Am I The Only One Who Doesn’t Want To See New Players In January?
We all know what Arsenal’s priorities are this season.
The FA Cup is the best chance of silverware, although with all the big boys still in it’s going to be difficult to win. If Arsenal managed to lift the FA Cup and grab fourth spot come May I don’t think many Arsenal fans would be disappointed. In fact, I hazard to guess that most fans would be pleasantly surprised. I would be anyway.
The league is a pipe dream, and the Champions League is a lottery - although we’ve got a ticket so you never know.
That being said, everyone is hoping Arsene Wenger adds to the young squad in January.
But I don’t.
Last January was the time to spend the money.
We struggled in the last 10 games of the season in both the Champions League and Premiership and those extra couple of players were the difference in winning and losing the league. Don’t forget in the end we were only 4 points from lifting the title.
A couple of decent additions would have been enough to get us over the line, and more importantly it would have given Arsenal something to build on in the seasons ahead. We would have been Champions and players would have loved to join us - but as it stands we actually got weaker in the summer and lost some of our most experienced players.
It’s just amazing to think where Arsenal were only 12 months ago.
The big question is do Arsenal have money?
It depends on who you believe. The Arsenal board always come out and say Wenger has money to spend whenever the summer and January transfer windows come around. But is that actually true?
There have been theories floating around that Arsene Wenger actually knows there’s no money to spend and that he’s the fall guy to protect the board. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I know that Wenger is one of the most intelligent men in football so I wouldn’t put it passed him. And are the additions of Silvestre (750k), Bischoff (Free) and Ramsey (£5 million) signings of a manager who has money to spend? Yes, we brought in Samir Nasri too but we let go of Hleb, Flamini, Lehmann, Gilberto, Senderos and Diarra. And some of those players have gone on to play for massive clubs such as AC Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
So all things considered, it’s pointless to buy in January.
Why make more long-term problems for the club? If Arsenal actually do have money to spend on new signings (and if we do have funds then we know they’re limited at best) then I would much rather Arsene Wenger use the money in the summer when he can carefully assess the current squad and see what we need, rather than panic buy in January.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
yes!
January 5th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I suspect you will be slaughtered for this but yours is a sound opinion, in my humble opinion. Arsenal fans seem to want the club to be like Chelsea, Man U and Man City. Why? The world has changed. We are now in a period where we do not know what will happen next. The global crisis is not over, it’s just starting. Why take the risk of endangering the club?I am an ardent Arsenal fan, and I support the board’s position on risk.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
what a load of absloute crap . you say a couple of additions would have seen us thru but we have actually lost flamini , hleb and gilberto since then and you say we don,t need to buy . are you serious , if song , eboue and bentner are good enough for you . you have very little expectation or ambition . the whole world , every pundit and player can see what we are lacking . nasri comes off left mid who is replaced by eboue ,then silvesrtre ( famous left mid player !) and you think thats ok . as for song . lol .
now where near arsenal standard , you are an idiot ,
January 5th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
What do you know about the credit crunch? In recessions football does better. People prefer going to games than wasting £100 quid in a restaurant. That was true in the 70s and the 90/91 recession.
Shareholders love fools. I bet you don’t have season ticket or attend games or you would complaining like mad at the ridiculous prices and poor excuses of money for transfers.
What are millionaire shareholders doing with our many apart from buying expensive homes in Switzerland?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
lb
no I don,t want chelsea type over inflated stupid spending , but we clearly are short in midfield particularly , two decent signings is all I ask not ten .
January 5th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
If Arsene reads this article, he might buy players. Do you know why?Because Arsene will not buy as people think it should. If people ( like you )begin to think Arsenal should not buy. Arsene will do the opposite!
January 5th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
i can see the point you are trying to make but why live in the past?
I disagree with you that we struggled in the CL, does getting robbed by the ref against pool constitute struggling? We beat AC Milan at home and should have gone through to the semi’s.
Some additions will help, especially when you take our injuries into account.
For me, this season in the PL will have a lot of twists and turns so you never know.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
YES.
The club projected a profit of £36m profit last year and let (as you stated) some experienced and now proving to be vital players go in the summer and didn’t replace them properly.
We have no replacement for Cesc apart from Ramsey who is not ready yet. Song should take up golf because as a footballer he is uselessand all season our bench has been littered with kids… we have no options on the bench. Out of all the clubs in the league we have the 2nd largest stadium and the highest ticket prices with one of the thinest squads and you’re telling me we have no money? We have also made money on Bentley and Diarra not to mention that we have deposits on 95% of Highbury square which should be close to paying the stadium off and we still have 21 years on our mortgage.
This is the worst and thinnest squad in Wengers 12 year reign and if he doesn’t show some ambition i can see a lot of our star players (the few that we have) wanting to leave in the summer for clubs that have ambition to win.
As you say we were close last season and needed a couple of additions and needed to keep the players we had but now we have an even weaker squad and with Cesc out for 3 months we are relying on kids and you guys need to remember that this great club of ours is a member of G14 which means we are one of the top 14 clubs in the world yet we have less money in the transfer window than Sunderland? i just don’t buy it.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Jules, he was talking about a couple of additions last January when we were top of the league. We still had Flamini, Hleb and Gilberto then if you remember? The left in the summer AFTER we narrowly missed out on the league title!
Retard.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
look who has played wide for us in recent weeks , denilson , diaby , eboue ,silvestre and now bentner . just to make it worse , none of them wide players and we don,t need anyone !!!?????? wtf are you on . we also need a proper defensive mid player , song is no where near good enough .
January 5th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
rubbish - there is so much speculation flying around from website like these - it’s as bad as the press. true fans shut up and get on with doing the best in what you got. if there is money for players fine, if not so what. we have invested in a young team who will take time to develop, when they are at there peak Arsenal will sell them. It will happen to Cesc, RVP and Vela eventually. Fuck football this is a business.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Yes, you are.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Is this one A4L
R2M
Eboue
606
?
January 5th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
wengers immortal
the point is those three have not been replaced even though it was meant to be addressed in the summer and was,nt . the timings are not the issue .
and don,t call me a retard . if it is good enough for you , the players playing out of position I just mentioned then you keep going and don,t be so fucking rude .
January 5th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I am a season ticket holder and i paid nearly £2000 of my money that i can’t really afford to watch my team this season and the club are taking me for a ride.
I want to know where my money is going beause it isn’t going towards improving the team.
Arsenal is the love of my life and when she gets beaten it puts me in a bad mood for days. I’m throwing my hard earned money at her to help her get protection but she’s hiding it and not telling me where it’s going and it’s frustrating.
The difference between the quality of this team and every other team under Wenger is staggering
January 5th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Most people forget that Wenger tried to sign Alonso, Zapata & Inler during the last transfer window are these the actions of a manager without any money? The signings of Bischoff & Silvestre are definitely short term solutions, Wenger never buys just for the sakeof buying.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Yeya!
January 5th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Arsenal are becoming a laughing stock! Quite simply I have been paying £1000 for my season ticket, dont see no return in us buying players so not going to reknew.
Let some other mug pay £1000 no the waiting list is long enough but I predict Arsenal only selling 40,000 to 50,000 tickets for games if the carry on like this!!!!
If the board dont have the money then be honest, dont come out 1 month and say we have loads….only for the next month to say we dont!!!This was the final straw, what do they take us fans for???
January 5th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Arsenal has money. They have over 90 mill in a reserve cash account which is unallocated. Obviously they wouldn’t want to spend all of it but their cash flow is currently the best of any football club in the world.
It’s very easy to find, Just do a Google search for “Arsenal Annual Financial Report” and it will stop all this trash about Arsenal being broke.
I have a simple philosophy with regards to the future,
“Without no present there will be no future.”
In other words, if we don’t maintain a certain standard now, we will never get the opportunity to see what a great future we will have because core players will leave, we will lose money by not getting into the CL, will lose money from merchandising by “fair weather” fans and will find it difficult to compete for top players.
The major reason why Arsenal has become so popular worldwide is because we played attractive football and won trophies while doing so. Without that, our fan base will be eroded. The main reason why we can attract the top youngsters and players worldwide is also because we play attractive football and win trophies.
Regardless of what Arsene or any Board member will tell you, success breeds greater success and failure breeds even greater failure.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Yes indeed, without the present there is no future. We need to sign two players (midfielders). You have to take into account that Rosicky, Theo and Cesc are long term injuries. So we were thin, then came the injuries, so we are back to our bare bones (AW last season)
January 5th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
We don’t need the major surgery the impatient spoilt FM OMG DM brigade would have us believe.
Arshavin would be nice mind.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
WTF is going on, we had the best team in the world five years ago, since then we have been sliding into mediocrity.
All of you that keep going on about how well we are coping financially, you are missing one major point, we are not competing for honours any more and ill be F***** if im giving £1300 a year to a club who are going to blatantly lie to us.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
What a twat!
January 5th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Arsenal possibly need two to three short-term acquisitions to cover present weaknesses but anyone who follows the youngsters closely will know that there is a quality player in almost every position coming through. Two to three years from now, at least half the first team will be made up of these players (assuming their continued development and that no one leaves).
I wish Wenger would play Vela more often this season though. I just can’t see that Bendtner is a better player (or that Bendtner even justifies continued inclusion).
January 5th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
last year we have top players like falmini (the best defensive midfielder), gilberto (another great defensive midfielder), and hleb, lehmann etc.
now we have denislon (too young, he is not good enough to raplace flamini, i think that nobody does, except gatusso or sissoko)
ramsey (great player but too young too) and more young players. we need players with experience to lead youngsters, arshavin will be grat but only one player is not enough, three will be great, but wenger doesn´t want to buy, that´s why arsenal dont win anything a long time ago
and please don´t let go walcott, toure, and eboue they all are fantastic players
January 5th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Jules is indeed retarded!
January 5th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
As a season ticket holder and as life long Arsenal fan, I am appalled by some of the comments on this post and generally when I go to game. I much prefer going to away games these days as I don’t have to put up with all the fickle bullshit about how shit we are (where were you in the 80’s and 90’s?). At least at the away games the true fans turn up, sing their hearts out and support the club….no questions asked and no booing of our own!
I remember watching us under George Graham, it was boring, there was 1 goal at best but I loved every single minute of it as it was Arsenal, my football club and I sang my heart out. I am happy to pay £1000 for my season ticket, to support my club, sing for my team and watch good football that isn’t to say I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as anyone else when we are successful.
If you want us to spend like the Manc and Chav’s go and support them, the only reason you don’t is because you started liking football in one of the seasons we won the league. Better still go and support the scum, as they spend more money than us virtually every season and they are so successful, aren’t they?! Stop listening to the media, if they knew more than Wenger wouldn’t at least one of them have been a top football manager? He will balance the finances and what he believes the team needs to improve in the long term. We could go for the Leeds quick fix solution, spend millions, not win anything and risk the long term future of the club.
I much preferred our 1998 league win to 2004 as we didn’t have the ‘prawn sandwich’ gloryhunting brigade as fans. How about some of you give your ticket to a true fan that has been priced out of the market by the moaning, booing new breed of Arsenal fans that sometimes can’t be bothered to turn up or even stay until the end to clap the team off the pitch…..and we want our players to be loyal when you don’t recognise their efforts.
We have a stable club, new stadium and a secure long term future. Once Highbury is sold off completely then we may have more cash, who knows……..but I know one thing….in Arsene I trust.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Perhaps the writer is AW writing under a pseudonym.I do agree that AW shd have bought tseason. Then maybe and it’s big maybe Arsenal could have won the title.It’s interesting to note that Arsenal were four points off the top.
Fast forward to this season and the reasons are obvious to all .If AW doesn’t do anything to buy the players for the weaknesses it will be repeat of last season.I remember 1999 and 2003 very well. Maybe he had no money then but whatever it was if he had invested the treble would have been a dream for the red faced who is now shouting for the quadruple.
If AW is still bound by his straight jacket of not spending money then it would be a case of history repeating isteself.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:28 am
wengers immortal cock
what a site eh , 28 responses and even the time is wrong , it took you all that time to reply , I won,t waste my time on this site with cunts like you on it . no wonder you or on here arsenal for cocks .
January 6th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Mr. Welwyn Gooner obviously doesn’t understand the math logic here. If we spend 20 million today to get players who can take us to the CL next season we stand to gain at least 50 million.
Failure to purchase the required players will result in us being ineligible for the CL and therefore a loss of 50 million in income.
If you are a true Arsenal fan and wish the club to the financially secure then we need to invest in a few experienced players who can guide the young ones and maintain CL eligibility.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:16 am
you mention gilberto who left on a free and senderos who hasn’t atually left the club and is just on loan and hleb, flamini and diarra all wanted to leave the club and so ,even f we could, there was no point in holding on to them. I think we have seen glimpses of the potential this squad has and to think we have walcott, rosicky, fabregas and eduardo on long term injury, not to mention the niggles we seem to get all the time for players such as nasri i think we are doing ok though nothing better. I do still however think we will finish fourth and though not easily, by a bigger margin than most expect due to players returning for second half of season/the run-in and villa not being as good as us FACT!
January 6th, 2009 at 3:20 am
i also agree with some of the other posts in that the away game support is much better and i much prefer going to these games. The treatment of some players at home is appalling and i do not just mean the booing of eboue
January 6th, 2009 at 4:14 am
booooring.
January 6th, 2009 at 6:11 am
We desperately need width, someone like N’Zogbia or Krancjar. They’re not expensive players.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:20 am
The problem is that not everybody realise the long term consequenses and effects of spending a large sum of money now. And we have been very critical of the slightest blip arsenal suffer, financial constraints haven’t allowed Wenger to spend on high profile, big players. The quality though, is maintained by signing young blood, cheap and effective, only that they remain inconsistent, but what were we expecting, talented kids to rule the world right away.bah!!
Its high time we back Wenger, he’s the one who’s made us have expectations, over the past decade, to not belive our eco prof now could be a huge mistake.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Once the club goes on a down-hill spiral it will be hard to get back to the top, Wenger will need to spend sooner or later so why not sooner before the club goes to far down the league table and top players lose interest in playing for Arsenal….
January 6th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
It’s predicable stuff - the fans will want big signings in the transfer window (and the mindless media will fuel these ridiculous stories) and in the end we probably will buy a couple of players, but they will merely be stop gaps and not long term players for the club. Wenger is stubborn and if he though he needed to strengthen the squad he would have done it in the summer.
Spare a thought for poor old Eduardo. Just finding his form, scoring vital goals and spearheading Arsenal’s title challenge. Then he breaks his leg and Arsenal literally collapse and finish 3rd in the league. Then some of our best players leave the club and now our ambition is to finish fourth.
The last game he played for the club and the first one he will play on his return couldn’t be any more different. He must be wondering what the hell has been happening since he’s been out.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Interesting blog.
But, I cant see Wenger buying more than 1 BIG player in the next 2 transfer windows. If he buys now, it will be a creative midfielder with some pace. If he waits until summer it will be a defensive midfielder.
The trouble with bringing in the big signing now is there will be so much pressure on him to save our season. Stepping in and filling Cesc’s shoes right away is a big ask. The PL is notoriously difficult to adjust too. Arshavin has only just finished a full season with St. Petersberg and the EURO-08. Is he fresh enough to play regularly? Its a real gamble.
But to wait until suimmer to buy does leave us vulnerable in terms of ChampL next season. If either Van Persie or Ade get injured…its all over for us. If we are stuck to playing UEFA Cup football we wont get that BIG defensive midfielder signing, like Yaya Toure. Another mediocre season next year would definitely see Van Persie, Adebayor and/or Cesc leaving.
What we need is to buy the big name now. It increases our chances at a good end of season standing, signals to the top players at the club that we are serious about the future, and brings a little more competition to the midfield. Song and Diaby are good players, but they do seem to slack off a bit, knowing they have an automatic place in the starting line-up.
So…while I like the blog, I say we should hope that this Arshavin deal goes through. By next season Denilson, Ramsey and Walcott will be ready to take us to the top of the PL and bring the title home.
January 30th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
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