Claudius wrote:
People need to stop shifting blame to the stadium. We had several profitable years. We could've spent on players. There were times a small investment would've had a massive impact. Keeping Gilberto. Bringing in Anelka on the cheap, etc. these are moves that could've bolstered us. But dogma did us in. The stadium is a convenient excuse for people who refuse to assess who we bought, how we split wages between vets and kids, Almunia, match day tactics, team motivation, etc.
This is so true. Sure the stadium is massive capital investment that costs us around £12m a year to pay off, but we make that back from increased capacity and corporate boxes. Reality is we have been banking cash from players sales for years, but haven't used much to pay down the debt overall.
The stadium didn't make us lose flamini, diarra, gilberto all over the course of one season. Neither did it force out hands in giving Almunia a co shit hot wages that meant they were unmovable when we finally came to our senses.
Wenger lost the fear of losing years ago and now it just seems arsenal are a vanity project for him. If we get 4th he is set, everything else is a bonus that he has no real vested interest in.
