Summer Transfer Misery and Recriminations.

[IBK]

Of course he does. He wants to do the best he can but he no longer has the ability to reach the top as he used to. It's a case of failing ability rather than lack of care. He wouldn't be flipping his nut on the sideline if he didn't give a damn. The team would pick up on that lack of interest and wouldn't even achieve the high table position they typically do. If the boss doesn't care, why should we, would be their approach. Chelsea last season is the perfect example of a team and boss on completely different pages. He earns £8m a year but anyone with their head screwed on would understand that all wages in the game are obscene and who wouldn't maximise their wages if it didn't mean bankrupting the company paying you? The board on the other hand, can go fuck themselves. Perhaps things would be different if he delegated more, perhaps not. His philosophies have been implemented in far too many parts of the club and because that benefits the board too, it isn't about to change.

Kind of - but we need to look at Wenger's definition of 'the best he can'.

For the manager, its seems as though this phrase is qualified. He wants to do the 'best he can' while remaining financially conservative. Unless someone is denying him the funds, this qualification is in his gift to remove, so the situation is akin to a golfer choosing to compete with outdated clubs; or a Formula One boss deciding to race with last year's model. I don't buy that that is doing the best they can. In transfers at least it is clearly Wenger with the handbrake on. His choice ultimately. Its not a question of whether he cares, its a question of whether he is putting his team in the best position to try to win things, and he patently is not.

[Marc Overmars]

Wenger is an extension of the board. I see no difference anymore, the board are merely his bosses on paper. He doesn't have to answer to anyone.

[Kano]

Yeah but yours was tldr material.

need to brush up on my forest animal metaphors

[Niall_Quinn]

This. And the fact that Wenger is omnipotent at AFC is a lot of the problem that we are seeing, because it means that there is no check on his increasing myopia. Wenger has clearly lost sight of his principal function. It is not a manager's job to look after the financial health of the club as an investment, yet this appears to have become his priority. Its bizzare and (ironically) damaging to the reputation and the long term prospects of the club. It means also that one man's incraesing detachment from the reality of the modern game has become the watchword and modus operandum of the entire club.

What's even more shocking are his attempts to have us believe that we don't even need a striker - having made it crystal clear that he thinks that we do (albeit at the 'right' price).

Bad times.

The cold and ultimate fact is Kroenke has at least doubled the value of his investment. Wenger has delivered at minimum a 100% increase to the shareholders. This is spectacular success by any shareholder's measure. I'm sure they are sitting there on their hands, mouths zipped. Don't do or say a thing that could possibly upset this golden goose. The rest of it I see as going through the motions. The big pretence. Yes of course we are ambitious, yes of course we want to be part of the elite. I believe them when they say this. But I also believe they are speaking in financial terms, I don't imagine they pay a blind bit of attention to the football itself. That's Wenger's domain, the vehicle for the profits. And he manages in just that way, with profitability as the main (perhaps only) focus. I bet if they could make more profit from being relegated they'd push for that. But for maximum profits a certain bare minimum standard has to be maintained on the pitch, offset by the smallest possible expenditure. Wenger has found this happy (for some) balance. The top 4 "trophy" (again, this is a financial rather than football measure) and the whole convenient idea of sustainability. They have very successfully convinced the media and the fans that what is nothing more than a cost control exercise is a virtue to be admired and aspired to. Some poor saps actually look down their noses at the clubs winning trophies and hammering us 6-0. They may have a trophy, they may be competitive, they may have humiliated us in a football sense. But in terms of the balance sheet, they are dirty and we are saintly. Honestly, the very idea of football fans offering up daylight robbery as a source of pride and superiority is mortally embarrassing. That's why other fans laugh at us, or pity us. They also say, well yes, I'd take the top 4 finishes. But again, they are talking about it in football terms. We never are. It's always financial with us. The whole reason for the club has been subverted.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Wenger is an extension of the board. I see no difference anymore, the board are merely his bosses on paper. He doesn't have to answer to anyone.

By the board let's say what we mean and say Kroenke and Gazidis. The rest of the board are just there to keep the seats warm, Chips Keswick the chairman is nothing by a human dummy corporation....he has an official title but he doesn't actually have to do anything.

The club used to be run by Dein, Edelman and Fiszman at the behest of Peter Hill Wood whose official responsibilities were to call himself the chairman

Now it's run by Wenger with Gazidis as his PR Spokesman when he should be his boss

[IBK]

The cold and ultimate fact is Kroenke has at least doubled the value of his investment. Wenger has delivered at minimum a 100% increase to the shareholders. This is spectacular success by any shareholder's measure. I'm sure they are sitting there on their hands, mouths zipped. Don't do or say a thing that could possibly upset this golden goose. The rest of it I see as going through the motions. The big pretence. Yes of course we are ambitious, yes of course we want to be part of the elite. I believe them when they say this. But I also believe they are speaking in financial terms, I don't imagine they pay a blind bit of attention to the football itself. That's Wenger's domain, the vehicle for the profits. And he manages in just that way, with profitability as the main (perhaps only) focus. I bet if they could make more profit from being relegated they'd push for that. But for maximum profits a certain bare minimum standard has to be maintained on the pitch, offset by the smallest possible expenditure. Wenger has found this happy (for some) balance. The top 4 "trophy" (again, this is a financial rather than football measure) and the whole convenient idea of sustainability. They have very successfully convinced the media and the fans that what is nothing more than a cost control exercise is a virtue to be admired and aspired to. Some poor saps actually look down their noses at the clubs winning trophies and hammering us 6-0. They may have a trophy, they may be competitive, they may have humiliated us in a football sense. But in terms of the balance sheet, they are dirty and we are saintly. Honestly, the very idea of football fans offering up daylight robbery as a source of pride and superiority is mortally embarrassing. That's why other fans laugh at us, or pity us. They also say, well yes, I'd take the top 4 finishes. But again, they are talking about it in football terms. We never are. It's always financial with us. The whole reason for the club has been subverted.

Pretty much.

[Kano]

Kind of - but we need to look at Wenger's definition of 'the best he can'.

For the manager, its seems as though this phrase is qualified. He wants to do the 'best he can' while remaining financially conservative. Unless someone is denying him the funds, this qualification is in his gift to remove, so the situation is akin to a golfer choosing to compete with outdated clubs; or a Formula One boss deciding to race with last year's model. I don't buy that that is doing the best they can. In transfers at least it is clearly Wenger with the handbrake on. His choice ultimately. Its not a question of whether he cares, its a question of whether he is putting his team in the best position to try to win things, and he patently is not.

I think that qualification is quite subjective. The end result isn't but certainly one persons idea of doing their best can differ to what someone else thinks. If that wasn't the case, there would only ever be one method of achieving or doing something. The key is I think, constantly reviewing the process after the event and aiming for improvements. Whether you were successful or failed, that should always happen. But it doesn't appear to be the case with Wenger. He appears to have remained static with his methods for the past twenty years, hence the repetitive cycles we have become stuck in. But without anyone around to push him into analysing his failings, he has become entrenched within his own bubble.

[Power n Glory]

Kind of - but we need to look at Wenger's definition of 'the best he can'.

For the manager, its seems as though this phrase is qualified. He wants to do the 'best he can' while remaining financially conservative. Unless someone is denying him the funds, this qualification is in his gift to remove, so the situation is akin to a golfer choosing to compete with outdated clubs; or a Formula One boss deciding to race with last year's model. I don't buy that that is doing the best they can. In transfers at least it is clearly Wenger with the handbrake on. His choice ultimately. Its not a question of whether he cares, its a question of whether he is putting his team in the best position to try to win things, and he patently is not.

Pretty much. It never was a question of whether he cared for the club. Conversations always seem to get steered in that direction.

[Niall_Quinn]

By the board let's say what we mean and say Kroenke and Gazidis. The rest of the board are just there to keep the seats warm, Chips Keswick the chairman is nothing by a human dummy corporation....he has an official title but he doesn't actually have to do anything.

The club used to be run by Dein, Edelman and Fiszman at the behest of Peter Hill Wood whose official responsibilities were to call himself the chairman

Now it's run by Wenger with Gazidis as his PR Spokesman when he should be his boss

Is Gazidis actually on the board?

[Niall_Quinn]

Pretty much. It never was a question of whether he cared for the club. Conversations always seem to get steered in that direction.

It's an escape route, away from the more troubling aspects of Wenger's record. The top 4 trophy is another such route. Or the idea Wenger is so ingrained that we'd suffer if anybody else tried to do his job - they never mention that nobody should do Wenger's job ever again, we should never have another manager with so much reach and control. But, because there's nobody out there that could do a job we don't want done, then Wenger remains the best and only option. These arguments have been honed over many seasons, they form the doctrine of the Cult of Wenger.