Offside wrote:The Saddam statue
Tbh I found it very strange, bordering on hubris, for the club to create a bronze bust of Wenger WHEN HE WAS STILL IN THE BLOODY JOB. Ridiculous in the extreme. It should have waited until after he retired. However, Wenger's legacy looks very different now than it did when the bust was created.
I wish could take credit for that. I nicked it from the banner thread
It isn't right though...
It's like putting him on par with Chapman. Very distasteful, especially over the years of TOF's failures.
Although to be fair, I think I could trust the bust to be more useful than the other bloke on matchdays
Rob Admin wrote:Thanks to everyone for the past 3 pages of posts, I've been genuinely laughing out loud, especially the statue post.
Like watching a loved one pass by, the pain and suffering will soon be over folks and we can get back to supporting the greatest football team, i'm sure it will be soon

It wasn't my work, but I'm glad you enjoyed it
I'm not sure that this is finally the endgame for TOF though
augie wrote:Was talking to the wife's cousin last night and he told me that he was travelling in a London cab a few weeks ago when the driver (a shammer) told him that one of the AFC board was in his cab recently on his way to a fans Q & A (assume it was friar ?). Anyway he told the wife's cousin that it costs £7m per season to run the academy and that he (don't know if it was the full board) is questioning the viability/business sense of running it. He claims that it would make more sense to go out and buy young players instead of pumping £7m into an academy that isn't producing anywhere near enough players to justify the cost
Standing back and looking at it from a detatched perspective I can certainly see his point of view, but as a Gooner of some 40 years I look back at real pride at some of the players the club has produced over the years (TA6, chippy brady, merse, rocky etc) and I would be gutted if we stopped trying to develop our own

Of course it also has to be said that if you stop the academy, then you sure as shit better have a manager that is actually winning to spend money buying players

I firmly believe the club should continue to produce it's own players.
Unfortunately, he academy has been shite since the early 90s. Only Cole and Wilshere in 20 years and before them... Parlour.
So much for TOF's 'success with youth'. He cherry-picked almost all of them from other countries and leagues. Most of them failed.
Herd wrote:Interesting point on the yoof academy , imho its failing because every Arsenal team from 10 years and up uses the same template as the first team endless games of 3-5 a side holding and passing with some fitness in between 1
Offside wrote:Wenger's record with young players is very poor, especially when you consider that he's the self-styled "developer of youth". The idea of him winning trophies with a clutch of in-house players (like GG did with the 1991 title winners) is a fantasy. Where are all those Carling Cup kids now?
I have also heard that the same style - and mistakes - are made all the way down the age groups. No wonder our reserves got relegated a few years ago. They all end up in the Ryman League or out of the game altogether. Our academy has been a relative failure since the 80s
Ikechukwu1 wrote:Wow he's taking on Thierry now. Anyone ever seen The last King of Scotland? We have our very own here!
Slates the fans (not worked half a day in football)
Slates greatest ever striker ("he has his opinions")
Slates the club history ("the club was nowhere in europe before I came here". Guess what we still are fuckwit

)
Slates Merson (fair enough) slates Wrighty (unacceptable), disrespects Vieira in public.
Honest to God if that isn't a hubristic c**** of the highest order who basically thinks he's bigger than the club I don't know what is. People ask why there's no Arsenal football people involved in the club more and it's obvious. Sodding Disgrace - but certain "fans" have allowed this situation to develop. Unacceptable. Despicable.

I am a little surprised he's gone after Thierry. Goes to show what an utter cunnt the man is. Even goes after his own 'allies' in the media. No-one is safe from the ire of TOF, no matter how light the criticism is.
TOF's attitude to the fans and the club's history is nothing short of a disgrace
xisstential wrote:Read an article where Poch said he and his team sat down & analysed the WH loss. He said they know where they went wrong and they are not going to let it affect them in their title challenge. They know where THEY went wrong.
Wenger sat down, watched the match and....... blamed the ref.
Says it all. The man is a fraud of a football manager
Rob Admin wrote:Who would take a pasting tomorrow if in the grand picture Spurs don't win the league?
If you could guarantee TOF would finally be sacked as well, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
He will never be sacked though and he will never quit
Gunner Rob wrote:certainly a loss tomorrow will put Wenger under pressure like never before.
thing is what will it take for him to resign (if you assume he wont be sacked)
1) he will resign tomorrow if we lose
2) he resigns because we fail to finish top 4
3) he resigns because Spurs win the league
4) he laughs at us and says that he will see out his contact
Hmm, I vote for number four
Perhaps the only thing that could make TOF resign is a sustained volley of abuse from the crowd at Cashburton, but the bowl is too sanitised for that to ever happen. So the bastard is safe
Rob Admin wrote:Anyone else starting to enjoy football again - just something different from the norm that is the bore-fest that supporting Arsenal has become. Feels like there is an air of excitement, a sense of change, I'm excited that we might see Wenger under further pressure and edge his way closer to the door, it's what we have been craving for 10 years or longer Wenker...
Rob Admin wrote:That's what I meant, not excited about the football but the coming together of the fans in a united front against his dictatorial operation. When his most loyal subjects at the Dome start to turn, the Emperor's guards, then there is reason to be very excited.
Often when talking to mates who don't support a top teams and I've said I want Wenger out it comes across as arrogance - Top 4 every year and your not happy? I said time and time again, I'd rather we were fighting a relegation battle than playing out this tedious bollocks every season. We all knew as soon as we collapsed against Liverpool the fight was over - you just knew what was to come. I want to be excited by Arsenal, win lose or draw - delivering 4th place isn't enough, not in terms of trophies or glory but in terms of FUCKING EXCITEMENT WENGER - DON'T YOU GET IT - EVERYONE HAS SEEN THROUGH YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER TACTICS AND FOOTBALL HAS MOVED ON SINCE THE EARLY 2000 NOW KINDLY FUCK OFF TO BARBADOS WITH YOUR £5,000,000,0000,000,000 BANK BALANCE.
Where are my tablets?
I'll believe it when I see it. If TOF survived 2011 and the 8-2, he can survive this
I totally agree with wanting an end to this top four purgatory, even if it meant battling in mid-table for a few seasons. League position means fuck all unless you're champions or relegated, plus qualifying for the Be All and End All eighteen seasons in a row means fuck all if you never win it and never spend the prize money on the first team.
armchair wrote:Id take Mourinho.
Imagine he came to us, spent all the money (that is undoubtedly there), won us major honours, fell out with the board and then fucked off under a cloud.
Id take that all day long. Wouldn't you?
Absolutely. He'd be the Portuguese George Graham
