Van Persie saga, officially not extending contract.

[highburyJD]

Although I hope this 'mercenary' crap will stop now. He's just left a team that's got less trophy success over almost 8 years than Birmingham and Spuds; for the biggest club and best manager in the country. He cares about football though I admit it's a bit effing sour he has joined them of all teams...

I disagree (quelle surprise) as Arseblog said today "They’ll pay him £200,000+ a week by all accounts, and to my mind that makes this move as much about money as if he’d gone to City"
Shrek had to make an RVP I'm off 'ambition' statement to get that kind of money out of ManUre
the Glazers have a pocketlining share issue to justify - SirMeatFace was being questioned for his support of them
this has the feeling of an expensive diversion to me

It's sick really. Could you imagine Fergie letting us hav Rooney? Hah! In fact, I am sick of hearing this 'Arsene had no chouce' bollocks. Do you remember the story of Gabriel Heinze? Only had one year left on his contract. Wanted to go to Liverpool. Sulked and tried to force a move. Fergie made it ead clear that he'd rather see Heinze rot in the reserves for a year than join the Mickeys, What happened in the end? Transferred to another country. Simples.

I think Heinze was a reserve team player priced at about 25% of what we'll get RVP for, pretty different ballpark

Like I said though Fergie is a football man and Wenger is a money man.

Depens how you express it - could say Fergie is a chequebook manager and Wenger builds teams but yes SirMeatFace has not had the same financial constraints as Wenger

The club is rotten, they seem to keep pushing it each yearjust to see how far they can take the piss with the fans, and it seems the answer is, they can do what they want.

they haven't pushed us out of the CL - for all the sales I think we could still repeat last season RVP POY through Cazorla and get YPOY with Ox

RVP. Nasri. Cole. Clichy. Bayor. Kolo.
All sold to club we are allegedly trying to compete against or 'cannot compete' with!!!

RVP on paper looks a good deal - injuries, age, wages he wanted, expiring contract
Na$ri IMO flattered to deceive last season - he wasnt key to their championship. He could go on to be a great player that said I wouldn't have given him a big pay rise before his 1/2 a good season.
Cole is world class, was a terrible loss. Once he met Chelski in public it was difficult to see anything but his departure.
Clichy looks good again but was stagnant for us. Logical sale
Greedybarndoor - brilliant deal for us
Kolo - a great player who never recovered post malaria
of those only Cole actually improved a rival IMO (RVP and Na$ri still could - I hope they flop badly)

Such is the laughable state of te apologetic JCL fanbase we now have that if we sold Wilshere to the Spuds in a year I am sure you'd hear 'oh GREAT BUSINESS' he is 'injury prone' 'unproven' etc...

typical Baba straw man nonsense. Why disagree with real people when you can make up imaginary points of view

RVP was the best striker in Europe just a few months ago and now all of a sudden, he is an injury-prone overhyped piece of garbage? Really?

RVP last season was behind only Messi and Ronaldo (Cavani prob nearby) but historically he's been undeniably injury-prone. Giving a 29 year old a 4 year £200K a week contract, the only way we would have kept him, would have been an enormous gamble. Maybe it could have won us the league - he would have had to do that (or more) to justify us committing £24M on him. If we go out and buy a good backup striker with the money we're not in bad shape. With your virulently anti-Song views surely his likely replacement would be a massive improvement...?

PS if we win our first few games try not to disappear Babs

[the playing mantis]

rigsby, the commercial deals are not going to be the white night here. they will bring more cash in bnut not enough to alter things much. they would probably allow the purchase of a bendtner quality payer a season, pus his wages, if that.

as fro red wumber, now he has stopped trying to wum the board, some of his stuff does make sense.

no one can argue that we are ambitious anymore, or a big club on the same level as united. the only arguements there can be are a)why has this happened and b)what can be done to change it.

a) firstly out of necessity due to the once in kind cost of the bulk of the stadium, but thats not the case now, its due to a owner not willing to invest in the playing side of things and happy to just turn a profit every season (look at his other crappy franchises), misspent money that is available (big wages fro crap players), a stubborn manger who clearly doesnt have much money to spend, but has many many flaws in his dotage.

b)nothing, unless 75% of the fan base turn against the club, boycott protest etc. we are stuck with kroenke and the current policies until he gets bored, till usmanov buys him out, or until we stop turning a profit, which could happen in the next couple of years, as there is an increasing lack of saleable assets at the club and we will miss out on CL sooner or later.

[the playing mantis]

how can anyone claim that a move to united is purely money. lets completely ignore the trophies uniteed have won compared to us over the last 7 years and how close they have been to trophies.

[Peeman]

highburyJD - you are just acting exactly how the club hope that supporters react.

the more criticism of RVP the better it is for them. It will give Kroenke a chance to count his money.

I am full of admiration for RVP, he is 29, he knows that the club has no ambition and he has ended up a club that does. Good luck to him.
don't forget the players that have been bought this summer were bought to replace RVP. He knew the club were not really going to strengthen so he left. I don't blame him. why would he want to carry the team again?

Good luck to him - as in u hope he does well - as in he wins stuff with that scummy club, with scummy fans and the scummiest of players

[kiwomya]

We create world class players but we are not in that top bracket of clubs.

When you have some players as good as the ones we have/have had then of course the top teams will want them. It's no surprise that our big sales over the last 6-7 years have been to Barcelona, Chelsea, Man City....and now Man Utd.

I do notice that hardly anyone actually credits Wenger with bringing players like RVP to Arsenal in the first place. This thread wouldn't have ever existed had Wenger never signed him. This is a player the club put time and effort into in order to get the very best out of him. Our opinions will all vary but I just doubt he would have made it at many other clubs.

That said, I'm still shocked that Arsenal allowed him to go to United at this moment in time.

[goonersid]

"He is at Manchester United, unfortunately for us. The transfer was finalised in the afternoon," said Wenger whilst working for French TV station TF1 on Wednesday.

"It's never great to lose players of that quality but he only had a year contract so we do not have a choice."

Wenger then stated that he had already signed Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski to cover for van Persie's departure.

"We have already recruited since we Giroud and Podolski who originally were intended to offset the departure of van Persie," he concluded..


We were told originally that Podolski was signed to play alongside rvp, Proof, as if it were needed that Wenger is a lying bastard.

[arseofacrow]

..I do notice that hardly anyone actually credits Wenger with bringing players like RVP to Arsenal in the first place. This thread wouldn't have ever existed had Wenger never signed him. This is a player the club put time and effort into in order to get the very best out of him. Our opinions will all vary but I just doubt he would have made it at many other clubs.

That said, I'm still shocked that Arsenal allowed him to go to United at this moment in time.

Well, it's complicated mate cos he's the highest paid manager in the country, and his failures are as numerous, if not more by now, as his successes. It could be said that he also stuck by van Persie to the detriment of the team at those times when he was taking up a "regular" starters place in the squad - a stubborness to which we've grown accustomed.

He deserves credit for unearthing these players and I think it goes without saying that his reward is in his salary. I think he gets more than enough praise from the majority. If you're referring to what's said on here, I think you'll appreciate by now that this place represents the wenger-negative minority.

And I'm shocked you're shocked that we've allowed him to go to man utd and my question would be - where have you been for 7 years? The evidence is all there.

[rigsby]

Nice to see Baba back the moment something negative occurs. If only life weren't so predictable.

Praying, I'm nto saying it'll be the be all and end all, I just said that the commercial deals renogotiated should put us in at least a stronger position financially. Along with the new TV money. Of course it wont solve a lot of the problems, I'm not pretending it will.

[goonersid]

Nice to see Baba back the moment something negative occurs. If only life weren't so predictable.

Praying, I'm nto saying it'll be the be all and end all, I just said that the commercial deals renogotiated should put us in at least a stronger position financially. Along with the new TV money. Of course it wont solve a lot of the problems, I'm not pretending it will.

Woopdefuckingdoo

[bunch]

Much as I have severe doubts about Arsenal's current management set-up, this saga is about the player's and his advisors mistakes. I can't sum it up any better than Arseblog in his post today. They painted themselves into a corner where the only option was the one which would put a torch to all RvP's history with the club. He's about to enter the place in Gooner hell where Frank Stapleton and Ashley Cole are having red-hot pokers applied to their nether regions. But they must have known that this was a possibility when they refused a new contract and released their statement. So, in fact, they don't give a monkey's for their history at the club, they don't care for their legacy as players.

He'll get the full hatred of the fans but he does know that the club won't be inviting him back. He won't be someone who would even be considered to be on one of the Cores around the stadium. And will he build a legacy at Man U? They'd have to win everything in the next few years and he'd have to be the fundamental reason for them doing so to get anywhere near being a Man U legend. Chances are he won't and he'll be as admired and loved for his contribution to Man U 's history of success, by the Stretford End knob-heads, at the same level as Carlos Tevez or a certain Mr Frank Stapleton, ie. just another player we bought.

Which is really sad. Even one more season, like last season, would have gained him entry into the Arsenal hall of fame. He could have then walked to Juve and their big offer and he'd be welcomed back as one of our legends. It's just really sad , especially what it says about footballers today.

My advice to all loyal Gooners: buy a replica shirt if you want to, but don't get anyone's name across the back. None of them deserve such adulation.

[SantaPoldi]

Nice to see Baba back the moment something negative occurs. If only life weren't so predictable.

Praying, I'm nto saying it'll be the be all and end all, I just said that the commercial deals renogotiated should put us in at least a stronger position financially. Along with the new TV money. Of course it wont solve a lot of the problems, I'm not pretending it will.

Why will the Commercial deals be any good? We are a 2nd rate Club. Why would a sponsor want to be associated with us?

[highburyJD]

some great stuff on here, where to start
Baba's back and it's inspired a lunatic competition

his failures are as numerous, if not more by now, as his successes.

what 'failures'? Minimum aim is obviously CL qualification, so far never failed
sound like a whining little Surrey ManUre fan - we muss win the leeg evwwy year or I will cwy

although manris gives them some leeway
its not just about winning the league but

how close they have been to trophies.

good to know your definition of success if so much laxer for the opposition than it is for us

as for

Why will the Commercial deals be any good? We are a 2nd rate Club. Why would a sponsor want to be associated with us?

is it even worth responding to this level of moronic tosh..?
only with abuse and I dont really have the energy
(Babs can I have some spare ad hominem attacks - maybe appearance and intelligence based
the homoerotic stuff doesn't do it for me)

[begeegs]

Why will the Commercial deals be any good? We are a 2nd rate Club. Why would a sponsor want to be associated with us?

Our current commercial deal is 2nd rate by today's standards, so even as a so-called second rate club, we will do much much better with an updated commercial deal.

Hopefully, at some point in the near future, we will be at a point financially that we don't have to sell our best player every year.

I expect that won't happen until the debt of the stadium is secured.

[Skooner]

We create world class players but we are not in that top bracket of clubs.

When you have some players as good as the ones we have/have had then of course the top teams will want them. It's no surprise that our big sales over the last 6-7 years have been to Barcelona, Chelsea, Man City....and now Man Utd.

I do notice that hardly anyone actually credits Wenger with bringing players like RVP to Arsenal in the first place. This thread wouldn't have ever existed had Wenger never signed him. This is a player the club put time and effort into in order to get the very best out of him. Our opinions will all vary but I just doubt he would have made it at many other clubs.

That said, I'm still shocked that Arsenal allowed him to go to United at this moment in time.

I have a big issue with us not being "in that top bracket of clubs" because in everything apart from the actual football team suggest we should be. World class stadium and facilities, one of the highest paid managers in the world, a huge global fan base and probably on average the highest ticket prices in the world. As a club we were valued as one of the top five brands globally (I forget what our exact place was). It all adds up to a team that should be competing at the very top each season. So the fact that we can't compete in that top bracket is frankly unacceptable. Even allowing for the problem that the likes of Chelsea and City pose, I still think our resources should mean we do compete year in year out.

In terms of giving credit to Wenger for finding RVP, I give him massive credit for the players he discovered in the first ten years of his tenure but that unique selling point of his (the best scouting network) no longer exists as everyone else has caught up.

[supergeorgegraham]

Get the yank bastard out before the fans have to suffer any more shit thrown in their face.