So when FFP kicks-in, does this really mean

[Redflag]

that Wenger will suddenly become tactically astute, make good buys in the player market,instead of **** ones - and start to win trophies again after Chelsea and City have had their financial wings clipped?
I personally believe that they will carry on regardless by various means to hold a financial advantage after FFP begins.Chelsea and City are the only two clubs that have a big advantage regarding wages over us.
And if money is the reason why Arsene has put together a squad that couldn't beat a carpet, because he supposedly can't compete on wages - then how come Moyes at Everton is doing better than him on a much lower budget,and Wenger is also only a point better than West Brom ?
Answers in an e-mail please to Arsene@talkingtotal*******s.com.

[PSRB]

and a better goal difference :pedant: and he also hasn't done better than AW ever over a season

[Redflag]

to compete with City and Chelsea. Moyes is currently doing better than Wenger in the league . A game in hand is only 3 points if you win it. So how can Wenger be doing better when he is behind Moyes ?
Come back and tell me about it when he is 3 points ahead of him :-)

[Hillary]

Three of those have considerably greater resources than us and Liverpool have only done it a couple of times.

It's incredibly consistent, whichever way you look at it.

[PSRB]

you can only properly look at this once 38 games have been played

[Curly]

At least a dozen of which pay more than we do

[Pokster]

has narrowed year on year and this season I would guess will be the hardest yet to get the top 4 place.

[Mack]

[Redflag]

Wenger only had United to contend with for his first 8 years. That's why he always finished first or second in the league. It's a different scenario now though..
Also he inherited a very good squad when he took over , with players like Bergkamp ,TA and the other famous back four ,Seaman,Wright, Merson ,etc.
Tactically Wenger was never that great,but he had the players to make things work.

[Hendon Gooner (Only Easy Day Was Yesterday))]

[Redflag]

What have Tottenham got to do with that? I thought it was Abramovitch and the Arab's at City were the reason :rubchin:

[Hillary]

Last season it was at least in our hands on the last day of the season.

[Pokster]

considerably imho

[Hillary]

[Curly]

[Redflag]

then we should be doing better against these sides who have less financial clout than us.

[PSRB]

and also bear in mind that our bill is only that high due to bonuses paid on reaching CL

[Redflag]

We could actually afford to pay more for players than we do ,the money is there,in the bank,150m of it .
Cue for Leeds United doomsday scenarios :-)

[Curly]

Skint for another 2 years anyway.

[Pokster]

[East Upper for Supper]

Wenger is a busted flush. A relic in todays game. As long as he is in charge the more the playing side of the club will decend into mediocrity.

[Redflag]

Wenger gets 7.5m at AFC and Ivan near 3m,with his bonus added :homer:

[David Pleat AHADF (Royal Welsher and monkey lover)]

Of money to balance the books.

[Hillary]

so you'd expect that to some degree.

We are also finding it more difficult to pick up the quality players at the bargains we used to - it's inconceivable that we could buy a player of Vieira's quality for that sort of money now.

We also have the issue of competing with 3 clubs for signings rather than one. Before, if a player wanted to move to England, it was either United or us. If United weren't interested, then we had the bargaining power. Now there are three options and we simply can't get the top, top players. Someone like Hazard would probably be at Arsenal if Abramovich and the oil barons hadn't moved in.

[Hillary]

[PSRB]

more

[Pat Vegas]

Please send all enquiries to Steve Bould.

[Curly]

Confidence of it making a huge difference? NIL.
Like tax avoidance there are ways around it.
When the stadium debt is paid it should see a big difference though.Hopefully.

[Redflag]

Are you claiming that this was not true?

[Hillary]

[Hillary]

mean I can happily spend my £150m?

[Redflag]

It's not enough anyway to justify us being so far behind United , using this for an excuse. When we are also struggling against sides who have far less resources than we do.

[Billy Goat Sverige]

[David Pleat AHADF (Royal Welsher and monkey lover)]

they will be financially penalised if they do by RBS who lent them the money.
They clubs wage bill is a problem at the minute. Its way too high.

[PSRB]

would be almost the same as ours and if we didn't then they would be more than ours

[Redflag]

He's gone backwards since 2004,that was his peak period ,and it's been downhill since then. Even allowing for the 2005 FAC win.

[Norn Iron]

That's the equivalent of Rooney, van Persie, Valencia & Chicarito's wage per week.

Put players of similar quality with similar wages in our squad and we would be much better. It's a massive difference.

[Bergkamp's Brain]

Isn't Abramovic paying something stupid, to hire his own corporate box?

[PSRB]

[PSRB]

[Redflag]

Players like Monkey Boy would expect more . Average players can easily be replaced if they start kicking-off.

If Wenger was as shrewd as he is supposed to be, then he would know that,and not be in a position where he can't sell them because he pays them too much.

[redgunamo]

as individuals and as a group, rather than the manager.

A manager can buy them, feed and water them and try to keep them physically, mentally and emotionally fit. But he can't kick the ball for them, or tell them which way to run. The better players know all that already.

[redgunamo]

Or, as I would put it, it's easy to raise decent hunting dogs if you already have a decent hunting pack.

[PSRB]

to have some dross which turns out not to be as good as you hoped. I thought Chamakh for instance would have been a great success when we signed him, banged in the goals for Bordeaux both in the league and the Champions League. United have their Anderson's, Bebe's and up until this season Jonny Evans!

[Redflag]

and obviously he has to pay that money back. Or else find a horses head in his bed
I think that Stan will pay himself a dividend each year in the near future. So having a bit of collateral will not do him any harm . :-)

[Redflag]

[Bergkamp's Brain]

and defensively, consistently poor.

[Redflag]

, less for some of the very ordinary players that we have,and more cash for better class players will do the trick. Wenger and Stan,OUT!

[Progbook]

And we currently can't get near them, because we are competing with a country's wealth. Wenger knew Komapany, Aguero and Silva were there and couldn't get to them. He probably knows Mbiwa, Falcao and Willian are bankers now too...but can't get to them.

[Bergkamp's Brain]

where I still think the major issues exist. We cannot worry about the transfer market anymore. Under the circumstances Wenger's transfer policy is pretty reasonable and we have got good players, perhaps with the exception of how the wages are being divided up amongst the top players v the squad players.

What we need to do is make the best use of the players that we have. We are far too open and easy to play against. When we had the top top players, we could look to go toe to toe with most opponents and expect that our superior quality will shine through most often. Now, we do not have that superior quality in as much abundance, so we have to play a slightly different game and be more organised, harder to play against and work harder for each other.

[Hillary]

;-)

[Bergkamp's Brain]

New/young players learn the established team mates, then take on the mantle and pass those acquired expectations on to the next batch and so on.

[Hillary]

[Bergkamp's Brain]

[redgunamo]

you really are talking about a new manager because I really don't think that any of them (managers) are able to just change their approach so radically, giving up all the things that made them successful in the first place.

[redgunamo]

And most importantly, with the Arsenal.

[Bergkamp's Brain]

it was pointed out at the AGM that it was a poossibility in future. Of course this would mean the Usbek, and any other shareholders would be entitled to the same dividend per share. It would be suicide for Arsenal to pay a dividend, though

[Bergkamp's Brain]

Ferguson has modified his approach, to some degree. Wenger hasn't changed, at all.

[redgunamo]

taught him about success with Manchester United. They showed him what it meant, how to go about getting it and what kind of people he would need around him to achieve it.

Wenger's early success could have been a bad thing, in the long run.

[Peter]

And where to stand, and how to think etc....good coaches do.

Trouble is with wenger the quality of player is even more important. We are now questioning the things that made him such a great coach in the first place and it is largely because he cant get the quality of player he requires.

[Peter]

I would love to see Uefa or fifa attempt to prove that.

They will simply re-brand ffp as being about the long term health and stability of the club so that as long as a club doesnt have huge liabilities tht could lead to its ruin, all is fine. As long as the money is being donated by the owner rather than loaned, uefa will do nothing about it. I dont think they can.

[redgunamo]

wouldn't actually need Him anymore, would we. I mean, presumably anybody can manage good players, can't they.

[redgunamo]

be against all that lovely new money pouring into football. Unless it was because they wanted to secure a bigger share of it for themselves, of course, instead of all of it being squandered on £50 million goal-shy strikers and whatnot.

[Peter]

The problem now is that he has real trouble finding the right ones and when he does he cant hang on to them.

Arguably the club's biggest mistake was not stumping up a few quid to bring in the two or three solid signings that could have made the cesc/rvp/nasri side champions. It has been massively downhill since then.

[redgunamo]

that we don't have enough of the wrong ones. You know, the kind that were clogging up our dressing room when He first arrived. Adams, Bergkamp, Wright etc.

Point 2; I don't know how many times I'm going to have to repeat this but we don't actually want to hang on to them. We want to buy young, ambitious players and when their ambition and quality excites suitable levels of interest, we then want them out. Sold.

Wenger's longevity is largely due to the fact that He understands better than almost every other manager that there are only two types of good player; ones you should buy and ones should sell.

All those managers who have been fired since He took over at the Arsenal concentrated too hard on the former when Wenger was far more worried about the latter.

For this reason your "stumping up a few quid" is completely out of the question and quite right too.

[redgunamo]

or tell international defenders not to wrestle strikers down in the penalty area, then he has bought the wrong players.

You're talking about under 8's stuff, mums and dads taking their kids to the park for a kickabout.