Arsenal Thread 2014/15

[Matty]

[bigimg]http://i.guim.co.uk/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2014/8/1/1406904519631/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-We-012.jpg[/bigimg]


Might as well face it you're addicted to us.

Oh now that's brilliant!

 

[petrusha]

Maybe he shouldn't talk about other clubs as much but he was obviously asked a direct question & answered it with his opinion, that's why journalists seemed to like him.

However, the headlines are totally misleading to what he actually says. I've seen that he has 'slammed' Man City, & he's also 'Blasted' them, & is moaning "it's not fair"!

“Is it a way to get around the fair play? I don’t know.”

He said: “We are happy to dedicate the money we make just to run our club as there is not a lot of surplus to buy other clubs.”

How they get that from those quotes i'll never know, but the headliners writers are certainly doing their job in reeling folk in?!!

I know the headlines are sensationalised, but maybe a "We don't talk about other clubs finances" would be a better stance and
could not be misconstrued in anyway.

Correct. And he has a track record of using the rather loaded term "financial doping", in the light of which it's pretty obvious what he thinks. I've always found this very interesting in the light of the fact that he forged his managerial reputation at Monaco. See his comments ahead of Arsenal's pre-season game this weekend against his old club. He talked of "wonderful memories" of his time here, and said:

When I arrived there, AS Monaco had never passed the first round of the European Cup and we went to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League. These are big memories because before it was a club who was non-existent in Europe.

[Source - the Arsenal official site, here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140801/wenger-my-wonderful-memories-of-monaco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... -of-monaco</a>].

Now, he was in charge at Monaco between 1987 and 1994, During that period, the highest average attendance the club managed was 6,621. In no season were they ever higher than 18th in terms of the 'league table' of attendances in French football; more often they were below 20th place.

[Source for attendance information - the European Football Statistics (EFS) site at: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm</a>]

By way of a comparison, in 1987/8, the season they won the title and achieved that average of 6,621, the following clubs in England had very similar crowds: second division Hull City - 6,674 (the 43rd biggest average gate in English football that season); second division Huddersfield Town - 6,617 (44th); and third division Bournemouth - 6,611 (45th).

[Source again the EFS site]

Wenger has a degree in economics from the University of Strasbourg so he's not a stupid man and he's well equipped to understand financial issues. So he presumably knows that what he now derides as "financial doping" is the only way a club with a support to match Huddersfield and Bournemouth could have competed with the biggest French clubs, and how they can prosper in Europe against the continent's elite.

Nonetheless, he continues to make adverse comments about us in the context of FFP. However, he equally is prepared to laud his own achievements at Monaco at a club reliant on external financing to facilitate the success over which he presided.

He's just a hypocrite of the first order, I'm afraid. Someone in the press should really call him out over it, though I expect it won't happen.

 

[Damocles]

Maybe he shouldn't talk about other clubs as much but he was obviously asked a direct question & answered it with his opinion, that's why journalists seemed to like him.

However, the headlines are totally misleading to what he actually says. I've seen that he has 'slammed' Man City, & he's also 'Blasted' them, & is moaning "it's not fair"!

“Is it a way to get around the fair play? I don’t know.”

He said: “We are happy to dedicate the money we make just to run our club as there is not a lot of surplus to buy other clubs.”

How they get that from those quotes i'll never know, but the headliners writers are certainly doing their job in reeling folk in?!!

Is Arsene Wenger hugely overrated as a manager and become a man of mediocrity? I don't know.

Are Arsenal fans some of the most sanctimonious twats in the league? I don't know.

Hey, I'm just asking questions here.

 

[1.618034]

[bigimg]http://i.guim.co.uk/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2014/8/1/1406904519631/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-We-012.jpg[/bigimg]


Might as well face it you're addicted to us.

Oh now that's brilliant!

I can't take all the credit...

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/01/the-fiver-football-pre-season" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... pre-season</a>

 

[M18CTID]

Maybe he shouldn't talk about other clubs as much but he was obviously asked a direct question & answered it with his opinion, that's why journalists seemed to like him.

However, the headlines are totally misleading to what he actually says. I've seen that he has 'slammed' Man City, & he's also 'Blasted' them, & is moaning "it's not fair"!



How they get that from those quotes i'll never know, but the headliners writers are certainly doing their job in reeling folk in?!!

I know the headlines are sensationalised, but maybe a "We don't talk about other clubs finances" would be a better stance and
could not be misconstrued in anyway.

Correct. And he has a track record of using the rather loaded term "financial doping", in the light of which it's pretty obvious what he thinks. I've always found this very interesting in the light of the fact that he forged his managerial reputation at Monaco. See his comments ahead of Arsenal's pre-season game this weekend against his old club. He talked of "wonderful memories" of his time here, and said:

When I arrived there, AS Monaco had never passed the first round of the European Cup and we went to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions League. These are big memories because before it was a club who was non-existent in Europe.

[Source - the Arsenal official site, here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20140801/wenger-my-wonderful-memories-of-monaco" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... -of-monaco</a>].

Now, he was in charge at Monaco between 1987 and 1994, During that period, the highest average attendance the club managed was 6,621. In no season were they ever higher than 18th in terms of the 'league table' of attendances in French football; more often they were below 20th place.

[Source for attendance information - the European Football Statistics (EFS) site at: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm</a>]

By way of a comparison, in 1987/8, the season they won the title and achieved that average of 6,621, the following clubs in England had very similar crowds: second division Hull City - 6,674 (the 43rd biggest average gate in English football that season); second division Huddersfield Town - 6,617 (44th); and third division Bournemouth - 6,611 (45th).

[Source again the EFS site]

Wenger has a degree in economics from the University of Strasbourg so he's not a stupid man and he's well equipped to understand financial issues. So he presumably knows that what he now derides as "financial doping" is the only way a club with a support to match Huddersfield and Bournemouth could have competed with the biggest French clubs, and how they can prosper in Europe against the continent's elite.

Nonetheless, he continues to make adverse comments about us in the context of FFP. However, he equally is prepared to laud his own achievements at Monaco at a club reliant on external financing to facilitate the success over which he presided.

He's just a hypocrite of the first order, I'm afraid. Someone in the press should really call him out over it, though I expect it won't happen.

Fantastically researched post as per usual Petrusha. The issue of Wenger complaining about financial doping and how he can come out with such comments given that he revels in the fact that he managed a "financially doped" club in Monaco is something that has bemused me as well. It's funny how Wenger's view on football club finances changed at exactly the same time the Arsenal hierarchy decided to give the green light to the building of the Emirates Stadium and a reigning in of transfer spending for several years thereafter. Yet he saw nothing wrong with Monaco spending benefactor money when he was their manager.

 

[Cellarite]

Nor did he see any wrong in Arsenal using the Belgian club Beveren as a feeder club. He really is an old woman.

 

[petrusha]

Fantastically researched post as per usual Petrusha. The issue of Wenger complaining about financial doping and how he can come out with such comments given that he revels in the fact that he managed a "financially doped" club in Monaco is something that has bemused me as well. It's funny how Wenger's view on football club finances changed at exactly the same time the Arsenal hierarchy decided to give the green light to the building of the Emirates Stadium and a reigning in of transfer spending for several years thereafter. Yet he saw nothing wrong with Monaco spending benefactor money when he was their manager.

Yes. I don't expect him to repudiate his time at Monaco entirely. I appreciate that it was an important time in his career and he probably enjoyed being at a club where he could compete to win things. However, I'd have more respect for him if he admitted that he achieved through being at a club using methods he now affects to despise, and said that he took more pleasure from his successes elsewhere. As it is, it's just hypocrisy pure and simple.

 

[M18CTID]

Nor did he see any wrong in Arsenal using the Belgian club Beveren as a feeder club. He really is an old woman.

He also seems to be forgetting that Stan Kroenke owns Colorado Rapids ;)

 

[GunnerGer]

I know the headlines are sensationalised, but maybe a "We don't talk about other clubs finances" would be a better stance and
could not be misconstrued in anyway.

Yeah perhaps, that's why i said perhaps he is a bit too open when talking about other teams. Journalists seem to really like him because he is very open & tends to answer all their questions without shirking them (especially if he's in a decent mood) but i can understand why that causes problems sometimes, & obviously not everyone will agree with it, (& as others have pointed out it can be a bit hypocritical at times to suit his agenda). I just think in this occasion what he has actually said isn't that bad.

I think everyone in general though is interested as to how this will work out. Correct me if I'm wrong because obviously i don't know as much as you guys but is it not MCFC that has a stake in these clubs, rather than their owners? So does revenue & expenditure get shown through MCFC's books? What do you guys get out of it? Brand exposure? Player Tradings?

Genuine questions by the way, as i don't know the ins & out's & cant be bothered reading through newspaper waffle when you guys will know your stuff!

 

[aguero93:20]

I know the headlines are sensationalised, but maybe a "We don't talk about other clubs finances" would be a better stance and
could not be misconstrued in anyway.

Yeah perhaps, that's why i said perhaps he is a bit too open when talking about other teams. Journalists seem to really like him because he is very open & tends to answer all their questions without shirking them (especially if he's in a decent mood) but i can understand why that causes problems sometimes, & obviously not everyone will agree with it, (& as others have pointed out it can be a bit hypocritical at times to suit his agenda). I just think in this occasion what he has actually said isn't that bad.

I think everyone in general though is interested as to how this will work out. Correct me if I'm wrong because obviously i don't know as much as you guys but is it not MCFC that has a stake in these clubs, rather than their owners? So does revenue & expenditure get shown through MCFC's books? What do you guys get out of it? Brand exposure? Player Tradings?

Genuine questions by the way, as i don't know the ins & out's & cant be bothered reading through newspaper waffle when you guys will know your stuff!

CFG (holding group similar to most clubs in pl) own 100% stake in MCFC and MCWFC, majority stakes in NYCFC and Melbourne City FC, minority stake in the Japanese club. CFG owned fully by Sheikh Mansour. Their profits and losses don't affect our books, nor do we use them to offset ours, but they'll make a contributory payment for use of City scouting network and coaching expertise and all 5 clubs get better brand exposure as seen by recent cross group Nissan partnership deal, also benefits to be had from intergroup loaning of players.
Hope that explains it mate.