No wonder Wenger doesn't like spending big money these days

Originally Posted by Whalefish

How long is that excuse going to be trotted out though? He has the money - they have a lot of money should he choose to spend it - but he hasn't. Why?

He has money? thats the point...

I suspect that if wenger goes and new manager starts asking board to spend money, the board will say they don't have..

In a recent interview, wenger said the debts have to be serviced and he doesn't have money.

Unless you choose to believe what the papers say about their £70m warchest...

You really think that in even 20-30 years time anyone will look back and give a shit about Wenger's net spend on transfers? In that case, I suppose your managerial heroes are the likes of Osvaldo Bagnoli, Vujadin Boskov, Javier Clemente and Javier Irueta?

Obviously nobody but Wenger can know for certain his motivation for the route he has taken, but it certainly appears as if he doesn't want to spend money because he's scared of the extra pressure that doing so would bring. In my opinion, if he had half of Fergie's balls and drive he'd be doing everything he can to try and win trophies, either by utilising some of the (apparently) significant resources available to him at Arsenal or at one of the big clubs that he could quite easily have gone to.

Originally Posted by keano's love

Unless you choose to believe what the papers say about their £70m warchest...

That's quite funny. You choose not to believe that, but used an article in a rag which claimed Wes wanted 60k a week as a means to have a pop at him.

I haven't seen the article which claims he has a warchest, nor do I care much about it. Wenger has money to spend, he just doesn't choose to spend it.

Serenity - spot on.

Thats quite funny whaley. Gill comes out and publicly says we have money to spend and you say we don't have a pot to piss in. Arsenal come out and say they don't have money, you say they have plenty.

I sense a man who will see what he only wants. A bit like wenger.

Originally Posted by Serenity Now

Obviously nobody but Wenger can know for certain his motivation for the route he has taken, but it certainly appears as if he doesn't want to spend money because he's scared of the extra pressure that doing so would bring. In my opinion, if he had half of Fergie's balls and drive he'd be doing everything he can to try and win trophies, either by utilising some of the (apparently) significant resources available to him at Arsenal or at one of the big clubs that he could quite easily have gone to.

In my opinion, if fergie had balls, we would have more EC's and he wouldn't be here working under glazers.

Originally Posted by keano's love

Thats quite funny whaley. Gill comes out and publicly says we have money to spend and you say we don't have a pot to piss in. Arsenal come out and say they don't have money, you say they have plenty.

I sense a man who will see what he only wants. A bit like wenger.

Not really, I keep saying we have committed an awful lot in structured deals which will inevitably affect any future business. There's a difference. It's likely we'll be spending again this Summer but there's still £56million outstanding on other deals, it doesn't grow on trees. And not every club we do business with will be as accomadating in how they receive their money like Porto and Lisbon were.

Gill can say what he wants publicly, especially with season ticket renewals on the horizaon. If you believe everything that he says then I'll just leave it there. He's a whole can of worms and has done more than enough for any Utd fan to question his sincerity. I don't trust him, simple as that.

Please remind me how many European Cups Saint Arsene of Strasbourg has won again?

Oh and guess what, the whole playing with kids thing. It's been done. Much more successfully too. And these were actually lads from our youth system, not well renowned players poached from Barcelona at 16 due to an international legal discrepancy. Or was that a bit before your time?

And do you really think Fergie would still be in a job if he had tried that and not won a trophy for three years, with no league title in four? At the very least, I don't think he'd have been getting much love from the press.

Originally Posted by Whalefish

We may as well keep mentioning the £1million spent on Eric, the fee for the Dane.

Er, we do.

At least I do

Originally Posted by Zorg

Er, we do.

At least I do

Do you?

One more thing, if you want to talk about succeeding with small resources, how about breaking the Old Firm's stranglehold on Scottish football with mighty Aberdeen? Oh and then the small matter of getting to a European final and beating Real Madrid.

First of all this was not a comparison of Ferguson and Wenger, as I have already said Wenger will never win as many trophies as Ferguson, even probably as much as mourinho and benitez.

But knocking without any base will make you look a bit foolish. Like £10m on reyes...

Originally Posted by Whalefish

Do you?

yeah

I mean if the subject of great football buys comes up down the pub I can't resist mentioning those two. I'll still be doing it in 40 years probably whilst everyone's going

Wenger is becoming a bit of a bottle job for me, he has money plenty of it but at the moment when they win £#%&! all he can hide behind "Well ive spent 45p and all my players are 6 years old" imagine if they had capitulated this bad in the title race and dumped out of Europe in the quarters after spending 45 mill, it would forever shatter the myth of Wenger.

Im getting sick and £#%&!ing tired of the "Ooooh ooh he bought Henry and Vieria", yes both were £#%&!ing internationals at the time though, oh yes and it was 11 years ago. He has bought Richard Wright, Jeffers (Big Money), Stepanovs, Grimandi, Reyes (big money), Wiltord (big money), and plenty of "Potential superstars" have been poached form the youth theams of various clubs (Owusu-Obaye anyone). How many players has he spotted at the age of 10-11 years old and coached into talents......none.

And why oh why does he always come out with this tired %@#$&!s of "Well we were going to buy Ronaldo/Nani/Vidic but we were priced out" no you weren't you lying @#%&! you just weren't willing to risk your rep again on a young player that you paid for rather than poached.

What annoys me about the whole Wenger love in is that he has never even produced his own winning team, every successful Arsenal side he has managed contained significant input from players who were already at the club before his arrival. When it has come to time to be successful after those players have retired or moved on, he has achieved £#%&! all.

His best ever team, the 2004 'untouchables' contained Keown and Bergkamp who both made telling contributions that season. Even Vieira was signed before Wenger's arrival (although there are claims that he ordered the signing)

That was his last championship and really, the last trophy they won, as they £#%&!ing stole the FA Cup in '05.

All of his success was built on the defensive players that were there when he arrived and he has never successfully replaced any of them.

Yes, they play the game the right way, but so did Westam when 'Arry was there, on even less of a budget.

Originally Posted by dunk

What annoys me about the whole Wenger love in is that he has never even produced his own winning team, every successful Arsenal side he has managed contained significant input from players who were already at the club before his arrival. When it has come to time to be successful after those players have retired or moved on, he has achieved £#%&! all.

His best ever team, the 2004 'untouchables' contained Keown and Bergkamp who both made telling contributions that season. Even Vieira was signed before Wenger's arrival (although there are claims that he ordered the signing)

That was his last championship and really, the last trophy they won, as they £#%&!ing stole the FA Cup in '05.

All of his success was built on the defensive players that were there when he arrived and he has never successfully replaced any of them.

Yes, they play the game the right way, but so did Westam when 'Arry was there, on even less of a budget.

No, they invented it.

Our team in the early 90's with Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona, Sharpe etc were long ball merchants.If Arsene hadn't have come along and pointed Ferguson in the right direction, we'd still be playing shit football.

Originally Posted by magic_cantona

No, they invented it.

Our team in the early 90's with Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona, Sharpe etc were long ball merchants.If Arsene hadn't have come along and pointed Ferguson in the right direction, we'd still be playing shit football.

I was trying to undermine Arsenals part in the invention of pure football, do you mind...


:shakehead:

Don't even get me started in that myth and their @#%&!ing fans that shout "ooofff" whenever someone plays a long pass. Short memory @#%&!s.
Incidntally what is playing the game the right way? Late tackles? (Eduardo) Snide elbows (VAn Persie), Gonad stamping (Eboue) diving (Eboue) being a @#%&! (Eboue) sulking (Gallas) waiting until rooney leaves the field before bulllying and kicking younger players (Gallas) Sulking (Gallas) being an Uber @#%&! (Gallas)

Originally Posted by keano's love

But given what he had to work with and resources, I am bloody sure he has "exceeded" expectations. Their own and medias.

That's the point though. His resources are vast.

Originally Posted by keano's love

But knocking without any base will make you look a bit foolish. Like £10m on reyes...

Whatever he spent on Reyes (don't know why your speculation is any more accurate than anyone else's) it was a shit signing and possibly the reason Wenger hasn't got the balls to spend big on players these days. He took a major risk on a player who really didn't stand a chance of adapting off the field.

But anyway, Wenger used to spend a fair bit (maybe not quite as much as Fergie) and Arsenal were a good side and won trophies because of it. In recent years he's stopped spending, the trophies have dried up but his reputation for achieving success on limited funds remains the same. I think that's what people have a problem with. Serenity is spot on when he says you'll hear more criticism of Wenger talking to an Arsenal fan that reading the press.

After sundays match the view I got from Arsenal fans was that if they do have 70mill and Wenger doesn't want to spend it then he just £#%&! off and let someone else come in and spend it.