Summer Transfer Misery and Recriminations.

[Goonermerree]

'Valencia say Mustafi will not be sold this transfer window and is in the side for tonight's first La Liga game of the season.' Sky

Trying to make sure they get top dollar or are we looking for somebody else?

Edit: Don't know if that's changed or if I mis- read it, but it says unless Arsenal meet the buy-out cause of 43 mil

[Letters]

BT Sports Hack: "Does it matter if players are overpriced, in a game where billions are being poured in? Does it really matter?"

Wenger: "What matters to me is if you have a club with 600 employees, that you can pay them at the end of the month. That is important for me."


Now from the actual context, it's clearly not Arsene saying we're not spending money because we need to pay our employees. The actual message is closer to it doesn't matter if you are overspending as long as you spend within your means. Where the ability to pay big fees and still have enough to pay employees is the sign that you're spending within your means. It's a sad state of affair now that people have such emotional responses to quotes but don't bother to explore the context surrounding them. I'm of the opinion Arsene should step down but I have enough for the man to not take his quotes out of context.

Some people are desperate to attack everything he says or does and are even trying their best to deconstruct and discredit his legacy.
All seems very odd.
We finished 2nd last year and it was the first season in 3 without a trophy. The level of vitriol from some - which seems to be bitter and personal in nature - is bizarre.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Maybe maybe not, plenty will remember him for the bulk of his career where he's really not done a good job and been dishonest and arrogant, his days of success are a long time ago now, it's becoming hard to really remember things vividly.

The point is people don't remember what Clough didn't achieve between 1981 and 1993, they remember the title win for Forest and the two european cup wins

What they will remember about Wenger is the three title wins, the great football and the move to the Emirates.

Unless we get relegated or go into administration whilst he's manager, i think the frustration with his stubborn, arrogant behaviour will disappear in the fullness of time after he's gone.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Some people are desperate to attack everything he says or does and are even trying their best to deconstruct and discredit his legacy.
All seems very odd.
We finished 2nd last year and it was the first season in 3 without a trophy. The level of vitriol from some - which seems to be bitter and personal in nature - is bizarre.

We finished ten points behind Leicester Letters, and we have a manager who has consistently taken us into seasons unprepared and acts like fans are spoilt children or stupid to question what is remarkable incompetence.

I don't get myself cross over everything he says, but to try and defend the ridiculous post match comments after Leicester...sorry pal you are going to be urinating into the wind.

[Letters]

We finished ten points behind Leicester Letters, and we have a manager who has consistently taken us into seasons unprepared and acts like fans are spoilt children or stupid to question what is remarkable incompetence.

I don't get myself cross over everything he says, but to try and defend the ridiculous post match comments after Leicester...sorry pal you are going to be urinating into the wind.

Not defending anything. Just commenting on the weird and seemingly personal nature of some people's vitriol towards him. They act like a bitter ex. And cue one of them saying that I defend everything he does like he's a personal friend but that's a lazy straw man which they know isn't true. FY has said he actually hates Wenger and above was clearly relishing the prospect of things getting worse and worse for him. Bizarre...

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Not defending anything. Just commenting on the weird and seemingly personal nature of some people's vitriol towards him. They act like a bitter ex. And cue one of them saying that I defend everything he does like he's a personal friend but that's a lazy straw man which they know isn't true. FY has said he actually hates Wenger and above was clearly relishing the prospect of things getting worse and worse for him. Bizarre...

Why do you care so much? Fakeyanks comments are patently ridiculous and childish and frankly laughable.....taking umbrage to them only gives them the kind of analysis they are undeserving of.

[fakeyank]

You are weird...
Why would you be happy to see his legacy tarnished further? The things we did in the first half of his time with us, and the style in which we did it, are things I never thought I'd see as an Arsenal fan.
I've said this to you before, read Fever Pitch if you want an idea of what being an Arsenal fan was like in the 70s and 80s.
I don't understand how you (and you are not the only one) can be so bitter.

I am happy because I am sick and tired of him. I loved this guy.. trust me I did. My dislike comes from the extreme sadness I have with how he has completely gone rogue and gone to bed with the criminals (board). Up until a couple of years ago, all I thought was that he was just stubborn in his ways and was out of touch with how modern day tactics and team management worked. However in the last couple of years, he has had plenty of statements which show that he is with the board in fleecing the fans.

You can say that the board is ultimately responsible in who stays as manager, and you would be right. However my expectation from Wenger was that he was going to be 'for the fans' and fighting to do what was best for us to succeed in football. And if he were to face challenges from the board in doing the 'right thing', he would revolt or just resign in protest. What is happening is the opposite.. he is coming out with bizzare statements about paying for 600 employees and buying a reporter for 45m. I dont think he has 'lost it' or gone crazy. He along with the board are laughing at us peasants. And I hate him for that.

To put it in terms of American politics, its like seeing Bernie Sanders join forces with Trump.

[Letters]

I just find it odd, disturbing even.

[Power n Glory]

I don't necessarily think Dein was ever opposed to the self-sustainability model....even when seeking outside investment i don't think he was looking for a sugar daddy who would make all our signings for us, he was looking for someone to give us the means to expand and Kroenke certainly didn't change his mind as that is always how he's run sporting enterprises.

The point i am making is that Hill Wood was wrong to persuade the board to sell to Kroenke and his attitude about it now obviously shows that he is still out of touch, but the point is as chairman he had a demonstrably more hands on relationship with the club than the current majority share holder. I never denied it was a defence of Hill Wood over Kroenke it's abundantly clear that whilst i am not overly fond of either of them, i prefer the former to the latter.

Again a hypothetical, but do you think Kroenke would have cared enough to remove Bruce Rioch from his job for not being ambitious enough?

A lot of people thought the stadium was the way forward and in that sense Dein was the one dissenting voice, were all of those individuals...including Ken Friar, Danny Fiszman et all just totally obsessed with money?.

"Dein invited Stan so he could invest from the outside and we’d share Wembley stadium instead of building a new one"

Those are your words which suggests that Kroenke's involvement pre-dates the move to the Emirates, i was thinking unless you knew something i didn't that, that was an error on your part.

The idea Dein had for foreign investment predates the Emirates. That's what that means. He wasn't for this current model.

As for that hypotehical scenerio, I don't know. Wenger is only here because of David Dein so take Dein out of the equation, we might have still had Rioch.

[selassie]

I don't disagree with anything you have said about Wenger, but that's not the point....he's an employee.....unless he is blackmailing someone to stay in charge he isn't unsackable.....the fact that no-one has looked to get rid of him shows that they are happy with how he's performing and therefore those are the people who are to blame.

Oh I agree with you Herb, I do find myself agreeing with a lot of your posts. The thing is Wenger is totally involved in this scam, he's pretty much built himself a niche position from within the club, post David Dein and the changing of hands on the board, Wenger for quite a while had two roles to juggle. Gazidis is obviously on board now and has the Dein role whilst being completely "hands off" from the "technical" side as Wenger likes to point out.

Wenger more or less hired Gazidis and as such with the board would have been completely involved in the job spec for Gazidis, from what I understand, Wenger's role is such that he is in charge of the "technical" side of things, the football decisions start and end with him so in some ways he is unsackable. How can they (board) even question him if he has this role where he is left to do as he pleases?