Arsenal: The Board have a lot of explaining to do

Arsene Wenger – Time for action

Another dismal start to the season with defeat to Aston Villa at home, which many pundits regarded as a shock defeat. It was coming, given the negativity that the Arsenal hierarchy have succeeded in creating by their elaborate con to spend in the transfer window.

In the past, I have supported the club’s strategy to wipe out the stadium debt and run a sustainable model. However, what is irksome is the manner in which the Arsenal board led supporters into believing that they had around £70 million to strengthen the team.

Why make that public knowledge. Surely it will alert selling clubs and they will demand more for possible Arsenal targets. Ivan Gadizis, a so called business executive should know that. Therefore, the obvious answer is that it was a ploy to sell season tickets. It wasn’t aimed at other clubs but directed at long suffering Arsenal fans who have reached saturation point.

Arsene Wenger has come out with loads of nonsense about the difficulty in signing players. The irony is Spurs, who are not even in the Champions League and should therefore find it difficult to attract top quality players, have succeeded in attracting the likes of Soldado and Paulinho, both of whom would have been more than welcome in the current Arsenal team. How is it possible for Spurs to spend £60 million and Wenger to find the transfer market difficult? Soldado and Paulinho were outstanding in their first game against Palace.

Wenger is living twenty years behind the rest of the football world because he stubbornly refuses to pay current market prices. Stevan Jovetic was signed by Manchester City for £22.8 million simply because Wenger refused to meet the selling club’s valuation. More evidence that Wenger is out of touch with the current market is illustrated by the Lars Bender saga. He made a bid of £19 million for the player which was rejected by the selling club.

Wenger did not bother to go back with an improved bid because he believes that his valuation is the gospel. Bender is worth at least £25 million in the modern day market. With an improved offer, he would have stood a better chance of getting a quality player. It is obvious that Wenger will find it difficult to sign players because of his lack of flexibility.