10 Jun 2013 11:30:07
Firstly may I just say Ed you are hilarious the way you reveal the schizo posters replying to their own posts. Please keep it up! Also, just wanted to talk about the post regarding Gazidis revealing the finances to put pressure on Wenger etc.

May I first just say that I do not swear by Le Grove in any way, I just like hearing what Pedro has to say and then reading around the things he has discussed and forming my own take. What I will say is a lot of things make sense though, especially when it comes to this.

He has made it pretty clear he feels the board, in particular Gazidis, have been strengthening their position with regards to Wenger who has had absolute power the entire time. Now, there has been a need to be careful in the transfer market, true. But do not be fooled into thinking Wenger has been anywhere NEAR as restricted as HE would have you believe. Could we pay £35m for Javi Martinez last summer? No. But could we have bought Wanyama, another striker and a GK? Absolutely. Even now, rumours are surfacing of deals we had no clue about falling through. Regardless, how many of you thought it was very strange that we signed The Ox for around £12m when we had 'no money' but we wouldn't spend money on players ready to jump straight in, for less, e. g. wing backs/wingers/DM/GK?
For me, that stank. It didn't seem like the deal made by a man who had no financial freedom. I remember at that time, because we all loved Wenger at one point, some of us even went as far as saying the board has stitched Wenger up by refusing to sanction deals but then throwing a curve ball with the Ox deal to 'make it look like Wenger' - nonsense. It is Wenger.

The info has been there all along. The money has been there. The accounts have shown the cash. Gazidis has never hidden from that. He has made it very clear Wenger is in control and he and the board TRUST Wenger to do what is right for the club. And then you have Wenger saying 'I could afford any player if I wanted' etc etc. Yet still we were determined to believe Wenger had no money.

We all know Gazidis doesn't really have a clue when it comes to footballers. But I cannot be the only one who feels he tries to hide this by showing adulation for Wenger? His recent interview stank of this to me. And it's fine - if he doesn't know about footballers then so be it. But I do not believe that his desire to not answer questions about transfers, and his desire to leave everything to Wenger, is borne purely out of respect, because it isn't. He doesn't know what he's doing and Wenger does, simple.

Money has been there for a while, now even more so, and Gazidis is sick to death of doing interviews where he is asked why we don't spend when money is there. He has to cover his arse saying 'we trust Arsene will do what is right for the club' and it's fair to an extent. But we all know Wenger has his own agendas in the market - he hates paying more than what HE feels is the value. It's crazy in big business. He is also not so stupid to understand the value of the players and the club will increase with success on the field.

So yeah, I do believe he's covered his behind. And fairly as well. Imagine the atmosphere at the Emirates if we don't do well in the market. Who is that going to fall on? Not Wenger, because people don't want to believe that Wenger has money, or is willing to pay what it takes to land a player. So it'll be the board brought into question, and they aren't like Levy who openly talks about his players, their value etc. Arsene still lives in a bubble where players are only good enough if they're cheap enough.

Yes, I believe there have been some restrictions. I do not and never have believed those restrictions have meant to the extent we have seen. This has been made clearer by the many questionable transfers, the clear lack of knowledge of modern footballers at board level, and the constant reminders that we can afford to survive without CL football.

Honestly, I am buzzing Gazidis gave that interview. He has put immense pressure on Wenger to deliver this summer and imo it's 3 years late but better late than never. There is no hiding now. If we want Rooney, we can do it. We can do Rooney and a whole bunch of others. If Cesc goes to United, it's down to Wenger. It was Wenger who got the buy-back option, so why would he do that if all it would mean is he'd pass up the opportunity to buy Cesc back for less than we sold him? That clause makes no sense. So if Cesc goes elsewhere, that is on Wenger too.

I am sorry for the long post, it will look horrendous on your phones - but this is an awesome topic and it's the only thing that has given me real hope that big things could happen this summer. Wenger has to deliver, simple as that. If that fans don't feel like our team can challenge come the first day of the season, in particular considering the managerial merry-go-round, then that will be the last straw for Wenger.

1.) 10 Jun 2013
That's is so true? Fans will not be happy with avarage players!Wenger needs to deliver this year

2.) 10 Jun 2013
Why in the world will a manager deliberately do what will definitely make him a loser?

3.) 10 Jun 2013
10 Jun 2013 17:40:47
So you agree with me. km

4.) 10 Jun 2013
Why? Principles. Lack of accountability. etc.

5.) 10 Jun 2013
10 Jun 2013 19:46:00
No one is saying he wants to be a loser. History tells you the two most expensive player he has signed are Arsharvin and Wiltord. He ruined Arshavin by playing him on the wide left which requires him to track back to cover his left back. Arshavin was a number 10 who played between the midfield and forward. He is doing the same thing to Podolski, whos rightful position is play to the left of the main striker. He is not a left sided midfielder or winger. Podolski is not used to tracking back and defending. Conversely on the plus side Petit was a defender who had never played as a central defensive midfielder, but it was a great move on Wengers part. The same thing with Henry, who never played as a forward before. even if he retained his wide position. My point is spending vast sums of money doesn't guarantee success. Torres is a good example. In wengers case, the bigger the transfer fee, the greater the expectation. My last point is Arsene Wengers signing in the early days. Viera was already scouted and brought by Milian. Pires at Metz before Marseille. And TT Henry Juventus from Monaco, even though Wenger was his coach in the South of France. KM

6.) 10 Jun 2013
I think that's extremely harsh on Ivan

I see the issues as we have no director of football (transfer/contract guy) no this is not Ivan's job, Ivan is simply the chief excutive I read that as he is in charge of running the buisness he will overlook transfer but not get involved in them.

This stems back to the Dein era it's obvious Dein took on them responsibilities on and transfers and contracts were handled smoothly, since he left well we all know how that went

Is it Wenger has taken on too much? Is it the board has not supported Wenger and got rid of that role?

If you love arsenal you can not be happy where we are as a club currently and I fail to believe board members at arsenal who have been there years would just welcome Wengers vision at the cost of the club? I don't think so

My Personal take is that arsenal had a buisness strategy when moving to the emirates to make a net profit for the next 8 or so years until income revenue changed, now they have changed (or changing) I believe the strategy will follow suit, allowing us to be more adventurist is the market

Dan dan

7.) 10 Jun 2013
Hey Metal, think you're wrong but this transfer window we actually find out eh? How about a tenner that we break our transfer record twice.

Hackney Gooner

8.) 11 Jun 2013
I'm an Arsenal fan, I am happy where we are, and very positive for the future. Don't speak for me. Thank you.