Comments for The Beautiful Groan

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Pete (The Beautiful Groan)

Pete (The Beautiful Groan) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:27:57 +0000

Well, I don’t think it was necessarily a profit making move, at least solely for the directors – after all, the share price is largely dictated by the success of the club, so they go hand in hand.

I do think though that this is a longer term plan than perhaps we realised. We will still be paying off the debt for around 20 years, and being restricted by commerical deals for two. In the long run, we’re in a great position, but short term, it is a little painful.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Pete (The Beautiful Groan)

Pete (The Beautiful Groan) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:26:21 +0000

Thank you very much! I don’t really go in for inflammatory stuff, which is probably one of the reasons why I don’t have much of a readership, but I would never want to put something in just to get a reaction. I like a healthy debate, mind.

I just think there is more than meets the eye, and sometimes you can’t just simplify situations down to a single point (e.g. wage bill). The media will, because it suits their desire for drama, but I prefer a bit of truth, personally.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Pete (The Beautiful Groan)

Pete (The Beautiful Groan) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:23:49 +0000

I think they are separate – there is some genuine talent at the club that, for whatever reason, is not reaching their full potential. We’ve donw well to acquire them for a good price, but having done that bit, we’ve not got the best from them.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by RadioFreeArsenal

RadioFreeArsenal — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:31:45 +0000

Excellent piece, Pete. I think the one thing about it is that it raises a chiolling question – did the Board lie to us from the day they announced we were leaving Highbury? After the whole premise of our building then Emirates stadium was to be able to compete more financially with at that time manchester United specifically.

If we are indeed using the Ajax business model which looks to be the case here, then did we ever intend to comepte more financially with anyone or was this all just a profit generation scheme which drove the share prioce sky hogh ahead of selling for an insane profit to the individuals selling to Messers Kroenke and Usmanov?

I think the premise of this piece should be raised at the next AGM. And probably should have been at the last five AGMs as well…

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:10:29 +0000

As a life long Arsenal fan, I read a lot of articles .. mostly designed for immediate inflammatory reactions.
Because of this I rarely if ever comment.
This is one of the best, concise articles I’ve read in a long time & I wish more people understood the point you are making.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by critic

critic — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:21:08 +0000

on point 2 tactics play an important role, i have never seen arsenal sitting deep waiting for CA opportunity bar barcelona. It almost paid off if it wasn’t for starry eyed cesc attempting a through ball against arsenal wearing an arsenal Tee.

Why doesn’t arsene use such tactics more often considering we have gerv, ox and walcott.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by fred

fred — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:41:36 +0000

The problem we have is replacing our top players with the Songs of this world and having to wait 6 to 7 years for them to improve and still not being good enough.
We are where we are due to the players and the coaching staff not being good enough.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Kipmonster

Kipmonster — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:02:17 +0000

How can anyone justify Djourou’s new 50K per week deal ? and the likes of the deals Bendtner & Denilson had despite being disappointing & unproven. ManUre don’t pay less & unproven players 50k + per week but pay hugely the star & performing players. It will be ridiculous to lose RVP because a huge chunk of budget is wasted on unworthy players. It comes down to a large extent to Wenger being a control freak who wants players who will feel they owe him & thus toe his line & is less willing to take the chance that Superstar signings who have bigger egos & personalities will challenge him & strongly voice opinions & displeasure.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:52:36 +0000

Good article. The fact remains that the young players bought have not been good enough once they reached maturity and they will see out their contracts because now they are paid more than they will be paid anywhere else. You have people like Nik Bendtner threatening never to play for Arsenal again while at the same time no other club will buy him. The squad is paper-thin. In short the philosophy has failed and there is nothing left in the wage budget to offer improved deals to those players that the club desperately needs to keep. There is also little scope to bring in star players. The future looks bleak.

Comment on Arsenal misconceptions – wage bills, net spends and the 71 man squad by @dial1886

@dial1886 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:49:42 +0000

Excellent work. You have to also factor in injuries that have majorly set back players or in some cases finished them.
I am sure there are plans to account for a certain number but we have probably exceeded that in number, seriousness and also concentration (injuries to players in same positions at the same time)