Arsene Wenger's managerial acumen and his tactics in the transfer market have come under the scanner after Arsenal's poor run in the Premier League. With Arsenal's form faltering after the draw against Tottenham, many Arsenal "fans" started calling for Wenger's head, with many of them calling him "a liar."
Many "resources" on the internet which provide daily information about the club, along with opinions have also openly come out and criticised the man. While they have every right to do so, they have to look at the bigger picture.
The more I think about it, the more I tend to agree with my fellow Co-Community Leader that Arsenal simply don't have the money to spend in the transfer market.
Back in the summer, Arsene Wenger suffered the bitter disappointment of losing Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini—both of whom he trusted for a considerable amount of time, only to be left stranded after a season which promised a lot. He had to listen to excuses like "London is too noisy," and "I want to play for my dream club," along with many Arsenal fans.
The board constantly said in the summer that there was money available for Wenger to spend. For some reason though, it is very difficult to understand why Wenger wouldn't have used the money to improve his squad.
The reasoning for this is quite simple—the board views Arsenal as a very successful business model. Arsene Wenger finds young stars, makes them play attractive football and always makes the club qualify for the Champions League. The Emirates Stadium, with its improved capacity, has also generated heavy match day revenues—thereby increasing the club's profitability.
What the board has forgotten in this equation is the fans.
They can be forgiven for that as well. Not many fans really questioned Arsene Wenger's previous failures to win silverware, and they always stuck by him. Fans always felt that "Arsene Knows."
However today, they have turned against him.
Arsene Wenger always knew that this season was going to be a crucial one for the club. That is exactly why he wanted to sign the likes of Xabi Alonso and Gokhan Inler to reinforce his midfield. The former was seemingly priced out by Liverpool, while the latter used Arsenal as leverage to get a bumper deal at Udinese.
Things just didn't go right for a man who was always so successful in the transfer market.
12 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Vincent Chow 7 months ago
2003 until 2006, man united won neither the premieship nor the champions league. f.a. cup and carling cup success were obviously not enough for the man utd fans. they were calling for fergie's head also at that time. 3 years without a big trophy gave the great scot a lot of pressure. remember, during these 3 years, man utd had a very very inconsistent team, much like arsenal's now. yet, they had the money to buy in players like vidic, ferdinand, rooney etc. to bolster their squad. however, arsenal haven't and that is why it is taking a bit longer than expected for the fans.
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__Jay__ __Patel__ 7 months ago
It is important to note that Arsene Wenger has an Economics degree so understands teh nuances of football finances better than most.
The fact that Arsenal have an operating profit is also something to be admired, especially as they are still regarded in the 'Top 4'.
This is no easy feat and many lesser managers with more money at their disposal have faltered and failed in their quest for glory.
The final evidence for Arsene Wenger as a true great amongst managers is the quality of football that his team plays. The season Arsenal went unbeaten was accompanied by some of the most beautiful and breathtaking football ever witnessed.
"Form is temporary, class is permanenet". Unfortunately too many 'fans' focus on form.
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
Great work Shyam.
I have said it for a long time, why in the name of God would Wenger not spend money if he has got it. Basically I think he has got say £30m to spend but that has to include contract renewals as well. He got Nasri in the summer but then did not have enough left over to pay extra for Alonso or Barry and the board told him to basically sod off. I have an awful feeling that Wenger may only have about £15m to spend in the jan window if that.
I am not what has been termed an "Arsene knows best" person. First and foremost I support Arsenal, there was a club before Wenger and will be one after him. However the more I think about it, I feel he is a wronged man and the board are hiding behind him, either that or he is going senile - which is more likely in this world?
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agooner from goonerTV 7 months ago
I think the board, a very conservative bunch, is prepared to 'wait' on the revenue situation with the new stadium and other projects before funneling that money in to Arsene's war chest. I agree that as much as Arsene believes in developing young talent and bringing them up the ranks to the senior squad, he will also want to snatch up transfer window signings if he can make a good case for it.
The very real prospect of not finishing in the top 4 should 'scare' the board in to ensuring that they are providing the money Arsene requests. No one should really expect big transfers between the top 4 clubs, and while I know Arsene was interested, I never expected Rafa to sell Alonso to him.
Its not quite December yet, but already I am watching people starting to look to the January window to see what might be available to Arsene. Given the global financial situation and the relative health of the Arsenal PLC business proper, I would expect it to be somewhat of a perfect time for Arsene to get a 'bargain' seasoned defensive midfielder that will be a good match to Cesc.
Great article though. Arsenal are becoming a bit of a rarity in terms of their ownership situation, and the board seems very firm in the 'arsenal must run through your blood' belief in terms of who ultimately calls the shots.
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David Kim 7 months ago
the only problem with your logic is that we went hard after many players, in one case as far as having an offer accepted by the club and negotiating with the player, who declined to join us (Gokhan Inler from Udinese).
fact is, we were legitimately interested in a number of midfielders who would each have cost at least 10 million pounds - there is no way money prevented Wenger from buying players. I think the true factors were twofold - he had faith in guys like Denilson and Diaby to step up, and also he couldn't complete the signing of any of the players he went for (probably because he couldn't guarantee them a regular first team spot).
think about it from another angle - if Wenger's transfer budget were that limited, why would he spend 5 million pounds on Aaron Ramsey, a 17 year old who would be lucky to make 5 Premier League starts this season?
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
Fair points all but:
As stated by Shyam, Inler USED Arsenal to get a better contract, he had little of no intention of joining Arsenal.
Yes, Wenger did go out to buy a number of central midfielders but what is £10m nowadays, Everton paid more for Fellinni. Of course if Wenger got Alonso he would be guaranteed a start, Denilson had to step up and has done an ok job but is certainly not what was envisioned. Wenger has no choice for now but to have faith.
On Ramsey - hell have you seen this kid play? He can be top class and £5m will probably be a bargain in the long run. This is some of the problem with Arsenal fans - it has to be hear and now. Wenger has bought Anelka for a few quid and look how much he made back, same would be said if Fabregas was sold in the morning.
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Shyam Parthasarathi 7 months ago
Inler was the only player Arsenal had an offer accepted for.. and if rumours are correct, the deal was struck at around 8 million pounds. My questions are:
1. Did anyone even know Inler existed before the EURO?
2. Does 8 million pounds constitute a huge signing?
3. Did he look to sign a centre back as well?
If you analyze these three questions, you'll get the answers as.. Inler was relatively inexperienced at the top level, 8 mil. quid is not a big amount, and no, aside from Silvestre who cost 750k - Wenger didn't really look to sign a centre back.
So, yes, I still feel that he didn't have enough cash to spend in the summer.
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David Kim 7 months ago
I never said Ramsey was a bad signing, I too think he is a brilliant prospect
but a club strapped for money does not spend big money for prospects - they spend money on experienced players, looking for bargains and homegrown players for prospects. look at Everton - guys like Arteta cost pennies and developed into good players over the course of a few years, while the big money was spent on guys like Andy Johnson and Marouane Fellaini, guys who were expected to play in the first team from the start. if Arsene Wenger truly had a limited budget and thought he needed a midfielder/centre back, he wouldn't have spent money on Ramsey, no matter how good he thought he was - he would have saved it up to buy that midfielder/centre back. I think Wenger has at least 30 million pounds to spend, possibly more.
8 million pounds is not "big" money but it's not trivial either. sure, Fellaini cost more but that's mostly because it was a deadline signing and Everton were obviously really desperate for a signing - that drove the price way up.
honestly, I think Wenger regrets not finishing off a summer midfield signing as much as we do (obviously he can't say anything because that's a great way to drop your players' confidence).
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Syed Haider 7 months ago
I think this is an article heavily in favor of Wenger.
1) First of all, the board said that he had 30mill pounds available. He could have spent it all on even player according to them. Wenger has refused to sign players because he wants to develop the likes of Denilson and Song. Unfortunately for him, they are average players to say the least and not of Arsenal's standards.
2) Wenger has turned a blind eye towards his team's deficiency, refusing to blame his players and doing anything about it. Why do Gallas, Clichy and Adebayor have to talk about these issues in public? If Arsene Wenger talked about these issues privately, these players wouldn't need their feelings known to the public. But because Arsene Wenger doesnt do anything to resolve these issues privately (or at all), they have to come out in the public.
3) The lack of tactical ineptness of Wenger has baffled me this term. Why does he play Denilson in midfield? Denilson is playing better than Fabregas (because when Denilson attacks and doesnt defend at all, Fabregas has to do the defending for him which he isnt good at) offensively, but it is still piss poor. Fabregas deserves a strong CDM, so that he can do what he does best: attack. Denilson is poor on both counts. I think this team is great if we take out Denilson, and put in someone like Yaya Toure.
4) I personally believe the defense has done well (gallas, silvestre, clichy and sagna) with such a poor midfield.
5) All good things must come to an end (Henry's time here for eg), and Wenger's time is up. I think David Dein was right in saying it was too early for us to move out of Highbury, and Wenger was wrong.
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Syed Haider 7 months ago
Have any of you realized why Wenger not be ready to spend 10mill pounds +? If you look at Reyes, we spent our club-record fee for him. And we had a huge deficit on him. We got Hleb for 13mill pounds, and sold him for the same price but didn't use advantage of his capabilities. Plus, Flamini left us for free when we could have kept him at 5k extra, and not need to look for defensive cover (that we should be looking at in January). We should have sold Gilberto Silva, Diarra, Viera and Henry for a higher price at well. So Wenger has failed economically too.
Hence, the conclusion I come to is that while I hate their board for their lack of ambition to win anything; Wenger has become senile and needs to leave for the betterment of Arsenal FC.
This is the first time I have seen a situation from Arsenal where the Board, manager and players look insipid and clueless; and the fans are disgruntled with the club. In the past, when Dein was at Arsenal, Arsenal FC bought quality players. Wenger worked with ambition, as well as the players. But after Dein has gone, Wenger has lost interest in winning trophies as he cant do it alone. So he hides under the shadow that he wants to blood new talent, to cover for his lack of silverware. I think David Dein leaving was a sad day for the club, and it is after that our problems have started. When Dein was siding with Stan Kroenke, the board were opposed to it. When he switched alliances, they sided with Stan. What is this board trying to do? If they thought Stan was good, why didnt they let Dein work with Stan at Arsenal FC before? The board sucks, and although Dein has made some mistakes, he has been the best thing for Arsenal FC.
Please save Arsenal FC. That would mean remove Arsene Wenger. Or if you dont want to remove him, bring David Dein back.
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Maire Ofeire 7 months ago
While I disagree with some of your comments, I agree strongly with your position on David Dein.
While I am not saying bring him back, that may do more harm than good, he has never been replaced. In essence Wenger is doing two jobs - managing the team and that left vacant by Dein. Wenger's job should be to manage the team and that alone.
While you say Wenger is hiding behind youth players I think that the board is hiding behind Wenger who is hiding behind youth players - if you get what I'm saying.
Basically Wenger has no one to answer to and really no one to argue his case with either - do the board really listen to him? What is needed is a strong middle man - someone who will argue the case for the board (we need trophies) and the manager (we need money to buy players).
I think Wenger has the interest of Arsenal in his heart more so than the board and they are the one's talking of "Arsenal blood".
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Carlyluvsunited 7 months ago
I'm a big big fan of Arsene Wenger and all those who call for his head should be ashamed of themselves. He arrived at Les Arse and no one had ever heard of him and look what he has done for them !
It is purely bad luck for him that Alex Ferguson was around while he has been in charge of Arsenal or Wenger would be polishing a shed full of silver ware.
His choice to go for youth should be admired and not demeaned at every opportunity.
Some of his Carling Cup teams have been breath taking especially the one that trounced Liverpool 6-3 and this season against Wigan.
Weneger has done nothing but good for Arsenal and Arsenal fans should respect that fact and have faith in him. I have.
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