Some brilliant articles on Wenger/money stuff

[Kaiser]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/42992d86-d...tml?ftcamp=rss

Simon Kuper on AW in today's FT.

http://www.level3football.com/royhen...cle/arsene_who

An article detailing AW's tactical past at Monaco etc before he became such a purist in his footballing ideology.

http://transferpriceindex.com/2010/1...y-as-you-play/

Stuff on Wenger's squads and how much they'd be worth today (taking inflation into account) by Paul Tomkins. The 98 and 02 squads were in the top 2 most expensive sides at the time. The Invincibles were relatively cheap (the 4th most expensive that season). In recent seasons our squad worth has been 7th and 9th.


http://transferpriceindex.com/2011/0...e-predictions/

[RomfordPele]

Interesting stuff. That last one particularly fascinating, if utterly depressing.

[AKBapologist]

Some will just read all of that and dismiss it out of hand. If only we had another manager they say.... As if any other manager is out performing AW given the cercumstances. They critise the youth policy without realising that it's a game of percentages, and that now, we stand little chance of hold on to the best players we produce when some clubs are content with just taking them at any price.

Too many fans dint understand the effect that city and Chelseas has had, directly and indirectly. For me it's proven that average managers can succeed over good ones when provided unlimited funds.

Read an interesting article explaining how liverpools and uniteds early transfer business was done in a bid to beat FFP. On wonders if the club still sees that as our salvation.

[Fats]

I still piss myself that Franny Jeffers played for us

One of Wengers top signings

[Özim]

Some will just read all of that and dismiss it out of hand. If only we had another manager they say.... As if any other manager is out performing AW given the cercumstances. They critise the youth policy without realising that it's a game of percentages, and that now, we stand little chance of hold on to the best players we produce when some clubs are content with just taking them at any price.

Another manager is unlikely to see his team lose 8-2, he's also unlikely to see his team giveaway a 4 goal lead or watch his team lead 2-0 and lose 3-2 to their arch rivals. I doubt you'd see his team collapse as Wenger teams have season on season in the last 5-6 years. I'd also question whether another manager would hold onto players who just aren't up to it as long as Wenger has.

Frankly the 8-2 was beyond humiliating and that result will forever haunt the Wenger reign now, I don't care about the circumstances because that's just pure and simple bad management, as is the inability to sort out the defensive side of the game and admitting that 90% of training is focussed on passing when the team has many other weaknesses of which passing isn't one of them.

Noone can defend Wenger at this stage, he's doing a bad job end of and it wouldn't be that hard for another manager to come in and do better, after the 8-2 he's set the bar very low.

I think we've witnessed in the last 5-6 years that Wenger isn't really as good as some thought, some will continue to support him blindly in much the same way he does with his players but most people will recognise he's not up to the task of making us genuine challengers again and that it's someone else's turn now.

[fakeyank]

Another manager is unlikely to see his team lose 8-2, he's also unlikely to see his team giveaway a 4 goal lead or watch his team lead 2-0 and lose 3-2 to their arch rivals. I doubt you'd see his team collapse as Wenger teams have season on season in the last 5-6 years. I'd also question whether another manager would hold onto players who just aren't up to it as long as Wenger has.

Frankly the 8-2 was beyond humiliating and that result will forever haunt the Wenger reign now, I don't care about the circumstances because that's just pure and simple bad management, as is the inability to sort out the defensive side of the game and admitting that 90% of training is focussed on passing when the team has many other weaknesses of which passing isn't one of them.

Noone can defend Wenger at this stage, he's doing a bad job end of and it wouldn't be that hard for another manager to come in and do better, after the 8-2 he's set the bar very low.

I think we've witnessed in the last 5-6 years that Wenger isn't really as good as some thought, some will continue to support him blindly in much the same way he does with his players but most people will recognise he's not up to the task of making us genuine challengers again and that it's someone else's turn now.

I laugh and pity at those ppl still clutching onto 'AW is amazing' straw. He is past it and we have next to 0 chances of winning anything of note under him.

[Asthmatic Kitty]

could someone c+p the first article please? it wants me to register

[Niall_Quinn]

I laugh and pity at those ppl still clutching onto 'AW is amazing' straw. He is past it and we have next to 0 chances of winning anything of note under him.

[AKBapologist]

I can't (and didn't) defend AW against the results, this summer or the failure to win something over the last 6 years. But there is this really repugnant idea that any donkey from any other team could do better. As if Arsenal has some god given natural advantage beyond the manager, over the other clubs that makes us perform higher than we should. If we never moved to highbury, we'd be closer to everton right now in terms of aspirations, with wages completely out stripping footballing revenue. Having to sell to pay debts and getting regularly thrashed on the opening days of the season... (oh).

For all of the Owen Coyles, David Moyes, Martin O'Neils and other average names touted to replace AW (because clearly, there records speak for themselves right?) I could just as easily cherry pick shocking performances from their sides, evidence of poor coaching or general miss-management. What really stinks is that the same people who tout these names are the same who accuse everyone else of having low aspirations - as if the only problem with Arsenal is the manager, and there aren't worse ways to completely ruin a club. Pathetic.

[Power n Glory]

I don't believe that Everton comparison for a second. Without the stadium we were a well run club without debt. We'd never allow that to happen and maybe without the stadium, we'd have shown more ambition in the transfer market. So far, we've been cautious and this is the only season where we've spent a lot of money. Unless we took out a loan to buy those players, I don't see how anyone can keep saying 'we're broke'.