Dorset Gooner
02-21-2013, 11:20 AM
When Wenger took over he had a huge advantage over the rest of the premier league in that he knew French football inside out at a time when they were producing world cup winners, a few of which ended up with us.
He was a revolutionary in that he changed diets, training etc & improved & pro-longed the careers of our back bone, namely our defence & decent keeper.
We were fitter, stronger & now with the added magic dust of true world class players at the peak of their careers.
The success continued because Wenger had the edge by having a network of contacts all over the world, he used loopholes in players contracts (Cesc & Anelka).
He was truly a God send to Arsenal. The only criticisms, by some, would be that we should have won more & certainly added a CL, they were certainly good enough.
Now clubs were getting wiser & copying what we were doing, even nicking some of our backroom staff, our net become tighter & players were harder to intice due to more competition.
Then the Russian came along which mean't not only were we on a level playing field with regards to picking up unpolished gems but we now got outbid on players both on wages & trasnfer fees. There was a time when it seemed that we would approach players & their agents/clubs would simply pick up the phone to Chelsea. We were in effect doing the scouting for them.
With the new stadium we were always going to be up against it.
When you look at it in balck & white, like this, Wenger has done a fantastic job & we are probably expecting far too much of him with the resources available.
In saying that it still hurts when your best players leave every summer. But perhaps we can now see why?
He was a revolutionary in that he changed diets, training etc & improved & pro-longed the careers of our back bone, namely our defence & decent keeper.
We were fitter, stronger & now with the added magic dust of true world class players at the peak of their careers.
The success continued because Wenger had the edge by having a network of contacts all over the world, he used loopholes in players contracts (Cesc & Anelka).
He was truly a God send to Arsenal. The only criticisms, by some, would be that we should have won more & certainly added a CL, they were certainly good enough.
Now clubs were getting wiser & copying what we were doing, even nicking some of our backroom staff, our net become tighter & players were harder to intice due to more competition.
Then the Russian came along which mean't not only were we on a level playing field with regards to picking up unpolished gems but we now got outbid on players both on wages & trasnfer fees. There was a time when it seemed that we would approach players & their agents/clubs would simply pick up the phone to Chelsea. We were in effect doing the scouting for them.
With the new stadium we were always going to be up against it.
When you look at it in balck & white, like this, Wenger has done a fantastic job & we are probably expecting far too much of him with the resources available.
In saying that it still hurts when your best players leave every summer. But perhaps we can now see why?