Wenger Referendum II - And this time it's personal

[Power n Glory]

The Bayern Munich stadium comparison is wrong, but we can't ignore the other point about the stadium repayment bill being £14m. For years, there has been speculation about the stadium debt and false information has been peddled by fans who have been misled. It's a convenient excuse and you'd have thought we were on the verge on bankruptcy. But the false information has come from the club or to be more precise, Arsene Wenger.

When Dein left, Wenger took on his job as Chief Exec and he was the spokesperson regarding our finances and he fed the fans so much bad information. Whilst talking about the finances of other clubs, he'd say we couldn't compete and didn't want to bankrupt the club. True, we couldn't compete at that sort of spending level but his statements were so ambiguous and he spent so little we'd all speculate about what sort of budget he was given. We'd spend peanuts in each window. Although PHW would say he had money to spend and he could always knock on the door if he needs help, we'd still speculate about what he was given to spend in each window because he'd come back with so little. It seemed as though we could only afford cheap bargains and young players. We wouldn't dream of going for players like a Torres or Torres.

It's only until Gazidis came on Board and started speaking with the fans that we got any real clarity on the state of our finances. Even before the sponsorship deals he said our repayments were low and we had money to spend. Even when we've sold players he's said the money is available but Wenger wouldn't spend all of it or just squander it. An example would be when we sold Ade to City or when we sold Cesc and Nasri. We didn't even buy a striker the season Ade left and chose to wait for Chamakh on a free the following season. Going for the cheap option rather than take a risk on a bigger player. I'm glad Gazidis came on board to shed light on our finances because it puts the limelight firmly on Wenger's decisions. We didn't have millions to blow like our rivals, but we could have managed our resources better. It made no sense to buy cheap low quality players but to then pay a very decent wage average across the squad so our bill wasn't that far behind our rivals even though the quality of our players were.

It should all be water under the bridge now and we have new sponsorship money but I'm still seeing signs of silly decisions and lame excuses. Going into this season without proper cover for a CB during a World Cup year. He said he couldn't find any in the summer but we somehow find Gabriel in the winter, a period where he always says it's more difficult to find a player. Funny that. Going into the season with Sanogo as our backup striker! Not buying a top striker this season, during last season's winter window when we were leading the league or during the summer when we bought Ozil. Already this season I've heard him say Man Utd are in contact with all of our targets or the players we've been offered and I'm hoping that's not another excuse for inactivity for the coming summer. These are the decisions that cost us. It's great that we signed Ozil and Sanchez but we can push the boat out more. We shouldn't just settled. We need to be ruthless and go out and get what we need to win the title. Henry said it a few weeks back and he's right. We can afford it and even if we overspend a little, it would be worth it considering the battering Wenger's rep has taken. If these are his last few years in charge, it only makes sense to go as hard as possible and try and dominate for a short period.

Sorry for the long post!

[Globalgunner]

You forgot to mention persisting with Almunia for 4 seasons. A sackable offence on its own

[Power n Glory]

That post could certainly be longer if I’d take the time to go through each move and claim. I didn’t even mention the season ticket hike where he said the price increase would help us compete against Chelsea and City. I still don’t understand how a few extra million in gate receipt revenue helps us against clubs with 100s of millions to spend.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Success breeds success. Bayern Munich make the template of succeeding the template for business. I see no where in the report where government subsidies are included. Do you really think the other teams would have stood for that without going to court.? As ever, make up an alternative reality to substitute for the real one, it helps I guess.

Why would they complain a lot of clubs got help in renovating their stadiums for the World Cup including Hannover 96 and Eintracht Frankfurt.
The point is we had to take loaded deals for naming rights etc and now those original deals expired we negotiated much better ones, could we have done better? For sure but as you've been told by many people the Bayern Munich comparison is apples and oranges.
People also seem to forget that the stadium cost was two fold, first off there was the payment for construction costs and now the repayment of the mortgage if you will.
I do agree that Wenger has exaggerated the extent of our impoverishment, we have never been on a thin line but neither did we have the spending power of the clubs we wished to emulate and now with the exception of one or two clubs we do.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

That post could certainly be longer if I’d take the time to go through each move and claim. I didn’t even mention the season ticket hike where he said the price increase would help us compete against Chelsea and City. I still don’t understand how a few extra million in gate receipt revenue helps us against clubs with 100s of millions to spend.

Got Enos the great to thank for that shit, man who philosophically believes that if you are a sell out on match days you're not charging enough for tickets. And curiously a club that states it doesn't pay out dividends to share holders gives KSE £3 million for services rendered.
People who cry for the moon for David Dein, just remember you've got him to thank for Kroenke and Usmanov.

[Power n Glory]

Got Enos the great to thank for that shit, man who philosophically believes that if you are a sell out on match days you're not charging enough for tickets. And curiously a club that states it doesn't pay out dividends to share holders gives KSE £3 million for services rendered.
People who cry for the moon for David Dein, just remember you've got him to thank for Kroenke and Usmanov.

They're all sons-a-bitches for that move. That season ticket hike went straight into Stans pocket. Wenger tried to play it off as if the stadium hike was for footballing reasons and keeping us competive, Gazidis keeps trying to convince us that Stan really cares about what happens on the pitch.....it stinks. Enough reason for people to hold off going to games imo if you're feeling the pinch.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I haven't paid for a single game this season, benefited from my brothers season ticket when he has been unable to go. And even then it's often not been enough of a pull.
That said most of the games I've been to have been worth it just for the entertainment value on the pitch, Galatasaray, Dortmund, Newcastle, West Ham and Liverpool.

[Niall_Quinn]

For me the story of Arsenal over the last decade is all about a small group of individuals who leveraged the traditions of the game and found themselves in the right place at the right time when the priority fully shifted from sport to business. These previous shareholders were looking at meagre pocket change investment being transformed into a half billion pay day. The stories we heard about the knife fights as this looting progressed probably only hint at the voraciousness of the pigfest behind the scenes. It must have placed Wenger in a difficult situation. I don't attribute any bad intent to the manager, I think he genuinely loves the club. I don't think we can realistically tarnish him with the same brush that can be rightly used to paint the bastards who are using Arsenal as a personal cash machine, or the ones who undoubtedly intend to do the same in the future.

[Power n Glory]

For me the story of Arsenal over the last decade is all about a small group of individuals who leveraged the traditions of the game and found themselves in the right place at the right time when the priority fully shifted from sport to business. These previous shareholders were looking at meagre pocket change investment being transformed into a half billion pay day. The stories we heard about the knife fights as this looting progressed probably only hint at the voraciousness of the pigfest behind the scenes. It must have placed Wenger in a difficult situation. I don't attribute any bad intent to the manager, I think he genuinely loves the club. I don't think we can realistically tarnish him with the same brush that can be rightly used to paint the bastards who are using Arsenal as a personal cash machine, or the ones who undoubtedly intend to do the same in the future.

I’m not so sure. The business model he preaches and practices benefits the shareholders. That’s why they love him up in the Board room and why he’s able to get away with what’s happening on the pitch because he deliveries the numbers for the Board. He’s a smart guy and it was telling when he went into one of shareholders meetings, (AGM I think) and delivered a snarky jab when they were questioning his managerial decisions. As shareholders, he said something along the lines of ‘they shouldn’t have a thing to complain about because the money was rolling in’. Their interest were being looked after was the message, not realising that they were diehard fans as well. I’m sure he loves the club, but he’s said in the past that his job is to keep the shareholders happy and I suspect he employs certain money saving practices to do so. He’s got job security locked for years because of it.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

With the exception of the 3million KSE has received there hadn't been any immediate financial rewards unless Kroenke sells his shareholder ship and there is no indication that he will do this.