//

Monday, June 25, 2007

Wenger stands ground on contract

Arsene Wenger will only sign a new contract if David Dein is brought back to the club, so it’s getting reported in the Daily Mail. I think its 99% true.

Wenger is expected to meet with club directors this week where it appears he will lay down the gauntlet. Wenger’s deal is only good for the coming season and his refusal thus far to extend is set to exert huge pressure on the board to undo the situation. Thierry Henry’s move to Barcelona was in large part due to David Dein’s departure and the situation is devolving inside the club’s board to the extent that a mass exodus could ensue. And Henry is not the club’s biggest asset, Wenger is.

Wenger is furious with the manner of the former vice-chairman's departure and appears ready to ‘go to the mattresses’ over the situation.

It appears more and more that all the money flooding into the Premiership is doing more harm than good. Everywhere you turn its takeover here and buyout there and bla bla bla funds for transfers to placate the fans. Arsenal were just fine before the Stanley Kroenke situation appears and will be fine without him. I tend to support the idea of floating the club on the stock exchange but different from what it is today and only if supporters get a large stake hold and a stipulation in a charter exists so that nobody can take over the club in it’s entirely like the Glazers have at Manchester United.

While Dein was right in some ways, he was wrong, I think, to suggest that another American tycoon would be good for the club long term. It should not have caused a departure thought. This was an issue that could have been worked out. Still, David Dein should not have bedded Kroenke. There are other ways to float the club and generate the money needed to pay for the new stadium and compete in the transfer market.

The remaining board members, who between them own 45% of the club, have agreed not to sell out their stakes for at least one year but you can bet it will happen unless intervention takes place. Remember the 2 horse jockeys at Man United. Same horserace, different club.

I can sympathize with Arsene Wenger. How would you like something that you have been crafting for so many years be put at risk with all the uncertainty surrounding the club? I wouldn’t, and would consider more stable pastures for sure.

Should the situation at Arsenal continue, you can rest assured nothing good will come from it, I don’t care how much money rich pricks throw at the club.

Dein is in a similar position. He has kept a low profile since leaving Arsenal and turned down the chance join Newcastle, another friggin buyout victim.

Buyout = sellout.

Labels:

17 Comments:

Post a Comment

Blogger Unknown said...

The club is already on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM)

6/25/2007 4:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dien was wrong to try and bring krunky in here. We aint man u

6/25/2007 4:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd like to know how the Mail can possibly know what Wenger is planning to say to the Board. Wenger is not the kind of man who'd run to a tabloid journalist to leak threats, and neither would he let associates who might do the job for him in on the secret. I think this Mail report is pure speculation designed to attract attention.

Tend to agree with you re Kroenke, though. We do NOT need debt-led acquisition and the Board would be well within their rights to resist.

As they would the return of Anelka, incidentally. I saw a blogger comment that Anelka 'had everything that Henry had' yesterday: give me a break! For a start, it's not easy to find the back of the net when you've got your head jammed up your backside.

6/25/2007 4:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not listed on AIM but PLUS (formerly OFEX). This is an unregulated market usually used by company's who shares are seldom traded.

This whole thing is turning into a disaster. Selling Henry is the least part of it although the price tag should have been higher. I can't see Wenger staying as I doubt Dein will come back unless the board sell and I don't think that's going to happen.

I know three fans that attend regularly that are going to cut down. I feel the same. We should have retained our UK identity even if it meant less silverware. Damn Damn Damn.

6/25/2007 4:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wenger has been and still is a fantastic manager, probably one of the top 5 in the world right now, and to be competitive with the level of investment he has been allowed has been fantastic. Why does everyone seem to think we need loads of cash to compete. It never has been and never will be the way we do things. Every time we spend a lot of money the players fail to impress (Reyes, Wiltord, Jeffers etc.). So Henry has left, big deal. We got £16m for a 30 yr old and still have several of the hottest properties in world football (Van Persie, Fabregas, Denilson, Clichy, Bendtner, Walcott???). What if Cesc is next I hear you ask? Well while he is without a doubt our most talented remaining player and definitely a future candidate for world player of the year, if he goes in a year, he will be replaced by fran merida who will be about the age that Cesc got into the 1st team. Every cloud and all that...

6/25/2007 4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

we need cash boys this aint the good ol days

6/25/2007 4:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

People always said we should get Sidwell, Upson etc back because they were not given the chance, but how do you give young players the chance if there is not a changing of the guard. Would Cesc be in the team if Vieira had not gone. If Bendtner left and was amazing, everyone would say that Wenger made a huge mistake.

6/25/2007 4:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Big superstars who have come to the premiership as superstars and done well, let me see:

Veron, Shevchenko, Ballack to name the 3 highest profile ones.

Players who have developed in the premiership due to good coaching, natural talent etc.

Ronaldo - £12m (arsenal could have afforded him)

Rooney - fair enough we never had a chance.

Cesc - hell yeah

Van Persie - Indeed

Terry - great defender

Joe Cole - again did not cost that much

Name me any really big budget players who came from abroad and were successful.

6/25/2007 4:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about Drogba and Essien

6/25/2007 4:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You think it's 99% true?, based on what exactly. Absolutely farcical. If you believe 99% of what the Daily Mail says, you're in a shit load of trouble my friend.

No-one knows what Wenger wants, EVEN the Daily Mail. But here's an effective guess. He just wants to know that in 12 months time, the club is still run the way that he likes it, ie. He is still in complete control. He's not so petit that he demands all his friends are on the board, and Arsene as even said, that Dein doesn't want him to do anything stupid, Dein still wants what is best for the club, whether he is there or not.

We don't know this, it's certianly not a 99% likelihood, it's a pure guess, but with more factual basis than the Daily Mail who have plucked a simple shit-stirring idea from the air.

6/25/2007 5:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daily Mail? How do they know? It's pure speculation. Some journos got lucky on the Henry speculation and now its oprn season on who can stick their neck out furthest on a made up story. What's in the mail is 99% bollox.

6/25/2007 5:13 PM  
Blogger Football Commentator said...

Let me clarify:

I don't necessarily believe what the Mail says, but I believe the idea that Wenger is going to try and felx some muscle and use his contract negotiations to do so.

6/25/2007 5:22 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

we're not man u?

Exactly! We're not champions and look a mile off being champs! Glazers haven't done too bad. £50million spent so far to make current champs even stronger?
Mmmmmm....
Do we want to drop down to the league that only ever plays for 5th and a Uefa cup place?

6/25/2007 5:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is rubbish like someone said "Wenger is not the kind of man who'd run to a tabloid journalist to leak threats, and neither would he let associates who might do the job for him in on the secret" and there are other reports saying that arsene has already chose the man for the job to take over DD's place. but then that could also be bullshit but its more likely that this kind of information could be leaked than that of arsene threaghtening the board.

6/25/2007 5:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Read the Daily Mail's article. No quotes, no sources. It's absolute conjecture.

6/25/2007 6:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How can we possibly sell Henry for £16.1 million!!! Barcelona know the true worth of this man and have put an £82.4 million buy out clause in his contract. This is the bargain of the century, we should have thrown Cesc in too just for good value! What a joke! I wish Henry the best for his future and thank him for all he has done for the club I just wish we could have done a little better out of the deal, losing our best ever striker, our captain and the biggest magnet you could imagine for world class talent to be atrracted to our club and he leaves for less than Darren Bent is allegedly worth!! Then agan it looks like spuds are going to pay it!! thats the bigger joke!! Dont suppose they can help it though, I think they must like people pointing their finger at them and laughing!! Ha ha ha aha ahaahaaha

6/25/2007 7:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the situation regarding Kroenke is quite different from the Glazers at Man U. Kroenke has stated that he does not fancy the model used by the Glazers with heavy debt financing. The man is a billionaire and has the means to buy Arsenal without the same reliance on debt as we have seen with Man U.
Having said that, I don't know if I would like to see Arsenal owned by an American. We were doing quite well before, but then there are the inflated transfer fees created by Chelsea, Man U, Barca, Real, Inter and AC MIlan. All big clubs with big bank accounts, but if we keep Wenger, who cares? He will buy for a penny, and win it all!

6/26/2007 2:03 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Borrow Money From People. Low Rates. No Banks. Earn 8-12%. Great Returns. No Banks.