₦airaland Forum

dayokanu:
@Duduspace,

Merida sold to Athletico Madrid, Now come and tell me something about your youth policy when you keep selling the so called youths that you are developing which is your main excuse for being trophyless to other clubs?

Point of correction, he wasn't sold but didn't sign a contract and will probably leave on a free because he couldnt get first team appearances. For every Merida who goes, there are Wilsheres, JET, Lansbury, Barazite, Ramsey who remain.
On second thots, if yu were the superstitious type, you would want Arsene to stop buying Spanish players, seems they always leave in some sort of controversy; Reyes, Merida, Cesc?

dayokanu:
some people no get shame differentiating between 5 and 7 seasons of failure

5 seasons of laying a solid foundation for the future.

I join all true gooners in saying a big welcome to Marouane Chamakh. Couldn't help noticing this interesting interview from those in the know Chairman of the Board Peter Hill Wood. Its a very interesting read for the anti Arsene brigade. Those in the know with Arsenal's finances continue to tell us Arsene is doing a damned good job while those on the outside think he is just being miserly. The doom and gloomers continue to tell us Arsenal will lose fans, yet the club continues to post profits. Like someone said, the truth lies somewhere in the middle but one thing is clear that Arsenal is the best run club as a business in the PL, I beleive its only a matter of time before people recognize and give the club due credit for this. The trophies will definitely come in time because the club is being managed properly.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2565/exclusives/2010/05/21/1935330/goalcom-interview-arsenal-chairman-peter-hill-wood-discusses

Interesting questions and answers include:

How keen are the board to keep Wenger?
Do you know anyone who is better? There isn’t anyone, and if there is, I don’t know of him. He’s the best manager in the world and has done a remarkable job for us. You guys in the press are a little harsh saying we haven’t won anything for five years. What you are talking about is the Premier League and the Champions League. We could win the Carling Cup and the FA Cup if we made a huge effort. Arsene has advised us that he needs to rest players for those competitions. We are trying to win the Premier League and the Champions League. There is only one winner for both of those tournaments.

What is the latest situation with Arsene Wenger’s contract talks?
What he does not like doing is talking about this during the season. We won’t see him for a month because he will be at the World Cup. But I think he will sign, hopefully before the beginning of the season.

Independent analysis of Arsenal’s accounts show Arsene Wenger will have up to £45m to spend this summer, regardless of what happens with Fabregas. Do you expect major signings?
I hope so. Certainly Arsene has got his eyes and ears open. What he is not prepared to do is spend the money on players who will not fit in at Arsenal and improve when they are there. It is very easy to buy players who everyone has heard of. Anyway, it’s not true to say we do not spend money. Thomas Vermaelen was not cheap and neither was Andrey Arshavin. It was the same with [Samir] Nasri. I think the boy [Marouane] Chamakh is a good player.

Given that Highbury Square has now gone into profit and the revenues generated by Emirates Stadium continue to grow, is the club not in its best financial state for some time?
I think we are in very good financial shape. You must remember that buying players is one thing. If you make a profit on the property and you spend it, that profit is gone. Whatever the property side delivers for us, we will continue to invest in the squad but not spend beyond our means.

Were you disappointed that you did not win a trophy for a fifth consecutive year?
There is only one winner of the Champions League and only one winner of the Premier League. We are competing with teams who have lots more money than we have, like Manchester City and Chelsea.

Do you expect Cesc Fabregas to stay at Arsenal?
I don’t know [if he will stay]. I’ve really got little to say. We haven’t had any official approach from them (Barcelona). We have made it perfectly clear we don’t want to lose him. The message has been given to them we don’t want to lose him and will do our damnedest to keep him.

asscend:
its high times the fans realise this. The man who was pushing the club forward (David Dein) was forced out by those profit hungry board members. Since then Arsenal has been on the slide.

You've been reading too much of double mouthed guys like Myles Palmer, if David Dein had his way we would have become Usmanov's plaything and we wouldn't have the emirates. The board members aint taking money out of the club but neither are they putting anything in. Their stance is totally understandable. The business must be able to sustain itself and I'm happy the club has taken that stance.
Take a look at this http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/19/premier-league-finances and yu'll see how well positioned we are going forwards. We are the most properly run club in the PL by a mile.

na so we see am o Slim, the English media is the worst set of Journos (apart from the egunje culture that pervades nigerian journalism). They will do anything for a story. Did you hear the one about Lord Triesman? the levels they descend to is totally appaling.

HNIC:
Laporta and co, show us the money!

This is the koko, if Barcelona don't show us the money then we sell him to Man City perhaps.
If they can offer 25m for Milner, then they should be able to offer 100m for Cesc.

v3:
The kid has tried abeg, sticking with a club for 7 seasons, winning just two minor trophies while his mates on the other side have won more trophies he could dream of winning in less than two years.

Whatever his decision. . ^{*pray he stays *} he remains a true legend.

Abeg stop this rubbish making it seem like he did us a favour or he'll be doing us a favour by staying with us. He has been part of the team that went trophyless and you could argue that one of the reasons we've been trophyless was playing time given to him during which he has developed. If he wants to go its not because we have been trophyless, it is because he wants greener pastures closer to his home. One can now understand why Theo will continue to be played ahead of Vela and the likes of Merida, does anyone see Rooney making noise about going to Barca or Chelsea? or did the likes of Scholes and Giggs make any noise about going anywhere when Manure missed out on the PL 3 times in a row?
The reason we gave him playing time as a precocious youngster was to save the club money in getting top talent, it is a mutually beneficial arrangement, Arsenal deserve something back for what they've invested in him.

I'm on your side on this Slim, no way do I want to see Cesc leave the club this summer and the whole club hierarchy have made that very clear from Hill-Wood through Gazidis to Wenger, Infact I think there is much noise now because the club want him to commit to a longer term contract. but if the only way of doing that is to have a bitter and unmotivated player who will leave for half the amount we cld get for him now next season, then I say selling might be the only reasonable option we have. But the press has made more of this because they always want to prove that Arsenal is in trouble. Imagine Guilem Balague saying on sky yesterday that Barca wld get Cesc for 35m? what an idiot.

slimshay:
Thats the thing v3, when exactly did the kid say he wants to leave? In the very same sentence people quote about he's saying if he leaves then it will be to Barca, he also says he's happy at Arsenal and wont be leaving anytime soon. Yet everybody is going into overdrive analysing what, where and who to go to now that Cesc has finally left.

Thanks Slim, a level head in the midst of the media created hysteria. He has only said he wants his future to be decided which is why I think he is commited to making a decision this year. Cesc is smart and it is up to Barca to show their seriousness by showing us the money, the whole of Catalunya would want to see him playing for Barca and I'm sure there is a lot of pressure on the lad. With all the noise Barca is making, they are still yet to table a bid, do they expect us to transfer list our captain?

slimshay:
Arsene Wenger cannot afford to sell Cesc Fabregas, it is not a matter of money. Cesc is perhaps the most valuable midfielder in the world right now considering his age, experience and abilities. Why then will we be forced to give out that and start looking for replacements that are no way near his standards. It makes absolutely no sense.

I agee selling Cesc goes against everything the club has chosen to stand for, but yu do get to some point when matters are taken from your hand and no one should be forced to do what they don't want to do, If the money is right a deal can always be done but in no way should Cesc go for less than 50m if David Villa at 29 is bought for 34m

I think there is something fishy going on with Cesc's situation, he has 4 years left on his contract and from next season will be able to buy out the rest of his contract (amounting to something between 18m and 20m I'm told which Barca will willingly pay). I think all the brouhaha has come about because Barca wants to reduce the amount they will need to pay for him. It is akin to what we did with Chamakh, only that we didn't brazenly use the press the way Barca are currently doing.

With the recent contract renewals, it seems a bit strange none has been announced for Cesc. It is quite possible the club wants to renegotiate his contract to extend it further so that Barcelona will still pay top dough for him when he chooses to leave in the next 2 years which has been the sort of verbal agreement between player and manager(we all knew he was going to leave, the question was always when).  The risk to Arsenal is that if Barca don't get him for the amount they are willing to spend this season, we might lose him for much less in the next 2 seasons.

To be honest, I don't see what Cesc is going to do at Barcelona now, they are not exactly lacking in the CM department and something tells me this is all going to end in tears. I think that was what Cesc meant by his future being decided. Before summer is over, Cesc will either go to Barca or renew his contract at Arsenal, the 3rd option is not good for either of Arsenal or Cesc but plays well into Barca's hand. What I will hate to see is another Adebayor scenario but Cesc has handled the situation with a bit more class, it is just a shame Barca is so successful and Cesc has sentimental attachments to them which they are exploiting. I wish their future goes exactly the way Milan's did after they messed with Ade in summer '08.

IF Cesc leaves, it would be a serious blow but that can be eased by the amount Barca pay for him, Anything above 45m is good enof for me, it they want to throw in someone like Hleb into the deal that would also be fine. 40m + Hleb would be a good deal
Simple solution Arsene should just shell out half of the money (20 - 25m) for Arda Turan who is a left winger, bring Arshavin central to rotate and compete with Hleb and problem is solved (both of them like to play in the hole anyway).

We've always complained of having too many similar players playing central. Cesc is special and will surely be missed but no one player makes the Arsenal, we've shown that time and time again even though I wld expect the press to paint a gloomy picture for next season as usual but we've always surprised them and we definitely will again next season.

slimshay:
A-40 i seem to remind you implying Bridge was a biaatch for staying away from the 3 lions.
If it hadnt been reported, come to think of it, will anyone here have known about it? Jus a food for thot. I beliecve Gallas is a thorough professional, St Andrews asides.
This players should STFU and put in work. An idle mind is the devil's workshop, as Nasri no go worldcup, see what it is doing to the boy, . . .

Don't mind the stupid boy, some players are just too stupid to understand that silence can be golden
why havnt these other 4 players come out with their own revelation? why must he be the one to put his head under guillotine?
Some players are just troublesome anywhere they go, I knew Nasri was a prickly character but this is not the best way to show it, he can learn a thing or two from RVP who is as fiery but knows how to keep his trap shut.

This new rumored Chelsea splurge has got me slightly worried but I can't help thinkin that getting Nando and giving away some players could be akin to them shooting themselves in the foot like Barcelona exchanging Etoo for Ibra + 40m.
They could be helping bail liverpool from their shit hole.

For anyone interested in catching some of our young players in action, Benik Afobe and Chuks Aneke (who both had major roles in our winning the PL Academy league) will be featuring for England in the European U17 competition taking place this month. It will be live on British Eurosport in about a week's time. I expect both players to have an impact in this competition.
Note: Sauron's much touted Ravel Morrison couldn't even make the squad.

What is wrong with all these boys? this is not the time for talk but to buckle down and put in some hard work over the summer like Diaby did last season. Our players talk too much, something should be done about this.
What concerns me if Nasri aint speaking to Billy? as long as he aint shaggin his wife, I'm cool.

Its happened to me a couple of times and particularly when I was young, its basically when the food isn't well masticated and liquified before you try to swallow it, very painful and feels like yu're having a heart attack, you can't even scream in pain. There was a day it happened and I just layed down on the floor of our dining table. Gave my folks quite a scare.

dyabman:
Has Rapture taken place already!

You dey fear? I know what you did last night.

I see where the caller is coming from even though the comparison of Flamini to Song is way off the mark, but atimes we do need an high octane kind of player in the Gattuso/Flamini mode who will just keep buzzing round opposition players kinda like Manure's Fletcher or Liverpool's Mascherano. Over time though, I think Arsene seems to favour more of those cool calming influence kinda players in the holding MF role. It even shows in his choosing Eastmond over Coquelin when the latter was clearly preferred by the youth coaches like Bould and Banfield.

v3:
Dudu,
I'm not even going to try wasting precious strength to type out what's on my mind about arsenal.
So,whats the 411 on transfers?

Not much info, you know how it is with Arsene, he is still not fully confirming the Chamakh deal but that is definitely settled. Its all about wish lists now and one player I think could improve our team is Arda Turan who is Galatasaray's captain at 23 yrs of age, he epitomises the never say die spirit of that Turkish team that got to the semi finals of euro 2008 and our present squad could do with more of such players. Only problem is that he plays Arshavin's position (left wing) and is not in the age bracket we're looking to bring players in since he'll be the same age as the likes of Cesc.

@V3

You wan turn us to Blackburn II? yu're definitely unto something there, we need some more prickly characters as well as some characters who just naturally command respect on the pitch (like Giggs and Scholes for Manure), its the other part of the game where this team needs to develop and gain experience. There are stories I've heard of games back in the days when the likes of Viera would have already won the psychological battle in the tunnel even before stepping on the pitch, they would actually sort out the opponents hard men with words in the tunnel even before stepping on the pitch.

In terms of prickly characters, I think Nasri is becoming one while we have another one in waiting in Jack Wilshere who has that nasty streak that has actually earned him respect with the Bolton squad and Cesc seems to be commanding more respect on the pitch both with opposing players and the refs nowadays. but we definitely need more characters like that as it seems we have too many gentlemen like Denilson and Diaby these days. Even Song is a gentleman but few players would dare mix things up with him due to his sheer physical size.

edoyad:
While i'm not a dudu apologist , Let's ask ourselves this honest question with our church minds :
How many of us in July were absolutely certain we'd finish in the top four when City were depleting premiership teams and the press were singing "Arsenal's 'fourth' place finish" would be stolen from us ?

Now this is the old Ed I know, glad to have you back now if only the old Debo would come back I really don't know why this english media hate relationship with Arsenal endures, I think they still hold a grudge against Arsene for proving them wrong when he initially joined us and I'm now beginning to think that even supplying 10 Jack Wilsheres to the British national team over the next 10 years might not be enof to pacify them.
How many of them will own up to calling Arsenal's position compared to liverpool's wrong at the beginning of the season?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=443065.msg6015759#msg6015759 date=1273240570]The most undeserved victory in the history of academy football.
Morrison was clearly the best player on the pitch. . . .He assisted Cofie's goal with an exquisite pass that Xavi woulda been proud of.
Before then, his pile-drivers from 30-40 yards kept peppering Arsenal's goalie from every angle on the pitch.[/quote]And his team could only muster 1 shot on target all through the first half of the match in their own backyard?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=443065.msg6015759#msg6015759 date=1273240570]Morrison is better than Wilshere. . . Today's game proved that.[/quote]This is BS and you know it, at his age the England U17 team was already built round Wilshere and his talent was widely acknowledged at his age level.

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6016311#msg6016311 date=1273245435]As for your 2nd post lets ask Debosky to do the honours. Vox Populi Vox Dei they say[/quote]Haba, don't start katakata here o, despite all my noise on here I'm very publicity shy. Besides I'm sure I'm not exactly Debo's favorite poster at present.

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6016311#msg6016311 date=1273245435]And yeah i know you do post these stats but you do Financials more often is that a bad thing? You don't have to fight everything or everyone i give u credit sef u dey try and a lot of people now know a bit more about Arsenal's finances including my humble self thanks to u. My only grouse is your narrowing down our every failure to funds which is dead wrong![/quote]The financials isnt a bad thing provided I don't become the spammer some accuse me of being. I'm quite unhappy the general consensus here is that I tie everything down to finances, it only looks that way because its a major thing most people overlook about the club. It is not easy when you stop being the richest kid in your street I guess, but most vocal Arsenal fans on a general note arent facing up to the realities surrounding their club at present.

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6016311#msg6016311 date=1273245435]These other teams u talk about would only be found out if we do what we ought to do. As for the other issue i raised you really dont have to agree! That you don't believe something does not make it a lie so if we had gone on to win the league who would say they didn't hand it to us after losing double digit leads twice[/quote]You have a point there, but isn't the final league table supposed to be the clearest indicator of a football team's strength over a season? Yes we had times we were in front but ultimately we were found out (rightly I must say) at the end. We mostly missed out on other chances of silverware for 2 reasons, firstly is our insistence to blood our youth early and secondly is the need to rotate a paper thin (quality wise) squad, some of this will become unnecessary over time as the strength in depth grows.

The long and short of my tirade is this, What Arsene is trying to do isn't exactly easy in the present football environment but it is the path the club I support has chosen and if it has any chance of success I'd put Arsene as one of the few people capable of pulling it off (another prime candidate would be Louis Van Gaal).

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]This CLEARLY shows you understand nothing about the debt issue.
What has the TAKEOVER gotta do with winning trophies? Did the Glazers buy Ronaldo, Rooney, Rio, Scholes, Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves?
What the crap are you ON about?[/quote]Weren't the Glazers already on the board and actively working towards a takeover when these deals were done? how exactly did they convince the previous shareholders to sell? you are making the mistake of only looking at the end result without considering the process that led to it. My 50 cents is on the fact that the previous owners could already see where the spending was heading to which is why they jumped ship with full pockets, perhaps they knew they they would lose out in the end.
Why is the previous chairman who sold out now saying the business plan was unsustainable?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]You are chatting poppycocks. . . . .Till date, the Glazers have not spent their 1p on Man Utd.
The funds used to buy the marquee players were funds generated by the club itself organically.
United's revenue(gate-takings, merchandise, TV money, etc) pretty much covers up for the net spend in wages/transfer fees.
Before the arrival of the Glazers, United bought huge. Veron, RVN, Rio were all bought and they broke British transfer records. . . .[/quote]Talk is cheap, where is the evidence?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]Glazers borrowed all they paid to buy the club cos they had to buy out the existing stake-holders who sold their own shares at exorbitant prices.
The Glazers had to borrow at ridiculous interest rates to satisfy their own lust of taking over Man Utd which made the debt rise meteorically.
This information ain't far-fetched, don't be such a numbskull. READ READ READ!!!!

They didn't borrow £700million initially. . . . .Interest payments plus the original principal they borrowed made it £700 million.[/quote]Oh, so all of the earnings from 3 straight PL championships and a UCL win can't even cover interests payments? you're now educating me that the situation is even worse off than I imagined it to be?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]Man Utd's net transfer spend has nothing to do with the current size of the loan.
What goes on in the player transfer schitzo has nothing to do with the Glazer loan. What the Glazer borrowed was used to BUY out the club.
That money went into the pockets of the old stake-holders that were bought out - It didn't go into SAF's pocket to buy players(what you clearly fail to understand).[/quote]See what I said above, where is the data? where is the analysis that proves these claims? do you want a numbskull like you claim me to be to present it for you? I can be faulted for a lot of things, but no one can fault me for not supplying the indicators for my claims even if our interpretation of them turns out different.
The fact remains Manure has a 700m debt, that is the only sure thing here, you bury your head in the sand if you don't accept it along with your trophies.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]Yet another heap of applesauce. . . .
The reasons why few offers have been made is because of the money involved - Not too many people can shell out £1.5 Billion to buy a property.
This is no Chelsea that was bought for £88 million by Roman in 2003 or Man City that was bought for £200 million.
We are talking about £1.5 billion here. . . . . That being said, if the Glazers decide to sell tonight, there are[b] few[/b] interested parties out there willing to pay for it.[/quote]True word, but where does this leave you? in case yu've forgotten, still 700m in the red that someone has to pay for if manure is not to go into Administration or taken over by banks. Remember that Abramovic has written off chelsea's debts well over 500m now which is now converted into equity? has anyone here wondered why he did that? I'll try to give an explanation, it means that if the club is to be sold now he will make his money back. He is now committed to running the club as a proper business because Chelsea has now become part of that much vaunted 6 billion or so that he is estimated to be worth. The Sheikh's at City havent met much debt but are running one up already.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]Same ol' same ol'.
Man Utd are not Portsmouth or Liverpool. These 2 clubs lived beyond their means in that their player wage bill outweighs their income.
United's income in 3 match-days outweighed all the money Pompey made from Fratton Park throughout last season.
Of course, all the money they made were spent to pay their players - debt was inevitable. This kinda debt is NOT what United are dealing with.[/quote]I'm sure those 2 clubs were also claiming that they weren't Leeds when they went bust, the problem is as always that negative on the balance sheet, it is a sword or damocles dangling over your head just as our trophyless state is used to flog us mercilessly, you deserve to be flogged with it, they are direct repercussions of various decisions taken in the past as to the future of the club.
Rationalise it all you care and pass the buck as many times as you like, it is a problem that is yet to go away.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6016265#msg6016265 date=1273244979]They are United fans. . . . They are even pushing the parliament to make all English clubs be a community asset.
Let the fans have 100% say on their beloved clubs. They will contribute, buy the club and treat the club like their own asset.
It's only a matter of time before the Glazers sell. They paid around £800 million in 2005. . . .£1.5 Billion is surely a good reward after 5 years.
Fingers crossed. . . .[/quote]Thank God the UK is not Nigeria where people rule with fiat, the bottom line is that there is a 700m debt bill to be picked up here and if no one picks it up, the Glazers aint selling. I expect a fight to the bitter end, they might have to divvy up Manure's assets with scissors the way things are going.

@A-40

One reason why I follow youth football is because it is the path I've identified that the club I support has taken and one I believe the whole footballing world is shifting back to. As DK points out, Bayern has shown this season that the balance can be gotten but then that is easy for them with the way the German football system works. With due credit to Fergie, he also got it to work in the 1990s when the rules allowed Manure to flex its muscles in poaching the best talent all over England.
Arsenal has taken it to a whole new level with their international scouting network and I'm totally convinced it is something that will stand us in good stead going forwards, only thing is that by the time we do start winning, most people would have forgotten these discussions.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6015850#msg6015850 date=1273241374]Do you understand this debt issue at all? I don't think you don't.
Maybe you should go and read about it before talking about it. Your argument always revolves around it like the debt came about because of the happenings of the pitch which it isn't. . . . . .The debt came about with the Glazers borrowing money to buy the club.
Before the Glazers, Man Utd had no debt whatsoever.[/quote]I understand Manure's debt situation very well and how it came to be, it is all easy to lay all the blame on the Glazers, the fact is that the Glazers are the custodians of the club, truly they sought to line their pockets while helping Manure win trophies in a win-win situation scenario, only it has not quite worked out that way. The fans will gleefully accept the trophies but shirk the debt, typical human nature aint it? It is irrelevant how the club came by the debt, just as it is irrelevant how Arsenal came to be without trophies, the stark reality which faces all of us is that Arsenal have been without trophies and Manure have won trophies and a massive debt in the process.
I challenge anyone and that includes you Sauron to prove to me that your massive net spend in wages and transfer fees over the last 5 years has no part at all to play in your present debt situation.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6015850#msg6015850 date=1273241374]How can the trophy dominance translate to financial gain when the Glazers borrowed £700 million to buy the club and used the club as collateral?
Do you expect United to have made £700 million in the trophy dominance years of 2007- 2009 to outweigh the debt?
If United had won all the trophies available in the world between 2005 and 2010, they can never write off a debt of £700 million in 5 years.
You are talking bollocks.[/quote]Good point, the Glazers borrowed to buy Manure YES but there is no data to prove that the Glazers borrowed all they paid to buy the club and surely some of that money came from their pockets, even if for simplicity sake we agree that they borrowed the entire 700m that still throws up many issues:

1. The debt is still 700m and not been reduced at all, does that mean all Manure has made in the past 5 to 6 years has only gone towards interest payments?
2. What impact has Manure's huge net transfer spend and wages had on the current size of the loan?

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6015850#msg6015850 date=1273241374]Who says there's no one to buy out the Glazers? Ever heard about the Red Knights.
Just last night some Middle-East consortium offered em £1.5 Billion to buy out the club.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/may/06/glazers-reject-secret-offer-manchester-united
If useless clubs like Chelsea and Man City can attract Billionaires, i see no reason why Man Utd won't attract bigger boys on the planet.[/quote]I've never said there will be no one to buy the club only that people aren't exactly queueing to buy but the questions a Glazer buy out throws up include:

1. Regardless of who buys the club, there is still a 700m debt to pay and that can only mean one thing (belt tightening) except you get a Sheikh like City (only that recent financial rule changes have rendered that unattractive for prospective buyers which I think is one of the reasons why Usmanov and Kroenke are no longer interested in Lady Nina's Arsenal shares).

2. Do you remember Al-Fahim/Al-Faraj and ultimately Al-Administration at Pompey? the days of free lunches seem to be over in my opinion, seems everyone is looking for a quick buck these days, you may hold a different opinion equally as valid as mine but I must point out that recent events would seem to support my view even though no one knows what will happen tomorrow.

Those Red knights are clowns and will not be better than the Glazers I can assure you, I beleive some of them have good intentions but ultimately they do have their own pockets to watch our for.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=439183.msg6015697#msg6015697 date=1273240045]I don't know why Duduspace thinks if United fail to win the league title this season, then they are in crisis.
This is a club that have won it THRICE in a row. There's a reason no club have won it 4 times in the history of association football in Britain.
Expecting United to do it for the 4th time is a HUGE ASK and it has nothing to do with debt or Glazers or financial nitty-gritty.

Even the great 1999 side that won the TREBLE couldn't manage 4 in a row.[/quote]You won't be in crisis if you don't win this season for sure, but if at the end of a 3 year winning streak for the PL during which you also won the UCL, all you end up with is a 700m debt which is larger than the debt you started out with (and I don't believe all that BS about the debt being SOLELY due to the Glazer's LBO), then there is something badly wrong with the way the club is run, surely that should be plain for anyone to see. I can't imagine you having a similar winning streak in the next ten years with our expected resurgence as our team matures and City's ability to compete with money (though they still need to tie down that UCL place first).

What your not winning this season (and Chelsea can still cock it up by the way despite all our good wishes) would signify is the end of an era in which trophy dominance did not translate to financial gain unlike in the past when you were able to build a massive stadium like OT or the Carrington training ground meaning that the business model is not sustainable and this would be a clear hands off sign to investors or at the least a belt tightening process undertaken by either the Glazers or those who buy them out . I'm not convinced the club structure as a whole is well prepared for such.

Honestly It is Manure who should be very worried cos as long as there is no one to buy out the Glazers, the evil day is only being postponed and will definitely come to a head someday in the foreseeable future.

eldee:
Your primary school teacher . . . not me should be the one teaching you how to count.
I'll leave Sauron to continue with the job of exposing your mumu-ism, it'll be unfair of me to make a fellow gunner look daft.

That is all fine and dandy if you have nothing useful that is gooner related, seems Sauron knows more about your club than you any way, only that he twists the little he knows. I'm more comfortable discussing with him anyway. If you're telling me there is only one line in your original post, then I can't help you. Begone from me.

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6015546#msg6015546 date=1273238363]@Duduspace
Lets take it to the People's court or Judge Judy and lets find out if you are not guilty of 99.999% of the accusations i levied against you.[/quote]Wanna sticky up a post to decide? don't think I'm that important, I'll pass.  

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6015546#msg6015546 date=1273238363]Why would u wanna go on a tirade on our on pitch issues? Its not your style. Youth fellas and our Finances are your thing that is why we are likelier to get our Finance report than a Match report from you but all join na division of labor.[/quote]I actually do put up my analysis of matches and individual players (with statistics which most people never do), such is my commitment to Arsenal that I usually watch most of our matches twice to be sure I'm not being overtly emotional, only issue is people don't argue with me when my views largely agree with theirs but take up issues when I buck the general trend. It getting tedious fighting both internal and external battles, but hey what can a man do than state his opinion? isnt that what the forum is for?

[quote author=A-40 link=topic=439183.msg6015546#msg6015546 date=1273238363]Its the 5th season going to the 6th so one can only wonder whan that strong enough squad would come when certain aspects of our game have worsened with the likes of Birmingham,Villa,Spurs defending better than us! We still roll with certain players that have no business at Arsenal. That team lacks the winning mentality more than anything else and when you don't have that you always play with a chip on your shoulder which only weighs heavier after any fruitless season! Even in a season where Man U and Chelsea damn near conspired to dash us the title we didn't take advantage! Do u think thats cos of lack of funds or cos we have a bunch who don't have the will to win?[/quote]Like you say, our opponents also have not rested, but I beleive they will be found out in the end. I once drew the analogy of a snake twitching after its head is cut off.  That portion in bold is one I will never agree with anyone, it is an unfounded statement, the present position of each club is a cummulation of what has gone on prior to this time, no one conspired to dash us anything.

eldee:
I'm ashamed for you . . . what's the name of your primary school?? Was it Pope Benedict School for Boys??

'The true test of your mental prowess in this case it the ability to get to the point instead of beating about the bush and still not making sense'

How can you count two lines out that?? No wonder Sauron makes you look daft all the time.

In your original post, it exceeded a line, have you dishonestly gone back to change your font size?  seems we'll soon need magnifying glasses to read posts.

@A-40

Good points you have up there and interesting moments in our recent history, I won't try to defend the team scenario by scenario becos it won't achieve much.

I'll only point out we have a much younger squad overall compared to our rivals, added to this is the pressure of not having won anything for quite a while now which grows as the season goes by, atimes it is not a submissive attitude that kills us but an overeager attitude of players who feel they need to make up for the past. I don't think Diaby wanted to head the ball into his own net or Gibbs to slip at an inopportune moment. Some of them are accidental and some of them are just plain naive.

Atimes it is easier to play when the pressure is off, the likes of Giggs/Scholes have been winning trophies even before some of our present lot started out as U9 players and have the know how to help those youths in their team and also a lot of those players they've bought such as Berba, Carrick, Hargo, e.t.c are in the experienced bracket (I can imagine someone will interject at this point and tell me we should have kept PV4, Pires, Gilberto et al but I would say that is a simplistic way of looking at things cos there is much detail lost in such simple statements).

The facts speak for themselves that we are yet to get the balance right but with each passing season (bar 07/08) we've continued to get close to where we have a balanced squad at a sustainable wage structure for the club. My opinion (and the board's unanimous backing of Arsene bar Usmanov who we all know would prefer an Abramovic like arrangement bears this out) is that the decision to go with youth was a decision taken at the board level which they are committed to and believe Arsene a manager capable of carrying out, no one is perfect and I think Arsene will look back at some decisions with regret but I also believe he will someday get the credit for running the club sustainably and keeping performances at the top end despite an obvious financial handicap compared to his rivals.

eldee:
The true test of your mental prowess in this case it the ability to get to the point instead of beating about the bush and still not making sense. (One line)

Your number skills need some fine tuning, this actually exceeded a line. Wise heads fall into such folly when their points are not valid (still one line)