As Nestle says… “Smarties have the answer”…
Well, down at the Emirates only Arsene has the answer, according to Adebayor’s agent anyway…
The Togan is pushing for a move, and his agent has been talkative recently, but you feel that his agent doesn’t really know anything and additionally may have been told off by the Arsenal supremos as he’s stance has certainly changed…
You will have to ask Mr Wenger if there has been an offer from Milan, or any other clubs, to Arsenal because I have heard nothing about any contact or any offer that has been made, so I don’t know what the situation is. Speak to Mr Wenger.
Only Wenger has the answer…
Unless of course your the Milan lawyer, who did report this:
“Is the deal for Luis Fabiano going well? It’s possible, even though many hypothesised transfers don’t always end up being concluded. I don’t know about Huntelaar, while Adebayor is a name which does not make me enthusiastic. In any case Galliani is the one who deals with these things and you should ask him.”
It doesn’t make me enthusiastic either…
Back to “Only Wenger has the answer…”
And it’s a strange one, because it’s so true in all aspects… from singings to formations – we always try and guess what Arsene would and should do, but only the gaffer himself knows the “down low” on the goings on… it’s a bit weird because I’m sure Arsene would tell all real fans of what he is intending to do, his thoughts, formations, signings, etc, but of course, how could he with the media mogul around and how could he considering we all like to talk / gossip and discuss everything Arsenal… it’s like a husband not being able to tell his wife something because she has too many friends and likes to gossip, but it feels very frustrating as a fan not knowing what on earth is going on…
We do speculate of course, and our speculation is based on the facts that we know, the feeling we have based on the style of the manager and the further view of the media. As a result, it’s a mix of guessing and calculated estimation. It’s obvious that Arsene and the team require a defensive midfielder and a defender – but of course, the media takes this and links us with every single defensive midfielder and defender available. Pretty much the same thing as we do, but in a more public format…!
We know from the annual financial reports how much we have in the bank and based on our spending, wages, prize money and sponsorship contracts, we can guestimate the transfer budget that we’re likely to spend… if you did read this back in April, a little bit of investigative journalism explains the truth about the transfer budget.
Having spent £8.4m on Thomas Vermaelen, we do have £5.6m left out of the current budget. Players such as Senderos, Silvestre, Traore, Adebayor and maybe a few little sales as well could well increase this budget – and of course, Arsene and the board can also consider if they wish to delve into money reserved for next season too. There are question marks over the income generated from the Highbury flats and it’s something that we’ll find out more about soon as the May 2009 report is released.
Ivan Gazidis, has also been talking about money and all things related to the club. He’s been speaking initially on a salary cap and when you hear about the current figures, you really begin to think about the amount of money being thrown at these players – with Cristiano Ronaldo on a reported £560k a week deriving from a £180k basic and then image rights. That’s an amazing amount of money and a reason why it will be hard to compete with teams operating at that level.
I think it is worth our while to investigate whether there are elements of the salary cap system, which they have in US NFL and baseball, which would benefit football. Clubs have a duty to provide more stability in our business models and some form of wage restraint is one element worth looking at. There are many different ways in which it could work.
But in reality, a club like Real Madrid will always find a way round this sort of thing. At least Gazidis adheres to our long term sustainability ideology.
I am sure that our fans do not believe Arsenal is better served by abandoning its self-sustaining model and putting itself in the hands of owners upon whom it is dependent. They want success, and our challenge is to provide it in a model that preserves the traditions and values of Arsenal football club.
One idea currently being discussed is a new shares option. By which, the club will issue new shares and thus raise additional capital with this – it’s something which the club are looking into, but I’m not sure exactly how it works…
I am open-minded and we have commissioned Rothschild to advise the board. We have to be sure it can make a real and lasting contribution to the club.
It seems busy in the world of Ivan Gazidis – do you get the feeling that Arsene may have been too sidetracked the year or so before he joined us and maybe now Arsene has more time to focus on the pitch?
Time to go, speak soon…
