18 Jun 2015 22:32:49
I posted this back in April but given the dross the United fans are spouting below, I think it's due a second airing.

Our financial restrictions have been done to death but people from other pages coming on here and having a pop at us for not being competitive are missing the point.

First, we are the most competitive we have been for about a decade - this timeframe is not a coincidence.

Are we competitive enough? Not yet.

Are we happy with that? No, but certainly happier than we have been.

Are we heading in the right direction? Of course we are.

Are we going to be competitive again? Wenger said when he signed his 3-year extension that we would win the title during that term. He also said once that his team could go unbeaten..

Second, under Wenger, we had the best team in the country up to 2004, but by then the new stadium was already under construction and the board knew that sacrifices in forthcoming years would have to be made. One of those sacrifices was to sell virtually one, sometimes two, star players every year and limit inward investment and therefore quality. Our once great side was being diluted on an annual basis yet we still finished in the top four. People can laugh at this achievement as not achieving anything other than mediocrity but look how Spurs, Liverpool, United and possibly City this season have struggled to reach that level. And whereas we achieved it with very limited investment, they all failed with significant investment.

Investment is about limited funds and making choices including infrastructure and players. The decision the club made to build new training facilities and the stadium was to take one step back in the short term to ensure a more positive long term. The club knew it was going to be a prolonged period of hardship but couldn't publicise it because of the impact on ticket sales and attracting players to an uncompetitive club. We didn't win because winners signed for other clubs instead and even our winners left us. But players' careers are short so we can't necessarily blame them.

Wenger agreed to steer the club through those very choppy waters and take the flak. And take it he did. All those battles with Mourinho with one hand tied behind his back must have been very difficult to live with. I don't see any other manager sacrificing his career for the long term good of the club and stay true to the cause while all those on the outside and some on the inside ridiculed him.

That said, I've not always been Wenger's biggest fan but it was impossible to form a fair opinion based on the truth because we didn't know the truth - was he a stubborn git who refused to spend or were the financial constraints more severe than we were being told. With Ozil and Sanchez, we now have our answer.

We have been a club of hope and excuses for 10 years but we will look back on that period and fully appreciate why we had to go through it as well as Wenger's significant role in overseeing it. Let's see how competitive Spurs and Liverpool will be as they make significant changes to their stadiums. I suspect both will fall away to a degree and Wenger's 4th place trophy will be viewed in a new light.

We have now turned a corner and the cycle of failure that CTR talks about, although very valid in the past, is no longer relevant. We can't say we're going to win this, that and the other because the sides around us are all capable and will strengthen this summer too, but things for us have changed and I'm looking forward to seeing us take on Mourinho and the rest on a more equal footing.

No more excuses, no more constraints - our best team against the rest. Then we'll see how good Wenger is or not. I suspect he'll get another contract extension after his current deal expires and people will remember him for his very successful early years, a long period of personal and professional sacrifice, and successful finale.

1.) 19 Jun 2015
18 Jun 2015 23:33:13
That's all wot u THINK is happening though ain't it! None of it is based on anything but a feeling.

My feeling is different. But each to there own.

That post of a wish list of hopes and dreams back then and tbh ain't changed (no matter how well written it is).

*You think, so therefore it's true!*

2.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 01:25:32
Fantastic post.

3.) 19 Jun 2015
18 Jun 2015 23:45:54
Not sure what dross you're talking about but I have to agree about Arsenal's current position. But no more excuses from here on in, as you say.

Tbf we were under major constraints after Ronaldo left, due to the Glazer's leveraged buyout and the debt they put us in - but Saf still managed a few league titles with squads many opposing fans called mediocre or poor. Time for Wenger to step up once and for all.

4.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 01:59:23
Agreeing to disagree CTR now it's so much better that way. And just like the qualifying rounds of the CL the pre season is also the preliminary round of banter

One thing agreed it's looking like a good season ahead

5.) 19 Jun 2015
18 Jun 2015 23:38:24
Barn mate yes yes and again yes they know it aswell pal just doing what United fans do best. Quote the past glories and leave out the bits that involve any other team

It has never been any different

6.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 06:53:25
I agree with both Barn and Honey, the past has seen us under restraint but the time to deliver is now, everything is there money, lessons learned from last summer about going into a season short of of a DM and CB cover and we have a team that is very close to being ready to compete at the very top level but the proof of the pudding is being right in the thick of the title race in May next year, less than that and its failure.
No more reasons or excuses now really is the time for Arsene and the team to be judged one way or the other.

7.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 08:38:49
please remind me,since when did the glazers leveraged buyout stop utd from spending a kings ransome every summer on transfers?,exactly it didn't happen,they have financed big spends and wages every year on year largly financed with the bonds issue,the clock is ticking towards the bonds repayment or non payment and i suspect it won't be long before some Asian cartel owns utd,laugh oh how all we will

8.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 09:27:48
Chris, I don't understand your post.

You have a rigid and repetitive view (one you're fully entitled to even though it's wrong and very long in tooth) that because we have been "failures" in the past, we therefore must be failures in the future.

Despite my post explaining (or educating as you like to term it) the facts (not feelings) surrounding the situation, your belief system is blinding you from very obvious differences between our situation then and now.

You're judging the future on the past whilst completely ignoring the reasons for that past (a lovely new stadium with expensive beer) simply because it doesn't fit your argument. As financial small print will tell us - past performance is not a guide to future performance.

It's a simple case of cause and effect. The stadium investment (the cause) meant less investement in the team and therefore poorer results over a long period (the effect). Back to present day, the sizeable early year stadium payments are behind us and we're now back in the money (the cause) which will enable us to be more competitive (the effect).

This extends to United as well. Ferguson leaving (the cause) resulted in United falling away (the effect). Van Gaal's arrival is another cause and the effect is in process.

It goes further. Our mate Mourinho (who I think is a decent human being under his facade) has created imbalances with his carry on. For every action (a crime, deceit, negative word or deed) there has to be an equal and opposite reaction to bring things back into balance. It's an inescapable universal law that not many people understand. It's for this reason that Mourinho will get his comeuppance and Wenger will have his day.

These aren't feelings, just a clear representation of how stuff works in the real world.

If the top 4-6 have good summer windows, this season could be tighter than a gnat's chuff.

9.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 10:04:13
You are one of the 'many people' that doesn't understand the law that you described. The equal and opposite reaction law only really applies to physics bud, as in - If I press my finger down on the table there is an equal and opposite force pushing back on my finger from the table (otherwise my finger would go through the table). It has nothing to do with what you are talking about which sort of loosely equates to Karma which is a religious theory.

So basically what I'm saying is it's not a 'clear representation of how stuff works in the real world' but it is in fact just 'your feelings'.

10.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 10:29:23
We have gone from Newton to the Dalai Lama. This is a page of such learning.

Now back to the football

11.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 11:12:25
RR, as I said, and you eloquently confirm, it's a law people don't understand.

12.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 12:23:44
Word up, I thought I explained it in perfectly clear terms? Check out our net spend from when Ronaldo was sold for the next few seasons. Keep up!

13.) 19 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 18:04:04
honeybadger.utd,s NET spend since ronaldo departed is a cool 274m. so in other words you are talking complete bol--x

14.) 20 Jun 2015
19 Jun 2015 23:20:46
Oh dear you can't read, I held Arsenal fans in much higher esteem until I met you!

Do you understand the phrase "next few seasons"?

Our net spend was shocking for at least 3/4 seasons from the Ronaldo sale yet we still won titles get it?

I love that Arsenal had so many valid reasons for failure but you can't see the same elsewhere.

Keep living in that bubble, word up.


Anyway...all excuse aside...we won titles and you won nothing in the same period. Perhaps that puts it in simpler terms?

15.) 20 Jun 2015
20 Jun 2015 01:09:01
So, to clarify Mr.Badger, you won titles, we won nothing. Help me out, how much have you spent in the last 2 seasons. Must've won heaps then? Congratulations on qualifying for the UCL, massivee effort coming from so far back!

16.) 20 Jun 2015
20 Jun 2015 09:54:37
We've spent loads and achieved little in the last 2 seasons, does it make you happy to hear me admit that? Good I'm glad

We were talking above about the excuses for Arsenal's baron spell and the fact that saf managed to win titles under restrictions whilst Wenger only managed the '4th placed trophy' which some of you seem delighted with

Nice try in derailing the subject though 😊

17.) 20 Jun 2015
20 Jun 2015 10:15:46
badger, judging from your photo one would think you could split the atom wearing ONLY those spectacles,so its OBVIOUSLY not your eyesight which is the problem,maybe if i use caps, SINCE RONALDO LEFT 5 YEARS AGO UNTIL THE PRESENT MANU HAS SPENT 364M GROSS 274M NET ON TRANSFERS, as i have already deduced your eyesight is fine,therefore my conclusion is, you just talk complete boll-x mate

18.) 20 Jun 2015
20 Jun 2015 11:07:19
Oh dear the caps lock is out! Now I'm in trouble.

When I can be bothered I'll get the stats to support my argument if you care that much lol.