Penalty Shoot-Out Alert

Youā€™ve mentioned wages and transfer fees there again, can you throw up figures for the top 4 over the last ā€˜8 years, or whateverā€™ ?

Arsenalā€™s wage bill is reported to be over Ā£134 million per annum and they have spent over Ā£97 million on playersin the last two seasons.

Hardly eking out a living.

[quote=ā€œSandymount Red, post: 608448ā€]Arsenalā€™s wage bill is reported to be over Ā£134 million per annum and they have spent over Ā£97 million on playersin the last two seasons.

Hardly eking out a living.[/quote]

And yet itā€™s lower than the teams who finished above them.

Sandymount Red is right.

If it was all about money, then clubs would finish in order of how much money they have every season in every competition.

Arsenal had the benefit of a strong starting base prior to these other clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City suddenly having access to a level of funds in excess of them and the ease with which theyā€™ve been overtaken has been quite alarming.

They also still have enough money themselves to be much more competitive than they are currently and the board and management are consistently on record stating how thereā€™s significant funds available.

How much more do they have to drift before theyā€™ll strengthen appropriately? Another issue is that, even though they could do with signing more players, a large portion of those they have signed in recent years havenā€™t been of the requisite standard - Gervinho, Santos, Chamakh to name a few.

The failure to utilise available funds and the signing of flops is the managerā€™s fault. So too is their lack of fight in more and more games in recent seasons - they turned up at Old Trafford to get tickled a while ago for example.

Just for symmetry alone, Arsene Wenger, Arsenal Manager, should always be so.

Wenger is the fifth highest paid manager in the world yet moans about how Arsenal are restricted financially and canā€™t compete with clubs who have managers that are paid about half of what he is.

[quote=ā€œBandage, post: 608450ā€]Sandymount Red is right.

If it was all about money, then clubs would finish in order of how much money they have every season in every competition.

[/quote]

Is this not exactly what happens give or take one or two exceptions?

In most leagues anyway

:rolleyes:

Go sit in the corner, short pants.

This is exactly the case. There has to be a spending cap or salary cap. Teams just ā€œbuyā€ the league now. What chance have Nottingham Forest or Club Brugge ever got of winning European trophies againā€¦

:lol: :lol:

Thereā€™s plenty of exceptions. Take Real Madrid winning La Liga last season despite Barcelonaā€™s Qatari billions, for example.

Sligo Rovers, Nordsjaelland, Montpellier, Dortmund etc. Europe is littered with clubs that have won their titles despite not spending as much as their rivals.

[quote=ā€œBandage, post: 608458ā€]

Thereā€™s plenty of exceptions. Take Real Madrid winning La Liga last season despite Barcelonaā€™s Qatari billions, for example.[/quote]

Were you only joking with your first post? Genuinely thought there was a book written on this and it more correlated to wages than transfers

No, wasnā€™t joking at all. The ā€œothers have more money so 4th is acceptableā€ argument sickens my hole.

Iā€™m almost certain there was a study done or a book written which proved categorically that money spent on wages in the American sports and the major soccer leagues almost exactly equated to the success they though. If TASE and the lads keep rolleying me I might just bother my hole to search it out and make complete cunts of them.
In general Arsenal probably do punch slightly above or at least level with their weight to be fair. That record of reaching the knock out stages of the champions league is impressive enough too. By the law of averages Wenger should have won at least one trophy in recent years though I suppose.

Money or no Money, Arsenal are losing matches the same way and are weak in same areas for nearly 8 years at this stageā€¦thats not progressionā€¦

+1 the odds are against us so letā€™s give up mentality sickens me. A lot of so called Irish followers were putting forward the same type of argument in the aftermath of the Euros to justify the worth of Trap and Delaney

Iā€™d agree with thatā€¦ Arsenal are ranked 20th out of the current premier league teams for net spend over the last ten years, lower than Southampton, Norwich etc, yet consistantly make the champions league and in turn the knock out stages of the comp every year. Thereā€™s no one crying about ā€˜oh, theyā€™ve got more money than usā€™ (Rich coming from a Celtic supporter in a one horse league) here ā€¦ Just pointing out the fantastic job that Arsne has done in running the club as a whole, and highlighting that others donā€™t have that worry, or regard for their respective clubs. They should have won a few more trophies alright, and their current plight is a worry, but if he is to be judged as a whole he has done a outstanding job at Arsenal, and while change is always inevitable, it will be very hard to replicate the consistency of Wenger without throwing relentless amounts of cash at the club. Arsne is a visionary and a pioneer and it will be a sad day for the league when he leaves.

Strange to bring Celtic into the debate but their magnificent achievement in overcoming Qatari billions and Russian oligarch millions in recent Champions League games should serve as motivation for Arsenal to not roll over and be tickled when playing richer teams.

Net spend. :lol: Eh, yeah, youā€™ll have very impressive figures if you sell your best players, hoard a large chunk of the cash and spend a lot of the reminder on shit players. Thatā€™s what many Arsenal supporters are sickened about but youā€™ll get a few who celebrate excellent liquidity ratios and enjoy them more than trophies.