Dude is settin folks up to for that 5th place trophy
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The crux of the whole Champions League discussion is the fact that there are a few teams in Europe today which have unlimited resources, unlimited influence and therefore unlimited buying power which sets them apart from most other clubs. Clubs like ours, a big club, based in London, with a huge fan base, struggle to compete against these mega clubs because we operate within our means. Lesser clubs have no chance. What’s worse, with each passing year, these clubs are pulling further and further away. Unless UEFA finds a way to regulate this, the Champions League is bound to become the prerogative of these mega clubs, with the rest of the clubs just making up the numbers.
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I think it’s pretty much already like this.
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There’s a difference between “operating within our means” and what we do. And It’s not just the spending aspect our contracts and the way we run our contracts is abysmal.
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Couldn’t agree more. The current situation with player contracts, our lack of a plan when it comes to dealing with contract rebels, our inability to unearth talent like we used to in the past or make prudent signings like Kante for stupid ethical reasons, all of that is on Wenger and his team of idiots.
However, even if another manager were to come in tomorrow, with a director of football in place, we would still be at a distinct disadvantage when compared to clubs like Madrid, Barca, City, Chelsea, PSG etc.
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I agree with what you are saying, but it’s always been like this.
There have always been big rich teams who could not only afford the best players but those players wanted to play for the big clubs.
I know some of these clubs like Chelsea, Man City, PSG etc, aren’t the traditional big clubs but there aren’t that many of them.
We are a massive club in terms of support and revenue and it’s difficult for us to keep up with the richest clubs in the PL but there is no excuse for us falling behind spurs, Liverpool and Leicester, in recent seasons.
In fact we have been overtaken by spurs who have a new stadium to pay for and who pay a lot less in wages than we do.
That was our excuse when we moved to the Emirates but it doesn’t seem to have affected spurs as much.
There have always been rich clubs but those clubs were still spending within their means. It was those clubs that we were meant to compete with by moving to the Emirates. Clubs like Chelsea, City and PSG have now changed the playing field as their owners spend their personal wealth.
Agreed. The discussion was about the Champions League and Wenger’s comments about it not being as interesting as it used to be.
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This is true but generally the massive clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man U and Bayern Munich are still spending money that is earned through revenue.
There aren’t many clubs like Man City Chelsea and PSG and as much as I despise them, I wouldn’t mind having an owner that would see us get the worlds best players.
As for Wenger finding the CL less interesting, that is definitely sour grapes, and he has only said it since we haven’t qualified.
He would have grown up in an era where Real Madrid and a lot of the same clubs got to the final so it would have been no different then.
Fans have to consider this.
Stadium move was logical at the time and it would have taken massive predictive skills to know the market scenario that we have now.
It has not made us a club with spending capacity relative to current market but it is still a good move in terms of progressing as a club and we did so before market got inflated.
Don’t judge the move by current valuation of players. Current valuation is stupid.
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And even if you did know it would still have been the right thing to do.
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So I’ve just been reading this interview with Danny Welbeck - one question stood out for me as it highlights the different managerial styles between Wenger and Fergie and cements the view of there being a culture of comfort at Arsenal. There is no rollicking if you perform like a headless chicken. Wenger needs to be more like Fergie!
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Yay who cares if he’s won 10 less league titles when you have beaten a wider array of opponents wowsers.
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Wenger is definitely a players’ manager. Seems his managerial style is much more of “fellow” professional with the players as opposed to my way or the highway.
Typically, a players’ manager can do well if he has an ass kicker on the pitch somewhere that helps keep players in line so to speak. It seems that Arsenal hasn’t had this player since Viera left.
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must you always bring the mood down?
Must you always point out when you think the mood is being brought down?
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I must.
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I mean, heaven forbid we actually have a positive atmosphere when something cheerful comes out. Oh god no.
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I agree I think it was and still is genuinely a brilliant move we made. We’ve failed in a vast number of other areas however, many of which the club found convenient to lay at the feet of the cost of the transition to a new stadium.
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