Sol Campbell is how old? Silvestre is how old?

Rafael(19), Rooney(24), Nani(24), Valencia(24), Evans(22) are all starters for Man Utd and they are under 25.
Whatz your point?

Ask dudu who believes Arsenal has the youngest players in the solar system. I gave him standard line-up that would start barring injuries.

In a Bayern line up we have Badstuber 21, Muller 20 who are uber regulars. yet no one would suggest we are a young team. Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Gomez are all under 27yrs.

Barca has Messi, Pedro, Busquets, Pique who are regulars all under 23. yet no one calls them a young team. Alves, Iniesta are all mid 20's as well

But Arsenal is a young side, the youngest and when they grow up in 2045, they would rule Jupiter

Dudu - was United not WINNING before Glazer's debt??

If anything, Glazer's debt has HELD BACK United and not helped them ONE BIT!!

The club was SELF SUFFICIENT, not OWING ANYONE and RAKING IN money, hence Arsenal wanting to copy them.

Exclude Glazers' debt from any analysis - Utd was highly competitive before they even dreamed of buying the club.

man Utd didnt win anything before Glazer beckham, Scholes Giggs Keane were all bought with Dangote I mean Adenugas Glazers debt.

We are bulding a stadium, We have a young team, Chelsea wins with gra gra, Man Utd wins with ojoro, Arsene wenGAY is better than all Onigbindes in the bizniz,

We would win NEXT SEASON!!!!!

Dudu simply doesn't get it unfortunately - to mention the Glazer debt is the worst error one can make.

Utd's owners are in debt because they bought the club with debt - anyone else can come on and buy the club off their hands.

Despite the debt, Utd continues to spend, attract the best young talent and continues to win. Yet someone is telling me debt is the issue.

@Debosky

Why do you always take things out of context? I'll start questioning your grammatical skills. did you read this at all? or is someone just trying to make noise?
This was what I wrote in the earlier discussion with Sauron.

besides you always had a competitive squad even before then anyway, it was not like we were winning the league every year and you lot somewhere mid table, you even had a better academy prior to Arsene's arrival and were always more attractive to young and upcoming English players prior to the 90 minute rule.

at no time did I insinuate that Manure were only winning because of the Glazer debt. I only pointed out to Sauron that we have not been spending anything near what they have been spending post Abramovic's arrival.

Sauron also cannot convince anyone that even though all of the Glazer debt isnt due to player purchases, the 130m net spend on players has no part at all to play in that debt profile as well as their high wages.

Like I said, I don't begrudge them their trophies but if he can make fun of our 5 season lack of trophies, I can also make fun of their debt as the current situation of both clubs are as results of decisions taken at the board level of both clubs as to their future directions.

chic2pimp:

Yes but the secret is as clear as daylight, pay Stars the wages they deserved and trophy will come
But nooo, not Wengay he'll rather pay three 21 year old's £35,000 each rather than a quality player £100,000

Wenger will not pay these kinds of wages and transfer fees becos its unsustainable and also because the club doesn't have the money, is this so hard to comprehend?

chic2pimp:

Ofcourse it is bound to have an effect however that still does not justify the years of trophylessness, or does it?
Imagine not even a CC to show for it while the likes of Spurs and Pompey have won trophies during this same period

Have Spurs and Pompey also been competing in Europe? have they had to play the same amount of matches as Arsenal had to? would you in all honesty even compare a club like Pompey to Villa who though havent won anything in the same period have consistently finished ahead of Pompey in the league? Why do yu like to mix up issues when yu're only bent on scoring cheap points?

chic2pimp:

It's not the way I see it, it's the way it is.
As you said yourself winning trophies and making profit should not be mutually exclusive however Wengay has you lot believing that is should.

It is the way you see it, the only fact here is that Arsenal haven't won anything in 5 seasons, and that Chelsea and Manure as well as a a good number of other clubs have spent more than Arsenal in recent times, everything else that stems from these are matters of opinion and conjecture

On a lighter note, you guys are just down right mean on nairaland. Eyoniggar is still yet to return after that verbal sodomization

duduspace:

@Debosky

Why do you always take things out of context? I'll start questioning your grammatical skills. did you read this at all? or is someone just trying to make noise?
This was what I wrote in the earlier discussion with Sauron.
at no time did I insinuate that Manure were only winning because of the Glazer debt. I only pointed out to Sauron that we have not been spending anything near what they have been spending post Abramovic's arrival.

Ok - my apologies. You've given NO cogent reason for us not spending in that time though - Utd has spent DESPITE the Glazer debt, have won titles and cups and their debts are REDUCING now. So kindly explain why Wenger couldn't spend and reduce the debt if Utd has managed to do so.

Forget the 'premiership era' costs - kindly show us stats of how much the clubs (Utd and Arsenal) have comparatively spent from 2004/05 (when we STILL had a VERY competitive squad) till date and then let's talk.

It is too easy to muddle up data by looking over the premiership era as a total.

Like I've clearly said, Wenger has lost the plot since circa 2007, and not the premiership era per se.

WELCOME TO THE EMIRATES REMIX

ALANTA STYLE   ;


[flash=500,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEwozoSNCc&hl=en_GB&fs=1[/flash]

If you look at a club like Olympique Lyon They have managed to remain competitive in both home and Europe while spending big and selling big.

They sold Essien, Diarra, Benzema etc and have replaced them with Cissoko (15m), Lisandro Lopez (24m), Michel Bastos (18m), Makoun (14m), Bafetimbi Gomis(13m) another 10m got them Hugo Lloris who replaced Coupet and is one of the top 5 keepers in Europe at the moment at the moment, In CL semi with a 50-50 chance of playing the finals and still in the race for Lique 1

Would you tell me Lyon makes more money or are they richer than Arsenal I dont know of any Arab sugar daddy with Lyon

dayokanu:

If you look at a club like Olympique Lyon They have managed to remain competitive in both home and Europe while spending big and selling big.

They sold Essien, Diarra, Benzema etc and have replaced them with Cissoko (15m), Lisandro Lopez (24m), Michel Bastos (18m), Makoun (14m), Bafetimbi Gomis(13m) another 10m got them Hugo Lloris who replaced Coupet and is one of the top 5 keepers in Europe at the moment at the moment, In CL semi with a 50-50 chance of playing the finals and still in the race for Lique 1

Would you tell me Lyon makes more money or are they richer than Arsenal I dont know of any Arab sugar daddy with Lyon

Don't muddle up issues here DK, we are talking about the PL here and the effect of Abramovic's money. Did Lyon achieve anything in Europe during this period? wasnt it generally accepted that the English clubs were dominating until this season?

debosky:

I hope for an upset every night, but realistically, I am relying on Utd, Villa and others to do so and not Portsmouth.

Don't be silly - Portsmouth will be relegated willy nilly there's nothing to fight for.

That's the situation NOW, but things can always change. . . .I still remember watching Premier League Preview on Friday night, they were saying the same about Chelski. . .all it takes is one freak game and things change again.

I ain't backing off - I still firmly believe the Premiership will end up in the Emiraati this season.

BUT, if that doesn't happen, I am still glad we've kept in the race longer than at any point since 2004.

Debosky, at what point did you lose your FAITH? 

duduspace:

Sauron also cannot convince anyone that even though all of the Glazer debt isnt due to player purchases, the 130m net spend on players has no part at all to play in that debt profile as well as their high wages.

You still don't understand this debt issue. . . .

The Glazers secured loans with heavy interest repayments to buy the club and then used the club(they were yet to buy) as collateral.
They have not spent a dime on Man Utd since 2005. They took loans from the banks to buy the shares of the other directors to push for a takeover.
That was how the debt became HUGE. Up until 2005, United owed no one and they generated their own income organically.

arkinses:

On a lighter note, you guys are just down right mean on nairaland. Eyoniggar is still yet to return after that verbal sodomization

As soon as Debosky replied him, he just couldn't help it, he had to ban himself.

chamotex:

WELCOME TO THE EMIRATES REMIX

ALANTA STYLE   ;


[flash=500,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEwozoSNCc&hl=en_GB&fs=1[/flash]

Those 2 kids are Wenger's next prodigies. The Fat One is the new goalkeeper.

4 Play:

Those 2 kids are Wenger's next prodigies. The Fat One is the new goalkeeper.

He should be a good goalie, just look at the way he does his fingers.

chamotex:

WELCOME TO THE EMIRATES REMIX

ALANTA STYLE ;


[flash=500,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bEwozoSNCc&hl=en_GB&fs=1[/flash]

buauahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

im embarrasing myself in the library!!!

o gawd *bangs table* i love kids!

Don't muddle up issues here DK, we are talking about the PL here and the effect of Abramovic's money. Did Lyon achieve anything in Europe during this period? wasnt it generally accepted that the English clubs were dominating until this season?

How is Lyons performance in Europe different from Arsenals?
Both from time to time eliminate bigger clubs and stutter in the knockout stages.
While Lyon has been selling in droves, they also buy big too.

but wenGAY wants a ready excuse for Failure If they lose its " We are a young team and we are actually punching above our weight",

If they win its " We won with little buys"

In the PL you talk of post Abramovic where the specimens are

Man utd who have been winning trophies when Abramovic was on Social security and living in section 8 houses.

Liverpool who won the CL and FA cup in that time

If Lyon can do it, Bayern can do it

debosky:

Ok - my apologies. You've given NO cogent reason for us not spending in that time though - Utd has spent DESPITE the Glazer debt, have won titles and cups and their debts are REDUCING now. So kindly explain why Wenger couldn't spend and reduce the debt if Utd has managed to do so.

Forget the 'premiership era' costs - kindly show us stats of how much the clubs (Utd and Arsenal) have comparatively spent from 2004/05 (when we STILL had a VERY competitive squad) till date and then let's talk.

It is too easy to muddle up data by looking over the premiership era as a total.

Like I've clearly said, Wenger has lost the plot since circa 2007, and not the premiership era per se.

The stats still show that if you look at the figures since the move to the stadium, we've had a net spend of -9m annually (averaging). whereas prior to moving we had a net spend of 5m so the fact that our spending has reduced is not contestable, thats effectively a 14m differential per annum while we sold off older players on bigger contracts and blooded the young players. That might look small but over the 5 year period since the move, in player terms, we're talking of about 5 Arshavin class players, just imagine what that would have meant to this squad?

Remember also that during this same period, Manure's wage bill outgrew ours by 25m (possibly larger now)

                                              Before                            After
Total cost of players in:         199m                                 71m
Total from players out:           132m                                105m
Net spend:                               67m                                -34m
net spend/ season                   5m                                 -9m


I have already supplied those figures you asked for in an earlier post, though I had to come up with it myself off the cuff during the middle of the season, I'll find time to paste it here, but I don't even see what it will do, you've already come to the conclusion that Arsene is the reason we aren't winning trophies.

And don't for once be fooled into thinking all is fine and dandy with Manure, the minute they stop winning (probably as soon as this season) they'll be in serious trouble, they are presently like someone earning 300 pounds per month but has a maxed out 3000 credit limit card they can't win the UCL every season and neither will they have a gullible Madrid to buy CR7 from them every year.
They'll be paying 45m annually in interests alone till 2017 and they still have to pay the capital of about 500m on their bonds while they still have another 200m+ owed to banks. They are worse off than the likes of Oceanic bank and their loan exposure. Why exactly do you think the Red knights are getting jittery? their debts could spiral out of control anytime soon. Was anyone aware of the keg of gunpowder Pompey were sitting on until this season? mind you Pompey's debts were only in the 100-150m range but everything blew open when they couldn't find someone to buy the club and take on the debt and Liverpool's debt is only in the 250-300m range and they are already feeling the squeeze but Manure's debt is in the 700m range.
I am not saying Manure will ever go into Administration (that is not likely even though I might exaggerate it sometime to rile Sauron) but the debt will have to be brought under control at some point in time, it simply cannot go on, the recent financial controls being proposed by UEFA is also making it more difficult for club owners to put money into the club in form of loans, they are even trying to discourage converting such loans into equity as Abramovic did to wipe off Chelsea's debts.

You should always leave when the ovation is loudest.
The same manager that stunned us with a 49 unbeaten run is now a laughing stock.

Another interesting write-up setting the history of Arsenal straight.
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/2010/04/this-team-will-have-its-day/

Interesting article and a nice summary of the season, but I don't agree with all the conclusions. This is the same team that was being heralded only last week as having had the most number of late winning goals and attesting to the mental toughness of the squad. If some people can forget all that because of a late collapse at Wigan I can't.
The question you should ask yourself is, Bendtner was playing only because RVP wasn't fit, he should have no problem in motivating himself for a match as his 9 goals in 11 games show.
On the day against Wigan, there were a number of individual errors but on the whole I think this squad had been dragging itself for a while and just didn't have enough strenght to get over the finishing line.

dudu,

On the issue of the late goals, as much as we all know that they were a symbol of mental strenght, they were sorta unwanted in some other games.
I will go through some of these fixtures taking back from Jan this year

This team has a penchant for self destruction. I made a jest when we beat Porto that the second gol we scored them was reminiscent of mistakes Clichy makes that costs us games

03 Sun    The FA Cup A West Ham United   2  1    

 
A late goal from a Vela assist to kill this game.

09 Sat    Barclays Premier League H Everton   2  2  

We were lucky to get this point. Denilson nearly killed off with his antics. rosicky lost the ball which came all the way to pienaar. who can foget the unmarked osman

17 Sun    Barclays Premier League A Bolton Wanderers   2  0    

super captain

20 Wed    Barclays Premier League H Bolton Wanderers   4  2    

denilson conceding a pen. we had to come from behind to take this after 20 mins we were down 2 - 0.yes it showed strength but was it necessary,  no?

2

4 Sun    The FA Cup A Stoke City   1  3    

Fabianski and Denilson again,

27 Wed    Barclays Premier League A Aston Villa   0  0    

The decline continued in a game we dominated

31 Sun    Barclays Premier League H Manchester United   1  3

   
no need to say more,  AW now supposedly bids for Sorensen and Loic Remy,  hogwash
February    

07 Sun    Barclays Premier League A Chelsea   0  2    

hahh,

10 Wed    Barclays Premier League H Liverpool   1  0    

yes this was tough so i give you this

17 Wed    UEFA Champions League A FC Porto   1  2    

 
Calamity Fabianski again!

20 Sat    Barclays Premier League H Sunderland   2  0    

tough game,  we edged it too

27 Sat    Barclays Premier League A Stoke City   3  1  

down to stoke in 4 mins from the same Delap trow,  unncessary dudu. we struggled, tackled were tackled and even rambo broke his leg. That can never happen in some games by Chelsea n man U they kill the game and the opponents are just straw,
 
March      

06 Sat    Barclays Premier League H Burnley   3  1  

   it took a gol from aa23 to finally give us a breather .in a game we shd have dominated after letting them come into the game early in the second half,  silvestre again.nicky missed 40000 chances in this game,

09 Tue    UEFA Champions League H FC Porto   5  0    

dominated porto, 

13 Sat    Barclays Premier League A Hull City   2  1    

we found it so difficult against 10 man burnley though we had all the possession.not goood for me.

20 Sat    Barclays Premier League H West Ham United   2  0  

 now this is strenght,,  holding out for 50 mins with a man down

27 Sat    Barclays Premier League A Birmingham   1  1    

can not hold a 10 min lead for a point after nasri scored,  not good enuff from flappymunia

31 Wed    UEFA Champions League H Barcelona   2  2    

the unravelling continued
April      

03 Sat    Barclays Premier League H Wolverhampton   1  0    

another late gol in a game we dominated

06 Tue    UEFA Champions League A Barcelona   1  4    

  all hail the messiless one,

14 Wed    Barclays Premier League A Tottenham Hotspur   1  2  

  again cant turn possesion in to results and defensive errors from the keeper for the first gol,  he did not need to make that punch.

18 Sun    Barclays Premier League A Wigan Athletic   2  3

   Oh the horror,  conceding 3 gols in 0 mins

Some late goals were a resolve from the team but not all,

On nicky i know he will come good but lack of compettiion for places in the team breeds complacency. he knows he is the top attacking option [size=4pt]as he is not a striker to me [/size] so why shd he put in the chances,
he is a striker and strikers do one thing and one thing only,  score goals not as AW said,

“It is a possible idea. But it depends on the personality and the quality of your midfielders. If you have many players who can score that is OK but overall I still believe that strikers are very, very important," he told his club's official website.

“Still we used to say the midfielders are the guys who bring the strikers alive but what is happening now is the strikers are the guys who can bring your midfielders alive. They come to score from deeper positions and you can really do that with one-man up front.

“It is basically the efficiency of the team and the number of goals the team scores. I believe if the whole side scores goals then, for me, the striker is good.

“ Robin van Persie, when he played we always scored three or four goals. He didn’t score too many [himself] but he made a lot. Not only with passing, but with movement and the quality of that movement. Strikers open walls for the deeper players. That is a big part in the modern game.” 20 Jan 2010
http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2171/premier-league/2010/01/20/1753452/arsene-wenger-highlights-changing-role-of-strikers-at

"We are not close to signing anybody and we are so focused on the [Bolton] game that we forget a little bit to speak about transfers," said Wenger.

Our talks are more focused on 'when is he back?' and it looks like any player we can get back is like a transfer because we have not seen some players this season, like Walcott, like Bendtner."

With only 11 days until the end of the transfer window, Wenger also intends to wait before deciding on whether to allow Jack Wilshere to go out on loan- 20 Jan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7029409/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-to-delay-striker-signing-until-he-assesses-options.html

Now,  he moans  

Wenger - Striker injuries cost us points

By Chris Harris

Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal would have "a few more points" had their strikers not spent so long on the sidelines this season.

Robin Van Persie is back in the squad for Wednesday's North London derby but the Dutchman has endured a five-month lay-off after suffering ankle ligament damage in November.

His absence was exacerbated by an injury to Nicklas Bendtner at the end of October which sidelined the Dane for nearly three months, forcing Andrey Arshavin - now injured himself - into an unfamiliar central role for a sizeable chunk of the season.

Arsenal have just about kept pace with the Premier League leaders despite their injury woes but Wenger suspects that his team might be looking down on the rest of the top flight if they had kept their strikers fit for longer.

"If you look at our goalscoring record, it has gone down when our strikers have been injured," said Wenger at his pre-match press conference.

"But I am as well proud that we are still in the fight despite all the injured players we have had throughout the whole season.

"It is difficult to say what would have happened had they not been injured. But I am confident we would have a few more points."-14 April
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-striker-injuries-cost-us-points

[size=20pt]isnt this a trend of hogwash?[/size]

duduspace:

Another interesting write-up setting the history of Arsenal straight.
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/2010/04/this-team-will-have-its-day/

another load of hogwash, see RM though spending 300m USD is not sure of winning a title so man its not abt the titles or barenness.

My point is the ethos, the lack of seeing some games tthorugh as he says football is a game of 90mins, or 'self-destructing' in key games.
Lets do a quick review,

We are 71 points now
If we had taken the taken the game at Westham, Burnley, B'ham, Wigan (9 points) and at least drawn at Sunderland we will be at 81 points now tooping the table though we lost to our rivals home and away

The squad players are not good enough and can be cleared out.
Also Fab,Song,Gallas,Verma played too many games making them burn out by the biz end when we need them. A little rotation without loss of quality[color=#990000][/color] helps,
The club shd tell us they are interested in keeping us competitive in the top 4 and not push the extra for the title as the amount spent really does not guarantee a title,

On to better things now, anyone who wants Arsene out can match to Emirates to eject him themselves (if the stewards don't eject them first). 

But pause awhile before yu undertake that action, lets examine what the effect of the new squad rules willl be on teams in the PL starting from next season, then maybe Arsene's foresight won't look so dumb.

If you aint aware, from next season, all PL teams will be required to name a 25 man (over 21 years old) PL squad with at least 8 Home grown players in it, the definition of HG is a player that has been trained in England/Wales for a period of 3 years between the age of 16 and 21 years. You are however allowed to have an unlimited number of players 21 years and under.

This table shows how the "historical" top 4 clubs meet the quota, it is interesting that apart from the 8 that qualify for Arsenal, 5 others outside the 8 still qualify as HG players, most of those who qualify for Manure and Chelsea are old and are not likely to be playing anywhere near their peak in a few years time. Liverpool is the worst placed and will either have to buy from other English clubs or make up the spaces with some Under 21 players (some other clubs should be happy that they might get some of that 60m Rafa wants).
This rule will also have an effect on the players transfer trend over the summer as its no use going to buy more foreign players if yu wld only fall foul of the new rules, infact I'm guessing it had something to do with Fergie's hot pursuit of Smalling over the summer on hearing news that Arsene was interested in signing the player, I can't however relate it to the purchase of Diouf and Obertan or the new mexican guy as they all wouldnt qualify, maybe Sauron can enlighten us?

@Debo
This is also one of the reasons why it might not be a good idea to sell Vela as he qualifies as Home grown whereas Eduardo does not. Some rumors are also coming up that we might not lose Merida as initially thought as he would not be an home grown player if he goes back to spain thereby giving him more incentive to try to make a career with us.

Chelsea              Arsenal           Liverpool             Man Utd
         
1. Terry            1. Bendtner        1. Johnson            1. Neville
2. Lampard          2. Clichy          2. Gerrard            2. Ferdinand
3. Cole             3. Djourou         3. Carragher          3. Brown
4. Turnbull         4. Gibbs           4. Spearing           4. Owen
5. Mancienne        5. Traore          5. Insua              5. Rooney
6. J.Cole           6. Song                                  6. Giggs
7. Mikel            7. Cesc                                  7. Foster     
8. Hutchinson       8. Walcott                               8. Carrick
--------------------------------------------------------------         
9. Cech             9. Sol             9. Cavalieri          9. Scholes
10. Ivanovic       10. Senderos        10. Agger             10. O'Shea
11. Alex           11. Vela            11. Torres            11. Evans
12. Zhirkov        12. Almunia         12. Aurelio           12. Fletcher 
13. Essien         13. Van Persie      13. Benayoun          13. Gibson
14. Malouda        14. Fabianski       14. Maxi              14. VDS
15. Drogba         15. Sagna           15. Kuyt              15. Kuszczak
16. Anelka         16. Vermaelen       16. Babel             16. Evra
17. Bosingwa       17. Gallas          17. Mascherano        17. Hargreaves
18. Matic          18. Silvestre       18. Lucas             18. Anderson
19. Kalou          19. Diaby           19. Riera             19. Berbatov
20. Ballack        20. Rosicky         20. Ngog              20. Park
21. Deco           21. Nasri           21. Reina             21. Vidic
22. Carvalho       22. Arshavin        22. El Zhar           22. Nani
23. Ferraira       23. Eboue           23. Skrtel            23. Valencia
24. Hilario        24. Eduardo         24. Aquilani          24. Tosic
25. Belletti       25. Denilson        25. Nemeth            25 Obertan

find below a quote from A40 3 years ago

A-40 (m)
Lounging in J-girl/Moonstone's ample bosom
Posts: 11764

Offline

Re: Arsenal £15million Swoop For Argentinian Striker Rodrigo Palacio
« #13 on: July 19, 2007, 03:14 PM »

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eduardo will deliver just watch

duduspace:

Yes, it is the very reason why the club has not won a meaningful trophy as you say but has been in the top 4 every season.

@duduspace,
I wouldn't want to agree that the above listed reason is the only one.
It's plain and simple.You don't have quality on the pitch.
I'm no financial person,but I agree with Sauron:Portsmouth and Villa are fractions the size of Arsenal in terms of revenue.
The Pompey case was just down to maladministration in the sense that the owners predicted a boom from the 2008 FA Cup win.Villa doesn't have the cash yet somehow they made it to Wembley twice this season.IThat should say something about the argument of spending/not spending
Like I said before,if fans cannot have their satisfaction after shelling out their hard-earned pounds to support the club at matches,it won't make any sense to keep saving on the financial end and not have anything to show for it.If the board is honest,they would want to reciprocate the fans who are partly responsible for the revenue from gate takings and replica/merchandising.
Spending a little cash shouldn't put the club in jeopardy.And Comparing the club's finances to United is a bit unfair,because United is being saddled by debt from the Glazer's purchase,not by the day-to-day running,cus we make profits each year.I think a club the size of Arsenal,given their antecedents shouldn't be starving the fans of trophies.Cus at the end of the day,footie and Arsenal,and any other club for that matter  is nothing without the fans.The profits you so much emphasize on,would not be there if the fans were not there.

duduspace:

On to better things now, anyone who wants Arsene out can match to Emirates to eject him themselves (if the stewards don't eject them first). 

But pause awhile before yu undertake that action, lets examine what the effect of the new squad rules willl be on teams in the PL starting from next season, then maybe Arsene's foresight won't look so dumb.

If you aint aware, from next season, all PL teams will be required to name a 25 man (over 21 years old) PL squad with at least 8 Home grown players in it, the definition of HG is a player that has been trained in England/Wales for a period of 3 years between the age of 16 and 21 years. You are however allowed to have an unlimited number of players 21 years and under.

This table shows how the "historical" top 4 clubs meet the quota, it is interesting that apart from the 8 that qualify for Arsenal, 5 others outside the 8 still qualify as HG players, most of those who qualify for Manure and Chelsea are old and are not likely to be playing anywhere near their peak in a few years time. Liverpool is the worst placed and will either have to buy from other English clubs or make up the spaces with some Under 21 players (some other clubs should be happy that they might get some of that 60m Rafa wants).
This rule will also have an effect on the players transfer trend over the summer as its no use going to buy more foreign players if yu wld only fall foul of the new rules, infact I'm guessing it had something to do with Fergie's hot pursuit of Smalling over the summer on hearing news that Arsene was interested in signing the player, I can't however relate it to the purchase of Diouf and Obertan or the new mexican guy as they all wouldnt qualify, maybe Sauron can enlighten us?

@Debo
This is also one of the reasons why it might not be a good idea to sell Vela as he qualifies as Home grown whereas Eduardo does not. Some rumors are also coming up that we might not lose Merida as initially thought as he would not be an home grown player if he goes back to spain thereby giving him more incentive to try to make a career with us.

Chelsea              Arsenal           Liverpool             Man Utd
         
1. Terry            1. Bendtner        1. Johnson            1. Neville
2. Lampard          2. Clichy          2. Gerrard            2. Ferdinand
3. Cole             3. Djourou         3. Carragher          3. Brown
4. Turnbull         4. Gibbs           4. Spearing           4. Owen
5. Mancienne        5. Traore          5. Insua              5. Rooney
6. J.Cole           6. Song                                  6. Giggs
7. Mikel            7. Cesc                                  7. Foster     
8. Hutchinson       8. Walcott                               8. Carrick
--------------------------------------------------------------         
9. Cech             9. Sol             9. Cavalieri          9. Scholes
10. Ivanovic       10. Senderos        10. Agger             10. O'Shea
11. Alex           11. Vela            11. Torres            11. Evans
12. Zhirkov        12. Almunia         12. Aurelio           12. Fletcher 
13. Essien         13. Van Persie      13. Benayoun          13. Gibson
14. Malouda        14. Fabianski       14. Maxi              14. VDS
15. Drogba         15. Sagna           15. Kuyt              15. Kuszczak
16. Anelka         16. Vermaelen       16. Babel             16. Evra
17. Bosingwa       17. Gallas          17. Mascherano        17. Hargreaves
18. Matic          18. Silvestre       18. Lucas             18. Anderson
19. Kalou          19. Diaby           19. Riera             19. Berbatov
20. Ballack        20. Rosicky         20. Ngog              20. Park
21. Deco           21. Nasri           21. Reina             21. Vidic
22. Carvalho       22. Arshavin        22. El Zhar           22. Nani
23. Ferraira       23. Eboue           23. Skrtel            23. Valencia
24. Hilario        24. Eduardo         24. Aquilani          24. Tosic
25. Belletti       25. Denilson        25. Nemeth            25 Obertan

Your list is dodgy. . . . . .Obertan is exempted.
He was under 21 in January 2010 so we are the strongest in the league if it comes to the 25-man-squad-cap.
Other exempted players also include. . . .Macheda, Welbeck, Fabio, Rafael, Cleverly, Smalling and Joshua King.
Five of those have already copped Champions League debut so we are very FINE.

Eastbay:

@duduspace,
I wouldn't want to agree that the above listed reason is the only one.
It's plain and simple.You don't have quality on the pitch.
I'm no financial person,but I agree with Sauron:Portsmouth and Villa are fractions the size of Arsenal in terms of revenue.
The Pompey case was just down to maladministration in the sense that the owners predicted a boom from the 2008 FA Cup win.Villa doesn't have the cash yet somehow they made it to Wembley twice this season.IThat should say something about the argument of spending/not spending
Like I said before,if fans cannot have their satisfaction after shelling out their hard-earned pounds to support the club at matches,it won't make any sense to keep saving on the financial end and not have anything to show for it.If the board is honest,they would want to reciprocate the fans who are partly responsible for the revenue from gate takings and replica/merchandising.
Spending a little cash shouldn't put the club in jeopardy.And Comparing the club's finances to United is a bit unfair,because United is being saddled by debt from the Glazer's purchase,not by the day-to-day running,cus we make profits each year.I think a club the size of Arsenal,given their antecedents shouldn't be starving the fans of trophies.Cus at the end of the day,footie and Arsenal,and any other club for that matter  is nothing without the fans.The profits you so much emphasize on,would not be there if the fans were not there.

I agree its definitely not the only reason, issues of life are never in a binary format of yes or no (despite people atimes making it out to be so). Arsene has his mistakes as well as any human being out there, but within the resources available to him,  the man has done a damned good job.

@duduspace,
It's not that Arsene's not done a good job,but I remember some story about Arsene having a certain "war chest" to spend on,meaning that money was allocated to him to spend.It's not like the board has to sweep through the office to find loose change.

~Sauron~:

Your list is dodgy. . . . . .Obertan is exempted.
He was under 21 in January 2010 so we are the strongest in the league if it comes to the 25-man-squad-cap.
Other exempted players also include. . . .Macheda, Welbeck, Fabio, Rafael, Cleverly, Smalling and Joshua King.
Five of those have already copped Champions League debut so we are very FINE.

The list is fine, I never passed a comment on those eligible for Manure so I didn't put a figure on it, but the fact still remains that most of those who qualify for you are in the near retirement cadre.
Here is a clearer picture of how each club is affected, based on the present squads:

[Quote]
Arsenal with their bumper group of exciting young talent will be largely unaffected next season with their current squad of 30 holding 18 home grown players 7 of which can be registered as under 21. This remarkably will still include the likes of Theo Walcott and Carlos Vela who both turn 21 in March. The Problem for Wenger however will come in the second season of the new regulations where many of his young gunners will no longer be eligible for the B list.

Liverpool are the big four/five big losers with the rule change which, is hardly a surprise given Rafa’s penchant for importing Spanish players as if they were the cigarettes and wine on his bi-annual booze cruise to Bilbao. Liverpool have faced similar difficulties meeting UEFA’s quota of 8 home grown players in their 25 man Champions league squad. Enforcing the same rules in the Premier League leaves the Reds with 23 registered non ‘home-grown’ players fighting it out for 17 places. The Kop may not see Degan, Plessis, El Zhar, controversial keeper Itandje and even Dossena next season as a serious squad overhaul has to take place before a single player can enter into Anfield. Luckily though left- back Insua and striker Nemeth will be able to register in the secondary under 21 list. The cut off requirement here is that a player must be younger than 21 years old on the 1st January so both players will make it all be it by five and seven days respectively.

City’s neighbours Manchester United however are in a considerably better position. Their current squad of 35 houses 9 players under 21, including Macheda, Danny Welbeck and da Silva twins Fabio and Rafael. This means that the current squad will only need to lose one player in order to meet regulations. Richie De Laet and David Grey look most at risk as it stands.

Chelsea currently have a registered squad of 18 very talented non- home grown players and 11 home grown players, 4 of which will be under 21 years old come January 1st 2010. This means that only one player will be ineligible for the Premier League. Midfielder Nemanja Matić may well be the unlucky one left out, although as he can neither be sold nor loaned out he could face an uncertain future.  
[/quote]

Where Manure has 9 and Chelsea 11, we've got 18 and a lot of them already have PL experience or high level experience (which we've paid for in terms of some weird results) but stand to gain from going forwards.

A lot of our present crop did the double at U18 level confirming they are the best in the country, our next lot are already in the play offs for our regions academy league with 3 games to go (we might meet your lads if they are able to finish ahead of Blackburn or liverpool), we have gone ahead to bring the likes of Galindo and Wellington Silva in early enough so that they will qualify as HG players, so why should any Arsenal fan be pessimistic going into the future?

Who has laid this foundation? the same man who has kept us in the top 4 while completely changing our system ahead of all these rule changes. While you lot were busy buying big name players, this man kept on bringing young ones through, you lot should be very afraid of just how much capacity Arsenal has for dominating in the future.
The good thing is that once this present generation Cesc/Song/Diaby/Clichy (in their early 20s) win something, we already would have a conveyor belt going like Barcelona with the next generation of JET/Wilshere/Lansbury/Coquelin already waiting in the wings and then the set of Afobe/Aneke/Miquel/Freeman after that. And those who don't make it are still of a sufficient quality to sell for some good money in a market for which serious demand has now been created.

Eastbay:

@duduspace,
It's not that Arsene's not done a good job,but I remember some story about Arsene having a certain "war chest" to spend on,meaning that money was allocated to him to spend.It's not like the board has to sweep through the office to find loose change.

war chest, cash to splash, ready to swoop for a player. . . .few words that point to bulls#!t stories. Serious journos use serious language.

Eastbay:

@duduspace,
It's not that Arsene's not done a good job,but I remember some story about Arsene having a certain "war chest" to spend on,meaning that money was allocated to him to spend.It's not like the board has to sweep through the office to find loose change.

Eastbay, firstly don't believe everything you read in the papers, secondly no club will come out and tell you the true situation of finances in the club viz a viz money available for player signing or even if the club will go bust tomorrow. All yu'll hear is that there is money available, no one will give you exact figures. Besides, we have signed players like Vermaelen and Arshavin recently and our financial situation improves by the day so we don't have to sell the likes of Hleb or lose Flamini on a free like in 07/08.
We can now keep the core of our squad and improve it.

Cissoko (15m), Lisandro Lopez (24m), Michel Bastos (18m), Makoun (14m) 10m got Hugo Lloris

Are you telling me the players above are beyond Arsenal

dayokanu:

Cissoko (15m), Lisandro Lopez (24m), Michel Bastos (18m), Makoun (14m) 10m got Hugo Lloris

Are you telling me the players above are beyond Arsenal

Individually no, collectively I don't know but probably yes (what yu've got there is a cummulative value over 60m) as we've not spent over 20m in a single window in recent times. Besides, I don't think we need such wholesale changes to the squad.
But then one player doesn't make a team, as a player is only useful if he is able to take to the pitch.

^^ How much was spent on Arshavin or is that not recent enough?

Are you saying Arsenal cant afford one of the top 5 goalies in the world Hugo Lloris? How much did Chelsea buy Cech?,

Or Is Lyon richer than Arsenal or do they make more income?