THE WENGER THREAD

[Ikechukwu1]

Spot on Armchair. The signing of the Egyptian farmer from the hotbed that is the Swiss league, for a modest fee, is an example. If he'd signed Lars Bender for instance then he'd have to relegate Coquelin to the bench. And we can't have that can we?
Weirdest thing there are fans who agree with this approach. Which is mental because at big clubs you progress through competition: signing Lars Bender for instance, would only make Coquelin need to up his game. If he's good enough he will play. Couldn't ever imagine Barca not signing Arda Turan as it''d "kill" Rakitic?
Coquelin is the latest project for the French national team though, after Giroud.

I keep hearing that during the "austerity years", Arsene had no money to spend. This is bullshit. It was there, our creditors made statements that money was ring fenced ie he HAD to spend on improving the squad. Instead, we know what he did with it (see Galactico wages to Eboue, Diaby etc). He had £70m over summer and spent 10. Pathetic.

He's a coward because LVG is getting letters for spending that money at ManYoo and failing. Le Tool doesn't want accountability so it's much easier to sit behind the excuse you spend nothing. Arsenal should be a big club, but we are continually let down by that small-time tosser who won't sign Reus as it might upset Theo, won't sign Griezmann as it might upset Giroud etc..,

[Sean]

Alex Fynn said there was money available to spend as early as 2007 and big money available since 2010 (Selling Adebayor and Toure helped). The Old Fraud will not spend. It's all about him and winning it his way, which is impossible just from the point of view on tactics alone, let alone the tightarse transfer policy.

I remember back in 2008-09 when Arsenal fans still weren't sure whether it was the board or TOF who wouldn't spend. I think we have that answer now. Plus the rumours that some deals were done over TOF's head. For all his bullshit, Gazidis has expressed some annoyance that TOF wouldn't spend, before toeing the party line. Then there was TOF himself basically calling Keswick a liar last summer for saying we could sign anyone apart from Messi and Ronaldo. The tail has been wagging the dog since Dein was forced out of the club.

It is cowardice from TOF to not want to improve the squad in case he pisses off - or 'kills' - a player who would rightfully be relegated to the bench or the reserves, nor will he lay it all on the line with high transfer spending. It will expose him to those who still won't see him for the overpaid fraud he has become.

[Ikechukwu1]

This is an Emirates-attendee speaking here. Simply superb.
And then we wonder why Le Tool continues to do as he please...

http://www.football365.com/news/mails-l ... peacefully

"
Love letter to Arsene
In the last few days it’s dawned on me that although I love Arsenal and support Arsenal and will always look out for their results in the future, I think I am actually more of a Wenger fan than an Arsenal fan. Should Wenger leave Arsenal in the next year and go to, say, Nantes or Lille or Montpellier in the summer of 2017, then I think I’d start supporting his new club to the same degree I support Arsenal.

I’m very fond of Wenger, and I’m very protective of him when he gets ridiculously lampooned in the press or set unrealistic targets or risk further ridicule. It’s already a well-established pattern that the biggest spenders finish, pretty much, in that order every season. Arsenal are the fourth biggest spenders on wages, with the fourth biggest (in terms of personnel) squad, with the fourth largest income and then, generally, spending anything from the 4th to 9th largest amount of money.

To put that in perspective, when he first joined we were second in all of the above categories (to Man Utd), and we usually finished second, and sometimes won the league. When Abramovic took over Chelsea we dropped to third, and largely finished third. When Sheikh Mansour took over Man City we dropped to fourth and, largely, finish fourth. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s safe to say Arsenal, by the press’ own standards, finish on par. But for the English Press this just isn’t good enough. This season for example, he simply HAS TO win the Premier League otherwise it will cast a shadow over his tenure, and Wenger will forever be remembered as a man who couldn’t get his team over the line. That is, pretty much, what was being spoken on Sunday Supplement this weekend. Contrary to their opinion, it’s Man City who simply HAVE TO finish first, and Man Utd simply HAVE TO finish second, Chelsea simply HAVE TO finish third, and Arsenal fourth. Of course this is Arsenal’s best chance in a long time, and they very well might do it, but no – they don’t HAVE TO, Man City HAVE TO. The pressure’s on them.

I also get very annoyed at people seemingly forgetting the last 10 years of self-imposed “relative” austerity. Very simply put, Arsenal spent an absolute fortune on a new stadium which took ten years to pay off. During those ten years, we had to sell our star player pretty much each summer just to balance the books and reinvest in a substandard player. People often forget, Wenger hasn’t tried to win the league in over 10 years, he’s tried to finish fourth, because that’s what his budget allowed. Of course he came close to winning once or twice, and Arsenal famously implode around March every year. To repeat, he’s built a squad to finish fourth. No wonder they couldn’t get over line, they were could never be expected to. They are players who can finish fourth. He financially could not compete with Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City, and the only way to compete with them is to spend the money they spend, so Wenger – by and large – decided to ignore those three, and targeted finishing fourth. If you finish fourth then you qualify for the Champions League. That generates money. Getting to the knockout stages generates a bit more money. Selling your star player generates a bit more. At the end of that cycle you can pay off a tenth of your stadium debt and then buy a slightly inferior player to the one you’ve just sold. It may now mean that you cannot finish first, but you were only aiming for fourth anyway. Hence the “fourth placed trophy” he was ridiculed for.

If you’re going to lampoon any manager (and to be fair to you F365, you do) then lampoon Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson, Brendan Rodgers, Juande Ramos, Andre Villas Boas, Martin Jol, David Moyes and whoever else was given 6x the Arsenal budget to finish fourth and blew it. Those clubs must be looking at Arsenal’s paid-for stadium, debt-free accounts, gigantic revenue streams, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, and wondering firstly how they didn’t finish ahead of Arsenal when we were fielding the likes of Squilachi, Senderos, Silvestre, Eboue, Fabianski, Benayoun, Frimpong and Kim Kallstrom (who signed for us with a broken back), and secondly why they did they wait for Arsenal to get debt-free before deciding to embark on a similar stadium-enlarging exercise of their own. Spurs – for example – are going to have to wait at least eight years before that extra revenue becomes theirs to spend entirely.

The job Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal has been immense and revolutionary. Not perfect. Very frustrating at times. Stupifying even. But immense. It’s very easy to sit there and take all the plaudits and the job offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona and France the season after you’ve just gone unbeaten with one of the top 5 English club sides ever assembled, but to reject them and stay on, knowing that the best you can hope for is fourth at a scrape whilst selling, over the course of ten years, a collection of players who if he kept them would have probably won the Premier League, is simply staggering. Can you imagine Jose Mourinho doing that? Can you imagine Pep Guardiola doing that? Ancelotti doing that? I can’t. Plenty of managers DO do that of course, but not at Champion’s League level.

So, yeah, to answer the question in the previous mailbox but in a bigger way – yes, Arsene Wenger was indeed right all along. I can’t fault him at all. A giant of the game."
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite





LaughingGooner and Leftfoot have learned to write!

[northbank123]

I think it's a combination of being hell-bent on winning 'my way' at all costs, not wanting to go out on a limb and cut his excuse lifeline for not winning the title and genuinely not being able to see the wood for the trees from having stood still for 20 years whilst football has kept moving.

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

This is an Emirates-attendee speaking here. Simply superb.
And then we wonder why Le Tool continues to do as he please...

http://www.football365.com/news/mails-l ... peacefully

"
Love letter to Arsene
In the last few days it’s dawned on me that although I love Arsenal and support Arsenal and will always look out for their results in the future, I think I am actually more of a Wenger fan than an Arsenal fan. Should Wenger leave Arsenal in the next year and go to, say, Nantes or Lille or Montpellier in the summer of 2017, then I think I’d start supporting his new club to the same degree I support Arsenal.

I’m very fond of Wenger, and I’m very protective of him when he gets ridiculously lampooned in the press or set unrealistic targets or risk further ridicule. It’s already a well-established pattern that the biggest spenders finish, pretty much, in that order every season. Arsenal are the fourth biggest spenders on wages, with the fourth biggest (in terms of personnel) squad, with the fourth largest income and then, generally, spending anything from the 4th to 9th largest amount of money.

To put that in perspective, when he first joined we were second in all of the above categories (to Man Utd), and we usually finished second, and sometimes won the league. When Abramovic took over Chelsea we dropped to third, and largely finished third. When Sheikh Mansour took over Man City we dropped to fourth and, largely, finish fourth. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s safe to say Arsenal, by the press’ own standards, finish on par. But for the English Press this just isn’t good enough. This season for example, he simply HAS TO win the Premier League otherwise it will cast a shadow over his tenure, and Wenger will forever be remembered as a man who couldn’t get his team over the line. That is, pretty much, what was being spoken on Sunday Supplement this weekend. Contrary to their opinion, it’s Man City who simply HAVE TO finish first, and Man Utd simply HAVE TO finish second, Chelsea simply HAVE TO finish third, and Arsenal fourth. Of course this is Arsenal’s best chance in a long time, and they very well might do it, but no – they don’t HAVE TO, Man City HAVE TO. The pressure’s on them.

I also get very annoyed at people seemingly forgetting the last 10 years of self-imposed “relative” austerity. Very simply put, Arsenal spent an absolute fortune on a new stadium which took ten years to pay off. During those ten years, we had to sell our star player pretty much each summer just to balance the books and reinvest in a substandard player. People often forget, Wenger hasn’t tried to win the league in over 10 years, he’s tried to finish fourth, because that’s what his budget allowed. Of course he came close to winning once or twice, and Arsenal famously implode around March every year. To repeat, he’s built a squad to finish fourth. No wonder they couldn’t get over line, they were could never be expected to. They are players who can finish fourth. He financially could not compete with Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City, and the only way to compete with them is to spend the money they spend, so Wenger – by and large – decided to ignore those three, and targeted finishing fourth. If you finish fourth then you qualify for the Champions League. That generates money. Getting to the knockout stages generates a bit more money. Selling your star player generates a bit more. At the end of that cycle you can pay off a tenth of your stadium debt and then buy a slightly inferior player to the one you’ve just sold. It may now mean that you cannot finish first, but you were only aiming for fourth anyway. Hence the “fourth placed trophy” he was ridiculed for.

If you’re going to lampoon any manager (and to be fair to you F365, you do) then lampoon Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson, Brendan Rodgers, Juande Ramos, Andre Villas Boas, Martin Jol, David Moyes and whoever else was given 6x the Arsenal budget to finish fourth and blew it. Those clubs must be looking at Arsenal’s paid-for stadium, debt-free accounts, gigantic revenue streams, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, and wondering firstly how they didn’t finish ahead of Arsenal when we were fielding the likes of Squilachi, Senderos, Silvestre, Eboue, Fabianski, Benayoun, Frimpong and Kim Kallstrom (who signed for us with a broken back), and secondly why they did they wait for Arsenal to get debt-free before deciding to embark on a similar stadium-enlarging exercise of their own. Spurs – for example – are going to have to wait at least eight years before that extra revenue becomes theirs to spend entirely.

The job Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal has been immense and revolutionary. Not perfect. Very frustrating at times. Stupifying even. But immense. It’s very easy to sit there and take all the plaudits and the job offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona and France the season after you’ve just gone unbeaten with one of the top 5 English club sides ever assembled, but to reject them and stay on, knowing that the best you can hope for is fourth at a scrape whilst selling, over the course of ten years, a collection of players who if he kept them would have probably won the Premier League, is simply staggering. Can you imagine Jose Mourinho doing that? Can you imagine Pep Guardiola doing that? Ancelotti doing that? I can’t. Plenty of managers DO do that of course, but not at Champion’s League level.

So, yeah, to answer the question in the previous mailbox but in a bigger way – yes, Arsene Wenger was indeed right all along. I can’t fault him at all. A giant of the game."
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite

[LaughingGooner]

Here we go again, with the "Wenger's always has money to spend....."??!!???!

So he was happy to go up against Fergie and Jose playing the likes of Denilson, Santos, Song, Bentner...etc......, while having loads on money sitting in the bank. He was happy to play second fiddle to those managers. He didn't mind losing at all.

Jesus wept.......

How odd that once the stadium debt was reduced, he went out and spent big money on Ozil and Sanchez.

But hey, let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.......!!??!

[IW8Goalmachine]

This is an Emirates-attendee speaking here. Simply superb.
And then we wonder why Le Tool continues to do as he please...

http://www.football365.com/news/mails-l ... peacefully

"
Love letter to Arsene
In the last few days it’s dawned on me that although I love Arsenal and support Arsenal and will always look out for their results in the future, I think I am actually more of a Wenger fan than an Arsenal fan. Should Wenger leave Arsenal in the next year and go to, say, Nantes or Lille or Montpellier in the summer of 2017, then I think I’d start supporting his new club to the same degree I support Arsenal.

I’m very fond of Wenger, and I’m very protective of him when he gets ridiculously lampooned in the press or set unrealistic targets or risk further ridicule. It’s already a well-established pattern that the biggest spenders finish, pretty much, in that order every season. Arsenal are the fourth biggest spenders on wages, with the fourth biggest (in terms of personnel) squad, with the fourth largest income and then, generally, spending anything from the 4th to 9th largest amount of money.

To put that in perspective, when he first joined we were second in all of the above categories (to Man Utd), and we usually finished second, and sometimes won the league. When Abramovic took over Chelsea we dropped to third, and largely finished third. When Sheikh Mansour took over Man City we dropped to fourth and, largely, finish fourth. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s safe to say Arsenal, by the press’ own standards, finish on par. But for the English Press this just isn’t good enough. This season for example, he simply HAS TO win the Premier League otherwise it will cast a shadow over his tenure, and Wenger will forever be remembered as a man who couldn’t get his team over the line. That is, pretty much, what was being spoken on Sunday Supplement this weekend. Contrary to their opinion, it’s Man City who simply HAVE TO finish first, and Man Utd simply HAVE TO finish second, Chelsea simply HAVE TO finish third, and Arsenal fourth. Of course this is Arsenal’s best chance in a long time, and they very well might do it, but no – they don’t HAVE TO, Man City HAVE TO. The pressure’s on them.

I also get very annoyed at people seemingly forgetting the last 10 years of self-imposed “relative” austerity. Very simply put, Arsenal spent an absolute fortune on a new stadium which took ten years to pay off. During those ten years, we had to sell our star player pretty much each summer just to balance the books and reinvest in a substandard player. People often forget, Wenger hasn’t tried to win the league in over 10 years, he’s tried to finish fourth, because that’s what his budget allowed. Of course he came close to winning once or twice, and Arsenal famously implode around March every year. To repeat, he’s built a squad to finish fourth. No wonder they couldn’t get over line, they were could never be expected to. They are players who can finish fourth. He financially could not compete with Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City, and the only way to compete with them is to spend the money they spend, so Wenger – by and large – decided to ignore those three, and targeted finishing fourth. If you finish fourth then you qualify for the Champions League. That generates money. Getting to the knockout stages generates a bit more money. Selling your star player generates a bit more. At the end of that cycle you can pay off a tenth of your stadium debt and then buy a slightly inferior player to the one you’ve just sold. It may now mean that you cannot finish first, but you were only aiming for fourth anyway. Hence the “fourth placed trophy” he was ridiculed for.

If you’re going to lampoon any manager (and to be fair to you F365, you do) then lampoon Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson, Brendan Rodgers, Juande Ramos, Andre Villas Boas, Martin Jol, David Moyes and whoever else was given 6x the Arsenal budget to finish fourth and blew it. Those clubs must be looking at Arsenal’s paid-for stadium, debt-free accounts, gigantic revenue streams, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, and wondering firstly how they didn’t finish ahead of Arsenal when we were fielding the likes of Squilachi, Senderos, Silvestre, Eboue, Fabianski, Benayoun, Frimpong and Kim Kallstrom (who signed for us with a broken back), and secondly why they did they wait for Arsenal to get debt-free before deciding to embark on a similar stadium-enlarging exercise of their own. Spurs – for example – are going to have to wait at least eight years before that extra revenue becomes theirs to spend entirely.

The job Arsene Wenger has done at Arsenal has been immense and revolutionary. Not perfect. Very frustrating at times. Stupifying even. But immense. It’s very easy to sit there and take all the plaudits and the job offers from Real Madrid and Barcelona and France the season after you’ve just gone unbeaten with one of the top 5 English club sides ever assembled, but to reject them and stay on, knowing that the best you can hope for is fourth at a scrape whilst selling, over the course of ten years, a collection of players who if he kept them would have probably won the Premier League, is simply staggering. Can you imagine Jose Mourinho doing that? Can you imagine Pep Guardiola doing that? Ancelotti doing that? I can’t. Plenty of managers DO do that of course, but not at Champion’s League level.

So, yeah, to answer the question in the previous mailbox but in a bigger way – yes, Arsene Wenger was indeed right all along. I can’t fault him at all. A giant of the game."
Dale May, Swindon Wengerite





LaughingGooner and Leftfoot have learned to write!

The silver lining here is that Wenger will bring all his followers with him so happy days

[Redarmy]

Its official the Arsenal earn more than any other club in the world from match day revenue, around £101 million more than Real Madrid, Man Utd etc.....


Not sure the fans are reaping any benefits of this windfall though as regards a team that can challenge Real or Barcelona?


Would have rather stayed at Highbury if i am honest

[BFG4]

Here we go again, with the "Wenger's always has money to spend....."??!!???!

So he was happy to go up against Fergie and Jose playing the likes of Denilson, Santos, Song, Bentner...etc......, while having loads on money sitting in the bank. He was happy to play second fiddle to those managers. He didn't mind losing at all.

Jesus wept.......

How odd that once the stadium debt was reduced, he went out and spent big money on Ozil and Sanchez.

But hey, let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.......!!??!

Ok again your delusional, you just referenced the Ozil and Sanchez signings as though they prove Wenger is willing to spend when the money is there. How do you explain the January transfer window of the 2013/2014 season, when our only singing was an already injured Kim Kallstrom, or the same time period the following season when we only signed Gabriel? By your logic, Wenger would have improved the squad as the money was there, yet there have been several areas of need that haven't been addressed over the last few seasons. If you believe Wenger spends when the money is there, then you should be more angry at the lack of spending by your leader over the last few seasons.

[xisstential]

I think it's a combination of being hell-bent on winning 'my way' at all costs, not wanting to go out on a limb and cut his excuse lifeline for not winning the title and genuinely not being able to see the wood for the trees from having stood still for 20 years whilst football has kept moving.

Exactly right. I always used to have a gut feel that when the insane transfer fees and wages really kicked off it burned Wengers arse. I believe he hated the fact that it cost so much to build a team or pay players the exhorbitant wages (although he has no qualms accepting them himself) So he decided he was going to show the world, he was going to build a side on a shoestring and play beautiful football, and of course win trophies. But he's failed. And now he is either stuck in that stubborn, "I'll show them all" mindset or he is afraid to spend 100m and STILL fail. That (spending millions & failing), more than anything, will expose him for the tactically inept manager he really is. And let's not forget, if he fails in his stubborn attempts, he still makes CL, he still makes money for the club, so he can just try again next year with zero pressure and zero accountability. It's the cowards option and that is exactly what Wenger is. And I think he is the most powerful man at the club, who's sole mandate is to make Stan happy.I would love them to give him an ultimatum.... here's 100m, go out & buy players, no excuses, and if you don't win the PL you're done. I bet, rather than fail, he would feign outrage and resign. As somebody said on here,he is a moral coward.

[DB10GOONER]

Here we go again, with the "Wenger's always has money to spend....."??!!???!

So he was happy to go up against Fergie and Jose playing the likes of Denilson, Santos, Song, Bentner...etc......, while having loads on money sitting in the bank. He was happy to play second fiddle to those managers. He didn't mind losing at all.

Jesus wept.......

How odd that once the stadium debt was reduced, he went out and spent big money on Ozil and Sanchez.

But hey, let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.......!!??!

Exactly, here we go again, with the "Wenger had no money to spend" rubbish.

The point that you and other Wenger Apologists keep missing here is the WAGES he was paying those rubbish players. This, combined with his egotistical belief that those same players were good enough (all his own signings as part of his much mooted Project) led to massive financial mismanagement by Wenger. The point is the money he repeatedly (season after season) pissed away on contract renewals and pay rises for players proven to be rubbish could have and should have been redirected at signing better players.

Now, before you hysterically misread my post, I'm not for a minute saying he had access to funds on a par with the pimped clubs like the chav and citeh, but he certainly had a large amount of funds at his disposal as demonstrated by the ridiculous wages he was paying often unproven and/or rubbish players. Certainly funds enough to build a better team than he did and to compete more than we did.

The money was there, Wenger mis-spent it badly for over 5 years.

Jesus, did indeed, weep.

[Blood_Gooner]

I see some fans now salivating at the prospect of a Danny Welbeck returning to the squad. Mind, none of these wengerites even remembered about him until Wenger starting going on about his impending return and that there is no one available that would be better than him. This is exactly why TOF gets away with the same crap every season. He knows he has massive throngs of worshipping sheep all ready to lap up his spiel and repeat it ad nauseum.

[Blade]

For many,many games people not in football for 30 years could see these players were simply not good enough yet he persisted game after game.

Then suddenly a Eureka moment and he dumps them out of even the reserve team.

Almost OCD.

[xisstential]

I see some fans now salivating at the prospect of a Danny Welbeck returning to the squad. Mind, now of these wengerites even remembered about him until Wenger starting going on about his impending return and that there is no one available that would be better than him. This is exactly why TOF gets away with the same crap every season. He knows he has massive throngs of worshipping sheep all ready to lap up his spiel and repeat it ad nauseum.

Welbeck has a conversion rate of a goal every 4 games. That's his career stats. Top, top striker, Wenger will tell you stats are meaningless.

[LaughingGooner]

Here we go again, with the "Wenger's always has money to spend....."??!!???!

So he was happy to go up against Fergie and Jose playing the likes of Denilson, Santos, Song, Bentner...etc......, while having loads on money sitting in the bank. He was happy to play second fiddle to those managers. He didn't mind losing at all.

Jesus wept.......

How odd that once the stadium debt was reduced, he went out and spent big money on Ozil and Sanchez.

But hey, let's not get the facts in the way of a good story.......!!??!

Exactly, here we go again, with the "Wenger had no money to spend" rubbish.

The point that you and other Wenger Apologists keep missing here is the WAGES he was paying those rubbish players. This, combined with his egotistical belief that those same players were good enough (all his own signings as part of his much mooted Project) led to massive financial mismanagement by Wenger. The point is the money he repeatedly (season after season) pissed away on contract renewals and pay rises for players proven to be rubbish could have and should have been redirected at signing better players.

Now, before you hysterically misread my post, I'm not for a minute saying he had access to funds on a par with the pimped clubs like the chav and citeh, but he certainly had a large amount of funds at his disposal as demonstrated by the ridiculous wages he was paying often unproven and/or rubbish players. Certainly funds enough to build a better team than he did and to compete more than we did.

The money was there, Wenger mis-spent it badly for over 5 years.

Jesus, did indeed, weep.

I've criticised Wenger in the past for bring far too loyal to the likes of eboue, diaby, song, Denilson, etc, but to claim that paying the wages of these players meant we couldn't compete for top players, is just bizarre.
Every single club has wasted money on players, it's not just arsenal.
His record in the transfer market, while being far from perfect, has been excellent.
Now he has money to spend, he has no excuse.
If he fails to boost the squad this window, I'll be as pissed off as anyone else.