I decided to write this little pretext to underline the importance of the financial problems faced by Arsenal and which subsequently affected the performance of the team.
Point: The Arsenal board led by Peter Hill-Wood and Co have failed to deliver on their promise to hand Wenger and the fans the supposed budget to buy players.
30/08/2008: Hill-Wood says Arsenal have a lot of money to spend and Wenger’s critics should stop telling the Frenchman how to do his job. He said: Everyone tells Arsene how he should run the place, but no one is a better judge than him. We have plenty of money and enough to spend.
19/12/08: The Arsenal board have made it clear that funds are available should they wish to spend them next month. Indeed, some reports suggest that Wenger was asked to pay money by the club’s hierarchy. In his pre-match press conference, the manager reiterated that SE have the final decision on potential reinforcements. «They [the Board] let me do what I want to do,” Wenger said. “I know how much money I can spend and I will try to do it wisely.”
23/12/08: Arsene Wenger admits he is more likely to enter the transfer market next month following Cesc Fabregas’ knee injury. «And it’s [I am more likely to buy]but we also have internal solutions, so we are not desperate because of that,” Wenger said.
01/02/09: Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood admits manager Arsene Wenger has a limited budget for the January market. «I don’t think there’s a lot of money anywhere,» Hill-Wood told the newspapers. «You have to look to the future – in the future there probably won’t be much more money coming in.
04/01/09: The Daily Mail reports that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is on a collision course with his superiors over the modest transfer budget handed to him this winter. The Frenchman is keen to sign Andrei Arshavin but Zenit Saint Petersburg are demanding over €20m for their star striker – a figure the Gunners have so far been unable to match.
The North London club have always maintained that they would back Wenger all the way in the transfer market, although that claim has rarely been tested due to the gaffer’s low-budget, youth-focused approach. But now that the former Monaco boss has set his sights on a big target, the Emirates board are unwilling to release the funds needed to seal the deal. This isn’t the first report of friction between Wenger and his bosses to emerge this season. Indeed, it has been rumored that the 59-year-old could break his contract with Arsenal to join Real Madrid next summer. That remains the remotest possibility, but if the Gunners fail to qualify for the Champions League this term – they currently sit fifth in the Premier League table – their long-serving manager could consider his options.
Can we know where is the 50 million pounds that the council promised us? Where are the supports that were supposedly promised to Wenger, now that we want a player?