Firstly, these other clubs can't sign everyone. Indeed, Wenger said exactly those words a few years ago when questioned about Chelsea's spending. Baba has given a few examples of where it wasn't wage demands that was the deciding factor on us losing out on good players, but Wenger's parsimonious offers.kiwomya wrote:I know! But the other teams can always pay more than us - what do you do?I Hate Hleb wrote:kiwomya,
But that is through choice!!! When you have two billionaires sitting on the Board and yet still have a sort of embargo on signing quality players that may cost a few quid, it is ultimately not City of Chelsea that are hurting us, but a case of causing self-inflicted damage.
We can also get the team to a sufficient quality and competing properly so that good players want to play for us, even if it is for a few quid less. There is still some prestige (or at least there should be) in playing for The Arsenal!!! Trophies matter as much to the best players as money does. I don't subscribe to the current theory that people only move for money and that we would all do the exact same thing if offered more cash elsewhere. However true that is in some cases, there are plenty of times where wages is not the primary concern.
The truth is we are faced with 2 choices: either try and compete with the other big boys, as our history and tradition demands, or just except that we can't and lower our ambitions and expectations to that of a club whose aim is battling with other Europa Cup hopefuls and maybe a Cup Final appearance. And if it is to be the latter, than the club should at least make sure that ticket prices they charge reflect that choice and new found realism, rather than keeping up the pretense that we pay so much in order to allow us to compete with the other top clubs!!