Apparently we've got loads of money to spend

[AKBapologist]

By Chris Harris

Ivan Gazidis insists that Arsenal's activity in the transfer market is not hampered by their business principles.

The Club's self-sustainable model has put Arsenal on a strong financial footing and Gazidis stresses that Wenger is not handicapped by a desire to "stand on our own feet". He knows that a 'marquee signing' can set pulses racing but he is acutely aware that Wenger has enjoyed his greatest success with signings that did not break the bank.

"Our fans have the right to be excited, to look forward to the season with anticipation and to expect to see top-class players and exciting things happening on the pitch," said Gazidis. "It's our goal and our target to deliver all of that.

"Certainly if you sign a 'name player' that can be an easier way to get that [excitement] and I've got nothing against that. There's no point of principle involved there.

"But if you look at the best players that we have on our team, they were not necessarily superstar players when we signed them - I don't think any of them were when they came to Arsenal.

"It's not that we were against doing that. That could happen. But because we run a self-sufficient club - it's an important part of who we are because we have a philosophy of wanting to stand on our own two feet, keeping things in our control, not putting them in the hands of somebody else that we have to rely on - we have to think about the efficiency of the spend.

"There are many clubs - not just one or two - that have gone out and done exactly that and spent money on players who perhaps were difficult for them to afford but gave them a big hit, a big buzz, took the pressure off, and a year or two down the road found themselves having to address some difficult issues.

"If we found an established world-class player and we thought the economics made sense and he would add to what we could do on the pitch then there's no philosophical objection to that.

"Arsène has no point of principle to show the world that he can build his own team of young players. That's just not the way it is.

"It's easy to lose perspective on what Arsène is trying to do, which, I think, is an extraordinary vision but if you look around here, the fans we have around the world, that vision is very attractive and very, very powerful. We should be proud of that."*

actions speak louder than words Glazidis.

[Grebbo]

We all knew this, just some Wenger die hards couldn't bring themselves to believe that last summer's business of Kos, Squid and Chamspak were that actions of our manager. Instead they wanted to believe he had no choice but to buy this utter shite as the club is skint.

Wake up people. Arsenal's accounts, and mega profit, is available for everyone to see.

[Marc Overmars]

Wenger chooses not to spend it, thought we established that.

[AKBapologist]

And yet?

Arsène has no point of principle to show the world that he can build his own team of young players. That's just not the way it is.

But I guess people will choose to read what they want to read.

[Özim]

Wenger and Arsenal have never liked spending, that's a fact.....even when he was successful his spend was generally conservative, nothing has changed.

Fact is as Wenger has said many times if you gave him a 100 million he'd give it back. You can also tell form all his words about finances, self sustainibility etc that's he's very conservative spending wise and prefers to spend on cheaper players.....than take a chance on bigger signings. Gazidis's words just echo this:

What about these bits:

Certainly if you sign a 'name player' that can be an easier way to get that [excitement] and I've got nothing against that. There's no point of principle involved there.

"But if you look at the best players that we have on our team, they were not necessarily superstar players when we signed them - I don't think any of them were when they came to Arsenal.

If we found an established world-class player and we thought the economics made sense and he would add to what we could do on the pitch then there's no philosophical objection to that.

You can believe what you like but at the end of the day, Wenger has said many times he doesn't want to "kill" his youngsters by signing other players, he's always claiming he'll only sign players if they are better than what we have and yet the players he signs often aren't....I'd say he's someone misguided these days.

[Marc Overmars]

"We still will be active in this window,” Gazidis told the club’s official website. “We haven't finished our business at all. We're just not conducting it publicly; we're working hard privately.

“I'm was out in Asia because I could be with Arsene for an extended period of time and think very, very carefully about strategy and targets.”

There has been lots of talk about departures from the club this summer, with Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas continually rumoured to be leaving, but Gazidis revealed that they were determined to improve the weaker areas of their squad.

“We understand where the weaknesses have been,” he continued. “Financially we're in a strong position, we have resources to spend.

Further in the article he states that we have "substantial" amount to invest.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1956/...ve-substantial

Yeah, people do choose to read what they want.

[AKBapologist]

Just curious that people believe the headline that we've got loads of money to spend, when our actions have shown anything but, and the statement Glazidis mentions comes with a ton of caveats. Where as when Glazidis defends wenger he's obviously lying due to *facts*.


*shrugs*

[AKBapologist]

Further in the article he states that we have "substantial" amount to invest.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1956/...ve-substantial

Yeah, people do choose to read what they want.

I read it and posted even though it disagrees somewhat with my viewpoint that we can't competitie with our rivals in terms of wages or transfer fees. It's just funny that the part which states that wenger has no idealogical disposition to spending is wilfully ignored whilst the rest is taken as gospel.

[Marc Overmars]

I read it and posted even though it disagrees somewhat with the viewpoint that we can't competitiveness with our rivals in terms of wages or transfer fees. It's just funny that the part which states that wenger has no idealogical disposition to spending is wilfully ignored whilst the rest is taken as gospel.

Well, he's not going to stitch Wenger up by saying he's choosing not to spend it, that wouldn't be good PR would it?

The money is there, the board have said so in the past and now Gazidis has. Ok it's not exactly Man City esque, but we can certainly afford more than the paltry net spend we normally end every transfer window with.

Whether it's a moral stance from Wenger on spending large amounts, whether it's because we get priced out by other clubs, or whether Wenger feels one of his kids is good enough to step up, the point is this club does not make the most of it's resources. At least most fans understand that which is good.

[AKBapologist]

Well, he's not going to stitch Wenger up by saying he's choosing not to spend it, that wouldn't be good PR would it?

The money is there, the board have said so in the past and now Gazidis has. Ok it's not exactly Man City esque, but we can certainly afford more than the paltry net spend we normally end every transfer window with. At least most fans understand that which is good.

With the same reasoning, why would he come out and say that the club is poor? He's hardly going to stitch up the board and owners by saying we've got no money to spend.

Anyway, we've probably got a one time cash deposit of £30-50mill like I've said plenty of times, but given that the majority of that amount comes from player sales or one off property deals, it's not healthy, especially when the likes of united generate that much extra every season from better commercial deals. That's the bottom line of what the AST and many others have been talking about. *Many fans* are unable or unwilling to see the difference. People forgot that when we where winning stuff, our wage bills where 1st or 2nd in the league. It's dropped to 4th, and look where we are. The difference between where we are and 3rd in terms of total wages is about 10 denilsons, and yet the mantra is that "wenger is mismanaging the club with so much dross on "high" wages".

I don't think anyone could have an ideological disposition to spending tons of money if that was in fact what they where told to do, but it's clear that isn't the case and if we did have owners who did want our manager to spend, and our manager then indeed refused to spend, AW would have been gone long ago. There is no escaping the fact that the people who run the club are, or have been 110% satisfied with Wengers approach, and that's the fundamental problem.