesh and blood people you actually meet? When sport dies and is replaced by whatever shit the money ghouls have in store I bet you most will think it's way cool dude.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico
Because I think that's a bit simplistic. There was a time when it was difficult for us to compete. What Leicester is doing doesn't invalidate that, if it was that easy then why has no-one else done it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn
The fact is money and success have been highly correlated in the modern game and it's no co-incidence that the 3 sides who have won the title since we last did all have bigger resources than us.
That doesn't absolve Wenger of all blame, there are times when we could have pushed on and won trophies, maybe a title or two, but overall in the era when we were hamstrung by poor financial deals I think he did a pretty good job.
For the last couple of years the financial deals have been in place, we can now compete more seriously in the transfer market so Wenger should be judged differently. Already it's yielded a couple of trophies. The lack of a title challenge was disappointing last year. Had we not won the FA Cup I think he should have been sacked, the cup win mitigates it somewhat and IMO earned him another chance, but I do think - and I've said this repeatedly - this has to be his last chance for a proper title challenge. And so far this season he's delivering that. We've been wobbling recently, if we lose or even draw against Leicester then we probably will fail to challenge properly and I'll agree Wenger should be sacked. If we win and properly challenge...well, I'll assess things at the end of the season. One could argue that if we finish below Leicester, or Spurs actually, then he should be sacked. But I don't think wanting to assess things at the end of the season is a massively unreasonable thing to do - I picked you up on a post where you declared us out of the CL after 2 group games, it's only at the end of the season you can sensibly assess how things have gone although the further we're into a season the more reasonable the assessment is. If we lose this weekend for example then we'll be 8 points behind Leicester, I think that would be a pretty reasonable time to throw in the towel. If we win then it's 2 points and while we're in touch I'll believe we have a chance even though my faith in the team has been knocked recently.
People seem to forget we have been following this 4th is great philosophy for a long time even before Stan showed up. Wenger gave up competing soon as Abramovich threw money and Mourinho into the mix. Ferguson stepped up to the challenge but Wenger, he retreated into a cocoon shielded by the barrier of being outspent. When it was a 2 horse race with just Utd we invariably came 2nd. When Chelsea came along we slipped to 3rd. With City in the miux our average league position has been 4th.
We have never been short of money. Our revenues shot up immediately we moved into the Emirates. That is when the accumulation of cash started. The 200m was not gathered up in the last 3 or 4 seasons. This is a cumulative surplus of monies not spent on improving the team since 2006. Question is: Whose strategy and why?. My take on it was initially it may have been to provide a buffer against the uncertainties following the 2008 crash. Later however it became a lure to investment sharks like Kroenke who seek only to maximise the earning potential of the club against other investments in his portfolio. We are not really a sporting franchise just a commercial vehicle and Wenger is riding shotgun along and not at all against his will I believe.