Quote Originally Posted by selassie View Post
No, though I understand and accept that it isn't just a black and white scenario, I.E. We shouldn't judge AW a success or a failure based on a results only scenario.

In terms of the actual health of the football club, from both a financial and sporting point of view we are in very good shape and I am thankful for AW & the board for that. I think the pain we have gone through regarding our player recruitment policy post stadium move is starting to wear off. I believe the club is now in a financial position to compete for top quality players. I do actually feel that AW has built a pretty decent squad, which is a mix of purchases and players groomed through our youth system. Our squad is arguably the 3rd best in PL behind City and Chelsea, though there is certainly room for improvement within the squad.

Given our current financial standing, what we are paying AW and the talent in our current squad, our expectations should be that the club should compete and I mean strongly compete for every single competition we enter.

We are by no means disadvantaged and whilst I accept that Man City and Chelsea to a lesser degree have superior squads and bigger budgets they are not invincible.

Of course finishing 2nd or 3rd behind those clubs would constitute a good season, but our progress in the League should be judged on a points/results basis. There could be many factors to finishing 2nd or 3rd and it really depends on how the season pans out to whether it's seen as a success or disappointment.
Perhaps. And I agree that Wenger's done enough outside winning trophies to avoid being termed as a failure. But objectively can the last 8/9 years be judged a success?