Just Arsenal News

Football, and sport in general. is having a hard time at the minute. With doping scandals and match fixing involving betting syndicates, the integrity of sport is under attack. The unpredictability of sport is what gives it such great appeal, and the Arsenal manager thinks that it is up to the governing bodies to do everything they can to to protect this. It seems, however, that Uefa are missing a trick and are in danger of letting the publis think they are a bit soft on cheats. .......Read the full article here

There are a lot of people who admire the way that Arsenal Football Club is run, and hold it up as the correct business model, especially in the middle of this global crisis. The massive debts and subsequent problems for clubs such as Portsmouth, Leeds United and Malaga are the reasons behind Uefa bringing in the new Financial Fair Play rules.

The rules are intended to stop clubs spending wildly on player’s transfer fees and wages, and Arsenal fans are hoping that it will stop the spiralling of wages to ridiculous levels that Chelsea really kicked off, and Manchester City have picked up the baton and ran with. Arsenal, being a globally popular club with huge revenue but with owners who are unwilling to spend their own money, stand to be a major beneficiary of the rules. .......Read the full article here

Chelsea managed to just about beat Arsenal this weekend, but the front four of Torres, Mata, Hazard and Oscar cost around 125million, an amount which would send most teams bankrupt in double-quick time.

Arsene Wenger has always been at the forefront of promoting UEFA’s call for Financial Fair Play and it seems that his Chelsea counterpart Roberto Di Matteo is in full agreement that the rules are neccessary to stop so many clubs going out of business. He said: ‘We as a club are in favour of Financial Fair Play,’ .......Read the full article here

Wenger says he feels helpless from the stands

Arsene Wenger will have to watch his team taking on French champions Montpellier from the stands as a result of his suspension from UEFA.
Wenger was handed this ban and a fine of 40,000 euros after his altercation with referee Damir Skomina last season during 2nd leg of the tie against AC Milan. This is certainly not the first time that the Arsenal manager has been made to watch a match from the stands. Last time Wenger received similar punishment after his post-match comments in defeat to Barcelona in the 2010-11 season. The following season, Wenger again fell out with the officials at UEFA after he communicated with the bench from the stands during the qualifying match against Udinese. .......Read the full article here

So you have a professional footballer that plays for Arsenal (or Sunderland if you prefer) in the Premier League, and is rumoured to be earning at least 50,000 GBP every single week of his professional life, but is he a bit short of extra cash?

It would seem so, because the Danish international has obviously decided to risk the wrath of UEFA by breaking their rules about unapproved advertising during the European Championships. It was so blatant that he may as well have had a placard reading “Best Free Bets” attached to him during the game! .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger saw his team make a gallant effort to pull back from a 4-0 deficit against AC Milan last night, but he felt that Arsenal had to play against a biased referee as well as the Italian giants.

Wenger was so incensed that he chased the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina down the tunnel after the game after he only played three minutes of added time at the end of the 90 minutes.

Wenger also slammed Skomina in his post-match comments. He said: “I was not happy with the referee tonight because I felt he gave many free kicks in the middle of the park. Every time MIlan’s players went down a free kick was given to them, and they sensed that very quickly and used it very well.” .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger was recently in Switzerland with a host of other top European managers to discuss the future of the game. Other attendees at the UEFA conference included Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola and Andre Villas-Boas.

A ccording to the Metro Ajax coach Frank De Boer revealed a controversial proposal put forward by the Arsenal boss. He said: “Arsene wondered if we could get rid of the ‘no-offside from a throw’ rule.”.

He added that Wenger said: “They can be very direct, and there is a growing trend for teams just to throw the ball to the far post. We’re supposed to be playing football not handball.” .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has issued a plea to the fans to understand that Arsenal have to be sensible in the transfer market this summer. The French coach blames the pressure put on the club by the wages and transfer fees on offer from teams with “unlimited resources” makes it difficult for the Gunners to compete on level terms.

Arsenal have signed up to the new UEFA fair-play rules, and Wenger fully intends to abide by the rules whether the other clubs do or not, even if it leaves Arsenal ata disadvantage.

“I think it is the responsibility of a football manager to behave in a responsible way, of course,” he said. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger has labelled a “dictatorship” in the aftermath of his side’s Champions League tie with Barcelona and the ban he faces for improper conduct. Wenger was furious about the way referee Massimo Busacca handled the game, sending Van Persie off early in the second half for playing on after he had blown the whistle.

The Guardian reports that Wenger feels injustice in the way his club are being treated and feels UEFA need to apologize. He said: “Arsenal Football Club has been punished. When you have a football game of that stature, you cannot come out with decisions like that and show a lot of arrogance on top of that. We can all understand that we can make wrong decisions but, after that, it becomes dictatorship”. .......Read the full article here

After Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League by having to play Barcelona with just ten men, today’s Guest Poster is Henry, who dares to ask the unthinkable……

Technology, Charges and UEFA Agendas by Henry

Guys, not sure any of you mentioned this, but did you see the ref go to the Barca medical team and casually take the teams supply of water or energy drinks and have a good old swig, hand it to Adriano and have a nice chit chat. Thought this was very dodgy and I haven’t seen that kind of behaviour before. Looked very cozy. .......Read the full article here

Arsene Wenger has re-iterated that he would never spend fortunes on bringing big-name players to the Emirates, and he says that that will stand the Gunners in good stead when the new UEFA financial rules come into the equation in the next few years.

“If you look at our transfer record, we have never spent more than €15million – that gives you the answer,” Wenger said. “We are in the market always because if a good opportunity comes up we will always take it, but we are not in a desperate situation.”

But he also said that mega-rich owners will have certain loopholes they can employ to make sure they can still spend big in the transfer market if they are so inclined. .......Read the full article here

I am very happy to introduce yet another Guest Poster today, he is an accomplished writer and Arsenal fan called Richard Hall, and I sincerely hope he becomes a regular on the site in the future. As an opening gambit he wants to explain why…….

Arsene Wenger’s financial way looks like it will turn out to be the right way.

Arsene Wenger has been heavily criticised when it comes to his transfer policy, especially as the club has failed to win a trophy since 2005. However, with UEFA’s new financial regulations gradually being brought into play from the 2011-2012 season, Wenger once again may have been right all along. .......Read the full article here