Rotten Tooth

A few days ago I had to pay a visit I wasn’t so happy to. I had to visit the dentist to get my tooth removed. The pain was unbearable to say the least. However, it was very necessary for me to feel better and stronger. Once the tooth was removed I had severe pains for a few hours but after that I felt way better.

Yeah, what does this have to do with soccer right? A bad tooth is like a player that has overstayed his welcome and cannot effectively contribute to the team. Teams normally get rid of such players and get better players who have a lot to contribute to the team. But what happens when a team sells off its best players and gets a replacement that is not as good (it’s even worse when the team sells off the players to teams in the same league). I doubt you still don’t know who I am talking about. Well if you don’t I am referring to the “SHOPPING MALL” of the premier league – ARSENAL.

 Furthermore, continuing with the analogy. Arsenal has consistently sold off its best players every season. It’s like having to pull out ones best tooth instead of the bad one. It makes no sense whatsoever to me.  The list of players who have left the emirates in search of more money, trophies, glory etc is quite long Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Alex Song, Kolo Toure, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Robin Van Persie. The most annoying part of it is that most of these players that left in search of trophies and more money have all gotten both with players winning a collective 75 trophies since 2005.

The usual consolation given by arsenal is that the team is making the most amount of money of any other team buy selling its best. Is it really? The teams profits have continued to decrease each year due to ‘reduced level of exceptional gains from player sales’ – Arsenal.com.

Arsene Wenger is a great manager no doubt and has led the team to 11 trophies since 1996.  The ripple effect is there for everyone to see. If a team sells off its best players in order to make a profit every season they leave room for other players to develop and get better. If the sold off player go on to win trophies with their new teams soon the developing  players would realize that they stand little or no chance of winning a trophy in the team. They are tempted to leave too.

In 2011 Arsenal went on to commission the sale of Gaël Clichy £7,000,000, Jay E-Thomas £1,500,000, Cesc Fábregas £35,000,000, Emmanuel Eboué £4,000,000, Samir Nasri £22,000,000 and Armand Traore£1,200,000 at a total of £71,000,000 and In 2012 Van Persie left too for a reported £20,000,000. Arsenal has gone really all out to increase its financial prospects but at what cost to its rankings in football.

After watching the Bayern Munich game it has become clear that the Arsenal Management has certainly lost the plot. If they are really interested in making money maybe starting a bank, Night Club,Strip Club  etc should have been a surer bet. Top teams in football simply do not commission the sale of their best players nor do they let them enter their final years of their contract without renewing them to avoid a decreased transfer fee or quick sale. This is the main problem with arsenal. They want to pull off the impossible, winning trophies and making lots money.  Sort of like eating your cake and going back to the fridge thinking it’s still there.

Arsenal has sold players that change games and that make a great contribution to the team and all of whom would place Arsenal further up the world football rankings, allowing them to increase the clubs marketing potential and bring in increased competition income. 

The truth to the Arsenal saga is that although they pride themselves on being financial stable they are far from it, a club cannot continue to sustain selling their key players season upon season and there will come a point when the club is no longer able to compete to the degree it wishes. The current season is a wakeup call to the board and the club that it needs to change it's philosophy  what is known is that they have a huge chance of missing out on Champions league football this season and that 'will' have a devastating effect on the clubs income.

With the rapid development of Jack Wilshere and the praise he has been receiving in the media lately I bet all sorts of alarm bells are going off in the head of the coach. I bet when Wenger sees players like that develop that fast all he really sees are money bags running around the pitch. I really hope Arsenal doesn’t pull out their best tooth and Jack isn’t the next to go. Well till next time let us see if arsenal can pull off the impossible and beat Bayern in Munich and then go on to win the Champions league trophy and end the long wait, I must confess it still looks pretty much like a movie is Gunn-lywood 2 possible????

Till next time let’s stay TRUE 2 SOCCER