Despite Arsenal appearing to want to make it as difficult as possible to get there, something inside me makes it hard for me to believe we won't make it. And that something inside me is certainly not wind.
Perhaps its the season when we needed a Lasagna to make it happen gives me belief. We seemed dead and buried then but the football Gods smiled on us that day at Highbury.
That said there is a tiny voice, maybe a reality check, that keeps whispering in my ear that we won't finish in the top four. The first time under Arsene Wenger.
Now I have told this little voice to jog on but it won't go away. It keeps lurking there like someone watching you play on the fruit machine, waiting for you to spend your money, and then pouncing to win the jackpot.
That said, maybe the voice has a point. Maybe this is the season that we don't make the top four and, unless we win the Champions League, we won't be playing with the cream of Europe next year.
Can you take that? Can you take not hearing the chorus of the Champions League song booming round the Emirates next season?
Like Syrup of ipecac not having Champions League football at Arsenal would be hard to stomach. The thought of it makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
As much I hate to say it, I have to concede, we might not make it. The reality is that its a real possibility we won't be there at the moment.
I think that Arsenal and, at times, Gooners have come to take the Champions League for granted. Season after season we have been involved with Europe's elite competition.
You never know what you've got until its gone is a very true saying. Perhaps it may ring true with figures at the club and will get things moving.
People say Robin van Persie will leave if Arsenal aren't involved. I don't think that is the case. If Arsenal show a summer of intent, then I believe he will sign a new contract.
Arsenal will have to show intent this summer regardless of whether we make the Champions League or not.
People are beginning to question the ambitions of the club and for a long time many Gooners have become unhappy at what direction the club wants to take.
Not being in the Champions League will not appease the money men at Arsenal but perhaps they need a kick up the backside for them to actually do something.
These days it becoming harder than one of Pele's erections after taking Viagra to compete unless you are spending money.
Despite what many say, Arsene Wenger has performed miracles with the funds available to him. To continuously qualify for the Champions League year after year is amazing. But not enough to some and I understand that.
Arsenal are a big club and sometimes a reality check is needed to remind them of that fact. The board have come to rely on Wenger to spend very little but achieve big things.
The problem is the boards idea of big things and many Gooners are totally different. Just competing for 4th place isn't enough for the fans of the club.
If it happens, finishing outside of the top four might seem like the end of the world at first. But maybe it could have a positive effect in a weird way.
Of course we would get slaughtered for not making it but maybe, just maybe the board and even perhaps Wenger, will wake up and start to act like a big club with ambition again.
Follow me on Twitter @_Wrighty7
Keep It Goonerish...........
34 comments:
awesome post as always need more positive fans like u around
Your the biggest AKB out there, you still waiting on wenger to sort it out. Give me a break, can't you SEE where the clubs heading? Wenger out and no ambition board, how's that for steps.
Exactly what suggests to you that Wenger and the board will wake up???I am asking because i am intrigued why so many bloggers keep dreaming about him doing this and that instead of actually listen to what he is saying.He havnt changed one iota in 15 seasons do you really expect him to do something differently when he think he is 100 percent right???
The thing is though, people only see making big money signings as showing intent or ambition. It seems to me that most people can't see that the only way to compete with those of the bottomless pockets is the way we ARE doing it, we just need to do it better. I'd rather spend 3m on a Joel Campbell now and have a quality striker in 3 years than blow 20m on Bent and be left with an average striker for all that time.
All that being said, we need some investment in the summer, Arshavin and Cesc still need to be replaced and an experienced back-up striker is needed, Chamakh with goals, essentially. Going out of the CL will change nothing except we'd need more money to persuade the guys we want to come here, going out isn't a disaster but it's pretty fricking bad unless a few more of our youngsters step up to the plate (i'm looking at Afobe/Henderson/Ozyakup/Lansbury as potentials).
If by taking a step back you mean sacking Wenger then i'm all for it. Does anyone here honestly think he'll win another medal again? The only thing that matters to him is getting 4th place.
Typical 'Wrighty7 hasnt got a clue about football post'
Please name me how many clubs spend more than us when you combine WAGES and transfers, then qualify this statement:
"Despite what many say, Arsene Wenger has performed miracles with the funds available to him"
If there are more than 4 clubs who spend more on transfers AND WAGES then Wenger performd miracles otherwise he just about does his job.
So let me give you a clue Wrighty cause you dont have one:
We have spent far more than Spurs on wages and transfers. City, United and Chelsea are the only clubs to spend more on both combined:
City since the Arab came so before that it would have been a disgrace to finish below 3rd, which we did.
Chelsea since Roman came so before that it would have been a disgrace to finish below 2nd, which we didnt.
And United have always outspent us when both are combined.
Right now your 'miracle worker' is struggling to keep up with a Newcastle team that cost less than AA and the OX.
Fucking hate bloggers that talk sutter shit.
BnT
Anon 17.47, what makes you think he's focused on 4th? With the current squad he can't be aiming that high. Chortle chortle. Totally in agreement with you that to win anything he has to go.
Wrighty mate
*Arsenal will have to show intent this summer*how many summers do You need !!get over it already,accept the fact that we are no longer a top club,even Your ambitions..fourth...what club do You really support,do You even know Yourself ??..
i see The Arsenal have invested in a new Carlsberg suite..WOW !!..great..money money money..thats Our only ambition...and hey i almost forgot ..selling Our best players...make some nice cash..!
top team..HAHAHAHA..! kich that B'Astard kroenke and the slick lying (N)azidis out !!! NOW!!!
BnT
Agreed with all that. Another way of looking at it is that we are 1st in ticket prices watching a team that deserves its current 7th position. It's not my definition of a miracle.
BnT, give it a rest mate,
http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2011/08/12/arsenals-net-spending-of-48m-in-a-decade-puts-them-9th-in-premier-league-120802/
Have a look will you?!
hahahah! oh, you were serious about RvP staying if we miss out on 4th spot? He will be 29 and will want to win something in his career and he realizes that his next contract will be his last chance to win in a major league. He will leave to win somewhere else and not for money. He isn't stupid - he can see the quality of the squad and the shortcomings of the manager. Look at his reaction to wenger's substitution last week.
I want him to stay but wont be mad at him if he leaves. I would love for wenger and the board to wake up and be successful but it just wont happen and we need a change. Think about it - we keep making the same mistakes and we have the same excuses season after season.
I honestly think Wenger is hell bent on winning something with his youth project so he can tell the world he was right. He fails to accept defeat. He is also scared of spending on quality (not crazy spending but just addressing our needs) because he will then have no excuse for failing.
Finally, to the arsenal board, its all well and good having a well run financially stable club but stop raising ticket prices because we already pay the most in the world! Measuring the success of the team by the amount of cash we have in dangerous because what will happen when we miss out on the champs league for more than 1 season? What happens when we negotiate new commercial deals for our shirt and stadium and instead of getting a huge deal we get a crappy deal because we are no longer a champs league team and no longer have star players that companies like to be associated with? What happens when fans stop buying shirts when our top players have left and stop buying tickets?
When wenger came to the club, we had 38-39k people watch us play at home. If we are not careful he will leave with the same number of people watching us.
Need to sell:
Bendtner, Denilson, Djourou, Gibbs if he keeps on getting injured, Diaby, Rosicky, Theo, Park, Chamackh, Arshavin.
Im not someone that says we need to spend big but think if we had got mata (for much cheaper than chelsea) and parker last season. We need a stronger squad that can come into the team and do a good job. This will allow us to rotate players so they don't play in the red at the end of the season (when we always fall flat season after season) and end up injured.
We are in a cycle people - this will keep on happening. Only difference now is that our world class players are leaving so next year we wont have RvP or cesc to bail us out.
Wrighty7, the article you've linked is talking about transfer spend. BnT is talking about total spend including wages. The scandal at Arsenal is the huge amounts we have thrown at mediocre players. Diaby 60k, Bendtner 52k, the list goes on. We can't afford to bring anyone decent in because of the high wages we are paying to keep people on the bench. Or in B52's case, Sunderland's bench.
Jed,
I understand that mate,
But do you really think our wage bill adds up to Spurs transfer fee spending?!
I like your optimism about securing fourth place but looking at our over all form this season it's not looking likely.
"Despite what many say, Arsene
Wenger has performed miracles with the funds available to him."
One of the biggest problems with AFC is that no one seems to know just what funds have been available...so this is an Arsenal myth. This mushroom approach with the fans of 'keep them in the dark & feed them Sh1t', is comming back to bite Wenger & the Board on the arse just when they need the fans total support.
Finishing outside of the top 4 hasn't been a problem for Liverpool but the lack of transparency & seeming total lack of regard for the fans (& star players)at AFC is likely to mean that a similar position at the end of this season will have a very different result for Arsenal.
No Champions League football is likely to mean no Van Persie & a well below capacity Emirates.
I also never giving up on arsenal challenging for the top 4 post. But well, looking at the big picture at the moment, we might struggle to reach the top 4 spot at the end of the season if we are playing like these.
Our defensive problem had been solve for these season, its not completely solve but its better compare to last term. I have more confidence with the current back 4 couple with our keeper.
One part that had been weakening is the mid and attacker. There is no creativity at all at the midfield. The attacker looks dull without the touch of van persie. We need a creative midfield and a clinical attacker to play with rvp, but seems the old wenger will not solve the problem yet again.
"To continuously qualify for the Champions League year after year is amazing."
No it's not. With that wage bill and those ticket prices it's a basic expectation.
Finishing outside the top 4 will not wake anyone up at the club. Wenger has told us many times his 'values are forever'. Nothing will make him change, not within a game, not from season to season. The club will simply sell RVP to make up the CL money deficit and carry on as a profit making midtable club. This is what all of Kroenke's other sporting franchises are.
Wrighty - "But do you really think our wage bill adds up to Spurs transfer fee spending?!"
Yes! Compare the last 10 years and we I would guess that we have outspent spurs when you include wages. Don't forget that 2 seasons ago we spent 50million plus more than spurs on wages. No that has prob narrowed in the last couple seasons but what about the preceeding years?
Nobody is arguing that we should spend crazy amounts of money because it is not sustainable but to say we make money from transfers while ignoring our wages doesn't make sense. We are told there is a strict wage structure in place and some potential signings wont happen because of it but when we spend over 110 million per year on wages I think fans have a right be be upset considering our squad is weak and we have the highest ticket prices in the world.
All we are saying is that players should be paid for their value which means varying wages in the club not having 15 players with the same salary which makes is difficult to unload players like bendtner and denilson. How did Diaby ever get to 60k? when has he ever been in the starting eleven for an extended period of time? How can spurs manage to have a decent squad with low wages? I know things will change with them in the coming seasons b/c of bale and modric prob getting big deals but thats because they deserve it. RvP deserves a huge contract, theo doesn't deserve 90 or 100k.
I think most fans will be happy with a team that gives 100% and a manager that addresses the team's issues. I don't expect trophies every season. I just want the team to be competitive and play like they want to win and proud of wearing the arsenal shirt.
Wrighty you are a deluded, optimistic fool. Wake up and smell the Java. Arsenal are a profit organisation and Wenger's ego driven philosophy runs hand in hand with it. The clubs who spend money challenge and win things. Its FACT - values and principles amount to sweet fuck all. Arsenal will NEVER win anything while Wenger and that cancerous parasite Kroenke are there.
All good things come to an end and wengers.good times came to an end in 2006 after the.chamions league.final.defeat. he should have.walked then or at least after project emirates was complete as he desrved to be the one to leqd us out there. now the whole club is in denial including many fans. the success we had will never be repeated in the same way football has changed and moved on we have not. its not that we are going backwards we are just standing still hoping that everyone else will implode. its a rubbish strategy and a new one must be sought immediately. usmanov is the man
All good things come to an end and wengers.good times came to an end in 2006 after the.chamions league.final.defeat. he should have.walked then or at least after project emirates was complete as he desrved to be the one to leqd us out there. now the whole club is in denial including many fans. the success we had will never be repeated in the same way football has changed and moved on we have not. its not that we are going backwards we are just standing still hoping that everyone else will implode. its a rubbish strategy and a new one must be sought immediately. usmanov is the man
I havent read your blog in a long time Wrighty because you were blind to Wengers faults. You and a few other of the blogs were so far wide of the mark on Wenger that it was just annoying reading. Thing is most of these bloggers have woken up to Wenger because they know that the fans are fed up to the teeth with his money pinching policies while at the same time having no problem paying himself more than the rest of the managers in world football. If you want to have any credibility Wrighty then its time to wake the fuck up like everyone else.
p.
Or maybe I can have my own opinion?!
I'm absolute sure that Liverpool fans said exactly the same thing after Benitez got sacked. Have they got back into the CL since? They are a BIG club too and still struggling to get back to that status in Europe. Once you're out of the CL its hard to get back in because you can't attract the quality players. Its pretty clear now that we will not make the top 4, even with 15 games to go.
You are entitled to your opinion and actually I think you are a decent sort of guy unlike the nasty cunts that write some of the other pro Wenger sites but are you aware that your opinions are not shared by the vast majority of your readers anymore. You used to point out to me a few years ago that my anti Wenger protests were not what most fans were thinking and I should wise up. Now my friend its my turn to give yoy the same advice.
P.
P.
That's fair enough mate.
The problem I have is I'm not a so-called 'AKB'.
I admit that AW has faults but I refuse to disrespect him like some Gooners are doing.
To say he is a cancer or a c*nt is disgraceful in my eyes.
I hope that he and the board wise up because there are many unhappy Gooners out there.
Is this the wrighty who told us that Cesc would not leave because Wenger told him so.
Wrighty you are deluded just like Wenger.
Yes this is that Wrighty.
I believed he wouldn't leave and I hold my hands up and admit I was wrong!
Wrighty,
Someone said you were a nice guy, I actually agree with this. I think that I would buy you a beer or ten and we would have a laugh.
That said you know fuck all about football mate and you are totally blind to Arsene and the club. What makes this lack of knowledge worse is the fact you have a blog and influence people into believing that you know what youre talking about when you dont.
So let me go back to my point.
We spend, and have done consistently, £40m per year more on wages than Spurs. In 2004/5 spurs wages were mid £30m whilst ours were mid £60m, this is the closest it got (£30m) before our wages jumped the next year to be at least £40m more a year. In 2009/10 Spurs spent just over £60m and ours were around £105m, the line that runs through the dates are very steady and evenly rising on both sets of wages maintaining the gap.
Forget a decade, in just 5 years the money spurs spent on transfers is wiped out by our massive wages.
BnT
This season is 90% gone. Despite what Wenger says,the gunners are in free fall since 2005 except for 2007-2009. Since then the fall has been accelerated. He says whenever the gunners lose a match,fans aked him to but this and that player.He knows jolly well he should have bought such players much,much earlier.
I am afraid he will be fired soon especially if there is no improvement in the gunners fortunes. The most we can look forward to is the europa league. Yeah I know MC and MU are in both competitons. But both will be in the cl next season and subsequently. Despite what the cigar eating ,not smoking cm says, a big club like Arsenal shd be in the cl Of course no team has a divine right. It's up the man in chharge ultimately responsible.
Frankly Wenger has been a huge diasppointment these few years and most fans believe he has taken Arsenal as far as he can.
As for his kids,yeah Arsenal will win the epl and cl long after he has gone. Don't bet on it.
wenger is finished. he's never going to win another medal for arsenal. i've saide it before and i'll say it again, transfer genius yet tactical moron. for as long as his tactics are poor we will not succeed. look at his in game tactics, they're the same week in week out. he continues to play players who aren't good enough and arsenal fc are now too predictable. look at fergie and mourinho, you wouldn't see them continuing to play arshavin chamakh etc. look at when arshavin came on vs the mancs, fergie instantly readied park and attacked us full force down the right. it's things like that which separate the good from the great. wenger was great for a short spell, but over half his years at the club have been trophyless, how can a manager be deemed great over time if he hardly ever wins trophys. fergie, mourinho, guardiola etc are great because they consistently win trophys, they address their problems, they change tactics when needed and they do not continue to play deadwood. i know some will say "sing when you're winning" but i hardly celebrate arsenal results anymore because thy're just papering over the cracks. the club has no ambition, i will continue to support the team through thick and thin but don't you think wenger has had enough chances by now. season after seaosn the club is getting worse. we always hear "next season" and then we sell our stars and have to rebuild again. i'm tired of all this and think wenger's time is up, yes it will be a sad day but he is continuing to damage his once great reputation. rant over!
I admire you Wrighty. Your blog is cool, your posts are spot on but every single time they get defaced by the usual pack of lying rabid glory hunters trolling all the bloggers, insulting you at every possible occasion.
Hopefully Spurs will nick the title so that all the glory hunters can fuck off and flock to them claiming they've always been lifelong fans.
Wrighty you should head out to the desert. Plenty of sand there.
And as for the childish stupid coment about spuds winning the league so all the lying rabid glory hunters can flock off to them.....Your not from this world are you?...Mug!!
Wrighty I had a look at that table (Net Transfer Spend over 10 years), the gap between Liverpool 4th and us sitting 9th £154m....
Between ManU 5th and us its a little more than £125m. And between Chelsea and ManC its a staggering £470m and £432m .
I cannot see that our salaries compared to theirs, over the same 10 year period, is that much different...Net???? In other words I can believe our wages are up there....but to Jed and BnT its a huge margin to catch up to ManU in fifth 172 million from ours 47 net spend
ALSO Just a note.....When looking at only the past 5 years of that table, "Net Transfer Spend by lub"......we look even worse!!! We're not even in the top 15 because we actually made a Profit of £14.30m!!!!!
I read this piece of writing fully concerning the resemblance of most
recent and earlier technologies, it's remarkable article.
My web-site: halo mega bloks
Look at my site :: halo mega bloks
Post a Comment