goal.com

interesting article :good:

Maybe we should pin that up around the club :)

Now that truly is an excellent article. It says pretty much everything there is to be said about honey pot Arsenal and should be a compulsory read.
I think the only thing to add is why does Arsene now seemingly have an issue with paying superstar level wages (because he clearly has done in the past) and for that i think you must look to the break up of the invicibles and the Cashley saga and in particular to the much vaunted text from Vieira to Cashley telling him to ask for £80k.
There's no doubt in my mind that group of players got out of control and had to much power which was abused and that's in part why he dismantled it, so now he is reticent to go back down the superstar route especially with players whose ego's might get out of control (like Ade) and its why he goes for quiet church loving family boys rather than guys looking for the high life (which other than money is another reason i reckon he'll avoid the likes of Arshavin who looks like a nightcluber waiting to happen).
Its I guess at the heart of the frustrations with Arsene and one you have to accept as it comes as the downside to his good side (ie being the best developer of talent there is).

Spot on......there problems are clearly highlighted in that article for me and I agree with pretty much everything.

Got bored halfway through, it dragged.

An interesting read with some valid points.

Excellent article. The last part where he mentions the options that we have and the option that we take is clearly what Arsene has been doing.

good read. the players should read it too. :oldboy:

Great article. I agree with almost everythign written in it. :respect:

Got bored after the 2nd paragraph... otherwise it's a good article :good:

maybe if the author had just texted something to you two ...?

http://interact.uoregon.edu/mediaLit/JCP/a...isualmedia.html

brilliant article... very detailed look at the whole situation at arsenal..

Great article. Nice follow up, T&T.

I would add that its an oft forgotten that the decisions made by AFC that the article highlights are part of a deliberate policy on the part of AW and the Board. The young talents that we nurture will often, if they fulfill their potential, progress fairly rapidly, leaving the club with a greater problem in having to raise wages/renegotiate contracts, than might be the case elsewhere. The other side of the coin is that we avoid mass large transfer fees, and enjoy cheap labour in the early stages of players' careers.

I agree with you that AW is once bitten twice shy of creating big pay differentials. The resultant more level playing field may well be good for squad unity, and justified when we look at how far a young team progressed last season. I have no doubt, however, that the club is alive to the greater likelihood of players outgrowing such a regime.

And yes, AW helps hugely to balance the books by turning potential into proven talent that bigger teams want, but its absurd to think that he, and the club do not realise this. While the reputation of a selling club may be unpalatable, we in turn are a magnet for some of the worlds top young talent, who realise that we can offer the prospect of very rapid career development, given the club's ethos, that even the worlds biggest clubs cannot.

The people who gleefully write the club off because the European giants are constantly knocking at the door are those who assume that there is only one way to achieve success. There isn't. AW's way may be relatively slower, and perhaps harder than simply flashing the cash, but 3 of our 4 best players of last season, having been courted, believe in it. The majority of our squad believe in it, so why should we fans not do so too?

Because us as fans should not have to pay the highest ticket prices probably in europe, to see our club being used as a feeder club for the big hitters.

:goodpost:

And I'm one of the fans that does pay those prices, week on week.

Ticket prices are a huge red herring. The reason they are high at Arsenal is that our stadium is in the middle of one of the most expensive cities on the planet; demand for tickets greatly exceeds availability; we have been in the top 4 teams in arguably the strongest league in the world for a decade or more; we have excellent players and play an entertaining brand of football.

If fans cannot stomach the course that the club has decidede to take, then noone is holding a gun to their heads when it comes to the season ticket or membership renewal. We have a right as paying fans not to feel we are being sold down the river, like Derby fans must have done. But for the reasons in my post, I don't think this is the case at all.

How is having the most expensive tickets in the world a red herring?

If I bought the world's most expensive car I'd expext a Rolls Royce not a Skoda.

We're paying top money yet every summer we watch our best players leave and be replaced by 15 year olds.

After a while people will stay away. In the 80's when we weren't winning anything we were getting 15,000 turn up at Highbury.

Fast forward to now, with an impending recession, one star player and not winning anything the johnny come lately fans will stay away.

Trust me it will happen

Its a red herring because in reality there is little correlation between the prices Arsenal fans pay to watch football, and the club's ability to pay silly transfer fees and wages. I could follow your argument if the board was simply using match day revenue to turn big profits for the shareholders, but this simply isn't the case. The top transfer fees that are being commanded these days can only be afforded by massive borrowing or ouside money. They are well beyond any clubs' matchday revenues.

As I have said, our ticket prices reflect the fact that our fans watch top 4 EPL football, season after season, in the best stadium facilities in the country. That alone would justify our prices being the second or third highest in the UK...and possibly Europe. Now look at where Old Trafford and Anfield are - prices are bound to be cheaper for the same reason most other things are cheaper outside Central London.

Then there's our wage bill. The third highest in the league, not far behind Manure's. Whatever people think, we have a quality squad - where our reserves regularly do well in cup competitions. This needs to be paid for.

If the club's policy was failing badly, Gooners would have a reason to gripe. But offloading expensive players like Henry, and many of other AW sales have in fact been masterstrokes. Our team of non-superstars was only 4 points away from the league champions last season. Hardly massive cause for complaint.

As for your '80's point. How many teams were getting massive attendances during this dark era?

Attendances may wane to an extent if we are unable to sustain our current league position, but if this happens then no doubt ticket prices will be adjusted rather than having a half empty stadium. For the moment, though, fans and visitors will continue to come to see the Arsenal brand of football played in a truly magnificent stadium.

Well written article. Not sure the author got under the skin of the problem but certainly got everything else in focus. :clap:

Sub that is bollox, big time bollox.

Care to argue your corner?