Landscapes have changed, but this hasn’t affected United who have still been the dominant force in English football during this time. The fact is for the most part Ferguson was able to keep his team together - he spent money (some of it not so wisely) and kept his star players for as long as viably possible. This was due to the point that there was ambition at this club, I’m not certain of the comment I am about to make but United were arguably more highly leveraged when the Glazers took control of the club but it did not stop them showing ambition in the transfer market.
Wenger on the other hand was happy to embrace a transfer strategy which saw them lose their best players and replace them with inferior ones all in the name of profit, would you like your manager to accept this, would you like the manager of your club to himself receive a hefty payrise and lower objectives to carry this out? In my opinion, Wenger is a sell out and the Arsenal fans are naive as fuck to still adore the guy who has agreed to downsize the club for his own gain. Football to me is a results game and Wenger is the third highest paid manager in Europe - I would be expecting success in line with his salary and I would be furious as an Arsenal fan to have a manager happy to take that salary home for what he has delivered in the past 9 years.
[QUOTE=“Il Bomber Destro, post: 946886, member: 2533”]Landscapes have changed, but this hasn’t affected United who have still been the dominant force in English football during this time. The fact is for the most part Ferguson was able to keep his team together - he spent money (some of it not so wisely) and kept his star players for as long as viably possible. This was due to the point that there was ambition at this club, I’m not certain of the comment I am about to make but United were arguably more highly leveraged when the Glazers took control of the club but it did not stop them showing ambition in the transfer market.
Wenger on the other hand was happy to embrace a transfer strategy which saw them lose their best players and replace them with inferior ones all in the name of profit, would you like your manager to accept this, would you like the manager of your club to himself receive a hefty payrise and lower objectives to carry this out? In my opinion, Wenger is a sell out and the Arsenal fans are naive as fuck to still adore the guy who has agreed to downsize the club for his own gain. Football to me is a results game and Wenger is the third highest paid manager in Europe - I would be expecting success in line with his salary and I would be furious as an Arsenal fan to have a manager happy to take that salary home for what he has delivered in the past 9 years.[/QUOTE]
I agree with parts of that and not others.
Ferguson undoubtedly did a better job at keeping United at the forefront of the English and European game. He was helped by having a larger profile club with much greater revenue and they had some “first-mover advantages” in international markets to sustain that revenue.
United virtually handed over their club to one man. That worked very well for them, though they’re seeing some of the problems now and in many respects they’re lucky it all didn’t fall apart much sooner.
Whether Wenger embraced the transfer strategy or didn’t fight it enough or just accepted his fate or whatever is hard to know. I don’t think he’s unreservedly adored and much of that is for the reasons you are suggesting - was he too accepting of the promotion of stability over speculation? But that doesn’t make him a sell out. These sorts of situation are fairly unique to England. Wenger is a coach first and foremost. In any other country in the world he’d be considered a coach and would be largely immune to criticisms about the transfer strategy. And the English media would be sneering at these silly directors of football who undermine managers. And Wenger has chosen the role of manager and has been fairly vocal (I think) about not believing in the continental model either. Which means he does get flak for their lack of improvement.
I would certainly agree that their transfer strategy has been too conservative and they have tried to rely on too small a group of elite players. Wenger is neither solely culpable for that, nor is he immune from it. As a coach I think he’s been more good than bad, and he’s delivering a level of consistency at the top of the English game that there are only a handful of people could achieve.
[QUOTE=“farmerinthecity, post: 946762, member: 24”]Of course it does. They capitulated against title opponents.
And they did it again with a 6-0 defeat against Chelsea.
Yes they won the cup that Wigan won last year, and they got into the Champions League mainly relying on Everton messing up.
If true fans are happy with that, then go nuts.[/QUOTE]
Arsenal got into the Champions League because Everton fucked up? What a ridiculous statement. They finished 7 points ahead of Everton (8 points if you include goal difference)!! Arsenal were out of the top four for probably two games max. from September onwards.
[QUOTE=“briantinnion, post: 946916, member: 6”]Arsenal got into the Champions League because Everton fucked up? What a ridiculous statement. They finished 7 points ahead of Everton (8 points if you include goal difference)!! Arsenal were out of the top four for probably two games max. from September onwards.
Can’t believe I just had lunch with this cunt[/QUOTE]
When Everton beat Arsenal, they went 4 points clear of them (it could have been 1 clear with a game in hand). That was around 5 games from the end of the season.
Everton then shat themselves losing to Crystal Palace and Southampton.
I alluded to the relative contentment of the season ticket holders. People here are ignoring the pleasing quality of football that they play under wenger. The fact that they have been invariably one of the best teams to watch over the past ten years has kept the supporters reasonably happy, which has made it easier for the board to keep a fairly tight rein on the finances. This is a big positive aspect of his management.
I no longer find their football to be pleasing, they have turned into a Barcelona light, flooding the field with midfield players who seem intent on trying to pass the ball into the net.
