Arsenal Thread 2013/14

[SrilankanBlue]

Not a single English outfield player tonight, whenever City do that though, it makes the headline the next day

 

[Stoned Rose]

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You failed to answer my question though. You presumably would prefer no regulation and clubs could spend as much and as recklessly as they like?

Maybe we should impose a salary cap instead?

PS I finally get why there is so much anti Arsenal feeling on here, fuelled largely by this gang of 4 letter which I hadn't previously been aware off

I'll give you my answer. I'd be happy with a level playing field, on the lines of the NFL. Revenues shared and caps on wages, with some management of transfer spending, again perhaps an overall cap of some sort. Then we wouldn't need wealthy owners as the only mechanism for introducing some element of competition.

There was a relatively level playing field up to the 1980/81 season when Villa won the league. But then your club, together with the rags, Liverpool, Everton & Spurs, threatened to form a breakaway league unless the arrangement whereby gate receipts (the major source of income at the time) were shared 75/25 between the home and away club was stopped. They wanted to keep 100%.

And since then, 4 of those 5 teams have won the title 26 times in 32 seasons. (Didn't really work out for Spurs, no doubt to your great delight.) Only Leeds won it, in 1991/92, without huge external investment.

And then, when you were faltering a bit in the early 1990's, pre-Wenger, Danny Fiszman pumped in £50m,which was worth the equivalent of 10 times that in today's transfer values. That enabled you to treble Tony Adams' contract to fend off interest from the rags and funded the buying spree that bought Bergkamp, Platt, Petit, Overmars,, Vieira etc.

And that bought (not brought) you success and you got your extra revenue from the CL which enabled you to stay in the top 4 though without achieving very much recently.

Why we "hate" Arsenal is because you keep telling us we've bought success and you've done it "the right way".

If you want that level playing field then I'll take it. But we'll have some of that match day revenue. And the kit deal.

So suck that you delusional cockney ****.

 

[Stoned Rose]

Ah! There it is - the old chestnut " what happens when rich owner gets bored" This demonstrates the naivety and ignorance who pronounce on a subject about which they know little .
Sheikh Mansour is one of the shrewdest businessmen on the planet - he employs some of the other shrewdest businessmen on the planet- he has a huge , successful empire worldwide. The stupid implication that he will invest billions in a football club , its future development and its environment, and then " get bored and walk away " is breathtaking in its ignorance and simple naïveté ( not to mention insulting)
Perhaps , by the way , you could give us an example of a " high scale failure" which has resulted from the behaviour you describe?
There's another favourite " spending recklessly" or " throwing money at it" - two of the favourite expressions we hear.
If there is a lot of money spent it's "reckless " never " invested shrewdly" there are no headlines in that.
How can it be " reckless " if it can be shown - and I think we can safely say it can - that an owner can afford it and can pay all the clubs debts ( which he has).
Of course there can be regulations but they have to be aimed at the right targets - these aren't . There are going to be changes made and it could get messy.

You've taken my argument personally as if I'm aiming it at City, per se. I'm not. City have already acceded to the top order no doubt down to the shrewd financial husbandry of that paragon of financial acumen, Sheik Mansour, though owning oil fields pumping out revenue of £500m per day probably helps. Undoubtedly, City have invested well and accumulated the leagues best squad of players. City always had the potential having a big fan base meaning that the investment would likely lead in the long run to greater sustainability. Not all clubs have that because their fan base and appeal are limited. For those clubs, they can go whistle because no billionaire in their right mind would find that an attractive proposition.

My argument was based upon the initial purpose inter alia of FFP to prevent over leveraged clubs going bust. As for examples, how about Leeds United, Pompey, Glasgow Rangers?

Would you give up your gate receipts? Your match day revenue? An even playing field means just that. When things transferred to the home side taking 100% of revenue then certain clubs pushed on. With that and their success came more and more money with increased media interest and marketing opportunities. It has enable Arsenal to build a new stadium and make even more money. For every other club there has been a huge gulf created and it has been impossible to catch up without getting that huge investment to bring things level. Whilst Arsenal have done things more sustainably to pay for the stadium and use matchday revenues etc they still are only where they are because that shift in gate receipts meant so much for them. I don't mind Arsenal until they start to play the whole "we did things properly" bollocks. Foreign manager, lots of foreign players, best academy players bought from rival clubs... not exemplary by any means. Everton are a club that have tried to do things the right way and that has done them fuck all good.

Another good bumming handed out by a knowledgeable blue.

 

[Stoned Rose]

This financial fair play ban city are being threatened with is an absolute joke. Blatant racism by uefa. They don't want Arab owners in Europe so they're going after Psg and city. With owners who pumped money into the community and regenerated the areas they're in. They should be going after those clubs that sent local businesses to the wall like pompey. It's a disgrace, city's overspending also saved a lot of clubs from financial trouble both in England and abroad. I thought Ffp was designed to stop clubs spending what they can't afford.

I have no problem with city spending money or anyone else. It's a free world. I think the return on their investment in the last 2 years would have been abysmal though. If they don't win the league. It seems money can't buy spine and will to win. If we had city's squad and resources and lost the league to this Liverpool side I'd be absolutely livid.
To have just the capital one to show for the last 2 years would be a major failure. Even we could end up with a better return and we are in crisis.

Were you 'livid' when your 40m signing didn't stop you getting bum raped 6-3 by City and 5-1 by Liverpool?

And how clever of you to base your argument around the last 2 years. You seem to be forgetting the fact we won the title the season before. All 3 domestic competitions won in the last 4 seasons.

Remind me again what you've won in the last 9 years?

Oh and the old 'City's squad' chestnut to?

I wonder if you were one of the several Arsenal knobheads who were on here every day with your dicks out earlier in the season telling us all how many 'world class' players you had, how together and determined your squad were, and how you were never ever going to lose a football match again? Whatever happened to that squad?

 

[Bodicoteblue]

You've taken my argument personally as if I'm aiming it at City, per se. I'm not. City have already acceded to the top order no doubt down to the shrewd financial husbandry of that paragon of financial acumen, Sheik Mansour, though owning oil fields pumping out revenue of £500m per day probably helps. Undoubtedly, City have invested well and accumulated the leagues best squad of players. City always had the potential having a big fan base meaning that the investment would likely lead in the long run to greater sustainability. Not all clubs have that because their fan base and appeal are limited. For those clubs, they can go whistle because no billionaire in their right mind would find that an attractive proposition.

My argument was based upon the initial purpose inter alia of FFP to prevent over leveraged clubs going bust. As for examples, how about Leeds United, Pompey, Glasgow Rangers?

We'll then we agree.
FFP should indeed be aimed at leveraged buy outs , and the clubs as well as Uefa should concentrate more on verifying the bona fides of prospective buyers and ensure they actually have the wherewithal to actually run the club and that they are not just asset strippers like the above.
Yet the first victims of this misplaced , ill- conceived poorly aimed ( except for those who guided the aiming hand) is one of the finest benefactors ( yes I am biased) that has ever pitched up on these shores, instead of the people who remove huge quantities of money from the game .
Little barb about sheikh Mansour's " financial acumen " - well at least we know where his wealth emanates from - no secrets there - which is more than we know about the wealth accumulation of some owners and shareholders .
By the way , how much is your next season ticket price going up by?

In another thread, an article in the Telegraph was referred to which sensibly drew a distinction between good and bad owners. I think we agree on that, though given recent events at Leeds Utd does not fill me with confidence at least insofar as the FA are concerned.

As for where wealth is derived, I wonder how legitimate Russian oligarch wealth really is?

As for my season ticket which us currently £1,100pa, I expect it to go down if we fail to get top 4 otherwise it will likely cost me £1,200 and as I'm also on the away ticket scheme, I spend over £1,500 already not to mention travel costs, overnights etc. If the only way we can attempt to compete with City and Chelsea is by hiking ticket costs, well we are buggered.

Ask mr usmanov how legitimate his wealth is !
Your manager seems to think the only way to compete without external investment is through raising ticket prices , so I guess you are buggered!

 

[AwayDay]

This financial fair play ban city are being threatened with is an absolute joke. Blatant racism by uefa. They don't want Arab owners in Europe so they're going after Psg and city. With owners who pumped money into the community and regenerated the areas they're in. They should be going after those clubs that sent local businesses to the wall like pompey. It's a disgrace, city's overspending also saved a lot of clubs from financial trouble both in England and abroad. I thought Ffp was designed to stop clubs spending what they can't afford.

I have no problem with city spending money or anyone else. It's a free world. I think the return on their investment in the last 2 years would have been abysmal though. If they don't win the league. It seems money can't buy spine and will to win. If we had city's squad and resources and lost the league to this Liverpool side I'd be absolutely livid.
To have just the capital one to show for the last 2 years would be a major failure. Even we could end up with a better return and we are in crisis.

Were you 'livid' when your 40m signing didn't stop you getting bum raped 6-3 by City and 5-1 by Liverpool?

And how clever of you to base your argument around the last 2 years. You seem to be forgetting the fact we won the title the season before. All 3 domestic competitions won in the last 4 seasons.

Remind me again what you've won in the last 9 years?

Oh and the old 'City's squad' chestnut to?

I wonder if you were one of the several Arsenal knobheads who were on here every day with your dicks out earlier in the season telling us all how many 'world class' players you had, how together and determined your squad were, and how you were never ever going to lose a football match again? Whatever happened to that squad?

I didnt say you should be livid with only winning the carling cup, I said I would be if we were in a similar position, that's just my opinion. I wasnt livid when we lost to you because I dont judge us by the same standards I judge you, City for me are the best team in the country, I judge them by the same standards I used to judge arsenal with between 98 and 2005 when we too had a world class squad, and it felt like failure every time we didnt win the league. Things are different now, but I am not attacking city or city fans, if you are happy with just the capital one cup then fair play.
Anyway, I still have a small hope you win the league, I hope it happens as I like seeing the best team get rewarded, and I hope you beat everton on the way, and hopefully we meet you in the community shield, still lots of football to be played.
I wasnt one of those who predicted arsenal will win everything when we were top, in fact before we played you I predicted a hammering and got slated by everyone for not being a proper fan, because proper fans are supposed to make stupid predictions based on blind faith.

 

[GunnerGer]

Lovely atmosphere in here again lol!

 

[Gillespie]

Top 4 and an FA Cup would be a good season for us. Anything less would be bad especially if we fail to secure top 4.

I'm hoping City will spank Everton for us.

 

[Normalbloke]

Not a single English outfield player tonight, whenever City do that though, it makes the headline the next day

City don't have more than 2 English players compared to Arsenal's 6.

 

[Shirley]

Not a single English outfield player tonight, whenever City do that though, it makes the headline the next day

City don't have more than 2 English players compared to Arsenal's 6.

Off the top of me head.

1. Hart
2. Milner
3. Lescott
4. Richards
5. Rodwell
6. Sinclair (on loan)
7. Barry (on loan)