Dream on Arsenal fans

[Dunny]

Two questions; Was AW/AFC in talks with G. Cahill first or Mertesacker?
And being honest, which player looks the better defender between the two?

Gaz you can listen to the English media and hype up Cahill if you want but i look at the facts and see Cahill has less than 5 caps in an ordinary England team while Mertesacker as played against the best in a top team for a number of years. last world cup the man made Rooney look like a little boy lost, kept Messi, Tevez and co quiet, whipping Argentina 4-0 in a world cup semi and you asking who is better?

[Gamma]

: ......

[GazX]

Gaz you can listen to the English media and hype up Cahill if you want but i look at the facts and see Cahill has less than 5 caps in an ordinary England team while Mertesacker as played against the best in a top team for a number of years. last world cup the man made Rooney look like a little boy lost, kept Messi, Tevez and co quiet, whipping Argentina 4-0 in a world cup semi and you asking who is better?

Yep; Cahill; a bit younger, quicker, and it can be argued help keep Barcelona - rated the best team in the world - at bay very recently. Yes playing in an ordinary England team, but it can be argued that Mertesacker. By playing in a very good Germany team, helps him to look good and has things slightly easier defending wise.

[Paul Marin]

[B]

PM; Apologies for an error re: the debt. Never quite explain what i intended to say properly due to hasty posting/not rechecking post before posting
What it should should have read, or tried to point out was that even MU have a debt/ financial liabilities yet still AF still able to make some kind of sustained Prem title Challenge unlike AFC.

Pt 2 re: trophy draught; from yr response, seems like you / fans are resigned to accepting the current state of play re: the club competing for those major honours and that's as good as it'll get under the current management regime. Given the success of Newcastle in bringing in good quality players at relatively low transfer fee's, compared with Arteta etc, and Mertesaker - whose should have been worn by Cahill, dosent this say that things a AFC could/should be much healthier than they are? And in this situation of financial prudence, then 10 mill for Arteta with little/no sell on value is both nuts, and undermines that constantly trotted out excuse for poorer quality signing due to the need to repay back this £300+ million used by the board/AW.

As for attractive football; Even ugly football is preferable to fans if it results in trophy success. Again that points to the philosophy of the management which fails to recognise that sometimes you come across situations where you need more than just pretty players or pretty passing moves to achieve a desirable result.
G. Graham's reign would be a testimony that more ugly football is required to bring about success, and i cant see anything changing too soon as things currently stand within AFC.

As for financial stability, if AFC weren't considered already financially stable then i dont think any bank/lender would have been prepared risk giving them any loan for the building of that stadium in the first place. The club asking for fans to pay through the nose to remove the incurred debts, but what are the chances of the ticket prices being reduced for (supporters/ mortgage repayers ) if/when that loan is declared finally repayed.

Last point; what does just competitive enough now mean to AFC fans?
Seems like another way of saying we're happy not making any sustained/serious push for the Prem title/ CL next season.

The management mentality is such that you won't be making a sustained push for anything until the stadium is paid off...staying in the UCL and keeping the stadium full on match day while spending as little as possible on acquisitions is the priority. You will have to wait until 2015...but after that...no one will touch them. And by the way, their definition of financial stability is "debt free". It is a different philosophy than their rivals, but the better one for the long term. Nothing more than that.

[GazX]

The management mentality is such that you won't be making a sustained push for anything until the stadium is paid off...staying in the UCL and keeping the stadium full on match day while spending as little as possible on acquisitions is the priority. You will have to wait until 2015...but after that...no one will touch them. And by the way, their definition of financial stability is "debt free". It is a different philosophy than their rivals, but the better one for the long term. Nothing more than that.

From that, it seems as if the club is banking that the fans do continue to turn up in their numbers to fill that stadium each home game, and continue to part with their cash during such difficult economic times. Seems as if a lot of this repayment of the loan is dependent upon qualifying for CL football. Between now and 2015; the club better hope the team dont finish outside that top four as that might put their plans back a little. They'd also better hope that another down turn in results on the pitch - like what this season - dosent happen again. This season has shown, AW / the club is no longer immune from the anger of the paying fans criticisms, and fans opting to stay away. So AW/AFC better get them wallet out and be prepared to splash more of them cash.

[Paul Marin]

From that, it seems as if the club is banking that the fans do continue to turn up in their numbers to fill that stadium each home game, and continue to part with their cash during such difficult economic times. Seems as if a lot of this repayment of the loan is dependent upon qualifying for CL football. Between now and 2015; the club better hope the team dont finish outside that top four as that might put their plans back a little. They'd also better hope that another down turn in results on the pitch - like what this season - dosent happen again. This season has shown, AW / the club is no longer immune from the anger of the paying fans criticisms, and fans opting to stay away. So AW/AFC better get them wallet out and be prepared to splash more of them cash.

Well, no question missing the champions league would be a major setback; you just got podolski, so it's not like they are not looking to bring in strength. I suspect you'll see more decent signings before the new campaign. As for the fans - they are fickle, give them something that they can hang hope on, and they will be fine.