Wenger being sanctimonious again

[Joker]

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-arc...s-biggest-test

And City are angry with the remarks:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,20876_7034358,00.html

Why doesn't Wenger just shut up for once and concentrate on our club? Not only does making comments like these waste time, but they wind up and anger opposition teams and fans, giving them an extra incentive to be fired up against us, creating an even more hostile environment than normal.

Moreover, the fact is Wenger is not fully informed anyway with regards to this matter. He claims that you shouldn't be allowed to have sponsorship deals above market price, but what evidence is there that City's naming rights deal with Ethihad Airlines is above market price? Has he equated demand=supply and come up with the equilibrium market price? The truth is that the financial details are confidential, so Wenger is simply engaged in speculation, and decided to use this as an opportunity to behave in a sanctimonious manner again, trying to tell clubs how to run their affairs, as if he's the ultimate moral arbiter of what is right and what is wrong in the world of football.

There's even the chance that Wenger will face charges of hypocricy, because even if City have cleverly circumvented the spirit of the law even if they're within the rules of the law, we're hardly squeaky clean in that regard are we? Many of the club's top players including Thierry Henry avoided tax through legal but morally dubious means, then there's George Graham's payments to agents, the fact that we flood our academy with young, foreign talents who are paid handsomely to leave their home academy, and to push through these deals we also incentivise ("bribe") their parents to encourage them to put pressure on their children to join our club.

When our manager tries to come across as morally pure, it simply shows him up to be a hypocrite, and irritates opposition clubs unnecessarily. Instead of moaning about the activities of other teams, why doesn't Wenger concentrate on improving the squad, so that we can improve on last season's dreadful showing? He acts as if we are constrained by the activities of other teams. This is not wholly true. City are not stopping us signing top quality players, Wenger is the one responsible, because he's become a free market fundamentalist, who knows the price of everything (which explains his penny pinching) but the value of nothing.

[Boss]

He's right tbf, and a few others have complained about the new deal.

And as Wenger's an economist and probably the most financially astute (in terms of running a club like a business) manager in the game, I'd reckon he'd know if a deal was overvalued.

[budesonide]

He's right tbf, and a few others have complained about the new deal.

And as Wenger's an economist and probably the most financially astute (in terms of running a club like a business) manager in the game, I'd reckon he'd know if a deal was overvalued.

I believe Joker's point was whether, we as a club, are as squeaky clean and have not exploited holes in regulations to our advantage.

[Kano]

so what?

no one is squeaky clean in or out of football. does that mean when others do something not viewed as correct, they should just be ignored?

[Kano]

i'm sure he was just answering a question, and anyway, he's right.

There's even the chance that Wenger will face charges of hypocricy

what sort of punishment do the FA give for that?

[Champagne Charlie]

TBF, I imagine Arsene was answering a specific question on City's deal and the implications with regards to the FFP rules, and really I don't see anything wrong with his answer! In my opinion he's putting the ball in UEFA's court, putting public pressure on them to act, rather than having a dig at City.

And it really seems people will do anything to have a pop at Wenger. City's comments aren't directed specifically at AW, a number of people have raised concerns over the deal, but the media spin it as "City hit back at Wenger" and its blown of of all proportion.

But then with our own fans constantly slating Wenger for anything and everthing it's no surprise the media do as well. Quite how Wenger will have to "face charges of hypocrisy" because of George Graham's payments and Theirry Henry's taxes is beyond me!

[LDG]

He's right.

And he's protecting our club. We should be grateful.

The FFP rules are there to promote healthy competition, not only in business, but in football as well. Yes, we may exploit loopholes in a business sense, and I have no problem with that. It's business afterall.

City are not a business. The owners are not in it to profit, they are only in it to show off. If they are not accountable, or don't play by the same rules as everybody else, then it's all pointless.

There will always be winners and losers in sport and in busniess, that's the way it works. The best win through in both, and that is down to good management in both. Even if it's like the glazers at utd. It's business.

City are not a business, and that is why FFP needs to come in. Otherwise it will ruin the sport.

[budesonide]

no;

but you can point out the absurd hypocrisy of it all though.

[Xhaka Can’t]

no;

but you can point out the absurd hypocrisy of it all though.

If anyone thinks the activiies of Arsenal are similar in any way to that of City, you have an alarming lack of perspective and/or judgement.

Wenger is spot on in what he says and I completely support him saying it.

[Joker]

He's right.

And he's protecting our club. We should be grateful.

The FFP rules are there to promote healthy competition, not only in business, but in football as well. Yes, we may exploit loopholes in a business sense, and I have no problem with that. It's business afterall.

City are not a business. The owners are not in it to profit, they are only in it to show off. If they are not accountable, or don't play by the same rules as everybody else, then it's all pointless.

There will always be winners and losers in sport and in busniess, that's the way it works. The best win through in both, and that is down to good management in both. Even if it's like the glazers at utd. It's business.

City are not a business, and that is why FFP needs to come in. Otherwise it will ruin the sport.

But in that case we really do not have any right to act sanctimonious with respect to Man City. Their owners may want to engage in conspicious consumption, and to show off their wealth, but why is that more detrimental to football on the whole compared to a club that is run purely as a profit maximising private enterprise? I don't support City's way of running a football club, but I don't agree with the way our board members are more concerned with the value of their shares and property deals than they are with the on-field success of the club.

This is why I accuse Wenger of hypocricy. If he spoke out against greed in football as a general point, and its rampant commercialisation and marketisation, I would applaud him. However, he only seems opposed to City precisely because they are not operating as a normal business, with their sugar daddy ownership. Wenger is ultimately a free market fundamentalist, so in his opinion all football clubs should be let loose in the jungle of the free market, with no protection being afforded to any clubs, whether that's through government intervention to save the smaller clubs or extrovert businessmen buying clubs and then using their political links to benefit them.

This is why Wenger is not opposed to big clubs poaching promising youngsters from smaller clubs, preventing them from making a healthy return on these players or ever having the chance of progressing as clubs. Wenger is fine with that, because in a free market, no protection is afforded to the weakest. This is why he's a hypocrite. He thinks football should be treated as a private business, but is angry when the natural tendencies of business towards cronyism, corruption and monopolisation takes place.