In hindsight was it right to leave Highbury?

[cameron326]

I was always against the move. But this transfer window has made me think. Nowadays most top quality interantional players demand trasfer fees of 15m and upwards, and arguably double that for the real world beaters. And on top of that, wages of 100k and up.. In short, to compete in this climate, one way or another, you have to be a financial power house. Could Arsenal really have hoped to compete with the cream of Europe this centruy without the 50m per season or whatever it is were supposed to get extra from the Emirates? Or would we have been better off sticking at Highbury and looking for a sugar daddy ala Cheslea, Man City? Or is the real sore point not the move itself, which could be argued as unavoidable, but the design of stadium, lack of confering with supporters, ticket pricing etc at new home could have been done better?

[Swifty]

I like it. And if we had someone prepared to spend money then it wouldnt be an issue. But, as they say, being unhappy and rich is better than unhappy and poor.

[flash gunner]

If we're sticking with Arsene and his wanky project then we might have well stayed at Highbury

but if we are going to compete with Real Madrid on transfers (which was the promise/lie for moving) then I would accept the bowl but right now I wish we were back home

[REB]

I miss highbury and agree what flash says, if we are to be considered one of the worlds elite then we had no choice but too move.
im no akb but I do feel the club has turned the corner now when it comes to finance and hopefully the next manager will take us up another step.

[rodders999]

Exactly. The move will only start to pay dividends when the dictator pisses off. Pointless earning all this extra cash when you've a maniac in charge who's terrified to spend it. Under the current regime it's hard to get a feel for real Arsenal FC. Once we're liberated things will start to look and feel a whole lot better.

[Leyton Gooner]

I don't think we'll ever get the old Arsenal back because the bowl will never feel like home. But yes when the dictatorship ends we should start to resemble the proud club of old

[flash gunner]

Exactly. The move will only start to pay dividends when the dictator pisses off. Pointless earning all this extra cash when you've a maniac in charge who's terrified to spend it. Under the current regime it's hard to get a feel for real Arsenal FC. Once we're liberated things will start to look and feel a whole lot better.

The Gooner spring!!! Revolution in North London

[OneBardGooner]

I like it. And if we had someone prepared to spend money (And a club that allowed the second major share holder into its hallowed realms - who promises to spend his own cash to bring in the best players) then it wouldnt be an issue. But, as they say, being unhappy and rich is better than unhappy and poor.

Agree, but felt it needed a little tweek


As long as The Dictator is in charge things will not change.... his latest 'attempts' to spend big are one of two things:

He knows he is a dead man walking (managing) and is trying to salvage his career by spending BIG


His latest shenanigans in the transfer window is all smoke and mirrors - he really is so in illusion that he thinks he can still con everyone by saying 'we tried to buy so and so and such and such' just as he has in the past..feeble excuses from a manager long past his sell by date

Regardless of what does or does not occur in this transfer window - I cannot and will not EVER trust wenger again....for as Friedrich Neitzsche once said

“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”

[Dan_85]

The "benefits" (ie more cash) of moving to AG are not being reaped at all due to the fucknuts in charge.

The finance and infrastructure is there for us to be very successful, much more so than we have been since 2006. If you get in some people who are actually prepared to make use of this new found wealth that The Grove has bought us then yes, despite us all missing Highbury, you could say that the move would have been successful.

What is the point of moving to a huge income generating stadium if you're gonna stick with a manager and CEO who are so offended by the monetisation of football (they take no issue with their own salaries of course)? If we're gonna moan about FFP and put all our eggs in that basket then we may as well have stayed at Highbury along with the reduced income that bought us.

[OneBardGooner]

Exactly. The move will only start to pay dividends when the dictator pisses off. Pointless earning all this extra cash when you've a maniac in charge who's terrified to spend it. Under the current regime it's hard to get a feel for real Arsenal FC. Once we're liberated things will start to look and feel a whole lot better.

The Gooner spring!!! Revolution in North London

Yeah! I can see it now Gun Totting Gooners in Thwabs, Dishdasha's or Suriyah's - Black one's with the BSM Yellow & Black Cannon on them!

[OneBardGooner]

The "benefits" (ie more cash) of moving to AG are not being reaped at all due to the fucknuts in charge.

The finance and infrastructure is there for us to be very successful, much more so than we have been since 2006. If you get in some people who are actually prepared to make use of this new found wealth that The Grove has bought us then yes, despite us all missing Highbury, you could say that the move would have been successful.

What is the point of moving to a huge income generating stadium if you're gonna stick with a manager and CEO who are so offended by the monetisation of football (they take no issue with their own salaries of course)? If we're gonna moan about FFP and put all our eggs in that basket then we may as well have stayed at Highbury along with the reduced income that bought us.

Well said mate...very well Said Indeed!

[Bradywasking]

in hindsight it was not just wrong it was morally wrong..We we sold a dream which turned out to be a pack of lies, for me the main proof that it hasn't worked are.

(A) We are further away from challenging for the Premier League than we were in 2006. Time hazes our memories but it was only two years after the Unbeaten Season and in the same Season that we reached the Champions League Final that we made the move. There were grounds for genuine optimism that we only needed a cash injection to push on. The move was to be the catalyst for that.

(B) A night in Munich in 2012 when Chelsea became the first club from London to win the Champions League. Again this type of night is what the move was for. We now endure the taunts of the media and worse still Chelsea fans because of that. We are the biggest Club in the biggest City in a Continent, we should be enjoying those nights not enduring them.

Compere Arsenal 2013 with Arsenal 2006 on the pitch..compere the trust we as supporters had in our manager and our Club in 2013 with the trust we had in our manager and our Club in 2006. There are no comparisons.
We were told of war chests and limitless funding, of everything being geared towards the quest for success. Instead we watched the stream of talent leaving for the very success the bowl was to bring. We wanted the promises kept, but were told to be careful what we wish for.
So in answer to your question Cameron ..a big NO from me.

[LDB]

It's a difficult one. Take a look at our wage bill since the move - to say we've not been spending any of the extra revenue from the stadium is not true. From 60m pa in 2005 we (as of 2012) pay 143m pa in wages. http://abehnisch.com/arsenal-wage-bill-history/

The biggest problem facing this club is that we do not get anywhere near proper value for the amount of total wages we pay. But look at the table on that website and we're far from the only club to have seen this boom in wages - would we be able to keep pace with that if we were still at highbury?

Imo if we couldn't expand highbury then a stadium move was inevitable and necessary and one major thing I think our board did well was not to piss around and dilly dally like the scousers and others have but to actually go and get it built. In many ways it's hard to see just how much good the stadium move is doing because we'll never know how things would have turned out if we stayed at highbury but I still think barring a sugar daddy the new stadium was the only viable long term future for the club, unless you were in the Dein camp and wanted to rent Wembley

[OneBardGooner]

"The biggest problem facing this club is that we do not get anywhere near proper value for the amount of total wages we pay."


This is due to the manager he pays very average players extremely high wages - and then as the world and his dog knows - we are then stuck with these average players - because

a) no one else wants them
b) they won't budge because they're earning a fortune for doing zilch

What continues to baffle me is that Wenger is always arguing how he is against the monetisation of football - but that ship has long sailed, the way of the world (at present) is that everything revolves around money - which is power - and football is a very lucrative business within the world, so how he expects to stand against that tsunami is ridiculous ALSO he keeps trying to claim this higher (financial) moral ground and yet he is happy to be paid £7.5 million a year whilst failing at his job. Sadly there are those who have been hypnotised into believing that he is doing a good job, merely by attaining 4th and no trophies, but the whole reason for the clubs desperation to get 4th is all about money.

Unless the way of the world changes drastically in its financial stance over the next few years we have to join in, or we are screwed...well we have been screwed for 8 seasons actually.

In order for Wnger's (so called) Fair play/pay system to work we would need to :

Get rid of agents - have one (Impartial) Official Body that oversee's players contracts
Cap players & managers wages
Have a system for setting prices for tickets
and do this Globally

So it it is NOT going to happen - we may wish it to but it is impossible.

[LDB]

"The biggest problem facing this club is that we do not get anywhere near proper value for the amount of total wages we pay."


This is due to the manager he pays very average players extremely high wages - and then as the world and his dog knows - we are then stuck with these average players - because

a) no one else wants them
b) they won't budge because they're earning a fortune for doing zilch

What continues to baffle me is that Wenger is always arguing how he is against the monetisation of football - but that ship has long sailed, the way of the world (at present) is that everything revolves around money - which is power - and football is a very lucrative business within the world, so how he expects to stand against that tsunami is ridiculous ALSO he keeps trying to claim this higher (financial) moral ground and yet he is happy to be paid £7.5 million a year whilst failing at his job. Sadly there are those who have been hypnotised into believing that he is doing a good job, merely by attaining 4th and no trophies, but the whole reason for the clubs desperation to get 4th is all about money.

Unless the way of the world changes drastically in its financial stance over the next few years we have to join in, or we are screwed...well we have been screwed for 8 seasons actually.

In order for Wnger's (so called) Fair play/pay system to work we would need to :

Get rid of agents - have one (Impartial) Official Body that oversee's players contracts
Cap players & managers wages
Have a system for setting prices for tickets
and do this Globally

So it it is NOT going to happen - we may wish it to but it is impossible.

Spot on