Good Bye RVP!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

OK, but you're an Arsenal fan. RvP may have been one when he was a kid but I doubt he was obsessed with Arsenal as most English fans are. In that sense you can't compare yourself with him and his decision.

Indeed, I am but the scenario PnG put out towards us, was as people - therefore we can only answer it as the people we are; that happens to be Arsenal supporters. Nothing to do with RVP specifically, it was just about doubling money.

[Power n Glory]

actually thats bollocks, ive worked on jobs where i get paid fuck all but i love it and carry on, i didnt give a fuck who got more money then me because i enjoyed it. if you are on 90k a week and happy then who the fuck cares if someone else has more money. if i was at the club i supported as a child on 90k a week i would be fucking delighting and not give a fuck about the others

Then you are very foolish.

[Ollie the Optimist]

well, you could be robbie savage and have your tag on bbc one saying 'made 600 premier league appearances'; while stting next to keane who has ridiculous superlatives in his tag.

i would argue that a player who plays for a relegation battle club, who comes up from championship and stays up in their first season will ahve more pride in taht and no trophy then a player like nasri who sits on the bench while a billionaires penis extension buy the league and has a trophy while doing fuck all

[gooners]

Well I wouldn't be happy sitting next to him because he is a psycho, not because of what he has won!

[Ollie the Optimist]

Then you are very foolish.

why? i enjoy my job, i make enough to live on, and i go to work with a smile, means more to me then going to a job for oduble my money but hating it

[Cripps_orig]

Has he passed his medical?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

So you'd accept PHW, Stan and co making massive profits, lapping up the bonuses and doing very little to invest in the squad while you're earning less than your counterparts and not winning silverware? I think that would start to take it's toll on any man.

I'm not competitive about money so no, I don't think it would make much difference to me. I'd be an Arsenal supporter, at Arsenal. Is it dewy-eyed, is it sentimental? Of course it is but the reason very few take that idea seriously now is because of the cynicism that is so pervading in football.

[Syn]

I get all that and don't entirely disagree, it's not going to make any difference to his lifestyle. But isn't there a principle of 'market rate' and feeling valued? And, frankly, he's gone to a club with far greater prospects of trophies than we have. For him it's not a bad move.

There are of course issues of loyalty to an employer who has stuck by him through persistent injury problems. I can't decide how big a part that should play in his decision. Would we show loyalty to a company who has given us the training/experience which has allowed us to get a better job?

We can't answer that. I was just saying that a 'normal' person moving when another employer doubles your salary would normally have greater reason for doing so born out of economic necessity. If you are better placed financially, you *should*, in theory, also be better placed to take ethical considerations into account of the type you talk about - loyalty. But of course the extent to value one thing over the other (and what you value in the first place) is down to your own preferences.

He must be intelligent enough to know that the fact that we can't match the highest offers is not because we don't value him. If he is the highest earner in a team that was 3rd in the league and now has added 3 international quality players, it has to show we do value him. I do also think that the club might not have offered him right to the limit of what we can afford because of his age - the club appear to be quite anxious about giving big money contracts to players approach 30 because the decline they face. I don't think that's supposed to be an insult, as some might think. Contracts are handed out based on how a player is expected to perform. If over the 4 years, you expect 2 years at the highest level and then a gradual decline, you would take that into account.

About loyalty, while I don't buy the 'he only had a good 18 months' talk, I do think he might've been paid more than he contributed throughout his career (even if it wasn't directly his fault or ours). I also think he received more support than others - many of us were calling for him to be sold 2 seasons back but Wenger and the club always believed in him and he ended up becoming one of the best (if not the best) striker in the world. With the squad at the level it is now (if Van Persie had stayed), I think we would've had an excellent chance of progressing. He must know that. Cazorla, Giroud and Podolski appear to be top signings. As always, we're looking for a bit more patience but since the money in the game started spiralling out of control, it's becoming more and more difficult to 'buy' that patience.

[KSE Comedy Club]

No because we're now saying any fan would pay to play for the club they loved. I beg to differ. It's all hypothetical and if anyone here got a job offer to double their wages but doing the same job for an even bigger company, you'd jump ship.

The thing is doubling his money elsewhere wasn't his only option.

He could have carried on doing the same job at arsenal but for more money. Ok not the same double your money offer, but more money all the same.

[gooners]

i would argue that a player who plays for a relegation battle club, who comes up from championship and stays up in their first season will ahve more pride in taht and no trophy then a player like nasri who sits on the bench while a billionaires penis extension buy the league and has a trophy while doing fuck all

We can write off most of the world stars then --- actually all of them.