Random Arsenal Shit (When it's not worth starting a thread)

[Özim]

I personally don't see Wenger as the good guy as some think, have you seen how much the guy earns, seems to me he's looking after himself and his players, he's always protecting them, defending them finding reasons as to why they deserve more money, if he cared about the club he'd care about the fans because the fans are the club and he's made it pretty clear over the years he couldn't give a damn about the fans.

Wenger isn't this good guy people paint a picture, he's complicit in almost everything at Arsenal, he's been here way before these owners appeared and the problem existed back then, he protects his pals above him and the players he chooses and doesn't care about the others, he only cares about his personal relationships.

Is he good for the club, a resounding "no", as for caring for the club I guess it depends how you define that, if caring for the finances of the owners is caring for the club, then yes, if it's anything else than no.

[Letters]

I personally don't see Wenger as the good guy as some think

You're shitting me

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger could walk into any club anywhere in the world if he decided to quit Arsenal. There's a reason for that and it doesn't have anything to do with what happens on the pitch.

[Letters]

People seem to forget we have been following this 4th is great philosophy for a long time even before Stan showed up. Wenger gave up competing soon as Abramovich threw money and Mourinho into the mix. Ferguson stepped up to the challenge but Wenger, he retreated into a cocoon shielded by the barrier of being outspent. When it was a 2 horse race with just Utd we invariably came 2nd. When Chelsea came along we slipped to 3rd. With City in the miux our average league position has been 4th.

We have never been short of money. Our revenues shot up immediately we moved into the Emirates. That is when the accumulation of cash started. The 200m was not gathered up in the last 3 or 4 seasons. This is a cumulative surplus of monies not spent on improving the team since 2006. Question is: Whose strategy and why?. My take on it was initially it may have been to provide a buffer against the uncertainties following the 2008 crash. Later however it became a lure to investment sharks like Kroenke who seek only to maximise the earning potential of the club against other investments in his portfolio. We are not really a sporting franchise just a commercial vehicle and Wenger is riding shotgun along and not at all against his will I believe.

There is no '4th is great' philosophy, clearly Wenger wants to do better, why wouldn't he? But qualifying for the CL is important in terms of money and prestige - we wouldn't have signed players like Ozil and Sanchez were it not for CL football.
Wenger didn't 'give up' competing but clearly what Chelsea and then City did skewed the market and made it much more difficult. A for example being when we were looking at SWP, Chelsea game in, doubled the price and stuck him on their bench. Because they could. We weren't short of money but it is difficult to compete with teams who can do things like that. And yes, our revenues went up but so have salaries.
What do you mean we 'invariably' came 2nd in the 2 horse race between us and Utd, between 1998 and 2004 is was 3 to us and 4 to them.
If we were only interested in top 4 finishes I don't believe we'd have signed Ozil, Sanchez or Cech, we don't need players of that level if we're only interested in doing the bare minimum. When the money was there from the new financial deals we started spending it, I agree last summer was disappointing (Cech aside) but for a couple of years we were spending as much as anyone (with the exception of City who I think were still going mental). Why do that if you're not trying to compete?
Whether Wenger is able to compete now is debatable - I still maintain it's valid to see how this season pans out before assessing that, it's only been a couple of years since we started signing the level of players that should see us compete. But I don't buy he's only interested in doing the bare minimum.

[Power n Glory]

You're shitting me

What's your thoughts on this? I've heard Wenger defend our ticket prices more than once, example below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...l-8447839.html

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists all clubs want to keep ticket prices down, but accepts fans have to contribute to income through the turnstiles.

The issue of prices resurfaced this week after Manchester City returned 912 unsold tickets to Arsenal, priced at £62, for Sunday's match at Emirates Stadium.

There have been calls for a cap on the amounts clubs charge away fans - especially for high-profile Category A matches - but the Premier League insists prices are a matter for individual clubs, while the Football Supporters' Federation want some of next season's bumper new TV deal passed on to fans by reducing ticket prices.

Wenger admits the situation is "delicate", but believes supporters will always have to make a significant contribution to revenue streams.

He said: "Ideally you want ticket prices to be as low as possible, but on the other hand the only way we can pay the wages and compete without any external help is through the ticket prices because it is our main income.

"Therefore we are in this situation where of course the prices are high.

"I am really worried they are high for our supporters. For the visitors, it only happens once per year, so that is less of a concern.

"We sell out our games, but ideally you want ticket prices to be affordable to everybody. It is a very delicate subject.

"It is down to every individual to decide 'Do I spend the money or not to go anywhere to watch anything?'

"If you want to go to a concert tomorrow, you look at the price of a ticket and after if it is too high for you, you say yes or no. That is everybody's individual responsibility."

Arsenal have yet to bring a trophy to the Emirates Stadium, with many supporters bemoaning the lack of consistency and seeing key men sold.

Wenger defended the club when asked whether the Gunners continued to offer value for money, with their season tickets among the most expensive in the top flight.

He said: "How can you measure that? What is very important is that we try to give value for money and that our attitude is absolutely 100% committed to try and achieve that. That is the most important.

"After, everybody can have a different opinion when he comes out of the stadium. Did he get enough for what he has spent? You have to leave that to every individual.

"The only way you can measure that is do people come back or not."

Again, this doesn’t sound like a guy that hasn’t thought this through and just singing from the company hymn sheet. Weigh these comments up with what Gazdis said about focusing on increasing revenue in regards to ticket prices and Wenger’s recent comments about where that revenue will go.

[selassie]

There is no '4th is great' philosophy, clearly Wenger wants to do better, why wouldn't he? But qualifying for the CL is important in terms of money and prestige - we wouldn't have signed players like Ozil and Sanchez were it not for CL football.
Wenger didn't 'give up' competing but clearly what Chelsea and then City did skewed the market and made it much more difficult. A for example being when we were looking at SWP, Chelsea game in, doubled the price and stuck him on their bench. Because they could. We weren't short of money but it is difficult to compete with teams who can do things like that. And yes, our revenues went up but so have salaries.
What do you mean we 'invariably' came 2nd in the 2 horse race between us and Utd, between 1998 and 2004 is was 3 to us and 4 to them.
If we were only interested in top 4 finishes I don't believe we'd have signed Ozil, Sanchez or Cech, we don't need players of that level if we're only interested in doing the bare minimum. When the money was there from the new financial deals we started spending it, I agree last summer was disappointing (Cech aside) but for a couple of years we were spending as much as anyone (with the exception of City who I think were still going mental). Why do that if you're not trying to compete?
Whether Wenger is able to compete now is debatable - I still maintain it's valid to see how this season pans out before assessing that, it's only been a couple of years since we started signing the level of players that should see us compete. But I don't buy he's only interested in doing the bare minimum.

The problem is we are trying to compete, but it's all based on Wenger's Philosophy.

We compete the way he wants to compete. At face value we are doing things to compete but in the grand scheme of things are we really doing enough and using our resources wisely?

Wenger is able to compete now, he just needs to be more pragmatic and identify areas where he is struggling and seek help.

[Letters]

What's your thoughts on this? I've heard Wenger defend our ticket prices more than once, example below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...l-8447839.html



Again, this doesn’t sound like a guy that hasn’t thought this through and just singing from the company hymn sheet. Weigh these comments up with what Gazdis said about focusing on increasing revenue in regards to ticket prices and Wenger’s recent comments about where that revenue will go.

I'm not sure what he's supposed to say.
"It's disgraceful how we're ripping off all our fans"?
That would go down well at the next board meeting.

Ultimately all the club's income is coming from us in one way or another, if it's not tickets it's replica shirts or Sky subscriptions or whatever. Football has become a business and in business if you're selling out you don't drop the prices. It's happened throughout the game. It would be interesting to know how our prices have changed in %age terms compared with other clubs.

I'm not defending how high our prices are but while wages and transfer fees continue to spiral to nauseating heights the money's got to come from somewhere. The prices are part of why I dropped out but while people are queueing up to take my place they're not going to slash prices.

[Letters]

The problem is we are trying to compete, but it's all based on Wenger's Philosophy.

We compete the way he wants to compete. At face value we are doing things to compete but in the grand scheme of things are we really doing enough and using our resources wisely?

Wenger is able to compete now, he just needs to be more pragmatic and identify areas where he is struggling and seek help.

Agree. He is a stubborn so and so and has lost a lot of the edge he once had - he was pioneering in fitness methods (ironically, given our perennial injury problems) and diet and had a knowledge of the worldwide game which none of his peers had when he first joined us. Other clubs have caught up, arguably overtaken us, and while I do think he's done well to keep us in the top 4 in the era of clubs spunking so much money around it's debatable whether he can still win the biggest prizes. If he doesn't think year then I don't think he ever will but I'm glad he won the two FA Cups as it will help his legacy.

[Power n Glory]

I'm not sure what he's supposed to say.
"It's disgraceful how we're ripping off all our fans"?
That would go down well at the next board meeting.

Ultimately all the club's income is coming from us in one way or another, if it's not tickets it's replica shirts or Sky subscriptions or whatever. Football has become a business and in business if you're selling out you don't drop the prices. It's happened throughout the game. It would be interesting to know how our prices have changed in %age terms compared with other clubs.

I'm not defending how high our prices are but while wages and transfer fees continue to spiral to nauseating heights the money's got to come from somewhere. The prices are part of why I dropped out but while people are queueing up to take my place they're not going to slash prices.

So whose interest is he defending? The Boards or the fans if you're going to answer in that way.

He doesn't have to say we're being ripped off. We've heard plenty of PC/PR type answers from Wenger so I don't get why he has to go the extra mile when talking about ticket prices. He could just say ticket prices are high but we do our best to keep them affordable. That is all.

This doesn't sound like he sees a problem and he finds a way to justify the price when he doesn't have to.

"If you want to go to a concert tomorrow, you look at the price of a ticket and after if it is too high for you, you say yes or no. That is everybody's individual responsibility."

How can you measure that? What is very important is that we try to give value for money and that our attitude is absolutely 100% committed to try and achieve that. That is the most important.

"After, everybody can have a different opinion when he comes out of the stadium. Did he get enough for what he has spent? You have to leave that to every individual.

"The only way you can measure that is do people come back or not."

Overall there is a desire on our board to stabilize (prices) and make the tickets more affordable for people. Is football more expensive? Yes, but Saturday or Sunday if you want to go to rugby you will see the tickets are expensive there as well. It is maybe part of professionalism and a modern society.”

[Letters]

I'm not sure he needs to defend either interest.
The last comment suggests he does recognise a problem but what is the solution? If we want to compete then where else does the money from from?
If there is a solution then it's to deflate the transfer and salary market but that can only happen across the board and I can't see that happening.