No Trophies in Five Seasons

Bring Back Pires · Post by **Bring Back Pires** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:17 pm

Just a gentle reminder that tonight officially marks the end of our silverware hopes for yet another season.

We've competed for 20 trophies in the last five years, and won none of them.

I don't want to turn this into the stereotypical 'Wenger Out' thread, but changes are needed.

If not, this could continue for years and years to come.

1989 · Post by **1989** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:20 pm

Wenger out.

mikeyb772001 · Post by **mikeyb772001** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:20 pm

bye bye cesc! say no more

Meds · Post by **Meds** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:22 pm

im not overly worried about the no trophies in 5 years, what worries me most is the fact we are not improving year on year yet AW keeps thinking that we are improving massively

Dan_85 · Post by **Dan_85** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:25 pm

One more season left on AW's contract, I don't see him renewing it. I assume he'll want to go out on a high so here's hoping in the summer he holds his hands up, admits the project of the last 5 years hasn't worked & invests in significant amounts of real quality.

Otherwise his tenure at Arsenal will unfortunately be remembered as one of two very opposing halves...

sycicsid · Post by **sycicsid** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:29 pm

Tottenham Hotspur Football club-the whole caboodle- fans, team, manager the lot, only care about one thing in the whole world- not finishing 4th and playing in Europe, not winning the cup- only one thing motivates this club-beating us- the hate filled small minded morons only put in this kind of performance once or twice a season- usually it doesnâ€™t work. Well well done Tinies you won your cup final.
Anyone who questions whether they support the wrong team in North London need only wait till the weekend to find out- when they play and get hammered by Chelsea.
A flat forgettable performance by us- except for the RVP cameo at the end.

Bring Back Pires · Post by **Bring Back Pires** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:35 pm

Meds wrote:im not overly worried about the no trophies in 5 years

Really? If someone had told you when Vieira slammed in the penalty that won us the 2005 FA Cup that we'd not win another trophy until 2011 - at the earliest! - you wouldn't have been bothered?

It's sickening that we moved from Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg and Vieira to Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson in such a short space of time. This never would've been tolerated at Man Utd, Real Madrid, Barcelona or any other truly 'big club' worth their salt, and it's set us back years.

On the day when we beat Leicester 2-1 and completed the season unbeaten, we were set to conquer the world. We could've had the pick of any player in the world, and looked set to conquer Europe for years to come. Fast forward five years, and we've won a minor cup trophy (on penalties) and brought in players that make Jensen, Helder, Kiwomya, Selley and McGoldrick look like world-beaters.

Dan_85 · Post by **Dan_85** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:42 pm

Bring Back Pires wrote:On the day when we beat Leicester 2-1 and completed the season unbeaten, we were set to conquer the world. We could've had the pick of any player in the world, and looked set to conquer Europe for years to come. Fast forward five years, and we've won a minor cup trophy (on penalties) and brought in players that make Jensen, Helder, Kiwomya, Selley and McGoldrick look like world-beaters.

Whilst I agree 100% with this, unfortunately I think it's gonna lead us back to the whole moving stadium/ambition of the board debate.

When we were sold the move to AG we were told "Arsene would have more money to spend" and we would "compete with Europe's elite" - Ken Friar's exact words in 2004. When on the pitch the complete opposite has happened yet the board are fattening up the Arsenal turkey with the bumper profits from the increased executive/hospitality income whilst waiting for the inevitable bumper payday when they sell their shares to Kroenke/Usmanov.

The whole ethos of the club has been fucked since the stadium move was first instigated & until some ambition is reinjected at board level I fear we'll continue to see mediocre player upon mediocre player join the club whilst Fiszman & co remain happy so long as they're receiving the annual Â£40m or so income from reaching the CL.

Bring Back Pires · Post by **Bring Back Pires** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:51 pm

Dan_85 wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:On the day when we beat Leicester 2-1 and completed the season unbeaten, we were set to conquer the world. We could've had the pick of any player in the world, and looked set to conquer Europe for years to come. Fast forward five years, and we've won a minor cup trophy (on penalties) and brought in players that make Jensen, Helder, Kiwomya, Selley and McGoldrick look like world-beaters.
Whilst I agree 100% with this, unfortunately I think it's gonna lead us back to the whole moving stadium/ambition of the board debate.

Well yes, I agree that the stadium move has hindered our purchasing ambitions greatly. With that said, I'm really pleased that we're paying it off speedily, and applaud the board for getting on with it. I'm even tempted to say, "Fuck it, sell Fabregas for Â£50m, pay off the stadium debt, and let's move on". Obviously it'd be bad for the team in the short term, but as soon as the debts over and done with, we can start looking forward again and won't have to operate on a shoe-string budget.

But, I digress. I do think that the stadium move has had an impact, but I do also hold AW accountable. In 2006 - a full two years after the Invincible season, and ready for the imminent move to the Emirates - we still had the likes of Henry, Pires, Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Campbell and Reyes (mediocre at the time; a God compared to the current crop) on our books.

However, he had the mistaken belief that he was capable of nurturing young talent. He'd done it in the late 90's/early 00's with the aforementioned players - along with Vieira, Kanu, Wiltord, Gilberto and others - and falsely believed that he had the knack of training talent into his style of play.

Unfortunately for AW, his 'talent' didn't exist. Eboue, Diaby, Song, Walcott, Denilson, Bendtner, Vela, Merida and co. are simply dross, cannot blend in to 'Wengerball', have no redeeming features, and cannot be turned into world-class galacticos in the mould of Henry and Pires.

Remember, those players that eventually went unbeaten didn't cost a bomb. You're right in saying that AW hasn't had a great deal of money available because of the stadium move, but that which he has had at his disposal has been completely wasted on brainless losers.

SteveO 35 · Post by **SteveO 35** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:53 pm

Dan_85 wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:On the day when we beat Leicester 2-1 and completed the season unbeaten, we were set to conquer the world. We could've had the pick of any player in the world, and looked set to conquer Europe for years to come. Fast forward five years, and we've won a minor cup trophy (on penalties) and brought in players that make Jensen, Helder, Kiwomya, Selley and McGoldrick look like world-beaters.
Whilst I agree 100% with this, unfortunately I think it's gonna lead us back to the whole moving stadium/ambition of the board debate.

When we were sold the move to AG we were told "Arsene would have more money to spend" and we would "compete with Europe's elite" - Ken Friar's exact words in 2004. When on the pitch the complete opposite has happened yet the board are fattening up the Arsenal turkey with the bumper profits from the increased executive/hospitality income whilst waiting for the inevitable bumper payday when they sell their shares to Kroenke/Usmanov.

The whole ethos of the club has been fucked since the stadium move was first instigated & until some ambition is reinjected at board level I fear we'll continue to see mediocre player upon mediocre player join the club whilst Fiszman & co remain happy so long as they're receiving the annual Â£40m or so income from reaching the CL.

Absolutely correct but don't exclude Wenger from the blame in this area completely. He was all too happy to bang the drum about needing a bigger ground to compete.

People forget how small football clubs are in business terms. I've worked in businesses labelled small caps with bigger turnover and EBITDA than Arsenal FC. The stadium project was flawed and has overstretched the club. A season or two without CL football and the quality of the squad would diminish further still to service the debt. David Dein understood this point and it has been laid out clearly in Usmanov's blueprint.

The club have turned Dein into some sort of hate figure together with the 'evil' Usmanov and have managed to blind many a supporter but the commercial direction they would give to the club would put the current board and main shareholders to shame

Post by **g88ner** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:54 pm

Bring Back Pires wrote:It's sickening that we moved from Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg and Vieira to Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson in such a short space of time.

Why do people do that???

You list our best former players and make a comparison with players who aren't even first team regulars in this seasons Arsenal team

Why not mention Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas, Van Persie, etc?

If you have a decent argument then don't distort the truth

By the way, it's actually SIX seasons without a trophy because Arsene doesn't rate the FA Cup as a major trophy anymore

Bring Back Pires · Post by **Bring Back Pires** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:56 pm

g88ner wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:It's sickening that we moved from Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg and Vieira to Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson in such a short space of time.
Why do people do that???

You list our best former players and make a comparison with players who aren't even first team regulars in this seasons Arsenal team

Why not mention Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas, Van Persie, etc?

If you have a decent argument then don't distrort the truth

I'm pretty sure that Bendtner, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson have been in the side more often than not this season. And that's 80% of the players I listed.

It's not as if I'd said Vela, Merida, Ramsey, Eastmond and Fabianski is it.

Yankee_Gooner_Dandee · Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:59 pm

let's not get carried away. we were missing our best players all season. with all of them or most of them we could have easily won the league.

SteveO 35 · Post by **SteveO 35** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:00 pm

Yankee_Gooner_Dandee wrote:let's not get carried away. we were missing our best players all season. with all of them or most of them we could have easily won the league.

Yes, and when eight or more are ruled out for each of the next 10 seasons we can say the same thing that we've said since 2005.

Still the debt will be repaid by then and everyone else would have gone into administration.

Roll on 2020...

Post by **g88ner** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:01 pm

Bring Back Pires wrote:
g88ner wrote:
Bring Back Pires wrote:It's sickening that we moved from Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg and Vieira to Bendtner, Vela, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson in such a short space of time.
Why do people do that???

You list our best former players and make a comparison with players who aren't even first team regulars in this seasons Arsenal team

Why not mention Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas, Van Persie, etc?

If you have a decent argument then don't distrort the truth
I'm pretty sure that Bendtner, Walcott, Eboue and Denilson have been in the side more often than not this season. And that's 80% of the players I listed.

It's not as if I'd said Vela, Merida, Ramsey, Eastmond and Fabianski is it.

Mate, you failed to mention ANY of our star players like Cesc and Arshavin.... so whether Vela and Bendtner played "more often than not" is down to injuries, and not because they're our best players!

I agree that the quality of our team has dropped massively since 2004, though. Hell, I think we'd ALL agree with that!