“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 
well anicol if we sign Mustafi I can’t see him coming to be a squad player, he might not go straight into the team, as he has not played any pre-season games, and has only had just over a weeks worth of training, but I’d expect as soon as he is ready he would be a first choice player.
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Ed Malyon @eaamalyon 1h1 hour ago
Valencia club sources are briefing that there have been no talks with Arsenal over Shkodran Mustafi in last few days.
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I am sure he would be signed as a first team player Eddy, although however good he is he would take a few weeks to get fully fit and settle in.
I cannot however see why at 21 years old 22 in January, Callum cannot develop into as good a player as Mustafi is at 24 though. 2/3 years ago the German had played less football than Chambers at the same age. The difference seems to be he got the chance at Valencia and has developed since.
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I agree anicol, I found it odd how little game time Chambers got last season, anytime he came in he played well, but he was out again as soon as others were fit. I thought he played well enough to stay in ahead of Gabriel, but he just did not get a run of games and all the rumors over the summer has been that Arsenal are actually keen to loan him out for the season, that is if they can get in Mustafi.
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seemingly Mustafi’s agent has claimed contract agreed between Arsenal and Mustafi, and only the finer details of the transfer fee to be ironed out, before medical and transfer can be completed.
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Jeorge Bird @jeorgebird 22h22 hours ago
Arsenal prospect Ismael Bennacer, who previously played for France, has been named in the provisional senior Algeria squad to face Lesotho
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Wenger when asked what positions he still wanted to strengthen said “if we find a better player in any position who is better than the one we have, we will do it, as it improves you”
he also said that “our squad is already too big”, but if we find better we will do it.
anyone spot the bit that the malcontents and bloggers will concentrate on and distort
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wenger said of the new dissent rules, that just like in the past he expects it will tail off after a few games. He also wondered how well the new rules about penalties for pulling and dragging at corners will work.
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Wenger “no update on new contracts for Alexis and Ozil, no urgency as both have 2 years left, progress being made, and he is still confident they will sign”
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Miguel Delaney @MiguelDelaney 12m12 minutes ago
Wenger on progress in Mustaphi deal: “No, I cannot tell you.”
Reporter: I understand
Wenger: “It’s good you understand.”
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on Walcott, Wilshere and Ox, “its a big season for them, but they must remain fit, as at the top level you can not keep coming in and out”
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“Per out for 4 months, Gabriel out for 6-8 weeks, ruptured ankle ligaments”
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Wenger on bargains “not harder to find a bargain, but harder to convince people that a cheap player has quality, cos normally the expensive player has quality”
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Wenger “huge desire and ambition in the squad”
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press conference over only a few minutes and already arsenal blogs downright lying about what Wenger said, misquotes and part quotes even made up quotes to distort what he said to suit their wenger bashing agenda.
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Hi George hope it’s not grim and that it is also a lovely sunny day ooop norf.
I’ve managed to get my post stuck in another machine hopefully will be able to email something tonight and hopefully that’ll leave enough time for the Masters to approve the spelling etc. before Steww’s match day preview, which i am very much looking forward too.
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I like this Charlton Athletic initiative of issuing season tickets only to fans who understand and adhere to ‘Supporting’ the club.
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Excellent positive blog.
Wished I found you guys sooner.
Keep up the good work.
More news style articles.
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Excellent blog
Keep up the good work.
Great fan.
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well a few things I would like to see the club do re season tickets
1. state how many who were season ticket holders when AFC at Highbury, took up the option of a season ticket at the Emirates.
2. state the average length of time on the season ticket waiting list for those who got a season ticket for the first time when we moved to the Emirates
3. state how many “new” season ticket holders we have had each season at the Emirates, and how this compares % wise with the last 10 years at highbury.
4. take season ticket of those not using it enough, make it a condition that at least 75% (maybe even go as high as 90%) of game must be attended,
5. make it a condition of purchase that season ticket must be used by the holder (possibly allow for holder to name a number of people – family members – who can use the ticket in their absence.
6. facilitate as far as possible, those that want to move seat to another section of the stadium.
7. split the season ticket, BPL only, and BPL and Cups, with the BPL and Cups one getting a good reduction on cup games.
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Wenger’s comment about the squad being too big is very interesting.
Surprised no journo’s picked up on it.
Does he mean loans or sales?
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WENGER’S LATEST QUOTES ON TRANSFERS
Transfers were high on the agenda when Arsène Wenger faced the press ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener against Liverpool. This is what he said:
on if the fee for John Stones has inflated the market…
Well yes, we know that in England the transfers are very high because there’s an influx of money. When you go outside England, it’s very high because you’re English. So you’re not too surprised about the transfer amount because the clubs don’t need the money in England and maybe that’s why they only weaken if the price is high.
on if it’s becoming harder to find bargains…
Not so much, but I think it’s harder than ever to convince people that you can buy good players at a reasonable price, and that the quality is necessarily linked with the amount of money today is in everybody’s mind. Most of the time it’s true – good players cost a lot of money – but you can still find players of top quality at a reasonable price sometimes.
on what he can say on possible Arsenal signings…
Look, today my focus is not too much on that, because we play a very important game in 48 hours. Transfers will not help us now to do well in this game because we have a strong squad. We have to deal with the game on Sunday with the squad we have available. But of course we lost basically three centre backs, because we have [lost] Mertesacker and Gabriel and Koscielny, who is not ready. Most of the time, the injuries happen in the same sector. But I believe we are equipped to do well and I’m confident we can do well. Transfer-wise, as soon as we do something, we will inform you.
on Shkodran Mustafi…
No, I cannot tell you [anything].
on how many players he needs to add…
I don’t count in numbers because otherwise our squad will be too big. Like many teams, if we find the top quality then we will still strengthen our squad.
on which other areas he’s looking at other than defence…
There’s no other specific area that we need. It will depend on the quality we find. If we find somebody who strengthens our team in any position, who gives us a superior quality, we’ll do it.
on whether he gets tired with the inflated prices…
It’s not so tiring, it’s just surprising more than tiring. We knew that would happen. It was not difficult to anticipate that. Of course it was difficult to imagine five or 10 years ago that it would go to that level, but maybe that’s the consequence of the success and popularity of the Premier League. After that you can discuss. I said the other day that the price of a player normally depends on his talent, on his expected strengthening of the team, on his age and on his resale value. After that, we are in a system where we are in competition as well and if your opponent pays £40million, then if you want the player you have to pay £45million.
on the big clubs buying big players…
You focus on your squad and your quality and you try to strengthen where you can. We were not specifically [competing] with Man United on a player, so we have done what we wanted and we want to do more. We try to compete at our level with all the assets we have and we try to compete with them. We showed that last Sunday [against Man City].
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160812/wenger-s-latest-es-on-transfers#UgmG47V8m6r0GIPt.99
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Conte again on signings: “Chelsea is waiting for the right solution… the cost is very expensive, and not real valuation of the player.”
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Paddy @VieiraPaddy 26m26 minutes ago
Every season people say we’re not good enough to make the top 4 then they laugh when we don’t win the league.
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Arsenal u23’s start their league season this evening, v Reading u23’s.
it will be interesting to see who gets selected, especially at CB, it might give a clue as to who will be involved with the first team on Sunday
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Interesting ideas on season ticket rules, manure , a few years back, looked into their season ticket holders only to find a large percentage dead and another large amount living abroad. Obviously the season tickets were passed on to other users which was stopped. I do know lots of people who pass on their St for sometimes years on end.
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I’d like to know how many in Islington resident season ticket seats are, or ever were, Islington residents ??
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Hey!
I might not have a season ticket
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…but I do live in the heart of he communist Corbynista commune allotments an’ all (genius Steve bell cartoon reference…).
And to be fair after years of people throwing me free tickets I thought that I better show some appreciation and i have half a season ticket this year somehow!
And I still think people will throw me the odd ticket to save having to go on the exchange etc
Does a half count?
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finsbury i had to read that last line a second time,
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updated arsenal fixture list
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Reading U23 starting XI vs Arsenal: Bond, Stacey, Griffin, Gravenberch, Jules, Barrett, Kuhl, Rinomhota, Tanner, Fosu, Novakovich
subs vs Arsenal: Southwood, Osho, Hyam, Bennett, Cardwell.
still waiting on arsenal.com to announce the Arsenal u23 team for the game
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Finsbury, I’m still waiting !!!???!!!!
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Bielik and Akpom not involved, so looks like they will be part of first team squad on Sunday
Good to see Maitland-Niles in an Arsenal team again.
I see Kamara is a sub, so reports of him having gone to a dutch club on loan are a bit off
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interesting to see Sheaf at CB, he is normally a central midfielder, and has at times lined out at right back, but this is his first game for us at cb
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 3m3 minutes ago
After early Arsenal pressure, suddenly it’s all Reading – Barrett forces a great save out of goalkeeper Macey! 0-0 after 15 minutes.
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Hey I’m still working! Insert Sad Smiley Face)
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Reading have a goal ruled out for offside
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 48s49 seconds ago
Half-time: Arsenal U23 0-0 Reading U23. Some sumptuous football on display from the Royals and some really good openings, but goalless.
No updates on Arsenal official twitter, laughable that they advised fans in their preview of the game that there would be updates from 18.55. They tweeted a picture of the team sheet and that was it. Just not good enough from the club.
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Merson must have been on the hard stuff again, he says if Arsenal sign Mustafi it has to be seen as a panic buy, cos we did not complete the deal right after the Euros.
Has anyone told man utd and man city that the signings of pogba and stones are panic buys.
I wonder how does Merson classify any signings made in the last few days of the window. Its amazing that he actually gets paid for the rubbish he spouts.
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 3m3 minutes ago
Arsenal hanging on at the moment. Stacey’s cross deflected and just dealt with at the back post by Johnson…
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arsenal twitter has awoken, I wonder for how long.
Arsenal FC @Arsenal 10s10 seconds ago
No way through for #AFCU23 so far – it’s 0-0 against Reading midway through the second half
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Just two days to go and we’ve made it
A bridge crossed, a footballing chasm negotiated !!!
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 3m3 minutes ago
Goal! Andy Rinomhota with a cracker and a deserved 1-0 lead for the Royals!
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It was one of those blue moon afternoons and to fill in a two hour rail journey that took five I flicked through some of the other Arsenal blogs. It’s been a while.
The good news is we are some distance ahead. Quality invariably trumps quantity, particularly the day in/day out recitation of fuck all that makes up 99% of the output twixt Mid May and mid August.
On a more specific point is it me or does Tim Stillman think he is extremely clever ? Rarely read such a smug “aren’t I a master of wit and repartee” as on Arseblog today. A pity Stillman did not stick to his promise of two years ago and fuck off in protest to Stan’s £3million fees in the accounts.
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Reading FCVerified account@ReadingFC
Superb from Bond in goal to rush out and take the ball off Mavididi’s foot. He’s had little to do, but was alert when it mattered.
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 2m2 minutes ago
Goal! Harry Cardwell with an outrageous finish to make it 2-0 to Reading. Lovely goal…
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anicol i mentioned it this morning, that only a few minutes after the press conference Arsenal blogs had already misquoted, misrepresented and downright lied as to what Wenger had said. Its amazing that these bloggers claim to love Arsenal, when they go out of the way to damage the club in so many ways.
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Reading FC @ReadingFC 25s26 seconds ago
Full-time: @Arsenal U23 0-2 Reading U23. Rinomhota and Cardwell with two beauties in a terrific win!
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