Summer Transfer Misery and Recriminations.

[Niall_Quinn]

I used to follow the NFL very closely in the 80s/ 90s and when I look at it today it is unrecognisable. There seems to be very little stability in terms of the rosters. Back when I watched you could almost guarantee the star players would all turn out for the one team through their careers, or the productive years in their careers. Sure, there would be movement but not like the merry-go-round I see today. That's one of the reasons I haven't gone back to it. Who they hell knows who anybody is. All the expansion teams, the rotating rosters. I do know that the draft was something that was routinely "subverted" through the trade system, so no actual guarantee the lowest finishers got the hottest new talent. But they'd get something at least, maybe a 2nd or 3rd round pick combination. And the system applies to rookies only. As for the wage cap, from what I can gather that's a device designed to ensure the players get wheelbarrows of cash and extra wheelbarrows of cash when the revenues rise. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's an overall cap. It's not like saying a single player can only earn x amount. It's to do with the entire wage bill for the team. And coaches and staff aren't included in that. And there's no limit ion what can be spent on facilities, particularly all important medical and fitness facilities, doctors, trainers, etc. This is the most lucrative league in all of sport, still much bigger than the PL. Everything about it revolves around money.

In fact the chavs, gypos and Utd are like the first NFL style PL teams. Cash, cash, cash. More cash and wheeler dealing all over the place. And the Spaniard and Italian clubs take on another aspect of American sport, the nasty associations with highly undesirable individuals who call themselves "businessmen". We're seeing those types here too, your Russians and Arabs. I don't think Kroenke is one of that gang. He's more a leech. Finding rich veins and depositing himself for the long haul.

[Power n Glory]

The board have always been tight with money, that's never been under any dispute.....and often we went into season's unprepared because the money was not there to spend on players to begin with, whilst i think the club's financial constraints were exaggerated....it's in no way a coincidence that in the summer when the stadium rights were re-negotiated and we got ourselves a better deal for kit sponsorship that we bought in five players and our gross spend was 82million and our net spend was 67 million. What has become apparent in the last few seasons is that we can spend money and Wenger is choosing not to, well actually he is not choosing not to he is prevaricating and agonising over price/value and in doing so is allowing targets to end up elsewhere.
What is factually true is that since 2012 we have not had to sell players, and be in a situation where the money we bring in for transfers exceeds our transfer outlay.
Often Wenger would seem to spend any money he did have on player wages, often giving people contracts based on potential to stop them from being poached and then finding out that these players were useless and struggling to get them off the wage bill.
I don't have the figures but i'd like to see how much an average season ticket has gone up in terms of % since 2011, and compare that with the five years previous to that....Kroenke's philosophy is that if you are selling out the stadium you are not charging enough for tickets.

That last part I have a problem with. But I also have a problem with Wenger backing the season ticket price hikes.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Please....please....! Sign a player(ssss)!

[Niall_Quinn]

Please....please....! Sign a player(ssss)!

Would it help if I ran through the list of players we almost signed?

[Power n Glory]

I used to follow the NFL very closely in the 80s/ 90s and when I look at it today it is unrecognisable. There seems to be very little stability in terms of the rosters. Back when I watched you could almost guarantee the star players would all turn out for the one team through their careers, or the productive years in their careers. Sure, there would be movement but not like the merry-go-round I see today. That's one of the reasons I haven't gone back to it. Who they hell knows who anybody is. All the expansion teams, the rotating rosters. I do know that the draft was something that was routinely "subverted" through the trade system, so no actual guarantee the lowest finishers got the hottest new talent. But they'd get something at least, maybe a 2nd or 3rd round pick combination. And the system applies to rookies only. As for the wage cap, from what I can gather that's a device designed to ensure the players get wheelbarrows of cash and extra wheelbarrows of cash when the revenues rise. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's an overall cap. It's not like saying a single player can only earn x amount. It's to do with the entire wage bill for the team. And coaches and staff aren't included in that. And there's no limit ion what can be spent on facilities, particularly all important medical and fitness facilities, doctors, trainers, etc. This is the most lucrative league in all of sport, still much bigger than the PL. Everything about it revolves around money.

In fact the chavs, gypos and Utd are like the first NFL style PL teams. Cash, cash, cash. More cash and wheeler dealing all over the place. And the Spaniard and Italian clubs take on another aspect of American sport, the nasty associations with highly undesirable individuals who call themselves "businessmen". We're seeing those types here too, your Russians and Arabs. I don't think Kroenke is one of that gang. He's more a leech. Finding rich veins and depositing himself for the long haul.

I used to watch the Washington Redskins back in the 90s.

Yes, I think that's how the salary cap works. You can't go over an allocated budget so it makes it more difficult to have a team with all the best stars. Well, that's the theory.

[Power n Glory]

Please....please....! Sign a player(ssss)!

Gabriel Barbosa is still available. He hasn't been snapped up yet.

[Munchies]

Welbeck will be back by Christmas not April!

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/766395235261779969

Like a new signing!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

That last part I have a problem with. But I also have a problem with Wenger backing the season ticket price hikes.

Wenger is largely irrelevant to it all, it's totally wrong that he backed the hikes in prices not only that but he said tv money would be used on transfers instead of putting down the prices, no money has been spent on player transfers and prices have gone up.

For a man like Kroenke, Wenger is a dream come true

[Niall_Quinn]

Welbeck will be back by Christmas not April!

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/766395235261779969

Like a new signing!

Like Jack kept coming back? And Santi? And all the others? It's bullshit. They are lying bastards. We won't see sign of him come Christmas. This is all so they can prep us for another season without a striker.

[IBK]

Wenger isn't a specialist in failure, he's a specialist in mediocrity. The opposite of maureen, which is of course a good thing in many ways but not in terms of the results that are delivered. You'll watch maureen on a rollercoaster, champion one minute, sacked the next. Wenger though, he'll just endure. Same shit, over and over and over. No highs, no lows, just a flatline. A slow, lingering, suffocating blandness that annihilates joy or excitement or anticipation or any of the emotions that would attract you to sport in the first place.

Couldn't agree more.