I think arsene may be Done

He's not necessarily having a dig at Wenger there (though it's clearly a possibility) but at the club's overall policy.

What happened to the diatribe about how Man City's petrodollars are killing football?

Harry, I was more thinking of there being no way back from this for arsene. Van persie's insane burst of rampaging goal-genius got arsenal a hell of a lot of points last season. They'd be down with liverpool without him.

He's basically saying that he wants to win trophies, and whatever the hell arsene said to him, just didn't convince him. It could be the club's overall policy, or it could have been the words Lukas Podolski.

Would any arsenal fan begrudge him the move? I mean he was an absolute fucking superhero for the club last season. He has two or three top years left, and for a footballer of his ability, he's basically made no money. The squad has crumbled to virtually nothing around him, is it reasonable to expect him to sign a new contract?

Or it could be that it's a very carefully worded statement by a man (or his advisers) who wants to move for Man City money and keep the fans on his side.-(and maybe knock a few million off his price tag, too)

I think Arsenal fans feel that he spent most of the last 8 years on the treatment table and that Wenger was the man who had faith in his ability. This season he came good. Arsenal have offered him a lot more money - but they can't match City'. But of course if it's not happening to Manchester United then it's not a problem for football- it's just an opportunity to gloat.

I wouldn't sell him. One because who is he to dictate when he goes, and second because he's better serving us by staying instead of being sold. We wont spend the money.

So I'd just play him in pretty much every game next year. I don't give a fuck what his knees look like by June.

Van Persie had a brilliant season but it felt like payback for several years of injury and inconsistency. I certainly wouldn't bet on his reproducing it next season - there's a divot somewhere with his name on it to sprain or pull or tear some crucial part of his delicate anatomy.

I don't especially blame him for holding about for a bigger deal, though it mystifies me with anyone on the sort of wages he's on that money would be such an issue, especially given the upheaval and risk involved in moving on - asking for more money seems like asking for more air - but the only footballer I've ever understood is Paul Scholes in this respect.

If anyone's mug enough to pay out a ton of cash for RVP based on last season, given his age and record, I'd say, take it.

I think the problem with the statement is that it means that it's more or less impossible for him to stay and play out his contract - which I guess is why it was issued.

What happened to the diatribe about how Man City's petrodollars are killing football?

I think this one is on arsene. The money is only really a convenient excuse. Even if there wasn't petro dollars, he'd still move. I think there's no way that he wants to spend the rest of his career like boxer, trying to drag that shower into the top four.

Money enters into it to a certain extent, but I think the crucial thing is that at some point around 2005, arsene wenger went from being a very shrewd judge of player, and an excellent transfer market operator, to being really rather bad.

Think about it. Have a look at this team and subs, drawn from the arsenal squad.

----------Fabianski
djourou---squillaci---mertesacker--santos
arshavin---denilson---diaby---gervinho
Chamakh---Bendtner

Subs: Manone, almunia, park, vela, and probably lukas podolski.

Are any of those players really of champions league standard? Should any of them be playing for Arsenal. Would arsenal miss them if they were all to leave tomorrow? These players are all fucking useless to arsenal, they're just not good enough, or reliable enough, or in some cases healthy enough to have a future at the club. And because of arsene's benevolent approach to contracts, they're all earning 40-80k, with an average of say £60k. that's nearly £50 million out of their wage bill for that shite.

The only plausible plan that arsene could have had for next season would have started with putting those sixteen guys on a boat as part of a team building exercise, and sinking it. The insurance money would be far in excess of what you'd get on the open market. There are of course some ethical issues to be steered around in this plan, but arsene has often struck me as a bit jesuitical.

last season spurs shifted 7 players they didn't want, this season they've already shifted 6, 2 are certain to go, and they could wind up getting rid of another 9. They also make mistakes, but they try and move them on, and stop the situation from spiralling. Arsene likes to gather his children around them and keep them for as long as possible. It would have hurt him severely to let denilson go out on loan.

And that leaves you with the players that are fairly decent.

szczesny(22)
Sagna(29)--koscielny(27)--Vermaelen(26)--Gibbs(22)
Wilshire (20)--Song(?)----Arteta(30)
Walcott(23)---Giroud(25)---AOC(19)

Subs: Ramsey(22), frimpong (20), jenkinson (20), Lansbury (21) and erm maybe rosicky.

Even then just look at that team. Half of them are severely injury prone, and many of them would have struggled to get in an arsenal team six or seven years ago. and that squad is thin as all hell.

Arsene used to be really good at this. That team that went the entire league season unbeaten had some very good players. Not many of them were that expensive either. They had two players in each position, and were able to rotate fairly seamlessly. and even that team's version of puny dribbly, Robert pires, was 6'1" and 13 stone.

The only thing I can compare it to is that wenger is effectively a sober clough. Clough was a genius, and achieved miracles, and had teams playing the beautiful game. but he had a long period where it gradually decayed, until it all culminated in selling the top scorer who kept saving the team, and it wound up in relegation.

Now I'm not suggesting that arsenal are actually going to be relegated, I mean, relegated to 8th, which is about as far as a BRC can fall I reckon. I think it's all gone terribly wrong.

I don't especially blame him for holding about for a bigger deal, though it mystifies me with anyone on the sort of wages he's on that money would be such an issue, especially given the upheaval and risk involved in moving on - asking for more money seems like asking for more air - but the only footballer I've ever understood is Paul Scholes in this respect.

He's 'only' on 80k a season. I mean that's what andy carroll earns. Arsenal don't pay their top players very well, Preferring instead to pay everyone 60k. It seems to be the worst of all possible worlds. It means that your best players leave, and you have a bloated wagebill. I thought Arsene was supposed to know about economics?

Flynnie wrote:


Except none of those stances bear any relation to reality.

Rumoured that he's already signed a provisional agreement with Man City- -this statement is obviously about bringing the price down as City won't pay Arsenal's valuation.

But Berba just loves those petrodollars- as long as they fuck arsenal.

wellll....... RVP was largely responsible for arsenal making it to the cl, they only made it by a point. You could argue that if he gets them into the CL next season, his economic value to arsenal will be more than £25 million fee.

Then you have to factor in what arsene is likely to do with that money. His recent track record is not good. Anyway, if they want to make £25 million they could get rid of some of arsene's disasters.


Also Arsenal could raise that money by selling some of their enormous list of useless players.

But Berba just loves those petrodollars- as long as they fuck arsenal.

I think it's ridiculous and obscene that he's moving to man city. I thought that might be obvious. I'm more interested in it from the point of view of Arsenal.

But I think the reason why he's leaving Arsenal is because Man City are allegedly offering him nearly 11 million pounds a year.

Nefertiti2 wrote:


If that is what makes you feel comfortable, Nef.

oh I don't doubt that. I think he has at least two reasons for moving though. I'd prefer if he went to spain. This man city thing is beyond ridiculous now. But I'm also fairly convinced that he wants to win something, and what can arsene offer him over the next couple of years? The whole thing is falling apart horribly. Look at those two teams. Arsenal are a mess.

They don't so much need to be worried about spurs and chelsea, they're now worried about liverpool and newcastle.

Harry Truscott wrote:


Sure it does.

We won't spend the money, haven't for years, and he's legally bound to us for another year. It's an entirely reasonable stance.

Well, even if Arsenal decided not to sell him and give up tens of millions of pounds, you could try and play him every game next year but you'd probably get less than a dozen out of him if he's so inclined.

Actually, if he really wanted to, could he buy himself out of his final year invoking that Andy Webster ruling or did that get closed up?

I think that clubs realized that this would cause total mayhem and made an agreement not to sign any player who did this, therefore cutting it off at source.