Ronnie Simmons
The next nine games followed by the summer break are probably the most important three-to-four months in the recent history of our great club. If we truly want to push on to close the gap with the Manchesters and pull away from the chasing pack, it will be entirely driven by nine games of on-field commitment and then ten weeks of off-the-field diligence.
For the first time in a long time, the club have been pretty transparent with two key themes in relation to the financial status of the club; an admission that the wage-structure is inefficient and that we have a significant injection of cash coming from the renewed sponsorship deals. By admitting these publicly, it puts pressure on the club to address the issues, i.e. taking high-earning fringe players off the wage-bill, paying top money to top players, whilst spending higher sums of net cash on incoming players.
Taking a step back, it’s difficult to properly assess what has actually gone on with the club’s finances since the move to The E******s. We have without question been subjected to contradictory statements at various times, from Danny Fiszman (‘we could buy a player for £30m’), Peter Hill-Wood (‘we’ve never refused to buy a player the manager wanted’), Ivan Gazidis (‘we can’t spend as much as petro-dollar clubs’) and Arsène Wenger (‘if I was given £100m, I’d give it back’).
If I cut through all, this I’d acknowledge that there have been some serious PR clangers with how the club have communicated our buying-strength in the past, but in my opinion we have been hamstrung on transfer-spend in the period since the move to The Emirates. I would also highlight that in this period of ‘stadium austerity’, Wenger has been culpable in misjudging the quality of some players, leaving us overly reliant on youngsters, with too many players clogging up the wage-bill and not delivering requisite value. In the interest of balance, I’d say this is partially mitigated by our continuing to compete in cup finals, semi-finals, two strong league challenges and our continual appearance in the CL.
In the past two summers, the over-reliance on youth has been rectified with more experience throughout the squad, and this summer presents the club with a great opportunity to redress the balance of the wage-bill. Arshavin, Squillaci and Denilson are out of contract which, depending on reports, will save the club somewhere up to £180k per week. There are more potential outgoings of fringe players such as Bendtner, Chamakh, Djourou and Park which could be another £200k per week shipped out. All of a sudden, the composition of the wage-bill looks more equitable – and certainly with scope to pay two or three top players £150k+ per week – without significant incremental outlay on salary.
In terms of spending more net cash on players, the club have almost made a rod for their own back. They knew that celebrating our new sponsorship deal so publicly would inevitably cause a stir, and in the fall-out they haven’t exactly quashed the inference that with this injection of cash we can spend more on players. I do genuinely see this summer as a watershed moment when the purse strings will be loosened. Based on the merits of recent transfer incomings, I’m sure many will question the manager’s ability to bring in the players that we need. Certainly a fair point, but one that I would consider alongside the many player-trading successes he has had.
I will admit that, at certain junctures of this season, my faith in the manager has waned massively – the same mistakes being made at the back primarily causing my chagrin (although my mood lifted slightly after Munich and Swansea). Despite this, I would still consider myself a Wenger-supporter (certainly not an ‘AKB’) but his credit in the bank has diminished by the season. He is deep into an unauthorised overdraft with many contributors on here, some of whom are praying for Arsenal to lose, ensuring we slip out of the top four and thereby creating a catalyst for change. I’m thinking exactly the opposite – I want us to finish as high as possible, firstly because I could never ever want Arsenal to lose and secondly, being in the CL next season will seriously enhance our prospects of attracting the top players.
Assuming the optimistic (but eminently plausible) scenario mentioned above comes to fruition, I feel Wenger deserves the opportunity for one last shot to deliver a trophy in the final season of his contract, and ultimately the right to earn another deal.
Up the Gunners.
