The recent interview given by Danny Fiszman got me thinking yet again about how the club operates. Now I’ve been confused for some time about Arsenal’s spending policy with regard to buying players and our wage structure. Fiszman continued to muddy the waters further in my opinion.

The debate I keep having in my head is this. Is it Arsene’s or the board’s fault for the fact that we don’t or won’t be buying any high profile payers and is it Arsene’s or the board’s fault that we have a restrictive wage structure (more on that later).

Here’s the conflict. The board always maintain that they have never said no to Arsene. Yet how do we explain the fact that about a month ago Arsene commented on the rumours surrounding David Villa. I’m sure everyone would agree that potentially Villa would be a great signing and the boy expressed an interest in joining us through the media. However I like many others knew that this would be one transfer that would not happen - cue Wenger commenting that he is an admirer of Villa but the transfer fee for him plus his wages would be too expensive for us. In my book that is a “no” from the board.

Our record signing is Wiltord and that was around eight bloody years ago! We all knew that there would be tough times ahead with the building of the stadium and that finances would be tight. And in fairness to any fans I knew we were patient. We were waiting for the day when we had settled into the Grove, for the board to announce an operating profit and for matchday gate receipts to be as good if not better than any other club in the world. We have that situation now so why are we still in limbo?

Why is the wage structure still hampering us? Wenger stated that his main aim for the close season was to keep this team together. Now forget Hleb for the time being (good player, terrible attitude, wants to go, good riddance!). Flamini, it could be argued could have been persuaded to stay if the money was right. This might upset some supporters but we can forget about loyalty these days. Hard cash is what appeals to players. If we could have broke our wage structure we might have kept Mathieu.

This to me is the board holding back on the field progress. Holding back Arsene. Arsene stated on numerous occasions that he wanted to keep him. Fiszman might argue that our wage bill is comparable to Man Utd and the rest bar Chelsea. This to me is a moot point. Fiszman argues that he doesn’t like too big a gap between different players’ wages as it’s a team game. Rubbish. We want the best players in the world at our club so were going to have to pay top wages.

How are we ever going to keep our superstars like Cesc at the club if he’s not on top money. Or how are we ever going to sign the very best players (like Villa) with a restrictive wage structure? There will always be players in a team that are more important than others, so I don’t agree with Fiszman on the wage structure. He compares us to Man Utd. When did you ever see a player that Alex Ferguson wanted to keep at Old Trafford leave because they wouldn’t meet his wage demands? Wes Brown got his massive contract sorted didn’t he?

It appears to me that the board are in a total comfort zone with Arsene not spending money, our wage structure firmly in place and Champions League football year after year. They are happy with their lot and why wouldn’t they be? The club has never been healthier financially. Could Arsene back them into a corner with regards to signing big name players? Could Arsene give them an ultimatum to break the wage structure for certain players or else?

Some would argue Arsene should be pushing them but I personally still blame the board. Arsene shouldn’t be making statements that a player is out of our price range. Let’s push the boat out for Christs sake. Let’s sign three or four bloody quality experienced internationals starting with a big commanding centre half, a midfielder who will compete for a starting spot and a forward with pace. We only finished four points off last season, we can do it next year if we loosen those bulging purse strings. Come on you reds.