Reality

[Munchies]

Barca have been splashing out atleast £70 million each year along with getting rid of dead wood without letting them accumulate.

Buy Zlatan for an extortionate amount, use him for a season, get David Villa for £35 mill .

We would be right up there if we had sold the Denilsons/Diabys/Rosickys that have plagued the squad for the past 8 years and each year topped up on world class talent.

[AKBapologist]

Its not always guaranteed, even though eventually they'll probably get success. As far as I see it, a rich businessman invests in a business and expects certain results/success from that business. Even if he gets that, it doesn't make all other similar businesses meaningless. Many still carve out niches for themselves and achieve their own sucesses, in spite of the gargantuan wealth of the big businessman.

They don't use it as an excuse that all business is now dead and pointless because of those big businesses.

Arsenal are hardly poor. With the stadium meant to propel us into the big league, 6 years later, maximising our resources should enable us to compete and hold our own. Not every player can be bought, you can only have a 25 man squad, I'm sure we can buy decent players and carve out our own successes, there are enough decent players to go around, instead of getting complacent and complaining about other people's money directly hindering us. There may be indirect ways, such as tapping up, but we're still largely in charge of our own affairs. Money has always been around, it shouldn't be an excuse.

It's not about carving out a niche, it's about prioritising, and luck - for clubs like us. Money changes the dynamic, the expectations. You get a larger squad, a more stable set of stars, and a no bullshit attitude when things fuck up. It's laughable that season after season of selling our stars for profit, you still think we're largely in charge of our own affairs. The only reason why we have resources to maximise is because we've been a selling club for almost a decade now.

[Grebbo]

Spurs

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Barca have been splashing out atleast £70 million each year along with getting rid of dead wood without letting them accumulate.

Buy Zlatan for an extortionate amount, use him for a season, get David Villa for £35 mill .

We would be right up there if we had sold the Denilsons/Diabys/Rosickys that have plagued the squad for the past 8 years and each year topped up on world class talent.

And again There money has come through what they have made not by some guy who dumped money on their laps.

[jelgoon]

i agree. You cant criticize Man Utd at all. Ferguson won the title numerous times with players he brought through the ranks. No comparison at all with Man City or Chelski who bought their titles. Its all about squads - Chelsea's squads under Moronhio included top level cover in every position. Man City are the same. Thats what wins things.

Utd Earn't that money through winning things not just had it given to them thats the difference. They spent through what they made.

And yes Chavs were lucky tonight really lucky.

[Niall_Quinn]

Biggest fluke in CL history.

Can't believe it. They're the 6th best team in this country FFS. As funny as it is to see Spurs miss out, I do actually feel for them. A little.

Might cut myself later. FML.

Agreed, that's all it was, a fluke of epic proportions. But not the chav's fault, Bayern's fault for fucking up the 101 chances they made to win that at a stroll. You can't really blame the chavs for Bayern throwing it down the drain. Absolutely shit performance from Robben and Gomez. Even Nik Bendtner could have bagged himself a hat-trick tonight. You don't take your chances and you don't win matches. Drogba certainly knows how to take his chances.

[Tipsychubbs]

If Montpellier win it, watch as there best players, and manager get ripped apart from the club by the richer, bigger clubs. Happened to porto, happened to us, will continue to happen tbh. You don't need to be rich, or even good to get the odd cup win. But it almost certainly garentees you getting sustained success and the ability to hold on to your stars.

That may also be due to other external factors such as the status of your club and league as well. In that case, yes, money will always tempt the best players/coaches away if you're one of those clubs. I suppose you just have to keep building and keeping your profile up, can't do much about it. It's like a food chain. We're bigger than Koln, likely have more money for them, so we'll be a bigger draw for Podolski. unfortunately Barca/Real even Manu are bigger fish than us, so the cycle can go on.

I can't remember, but football is more than 20 years old you know. That's just the Premier League. Sky promised us a whole new ballgame and boy did they deliver. They neglected to mention it would be so shit and soul-less.

I think this is where FIFA/UEFA can have more control. If they want to ensure an even playing field, then share the wealth out evenly like the SKY deal promised and introduce some sort of salary/wage/transfer capping just like in some major US sports. Until then, the businessmen with the most cheques will always be exerting their power, just like in other professions.

Utd Earn't that money through winning things not just had it given to them thats the difference. They spent through what they made.

It's more admirable but as has been said business is business. Chelsea and Man City fans won't care, job has been done, they'll accept it. We just have to live with it because no rules have been broken, if it seems soulless, then let it be soulless. A win is a win in the history books.

What I don't like is the attitude that even as a well run club we can't complete against behemoth mega-raich owners. That's just not true, reasonably wealthy/well run clubs win stuff usually as well, not just the super rich. We shouldn't have a defeatist attitude. The team we have now, with a few judicious acquisitions can win the CL, if we had a tactically astute manager and a motivator. It's difficult but not impossible. It is a cup compo after all.

The league, well you need strength in depth to prove you're the best over 38 games, so maybe a bit more spending. Nothing obscene though. Chelsea have had their worst season in years, so have we. We've finished 3rd and they've finished 6th won 2 cups. They probably have more quality players and a bit more strength in depth, but they're not MILES AND MILES ahead of us.

We just need a new approach/manager and a more pro-active board. I refuse to believe we can't do it!

[jelgoon]

I agree about Robben. Absolutely shocking performance.

Agreed, that's all it was, a fluke of epic proportions. But not the chav's fault, Bayern's fault for fucking up the 101 chances they made to win that at a stroll. You can't really blame the chavs for Bayern throwing it down the drain. Absolutely shit performance from Robben and Gomez. Even Nik Bendtner could have bagged himself a hat-trick tonight. You don't take your chances and you don't win matches. Drogba certainly knows how to take his chances.

[Tipsychubbs]

It's not about carving out a niche, it's about prioritising, and luck - for clubs like us. Money changes the dynamic, the expectations. You get a larger squad, a more stable set of stars, and a no bullshit attitude when things fuck up. It's laughable that season after season of selling our stars for profit, you still think we're largely in charge of our own affairs. The only reason why we have resources to maximise is because we've been a selling club for almost a decade now.

Barca have been splashing out atleast £70 million each year along with getting rid of dead wood without letting them accumulate.

Buy Zlatan for an extortionate amount, use him for a season, get David Villa for £35 mill .

We would be right up there if we had sold the Denilsons/Diabys/Rosickys that have plagued the squad for the past 8 years and each year topped up on world class talent.

You answered this for me.

What about the money being spent on the likes of Vela, Bendtner, Almunia, Squillaci, Djourou, Denilson, Diaby, Chamkah, Park and more. Years and years of wasting millions, keeping them, not being able to sell them effectively because no one is fool enough to take them on at those wages. All this to promote pay equality in the squad for players that are not of the quality of those wages, compared to other clubs.

Those resources are being squandered on lightweights, overblown youth that shouldn't have been on those wages and deadwood. Think of the players we could have bought in instead, experienced pros like Mertesacker, Arteta, that wouldn't have been too expensive, as well as a few top quality signings. More of those and we'd be stronger, more likely to win stuff and convince out best players to stay, at least for a bit longer.

Where would we be now if that was the case? In a better position I'm sure. We used to do that, but we don't anymore. 6 years after the stadium and with regular CL footy that we've been told is essential and with manageable debt repayments, and super high ticket prices, we shouldn't have any excuses. Unless we're being conned.

[Niall_Quinn]

Chelsea and Man City fans won't care, job has been done, they'll accept it.

That's true, but it doesn't follow that opposing fans should sing the same tune. There should be continuous resistance to the ways these clubs do business. Otherwise it will become the norm and the natural conclusion of that will be far fewer clubs. That's what the mega rich owners want to see and we should need to be vociferous in our opposition to that if we want to retain even a fragment of the things we appreciate about football.

Funnily enough though, I don't think money played a huge role in the one-off game tonight because the chavs were embarrassingly thrashed in everything bar the score. For all their money they simply couldn't live with Bayern. And yet Bayern contrived to even things up. Their manager made a crucial mistake changing things when they were in the lead with a few minutes to go and utterly on top of the game. He was negative and he reaped a negative outcome.