Arsene Wenger has already written his name into the history books of Arsenal Football Club by becoming the most successful manager in their history. Today he also becomes the longest serving manager in the club’s history, overtaking George Allison’s long standing record.
Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger has today criticised the Premier League’s new quota rule, labelling it “artificial”.
The rule which is due to come in next season means that all Premier League clubs will have to name at least eight ‘home-grown’ players in a 25 man squad.
While other managers seem to be queueing up in support of the proposed transfer ban of under 18’s, Arsene Wenger believes that the idea is flawed.
The recent decision by Fifa to ban Chelsea from the next two transfer windows has sparked a number of allegations against Premier League football clubs for ‘poaching’ young footballers. It has been suggested that a total ban on the transfer of under 18’s will solve the problem but Wenger thinks that this could lead to some players failing to fulfil their potential.
Arsene Wenger has once again signalled his faith in his current squad by handing out new contracts to Denilson and Nicklas Bendtner.
Afternoon Gooners, apologies for the title, but when I’m making fun of the tabloids I enjoy mirroring their headline style for comic effect, or something.
A few things to talk about today, with Arsenal set to face off against Manchester Utd tomorrow, the Champions League group stage draw and all this palaver about Eduardo getting charged for diving by UEFA.
Eduardo goes down
As Arsenal enter their third season at the Emirates, the time for settling in is over and the club have now decided to start the Arsenalisation of the stadium.
The aim of the process is to turn the Emirates into an Arsenal stronghold through the installation of a whole range of new effects including a ‘Highbury shrine’ and a signing wall for some of the legends of the club.
If you take a look at English football’s movers and shakers, almost all of them have one thing in common – masses of money to spend. It seems every club from Manchester United to Notts County is either in the hands of a rich foreign owner or in takeover talks with one. These people often bring short term success but very rarely concern themselves with long-term fortunes.
Arsenal are just a few days away from their biggest game of the season after drawing Celtic for a place in the Champions League group stage.
The Gunners will have been hoping for an easier play-off tie after being seeded for the draw but now face a ‘battle of Britain’ clash, just to make it past the qualifying stage.
Arsenal may now have sold two major players, following the completion of Kolo Toure’s move to Manchester City, but manager Arsene Wenger is showing no signs of concern and says if he does spend it will be “in the right way”.
The club have funds available following the departures of Toure for around £16million and striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who also signed for Manchester City, for £25million.
The Emirates Cup returns for its third instalment this summer and will provide Arsenal’s pre-season preparations with a “final firework” according to boss Arsene Wenger.
The mini-tournament serves to highlight one of the many financial benefits of the new stadium and should give the club’s coffers a boost as Wenger finalises his squad for the 2009-10 season. While the club still has around £240million worth of debt that was incurred to fund the new stadium, events such as the Emirates Cup should ensure that in the long run Arsenal will be able to compete financially with the rest of Europe’s leading lights.
