Markhopeful
Posted on 18 Mar 2011, 20:52
Just to make things clear in my response, I am an Arsenal fan, a season ticket holder and I get to a few away games where I can as well so what follows could be very biased.
Top 4 finish consistently not too bad for a team with a strict pay structure and no big name signings for a few years, possibly since Denis God Bergkamp, in fact he probably was the last real big household name to be signed. That reportedly was Arsene Wengers first signing even though Bruce Rioch was the manager he was only taking care of things while Wenger saw out his contract in Japan. The policy at Arsenal is to only offer 1 year extensions to players that hit 30, A solid policy for the club but one that sees most of the older players move on, I cannot recall any of our older players moving on to do much better anywhere else but I don't suppose they can be blamed for wanting longer contracts. Many of the players you listed all left the club and with the exception of Cashley none went anywhere and had a more successful time.
Barcelona offered less money last season for Fabregas, I also think a deal was done last year with Cesc if we won nothing go, I do agree though forward planning we should have had a player ready to step into his boots, I genuinely think Wenger thought he could hang on to him.
The price after Saturday for any player Arsenal are interested in went up millions if and I do mean if because I am not convinced we will sign anyone, we do get in a position to buy the desperate need for players is almost an open invitation to take the piss on prices a situation where the blame lies solely with Arsenal. Nasri has gone today subject to medical which means so far this window Arsenal have sold 7 players for a combined price of 72.5 million, we have bought in 4 players combined price of 23.5 million so 49 million profit and a reported transfer fund of between 40 and 50 million before the window opened. I make that still around 90 to 100 million, so I don't see transfer fees being a problem other than Wengers stubbornness in only paying what he values a player at.
The current situation, Wenger has made the whole thing worse, I was and to a certain degree still am in the "In Wenger We Trust" camp, but my patience has come to an end, I feel this is a make or break season for Arsenal and Arsene no trophies and I think the club will have no choice but to look elsewhere for a new manager or come out and say that the funds have not been available. I believe that Arsenal now have paid off most if not all of the Emirates debt, they make approximately 3 million in gate receipts per game plus whatever gets sold in the shops and food stands, they also have Arsenal Holdings which is a very successful property company that just sold a plot of land near the Emirates to Barrats for 50 million, I really feel that money is not a problem especially as our 2 major share holders are extremely wealthy men. And no I do not want to see them, give the club a blank cheque for players. At the moment the fans are completely disillusioned we will pay 12 million for a 17 year old for the future but will not offer 20 million for Cahil, or Jagielka, that being the case I would love someone to give me the date when "the future starts".
One thing widely reported in the press is the outrage at the season ticket price hike for this year, press reporting 13000 season tickets not renewed fans leaving in droves, Arsenal season ticket highest in the league, all stories that add to the "Club in crisis" headlines everywhere. I doubt anyone was happy with the 6.5% price rise for this season but the official number of tickets not renewed was 2000, the press doesn't take into account that unemployment is rising and spare cash is hard to find for many at the moment, the other thing is Arsenal tickets must be paid in full in June there are no provisions in place to spread the cost over the year. My season ticket which is the cheapest in the stadium costs 989 but we get 26 games on that ticket, all FA Cup and Champions league games are covered (not that we may need them this year) if we only play 23 games we get a refund of 3 games off of next years ticket, if we play more the price is added to next years, so game for game our tickets are cheaper than Man U, Spurs, Chelsea, Man City to name a few QPR put their tickets up over 40% per game this year. Also we only pay 10 per game in the Carling cup. It all reads a little different when the facts are reported unfortunately at the moment the press do not seem interested in facts about Arsenal just where the next headline comes from.
I think I answered everything need to lie down now.
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