Players Come and Players Go but Arsenal is Forever

......Agent86

"I was gambling a lot at the time and the move to Boro doubled my wages, but the grass isn't always greener. I regretted it within a month. Arsenal was a phenomenal club."

"It is very difficult to stop players leaving if somebody offers them three times as much,"

he said, he felt it was time for "a new challenge"

Cole, having stated in the publicity for his book that he had been "fed to the sharks" and "hung out to dry", signed for Chelsea soon afterwards, earning a reported £90,000 a week

"We are not naive enough to think it is not linked to money," Wenger said in the days before the deal was completed. "He says he wants to stay, and if he goes somewhere else that means it is linked to what?"

"I can't get used to the chaotic way of life in London, where everyone is racing around 24 hours a day," Hleb himself said in July. "It is uncomfortable and I'm mentally tired."

The move was finally completed in August 2011, with Arsenal having accepted what Arsene Wenger described as a "reduced fee" as the midfielder had refused to countenance other offers.

For his part, Nasri described himself as "really happy" three days later when he completed the move, but Wenger was convinced that money had bought that happiness.


The common thread among most of the quotes above is that they all left for more money. Those that didn’t wanted out of the club regardless. Either we change our wage structure or we keep chancing that the right players will stay long enough to win us trophies before they turn 30. We can fault player or club/manager all we want. It’s just reality. We have a wage structure that should be respected for good or for bad. It’s what keeps us from FN up on a whim and buying a player for crazy money and then paying him crazy wages. It’s not going to happen. Arshavin comes to mind.

From a players’ perspective, if I know I’m not going to make the maximum at Arsenal when I turn 30, why would I stay unless my love for the club is extreme and genuine? It’s a two-way street. I’m not absolving Van Persie in anyway. Hell no! He handled that situation like a proper kont. And it won’t help to pay City-type wages. We’d go bankrupt. There’s a middle ground. We can find it if we really want to. I read a couple months ago that Gazidis is looking into restructuring the wages. Maybe when the current marketing deals run out we can renegotiate them to earn more and have more to pay the want-away stars. Yet I’m not sure that’s going to stop a player who really wants to leave from leaving but it’s a step in the “right” direction, I suppose.

The club also has to look at itself if we’re being honest. Why do so many very good to excellent players leave? Is it really all about money? For me it’s more about money than anything else but a good investigation explores all possible causes. We are truly at a crossroads. More so than any other point in the Wenger era!

I won’t be a hypocrite and deny a footballer or any employee their right to make as much as possible. Owners make obscene amounts of money so why shouldn’t the employee earn whatever he can? What I don’t care for is the way players lie through their stinking teeth about why they want to leave if it’s about more money. I have way more respect for the player that leaves because he can earn more and says so than the kont who says it’s not the money and then goes to earn double what we were paying.

One thing is for sure. If we win trophies, the sting from players leaving won’t hurt or last as long.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Techniques for Sharing your Sky Juice at School

The British Cornish Pasty vs. The Jamaican Beef Patty

Heroes and Nation Builders of Jamaica