Evra the twat - Advice to Nasri

[Ralpheroo72]

http://www.teamtalk.com/arsenal/6951207/Evra-offers-advice-to-Nasri

[KSE Comedy Club]

Tapping up from utd now eh?

[Niall_Quinn]

Oh for the want of a Vieria or Keown to be on the pitch next time we meet Evra. Or a Petit "prince". The little shit wouldn't be so mouthy then. Of course we only have wimps now so we have to take it on the chin and soldier on collapse.

[Marc Overmars]

Arrogant cunt.

He is right though, unfortunately.

[Fist of Lehmann]

He thinks he's won 13-15 trophies in 5 years?

Is he mentally retarded?

[Young Guns 11]

He thinks he's won 13-15 trophies in 5 years?

Is he mentally retarded?

He's won 11 in 6 seasons, not a huge difference. fucking impressive though.

[budesonide]

He's won 11 in 6 seasons, not a huge difference. fucking impressive though.

That is incredible! And you get AW telling cesc there is no guarantee he will win trophies elsewhere. Oh dear.

[Flavs]

Oh for the want of a Vieria or Keown to be on the pitch next time we meet Evra. Or a Petit "prince". The little shit wouldn't be so mouthy then. Of course we only have wimps now so we have to take it on the chin and soldier on collapse.

ugh ugh....ugh ugh

[Fist of Lehmann]

He's won 11 in 6 seasons, not a huge difference. fucking impressive though.

It's 1 whole trophy per season difference. That gobby mong can't count.

[budesonide]

It's 1 whole trophy per season difference. That gobby mong can't count.

haha; you could say he's won so many, he's lost count

[IBK]

This is pretty intractable, TBH. Nasri hadn't really done anything prior to this season to justify a massively improved contract - so I'm not sure that the club should have tied him in long term before last Summer. The player himself, plus his agent has refused to sign this season.

This is a similar situation to Flamini (albeit with one year to go rather than a free agent situation), and I would not be at all surprised if it turns out the same.

Problem with Nasri is that he is revealing himself to be an Adebayor-type character. Remember, he was refusing to sign before our collapse - so while the low point that the club is in ATM won't be helping - IMO he is after the biggest buck, rather than driven principally by silverware.

His tepid end to the season after shining so brightly is also mirroring Adebayor (with Greedy's last season condensed into half a season for us). The fact that he played so well this season now seems, like Flamini's last season, motivated more by the need to get a fat contract than the desire to perform for the team.

Going off the guy rapidly. A quality player that I would otherwise want to keep, but we have had enough of purely selfishly-motivated players - and for me we need to get rid of them as much as the overpaid underperformers before this team can properly change. Because ultimately both types will go missing when they are really needed.

[KESSLER]

Could be wrong, but i thought Nasri disliked that cunt along with the other main cunts from the French team under Domenech, namely Gallas.

[budesonide]

This is pretty intractable, TBH. Nasri hadn't really done anything prior to this season to justify a massively improved contract - so I'm not sure that the club should have tied him in long term before last Summer. The player himself, plus his agent has refused to sign this season.

This is a similar situation to Flamini (albeit with one year to go rather than a free agent situation), and I would not be at all surprised if it turns out the same.

Problem with Nasri is that he is revealing himself to be an Adebayor-type character. Remember, he was refusing to sign before our collapse - so while the low point that the club is in ATM won't be helping - IMO he is after the biggest buck, rather than driven principally by silverware.

His tepid end to the season after shining so brightly is also mirroring Adebayor (with Greedy's last season condensed into half a season for us). The fact that he played so well this season now seems, like Flamini's last season, motivated more by the need to get a fat contract than the desire to perform for the team.

Going off the guy rapidly. A quality player that I would otherwise want to keep, but we have had enough of purely selfishly-motivated players - and for me we need to get rid of them as much as the overpaid underperformers before this team can properly change. Because ultimately both types will go missing when they are really needed.

I think if he had stayed at his old club for another season, he will now be playing for a much bigger club and earning much much more. We do not know what wenger said to him to get him here in the first place. Probably was the french thing but that wears off after it becomes evident that things were not what they seemed or meant to be.

[Marc Overmars]

Nasri will sign his new deal.

If he doesn't and fucks off to the Mancs, as unlikely as it is, I'd give up on this shit.

[IBK]

@ budesonide - Don't know how you could figure that, TBH. From where he was, he DID move to a big club. AW put him in the shop window, and provided an environment and playing style that suited his talents.

He had not signed even when we had beaten Barca and were looking finally to have cracked it earlier this season.

Your post seems to be justifying his actions. I think the opposite. I think that his actions reveal whose real intention was to use AFC as a stepping stone.

For me the fact that Gallas thought he was an arrogant dickhead is now looking more justified. If he feels the way he seems to about our club, I'm afarid its better for all concerned that we sell immediately (it won't be to Manure), and avoid another Adebayor (compacent arrogant twat); Henry/Cesc (heart no longer in it) or Hleb/Flamini (wanting out) type situation.

[LDG]

Nasri will sign his new deal.

If he doesn't and fucks off to the Mancs, as unlikely as it is, I'd give up on this shit.

I think losing one or tother of Cesc or Nasri wouldn't be a bad thing, but losing both might be a little difficult to replace....unless of course we're revamping the whole side.

I still want Cesc to go anyway. He's become the epitome of our failure. He represents the whole Wenger project....and that's something we need shot of badly right now.

[Fist of Lehmann]

haha; you could say he's won so many, he's lost count


True. Counting to 6 and 11 is probably quite tough for the little cocktard.

[budesonide]

@ budesonide - Don't know how you could figure that, TBH. From where he was, he DID move to a big club. AW put him in the shop window, and provided an environment and playing style that suited his talents.

He had not signed even when we had beaten Barca and were looking finally to have cracked it earlier this season.

Your post seems to be justifying his actions. I think the opposite. I think that his actions reveal whose real intention was to use AFC as a stepping stone.

For me the fact that Gallas thought he was an arrogant dickhead is now looking more justified. If he feels the way he seems to about our club, I'm afarid its better for all concerned that we sell immediately (it won't be to Manure), and avoid another Adebayor (compacent arrogant twat); Henry/Cesc (heart no longer in it) or Hleb/Flamini (wanting out) type situation.

Oh; i am only speculating. But it is not a great leap in logic to suggest that Nasri was a pre-eminent talent in europe prior to joining us -- with a tag of the next zidane -- and hence we just didn't pluck him out of obscurity and therefore could just have as well gone to a much bigger club. He certainly is/was a hot talent around europe.


I am certainly not justifying his actions; merely pointing out that it seems to happen to us too often and that there might be more to it (the allusion to the french thing, in nasri's case).

[Boss]

Not sure why Fabregas and Nasri have started to get so much ill-feeling from our fans.

Whether you like it or not, all (or 90%+, so most) footballers at the top level are some kind of mercenary. Very few of the players that play for United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal actually support them, so they definitely haven't joined for the love of the club - probably for one of two main reasons; money, or success.

The only reason our top level players are agitating is because we're not winning shit and they have to play with dross every week (with both things looking unlikely to change). Given that if we sold one or the other they'd either be sold for far less than what they're worth (40M for Fabregas is a joke), we must do whatever we can to keep them and supplement the squad with players that can help them win things.

[IBK]

Cesc - because he has flirted with Barca for 2 years, was defended robustly by some Gooners last Summer, but has spent this season looking patently like he doesn't want to play for us - which as captain may well have contributed to our implosion.

Nasri - because he has been attempting to hold us over a barrel all season by not participating in contract talks, and gave up on the pitch with 3 months to go. Both of these situations developed while we were looking nailed on for silverware - and possibly more than one pot.

Yes, players are mercenaries - but the likes of Rooney; Tevez; Ya Ya Toure at least do the business on the pitch (in Rooney's case you could never fault his effort).

What gets to fans is when players are too ready to jump ship having been perceived as putting less than 100% in.

Given our recent history, I really struggle to understand why you think persuading want away players to stay will work well for us.

[IBK]

I agree that this happens to us too often. For me its a consequence of failing to win things.

But every other player is labeled the next this or that. Nasri seems to have swallowed the hype. My objection to his actions is that he has given us half an outstading season. No more, to 'justify' the new Zidane label.

[The Wengerbabies]

Nasri can fuck off for all I care.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger's fault again.

He's the one that constantly bows to player pressure and begs them to stay, or hands the the captain's armband as a bribe. He's the one that can't sign any players because it would "kill" some turd who has been languishing in the squad but never giving anything back. Wenger lets these players walk all over him. The way to deal with Nasri now is to tell him to sign the fucking contract or spend the next year in the reserves.

You have to draw the line somewhere with these fucking players. If they were only getting £50 quid and a bag of chips a week then you could understand them looking for a better deal, but these overpaid prima donnas are on a fortune, can't be arsed to give 100% and always have their fucking paw out for more.

If Wenger's staying he'd best sort his shit out when it comes to dealing with players. His job is NOT to ensure some jumped up shit is happy, it's to ensure the dickhead is putting in the performances on the pitch. It's like the Chamakh excuse, apparently the cunt had personal problems so he can't be bothered to play for us. But the cunt still takes the wages. It's not a school or a care centre it's meant to be a football club. I just don't get it. These guys are all grade one failures! They're the cunts that didn't win a trophy, not the club itself.

Fuck these tossers who say they want to leave because they want to win trophies. They were within striking distance of four trophies this year only to collapse in the most pathetic fashion the game has ever known. Cunts. Fucking rats, and you know how rats should be dealt with.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Would not expect anything less from that evra cunt tbh. not really news is it.

[selassie]

Evra is a wind up merchant, his words only hurt because he is right. :(

On a separate note regarding Sami...does anybody think he

a) wants out?

b) if he does, do you think we would sell him to the mancs? years ago....I would say no...but these days I'm really not so sure. :(

[Niall_Quinn]

Evra is a wind up merchant, his words only hurt because he is right. :(

On a separate note regarding Sami...does anybody think he

a) wants out?

b) if he does, do you think we would sell him to the mancs? years ago....I would say no...but these days I'm really not so sure. :(

If we sold him to Utd it would rubber stamp the lack of ambition at the club. Not even Wenger and the board would go that far, surely?

[Olivier's xmas twist]

b) if he does, do you think we would sell him to the mancs? years ago....I would say no...but these days I'm really not so sure. :(

Don't think samir would do that to the club or should i say Wenger as he is who most of these "play" for. Samir would most likely go abroad but can see him staying especially is Benzema comes.

[Penguin]

There's no way they'd sell him to the mancs. They are already walking on a tightrope as it is and wouldn't dare pushing their luck further by selling a good player to a rival.

[Boss]

Cesc - because he has flirted with Barca for 2 years, was defended robustly by some Gooners last Summer, but has spent this season looking patently like he doesn't want to play for us - which as captain may well have contributed to our implosion.

Nasri - because he has been attempting to hold us over a barrel all season by not participating in contract talks, and gave up on the pitch with 3 months to go. Both of these situations developed while we were looking nailed on for silverware - and possibly more than one pot.

Yes, players are mercenaries - but the likes of Rooney; Tevez; Ya Ya Toure at least do the business on the pitch (in Rooney's case you could never fault his effort).

What gets to fans is when players are too ready to jump ship having been perceived as putting less than 100% in.

Given our recent history, I really struggle to understand why you think persuading want away players to stay will work well for us.

Sure, you can point to the likes of Rooney, Tevez, Toure (who let's not forget all of which are getting roughly 250k per week to play for their clubs... something that would make a huge difference in terms of commitment I'm sure) but what about the others? Even talking about those, I'm sure if you put them in a team who has been in our position the last five years (never strengthening, trophyless, nothing looking like changing) you'd see a change in attitude.

We put our players in systems that blatantly don't work and in a lot of cases play them out of position (Bendtner, Nasri, Diaby/Denilson, Eboue, Arshavin etc) and don't fix problems which every man and his dog can point out, and then blame those players for 'wanting away'. They want away because of the above reasons.

Fix the root problem (lack of quality in the squad / lack of capability to win things) and you could guarantee a lot more from those players. Why else does everyone on here believe Fergie could get a lot more out of our squad?

[Xhaka Can’t]

There's no way they'd sell him to the mancs. They are already walking on a tightrope as it is and wouldn't dare pushing their luck further by selling a good player to a rival.

Yeah, you'd think that wouldn't you?

[The Wengerbabies]

Yeah, you'd think that wouldn't you?
Which is exactly why they will :rolleyes:

[Marc Overmars]

Nothing the club does surprises you anymore. However it would take a serious fuck up to sell Nasri to United.

[Ernesto]

I thought these c*nts hated each other, anyhow...

Why one of them's giving "advice" to the other beggars belief!

[GP]

If someone could go ahead and build a fire, and then go ahead and arrange for Evra to die in that fire, that'd be grrrreat.

[Ernesto]

Apparently, now this hasn't been proven, I might add, but apparently, Patrice Evra's mother is a wh*re.

The Frenchman's taken an injunction out to stop this coming to light and Alex Ferguson will personally move to "ban" any journalist who questions him about it on Friday.

[Fist of Lehmann]

Given our recent history, I really struggle to understand why you think persuading want away players to stay will work well for us.

Letting them go hasn't really worked either.

When you look at the two most successful teams of the last 5-6 years, do they let first choice players leave every summer? I don't actually know. Do they even have as many wantaways?

[Özim]

The fact is it's really hard to hold onto to your better players if you've got a proven track record of losing, failing in the way we do leaves a bad feeling with the players and seeing opportunities to go to clubs that are succeeding will always appeal.

Unfortunately we've become football's biggest losers that's never going to go down well, now sure you can point the finger at the players...but the whole club is about the manager and the way he does things so it's really down to him and as much as players can win you games, they can't win you trophies on their own. A great team is a sum of its parts.

[Super Ghel]

I think losing one or tother of Cesc or Nasri wouldn't be a bad thing, but losing both might be a little difficult to replace....unless of course we're revamping the whole side.


Yup I feel the same. One out of the two is still manageable, but lose both and we’re fucked imo. Wholesale changes in a short space of time would do a lot of harm in our ability to function as a cohesive unit.

People argue that finances isn’t a legitimate excuse for our failures and are often perplexed why AW and the board is so drawn to bargain bins and youth policy with an aversion to experienced quality, but Nasri’s situation just demonstrates why it is so. Financing fears are still predominantly in the back of their minds and our board’s refusal to budge from our wage structure is what separates us from the other “Big” clubs imo. This is Cashley and Adebuywhore saga all over again.

Clubs with no such risk aversion, and being quite effective with their strategy of dangling a huge carrot, means we are constantly under pressure to address this massive gap in pay which eats into our transfer funds every season, and to ignore it would mean we risk being seen as undeniable cheapskates which would severely impact our future ability to attract players of quality.

Rumours say we’re offering Nasri in the region of 90k per week, but if he’s offered twice that amount elsewhere, anyone in a similar quandary would be turned imo. I wonder how much we’ll have to end up paying Wilshere down the road to keep him away from the filthy hands of other clubs.

Supporters cry out “spend some fucking money” don’t always consider the wage implications imo and this is where the misconception begins. The two are not mutually exclusive but often go hand in hand in an overall package. Perhaps this is why we always fail to sign the experienced quality we need and negotiations are often protracted or seem to break down at some point. It’s the damn wages, not just valuation fee!

Imo you can’t go screaming your lungs out asking for transfer spending on the one hand, while on the other, refuse to blame the board for being ‘small time’ with their wage offers but readily castrate players for being greedy mercs when much better offers are available elsewhere. That’s just convenient double standards to suit our slant on the issue. If we want the club to spend big like others, we must be prepared to accept that our wages need to be adjusted to commensurate with the ‘market rate’ elsewhere!

[Niall_Quinn]

The fact is it's really hard to hold onto to your better players if you've got a proven track record of losing, failing in the way we do leaves a bad feeling with the players and seeing opportunities to go to clubs that are succeeding will always appeal.

Unfortunately we've become football's biggest losers that's never going to go down well, now sure you can point the finger at the players...but the whole club is about the manager and the way he does things so it's really down to him and as much as players can win you games, they can't win you trophies on their own. A great team is a sum of its parts.

So really the wantaways are just reinforcing their status as miserable losers by running away from a challenge they can't handle and onto something they perceive as easier? I like Jack, I like RvP, maybe Ramsey who hasn't really been tarnished by this mob yet. The rest of them, or some of them at least, I dislike as much as any Utd or Chelski player. Never felt that way before about an Arsenal team. Maybe it's the stench of losing, most of them are drenched in it.

[Niall_Quinn]

Yup I feel the same. One out of the two is still manageable, but lose both and we’re fucked imo. Wholesale changes in a short space of time would do a lot of harm in our ability to function as a cohesive unit.

People argue that finances isn’t a legitimate excuse for our failures and are often perplexed why AW and the board is so drawn to bargain bins and youth policy with an aversion to experienced quality, but Nasri’s situation just demonstrates why it is so. Financing fears are still predominantly in the back of their minds and our board’s refusal to budge from our wage structure is what separates us from the other “Big” clubs imo. This is Cashley and Adebuywhore saga all over again.

Clubs with no such risk aversion, and being quite effective with their strategy of dangling a huge carrot, means we are constantly under pressure to address this massive gap in pay which eats into our transfer funds every season, and to ignore it would mean we risk being seen as undeniable cheapskates which would severely impact our future ability to attract players of quality.

Rumours say we’re offering Nasri in the region of 90k per week, but if he’s offered twice that amount elsewhere, anyone in a similar quandary would be turned imo. I wonder how much we’ll have to end up paying Wilshere down the road to keep him away from the filthy hands of other clubs.

Supporters cry out “spend some fucking money” don’t always consider the wage implications imo and this is where the misconception begins. The two are not mutually exclusive but often go hand in hand in an overall package. Perhaps this is why we always fail to sign the experienced quality we need and negotiations are often protracted or seem to break down at some point. It’s the damn wages, not just valuation fee!

Imo you can’t go screaming your lungs out asking for transfer spending on the one hand, while on the other, refuse to blame the board for being ‘small time’ with their wage offers but readily castrate players for being greedy mercs when much better offers are available elsewhere. That’s just convenient double standards to suit our slant on the issue. If we want the club to spend big like others, we must be prepared to accept that our wages need to be adjusted to commensurate with the ‘market rate’ elsewhere!

No, but you can just generally loathe the greedy little shits for taking such a huge chunk out of a game that thrives on passion, the team, the history but which they are happy to ignore in favour of me-me-me (and my shitbag agent). We're loyal to the club as fans, the players are loyal to nobody (not even when they're paid more in a week than most of us get in a year). Why don't we all pick up sticks and support whoever happens to be on top at any given time? The clubs and the greedy little runts in the team wouldn't appreciate that from the fans, would they? Yet they are happy to do it to the fans having taken the fans' money. This game's dying, mostly because of unrestrained greed.

[Sirjackofwilshere]

Yup I feel the same. One out of the two is still manageable, but lose both and we’re fucked imo. Wholesale changes in a short space of time would do a lot of harm in our ability to function as a cohesive unit.

People argue that finances isn’t a legitimate excuse for our failures and are often perplexed why AW and the board is so drawn to bargain bins and youth policy with an aversion to experienced quality, but Nasri’s situation just demonstrates why it is so. Financing fears are still predominantly in the back of their minds and our board’s refusal to budge from our wage structure is what separates us from the other “Big” clubs imo. This is Cashley and Adebuywhore saga all over again.

Clubs with no such risk aversion, and being quite effective with their strategy of dangling a huge carrot, means we are constantly under pressure to address this massive gap in pay which eats into our transfer funds every season, and to ignore it would mean we risk being seen as undeniable cheapskates which would severely impact our future ability to attract players of quality.

Rumours say we’re offering Nasri in the region of 90k per week, but if he’s offered twice that amount elsewhere, anyone in a similar quandary would be turned imo. I wonder how much we’ll have to end up paying Wilshere down the road to keep him away from the filthy hands of other clubs.

Supporters cry out “spend some fucking money” don’t always consider the wage implications imo and this is where the misconception begins. The two are not mutually exclusive but often go hand in hand in an overall package. Perhaps this is why we always fail to sign the experienced quality we need and negotiations are often protracted or seem to break down at some point. It’s the damn wages, not just valuation fee!

Imo you can’t go screaming your lungs out asking for transfer spending on the one hand, while on the other, refuse to blame the board for being ‘small time’ with their wage offers but readily castrate players for being greedy mercs when much better offers are available elsewhere. That’s just convenient double standards to suit our slant on the issue. If we want the club to spend big like others, we must be prepared to accept that our wages need to be adjusted to commensurate with the ‘market rate’ elsewhere!

:gp:

I think fans look at man utd, Chelsea, City even Liverpool now throwing around money and question why we can't spend even a fraction of their spending...given that we are their direct rivals afterall. Wenger's prudness is all well and good for the short term but its having damaging long-lasting effects on the club with the same problems being unrectified, players leaving etc etc

I get the impression that Wenger and the club are hedging their bets on these FFP rules being brought into force and having the desired effect of stopping the increasing rise in players wages. The club would be on a more even footing in this more regulated enviornment. If the rules turn out to be a farce then we're in trouble...we simply cannot compete with the level of spending of the likes of Citeh.

[selassie]

:gp:

I think fans look at man utd, Chelsea, City even Liverpool now throwing around money and question why we can't spend even a fraction of their spending...given that we are their direct rivals afterall. Wenger's prudness is all well and good for the short term but its having damaging long-lasting effects on the club with the same problems being unrectified, players leaving etc etc

I get the impression that Wenger and the club are hedging their bets on these FFP rules being brought into force and having the desired effect of stopping the increasing rise in players wages. The club would be on a more even footing in this more regulated enviornment. If the rules turn out to be a farce then we're in trouble...we simply cannot compete with the level of spending of the likes of Citeh.

Finances play a part but hedging our bets on the FFP rules being brought into force isn't going to rectify our leaky defence.

We need to get the basic right first then we should look at the finances.

I actually think we could make quite a few internal improvements in the way we play/tactics, training, maybe even the way we condition some of our players. We need to get the foundations right first before we even think about the finances and the player recruitment policy.

[budesonide]

Yup I feel the same. One out of the two is still manageable, but lose both and we’re fucked imo. Wholesale changes in a short space of time would do a lot of harm in our ability to function as a cohesive unit.

People argue that finances isn’t a legitimate excuse for our failures and are often perplexed why AW and the board is so drawn to bargain bins and youth policy with an aversion to experienced quality, but Nasri’s situation just demonstrates why it is so. Financing fears are still predominantly in the back of their minds and our board’s refusal to budge from our wage structure is what separates us from the other “Big” clubs imo. This is Cashley and Adebuywhore saga all over again.

Clubs with no such risk aversion, and being quite effective with their strategy of dangling a huge carrot, means we are constantly under pressure to address this massive gap in pay which eats into our transfer funds every season, and to ignore it would mean we risk being seen as undeniable cheapskates which would severely impact our future ability to attract players of quality.

Rumours say we’re offering Nasri in the region of 90k per week, but if he’s offered twice that amount elsewhere, anyone in a similar quandary would be turned imo. I wonder how much we’ll have to end up paying Wilshere down the road to keep him away from the filthy hands of other clubs.

Supporters cry out “spend some fucking money” don’t always consider the wage implications imo and this is where the misconception begins. The two are not mutually exclusive but often go hand in hand in an overall package. Perhaps this is why we always fail to sign the experienced quality we need and negotiations are often protracted or seem to break down at some point. It’s the damn wages, not just valuation fee!

Imo you can’t go screaming your lungs out asking for transfer spending on the one hand, while on the other, refuse to blame the board for being ‘small time’ with their wage offers but readily castrate players for being greedy mercs when much better offers are available elsewhere. That’s just convenient double standards to suit our slant on the issue. If we want the club to spend big like others, we must be prepared to accept that our wages need to be adjusted to commensurate with the ‘market rate’ elsewhere!

Our untested kids are earning shitloads more than any other untested kid will earn at any other big club. That money could be spent on wages for more established players.

That is why the club doesn't want to "spend some fuckin*g money" on established players. Because they's rather buy some so-called bright prospect and pay them above the market rate wages. All that money could have been spent on some proven players OR USED TO RETAIN OUR EXPERIENCED PLAYERS that we let go because of some stupid over 30s rule.

The sanctimonious preaching about other clubs spending is getting tiresome. Moreover, we do not have to spend like these clubs to beat sides like flipping birmingham,newcastle,fulham,stoke etc.

Our own parsimonious policies have us where we are now. Wenger wants to still pay or buy top players for the same amounts he was paying a decade ago ffs! I am no economist but how does that make any sense?

[Fist of Lehmann]

No, but you can just generally loathe the greedy little shits for taking such a huge chunk out of a game that thrives on passion, the team, the history but which they are happy to ignore in favour of me-me-me (and my shitbag agent). We're loyal to the club as fans, the players are loyal to nobody (not even when they're paid more in a week than most of us get in a year). Why don't we all pick up sticks and support whoever happens to be on top at any given time? The clubs and the greedy little runts in the team wouldn't appreciate that from the fans, would they? Yet they are happy to do it to the fans having taken the fans' money. This game's dying, mostly because of unrestrained greed.

It goes generally unreported that When Wenger first joined, Fiszman injected £50m of his own money into the club. It was significant because it allowed us to offer Adams a new improved contract.

Adams claims he would have left otherwise.

So the club captain, a guy who is reverred amonst the greatest most loyal servants we've ever had would have buggered off but for a few dollars more.

[IBK]

Sure, you can point to the likes of Rooney, Tevez, Toure (who let's not forget all of which are getting roughly 250k per week to play for their clubs... something that would make a huge difference in terms of commitment I'm sure) but what about the others? Even talking about those, I'm sure if you put them in a team who has been in our position the last five years (never strengthening, trophyless, nothing looking like changing) you'd see a change in attitude.

We put our players in systems that blatantly don't work and in a lot of cases play them out of position (Bendtner, Nasri, Diaby/Denilson, Eboue, Arshavin etc) and don't fix problems which every man and his dog can point out, and then blame those players for 'wanting away'. They want away because of the above reasons.

Fix the root problem (lack of quality in the squad / lack of capability to win things) and you could guarantee a lot more from those players. Why else does everyone on here believe Fergie could get a lot more out of our squad?

I have a mixed response to your points. It is beyond debate that success will lead to greater retention potential. I can't see many players - played out of position or not, who would want away from a successful team, brimming with confidence. And it is not difficult to understand why Bendy and Denilson are frustrated and want away.

But where I disagree fundamentally is that these players are justified in using the club as a vehicle solely to service their own ends in circumstances where they have failed to fulfill their own responsibilities. Football contracts are not accidents. Players are paid according to their worth when they join the club. I simply cannot agree that we should expect Rooney, Tevez, Toure to perform while our players don't because they get paid more than ours. Our players entered into their contracts and did the best deals that they could - same as those 3. Do you see players like Charlie Adam; Scott Parker; David Dunne not play to the utmost of their postential because they earn less than our stars? Closer to home, have we seen the kind of performances form Bendtner; Denilson; Rosicky; Vela or Diaby that justify their vastly inflated wages relative to their importance/ability.

I dispute that prior to this season there should have been any justifiable reason for the team not to believe, as many of us did, in Wenger's project. Forget the failings that have now shown themselves. As recently as March we were riding high and in a position to push on. But even without that, I cannot accept players who do not attempt to perform at their very best level whatever they might think about the team's set-up. Even less excuse them.

As NQ rightly says. It was the players themselves who pissed it all away this season when it was in their grasp. This is the bottom line when you strip away tactics; formations; training. But even worse is the fact that with a few exceptions, our players gave up; failed to focus, and in many instances simply let us down

Nasri was one of these. Scintillating up to January - largely missing thereafter. If he and his agent think so much of themselves, then potential purchasers would do well to remember that if a player thinks of himself as a big-time Charlie, then he should live up to that by carrying the team. Cecs's self-vident lack of passion during the latter part of the season, as captain of our team, was inexcusable - certainly not excused, as you suggest, by the fact that he didn' have good enough players playing with him or that we had an unbalanced team. They were good/balanced enough when they were beating Barca; Chelsea, and still in 4 comps, weren't they?

Our players' effort should be innate - not something to be switched on when that player feels the team is doing exactly what he wants - and AW's mistake over the past 5 years has been to have too many players that seem to think like this. A team made up of players who will only perform when silverware is guaranteed would never get to that point in the first place, and will sink like a stone when is not.

[Super Ghel]

Our untested kids are earning shitloads more than any other untested kid will earn at any other big club. That money could be spent on wages for more established players.

That is why the club doesn't want to "spend some fuckin*g money" on established players. Because they's rather buy some so-called bright prospect and pay them above the market rate wages. All that money could have been spent on some proven players OR USED TO RETAIN OUR EXPERIENCED PLAYERS that we let go because of some stupid over 30s rule.

I see your point that our untested kids are earning more compared to their peers in other clubs and the money can be used to sign or fund established players, but how much can we hope to harvest out of this strategy?

According to you, the reason the club does not want to “spend this fucking money” is because we want to buy bright prospects and pay them above market rates is because they’re young? That’s it? That’s the extent of our board’s vision and wisdom in your opinion?

So how much incremental money can we save if we pay our youth a similar bracket to that of other clubs? Do you not see why our board/AW chose a different route rather than going toe to toe with heavyweights who have no qualms spending the equivalent of our stadium debt on their entire squad? Can we hope to beat them at the game of paying top pound for high end quality?

So for every top offer we make for a Tevez or Drogba equivalent, what’s to stop them from turning around and increasing the stakes? Where does it end? Do we always feed on scraps and leftovers in this case, instead of identifying and concentrating our efforts on the best? Is that what you propose we do?

And for every Yaya who’s earning twice as much as Cesc, how many players do we need to let go, to fund the transfer of a few players in this category as well as their exorbitant wages? You don’t need to be an economist to figure that out. And once we start offering such wages, do we not need to adjust the scale accordingly in the future and worry about the slight possibility of wages spiralling out of control? Any answers?


The sanctimonious preaching about other clubs spending is getting tiresome. Moreover, we do not have to spend like these clubs to beat sides like flipping birmingham,newcastle,fulham,stoke etc.

Our own parsimonious policies have us where we are now. Wenger wants to still pay or buy top players for the same amounts he was paying a decade ago ffs! I am no economist but how does that make any sense?
First of all, what does my post regarding Nasri’s situation above and the club’s wage structure have got anything to do with our inability to beat sides like Birmingham or Newcastle? Why are you treating and lumping two separate issues into one? Was I hinting that I held AW as some supreme tactician of sorts without any flaws? If not, why jump to the conclusion that it’s tiresome sanctimonious preaching? Did my post hit a nerve or something, causing you the inability to form a coherent argument?

Do you not see the similarities of Nasri’s plight to that of Cashley or Adebuywhore in this case, whereby our board’s refusal to budge on our wage structure is what’s separating us from other “big” clubs with no such risk aversion? Don’t you think it’s a case of double standards to shout angrily for transfer spending on the one hand, while on the other, refuse to blame the board for holding us back with their strict wage offers, but readily castrate players for being greedy mercs when they are fully aware of their ‘market rate’ and worth elsewhere?

And lastly, you say Wenger still wants to buy top players for the same amounts he was paying a decade ago. My question is, how do you know this for a fact when you’re not privy to such negotiations? How do you know it’s not a wages problem like Nasri’s case for example, which ends up being the main stumbling block in various transfer negotiations? Who do you reckon’ we trust in this case? A manager like Wenger who has a degree in economics and a wealth of experience in this subject or a non expert like you who perhaps have some extra-sensory perception of what transpires behind closed doors? How's that for common sense?

Over to you and please ANSWER ALL my questions first if you want my reply! Otherwise I will treat it with contempt as some non coherent irrelevant drivel not worth my time or effort.

[Super Ghel]

No, but you can just generally loathe the greedy little shits for taking such a huge chunk out of a game that thrives on passion, the team, the history but which they are happy to ignore in favour of me-me-me (and my shitbag agent). We're loyal to the club as fans, the players are loyal to nobody (not even when they're paid more in a week than most of us get in a year). Why don't we all pick up sticks and support whoever happens to be on top at any given time? The clubs and the greedy little runts in the team wouldn't appreciate that from the fans, would they? Yet they are happy to do it to the fans having taken the fans' money. This game's dying, mostly because of unrestrained greed.

You’re absolutely right and it’s sad to see but greed, as they say is still the single most important driving force behind every human impetus and the cornerstone foundation of our civilisation. There’s no escape from it and ‘twas only a matter of time before it caught up with our favourite pastime. We either accept it for what it is or move on to other pursuits. I bet if we’re Citeh fans, we won’t be mourning as much about this though! :)