Lack Of Ambition Costing Arsenal Players?
So, Arsenal have lost Flamini to AC Milan and despite them wanting to offer Hleb a better contract, it looks as if he’s decided he’s a big boy now too and it’s time to play with the grown ups. Whilst Flamini joins AC on a free transfer, Hleb plans to buy out the remaining two years on his contract for £3 million in order to join Inter. So with Fabregas having said it’s Flamini who makes him play better, what’s the chances of him wanting to go out and play with his mates next?
Patrick Vieira certainly thinks it’s a risk Arsenal are running if they don’t start increasing pocket money at The Emirates. He says “All the younger Arsenal players have shown how good they are, they are committed to the club. They deserve a good contract”. Vieira goes on to say that seeing Flamini leave is a problem because “when players see others leave like that then, of course, they will ask what Arsenal want to do”.
Maybe he’s got a point, but it’s not just about the money surely? Because back in the summer, it was Lassana Diarra who turned his back on Arsenal – in search of first team football. And of his time at Arsenal he says “I wanted to play every week. “When you are in the team, and even if you play well, the manager doesn’t put you on the pitch”. However, despite having also left Chelsea due to lack of regular football, he gives his former boss there a much more glowing reference. Of Mourinho, Diarra says “He explained everything to me. This is why when I am doing well I think back to some of the words he said to me. I remember him telling me ‘you have quality so just believe in yourself’. Whilst on them both, he says “I respect Arsene and Jose, but I know which one I prefer”.
Another player previously disillusioned by lack of first team football was Mathieu Flamini, although, already described by his previous coach as ‘calculating’, Flamini decided to get his own way whatever it took. Believing his services to be under-used in an Arsenal side he clearly regarded as un-ambitious, Flamini had a look at the FIFA rule book, sussed he was in a position to buy out his contract, before whoring himself in the media. Panicked at the thought of one of his kiddies fleeing the nest, Wenger gave Flamini the starting role he’d been bribed into and of course took the credit when it actually worked in his favour “Fabregas and Flamini are technically good and very mobile” he crowed “they have a good understanding and cover each other very well”. However, having wound Wenger round his finger over a starting place, that clearly wasn’t enough because fast forward a bit and as far as contract negotiations are concerned, a proposed rise in his pocket money wasn’t enough to keep him.
Unlike Flamini though, Hleb, contrary to recent reports “is a gentleman and wouldn’t stoop so low” as to make threats of buying out his contract – well, according to his agent anyway. Having said that, whilst he apparently thinks Arsenal are a great team, he clearly doesn’t think they’re quite good enough because he’s about to be on his toes as well. Apparently the poor boy finds life in the big city all a bit too “noisy” and he wants to be with his friends in Germany.
So what are the chances of Wenger’s latest blue eyed boy being the next one wanting to follow his mates out the door? Fabregas is not only mates with Flamini, but he raves about the midfielder’s contribution to his own game, “I feel more free to go forward and that’s down to Flamini” he says. I mean, the little group of friends (Rosicky, Hleb, Flamini and Fabregas) even have bets over who’ll score the most. How sweet! Young Cesc must be heartbroken though surely?
Vieira has his own opinion. Whilst on his own time at Arsenal, Vieira says “I stayed loyal because Arsenal wanted to compete against the best teams in England and Europe”, on recent times, he warns “if Arsenal want to compete with Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool they must keep their best players”. But hanging onto players seems to be something Wenger’s currently having trouble doing. So is it down to not getting to go out and play with their mates enough? Lack of pocket money? Not enough sweets given out in the dressing room? Or is it, like Vieira suggests down to an apparent lack of ambition?
Chelsea News 24/7
Spoken like a true student of the game. And without a hint of irony either. These Chelsea supporters really know what they are talking about don’t they? I mean, they are the richest club in the world, they don’t have to run their club like a business, they play the most unattractive football in the premiership and yet they finish a whole 2 points ahead of Arsenal. They cheat, they dive, their captain is an unsporting thug who should be in prison. Yet, as their manager says, they have had more bad luck than any other team this season. I think they should have won the premiership and beat that awful Man Utd team and I hope they win the XL too. Why? Because they deserve it for being such a great club and such having such beautiful support, even though they rarely fill their little ground. Come on the Blues!
Chelsea were had no ambition until a Russan mafioso bailed them out of going bust foro nearly the second time in 20 years and it will be a third once he fucks off…if we had the amount of money to waste and lose like you mugs two league titles two Carling cups and Fa cups would be a lack of ambition
You finished just 2 points ahead of us…and in a ‘rebuilding’ season nonetheless! Stop saying we’re not a real team, and be prepared to see the back of us from August onward next season.
Having a Russian crook financing you is very ambitious, we fill our stadium without advertising on talksport, we play attractive football and the trophies will come, you can only dream about having quality players such as Fabregas..
Your future rests on one man staying with you, ours is secure with an Arsenal board determine to have a club in ten years still entertaining and winning trophies, your future isn’t so cosy.
Your brand of football is sterile and dead, that’s why the Russian crook disposed of Maureen, he wants entertaining football, well that will never happen.
form is temporary , class is permanent
Is there a reason you cant stop writing about Arsenal? Keep your nose in your own business and worry about your “English Backbone” club with Russian money, Isreali coach, and african midfield and forwards. stupid bitch
“Panicked at the thought of one of his kiddies fleeing the nest, Wenger gave Flamini the starting role he’d been bribed into and of course took the credit when it actually worked in his favour”
Panicked, Bribed…???? gilberto was injured that is why flamini played. Get your facts right before you smear the greatest manager in the world.
What Arsenal need, obviously is some dodgy Russian twat who’s made billions on the backs of his poor country men, oh, hold on a minute….
Pure class !!!
Thank god for chelsea fans
We Arsenal do love a laugh.
Remember, you are one game away to having a
nothing season, and then your 2 saviours, drogs and lamps will be gone,
lack of ambition me thinks…
Greatest manager in the World? The guy hasn’t won anything for 3 years, hasn’t won the league for 4. Funny is available for him to spend year upon year, but instead, he decides to stubbornly put all his hope in the youth policy. Whilst I 100% support good youth policy, as both United and Arsenal (in the past) have shown, you need to mix that young talent with established, World class talent. Wenger’s refusal to do that, just so he and the fans can bang on about how they don’t spend as much as United/Chelsea/Liverpool is costing Arsenal big time. Unfortunately, no trophies are handed out at the end of the season for finishing third and spending little.
Whilst you all seem to have turned it round to have a dig about our millions, boring football, thug of a captain (pot, kettle, black?), I havent seen any of you answer the question. Why is it that these players are leaving a club with the “greatest manager in the world” (he isnt even the best manager in the PL btw), that plays such attractive football?
Is this a Chel$ea blog… or an Arsenal one ? I’m confused as this is a HUGE article on the Gooners. Me thinks someone is slightly too obsessed with a certain other team in London to go to these lengths. Quite sad… really. Maybe get out a bit more. Support your own team. Try it. You might even like it.
After all what do you know about football? You support Chelski and you’re a Woman, so not a lot!
Hang on isn’t this a Chelsea blog? Why are you writing about Arsenal so much? It’s probably because your club is as boring off the pitch as it is on it. By the way loved Avram’s comments about dodgy reffing costing them the title. He didn’t complain when his team were awarded a blatantly offside goal against us which allowed you to overtake us. Shite football, talking crap it’s like Jose never left.
Does anyone remember Kenyons statement about breaking even and balancing the books…Well if that were to happen they would have to sell £50 million+ of there players by next summer,
Oh wait havent they just spent another £16.5 mill already?,and on a right back!
What a joke!.
How many players have left? Didn’t Robben leave? 50 years you had nothing until Ambromovich came with his stollen money and you’re talking about ambition? Wait in 5 years and see what happens to your club.
Because Denise,
Since your russian sugar daddie arrived, the premier league has turned in gold mine for foreign players, and greed has now set in (Arsenal players included)
there is no more love for any club, and I fear a lot of English players (kissing the badge of their previous club) are also the same,
In 5 years time, all the big money owners will be gone
and our league will be a laughing stock all over europe
concentrate on filling your ground – surprised you sold out your section in moscow seeing as you couldnt be bothered for the rest of the competition.
what was it? 17,000 short for one of the group games?
sums it up how small time this club is.
fuck off and then come back and write a blog once your hugely shady benefactor (never given an interview in england, i wonder why) has flown the roost and left you penniless again. cant wait to see your new stadium you prick.
In regards to the topic, Arsenal players seem to be leaving for several reasons.
1. They can get their wage doubled at another club.
2. They’re not “a favourite”. Arsenal give special treatment to some players and not to others. For example, Flamini’s contract was up on in a year, yet instead of securing a new contract for him, they put all their time and effort in to extending Fabregas’ to 7 years! Wenger bangs on about not being able to break the strict pay scheme – but did exactly that for Henry.
3. Clubs like Milan are also “in transition” (how long are Arsenal going to use that excuse for?) but players can be assured that this team will spend big in the transfer market to bring in World class players. That is more reassurance for players in comparison to Arsenal.
4. Lots of European players see more appeal in teams that compete in the CL than in their own domestic leagues. Despite making the CL final recently, Arsenal seem to be some way from competing on a serious level for that competition on a yearly basis, and their players can recognise that. It would come at the cost of sacrificing the domestic campaign, which I don’t think Wenger would do.
Love those Chelsea fans, full of class.
For a team that would have been bankrupt without Roman’s vast billions I think for you lot to judge the way other teams are run is a fucking joke.If Roman was to fuck off, you’d have a wage bill so high you’d never be able to sustain yourselves with your pitiful support. So just because we don’t bow down to Matty Flamini suddenly demanding 140k a week, i think you should keep your opinions to yourselves.
Thanks for that Scott…….funny how the Arsenal lot have resorted to abuse but none of them have made a serious attempt to answer the question. Classy.
To answer your question, its all about money. Hleb & Flamini left for more cash. Ironically, Drogba & Lampard will leave you to play more football. That in itself says something about both our clubs. Wenger is a master at using a playing for as long as it suits him and then replacing them, quite often with an even better player. Unlike Chelsea, the players dont manage the manager. Wenger wont be dictated to by spoilt brats. Diarra, as you well know, is a wrong ‘un, the boy has a severe attitude problem. Unfortunately, one good season went to Flamini’s head. Wenger is to be praised for standing up to players.
To answer your question, its all about money. Hleb & Flamini left for more cash. Ironically, Drogba & Lampard will leave you to play more football. That in itself says something about both our clubs. Wenger is a master at using a playing for as long as it suits him and then replacing them, quite often with an even better player. Unlike Chelsea, the players dont manage the manager. Wenger wont be dictated to by spoilt brats. Diarra, as you well know, is a wrong ‘un, the boy has a severe attitude problem. Unfortunately, one good season went to Flamini’s head. Wenger is to be praised for standing up to players.
I am of course assuming Hleb leaves!
I am of course assuming Hleb leaves!
i have one word for you…not sure what it is in russian but in english it is ‘sustainablity’
flamini as good as he was this season, as a dmc has no right to ask for 140k per week. likewise hleb – yes scotty he can double his wages elsewhere – but is his assist account and goal count really worth it (dont get me wrong i love him as a player but he is more than replaceable).
yes i would love to see arsenal break the bank and spend millions on david villa, messi, et al but we dont have an oligarch at the head of our club and instead look not to the now but to what is greater to the longetivity of the club as a whole. i dunno what your definition of ambition is (living the dream then living the nightmare ala leeds perhaps?) but i am comfortable with the long term ambitions of our club (i only question it in keeping eboue who can f*ck right off)
All of the money Roman has gave you fools, yet you still snipe at the ARSENAL. If it was’nt for a russian you’d be sh.t. If ARSEN had the money you had we would be invincible.
Well Denise (or is it Dense?), the biggest match in Chelsea’s history (short that it is!) is taking place in Moscow next week. Some people might be excited about that, and want to share that with their fellow fans. You’ve obviously written that one off, and don’t feel like talking about it.
When you’ve won more titles than Huddersfield (1 more will beat their 3), you’ll still have to win another 10 to be on a par with the top 3 in the PL. Maybe then we’ll listen. Well, probably not. We’ll all be long buried by then.
Man utd had’nt won anything for three years untill last season, Does this mean Alex ferguson is also not Great ?at his job? Scott?
Lets see how liverpool manage when they FINALLY BUILD there 60,000 All seater Stadium. Arsenal Have built the best stadium in league. Yet we still compete on every front you are not even managing this now so the future will be very interesting?
Watch your own shit chelski….You monkeys – even I could manage chelski with all that money.
You an manu are cheat – you spend billions just to win the league and you still can play better than arsenal
Bow your head in shame monkeys
Arsenal in my blood – wtf are you on? Since SIR Alex Ferguson won his first trophy with United in 1991, he hasn’t gone longer than ONE season without winning anything. Granted, he’s done a period of three years without winning the league, but 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2005 are the only four seasons out of seventeen that Ferguson has gone without winning anything.
Three years of no trophies for Arsenal, four years without the league. Wenger doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Ferguson.
unbeaten run of 49? Who’s done that?
Arsenal.
Who else?
No one.
TTM – what exactly has that got to do with players leaving in the last year?
49 unbeaten. Great achievement. But United won more games this season and last than Arsenal did in 2004. The point of football is to win, not avoid losing.
Going unbeaten for a season is great for statistics, but drawing 12 games in a season isn’t great for viewing. I’d far rather see my team win more games at the cost of losing more, rather than a load of 0-0 and 1-1s… as long as we win the league at the end of it all.
The end – I suppose it depends how you define “playing better”. On their day, Arsenal play great football. Sadly for Arsenal fans, they didn’t have enough of “their days” this season, which is why they fell short of United and Chelsea. What good is playing beautiful football “on your day” when you get spanked by your two biggest rivals in the Cups?
uh uh did you see the way ronaldo slipped gracefully to the floor, ooh i love it when it does that uhhhhhhhhhhh
“Panicked at the thought of one of his kiddies fleeing the nest, Wenger gave Flamini the starting role he’d been bribed into and of course took the credit when it actually worked in his favour “Fabregas and Flamini are technically good and very mobile” he crowed”
Brilliant just brilliant….
you could work for Tribal football…..
chelseadenise and Scott the Red both support teams that are heavily in debt, both I suspect have never been to a game, your article is poor, when Lumplard,Drogba, leave will you be so brash and as for Scott I take it you are a Manure fan, where’s Ronaldo going?
Without him you would have won nothing so it’s quite amusing to see you clowns poke fun at Arsenal but we are not a club heavily in debt, the mancs’s season tickets have gone up 14%, at your current spending you will be in debt at one billion pounds in five years, great future.
Season unbeaten is something you will never achieve, so enjoy your moment it won’t last
Man Utd, prior to the arrival of the Glazers, had very healthy finances. They had cash in the bank. They were constantly in profit. Even with Ferguson splashing out big money on players. And his bar tab.
They made a LOSS of £58.2 million in the year to 30th June 2007. Better than the previous year, when they made a LOSS of £135.3 million.
BUT their borrowing has gone up from £603.9 million to £666.7 million.They now OWE to creditors, a bloody great big £764 million!
Just think. Before the Glazers, they were rich. Now they look no better than your average credit card junkie. :dance:
Anybody STILL think that billionaire take-overs are a good thing?
One Manc came back at me and said that everything was fine at ManU. Sensible investment. Sensible financial planning. Plans to increase the capacity at Old Traff. Etc, etc, etc.
There is a thing called “creative accountancy”, whereby you can prove anything with figures. There is another thing called “positive spin”, whereby you take the facts and present them in a positive fashion.
I prefer to see things in simple terms.
In simple terms, if ManU (or the company that owns ManU) continue to increase their borrowing at the current rate……they will be borrowing around £1,000 million…..within five years. And that doesn’t include any extra loans for developing the stadium.
In simple terms, they have not made any profit, since the Glazers bought the club. In the first two years, they have recorded losses of £195 million.
In simple terms, they have mortgaged Old Trafford stadium, the training ground, all the players’ contracts, everything. If they default on repayments to JPMorgan Bank, the bank will effectively own ManU.
In simple terms, they have increased ticket prices by a whopping 12% in the first year. Followed by an even bigger increase of 14% in the following year.
Lovely stuff.
Still think you are a secure club, I doubt it
As for getting spanked by our the two lesser teams, Chavski have yet to have a world wide fan base or decent support, they have a poor history linked with racists fans, the Mancs yes do have the history but unfortunately the new breed of fans who have never been to old trashyard like Scott need the security of a good team so people will talk to him.
Where are you from Scott,? bet it ain’t Manchester
looneygooner, you’re making a bit of a fool of yourself by being wrong on so many counts. But if you want to believe all reds live outside of Manchester and every Chelsea supporter is a Romanite glory hunter, go for it. But while you’re at it, do you want to go into the amount of debt Chelsea are in because I’d love to hear it? Certainly we might come a cropper when/if RA leaves, but we’ll worry about that when/if it happens. You could even have a go at answering the original question but I won’t hold my breath.
I just read Abramovich has actually only ‘loaned’ 578m to Chelsea and that they owe £736m in total to creditors…so the only way Abramovich is going to get his money back is from operating profits or selling CFC…theres no way anyone would buy it for that much and if he’s relying on operating profits then Chelsea will have to put a serious plug on buying any players, maybe this is why Mourinho and Abramovich had such a bust up, the money was just not going to be made available
chelseadenise you are no better off than the Mancs all your eggs in one basket, there’s your debt and did you hold your breathe Chav?
Covering the year to June 30 2007, Chelsea’s accounts show that the club’s largest creditor was the owner himself, Roman Abramovich, who had poured £578m into the club, not as a donation but as an interest-free loan. As stated by the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, in February, Chelsea did not owe “external debt” to any bank, but if the owner’s enthusiasm were ever to wane, and Abramovich decided he did want his loan back, the accounts show that Chelsea would have 18 months to find the money.
nice timing that article coming out, lol.
How I laughed last night watching Cashley Hole collect his second CL loser’s medal, Terry crying like a baby,Dogba and Lumplard playing their last games for Chavski.
See money can’t buy you everything, and watching the Russian crook, he did look pissed off, time to collect his loan and leave you Chavs in the shit.
Who’s got lack of ambition and fans now
Glad to see youre not bitter at all that while you capitulated weeks ago, we fought the best team in the country neck and neck until the very last kick of the very last competitive ball.
Did you bollocks, Manure stepped off the gas in the second half allowing the Chavs some sort of fight-back, the Mancs played crap and they still beat you, cheers alnelka that was fun to watch, you don’t get it do you, money doesn’t buy history it has to be learned and yours is steeped in the racists we had to endure in the seventies and eighties, and it is still there.
“Oh Roman eeee, how hard can it be, to spend, 750 millions on a Shite football team….”
Or even this ditty
“John Terry ooo oooo oooh, John Terry ooo ooo oooh
He slipped and missed the ball,
and Chelsea won F*ck all”
no class, no history sums you Chavs very much, so I have had my fun, back to supporting a real team instead of the rubbish you claim to follow.
If Utd ‘stepped off the gas’ and we’re so crap, how come your kiddies couldn’t hold onto a lead over either of us? Immaturity must be such a pain in the arse to have to live with.
funny how no-one mentions the fact Terry went over to Tevez and put his hand onto his nose and snorted onto Tevez’s neck, well done to Tevez to not reacting to the vile act Terry did, funny how the Chavs and media have selective memories, would have been different if it had been an overseas player.
We lost our lead because we put the ball out when diver J.Cole feign another injury just as we were attacking and what did grotbag Terry do, put it out for a throw, we all know the injury to Sagna and the fool of a lines men gifted you the first goal, immaturity is great when you are a proper supporter and actually go to the games, who in their right minds wants to see sterile football at Chavski, not the Chavs as they have to advertise on talk sport to sell their tickets.
The Chavs are a joke and will always be a joke
Oh, so on Feb 11th you’re 5 points ahead of Utd and by March 23rd you’re 6 points behind them – and that’s all down to John Terry? lol, he’s a better man than I thought!