Just Arsenal News

Arsenal Transfer Window Game! By Rory Capel

Right end of the season, thank god Arsenal have made it into the Champions League, still feeling shaky today after those four added minutes! To calm everything down, I have created a transfer window game. The evaluation of a player’s price and wages are dependent on current wage, the amount of years left on their contract, and their form over the past few seasons. The targets I have put on are not of personal choice they are just targets that Justarsenal readers have discussed throughout the season.

Start with:
70 million split into:
£50 million to spend on players
£400k p/w available wages .......Read the full article here

Usmanov attacks Arsenal owner Kroenke by TAB

Despite owning nearly 30 percent of Arsenal Football Club, the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov cannot get a seat on the board and so cannot influence the running of the club nearly as much as he would like. Stan Kroenke, the American businessman who has more say than anyone because of his controlling stake, has come under attack again from Usmanov, who is convinced that silent Stan is not doing the right thing. .......Read the full article here

Do Arsenal Care About Winning Trophies Or Are They Happy Being A Successfully Run Company?

Arsenal are rare amongst Premier League clubs, or indeed, most clubs at the top of world football, in being able to turn a profit every year. The North London club recently announced a £23.6 million operating profit for 2011-2012, with chief executive Ivan Gazidis pointing to their plans to stay in line with UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules for the next few years. In this way, while Arsenal have spent more on player wages than previous years, the club are targeting a sustainable model that depends on exploiting property on Queensland Road, and regularly qualifying for the Champions League. However, and while achieving a more stable financial footing than rivals Man City, Man Utd, and Chelsea, does this success offset the fact that Arsenal haven’t won a trophy since 2005? .......Read the full article here

What does it mean to keep hold of a top player? by FH

Many comments recently from fans of Arsenal, ex-players and even players (e.g Bacary Sagna) show anger at the fact that we, as a club, can’t hold onto top players. The anger seems to be justified too – in recent seasons, we have seen the likes of Flamini, Henry, Adebayor, Toure, Nasri, Fabregas, Clichy, Song and the infamous Robin Van Persie all leave, some of them to our rivals. No doubt if we had even some of those players mixed in with our current crop we would look a much more dangerous team, and it can be extremely frustrating. .......Read the full article here

No Sell No Buy (By S.H)

With 11 days left in the Winter transfer season, Arsenal still haven’t signed anyone. Arsene Wenger, as we know, is verbally parsimonious and enigmatic about recruitment. You’d never beat him in a board game of “Guess Who.” There are a plethora of Arsenal transfer rumours, linking a myriad of players to the Gunners, yet Wenger continues to refute having any interest. .......Read the full article here

I don’t know what it was like not having Wenger as Arsenal’s manager, probably because I was barely alive when he took over from Bruce Rioch in August 1996. So for me, it is hard to come to grips even with the idea that one day he may leave Arsenal as I couldn’t imagine anyone else in his position. But this season has opened my eyes to the inevitability of him eventually saying goodbye to the club, and even the people supporting him, which includes myself, have to realise that change is drastically needed somewhere in our club. Yet I feel Wenger is not the cog that needs cleaning, and his criticism has been unfounded and unfair. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger feels that his policy of nurturing young talent in the past five years has been totally vindicated after the win over Barcelona, and as usual he had to field the usual questions about their opponents trying to poach Cesc Fabregas last summer.

He responded by saying that he had no intention of selling ANY of the stars on show during the game. He said: “We need Fabregas. Believe me. He is a special player. He is exceptional and we want to keep them all!

“We go for all the competitions because we have the players to cope. We have the quality and the numbers. .......Read the full article here