Peter Cunt-Wood: Who needs CL footy

1989 · Post by **1989** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:21 am

EXIT WON'T HURT ARSENAL

ARSENAL missing out on the Champions League would not be a disaster, chairman Peter Hill-Wood insisted last night.

In an honest assessment of the Gunnersâ€™ position â€“ fifth, four points behind Chelsea â€“ Hill-Wood said: â€œWe are hanging on in there, no more.â€

Post by **Barriecuda** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:33 am

Think this is being taken slightly out of context. They have always ensured that if they missed the CL, the team's finances wouldn't go to shit. Liverpool made that mistake and got into massive debt before being bailed out by their new owners.

What he's saying is that they've planned for not qualifying in the event that it happened.

The real worry is that missing the CL used to be considered hugely devastating by the owners, but now they're talking about "eh we'll be okay if it happens". The other thing I would have rather heard is "we can survive without CL football for a year but we are a top club and we consider a CL birth the minimum requirement".

Sigh.

Boomer · Post by **Boomer** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:57 am

What the fuck is it with him and the Daily Star!?!?

Post by **brazilianGOONER** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:02 am

Barriecuda wrote:Think this is being taken slightly out of context. They have always ensured that if they missed the CL, the team's finances wouldn't go to shit. Liverpool made that mistake and got into massive debt before being bailed out by their new owners.

What he's saying is that they've planned for not qualifying in the event that it happened.

The real worry is that missing the CL used to be considered hugely devastating by the owners, but now they're talking about "eh we'll be okay if it happens". The other thing I would have rather heard is "we can survive without CL football for a year but we are a top club and we consider a CL birth the minimum requirement".

Sigh.

spot on

SWLGooner · Post by **SWLGooner** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:07 am

Doe anyone even listen to Hill-Wood any more?

TeeCee · Post by **TeeCee** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:00 pm

What he means it's, they've planned every year for non-qualification by holding back all the profit from transfers so that when we don't qualify, which they know is coming, they have 40m plus in the bank saved!
Someone needs to ask what happens to S/T prices when we don't qualify!!

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 3:05 pm

Boomer wrote:What the fuck is it with him and the Daily Star!?!?

True.... For a supposedly educated man from the upper classes why does he speak to that low life rag? Bet they have got something on him and wont publish it if he talks now and then

littlefire · Post by **littlefire** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:49 am

Poor old Woody.

Red Member · Post by **Red Member** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:55 am

I think it is fine for him to come out and say that we are not totally reliant on finishing in the top 4.

however what I have a problem with is this:
WHERE IS THE AMBITION TO GET US INTO THE TOP 4 AND CHALLENGING FOR THE MAJOR HONOURS???

ok Wenger is not having the best of seasons but I don't hear much backing (or even interest) from the rest of the Arsenal board.

did they provide money to buy the best players in the summer (eg Mata) or not?
why is someone not telling Wenger that Chamakh is not good enough and needs to be replaced this month?

safcftm · Post by **safcftm** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:34 am

Barriecuda wrote:Think this is being taken slightly out of context. They have always ensured that if they missed the CL, the team's finances wouldn't go to shit. Liverpool made that mistake and got into massive debt before being bailed out by their new owners.

What he's saying is that they've planned for not qualifying in the event that it happened.

The real worry is that missing the CL used to be considered hugely devastating by the owners, but now they're talking about "eh we'll be okay if it happens". The other thing I would have rather heard is "we can survive without CL football for a year but we are a top club and we consider a CL birth the minimum requirement".

Sigh.

That sounds like a fair assessment of the situation and as you say, the worrying thing is more that he doesnt seem to be saying that missing out on the CL would be unacceptable from a footballing point of view- in fact you rarely, from what I've noticed, hear any of the Arsenal hierarchy discussing matters from a footballing perspective.

The other thing he doesn't mention is what this "plan" involves. Maybe they have planned to remain financially stable even without CL football, but that plan might involve selling Van Persie, spending even less on transfer fees in the summer etc

Red Member · Post by **Red Member** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:56 am

safcftm wrote:
Barriecuda wrote:Think this is being taken slightly out of context. They have always ensured that if they missed the CL, the team's finances wouldn't go to shit. Liverpool made that mistake and got into massive debt before being bailed out by their new owners.

What he's saying is that they've planned for not qualifying in the event that it happened.

The real worry is that missing the CL used to be considered hugely devastating by the owners, but now they're talking about "eh we'll be okay if it happens". The other thing I would have rather heard is "we can survive without CL football for a year but we are a top club and we consider a CL birth the minimum requirement".

Sigh.
That sounds like a fair assessment of the situation and as you say, the worrying thing is more that he doesnt seem to be saying that missing out on the CL would be unacceptable from a footballing point of view- in fact you rarely, from what I've noticed, hear any of the Arsenal hierarchy discussing matters from a footballing perspective.The other thing he doesn't mention is what this "plan" involves. Maybe they have planned to remain financially stable even without CL football, but that plan might involve selling Van Persie, spending even less on transfer fees in the summer etc

That is a very good point

Post by **DB10GOONER** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:40 am

Red Member wrote:I think it is fine for him to come out and say that we are not totally reliant on finishing in the top 4.

however what I have a problem with is this:
WHERE IS THE AMBITION TO GET US INTO THE TOP 4 AND CHALLENGING FOR THE MAJOR HONOURS???

ok Wenger is not having the best of seasons but I don't hear much backing (or even interest) from the rest of the Arsenal board.

did they provide money to buy the best players in the summer (eg Mata) or not?
why is someone not telling Wenger that Chamakh is not good enough and needs to be replaced this month?

Why should "someone" do that? Why should they have to? Lord Vader is paid Â£7 million a year to know that and to act upon that knowledge.

This is what bugs me the most about AKB's. It's ALWAYS "someone" else's fault. NEVER Wenger's.

Red Member · Post by **Red Member** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:44 am

DB10 Gooner

I agree with you that Wenger should have realised by now that Chamakh is shit. He is certainly not perfect, that is why I am not an AKB.

However all the best managers need help sometimes and the Arsenal board don't seem to have a clue what is going on most of the time

safcftm · Post by **safcftm** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:45 am

Out of interest, does Wenger have shares in Arsenal? Just wondering because sometimes he seems so reluctant to spend big chasing footballing ambitions that I'm just starting to think that maybe him and the board members are in the same boat in more ways than one? I know when we had Peter Reid he had a lot of shares given to him as part of his contract (he ended up owning about 5% of the club at one point iirc) and I'm wondering whether Wenger might have a similar deal, or whether he might get a bonus based on financial performance rather than footballing performance?

1989 · Post by **1989** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:42 pm

No SAFC, Wenger doesn't own any shares in the club.

The owners are:
Stan Kroenke (66.76%)
Alisher Usmanov (29.25%)
Peter Cuntface (0.08%)
Sir Chips Keswick (0.03%)
Rangers FC (0.02%)

Usmanov is worth 10,716 billion GBP and Kroenke 1,574 billion GBP and the club's ambition is "it would be nice to finish in the top 4 but we can manage without it"!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE.