“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” ― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
24 days to…the closing of the window.
Everything about the transfer window reminds me of the commercialization of Christmas:
• The countdown.
• The massive price inflation. This window last year’s 30 million pound player is now 40 million (25%), 20 million is now 30 million (50%), 10 million is 20 million(100%). It’s evident from those percentages that, like Christmas, the higher margin is on lower end product. Always the poor pay more, eh.
• The wall-to-wall media hype allied with the selling of massive amounts of expensive advertizing best exemplified by that 24-hour Jim White-SkySport frenzy on deadline day.
• The widescale brainwashing of football fans into believing that the only way owners and managers can show their love for the fans is by engaging in massive transfer spending. Arsenal fans are arguably under the most psychological pressure because Papa Wenger and Uncle Ivan refuse to join the madness, avoid the pressure to keep up with the Jones, by hardly ever spending a fortune during the summer transfer window.
Predictably Arsenal’s twitterati and the big bloggers are up in arms, defaming the club’s greatest ever manager for refusing to bend to the pressure to spend for spending sake. Many are like children at Christmas who can’t understand why Momma and Poppa refuse to buy them the most expensive plaything.
https://twitter.com/triplec1988/status/761578406119149568
The BBC tactic is to wheel out out an ex-player to attack the club’s transfer spending:
“The board and Wenger have let Arsenal fans down again”.
Brutal from Chris Sutton.
But a fair assessment…?https://t.co/TdBqtZLdkA
— BBC 5 live Sport (@5liveSport) August 1, 2016
On transfer inflation one tweeter dismissed the club’s prudence.
Benteke €46.5m
Firmino €41m
Son €30mOff the top of my head but ~€50m for Mahrez is overpriced?
— Doug Nichols (@TheTXI) August 1, 2016
This fellow has seemingly given up:
It’s become painfully clear that nobody has any clue what the hell The Arsenal are doing as far as transfers.
— Brian (@GunnerFaithful) July 29, 2016
One podcaster puts the boot in:
Surely Asano & Holding aren’t being counted as signings? For me we’ve signed Xhaka and thats it, and that’s not good enough @Arsenal
— Gimli (@GoonerGimli) July 19, 2016
To be fair not all of Arsenal twitter have given in to the pressure.
Wenger is an absolute fraud. How he bought Rob Holding for 2mill when Stones is going for 50mill is nothing but FRAUDULENT. 😂😂😂
— IslingtonGoonerAFC (@Born_a_gooner) August 1, 2016
We stayed in the CL despite financial difficulties since 04, been steadily improving last 3 seasons – 4,3,2 (2FA cups too). Why the moaning?
— Sahan Mendis (@theredandwhite1) July 30, 2016
Xhaka 34M in a market where Higuain goes for 75M. Don’t come at my boy Weng ever again.
— Tosí (@OzilAssist) July 29, 2016
” Wenger’s main summer signing each year since 2012 has been; Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Petr Cech.
All remain key men”
— Common Tater (@RancidPotato) July 21, 2016
As usual it is the data which has the final say. Most of you readers are familiar with my mantra:
“Unlike the media [and Twitter], which thrives on emotion, in the silent statistical world, there are no headlines. There are no narratives. No excuses. No hope and no despair. Just data.”
I did my research and not surprisingly, it is Arsenal’s prudence and Arsene’s discipline in the transfer market which stands out like a shining light.
| Nett Spend 92/03 – 13/14 | Purchased Gross | Sold | Nett | Per Season |
| Manchester City | £1,145,480,000 | £316,903,000 | £828,577,000 | £33,143,080 |
| Chelsea | £1,195,199,000 | £484,125,000 | £711,074,000 | £28,442,960 |
| Manchester United | £922,950,000 | £435,490,000 | £487,460,000 | £19,498,400 |
| Liverpool | £917,805,000 | £539,300,000 | £378,505,000 | £15,140,200 |
| Middlesbrough | £237,910,000 | £57,680,000 | £180,230,000 | £7,209,200 |
| Arsenal | £587,365,000 | £407,674,000 | £179,691,000 | £7,187,640 |
| Tottenham | £686,700,000 | £525,167,500 | £161,532,500 | £6,461,300 |
| Sunderland | £327,745,000 | £170,580,000 | £157,165,000 | £6,286,600 |
| Stoke City | £149,065,000 | £47,630,000 | £101,435,000 | £4,057,400 |
| Crystal Palace | £156,760,000 | £59,990,000 | £96,770,000 | £3,870,800 |
| Everton | £349,045,500 | £254,586,000 | £94,459,500 | £3,778,380 |
| West Bromwich Albion | £178,650,000 | £86,376,501 | £92,273,499 | £3,690,940 |
| West Ham | £303,282,000 | £216,782,000 | £86,500,000 | £3,460,000 |
| Hull City | £108,445,000 | £57,680,000 | £50,765,000 | £2,030,600 |
| AFC Bournemouth | £78,085,000 | £28,595,000 | £49,490,000 | £1,979,600 |
| Leicester City | £123,895,000 | £94,195,000 | £29,700,000 | £1,188,000 |
| Watford | £89,345,000 | £60,000,000 | £29,345,000 | £1,173,800 |
| Swansea City | £99,427,500 | £87,560,000 | £11,867,500 | £474,700 |
| Southampton | £279,687,500 | £280,845,000 | -£1,157,500 | -£46,300 |
| Burnley | £53,300,000 | £87,560,000 | -£34,260,000 | -£1,370,400 |
Publicly available data on transfer spending demonstrate in no uncertain fashion that despite the billions spent by City and Chelsea with United and Liverpool breathing down their necks, none have had sustainable to success, unlike Arsenal. City came 4th last year and had to ditch their manager. Chelsea came 8th and has had three managers since last season. United continue to show ambition at a mouth-watering cost. None other than Fabio Capello was forced to remark:
‘They have spent €500million (£424m) in three years to win the FA Cup and twice they did not qualify for the Champions League,
‘Money is not always enough’.
Despite Liverpool’s willingness to spend whatever the market charged for average players (something Arseblog would no doubt approve) they have never won the Premier League in its 24 years of existence. This appetite for the transfer market doesn’t seem to have changed under Herr Klopp.
What was astonishing to me was how per season transfer spending club by Middlesborough exceeded Arsenal’s during the period under reference. This is the classic yo-yo club which enjoys a spell in the Prem only to be relegated to the Championship. I nearly fell out of my seat when it hit me that they have spent the last 10 years trying to get promoted.
What the data above ignores are the clubs whose owners spent lavishly, like Santa Claus, temporarily endearing themselves to the fans, only to conveniently fall out of sight out of mind to the bloggers and tweeters who demonize Wenger for not “showing ambition”. One such club is Aston Villa who between 92/93-13/14 were not afraid to spend.
| Purchased Gross | Sold | Nett | Per Season |
| $401,890,000.00 | $228,575,000.00 | $173,315,000.00 | $7,290,600.00 |
Despite their per season average spending also exceeding Arsenal’s, last campaign Villa was finally relegated to the Championship after two-three years of flirting with disaster. American billionaire owner Randy Lerner has had to sell out to the Chinese, after a reported 50% hit to his net worth. One wonders what he now thinks of the advice of the mainstream media and his many spendthrift managers who demanded he spend big every transfer window to strengthen the squad.
In closing let me remind you of something Arsene said about transfers recently:
“I buy players that I feel can strengthen our team. Today, you have to be very strong inside the club when you are responsible, not to just buy to buy.
“There is always a wave of opinions, and people are better informed today than all the players. They always tell you to buy but when you ask who to buy, they become much shorter, because if you look at the market in Europe there is a lot of money available, but not many players that really strengthen the teams.
“And if you look at who is spending the most in Europe, they are not the teams that won the leagues. The global investment of all the clubs around us didn’t stop Leicester winning the league. So we have to focus on our quality, and try to strengthen our team.
“If you analyse well our season, we finished top of the top-four. We lost maximum points against the teams between five and nine. Maybe the games we were expected to win, we did, but against teams like Southampton and Swansea, we dropped too many points.
“On the other hand, we had a good defensive record, overall, but we can still strengthen that. And we were a bit short of goals scored. We didn’t convert enough chances we created. We created the most in the league but our finishing was not as good as the season before.
“You say we should have won the league, but Leicester lost only three games during the season and won the league. You have to respect their performance. It’s not the name that wins the league, it’s the quality of the performances.”
I would advise well thinking fans to heed the words and deeds of Arsene and just like at Christmas, avoid the hype and psychological pressure. As most of us try teach our kids, in the words of Dr Seuss:
What if Christmas….doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
Positively Arsenal 
[…] Source: Wenger – The Grinch Who Stole The Transfer Window […]
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Nicely done Shotta. Cold hard analysis versus rabid emotion. Of course football is all about emotion to the fans so I suppose it’s understandable they get a little carried away with themselves each summer.
The great thing about our great club is that it matters not one jot what the big blogs nor the discontents among the fan base think, say, or do. Not a jot.
The club know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. They simply won’t be swayed by a rash of over emotional silliness on social media. We who support the manager have already won the war, the petty battles are an irrelevant side show.
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Quite right Stew. I find it remarkable that seemingly sensible people can publicly spread lies and myths about Arsenal and Wenger’s transfer policy without expecting a public rebuttal. Moreover the lies and myths have consequences which I personally observed at that futile protest by the malcontents at the Emirates last May. This is is a club that spent £2million plus to buy a data analytics firm to run the rule over transfers. Already we are reaping the fruits in the likes of Gabriel, Elneny and Xhaka. To think the club is not researching and identifying strikers who are better than what we have defies logic and commonsense.
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good article shotta, it is laughable that a man(chris sutton) who was declared bankrupt has the gall to tell Arsenal how to spend its money.
the tweet I love it the one where asano and holding “don’t count” as signings. It is the usual moving of the goal posts from the malcontents.
we have 23 days till the window shuts, we have one friendly, and 3 bpl games during that time, and Wenger has suggested that we will make 2 more signings, an “experienced cb” and some to improve our “goal scoring”.
the way the whingers are acting one would think that Ozil, Koscielny and Giroud were going to miss several months of the season and not just a couple of games(if that much), and that Welbeck, Mertesacker and Jenkinson were dead, and not just injured. Shotta I really love how you compare the way spending in the transfer window is akin to spending at Christmas to “show your love” for someone. The more the gift cost the more the board love us the fans. The homemade gift or the less costly gift should not be acknowledged, you can’t buy an Iwobi, Holding or Asano at Harrods, and only gifts from Harrods can show Stan, Ivan and Arsene, love us, and I will scream and scream and scream till I get what I want. Of course like any ill mannered kid, I will soon get bored with even the most expensive gift, and want the next new big expensive gift that all the other clubs have bought. Its my right, cos I have passion and ambition.
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If people cared enough about what I think they might ask me why I have no interest in transfers. It really is very simple and highlights a difference between the fan and the professional. I am emotionally attached to the players we have. I see them as ‘ours’ and do not want someone else’s players coming in and usurping them.
The manager is, in contradistinction, constantly scouring the football world to find better players and when the need and opportunity arise will brutally discard a fan favourite for an upgrade. Look at WS and Petr Cech.
Emotion versus cold professional logic.
Of course he is also building a squad of human beings who need to feel loved and needed and need to bond into a unit. He dare not create and foster an atmosphere of insecurity, of people looking over their shoulders wondering if and when they’ll be replaced. He can’t have a core of favourites and a bunch of also rans liable to lose their jobs at any moment. It’s a delicate balancing act and I’m glad we have a man of such experience and know how to perform it.
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I see Vermaelen is in Rome tying up a move to Roma from Barcelona, he made 11 La Liga appearances for Barcelona after his £15M move from Arsenal 2 years ago.
Holding at £2m would not count as a signing but I’m sure £15M vermalen would count.
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The following is a comment that went to the spam bin by someone who obviously did not read my blog or just knowingly ignored the facts I presented and simply wanted a bun-fight over his/her opinion. It is so typical of what passes for debate elsewhere:
“Arsenal have patently needed to buy a central midfielder,centre back and centre forward of note for the last two Seasons..at least.Given the current inflationary transfer market these purchases would have saved the Club anything between 20 and 50 million £s, by conservative estimate,…if Wenger wasn’t so obstinate.The Club are now going into a new Season without either an experienced Centre Back or their first choice Centre Forward.Their first two fixtures are against teams who will undoubtedly exploit this situation.Football success often revolves around confidence resulting from positive continuity….Leicester were a great example of this last Season.A bad start could undermine Arsenal’s entire Season. It beggars belief that Wenger either doesn’t realise what his transfer shortcomings could mean for the start of the coming Season or simply doesn’t care….I should say “doesn’t care” in the sense that he refuses to spend money on players who don’t justify the ridiculous fees being demanded…A commendable viewpoint but one that doesn’t work in the current football world!!”
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stew I loved the wenger comment on players views on bringing in new signings, it went something like
“players will say we need better players signed, but will not say we need better players in their position”
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Thank you for that Shotts, thorough, measured, and informative.
To be fair there are players who Iust over ( in a manly, footballistic chap sort of way I emphasise) but who are contracted to other clubs. the notion of the silky double footed touch of Julian Draxler I admit gets me worked up. They are however few in number and getting fewer by the season.
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well shotta, i’m not surprised you binned should contradictory nonsense. the following line, being laughably contradictory.
“he refuses to spend money on players who don’t justify the ridiculous fees being demanded…A commendable viewpoint but one that doesn’t work in the current football world!!”
if the fee can’t be justified then how can any argument be made against the decision not to pay the ridiculous fee. Once again the malcontents show they have a complete logic bypass
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Love Wenger for all he has done for the Arsenal and football. He is a very decent man in an indecent obscene world. A world that lauds vile self obsessed narcissists like amour into et al.
But that still does not mean we should ignore the fact we have gone into too many seasons with deficiencies in our squad. Last summer was a perfect case in point and unfortunately this one seems to be following the same well worn path.
Great article, BTW Shotta, and all very true! But still… 🙂
All the best, take care
Up the Arse!
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anyone notice the amount of blogs and twitterati who can’t contain themselves with the hope that all hell will break loose if Arsenal lose to Liverpool next Sunday. Despite how they try to dress it up, you can see its what they want, they actually want Arsenal to fail, they desire, as they put it “a poisonous atmosphere”, in the stadium. Their years of Wenger out, and AAA have been a miserable failure, and they don’t like it, and they are willing to destroy the club, if that means they can claim to have got rid of Wenger. Its amazing that they still claim to be Arsenal supporters, and to love the club. When all evidence contradicts both claims.
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160807/watch-ramsey-s-screamer-in-training?
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Our old friend Dexter made the following comment which was caught in the bin. In response I would remind him and others that the first rule of successful management is knowing you often have to wait until you can find the right player at the right price. Wenger and Gazidis have obviously learnt that lesson well given how they have outperformed all the big clubs relative to xfer spending and wages.
Love Wenger for all he has done for the Arsenal and football. He is a very decent man in an indecent obscene world. A world that lauds vile self obsessed narcissists like amour into et al.
But that still does not mean we should ignore the fact we have gone into too many seasons with deficiencies in our squad. Last summer was a perfect case in point and unfortunately this one seems to be following the same well worn path.
Great article, BTW Shotta, and all very true! But still…:)
All the best, take care
Up the Arse!
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I stole that tweet from Adrian Clarke who was saying much of the same as Shotta is
Here is the article: http://bet.unibet.co.uk/football/premier-league/dont-panic-arsenal-fans-why-gunners-lack-transfer-activity-nothing-be
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Higuain’s signing on bonus must have been paid in pies
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Apparently the WOBs are beside themselves because the facts are incontrovertible, i.e. Wenger and Arsenal have every year outperformed all the the other top clubs who have spent more than one billions or just about on transfers. Facts are so subborn, you can’t simply wish them away. Here is Gingernuts who got caught in the spam bin:
“Well judging by the delusional comments on this site,I’d say the “ditherer”is safe for another couple of seasons or until we end up permanently out of top 4.which isn’t far off by my estimation.”
Nuts indeed.
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That’s cool Mr Stray Passenger aka Rancid “Adrian Clarke” Potato.
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with Pogba set to sign for utd, it is reported that his agent, Mino Raiola, who is also Zlatan and Mkhitaryan’s agent, will have received a staggering £40M, from utd this summer.
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“permanently out of top 4.which isn’t far off by my estimation.”
how many seasons now has it been estimated Arsenal will finish outside the top 4, you would think that some of these idiots would wait till it happens just once, before estimating it will be a permanent happening. Their hope of this happening is the only permanent thing, they so want the club they love to fail, its as if they don’t actually love the club at all.
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Likely Lpool game starting 11?
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theo, elneny and cazorla all must be in contention for lfc game
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what? didn’t even notice they were not there? So what exactly are people complaining about? please AW should ignore them!
Shotta well done for the write up.. facts versus fiction is always the way to go.. imagine such a strong team named today and people still moan
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arsenal twitter had some problems putting up the team, they had walcott in their first attempt, they then put it up with alexis in for theo
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1. FSV Mainz 05 @Mainz05en 56m56 minutes ago
Liverpool 4-0 Barca
Mainz 4-0 Liverpool
Good job we’re only in the Europa League this season, hey @FCBarcelona? 😉
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I see we have named 14 subs for todays game, and with nearly all the lads having played some part on friday, I’d expect lots of subs to be used today, maybe even some before half time.
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So glad LCFC has equalised.
see this comment just before they did.. have not actually bought 3 or 4 new players?
Danny Mills
BBC Radio 5 live at Wembley
All the best teams when they have won the Premier League in the past have bought three or four new big signings to strengthen their first XI. Leicester have not done that.
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Cech is captain today.
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well TS it just shows that pundits can say any old tosh, nay lie, and it is taken as the truth, if we look at the actual facts, its very very rare for the BPL winners to go out and buy many, if any, big signings. But the journos and pundits are like sheep, one bleets out some noise, and the rest of them suit follow suit and bleet it our, ba ba bu buy buy buy. Danny Mills, average player, below average pundit.
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George, I see you are going the atheist route today, that really really surprised me, as I’ve seen thousands of tweets of people telling you Wenger is your God.
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So did Leicester brought thee or four new big signings at the beginning of last season?
I may be out of the loop.
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shotta i take from mills comments he means after winning the bpl the champions normally go out and buy 3 or 4 big signings to improve further. That explains why the bpl is retained so often over the last ten years, twenty years, etc.
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the community shield is important again, utd have won it.
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1 minute in fernando booked for hauling down alexis
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2 minutes – ox with a wild shot after keeper gave away the ball, went for power when accuracy was needed
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4 minutes – bellerin lucky to get away without a booking for a studs up challenge
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11 minutes – alexis forces a turnover and puts in a good cross, Ramsey loops a header on to top of the net. best chance of the game so far.
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15 minutes – Bellerin almost gets in
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ah makes me sad seeing arteta on the city bench
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17 minutes – xhaka wins the ball, puts ox one on one with the keeper, he chips the keeper but it goes a few feet wide
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we’ve had two great chances so far.
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18 minutes – alexis seems to be in a lot of pain with a knock to his knee
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19 minutes – aguero with a good run, but bellerin gets in a half block and cech catches the ball
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Yup great chances there.
Enjoyed the double dragback type move by Holding against Aguero.
Good block by Bellerin there, again on Aguero.
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21 minutes – arsenal’s energy levels, speed and effort at trying to win the ball back is impressive
22 minutes – coquelin with a great chance(afer more good work from team mates to win the ball back) but his shot is cleared
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Haha think that was the best chance of the lot.
Coquelin unable to beat the defenders on the line.
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23 minutes – cheap corner given away as gabriel tries to find a team mate in the area
24 minutes – ramsey with a powerful shot from tight angle is palmed away by the keeper, delph hacks down alexis.
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alexis still has the tendency to lose the ball after holding on to it too long.
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