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Home›General›Fixing the Arsenal

Fixing the Arsenal

By Michael Price
June 4, 2012
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Last week we discussed how Arsenal could become title contenders from a purely transfer related perspective this week I want to focus on what Arsenal need to do to become a force to be reckoned with by fixing itself in the way it conducts business behind the scenes.

First, I am not suggesting going down a path that would put the financial model  that the club has built at risk. I certainly applaud the club for living within its means. Personally, in this day and age of financial volatility knowing that our club remains on sound financial footing is reassuring. Remember ownership of the club is more along the lines of stewardship. Stewards of the club have come and gone it is the fans that always remain.

No, the model is viable and even within the confines of how Arsenal currently conduct business there only need to changes to certain ways the club approaches business.

Transfers: Shrewd business vs silly business

I’ve never been of the mind that Arsenal need to buy players that have price tags of £25 million or more. Certainly a lot of those players are talented stars and some even warrant the exorbitant amount of money they sell for. But no, that is not what Arsenal need to do.

When you look at the list of players that are out there for transfer there are a group of talented, quality and strong players that fall into the £10 to £20 million range. Players like Ibrahim Afellay (who might actually cost only £6 million), Oliver Giroud (rumoured around €16 mill equalling £12million) and more. These are good players, players who can add to a squad.

It’s great having star players. Star players put butts in the seats and offer us highlights to ooh and aah over. To me what wins trophies are a team of good solid players. With a strong squad to back them up. Overall, I think the core of a good solid team is there.  It only needs like players to fit into the gaps and round out the entire team of 25. Forget about big names. Go back to finding those gems who cost relatively little compared to the huge fees being floated out there. Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen come to mind as players of this ilk. Lukas Podolski is the latest like this. Focus in on buying quality players that don’t cost a ton. You can win that way. It was evident in France & Germany. It can be so in England even as Chelsea and City continue to battle against such business.

Wage Structure

I get the wage structure at Arsenal. I don’t like it but I get it. The wage structure was set up in a way that no one player felt inferior or superior to another based on pay. On pay the players should’ve felt equal but when all are paid a huge wage what is the incentive to fight and be hungry.

There is none.

Arsenal have done more harm than good with the wage structure that has paid under-performers as well as it some of the team’s better players.  Firstly it has created (inn my opinion) a level of players who feel they don’t have to perform at any level worthy of the pay they receive. There seems to be be no hunger or drive to spur those players on.

Secondly, now that it seems the club have realized the error of their ways in this regard it is hard to move those players because who really wants to pay Denilson or Nicklas Bendtner £50k per week.  They don’t deserve it.

Arsenal need to have a wage structure that pays based on performance. No one is saying taking the wage structure to the levels that Chelsea and City are. As good as Eden Hazard has been I can’t see paying someone near £200k per week for only performing on the Ligue 1 stage.  No need to pay like that. But Robin Van Persie should be getting what he wants because of his performance and being the club’s top star.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a rising star and will likely be a great player. He is not deserving of £50k per week and as I said the club have reached their senses here and are paying him based on what someone at 18 years old and a rising talent deserves.

Players need to understand – you want over £100k per week. Earn it. Show week in week out at training and in the matches that you deserve to be compensated.  It creates hunger, desire and competition in the squad. Which in my estimation improves the squad all the way around. Competition is good. Make it that way by creating a wage system that rewards for performance not because you are some up and coming talent that may never deliver.

Fix the commercial deals

Arsenal currrently draw in around £46 million from their various commercial deals.  That places them well below the biggies like Bayern, Madrid, Barca, and United. Even nouveau riche City have surpassed Arsenal in terms of commercial revenue. At £46 million Arsenal are slightly below Juventus and just above Lyon and local rivals Tottenham. For a club that is supposed to be a global brand this is completely inadequate.

When Arsenal locked in their deals the rationale was necessary and immediate funding for their stadium financing. Up front cash from both the Emirates and Nike to the tune of £100 million was used to fund the the initial payment of the stadium. But now in the growing era of big deals, Arsenal’s pale in comparison.

Arsenal get  about £5.5 million a year for their sponsorship deal from the Emirates for the shirt. This is paltry in terms of what United get from AON or the £20 million Liverpool (a team not in the UCL for 3 years running) get from Standard Chartered.  Even Spurs a team that has had little to no success in recent memory (besides their one stint in the champion’s league) gets better from its shirt sponsorship than Arsenal. This needs a drastic overhaul.

Throw on top of that lousy terms they get from Nike at £8 million a year and in just these two major deals, Arsenal are severely hamstrung in comparison to its peers.  If Arsenal are going to compete, and compete in the Premier League and in Europe, it needs to look to improve its overall commercial standing. Contracts for both Nike and Emirates come up for renegotiation in 2014. Word is at least that a new Emirates deal could be done earlier. There are new deals done with Carlsberg, Citroen, Thomas Cook, and Indesit. But is it enough? Not when you look at what others around you are doing.

New back room team members have joined Arsenal from the likes of major sports in the states. This isn’t a bad thing. The deals major sports in the states get dwarf a lot of what gets done in the Premier League. But they need to get going. If we want to live in a self-sustainable world Arsenal need more than their match-day revenue and paltry take from poor deals to do it.

Restructure the Board

If you are a long time reader of YAMA you know that I place a lot of blame on the board for our woes. You have a group of 70+ year olds steering the ship that is Arsenal in waters that seems to have passed them by. Led by an invisible majority shareholder, the club has no vision or direction forward. At least not one that anyone is aware of or can point to with any certainty.

The club needs to not only move into the 21st century but it needs to come up with new and exciting ideas to take the club forward. The current board has done admirably. But it now seems like they are more of hindrance rather than help. Not one of them has ever invested in the club from their own cash. Not one seems to be able to provide the direction the club need in the modern football game.

Alisher Usmanov needs to be given a voice at the table. I am not saying I am in favor of him becoming the majority share holder. He would place us into the realm of living with a sugar daddy and becoming his toy. That is not what I want for the club. I don’t want us to be in peril when Usmanov would decide he needs to move on. What I want though is someone willing to challenge the club on the way things are being done and Usmanov is showing himself to be a thorn in the side of the current board as he continues to buy up all available shares.

Another thing that is needed in this structure is to let Ivan Gazidis worry about the commercial side of the business and bring in a director of football to work along side Arsene Wenger. Is this a call for David Dein to come back? Yes and no. If he is the only that will work then do it. But if there is  a DoF out there that can work with Wenger than find him and make it so. If you fear that Wenger will say no, remind Wenger how the club hierarchy goes. I love Wenger but he is not the club and maybe he does need some reminding that he works for the club not vice versa.  Move Gazidis out of every day overall football duties and let football be run by footballing men.

Grow Some Balls

I am tired of ‘player power.’ These mega millionaires come to the club get paid handsomly by any means and then piss off without honoring the terms of their contract. Cesc Fabregas, signed a new five year deal and two years into it, basically went on strike to force a move to Barcelona. We are now embroiled in a case with Robin Van Persie where he has one year left on his contract and while not being the git that Fabregas was, he could still force a way out.

It’s time the club said no. You have a contract. We want you here. You will honor the terms of your contract. In the Van Persie case that could mean letting him go next season on free. For Fabregas it might have meant benching your best player. But in both cases it would’ve sent a message – that the club are in charge not the players. It would’ve also told interested clubs – we will sell our players when we are ready not when you want us to.

Roberto Mancini was quoted on two occasions this week talking up Robin Van Persie and saying Arsenal had to sell Clichy and Nasri last season. Well Clichy I believe they wanted to move and Nasri I think they wanted to stay but they let the player dictate the story and in the end had to sell. Arsenal need to come out and say enough is enough. First they need to tell Roberto Mancini to shut his classless yap and worry about his own club and players. Secondly they need to tell Robin Van Perise that regardless of transfer moves they have no intention of selling.

Arsenal need to develop a rather large set of heuvos. It sends a strong message that they are not a selling club and that our best players are not going to be the fodder for other clubs. Arsenal have allowed this perception of a ‘selling club’ to develop and frankly it has to stop. If they want to move forward and be recognized for the great club they are this is one area they need to specifically clamp down on.

Plan for life without Wenger

No, this is not about getting rid of Wenger. But it is time for the club to start thinking about life without him. He is either going to wind up with a cushy office as part of the board or he is going to go. Retire. Or should we experience another bad season, be let go (the worst case scenario any would like to see).

But it doesn’t hurt to have that plan ready to go in any contingency. Identify who you want. Begin the overtures now. Lay out the plan and vision. If Wenger is going to go to a board room position, let him on the wooing process. He is highly respected throughout Europe. People will sit down and listen to him.

Don’t be afraid of that eventuality both as a board and as a fan base. We all love Wenger, some a little less than others, but he has brought great fortune to this club of that we all can agree. It will be sad the day he goes but there is no need to look like Chelsea, rudderless, or like Liverpool who courted anyone they could. Get the plan in place and get it started now.

Each one of these topics could like be a blog post unto itself. But together they are steps some of them more critical then others needed to turn Arsenal in a winner again.  Arsenal are used to winning. We need to get back to that.  The way the game is going if the more critical changes like board, wages, and commercial deals aren’t looked at and approached differently we will be fighting up a long slog we may not be able to over come.

Arsenal can win under a model of financial self-sustainability. It just needs to refocus its efforts in other areas to make sure it can. If it does that we can all be glad as the silverware starts to come in again.

 

FYI – Special thanks to Darren (@DarrenArsenal1) Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) and Phil (@AngryofN5) for their help in discussing certain components of this piece. The information on Arsenal’s commercial dealings can be found in fuller detail in this piece on Swiss Ramble

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26 comments

  1. Kiwi 6 June, 2012 at 06:35 Log in to Reply

    Gazidis spins a longish yawn on the Arsenal website. Depending on your gut feelings you’ll either lap it up or think it lame and empty.

    Everything I have read on David Dein has created a picture of a man that in his prime spent his time, energy and money on Arsenal FC well before we ‘made it big’. His acumen was amply demonstrated on many ocassions skillfully maneuvering the geriatric Board to take on more risk bit by bit. He oversaw the appointments of George Graham and Arsene Wenger. He bought Bergkamp and Platt. He got on English and European football boards thus giving Arsenal a seat at important tables. And yet… some folk like ‘Eduardo’ seem to have a dark view of his contribution. I’m bemused by this slant – it applies to Arseblog as well.

    I suggested a while ago that the prompt arrival of Podolski may well be simply another Vermaelen, Koscielny or Gervinho – all examples of Wenger’s recent habit of concluding one significant signing early. It may not be a sign that Wenger has learnt any lessons from last off-seasons Armageddon.

    Take what comfort you can from Messr Gazidis – it may be all that is on offer.

  2. Ty 6 June, 2012 at 00:12 Log in to Reply

    Nice Piece. Finally someone who isn’t so foolish to paint everything black or white like so many fans do.

    There aren’t this many problems at Arsenal. The wage structure and the injury prone squad are the biggest issues for 3-5 years and running. The quality of talent hasn’t fallen of a cliff until we sold Nasri and Fabregas. To that point we had enough quality to win the PL and get bounced by Barcelona in the CL.
    Now we have a “new” superstar in RVP and have adressed the scoring winger problem that we had for years. Now we need another quality CD who can compete for the starting job and when Wilshere and Diaby can somehow stay healty we are in the mix.

    • Caribkid 6 June, 2012 at 02:22 Log in to Reply

      @Ty,

      The wage structure and the injury prone squad are not major problems?

      Wow, wish I could agree with you on that one. The wage structure prohibits us from spending big bucks on STAR players and prevents us from selling players who are not Arsenal quality but take up space on the roster. If you add an injury prone squad to one which is already lacking in quality I would say that’s a major headache and disadvantage. Add inept tactical coaching to the mix and we are nowhere near competing for the EPL and CL titles.

      That’s like spending big bucks on Coach luggage only to find out it’s an imitation and you have no hope of selling it to recoup some of your money spent.

    • stag133 6 June, 2012 at 03:00 Log in to Reply

      @Ty, “we had enough quality to win the Premier League”…
      ummmm… WHEN? Not close this season… and not last season either… when are you talking about.
      Because you can’t be serious if you meant in recent years.

      As Carib point out above, we have MAJOR problems. You can paper over them … or make like they don’t exist, but there is a reason we haven’t won ANYTHING for 7 years.

      How can you possibly count on Diaby to EVER play regularly for the club?
      And Wilshire was injured early last season, and what was at first nothing major… became a season ending injury… and somehow he had another surgery towards season’s end? Sounds like an inept evaluation (again).

      There are as many holes to fill at the club, as swiss cheese…
      and NUMBER ONE, is what the feck the club are doing in the off-season… which directly relates to what happens with our best players and captain (again).

      We are NOT competing for trophies currently. And so far, we haven’t done much to change that.

      • Ty 6 June, 2012 at 03:09 Log in to Reply

        @stag133, I said there aren’t that many problems and then outlined the problems that we do have. So I do think that the wage structure and the injuries are major probblems and thats about it. I have seen wenger come up with squads who could defend with the best of em so why would he lost this coaching ability??
        I remember the meltdown when Fabregas and Nasri let us down because theys were out anyway in that year we were in the mix.

        • stag133 6 June, 2012 at 03:16

          @Ty, Ty.
          Wenger doesn’t know or care about DEFENSE.
          The only time his defense was good, was when he had holdover defenders from George Graham!
          Once he jettisoned all of them, he went to a short, mobile, forward moving defense core, and we haven’t won shit since that happened.

          We have finished 19 points off the top, 12 points off the top, and 11 points off the top… in the last 3 seasons, and we COLLAPSE at the end of every season as well… we never finish strong…
          that, is a sign of weakness, lack of depth… lack of mental toughness.

          I am sorry… but we are NOT getting closer to winning anything… and so far, we’ve not done anything that will change that this off-season… and RVP leaving would be a disaster again… we’d be even further behind the teams we are chasing.

          IF… and that’s a big “IF”… we address some of the problems, with a reasonable effort to bring in players that aren’t band-aids… AND KEEP Van Persie, we might be in the mix for a Cup run in the FA Cup…
          without a big overhaul, we aren’t competing for the League.

          Face Facts… we aren’t close right now.
          I’d love to see us get some solid players in, and shed some useless players… and be excited about the new season, but I see us doing very little this off-season… as usual… and Van Persie leaving at the end of the Summer, so we have no time to replace him.

        • Ty 6 June, 2012 at 16:26

          @stag133, If you collapse late than you wrwre obviously in the mix. And yeah give everybody else credit for the squads that could defend very objective.

        • stag133 7 June, 2012 at 03:17

          @Ty, how many goals did we let in this year?
          Worst total for many seasons… I believe 8th or 9th best in the EPL.

          what’s our excuse for that?

          You can’t win a title without having one of the best defensive teams.
          It is NOT possible.

          and what have we done to address this so far?

          You can continue to make excuses for Wenger and the Board all you like.
          But they fall on deaf ears after 7 seasons.
          I don’t see the club reducing the highest prices in football for tickets either.

          Arsenal FC have no legs to stand on.
          They are simply not trying to win…

  3. eduardo 5 June, 2012 at 01:27 Log in to Reply

    I agree with much of what you say in the article, but I do find it odd that you moan about a board that are mainly 70+ but then go on to advocate bringing in David Dein, isn’t he damn close to 70. Also on the DD topic, he aint a football man, could never be described as suitable for DOF role, he is a business man, only difference with him and Gazidis is that Dein knew how to self promote his image.

    • stag133 5 June, 2012 at 04:16 Log in to Reply

      @eduardo, don’t agree on Dein ONLY being better than Gazidis in self promotion. There is DEFINITELY a correlation between what Arsenal and Wenger did WITH DEIN, and what has happened AFTER HE LEFT.
      That is not just a coincidence.

      • George 5 June, 2012 at 08:05 Log in to Reply

        @stag133,
        Agree, Dein was the one who got the deals done, Gazidis and whoever else don’t seem to be able to wrap them up like Dein could

        • eduardo 5 June, 2012 at 14:08

          @George, Its nothing more than a false perception that Dein got deals done any more or any better than Gazidis, we sign as many players now as we ever did with Dein. The fact that now people believe every little bit of transfer rubbish spouted in the medai and on blogs have led to this perception that we now miss out on far more deals than we actually do. Also the fact that R&W have people promoting this falsehood to curry favour and support for their agenda also just gets Arsenal fans to ignore the facts.

        • stag133 5 June, 2012 at 14:45

          @eduardo, Eduardo.
          WHERE ARE YOUR FACTS? How is the stuff you are spouting any different than that of what you say blogs and others are saying?

          Do you work for the club?

          It’s all conjecture.
          But sometimes perception is reality… and our successes WITH Dein here, seemed a lot more often than they do POST DEIN.

          What facts do you have… I have 7 years of an empty trophy cabinet, and a lot of medicore players bought… and some we missed out on doing well elsewhere.

  4. Joelio 5 June, 2012 at 00:25 Log in to Reply

    wow, it looks like my response to milleryogi was deleted. i guess you’ll be happy to know this was the first and last time i visit this site.

    • DaAdminGooner 5 June, 2012 at 12:21 Log in to Reply

      @Joelio,

      It didn’t get deleted. It got sent to the Spam folder. Which sometimes happens to new commenters. It should be there now.

      • vibe4arsenal 6 June, 2012 at 16:51 Log in to Reply

        @DaAdminGooner,

        It happens to old posters, too. Time after time after time, apparently.

        • vibe4arsenal 6 June, 2012 at 16:57

          @vibe4arsenal,

          Whoa. It’s sticking? First time in months.

  5. stag133 4 June, 2012 at 20:06 Log in to Reply

    Cesc gave everything the club asked him too…
    we always knew he would go back to Barcelona, and he probably stayed an extra season just because of Wenger.

    RVP… please… if you want him to play out his signed contract… and walk away at the end of it, then we would be STUPID. That would be an IDIOTIC MOVE.

    Its pretty simple. If we DO SOME F’N BUSINESS, and bring in proper players… (at the moment, we are f*cking around in another important off-season)… He’ll likely stay.
    If we wait and watch, he will NOT SIGN.
    WHY THE FECK SHOULD HE.
    He would be the idiot to stay.

    You can call him names. Say he’s greedy. Judas.
    But it is NOT the players fault.
    Its the board and Wenger.

    I totally disagree on the SPENDING BIG.
    2 – 10’s in sports, does NOT always = 20.
    You can pay 20 MILLION for 1 player, and he can have a much greater impact than 2 @ 10 Million.

    If you are going to spend 12 on one player, and 15 on another… and they are Chamakh-ish.
    Then BUY THE STAR at 30 MILLION.

    We are NOT A BARGAIN BASEMENT TEAM.
    Sorry.
    The MONEY IS THERE.
    Any BS they use is sheer bollox.

    Time to step up and spend to compete, or what your captain and best player get sold again.

  6. obinna from Nigeria 4 June, 2012 at 18:01 Log in to Reply

    Thank you so much Daadmingooner! Its so heartwarming to see someone share my same view to our current issues. Long may you live!
    The paragraph of shrewd bus. vs silly bus., is my main focus point. I’ve always said that suppose Wenger did get in good talents within the range of 10mill-20mill when the likes of Hleb, Adebayor, Gilberto – Flamini, we wont’t have been like this with no trophy. We’ve always had the talents to make top four, but not the squad for winning trophies. And then the young ones he hopes on matures and suddenly cry out for trophies, the cycle restarts itself again. Hope things change 4 this once.

  7. Joelio 4 June, 2012 at 17:39 Log in to Reply

    Interesting viewpoint, but I think you’ve oversimplified this quite a bit.

    As transfers go, there are very few Koscielnys available for the mid-range prices like there were in the Invincibles era. Few players go unnoticed. And Arsenal’s scouts are well-known worldwide. When an Arsenal scout is watching someone, the other clubs follow, and normally offer more money. This was the case with Mata last season, and many more before that.

    You’re right on about the wage structure. Its baffling. Poor players get new, bigger contracts to improve their “confidence.” What about work ethic? What about merit?

    You don’t place the blame where its due about the wages, however. “Victory through harmony” is Wenger’s philosophy, he’s used it everywhere he’s been. Wenger has effectively tied one hand behind his back in terms of finances by throwing money at substandard players, making them impossible to sell off, and stunting their desire to improve by giving them more money then they’re worth. Many place blame on the board for our financial problems like you do, but having recognized the problems our wage structure present the club, I’m surprised you don’t find Wenger to blame for it.

    I’m also surprised you are so upset with Fabregas. Selfishly, as an Arsenal fan, I wanted him to stay at Arsenal. But realistically, can you blame him for wanting to leave? And can you be mad at him for leaving for reasons other than money? I’ll hate Nasri forever, but not Cesc. Cesc played for years on a team that was not up to his standard. He’d work his tail off for the team only to see Almunia or Squillaci or Sylvester gift the other team a goal and lose the game. It must have been frustrating. And when Barcelona, the best team in the world and his hometown club, came calling (quite persistently I’ll add) you can’t blame him for wanting to leave. And you can’t depend on players who don’t want to be there, they’ll sit out injured or “go on strike,” so we had to sell him.

    Don’t place the blame on “player power,” figure out why Fabregas wanted to leave. We didn’t give him a good enough team to play alongside him. We let obvious weaknesses go on for far too long without being addressed. Wenger let him down.

    Therefore, while I enjoyed reading this article thoroughly and think you have some great insights in here, my answer to “Fixing the Arsenal” could be summed up in 2 words: New Manager.

    • DaAdminGooner 4 June, 2012 at 18:31 Log in to Reply

      @Joelio,

      The piece wasn’t about blame. The only place I put any blame is in the restructuring the board section. The board is responsible in my opinion in part for the financial model we are under. The board sets the policy and Wenger runs with it. They are both dually responsible.

      As for transfers, you miss the point. It’s not about the Koscielny’s of the world. Its about the players that fall into the price range of about £10-£20 million. And frankly there is a boatload of them out there and they are good. – With regard to Mata the key issue there was moving too slow. Nothing more or less. Our slow movement alowed Chelsea to come in and snatch him up.

      As for Fabregas, I don’t begrudge him leaving. He was always going to leave what I take issue with and what a lot of Gooners take issue with – is basically going on strike to force the deal. The club were with in their right to say no – we aren’t selling. He was bound to the contract he signed. When he went on strike – he forced the issue. Not Wenger.

      • Joelio 4 June, 2012 at 18:53 Log in to Reply

        My point was that at multiple clubs, with different boards, Wenger used this wage structure. Because player contracts effect their play on the field, the board gives Wenger authority to hand out money how he pleases. I don’t find both Wenger and the board equally culpable. The only thing the board is guilty of is trusting Wenger too much.

        Mata delayed committing to us because Chelsea was lurking and Mata knew Chelsea would offer more money. Yes his father went to the press saying we were his first choice, but that we had acted too slowly. Read between the lines. It was a clever move, that motivated other EPL clubs to act quickly in order to prevent Mata signing for us. Much like Chelsea has done with Hazard, they signed Mata partly because they didn’t want to play against him, and they were willing to pay through the roof to get him.

        As far as Fabregas goes, any time a club doesn’t match its best players’ ambitions, that player will leave. If we had been winning trophies, Fabregas would not have wanted to leave. Instead, we gave him joker teammates to play alongside him and he reached the conclusion he could not reach his ambitions with Arsenal, and was more likely to reach those ambitions with Barcelona. Yes he forced the issue, but these things happen when a club underachieves. The decisions Wenger made not to replace Almunia, to trust in players like Squillaci, Sylvester, Denilson, and Chamakh, to remain relentlessly stubborn with our tactics and style of play, are the reason why we underachieve.

    • milleryogi 4 June, 2012 at 23:42 Log in to Reply

      In response to the author’s many points you write “I think you’ve oversimplified this [arsenal’s problems] quite a bit” and then sum up your post by writing everything can be fixed by hiring a new manager. Typifies an arrogant and illogical response from a typical doom and gloomer. There are many things AFC can improve–many of which are identified in the article–but if you think slapping in a new manager is the best or as you seem to suggest the only thing thing that needs to be done you’re clueless. Think about your argument before you write next time or just post what you really wanted to say–“Wenger out”–and save everyone your BS.

      • Joelio 5 June, 2012 at 00:02 Log in to Reply

        @ milleryogi

        I think you may have only read the first and last lines of my post. I don’t think the rest was “arrogant” or “illogical” or even “BS.” I gave the author their due on the points that I agreed on, and I thought I made a reasonable and well thought out point of my own. I don’t really appreciate being labeled anything, as I’m sure you nor anyone would.

        My first point, that it had been oversimplified, was mainly talking about the transfer section of the article. Signing good players in the 10-20 price range is difficult. Just ask Liverpool. Wenger has done tremendously with the signings he has made and honestly my problems with Wenger don’t stem from an unwillingness to spend. I actually think his best work is in the transfer market, and I’d love to see him given a Director of Football type of role where he could still have a hand in identifying transfer targets. I take issue with other aspects of his job, where I feel like he is letting the club down as manager.

        I think he handcuffs himself financially with the wage structure (the point I made above), I think he is a poor motivator, I think he is too patient with players who have proven themselves not to be good enough, and I think he is too stubborn and predictable tactically.

        If you disagree, make an argument that counters mine. Please don’t resort to name-calling.

      • stag133 5 June, 2012 at 04:22 Log in to Reply

        @milleryogi, Milleryogi.
        Just because you believe Wenger is the ONLY PERSON who could possibly guide the club, doesn’t make it true.
        I have heard over and over, after EVERY star player was sold… “NOBODY IS BIGGER THAN THE CLUB”… “Arsenal were here before – Vieira, Henry, Fabregas, … RVP… and they’ll go on after them”.
        WHY would that not be true of Wenger?
        We can go on without him, do better without him… achieve more without him. He is not manager for LIFE.
        7 years of NOTHING is a long time for a club who claimed to be aiming to be among the elite of European Football… its dog years in sports…
        When is it time to look for a new manager? 8 years – no trophies? 10 years? or is Wenger actually BIGGER THAN THE CLUB?

  8. habiba 4 June, 2012 at 16:50 Log in to Reply

    This piece has said it all. Please do try and get it across to the Diamond Club and other stakeholders of our great club. It pains me that due to one silly reason or just plain oversight, Arsenal has been moved to the sidelines. I love my club, I love the team, but its hard… I really hope something gets done before the next season commences. Especially on the finance!

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