If you think this club is dying you're seriously deluded

[Lee71*98*02]

A dying club? what is a dying club? im thinking one that could go out of buisness? like Rangers or Portsmouth?

Cant see us struggling in my lifetime! we must be the most financially sound club in the country!

I think those that say we have no chance of winning anything are being a bit disrespectful to the players! our strongest starting line up are some of the best players in the league. If Liverpool can win cups so can we!

Things could be worse, we only need a handfull of players to add to what we have and we could easilly challenge for the title.

[Trina]

A dying club? what is a dying club? im thinking one that could go out of buisness? like Rangers or Portsmouth?

Cant see us struggling in my lifetime! we must be the most financially sound club in the country!

I think those that say we have no chance of winning anything are being a bit disrespectful to the players! our strongest starting line up are some of the best players in the league. If Liverpool can win cups so can we!

Things could be worse, we only need a handfull of players to add to what we have and we could easilly challenge for the title.

The thing is, that is what we need every season and it doesn't happen.

[Lee71*98*02]

A dying club? what is a dying club? im thinking one that could go out of buisness? like Rangers or Portsmouth?

Cant see us struggling in my lifetime! we must be the most financially sound club in the country!

I think those that say we have no chance of winning anything are being a bit disrespectful to the players! our strongest starting line up are some of the best players in the league. If Liverpool can win cups so can we!

Things could be worse, we only need a handfull of players to add to what we have and we could easilly challenge for the title.

The thing is, that is what we need every season and it doesn't happen.

We should sign more players this summer thats for sure with all those that are on their way out! Squillaci will probably go and we will buy a defender, Almunia is gone so thats a GK. Bendtner Van Persie and Chamakh probably going so we may even get another striker...

Now let me put these straws down im clutching at

[GSK_AFC]

Wenger isn't the problem. If anything, he's helping us float. You could say he is satisfied himself, but unless we get Fergie or Mourinho, nobody can keep Arsenal floating the way Wenger has done.

Wenger

[ChVint22]

Wenger isn't the problem. If anything, he's helping us float. You could say he is satisfied himself, but unless we get Fergie or Mourinho, nobody can keep Arsenal floating the way Wenger has done.

How do we know what the problem is?

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

When you look at the stadium, our two foreign owners, the massive ticket prices, the Highbury square project in fruition, profits made out of transfers year after year, our rich history and heritage on one side and our footballing results on the there there is a drastic mismatch.

It is not about players leaving, it is about not replenishing the loss of quality year after year. As a club we have settled in this false sense of calm which is more due to the mediocrity of the clubs around us than on merit.

Don't get me wrong, we got third on paper but what was the gap to the front? Liverpool struggled, while Scum had a manager dreaming of England job and Chelsea had a managerial change midway. I still think we will comfortably finish in the top 4 cos Liverpool are in the rebuilding phase while AVB needs time to settle in.

Whether we admit it or not the Board/manager go in to every season from the past seven years with the intention to get 4th and anything above that would be a bonus. All this talk about ambition drives me nuts. Now RVP's departure is not the end of the world but not reinvesting the funds made out of his sale in to the club would show up our lack of ambition yet again.

One thing i would like to make it clear is although the board is not ambitious enough to aim for the title, RVP is using this as an excuse to move as in my opinion as he had made his decision to move long back.

I think we can very well compete for the title on merit within the resources available at our disposable but what i holding back is the greedy board and Wenger's habit of operating with the hand brake on. We have always been a couple of players short of glory yet a couple injuries away from implosion under Wenger. I don't know why he likes to walk this tight rope when he can give himself some more leeway. I was really optimistic when Wenger signed Giroud and Podolski but as it always happens with us whenever we take one step forward we are shoved back a couple of pace by the departure of best players year after year. The funny part is neither the board or Wenger seems too bothered to fix this never ending phase of rebuilding.

[ChVint22]

In the middle of last season I was at the Emirates to watch Arsenal take on Everton. With the game drifting towards inconsequence, Alex Song lobbed the ball forward into the visitors' penalty area. Running on to it with Rolex timing, Robin van Persie leapt off the ground and, connecting on the volley with his left foot, hammered home the sweetest of winners.

The response from the home fans to the goal of the season strike was instructive about where Arsenal stand these days. It was a wonder effort, magnificent in its daring and execution. But for many of those who pay their money to watch regularly at the ground, it was one filled with nuance and poignancy. What worried so many in the ground that day was this: what happens when RVP is not around? What happens if he gets injured or worse fed up and disappears elsewhere? We had just seen how he was the man who made the difference, the player who turned nondescript draws into memorable wins. Where would the club be without him?

Well, the worst pessimistic fears of those who found their moment of celebration compromised have just been realised. In the modern way of things, Van Persie has announced on his website that he will not be signing the new contract proffered by Arsene Wenger. He had some waspish things to say about the set up at Arsenal, about the block on ambition caused by the club's financial management. Clearly he wants to be elsewhere, drawn not so much for the money that is on offer at Manchester City or Barcelona.

But by the prospect of being surrounded by sufficient talent to ensure that the rest of his career is not as free of trophies as it has been up until now. Whether he stays around to see out the final year of his contract remains to be seen. Though it has to be said that the gap between what Arsenal publicly insist when discussing such matters and what eventually transpires, has been blown ever further apart by the history of players like Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri (both of whom, incidentally, have shown RVP the way by winning plenty since they departed north London).

For Arsenal, Van Persie's defection marks the final arrival of the crisis many have been predicting for years. The slow drip drip leakage of talent has reached its nadir. The second most significant shareholder (and a man regarded as poison to the current board) Alisher Usmanov, has made plain his thoughts in an open letter.

His belief is that the club's insistence on placing financial responsibility on the manager by demanding that he sticks to the kind of budget that would barely cover the valeting bill in the Etihad players' car park is undermining the chances of success. Usmanov would like to see the current debt wiped out by a new rights issue. That such an instrument would also strengthen his position is surely just a coincidence.

Arsenal's problem, however, is not theirs alone. What this summer is proving is that, in the Premier League, being properly financed, sensibly administered and self-sustained is nowhere near enough to compete with the bottomless moneypits at City and Chelsea. Wenger's conjuring trick ability to secure Champions League qualification year after year may well represent the apex of possibility when every player on his roster is only a couple of good seasons away from disappearing elsewhere.

The disappointing news for the Emirates regulars is that the way in which Van Persie was unsettled by the promise of fulfilment will not be the last. Theo Walcott, Alex Song, Tottenham's Luka Modric: really anyone who fits the requirements is a reachable target. Even Wayne Rooney. Wenger has bought very well this summer. Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski are both excellent players. How long they hang around in Islington is another matter.

Usmanov's solution is one of refinancing. Remove the debt incurred by building the Emirates and thus release the biggest matchday receipts in league into the transfer kitty. It seems a simple solution, and one which might well appeal to those who could not wholly enjoy Van Persie's goal for fear of what lay ahead. But given it requires the existing board to put their hands deep into their pockets, it is unlikely to find voting favour any time soon.

Until it does, Arsenal, like Spurs, Liverpool, even Manchester United, will find that their assumptions about where they stand in the hierarchy have been distorted. There is nothing new in this. The game has always been about money. It is just that these days, for Arsenal, even being in a financial position way beyond any that could have been dreamed of a decade ago is simply not enough.

© http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/jim ... 14123.html

[JordanTheGunner]

Wenger isn't the problem. If anything, he's helping us float. You could say he is satisfied himself, but unless we get Fergie or Mourinho, nobody can keep Arsenal floating the way Wenger has done.

I've used this phrase before and I will keep on using it. Fergie or Mourinho couldn't do Wenger's job but Wenger could quite easily do either of those jobs.

[Angelito]

^ I'd suppose it's true about Mourinho; not true about Fergie.

2010/2011 was there on the table for us to win. United didn't win it. We lost it. At the end, Fergie took his poor side and won the PL and reached the final of the CL. Last season, the difference in quality between City and United was as apparent as the sky; yet, City only won on GD.

Fergie can do any job. I'll agree on Mou.

[Plymouth Gooner]

Wenger isn't the problem. If anything, he's helping us float. You could say he is satisfied himself, but unless we get Fergie or Mourinho, nobody can keep Arsenal floating the way Wenger has done.

I've used this phrase before and I will keep on using it. Fergie or Mourinho couldn't do Wenger's job but Wenger could quite easily do either of those jobs.

If Mourinho had been in charge of our team in the 2010-2011 season we'd have won the league. We had an excellent squad but they were poorly organised IMO.

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

All these years it was Wenger's refusal to sign those additional couple of players to add to the strength and depth of the squad which cost us trophies but it will be different this year as we seriously need 2-3 players in addition to Giroud and Podolski to fight for the title with RVP's departure being imminent.

This will the first year when we will not have a genuine world class player [Sagna may be] to pull us through.

This season will be real test of Wenger's managerial credentials as he has to recoup those 30 goals the RVP scored in the league with a collective contribution.

This season will be a real test of Wenger's motivational skills with players not having a messiah to look up to.

This season will be real test of Wenger's character as he will have to deal with a revamped Chelsea and a Scum side under manager with a point to prove plus a 50-60 million pound transfer kitty at his disposal.

This season will be real test of Wenger's organizational skills with him having to rely more on tactics/organization than individual brilliance.

[Zedie]

You make a good point AF - this season more than any, we will have to really rely on a team effort to get us through. There can be no looking to one player for inspiration again, they've all got to up their game. In a sense, we've been doing that for quite a while now, in that we look to one player to bail us out consistently (rvp, cesc, Henry etc).

Our play has become too polarised through one stand out player too often. Now is the time for change though, new stars will emerge, new heroes will come to the front to make a difference in games.

There was dispair when Henry left, we were in disarray when cesc and nasri left and many tipped us to do a liverfool. We didn't. Yes we turned to rvp for inspiration this season, but this is a guy who couldnt contribute at all properly prior to this season.

I know some will try and point to the fact that he scored the most goals for us bleh bleh bleh, but they neglect to mention that if you took aguero or Rooneys goals out of their sides, where would they be?

If rvp wants to force a move, let him go and good luck to him, thanks for forcing us to spend massive Wong on a medical centre, but the point remains, we will not wither up and die because a one season wonder (in actual playing time terms) leaves.

This is the arsenal muthafuckas!!!

[Plymouth Gooner]

This season will be real test of Wenger's organizational skills with him having to rely more on tactics/organization than individual brilliance.

If we are relying on Wenger's tactical expertise then we're screwed!

[Est83]

I don't think it's a case of "this season now more than ever"... I think we looked more screwed this time last year.

Cesc was so much more influential than RvP, and the replacement players of him and Samir the Snake came too late to have any effect in the opening games.

Minus the injuries and bad start from 'settling in' this time round, in my opinion we'll be a much improved team unit this season.

I've never seen an Arsenal side under Wenger play less coherantly and with as little creativity as the team did last year. The bulk of the team will kick on from last season, gel, and hopefully play some more fluid stuff. With that should come the typical Arsenal goals coming from all over the pitch, and less pressure on the new man up front to replace the irreplacable... although I also think he looks mustard and will get upwards of 20 goals this season.

[Arsenal~Fanatic]

I don't think it's a case of "this season now more than ever"... I think we looked more screwed this time last year.

Cesc was so much more influential than RvP, and the replacement players of him and Samir the Snake came too late to have any effect in the opening games.

Minus the injuries and bad start from 'settling in' this time round, in my opinion we'll be a much improved team unit this season.

I've never seen an Arsenal side under Wenger play less coherantly and with as little creativity as the team did last year. The bulk of the team will kick on from last season, gel, and hopefully play some more fluid stuff. With that should come the typical Arsenal goals coming from all over the pitch, and less pressure on the new man up front to replace the irreplacable... although I also think he looks mustard and will get upwards of 20 goals this season.

Point is , we have completely new strikers from foreign leagues, with no prior PL experience. Now i am not saying we will go in to oblivion because of one player rather that the failure to replace that bloke directly/indirectly is going to have some telling effect. Now with all due respect to the players we have, who imo are good enough for a 4th spot, how many of them are worthy of competing in a title winning side?

Our GK- has potential but had a below par season and a poor euros with his confidence at an all time low.

Wilshere is coming back from a long term injury and it would be safe to assume he wouldn't be a central figure in the first half of the season.

If Walcott leaves then we need to find another ten goals and assists from somewhere. O.K he may be not top quality but he scores goals and assists.

The Cesc shaped hole still persists with a new Van Persie shaped one making its appearance.

Newcastle did brilliantly under Pardew with lesser acclaimed players but the manager got them playing with brilliant fluidity and solidity. That is the point i am making. Can Wenger do that ? Can he turn us in to a team playing collectively rather than on individual brilliance? Time will tell the true story.