Arsenal were quite capable of competing with one super rich club because of the ability of Arsene Wenger to unearth footballing gems and mould them into quality players. But he is struggling to do this against two clubs with considerably more resources. On top of this, clubs are starting to hold out for more money whenever Wenger shows an interest in a player – the price starts going up and up and up. He can no longer buy young players and develop them in the way he had done before because other clubs think ‘well, if he’s good enough to go to Arsenal then surely he’s worth more than…’. The cost of each signing goes up, not least because of savvy managers, but because super-rich clubs are inflating the market for players. Shaun Wright-Phillips goes to Chelsea for £21 million (that tells you something).
Now we need to address the fact that there are only 38,000 seats at Highbury. How are we going to make enough money to cover our escalating costs?
At some point Wenger sits down with the board to discuss the future. It is suggested that we invest in a new stadium to increase match day revenue. The idea is discounted because Wenger needs more money to invest directly into the team and a mortgage would deplete funds from the clubs current account. Arsenal are now competing with three well funded teams (Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool) and there are other clubs starting to increase their spending (Spurs, Everton and Villa).
The Arsenal board starts to take out loans in an attempt to bridge the growing financial gap between the ‘normal’ clubs and the super-rich elite.
Over the next season or two, Arsenal win the FA and League Cup as well as finishing second in the league. Wenger’s ability to recruit good players is still there, but there is much more financial competition than ever before. Arsenal start to drop away from the top of the league.
But at least we’re winning trophies, right?
Despite having more money to throw at transfers and wages than they would have had in the short-term had they moved to a new stadium, Arsenal just aren’t able to compete with the monetary muscle of Chelski and United. Then comes Man City and the sheiks, and they blow everyone out of the water with their financial clout.
Suddenly, there are four clubs with more spending power than Arsenal. There are also three or four clubs spending just as much money as Wenger, but not doing as well as we are because of the quality of their managers and the foundations already in place at their respective clubs. We still have the advantage over these teams as we now challenge for a top four place.
CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE FINAL PAGE
Wenger didn’t win the double in his first season
He did it in his first full season!
Thomas Munson: I think you’ll find I wrote that he won it in his first full season. He started in 96/97, 97/98 was his first full season and that’s when he won the double.
Good read Mike!
Too many spoilt fans. Must have started supporting Arsenal during the Wenger years they forgot the club was mid-table for a couple of years before Wenger brought success back.
Wenger is a victim of his own success.
His transfers questioned. Sigh, while he makes mistakes in the market. He is pretty consistent in his transfer dealings. He rarely buy established stars. Those that are used to watching Vieira, Henry, Pires etc. Remember they were relatively unknown when he bought them and bought them cheap he did. He then polished them into stars. So don’t start questioning why he don’t buy stars cause through the successful years he achieved, he never did buy established stars.