Arsenal FC a very promising story

[Karabiner]

If Arsenal were able to sign Lewandowski in January do you think they would win the league and would the fans would be happy with Wenger?

they'd be 25-30 goals a season less giroud's goals closer

(then add a commanding centre back, a world class defensive midfielder)

i think a lot of fans would be happier with Wenger if the cash mountain was £50m not £200m and he wasn't so flipping stubborn

that may or may not be logical but many fans don't want to be stuck in 4th-5th, last 16 CL and with a glass ceiling on progress yet with £200m in the bank!

Do you really think armchair football fans, armed with their vast knowledge of managing football clubs, & equipped with a monster-sized rear view mirror, would EVER be happy with team selection, transfer policy & hows yer father of the team they support?

You can't run (successful) football clubs via a Fans Committee.

60000 fans last at least deserve some sort of explanation.

Armchair fans can gtf

For their £100 or whatever, they get to see a 90 minute football match, not the keys to the Personnel Department.

not just one game tho is it? It's been going on for years, and will have a knock on effect for the coming years.

If England lose their 4th champions league place do you think arsenal fans will be happy qualifying for the Europa league every year?

Arsenal fans won't be happy unless Arsenal with the EPL & CL. Every year. It's the nature of fans, is it not? Just because they don't do either, does not make the Club or the Manager a failure.

Arsenal fans are among the most fickle out there.

Even during the invincible season the fans were grumbling after a less than stellar display by the team leading to Wenger's remark about not being able to eat caviare every day.

[nirvana]

And to describe Arsenal as challenging for CL or EPL in the last few years is fantasy.

Don't think anybody did - s'why it's notionally a sad sad sad sad story

[George2Loose]

Fergie had the most money, then Chelsea had the most money, then City had the most money. Wenger never did have the most money and still made Arsenal title winners, cup winners Champs league finalists  etc

Don't know where I'd rank him as a manager versus others but I don't think hes underachieved

Implying success is simply down to money is pretty insulting those managers. Why even have managers if whoever chucks the most money at it wins?

It's not an implication, it's a fact that money is the biggest factor, if I've casually insulted mourinho and ferguson along the way , all the better. I like pellegrini though, nice hair

It's not a fact tho. Managers importance is sometimes overstated but I think your understating it somewhat. I guess if they don't matter then debating Wenger's merits is kinda pointless. They should get someone in pay them less and watch the team underachieve for another 10 years

[nirvana]

Fergie had the most money, then Chelsea had the most money, then City had the most money. Wenger never did have the most money and still made Arsenal title winners, cup winners Champs league finalists  etc

Don't know where I'd rank him as a manager versus others but I don't think hes underachieved

Implying success is simply down to money is pretty insulting those managers. Why even have managers if whoever chucks the most money at it wins?

It's not an implication, it's a fact that money is the biggest factor, if I've casually insulted mourinho and ferguson along the way , all the better. I like pellegrini though, nice hair

It's not a fact tho. Managers importance is sometimes overstated but I think your understating it somewhat. I guess if they don't matter then debating Wenger's merits is kinda pointless. They should get someone in pay them less and watch the team underachieve for another 10 years

If Fergie managed QPR for the same 25 years I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have won anything. For sure there's some correlation in most money means you might also get to pick from a better group of managers but the biggest factor is money - it's kinda irrefutable. Even Blackburn managed to win something when they spent more than everyone else for a time.

[George2Loose]

Man U were QPR when he arrived

[Graham C]

If we somehow beat Man U on Sunday, can we lose at least one of the new "sad"'s ?

[DungBeetle]

Man U were QPR when he arrived

Hardly.  Still able to buy players other clubs could not, it was just wasted.  Wage budget is obviously the biggest determinent of where a club is likely to finish in the league.

[George2Loose]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

[DungBeetle]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

Wages.  Wages. Wages.  Not one off transfer fees when you blow your TV money or proceeds from a star player sale.  The correlation between wages and success in the medium term is clear.  And Ferguson was always well backed in this regard.

[arbboy]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

Wages.  Wages. Wages.  Not one off transfer fees when you blow your TV money or proceeds from a star player sale.  The correlation between wages and success in the medium term is clear.  And Ferguson was always well backed in this regard.

Pretty much the long term. Kevin pullien is the racing post stat guru and he has plotted graphs for wages verses success since the epl started and it is virtually a total correlation between wages paid and success for the last twenty odd years without hardly any exceptions.  His graphs make pretty interesting reading. He always says backing the top three teams wages wise at 1/4 or whatever price it is at the start of the season to win the epl is literally stealing money.

[The Camel]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

Wages.  Wages. Wages.  Not one off transfer fees when you blow your TV money or proceeds from a star player sale.  The correlation between wages and success in the medium term is clear.  And Ferguson was always well backed in this regard.

Pretty much the long term. Kevin pullien is the racing post stat guru and he has plotted graphs for wages verses success since the epl started and it is virtually a total correlation between wages paid and success for the last twenty odd years without hardly any exceptions.  His graphs make pretty interesting reading. He always says backing the top three teams wages wise at 1/4 or whatever price it is at the start of the season to win the epl is literally stealing money.

QPR would never have gone down if wages = league position

[arbboy]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

Wages.  Wages. Wages.  Not one off transfer fees when you blow your TV money or proceeds from a star player sale.  The correlation between wages and success in the medium term is clear.  And Ferguson was always well backed in this regard.

Pretty much the long term. Kevin pullien is the racing post stat guru and he has plotted graphs for wages verses success since the epl started and it is virtually a total correlation between wages paid and success for the last twenty odd years without hardly any exceptions.  His graphs make pretty interesting reading. He always says backing the top three teams wages wise at 1/4 coupled or whatever price it is at the start of the season to win the epl is literally stealing money.

QPR would never have gone down if wages = league position

. They were one of the very few blots on the copy book when it came to the relatively smooth graph.

[Karabiner]

Spending sure has worked Spurs Liverpool qpr. The list goes on

Wages.  Wages. Wages.  Not one off transfer fees when you blow your TV money or proceeds from a star player sale.  The correlation between wages and success in the medium term is clear.  And Ferguson was always well backed in this regard.

Pretty much the long term. Kevin pullien is the racing post stat guru and he has plotted graphs for wages verses success since the epl started and it is virtually a total correlation between wages paid and success for the last twenty odd years without hardly any exceptions.  His graphs make pretty interesting reading. He always says backing the top three teams wages wise at 1/4 coupled or whatever price it is at the start of the season to win the epl is literally stealing money.

QPR would never have gone down if wages = league position

. They were one of the very few blots on the copy book when it came to the relatively smooth graph.

Maybe needed bungs to be added to the algorithm.

[mondatoo]

Can I just clarify the situation then now I've read the last few pages.

Fans should shut up because they have no relevance to the successful business model of the clubs and basically they aren't even required these days. That'll be those same fans who pay for Sky Sports who inturn pay the huge tv deals which are the biggest factor to these said businesses.

Obv I'm clearly missing something vital here since tikay is the main drumbeater of this idea and has more knowledge of the Sky tv side than I do, so what relevant bit am I missing please ?

[arbboy]

Can I just clarify the situation then now I've read the last few pages.

Fans should shut up because they have no relevance to the successful business model of the clubs and basically they aren't even required these days. That'll be those same fans who pay for Sky Sports who inturn pay the huge tv deals which are the biggest factor to these said businesses.

Obv I'm clearly missing something vital here since tikay is the main drumbeater of this idea and has more knowledge of the Sky tv side than I do, so what relevant bit am I missing please ?

The epl could financially operate fine without the sky money and any domestic ticket sales etc given the sheer scale of foreign TV deals for the epl.  To the business men they like it like this because they know now they don't have to bow to 'the English fans' who come out with this bullshit that the epl wouldn't exist without them when even season ticket holders nowadays contribute tiny % of revenue collectively compared to the good old days.  It's a global export product now

Lolapool could probably sell out to foreign fans alone some games.