Finishing Fourth....

[woots82]

lets hope we get europa, half empty grove - then the fuckers will spend

[USMartin]

Best thing now is that we don't qualify. I've heard people say that many times on here before and have always, until now, taken the view that as an Arsenal fan I can't see that line of argument. But I can see it now.

A fourth place finish and an exit to Bayern / Lyon is the only way that anything will change the way that the club is run, because it's the only thing that materially changes its valuation.

Kroenke has paid a share price valuation based around continued qualification for the CL. £25m lost per annum soon makes that valuation look top heavy, both in terms of the annual cash flow and the capital value of his shares.

Suddenly the GIC is no longer the darling of the shareholders.

With all due respect to those marching and chanting yesterday....sticks and stones and all that. The only way to hurt them is in the pocket.

As things stand with what I expect to happen in the Summer (i.e. sweet FA again for the 4th year in succession), then I have already vowed that I will not be attending any home matches next season (for the first time since 1978 and with a very heavy heart I have to add). Why should I commit over £100 + 6% two months in advance when I know the "product" is lowering in quality year after year.....and BTW, no matter what Wenger says, the quality drop is there for all to see. For the umpteenth time this season I sat there yesterday bored witless; that wasn't entertaining, beautiful football. It was like watching an uninspired England team trying to mechanically pass it around in slow motion against a team like Montenegro. BORING, BORING - said the Stoke fans last week and I can only agree. West Ham, Blackburn, Sunderland, Villa...to name but a few home games...tedious in the extreme.

If all Silver members did likewise i.e. refuse to buy any tickets for nex year, then the club's working capital suffers as effectively they usually have the majority of matchday income two months in advance....and now they will be down to one month and lower if games only sell to Reds and General Sale. Use your silver memberships as almost a blocking stake.

Don't buy the kit, don't buy any of the tat from the club shops.

Hit these greedy bastards, and hit them hard in the only place that they feel the pain - the wallet.

Please I urge you, in the name of change, stop spending money on this "franchise" until they get the message.

And yes, for the good of Arsenal, I have to say reluctantly that a 4th place finish and untimely exit from the CL in late July, is just what the club now requires.

I can't agree - the damage will be far too severe for this group to be able or willing to correct if they aren't already willing to do so. Don't forgret the Board is being kept as is, and what incentive do mosty of them have now to act - they have their money, and if they cared at all beyond that, then whatever you may think of Jabba the Uzbek they would have sold to him because he has 12 Billion virtually all of it freed up where Stan Kroenke has maybe 2 billion and its stretched to the limit even before this.

Reacting too late is no better than not reacting at all really.

[rodders999]

Keep shopping at Walmart Marty, boost the coffers for when we need to buy that 14 year old Ugandan center half.

[worthing gooner]

Keep shopping at Walmart Marty, boost the coffers for when we need to buy that 14 year old Ugandan center half.

Bloody hell 14!! Thats optomistic...

[rodders999]

Keep shopping at Walmart Marty, boost the coffers for when we need to buy that 14 year old Ugandan center half.

Bloody hell 14!! Thats optomistic...

With the extra 6% we'll be able to splash out that bit extra you see.

[Jumpers For Goalposts]

Agreed SteveO. Sad as it is we need to finish 4th cos that's exactly what AW and his soft as shite numpties deserve.

We also need to lose in the qualifying round so that the Board get hit in the pocket - the only place that matters to them!! Some times in life you have to go backwards in order to go forwards again - Arsenal are now at that stage because nothing is going to change until the money stops rolling in.

We should all stop worrying about the CL cos we're never going to win the f**king thing under Wenger.

[franksav63]

Agreed SteveO. Sad as it is we need to finish 4th cos that's exactly what AW and his soft as shite numpties deserve.

We also need to lose in the qualifying round so that the Board get hit in the pocket - the only place that matters to them!! Some times in life you have to go backwards in order to go forwards again - Arsenal are now at that stage because nothing is going to change until the money stops rolling in.

We should all stop worrying about the CL cos we're never going to win the f**king thing under Wenger.

Yes... I stopped worrying about this shit 'competition' a few seasons back. It's the ultimate goal for Wenger, and he's blinkered obsession with it is doing us no favours at all.

[USMartin]

Agreed SteveO. Sad as it is we need to finish 4th cos that's exactly what AW and his soft as shite numpties deserve.

We also need to lose in the qualifying round so that the Board get hit in the pocket - the only place that matters to them!! Some times in life you have to go backwards in order to go forwards again - Arsenal are now at that stage because nothing is going to change until the money stops rolling in.

We should all stop worrying about the CL cos we're never going to win the f**king thing under Wenger.

I agree wholly that we need to have them realize how bad business these policies are. The rpoblem is that if we drop from the op four or lose Champions League football now we are looking at another decade and maybe longer in the Wilderness and a far less certain wilderness with the prospcect of the stadium debt looming over us until 2031 and the postential dividend servicing of the purchase of the club which can be done right now and when Stan Kroenke was asked to say he would not do this apprently he did not do so.

In other words we could drop from the top foru at the same time our new safe custoduian uises the money that should go back inot the club to buy it from our previous safe custodinas who would have thus chosen to sell to someone they know cannot afford to buy the club with his own money.

To do this while we are already forced to limit investment by an obligation for another 20 years to pay for the stadium was frankly irresponsible on the Board's part and there can only be one motive for them doing so cashing in at maximum profit with minimum scrutiny, and you have to wonder if they genuinely care at all about the potential disaster they have set in motion for the club the supposedly loved like we do.

We have to convince Stan Kroenke that he will lose money and perhaps catastrophically so unless we invest and invest now in repairing the football team because if we wait as suggested here it will be economically disastrous to repair thins at that point unless we abandon the self-sustaining business model altogether to do so.

[Jumpers For Goalposts]

But Martin - we've just seen the same season for the fifth season in a row.

All the time we keep scraping into the Devil's Spawn that is the Champions League, Wenger and the Board think everything is rosy. Well it may be for them but it so obviously is not for us. Putting up ticket prices in the middle of a recession, having won nothing for 6 years is taking the piss!! They should be putting prices down!!

Have a look round the new stadium. What is on the boards above Club Level, proudly displayed for all to see?????

That's right - our list of Honours.

I don't see any boards displaying the years we qualified for the CL. Or any boards showing how lovely our "tippy tappy" football is.

[Gunnersaurus]

Is it seeded or not?

Thursday nights would be shit, it would be impossible for me to go so it would make me more irate.

In truth though, like others have said, not qualifying for the CL would be the only thing that could force change.

[LeoGooner]

Remember the CL qualifiers will be played before the transfer window shuts. Getting knocked out will mean we won't be able to attract the top new players we know AW will target . . .

[biglunn]

Agreed SteveO. Sad as it is we need to finish 4th cos that's exactly what AW and his soft as shite numpties deserve.

We also need to lose in the qualifying round so that the Board get hit in the pocket - the only place that matters to them!! Some times in life you have to go backwards in order to go forwards again - Arsenal are now at that stage because nothing is going to change until the money stops rolling in.

We should all stop worrying about the CL cos we're never going to win the f**king thing under Wenger.

I agree wholly that we need to have them realize how bad business these policies are. The problem is that if we drop from the top four or lose Champions League football now we are looking at another decade and maybe longer in the Wilderness and a far less certain wilderness with the prospcect of the stadium debt looming over us until 2031 and the postential dividend servicing of the purchase of the club which can be done right now and when Stan Kroenke was asked to say he would not do this apprently he did not do so.

In other words we could drop from the top foru at the same time our new safe custoduian uises the money that should go back inot the club to buy it from our previous safe custodinas who would have thus chosen to sell to someone they know cannot afford to buy the club with his own money.

To do this while we are already forced to limit investment by an obligation for another 20 years to pay for the stadium was frankly irresponsible on the Board's part and there can only be one motive for them doing so cashing in at maximum profit with minimum scrutiny, and you have to wonder if they genuinely care at all about the potential disaster they have set in motion for the club the supposedly loved like we do.

We have to convince Stan Kroenke that he will lose money and perhaps catastrophically so unless we invest and invest now in repairing the football team because if we wait as suggested here it will be economically disastrous to repair thins at that point unless we abandon the self-sustaining business model altogether to do so..

Martin - the thing is that if we teeter on the brink (and qualify for CL) as we have been for the past few years - it justifies Arsene £6m a year salary, and he stays. Just look at the squad now - Arsene has accumulated far too much deadwood.... and our wage bill is astronimical. I want Arsene removed as manager irrespective of suggestions of him not having a board that supports him financially - he has ALWAYS been tactically mediocre, and now that he has moulded a squad that is totally bollockless and is still declining. I want a manager that actually wants his team aiming for the very top - FIGHT WITH THE BOARD FOR FUNDS IF HE NEEDS THEM, after all he has nearly 60,000 fans in the stadium funding his `project`, and now he is reduced to patronising us fans telling us that we are not being relegated? HE CAN FUCK OFF. I dont care if the board are not supportive - if Arsene is cosy with that then he is worse.

On the point of `convincing` Kroenke - I really hope he can see what is happening and gets rid of Arsene as soon as the season is over. If he is still there, then its much of the same.