THE WENGER THREAD

[DB10GOONER]

So what's your source for Wenger having money for several years??

Maybe you were told by another forum member.....they all seem In The Know here.....

Clearly Wenger had loads of money in the bank but was happy to compete with Chelsea and City with one hand behind his back....

You said it. He is such an arrogant egotist that yes, he would try to compete without spending, because he is sure his
way is the best way, even though it fails year after year.

As for my source for knowing he had money for several years, well there is the small point of AFC being in the top 15 highest grossing clubs consistantly over the last few years, the ludicrous ticket prices, the huge amounts of sponsorship money rolling in - albeit less than it should have been, due to notoriously poor negotiating team - then there is the merchandise sales.
Oh and the small matter of him paying the many average players huge sums of money for over long contracts and being happy to take around £70,000 000 in wages for himself over the last 10 years.
I could go on, but I reckon I might have answered your question.

You didn't respond to my other points by the way. Any reason??

You've chosen to ignore the building and paying off of the Emirates, why's that?

The stadium that was going to increase revenue and therefore our ability to compete with the elite?

That stadium?

Nope, not forgotten it. As Mr.T 's links have pointed out, Gazidis frequently made clear how the money has always been available. Kind of makes a mockery of the stadium argument that AKB's throw around to back up the failures of the last few years.

The Wenger apologists choose to "ignore" things. The WOB's tend to remember things.

Right OK. A lot of time on here is spent looking back with a bag full of fucking hindsight. What do you want to happen now, in 2014?

We don't spend big money (and apparently never would under Wenger) and we sign Ozil for 42M. We won't win another trophy (and apparently never would again under Wenger) and we win the FA Cup.

You talk about hindsight. But this isn't something that has suddenly risen its head. Year after year after year Arsene failed to sign decent players, extended the contracts of rubbish players and gave those rubbish players pay rises. This nullifies the financial constraints argument. It is the repeated failures year after year that should mean he is replaced, not a one-off mistake that has only been recently spotted with the advantage of hindsight.

[LaughingGooner]

Sorry, but I sense a fair number here try and compete with each other to be as abusive as possible to Wenger.

Find it sad that a person who has done so much for the club is mocked in such a personal way.

Am not going to go into the financial constraints, as I'll only be ridiculed here, but there's no doubt he's faced a massive disadvantage, taking on City and Chelsea with all their oil money.
Would have been so easy for Wenger to jump ship and head to PSG or Madrid to earn more money, with far greater transfer funds.
He's got the funds now, so there is no excuse; he has to perform in the transfer market this summer. The signing of Ozil is just the start in my opinion.

Financial disadvantage? Like, say, Simeone?

Jump ship to PSG or Madrid? Too much demand for success there I'm afraid. He would fail miserably. Far better to grasp 4th and take the 7-8 million a year here.

Got funds Now? He has had funds for years. He said if he was given £100 million to spend on players he would give it back

Signing of Ozil just the start? This signing seems to have been forced on him, or a panic buy due to pissed off season ticket holders and disappointing ticket sales.

Other than that, you have made some excellent points there mate.

[LaughingGooner]

Yes, Simone is a good shout to replace Wenger, but needs to back this season up with more success.

He's far to intelligent to get involved with PSG or Real but he must have been tempted with the resources available to him

Thanks for confirming you haven't got a reliable source to your claim; just guesswork on your part. The idea he's had vast sums to spend on players just does not stand up.

We were after Ozil for ages, so hardly can be called a panic buy.

[Ikechukwu1]

"We were after Ozil for ages"

Hold on. How can we have been after Ozil "for ages" if 5 mins ago you were claiming that THIS is the first summer Arsene has had no money? Would a guy on the dole spend 3 years trying to buy a Porsche if he couldn't even afford a BMX?
AKBs are literally like those Jehovah's witnesses...just plain stupid. Oh and if you want it in black n white, all of Arsenal's finances are on Swiss Ramble. Although I'm sure you'll even try dispute scientific evidence LOL

[DB10GOONER]

Yes, Simone is a good shout to replace Wenger, but needs to back this season up with more success.

He's far to intelligent to get involved with PSG or Real but he must have been tempted with the resources available to him

Thanks for confirming you haven't got a reliable source to your claim; just guesswork on your part. The idea he's had vast sums to spend on players just does not stand up.

We were after Ozil for ages, so hardly can be called a panic buy.

I don't think many people have said they think he had "vast sums" to spend. Gazidis has said there was money there if he wanted it. The media (I think) seem to have settled on these two figures of £70million and £100million (although I'm sure someone from AFC quoted one of those figures at some point?? Anyone? Anyone? Beuller? ).

But my point, the one you keep ignoring, is not that we had vast sums but that Arsene mis-spent the money we did have. He extended bad players' contracts and gave them huge unearned undeserved pay rises long after everyone could see those players were nowhere near good enough. He put his vanity project before the well being and success of the club. There was money there, he mis-spent it and thus failed at his job as Arsenal manager year after year.

[SteveO 35]

"We were after Ozil for ages"

Hold on. How can we have been after Ozil "for ages" if 5 mins ago you were claiming that THIS is the first summer Arsene has had no money? Would a guy on the dole spend 3 years trying to buy a Porsche if he couldn't even afford a BMX?
AKBs are literally like those Jehovah's witnesses...just plain stupid. Oh and if you want it in black n white, all of Arsenal's finances are on Swiss Ramble. Although I'm sure you'll even try dispute scientific evidence LOL

Two Babatundes......There's Only Two Babatundes



And by the way I'm not complaining ! Just need Red's return for the reunion of the Three Amigos

[kiwomya]

So what's your source for Wenger having money for several years??

Maybe you were told by another forum member.....they all seem In The Know here.....

Clearly Wenger had loads of money in the bank but was happy to compete with Chelsea and City with one hand behind his back....

You said it. He is such an arrogant egotist that yes, he would try to compete without spending, because he is sure his
way is the best way, even though it fails year after year.

As for my source for knowing he had money for several years, well there is the small point of AFC being in the top 15 highest grossing clubs consistantly over the last few years, the ludicrous ticket prices, the huge amounts of sponsorship money rolling in - albeit less than it should have been, due to notoriously poor negotiating team - then there is the merchandise sales.
Oh and the small matter of him paying the many average players huge sums of money for over long contracts and being happy to take around £70,000 000 in wages for himself over the last 10 years.
I could go on, but I reckon I might have answered your question.

You didn't respond to my other points by the way. Any reason??

You've chosen to ignore the building and paying off of the Emirates, why's that?

Because during the building and paying off of the stadium we were paying huge unearned wages to average and poor players, then extending their contracts and giving them pay rises. So how exactly did the stadium impact on our inability to sign better players? The money was there, it was mis-spent by Arsene to develop his vanity project. The same Arsene that was taking home £7million a year and approved the extended contracts and pay rises whilst claiming we couldn't compete financially.

I agree that money was spunked on wages for some players who turned out to be poor. That obviously wasn't the aim though. The idea was that they would turn into better players and be worth the investment. It's was never going to happen with everyone in the squad. The wage investment is far smaller than chucking 15-20M at a player. Do I agree with it? no. That doesn't mean I don't understand why Wenger did it. There's no way every player will turn to gold. However, It clearly wasn't the case with every player we signed during the earlier periods. In the most part, for every Almunia we had a Cesc, Adebayor, RVP etc. These are easily forgotten but probably because we flogged them long before we should have.

This is by no means a defence or me stating that I'm happy with how things have gone. I'm spewing my thoughts out trying to reason with certain aspects of the last 10 or so years.

[mcdowell42]

After ozil for ages,that's the 1st time I've ever heard that.I presume there is some back up to that theory .

[LaughingGooner]

Ozil's agent is on record that Wenger wanted to sign him before he left for Madrid, but we did not have the money.
When we paid off the majority of the stadium debt, we then put in a bid which was accepted.

[LaughingGooner]

Funny how you lot are happy to quote Gazidis when it suits your argument, but then *word censored* him off at any other moment.

[mcdowell42]

Ozils agent ,thanks that clears that up

[bang goes the 0-0 draw]

Sure if it was in the sun you would believe it

[kiwomya]

For what it's worth, It was reported that we enquired about Ozil weeks in advance of his transfer. Ancelotti taking over delayed the transfer but it was hardly done on the last day of the window. Ozil had even told team mates days before that he was going to Arsenal.

[Ikechukwu1]

After ozil for ages,that's the 1st time I've ever heard that.I presume there is some back up to that theory .

INNIT

[Ikechukwu1]

Ozil's agent is on record that Wenger wanted to sign him before he left for Madrid, but we did not have the money.
When we paid off the majority of the stadium debt, we then put in a bid which was accepted.

]

WTF?! Find that quote pls as this is bullshit. Ozil was sold to Real Madrid for £12.4 mil/15m Euros (plus add ons)
This was in 2008. So apparently Wenger didn't have money to sign Ozil...but errr he signed Arshavin for 18m Euros just a year after Ozil moved! In that period he also gave huge contract extensions to Diaby, Alex Song, Denilson, Fabianski, as well as paying Amaury Bischoff (Sanogo MK1). Mate you're having a shocker...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... lery&ino=9