4 days to go before tranfer window close,s

[gus ceasar is a legend]

Also Magic Hat is your surname Hill-Wood?

[REB]

Also Magic Hat is your surname Hill-Wood?

hill woods alias ,, eton school boy has snuck on 2 the gooner under an asued name,, well done 00gus secert agent licence 2 spill

[gus ceasar is a legend]

Im not just a pretty face my friend!

[Eboue Can't Defend]

Also Magic Hat is your surname Hill-Wood?

No, it's probably Edelman!!

[augie]

Gus, that remark about magic hat's surname was exactly what I was thinking. I mean I totally understand some fans want to try to remain optimistic but the lengths to which magic hat is going is unbelieveable and when you read them you do wonder if the man/woman is living in some parallel universe. At no stage of my earlier postings did I label this board as thieves so if the comments of 26 may 1989 are directed at me then I would suggest that he reads my posts correctly(welcome to the forum by the way). While some fans might like to praise the board for getting our finances so right straight away I prefer to look on the playing side of the club and what could possibly happen should this lack of investment continue and believe me it would not be pretty. We are indeed being run like a conference club when it comes to team investment and, while our reputation in england will qualify us a big club for a few years regardless of results, we will find out that in europe the same will not apply. Then when we try to recruit the cream of europe we will not a hope in hell

[REB]

while it is good that the finances seem sound, at the end of the day all we as supporters and fans who generate these finances giv a shit about is havin a team on the field of play that can challange and win trophys for us and our club, ive been a gooner long enough2 enjoy the good times we hav had in lst ten years and do not want us 2 fall back in2 the pack,, its not the boardsmoney,, its ours,, we buy the shirts pay the most at the gate and its us that are made look like mugs when we cant commpete wit the likes of west ham for players,, BIGGEST CLUB IN ENGLAND MY ARSE IF WE CANT BE UP THERE WIT THE OTHERS

[gus ceasar is a legend]

That Augie is one of my biggest fears!

A few years back every player of stature wanted to come and play for the Arsenal. The coach, the new stadium on its way, the brand of football we played along with more made us THE team to play for.

Now I dont see the same kind of enthusiam from players to want to get to Arsenal! We could have what player we wanted the then! There was no problem with laying out decent sized fees for Wiltord or a Reyes but now we seem to want to buy quality at Poundstrecher!

I am fed up of hearing Arsene mutter the words "potential" and "mental belief" etc etc! Potential wins you fuck all Im sorry! However proven quality does!

Ask yourself why players are not flocking here anymore and the Ribery's and Babel's of this world went elsewhere! Pires Henry Bergkamp Fred and Sol have been replaced with Hleb's Adebayor's and Senderos's! Not quite so attractive is it! Im not sure the thought of forming a partnership with Alex Song is going to draw Kaka to us!

Are the greatest centre forwards in the game going to be drawn to play for us as they cannot wait to receive the service of wing wizard Eboue?

The truth is we have two players of "world class" quality at the club right now! Robin and Cesc.

Is that enough considering our recent history and acheivemnet? I would have hoped we would have pushed on after the Champions League final!

Instead we seem to be happy slipping back into mediocrity! And yes fourth is mediocrity for Arsenal!

[Eboue Can't Defend]

Look back at almost any interview given by Board members - including David Dein - over the past three years concerning the future and you will find references to them 'hoping Arsene continues to work his miracles'!!

Of course a lot of it has to do with the financing of the new stadium but that doesn't explain Wenger's reluctance to spend the surplus cash generated from player sales and saved wages!!

Anyway, this is going to be my last word on the subject because it is obvious now that Arsene has no intention of buying anyone in this transfer window, and my frustration at this is doing my ticker no good at all!!

January will be the time he adds to the squad, if at all. Let's just keep our pinkies crossed that we are still involved in all the major competitions by then.

[Galasso]

I certainly can't believe that we didn't get anywhere near Ribery, as alot of us were advocating at the end of the season. Would've been perfect for our style of play.

And he's started like a house on fire for Bayern - he really tore into Werder Bremen when Bayern won at their place 4-0.

[augie]

As you rightly point out Gus this isnt just about weakening our ability to entice top players in the future. It is true that a few years ago players from all over the world were eager to play for us and alongside players like DB10,PV4,henry etc and what made it all the better was that all the clubs across europe were interested in signing our players. How many of our players would interest the big clubs in europe now should they be put up for sale in the morning ? Cesc for sure but after that you might get 1 or 2 but it is only a might and that in itself is a fair indicator of how far we have dropped. I know I will get a few irate responses on my analysis here but let me put this another way - can you honestly see the cream of europe falling overthemselves to sign the likes of hleb,ade,lehman,clichy(I do beleve he will be a star tho),eboue,sagna,flamini etc(I wont even mention song) ? Fans on this forum can be and are divided on the question of money being available in the kitty but each & everyone of us knows that the club havent even spend the money taken in from sales this summer and that frankly, given the state of our squad, is unacceptable.

I find it amazing when i read fans comments like "I dont think we will win the league this season" YOU DONT THINK SO ??? With this bloody squad we havent a hope in hell. All around us I see teams with bags of experience who are making serious moves to improve their squads while we are actually selling more than we buy and most of our players need parential consent to travel to games in europe. I understand when fans defend wengers transfer policy of buying unknowns as it has always been that way but when he has done it in the past he was bedding them into seriously experienced teams which helped them find their way-when we signed PV4 & anelka we had the famous back 5,DB10,platt & wrighty to show them what was required, when henry arrived we still had the back 5 and by that stage PV4 was also an old head,cesc came into a very strong experienced team etc etc. Now we are buying kids, thrusting them into a team devoid of leaders and devoid of the investment required to make the team even challenge for trophies and expecting them to perform miracles.

The policy at this club is a disgrace right now and somebody should have their ass on the line over this be it the board or wenger. I know some fans are pinning their hopes of transfer arrivals in jan but that dont make sense to me - Will the players be available & cheaper then ? Doubt it. Will the better players be cup-tied in european competitions by then ? Most certainly. Will we have more money by then ? Cant see how although our "wonderful set of accounts" will have been published by then so the need to impress the business world might have reduced by then. If we buy in jan we will be giving the new additions no time to settle in before being thrown in at the deep end while we lose 3 players to the anc and all the while we will be hoping that we will be still in the hunt for prizes cos if we aint no c*nt will want to join us. It is nigh on impossible for me to think that a man(wenger) who is so perceptive cannot see the trouble we are in quality and depthwise with this squad so therefore I have to think that the lack of investment falls squarely at the feet of the board and if this is the case then they should go(or be forced out) asap so that we have a chance to rebuild this club back to the top before it is too late.

[green gooner]

The words progressive and Arsenal don't go with each other Gus

[Galasso]

Arsene Wenger signed Overmars, Henry, Pires, Wiltord, Van Bronckhorst, even Wright and Jeffers who were known. His policy has been more to take players who are slightly off the radar for one reason or another but are known and tested, rather than to go for unknowns.

Which makes me believe that this now some soft of moral crusade. Seems incredible that even if he wanted to keep the nucleus of the same side, that a few additions of world class talent, wouldn't have made a big difference.

I just ask myself, if the cash is there, why is it not being used as the whole point of moving was to provide more cash? And it isn't a question of repaying our debt early because that is now over a long mortgage type period of time. So the excess cash should be there now.

It certainly sticks in the throat, as we are paying the highest prices in world football!

[26may1989]

Augie, you're right, I was taking some liberties with what you said, you didn't suggest there was thieving. Sorry about that. However, I still say it's over the top and wrong to say things like "we have built a stadium at huge cost with the repayments being met by fleecing the fans and cutting back big time in squad investments all so these c*nts on the board can make a massive killing when they sell their shares on the back of these wonderful accounts that we are about to publish all to the detrimental to the team might I add." My point (not a popular one here, I know) is that things aren't necessarily as bad as they're being made out to be, and that the board and the major shareholders almost certainly are not holding back funding. In fact, it would probably make their lives much easier if Wenger did splash the cash.

The only person responsible for our low level spending is Wenger. So the question becomes, do we trust the man who has transformed the club from being mid table mediocrities playing utterly shite football into a club that has won lots of silverware, got to the European Cup Final, plays some of the best football in the world and develops some of the best players around?

For me, there's only one answer: yes.

In any event, it's clear that Wenger is going to do precisely what he wants. That may mean making no signings this week, or he may use confirmed Champions' League qualification as a basis to bring someone in (though I don't think so), or he may make signings in January. Whatever the case, we can't influence it, unless we want to campaign for his sacking (which would be lunacy), so we may as well enjoy the ride.

All of that said, I don't understand why we didn't make a serious go for Ribery (who had been insisting he would only leave Marseille for a team with Champions' League footy this year - Bayern aren't in this year), Malouda or Babel, and I'm sure we're weaker for it.

BUT I also think we're better off than last year and all this talk of major players is misplaced - the only time Wenger has been interested in signing the likes of Ronaldinho, Cech or Zidane is before they became mega stars. Most of his major signings (Henry, Vieira, Petit, Fabregas, Pires, Ljungberg, Anelka, Toure, Clichy, Lauren, Rosicky, van Persie etc) have been made when the players have been young or when their potential is only on the verge of being realised. So we're not going to turn into fucking Chavski, and the better for it. Wenger has a plan, he's building a coherent team that may last for years. It may fail, we may slip back, but it might work, and given Wenger's record I think he's entitled to have our trust and support. 3 league games and 1 Euro game in, and I think it looks pretty good so far...

[Galasso]

The problem is, is that many people feel that the quality of the squad (however one wants to measure this) is at its lowest and thinnest for many years. Our ability to compete therefore in the toughest league in the world, against improving challengers, in three competitions, and losing 3 players in january for the ANC. is diminished.

Everyone can surely recognise that Wenger is trying to build a coherent team unit - nothing else is going on. But, there are no even short term guarantees in football these days and will we be developed just in time for Fabregas/Clichy/Diaby to be snapped up by whoever? We do not have the luxury of having a nucleus of young British players as ManU had, therefore meaning there was very little likelihood of them wanting to go abroad.

I am excited by the what Diaby, Fabregas, Clichy, Sagna and RvP could achieve. But I feel that a couple of outstanding additions at this time would not have set this development back and would have enhanced the team.

[26may1989]

To be honest Galasso, I agree, but it ain't going to happen! Pretty clear from Wenger's press conference today ("No one in, no one out this week").

On ACN, Eboue and Toure should be covered (esp given the return of a match-fit Djourou in January). Not so sure about Adebayor.