A post by Anthony Hawke from our friends over at OTBAG
Time flies by, and so it seems to have again. But you only feel that if you’re really having a good time or are really excited about what’s going on. Such has been the transfer period for Gooners all over the world, ever since we all first heard about Gonzalo Higuain as a probable Gunner next season. Twitter rumours even said that he was at London one fine day for a medical, only to be summoned back by new Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. Now, almost a month later, Higuain ended up joining Napoli instead, who were more than happy to meet the Galacticos’ transfer amount. Fans were already enraged as to why we did not pay so much money for a player who is world class, especially since we so publicly announced we have around 70 million pounds to spend. But just because you have money, you wouldn’t spend because somebody gets greedy. There are some morals to be upheld, to some, they just look at it like ego.
During this month though, we have also been linked with Rooney and Suarez. Rooney is on his second “I want to go” tantrum (remember the first one where he pledged his “loyalty” to United after they bent over and paid him 250k pounds a week?) but maybe this time it may not seem about the money. A certain Dutchman seems to have replaced him as the most valuable player in the squad and he has certainly taken over the shooting boots from Rooney. Currently though, it seems he prefers the blue side of London to the red. That leaves us looking at the next best option – Suarez. The moment this guy’s name popped up, everyone started asking “Why Suarez??” My question – “Why NOT Suarez?”
Let’s look at it in a systematic manner:-
1) Arsenal are in need of a world class striker. Everyone agrees. Even non-Gooners have agreed to this statement ever since Henry left for Barcelona. So when the Summer break began, what did Ivan and Arsene do? Bid for a world class striker. Who? Higuain. Real got greedy, we said no, he went to Napoli. What did they do next? They said, let’s maybe have a backup plan and see who else we have as an option. Two names popped up in the world class criteria who are not exactly settled with their positions in their current teams – Rooney and Suarez.
2) Fans have screamed out that we should try and get someone who is world class talent, proven and has Premier League experience so that he doesn’t take too long to settle to the Premier League grind. Rooney and Suarez are all that. But Rooney wants to go to Chelsea it seems and Suarez… well he currently doesn’t have any other takers even if Liverpool have offered him to clubs around Europe. And that, transfer-market-logically makes sense to us. If Liverpool don’t have any other takers currently, they cannot afford to extort exorbitant transfer money for him either. Suarez wants to leave then Liverpool would be wise to use common sense and take the money and invest in maybe 2 good strikers, rather than say no and end up not selling him at all and sit with a disgruntled player for a whole season (or 6 months minimum till the winter transfer window). Or Liverpool trust their attorneys very much so that they can stave off any lawsuits that Suarez might file against them, which he has done against former club Groningen to join Ajax, so he certainly may not hesitate to do it again.
3) Fans would then ask about his on-field antics – the accusations of racism and known incidents of biting and a bit of unprofessionalism here and there. Let’s take it one by one – As far as racism goes, Arsenal have a very diverse list of players on their roster when it comes to racial backgrounds. What better way than to make him feel at home and also show him players from various communities and races can actually play football together? About biting well, let’s just hope our cafeteria has better food or maybe Wenger will ask him to chew gum while playing the game instead (a little inspiration from Sir Alex Ferguson perhaps). And about the professionalism… I think Steve Bould has that part covered.
4) If you’re the fan who’s going to say “Okay, all that’s fine. But why Suarez? Why not someone else?” And I would respond again “Why NOT?” If you’re the type of fan who refers to a player’s ratings in EA Sports’ FIFA to decide whether a player is quality or not, or maybe you refer to the Premier League’s Fantasy Premier League valuation of a player to see if he’s top quality or not, then you wouldn’t exactly be disappointed. Suarez is amongst the top 5 strikers in the Premier League; the other four being Rooney, Aguero, Ba (debatable) and a Dutchman.
5) If you’re the fan who says “Okay you’ve convinced me. But he still has about 6-7 matches to serve as part of his previous ban by the FA. So what about those matches?” Then I would ask you back if you’ve seen Giroud play in pre-season yet. Agreed, it’s just pre-season and the teams we’ve been playing are only International sides (right…) and Wenger’s former club who are at prime fitness since it’s mid season for them right now, it still doesn’t prove he can handle it, right? Well, I remember people questioning whether Giroud could even amass 15 goals in a season and he sure well did and got his assist count in the double figures too (too lazy to get the actual numbers but you get the drift). Who are these six teams anyway? Aston Villa, Fulham, Spurs, Sunderland, Stoke and Swansea. Neither of these teams are the type against whom we will be doomed if we didn’t have Suarez in the line-up. Besides, I am confident personally that this time we’re going to have a MUCH better start to the season because we will actually have ensured that the core of the group has stuck together for the first time in maybe 3 or 4 seasons which in itself is a great morale boost and a message to the world that perhaps it is time to stop thinking about Arsenal as a selling or feeder club anymore.
6) If you’re the type who was already oogling over the prospect of Suarez joining us and if you like tactics and numbers and stuff like that, you’re next question – How does he fit into our system? Well, here’s my amateur take on it. Arsene has been widely and constantly criticized for not having a Plan B. He has stuck to his 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 for a while now and the option of including Suarez in the line-up gives him a Plan B of the traditional 4-4-2 as well. Let me try and give you an example of a scenario I’ve played over and over in my head. Szczesny takes a long goal kick, who’s there to head it down? Giroud of course! Who does he head it down to? Either Oxlade-Chamberlain to his left or Walcott to his right or right down the throat for Suarez. Suarez in my books is a bit more skillful and easily faster than Rooney. When you have speed down both flanks, you have a striker who can hold the ball or head it down to a team mate and then you have one hell of a lethal striker, I don’t see an attack being more formidable than that. Oh wait… there actually is a more lethal and formidable attack. Please add Santi Cazorla and Podolski to that list of people who have skill and long shots in them. Oh shit! How can I forget Rosicky then? And just to make sure we have the whole lot in, stuff in dribblers like Wilshere and Ramsey among them and what do you have? A shit scared opposition defense.
But wait. That still leaves approximately 30 million pounds in our transfer kitty (including what we’ve gained from sales). What do we do with that? Well, Suarez is only the hottest transfer gossip we have going in our direction right now but there are undoubtedly other things the club is working on in the background as well so let’s see how that develops. Add the right names to the list of players I just mentioned above, I don’t see anything other than extremely low self confidence and morale, injuries and suspensions denting our title challenge this coming season.
Positively Arsenal 
I’ve got to say point 3 is pretty flimsy to me. It’s also my main issue. What it’s okay to sign a racist because we have a wide mix of races playing for the club? Huh?!
The dodgy fouls I can take, even the biting as I’m sure Ivanovic wasn’t hurt. It’s just a worry that he cant control that level of anger. But yes, all the same excuseable as historically we’ve had a few nutters and bruisers in our time. It’s a mans game and a contact sport. I’d like to see the fucker suspended sometimes so giroud gets a shot to do his more classy work. But I will not ever cheer for a proven racist. I’m a little dissapointed that the club have gone for him but they have to win trophies and suarez could do that.
I suppose that’s all it boils down to sadly. Racism forgiven in the face of success and money.
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The Gustavo link is in all the UK morning editions.
They are all copying each other, there is no source quoted, except Wenger’s ‘there is nothing concrete yet’. The way Wenger does transfer publicity – that’s more or less a cast iron certainty we are getting him.
After sending Miquel out on loan, we must be in for CB cover, mustn’t we?
Kongdogbia looks like a Wenger type player. Sevilla look like a selling club too, which would make a nice change.
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I saw this quote George and felt you might like it (if you didn’t know about it already):
“When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.” Arsene, 2005
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Oh boy, everyone just went off-topic here. Is that a feature? Well, anyway thanks for the encouragement. I had maybe thought somebody might not at all agree with my article and the very first comment proved that. But it is heartening to know that mostly everyone shares my views too.
If you ask me, in the last couple of seasons or so, Arsene’s transfers haven’t made much sense, to me at least. The 5 he got in within 50 hours, Letting Cesc go when he surely didn’t want to (or whatever was going on there) and now being ready to bid over 40mn for Suarez, a type of character who we are usually not associated with. As pointed out in some of the previous comments already, we have had our fair share of bad boys in the past and maybe that’s why Arsene doesn’t see Suarez’s antics as a hindrance. Maybe a club like Arsenal is what Suarez needs to curb his antics too. Either way, if fans like us can make out what a big gamble he is going to be, surely Arsene, Steve and Ivan and everyone else see that too right? So I believe (in Arsene’s tone) that there is a plan to handle his misdemeanors.
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Any accountants out there that can give us the bottom line with regard to AFCs accounts. Here’s the link to the Swiss Rambler’s latest analysis
http://tinyurl.com/ljchk3c
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Georgaki
I’m a sucker for graphs, but one thing Swiss Ramble didn’t mention (I think, it’s a looooong article) is that our transfer business only looks like break-even because we have been more or less forced to sell the most valuable player assets for the last few seasons. If that wasn’t the case, our spending would be quite high.
He is starting to get on the ‘spend the fack’n money bandwagon’.
Who isn’t at this stage? ha ha.
Yes, we have a lot of dosh now (actually £160m in the bank), but we’ve only getting to use it now, because of the new sponsorships kicking-in, plus the new TV money. Well, the board are right – we don’t need Usimov’s or Stan’s money. If anyone is saying Wenger had this for the last few years and didn’t use it, which is one of the most common doomer memes it’s just bullcrap. But it’s a bullcrap Ivan has been using himself to buy some Kudos of the fans – and when I mean fans I mean Pedro & the AST fuckwits who go to the shareholders meetings.
Financially we could kick the shit out of Manu and ‘Pool, and even go toe-to-toe with City or Chelski if we really wanted a player (Rooney for instance), but PSG, Monaco and Real are a new pain in the ass. Real Madrid’s finances are so dodgy the European Commission will have to step-in.
I noticed we only paid 2% of income on Tax, we’ll I suppose you have to be making an operating profit for that (which we’re not) but wait ’till the gutter press get a hold of that one.
Oh, and finally – we’re only spending 1% of gross turnover on transfers. Wait ’till our doomer pals get a hold of that one. That’s at the end of the article – Fat Gunner and Co. would be asleep by then, the yoot of today eh?
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GP
for the record – I’m not an accountant.
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Maybe we should all start supporting British Gas or BT and get them to spend all their profits on something we want? Personally I’d go for Gazprom but they already have Zenit, Chelsea and UEFA in their back pocket.
If Arsenal really want to piss money up the wall, I have some house refurbs that need financing.
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I could do with a new car
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you can borrow my Citan 120mph fully loaded, Shh don’t tell anyone????????
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Adam
Maybe that planning refusal by Islington Council is a blessing in disguise?
Arsenal got burned in the property game before.
If Ivan want’s to be Mr. Popularity – he could drop the ticket prices.
(only joking).
Rumours have it that Gustavo is in Napoli, London and Wolfsburg today.
He must be very useful at Christmas.
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PG
Some back-up for my optimism from yesterday viz our ‘top 4’ rivals.
11/12 H-A, 12/13 H-A
City W-L, L-D; Not much in it there. between the teams.
Chelski W-W, L-L; fucking Ramieres. and we got beat at home.
Manu L-L, D-L;. We’ve got to do better against Moyes.
‘Pool L-W, D-W; Always entertainment value – and Fucking Suarez in Injury time.
Spuds W-L, W-L; We gotta start beating them at 3-point-lane again.
Everton W-W, D-W; now that’s the Moyes I wanna keep playing. Fellaini who?
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DC
You did a fine job accountant or not. My skim reading left me with the impression that had we not sold our ‘prized’ players these last three years we would have posted operating losses.
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Ssssssshhhhhhhhhh.
I mean. I can’t imagine why a lawyer would put a squid & a middle finger on a bid. Because, um, there’d been no contact between the clubs at all already. Even though it is a second bid (I told you: Shush!). Why would anyone want to act like they are in a market when operating in a football transfer market? Doesn’t make any sense to me.
Aggressive purchasing is obviously the act of people who don’t know what they are doing. Which is why BBB engaged in a two year haggle to get the price of a certain player down. They’d have wanted to close things up quicker if possible. It wasn’t.
I remember once being in the local market in the town of Udaipur, Rajesthan, India. A beautiful town. An old lady was beating the vegetable seller over the top of the head with an aubergine or courgette. I turned to my friend whose family was originally from the deep South of the sub-continent (mine hail from the north) and said, in spite of the sexism and horrors that exist (a little more coverage of late) what we are witnessing is something we know to be a very common sight across the sub-continent. Not just hilarious but frequent too.
That vegetable seller was glad he wasn’t selling fabrics or silks.
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Hi all,
Interesting article. As a player, Suarez is proven to deliver goals. He may need more chances to score them than some, but score them he does.
As a person, he is proven to be something of a “controversial figure”, to put it mildly. All things being equal, I’d rather we found someone as good who doesn’t have the baggage Suarez does, but that doesn’t seem too likely. (At this point, even getting Suarez doesn’t seem too likely.) If AW and the squad are willing to have him, then I’m willing to give him a chance. Either way, there doesn’t seem to be too much benefit in getting worked up about it, at least not until/unless he signs.
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I agree with BB above.
–
Comedy comments from Uncle Roy on Rooneh.
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Finsbury
I have disagreed with folks who are saying we should buy new players, whatever the cost or the consequences. I think that is what Adam is saying too (albeit obliquely).
Arsenal have worked for decades to get to where we now are financially, and footballtastically too.
For those of you who are not easily religiously offended (this was banned in Ireland for decades, for Christ’s sake).
I bring you the one and only Monty Python Haggling scheme.
Take it away boys….
http://ecaminc.com/index.php/blog/59-generalblog/195-2010-04-19
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BB
What you said.
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Arsenal have worked for decades to get to where we now are financially, and footballtastically too.
spot on. and some jerks want to see it all crash for the sake of adventures of spending to win stuff that aint guranteed…
“trophies are the fruition of a clubs policy and ethos” …..
p.s – aaron ramsey
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Aggressive purchasing is obviously the act of people who don’t know what they are doing. 🙂
those who dont know need to spend..those who do know, create
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DC, I think our squad is fine as it is. people worry too much about players getting injured and highlighting a thin squad.
Not enough is mentioned about stability within a squad. We have had whispers with regards to the Chavs, Manure and sheik ya money changing management and having to adapt. but we have a good mix as it is, and they will continue to grow.
I have been impressed with some of our movement during pre-season and that for me is a time when you get used to playing ball, whilst knackered. A little rest for the big kick-off and consistency is key.
Oh and keeping the international managers onside this season is massive, due to the end of season tournament.
The biggest thing for me is how long the defence have known each other. We are starting to fall into that critical time where we should be playing as a cohesive unit. Monreal being the exception but looks to have adapted and I hope his presence will appear seamless.
If Arsene signs more players (which I think he will, if history serves) they won’t, in my opinion go straight into the first team but will be integrated slowly and only to the benefit of the team. What we have at the moment, is the side, all Arsenal fans should be getting behind, not the possible signings.
Patient people with the mindset that a team is grown and not assembled via huge finances for instant success, know that we are on the right track and will challenge. We are getting closer, if not this year then next. With the signings of our young British core, the club, for me, have silently entered into a three year plan with stability the influencing factor.
The above is my opinion only. But if we do buy players, here’s my wish list;
Mamadou Sakho, Adrien Rabiot, Erik Lamela, Antoine Griezmann and Me (I play for food and board, and the odd ticket for family).
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Have a giggle at this:
“Dalglish makes personal trip to watch £50m-rated striker Giroud in action”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2137027/Liverpool-join-race-sign-Olivier-Giroud-Montpellier.html#ixzz2bmAkrHpT
Some other time the Monty chairman said:
“Arsenal? You would have to see if Arsène Wenger is interested but, as before, there is Van Persie. And at €10 million [£8.3 million]? No. Given that he still has more than two years of contract, it will cost more. “He has a contract until 2014, so €50 million[£42 million] or €60 million [£50 million] at least.”
There must be something seriously wrong at AFC for all these people to suffer such distress and trauma when negotiating with the club. It’s not fair on them is it?
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Those comments were about Giroud in case it wasn’t clear.
And there’s more:
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-news-Arsenal-must-pay-40m-for-Olivier-Giroud-and-Newcastle-were-too-small-for-him-says-Montpellier-chairman-article846841.html
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I could have swore Gustavo was priced at £8.5m last week..
but as soon as he is linked to Arsenal = £10.5m, £14.5m, £17m and now going to £18m and upwards. Journo’s wetting themselves trying to make up a story.
Back to the topic – Suarez is off to Japan for the rest of the week. His mood might pick up, once out of the poisonous atmosphere that must be hanging around Liverpool football club at the moment. Still no sign of him putting in a Transfer Request, or a F-YOU to Brenda.
I think this one is a lost cause, for better or worse.
Caesar is back on the market, (do we need him? meh.) and any decent CB for cover will do, I would have been happy if we kept Miguel – but in reality it’s far better for his development to get away from the asshole fans blaming him if he makes the slightest mistake, young CB’s will make plenty of mistakes, that’s how they learn.
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http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/25668
Piece on German football agencies, ROGON sports management, Luiz Gastavo’s agency. These people are more, in-keeping, with our clubs morals.
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Adam
Untold’s work should be more greatly appreciated.
A fine article.
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If this site wants to re-publish some of my articles, I would appreciate the exposure.
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Adam,I will Email you on the Mail you use to post with my address..Send me any articles you want revisited.
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I have sent it to you on Facebook Adam
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I agree Adam @6.17 pm
“If Arsene signs more players (which I think he will, if history serves) they won’t, in my opinion go straight into the first team but will be integrated slowly and only to the benefit of the team. What we have at the moment, is the side, all Arsenal fans should be getting behind, not the possible signings.”
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But but, starww playayyazz, Ivan promissed uz, he disz, he disz.
How can eyes get a new shirt when all me mates in Skual lagf at Wngger.
That seems to be the paraphrase of our more fickle types.
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A week or two ago some genius football ‘guru’ was challenging the FACT that the manager had to generate a surplus of 25million per season, mainly through player sales. Our chairman Hillwood even admitted to same in AGM meeting of 2010.
I was told to basically provide evidence of such statement…. and that i was lying or not knowing what i was talking about
Today to my great amusement i read this “guru” quoting swiss ramble …in which swiss ramble also admits that the club had the burden of having to :
“The debt incurred for the new stadium continues to have an influence over Arsenal’s strategy. Although Gary Neville, amongst others, may believe that this is no longer an issue, it is clearly a factor with Arsenal’s gross debt standing at £253 million at the end of 2011/12, comprising long-term bonds that represent the “mortgage” on the stadium (£225 million) and the debentures held by supporters (£27 million).
Although this has come down significantly from the £411 million peak in 2008, it is still a heavy burden, requiring an annual payment of around £19 million, covering interest and repayment of the principal. ”
ha …in your fucking face you muppet guru…in your face……
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oh wow..who would have thought that building a stadium would end up being a burden…i thougth we were gonna win the league five years on the trot and maybe three big europeans ones too… we should have bought ronaldinho and pirlo for the opening ceremony but we got some soft kids instead who didnt know their positions/role even.
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dc today i was talking with a lifelong supporter who was basically fed up and told me he wasnt giving any more money and obviously not renewing due to lack of transfers….
i congratulated him and told him i wish others followed his example..
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Hunter
A ‘lifelong supporter’ me arse!
Only a fool or a hater can’t see how good the team is becoming.
Look at the wailing on arseblog with a mere rumor of an injury to Rambo – the same crew over there wanted to kick him out of the club while he was still in crutches.
Same for Theo – they hated him getting the market wage for a 20 goal striker, now they are wetting themselves if he is really injured.
(in fact so am I).
Look at Low’s comments on Poldi – he knows how good his striker is.
And without putting a jinx on this – just read how nice Luiz Gustavo’s comments about us are, even if he never becomes a Gunner, it’s nice to read the real truth, and this is from a guy who saw us play them 4-4 over 2 legs.
“I am in a delicate situation at Bayern, and this needs sorting out. I have personal and professional reasons to move. I have heard about the Arsenal interest. It’s a big club we’re talking about here, so of course I’d like to play for them.
“You have to earn a Brazil call-up every week, and one can’t simply think past glories will guarantee a place.
“There are still a couple of weeks before the transfer window, but I need to keep working. He [Guardiola] has not spoken to me specifically about my situation but personally and professionally there are questions I need to address.
“Arsenal play a very attractive brand of football and are in the Champions League. They also have a very clever manager in Arsene Wenger. Even when Bayern beat them in the last Champions League, you could see they are not pushovers.”
Arsenal are a big Club, Wenger is a very clever manager – hold on, that doesn’t fit the hater world view.
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Hunter
Pure quote from Arsene Wenger (originally from a Belgian ‘paper, Flemish or Wallon I don’t know)
“We want to pay the debt we owe from the stadium we built, that’s around £15 million [per year]. So it’s normal that at the start, [of transfer dealings] we have to make at least £15 million or we lose money.”
Hunter – that £15m was just interest!, Arsenal pay off another £5m to £6m off the capital from the loan every year as well. And there is 18 more years of this. Swiss point’s out the deal with the banks means we can’t just but out the loan early either – the banks would loose more than us. So Arsenal owe £360m but we have £160m cash (in various forms), mostly not for day to day spending.
This during a time when Chelski spent {Doctor evil voice} ONE BILLION EURO.
This is straight from the horses mouth:
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-we-are-paying-back-our-stadium-debt
The amount of f^ck nuts who will deny this is a basic fact is just staggering.
Oh, and our German friend’s won’t be letting this go unpunished much longer:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/sam-wallace-spanish-clubs-unpaid-tax-bills-are-a-disgrace–and-a-warning-to-all-7576759.html
Ivan should be pushing to make sure RM and FCB get the kicking down the stairs they utterly deserve. We might have laughed when Ivan said we could be competing financially with Bayern Munich, but they are comparatively fully legit, and who are the top dog in a province of 12m people, and a sort of Manu of Germany, backed by huge industries too. Imagine Arsenal having London to ourselves (except for west ham)?.
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Not a ‘cuss word in it George!
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I have yet to fully look into Gustavo’s appearance record for Bayern, but he may qualify for terminating his contract due to “sporting reasons”. This maybe why he is stating that his situation is delicate?
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Just looked into Gustavo’s situation and he’s out of the protected period of his contract but made enough appearances for Bayern to be considered an important player. If we want him we have to pay.
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Where did the post go, George?
The links were not to other blogs.
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