Graham, Rioch, Houston...Arsene Wenger - Arsene Who? 15yrs ago we were stumbling for stability, reeling over the loss of our once great (but shady) manager. Wenger brought us excitement, hope and at last a flowing game with a steely edge. Suddenly Utd looked like being in our shadows - Ferguson had been shown up for what he was - a dinosaur in a modern age. Arsenal will rule for a decade.
The famous four grew old gracefully and bit by bit the backline was dissolved. Players like Grimandi, Garde, Cygan and Wreh left us scratching our heads but were soon forgotten about thanks to the dazzling skills of Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Henry, Pires and Ljungberg. This French geezer knows what he's doing, look at the talent we have now. Double doubles, Champions League, Invincibles, Spurs not even in our shadows, Chelsea humiliated very time we go to Stamford Bridge.
Then bang! Barcelona suddenly see themselves as a big club with big money - lets take Arsenal's engine and see what we chassis we can build around it. We lost Petit and Overmars but we had Vieira, Pires, Ljungberg and Henry. We had Bergkamp, we had big Sol Campbell and that young Ashley Cole. We can take it - and we did. Utd carried on spending but Chelsea got rich and then...
Vieira, Ljungberg, Pires, Henry, Toure, Lehmann: the crown jewels sold off season after season. False horizons with Jeffers, Upson, Richard Wright and Reyes. Campbell's getting on, not sure about that Senderos lad, not sure about that Ukranian either,what's going on here? Vieira past it? Sold on? Why? Henry captain? Are you sure Mr Wenger? A Spanish teenager built like a whippet where big Pat used to prowl? Really? £16m for the worlds best striker?
And so you see how its evolved... When once we would pride ourselves on the silky skills of pacy wingers and deadly finishers contrasting with pitbulls in midfield and ruthless giants at the back we grew into some failed experiment - lightening fast ball players with little else to offer.
We sold our best because we believed we had as good - if not better - coming through the ranks. They'd learned from the masters, these kids could conquer all. Wenger is a genius - he knows. The man develops legends - maybe, but now we know he also sells them to the highest bidder. Fabregas, Clichy , Nasri - sick of winning nothing, sick of hearing about being bottlers, sick of watching Chelsea and Utd pick up trophies while they sat head in hands at the Britannia Stadium on a Sunday evening. We're great players, we deserve to play for the greatest teams...
So why have you failed boys? If you're that good, if you're that 'world class' and influential on a team, why have you failed to help our team win a single trophy in 6yrs? The manager has shown faith in you - the board has shown faith in you, why can you not show any loyalty to a club who has given you the lifestyle and the media attention you now bask in? Parasitic, money grabbing, disloyal, deluded - that's why. Cesc I can almost understand - it's high time he was on his way. I'm sick of hearing about Barca DNA. Give us the money we want and have away with your precious little bench warmer, I don't care. He's been a great player but the worse choice as captain for many a year. How can you lead a club like Arsenal when the world and his wife knows you want to be elsewhere.
Clichy, who cares? £7m from those plums at City is more than welcome, especially if we get someone like Baines in. Nasri though, well there's a different story. 3 seasons of average ability suddenly culminates in 6 months of class and quality, then 4 months of dross and sulking and demanding. Suddenly we're not in Nasri's league anymore. He wants to play for the best. So the best is the second team in Manchester then is it Samir? A team who haven't won a league title in 44yrs but will pay you £180k a week? If he chose Utd I could understand his reasons, but you can bet he wears girly blue next season. Still we go on...
Buying the same young pacy wingers and ignoring the qualities we need to survive at the top. Each crop of youngsters failing to make the grade, each young unknown plucked from obscurity dry humping us until Real or Barca come fluttering their eyelashes.
As August comes and Jessie J plays on the PA system: 'its not about the money, money, money. No its not about the money, money, money. We don't care about the pricetags, just wanna make the world dance...
You can almost see the board lipsyncing "cha-ching-cha-ching... yeah ba-bling-ba-bling..."
What a mess. Where will it all end?
So this is what it's come to?
posted on 1/7/11
@ your about me,typical manc
posted on 1/7/11
Ignore that gimp Manyoo Mancees RooneysHair, he feels the need to litter everyone elses boards with WUM's and bragging about his glory support of the Glazers cash cow. Probably lives in Ireland too! As for Leeds and feeling sorry for you though - errr no. You fully supported the ridiculous spending back in the day - Seth Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, the list could go on. If you back mugs like that, you'll get your fingers burnt - along with two relegations, bankruptcy and worst of all...Ken Bates.
posted on 1/7/11
Clubs like Chelsea and City have ripped the soul from every English club in the land. History means nothing to mercenaries like Nasri and Clichy. Where did it all start though? That whole concept of buying a title? That's right - O'Leary, Ridsdale and the Elland Rd faithful!
posted on 1/7/11
i meant Ken Bates,sponging us all for every penny and trying to get away with not getting decent players,despise the bloke
posted on 1/7/11
It didn't start at Leeds,other teams were doing it before us. Arsenal bought players,Chelsea did,Mancs did. Just Leeds spent more money on one player than others did. Majority of our team were youth players.
posted on 1/7/11
Liverpool did aswell, Hamman and Heskey
posted on 1/7/11
When did Liverpool get anywhere near a title? Certainly not when Hamman and Heskey were on the books! 2nd was the best they managed under Benitez - the following season he was sacked. You know the rest...
posted on 1/7/11
They spent big trying to get the title. Heskey was bought 2000 for 11 million,Hamman was 8 million. Probs gonna be 20 million with all add ons and what not. That season they finished fourth. By no means am I saying Leeds didnt cos they did it's obvious we bought some players that were apalling,but we were far from the creators.
posted on 1/7/11
Maybe not creators - you could go back to Blackburn Rovers for that title, but certainly forerunners and a blue print for the likes of Chelsea and City.
posted on 1/7/11
hopefully they'll learn there lesson the same way we did.