Arsenal are a shambles

Ducklegs said:
A bit like Fergie in his last couple of years of "no value" bullshit, but with a shit manager rather than one of the greatest to have ever lived.
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Except we broke our own transfer net spend record twice in those last two years.

I find it amazing how 'fans' are so desperate to bash him over the head with that they don't even do him the courtesy of checking that it isn't complete bullshit. It'd be bad enough if it was true but we spent more on transfers in his final couple of seasons, net, than we ever had ever to that point.

Arsenal fans pay sky high prices, spend feck all and aren't competitive in competitions that matter. We had record investment, was competing for the top-level honours.

"Fergie and his "no value" bullshit"

Christ.
 
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Ducklegs said:
The more I think about this the more this looks like they are not backing him for a reason.

.
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Why have they decided not to back a manager they just gave a 2 year contract and pay rise to?

I honestly can't make sense of what's going on at Arsenal.

I'm off to the "things you know nothing about" thread.
 
Ducklegs said:
The more I think about this the more this looks like they are not backing him for a reason.

There is currently nobody available they want to replace Wenger, but at the same time they don't trust him to spend the money on anything other than utter shit.

So he is there until whoever they think they are going to get to manage the car crash he leaves behind becomes available and he gets the money.

A bit like Fergie in his last couple of years of "no value" bullshit, but with a shit manager rather than one of the greatest to have ever lived.
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Makes no sense to not back someone who you just backed a month or so back by giving him a new fecking contract. Not like Arsenal were champions then and turned to shit overnight.
 
It was obvious there was no money. Wenger had his 30-odd man squad all summer long but waited until fairly recently to claim it was the reason they weren't spending as they needed to - "its not that we can't buy, we have no room".

Arsenal fans are the most gullible on the planet. Arsene is in the most cushy job in world football - £8m a year and zero pressure to win a thing, just do enough to appease certain fans and deflect attention away from the bigger picture.
 
There's no way Arsenal has no money. Either they're not interested in spending or the directors are diverting the profits elsewhere. They have to be one of the most financially healthy clubs in world football.
 
Oscie said:
Except we broke our own transfer net spend record twice in those last two years.

I find it amazing how 'fans' are so desperate to bash him over the head with that they don't even do him the courtesy of checking that it isn't complete bullshit. It'd be bad enough if it was true but we spent more on transfers in his final couple of seasons, net, than we ever had ever to that point.

Arsenal fans pay sky high prices, spend feck all and aren't competitive in competitions that matter. We had record investment, was competing for the top-level honours.

"Fergie and his "no value" bullshit"

Christ.
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I wasn't bashing him, it was him saying it.
 
This is turning into a farce. It already was, but now the mask has come off. Not even pretending anymore.

The only silver lining is this might be Stan taking his last huge payday before selling the club. But i doubt it
 
We have an absolute **** for an owner who will happily allow the club to drift as long as it is financially successful. What is happening now is a culmination of years of both on/off pitch management. Could Wenger be doing much better tactically with the players? Absolutely. However, this has never been his way. He either inherited or managed to find foreign gems which were resilient enough to manage themselves. Gradually, as Adams, Vieira, Keown, Henry and Campbell were moved on, we replaced them with a more spineless breed of player, ones that could not self motivate or rally when the team needed it.

Then we have the Krornke who sees the club as an investment. Nothing more. We are not run to win the big trophies. We are run as a business to extract the highest amount of cash from the consumer (fans) with as little outlay as possible. Until the fans stop attending the games and starting mass protests, we will not shift him out of our club. It could be a long while before we truly compete for the Premier League again.
 
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Mogget said:
Yeah, I would agree with your basic principle. It's what I've said and thought too, I can't ever remember Wenger dropping a player because they've performed poorly. He's become a soft touch.

Regarding the players signed we'll never really know the full story of why we they were sold every season. Of the players you've mentioned we signed some of them had very good seasons whilst others were duds, but that happens at every club. At their peaks for us the likes of Adebayor, Rosicky, Hleb, and even Diaby were very good. For whatever reason he just couldn't get them to maintain that peak. Which probably is down to his management style. You won't get any defence of Wenger from me, I'm sick of him at this point, but I don't think you can criticise him for his approach during the years we were paying off the stadium debt. I think he managed that very well by keeping us in the top 4 whilst also selling off players every season, and I don't think he chose to sell his best players every season. The circumstances demanded it. I think it was perfectly reasonable for us to have the aim of focusing on finishing top 4 every season and earning the CL money to pay off the debt. The problem with Wenger comes in the seasons after the stadium debt had eased when we should have started splashing the cash and aiming for higher than top 4. That's when we should have kicked on but maybe at that point he'd become complacent and too used to aiming for the bare minimum? Who knows, but I think that's when it all started going wrong. Around the time of the Ozil signing when it was clear we had the money to finally compete. Not in the years before that
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I can't say I disagree with that assessment too much, but I do think the blanket acceptance that the stadium meant you weren't competing for honours was a big factor in why you weren't keeping hold of your best players. You look at the destinations they left for: Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United, and a rising Manchester City. They weren't even being sold the idea of success at Arsenal. Everything coming out of the club was "4th will do." I think Wenger did well to maintain the Top 4 status (although I do think the constant squad overhauls could have been avoided), but that is precisely what everyone at the club was being sold. There was a complete lack of ambition, and it's something that's now almost become a part of the club's identity.

I agree with the assessment of your post-stadium business, and let's be honest, the end of the payments couldn't have come at a better time. 2013/14 was a real opportunity to surge to the top, as evidenced by Liverpool almost managing it. Instead, you did what you'd done every year for the best part of 10 years prior, and found yourselves sliding out of a half-arsed title challenge by the end of January, and have shown very little intent since. For me, the rot started as soon as Wenger and the rest of the club started hiding behind the stadium as an excuse for mediocrity. Existing players had no reason to stay, and potential signings had no reason to come. Money obviously played a part in United being able to sign the likes of Di Maria, Falcao, Pogba, Mkhitaryan and Ibrahimovic were still signing for us without CL football, and that's because they were being sold the idea of league titles and European success.
 
Arsenal have money, don't worry about that. I saw Ty walking out of the club megastore only this morning.
 
Moonred said:
Makes no sense to not back someone who you just backed a month or so back by giving him a new fecking contract. Not like Arsenal were champions then and turned to shit overnight.
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No, but he approaching the end of his realistic tenure, and they obviously don't think it's worth flushing money down the toilet letting him spend tens of millions with his awful recent transfer history.

But at the same time the manager they want isn't available, and he will want to buy his own players anyway.

So what choice do they have? Give Wenger millions to buy players he isn't going win anything with and then hundreds of millions again when they get who they want in charge.

OR he gets the bare minimum they think he needs to get into the top four and then give the cash to the new guy.
 
Ducklegs said:
No, but he approaching the end of his realistic tenure, and they obviously don't think it's worth flushing money down the toilet letting him spend tens of millions with his awful recent transfer history.

But at the same time the manager they want isn't available, and he will want to buy his own players anyway.

So what choice do they have? Give Wenger millions to buy players he isn't going win anything with and then hundreds of millions again when they get who they want in charge.

OR he gets the bare minimum they think he needs to get into the top four and then give the cash to the new guy.
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I know what you are trying to say but if an arsenal fan hear that explanation for their inaction, I can understand if some of them rage and riot. Sounds stupendously stupid.
 
Ducklegs said:
I wasn't bashing him, it was him saying it.
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Don't doubt he said it. He'd said it a lot in the years before had. But the opportunistic way people use the quote and invent a reality that never happened in order to justify the quote as a form of attack, I find distasteful.
 
Hullyback said:
I noticed a few of the lads off AFTV were totally demoralised and resigned to the display after the match when Redmen were interviewing them, instead of the usual F bomb filled rants. True sign of when someone has had enough when they can't even be bothered to fight their corner anymore.
Pretty saddening to see, been there myself over the years, mostly when H&G were around and it's not a good place to be.
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Strange thing is that if Arsenal smashes three past their next opponent, suddenly it's going to be, 'In Wenger we trust'.

The last three FA Cup triumphs and the previous top four spots have done exactly that to them. They moan and complain but after a last few weeks blitz that earn them a top four spot or an FA Cup, they decide they still want to keep Wenger as manager.

It's amazing how their fans sway.
 
Maybe they just don't trust Wenger to make any more signings. Maybe they've finally decided to sack him this season and see no point in letting him bring any players now. Save the money for the next guy to bring the players he needs?
 
Scarecrow said:
Maybe they just don't trust Wenger to make any more signings. Maybe they've finally decided to sack him this season and see no point in letting him bring any players now. Save the money for the next guy to bring the players he needs?
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I think the majority of the board wanted him out at the end of last year and Kroenke overruled them
 
Is it possible that fans will start boycotting games or something? I mean the state they're in it can't go on. If it continues they'll be worse and worse.

Not that I pity them, it's pure Hollywood but surely fans can't just sit there and watch it unfold.
 
So this is what 20 years of frugality to fund a new stadium gets you: poverty. Hope Arsenal get rid of their blood sucking owners quick, we've seen it first hand and don't wish it upon our worst enemies.
 
GM K said:
Strange thing is that if Arsenal smashes three past their next opponent, suddenly it's going to be, 'In Wenger we trust'.

The last three FA Cup triumphs and the previous top four spots have done exactly that to them. They moan and complain but after a last few weeks blitz that earn them a top four spot or an FA Cup, they decide they still want to keep Wenger as manager.

It's amazing how their fans sway.
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That doesn't happen. The VAST majority of fans wanted Wenger to leave after winning the FA cup. Even now if we go on to win the next few winnable games we have (not including Chelsea away, we're going to get smashed) no one is suddenly going to go from Wenger out to Wenger in. It's gone on for too long now. All the Arsenal fans I follow on Twitter and the ones who run the popular blogs wanted Wenger to leave after the FA cup win.
 
GM K said:
Strange thing is that if Arsenal smashes three past their next opponent, suddenly it's going to be, 'In Wenger we trust'.

The last three FA Cup triumphs and the previous top four spots have done exactly that to them. They moan and complain but after a last few weeks blitz that earn them a top four spot or an FA Cup, they decide they still want to keep Wenger as manager.

It's amazing how their fans sway.
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Aye, I noticed that after the semi final win over City last season, I had a sneaky feeling they'd win the cup again as Wenger must see it as his only real option to justify his job nowadays. I can't work out if the fella is just unbelievably stubborn, or he genuinely thinks he can turn it all around and compete again.

If he had any decency and love for the club he'd walk, he's lost control and everyone knows it, even his staunchest fans are saying he should leave (apart from Gary Neville bizarrely). Sad end to a great career at Arsenal, he's just leaving a bad taste in people's mouths by sticking around and tainting his legacy. Fergie knew when it was time to leave, and he was still winning too.
 
Ducklegs said:
The more I think about this the more this looks like they are not backing him for a reason.

There is currently nobody available they want to replace Wenger, but at the same time they don't trust him to spend the money on anything other than utter shit.

So he is there until whoever they think they are going to get to manage the car crash he leaves behind becomes available and he gets the money.

A bit like Fergie in his last couple of years of "no value" bullshit, but with a shit manager rather than one of the greatest to have ever lived.
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So Wenger should resign in this case.
 
clarkydaz said:
you're doing well to put a brave face on through all this mate, it cant be easy. Its at a stage where rival fans genuinely do feel for Arsenal and the circus around the club
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If Wenger had some dignity left he should resign. At least he would show what Kroenke really is: a greedy cnut.
 
Ducklegs said:
No, but he approaching the end of his realistic tenure, and they obviously don't think it's worth flushing money down the toilet letting him spend tens of millions with his awful recent transfer history.

But at the same time the manager they want isn't available, and he will want to buy his own players anyway.

So what choice do they have? Give Wenger millions to buy players he isn't going win anything with and then hundreds of millions again when they get who they want in charge.

OR he gets the bare minimum they think he needs to get into the top four and then give the cash to the new guy.
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Kroenke is doing what he did with the Rams. Wenger is their Fisher.
 
Arsenal were meant to have the biggest cash reserve of any club in the league so where has all this money gone?

A horrible situation for the fans of Arsenal, most expensive season tickets in the world and they are being mugged off. I hope some of them revolt and cancel their season ticket, the club may get the message then.

When owners ruin a club they just walk away and the fans are left to pick up the pieces.
 
ThierryHenry said:
Fecking fuming. That can't be possible.
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It really makes no sense to me. The stadium is paid off, you've sold a few players and brought in close to £60 million from that as well.

Why is there no money for players?
 
Josep Dowling said:
Arsenal were meant to have the biggest cash reserve of any club in the league so where has all this money gone?

A horrible situation for the fans of Arsenal, most expensive season tickets in the world and they are being mugged off. I hope some of them revolt and cancel their season ticket, the club may get the message then.

When owners ruin a club they just walk away and the fans are left to pick up the pieces.
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I am starting to fear we are finishing like Leeds. Kroenke is just sucking the life out of us.
 
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