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

[Marc Overmars]

There was definitely a point where the pennies had to be carefully counted and that started even before the stadium move as we were trying to finance the building of it in the early 2000's, in the latter years at Highbury we rarely spent anything significant.

There were a few on here who suspected the lack of money wasn't the only reason for our lack of competitiveness but that opinion was met with a lot of derision at the time because it was felt that Wenger had been thrown under a bus, despite his obvious aversion to spending big money.

I'm just glad that myth has been busted now. Wenger's coaching is ancient and with or without money the results bare that out.

[Niall_Quinn]

The question isn’t so much do we have money or don’t we (we do) but why the board claims we don’t. Is it to protect Wenger or is it a sign of not trusting him as much with money.

Or was it even a unified board that tried to sell that bullshit?

We don't have any money, we won't sell Alexis... followed by we're selling Alexis and here's 92 mill for Lemar.

That's either collective schizophrenia or a split in the board. Or maybe a dramatic change in circumstances that has not been disclosed. Whatever, it's all as chaotic as we've come to expect.

[selassie]

There's every indication the money is there, provided of course it is the fans' and TV/ sponsor's money and not from Stan's or any other shareholder's pocket. We moved fast for Lacazette and paid a club record fee. And then there was more cash for Lemar, but Wenger fucked that up trying to assert his crackpot ideas about value. And that bid eventually went to 92 mill, so the no money thing has zero evidence to support it. Wenger has been allowed to spend (or waste) almost 200 million in recent windows. And yet the money was not initially there to tie down Alexis, Ozil or Ox. In the end all three players were offered what they'd initially wanted, perhaps Ozil's offer was still a bit light, but certainly the other two were offered what they demanded. By then both Alexis and Ox wanted out regardless so these late offers were refused. More dithering.

It's quite possible that if Wenger had been sent on holiday at the end of the season and removed entirely from the transfer process we could have secured Alexis early at 300kpw, which by the standards of this crazy market he is worth, secured Ox at around the amount we waste on Theo, signed Lemar with an early 50 mill bid. And that could have transformed the way Ozil viewed the ambitions of the club and led to his signature too. Speculation and we'll never know for sure, but it's safe enough to say we'd have had more chance of a positive outcome without Wenger's involvement.

Instead we've bungled it and the net result will be a threadbare squad come the summer, in terms of genuinely top tier talent.

It's not the money, is it? It's Wenger.

Totally agree, it's clearly on Wenger, he dithers and messes up deals over his misguided view on player valuations, it's damaged our rep in the market.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Or was it even a unified board that tried to sell that bullshit?

We don't have any money, we won't sell Alexis... followed by we're selling Alexis and here's 92 mill for Lemar.

That's either collective schizophrenia or a split in the board. Or maybe a dramatic change in circumstances that has not been disclosed. Whatever, it's all as chaotic as we've come to expect.

That’s another possibility

[selassie]

The question isn’t so much do we have money or don’t we (we do) but why the board claims we don’t. Is it to protect Wenger or is it a sign of not trusting him as much with money.

It could be a trust issue, it could be partially to do with Wenger sitting on funds or at least not pulling the trigger and being as proactive as he should be in the market.

Clearly we have money, in fact we have actually spent a fair bit over the past few seasons, more than Chelsea, we just haven't been very wise with our investments and you could argue that the best two signings we have made over the past few years are about to walk out for free to our rivals come the summer.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Totally agree, it's clearly on Wenger, he dithers and messes up deals over his misguided view on player valuations, it's damaged our rep in the market.

Oh for sure, that’s not in doubt. Constantly prevaricates and agonises and cant make his mind up

[Niall_Quinn]

There was definitely a point where the pennies had to be carefully counted and that started even before the stadium move as we were trying to finance the building of it in the early 2000's, in the latter years at Highbury we rarely spent anything significant.

There were a few on here who suspected the lack of money wasn't the only reason for our lack of competitiveness but that opinion was met with a lot of derision at the time because it was felt that Wenger had been thrown under a bus, despite his obvious aversion to spending big money.

I'm just glad that myth has been busted now. Wenger's coaching is ancient and with or without money the results bare that out.

Counting the pennies has consistently cost us in the long run. We're sitting on a quarter of a billion in the bank as football inflation runs rampant. That money would have bought us a world class squad a decade ago, we'll be lucky if it buys us a top tier striker in a couple of years. We are very close to the quarter billion quid transfer fee.

We wouldn't pay an agent 7mill commission for arranging a deal for Mbappe a few years back. This year he goes for 160 mill. Even if we'd have nabbed him when we had the chance and he moved on to a bigger club 3 years later, we'd be looking at a massive profit of the type Wenger used to be able to achieve on players like Anelka. And if we'd have speculated instead of penny pinched, not only would it have been much cheaper and ultimately more profitable in the long term, we'd have been building a quality team of quality players (real quality, not Wenger's bullshit idea of quality) and that in turn would have made us competitive, which in turn might have brought the trophies that fed back into the whole cycle that success brings.

Sustainability, penny pinching and dithering has been absolutely disastrous for this club and has derailed the whole (alleged) purpose of moving to the Emirates. Yet this is what the morons in charge boast about the most. They are actually proud of their mega-fuckup. And then, of course, they have the nerve to claim they can't compete because other clubs are spending money.

[selassie]

A manager that’s embarrassed by his CL record and frustrated with not winning the League title in over a decade doesn’t just sign Lacazette and Kolasnic after dropping out of the Top 4. Especially when Sanchez and Ozil are in the final year of their contract and you want to convince them to sign an extension.

Wenger has no professional pride or drive.

Yep totally agree. With Wenger it's all about "We will try our best and respect the principles of the club" blah blah blah, it's all a load of hogwash. Arsenal suits Wenger down to the ground because he can work under no pressure from above and as such he basically sets his own targets, does he even have any?

Wenger wouldn't last 5 minutes at any of our current rivals, you think the likes of Chelsea or Man United would accept dropping out of the top 4 and losing their best players in the process?

[Niall_Quinn]

Yep totally agree. With Wenger it's all about "We will try our best and respect the principles of the club" blah blah blah, it's all a load of hogwash. Arsenal suits Wenger down to the ground because he can work under no pressure from above and as such he basically sets his own targets, does he even have any?

Wenger wouldn't last 5 minutes at any of our current rivals, you think the likes of Chelsea or Man United would accept dropping out of the top 4 and losing their best players in the process?

Wenger seems to derive some sort of perverse pleasure in making it difficult for himself. The only real risks he takes are the ones that don't gain us anything if they go right, but are catastrophic WHEN they go wrong.

[Power n Glory]

There was definitely a point where the pennies had to be carefully counted and that started even before the stadium move as we were trying to finance the building of it in the early 2000's, in the latter years at Highbury we rarely spent anything significant.

There were a few on here who suspected the lack of money wasn't the only reason for our lack of competitiveness but that opinion was met with a lot of derision at the time because it was felt that Wenger had been thrown under a bus, despite his obvious aversion to spending big money.

I'm just glad that myth has been busted now. Wenger's coaching is ancient and with or without money the results bare that out.

Yes, Wenger has always praised the Ajax model so I don't think project youth was a reaction to changes in the transfer market. Investing in the training ground, the stadium, the scouts this was all part of the vision....Vieira was grumbling about our transfer policy before Chelsea hit the lottery. We'd never compete with top clubs to sign players. We were always looking for cheap young players and giving them a chance in the first team. Kolo Toure, Clichy, Senderos, Aliadierre....

I believe that has always been the blueprint but circumstances changed once Abramovich arrived and we stayed the course instead of adjusting our strategy. Hence why Dein was kicked off the Board.