Actually Kev, Toon are in top 4

[Scottish Mag 3]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...icle1142516.ece

 

KEVIN KEEGAN says Newcastle are a million miles away from the Big Four.

 

Well, here’s some news for him — they’re in it!

 

Going back 10 years to the start of the season Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal, we have some revealing financial statistics.

 

In that time, the biggest spenders in the transfer market, naturally enough, have been Chelsea with an outlay of £475million.

 

Next come Manchester United with £298m, followed by Liverpool on £264m.

 

In fourth place, hang on a minute, that name’s a bit familiar, yes, it’s Newcastle United!

 

The Geordies have splashed out £231m (including £16m on Michael Owen) — just ahead of Tottenham on £229m.

 

So where are Arsenal? A distant sixth with £184m.

 

And here we have the great hole in Keegan’s argument — and one that might be mentioned by Mike Ashley when the former England boss has today’s summit meeting with the Newcastle owner in London.

 

If Wenger can more than manage just to stay in touch despite spending considerably less, why can’t Newcastle? The same applies to Spurs. Had it not been for injuries and drawing too many matches they should have won, Arsenal might well have been champions.

 

Look at the figures over the last five years and Wenger’s achievement is even greater.

 

An outlay of £78m against Newcastle’s £103m and Tottenham’s £140m.

 

In that period, Wenger has recouped £52m in sales — a far greater percentage than Newcastle (£51m) and Spurs (£56m).

 

These sort of spectacular Arsenal returns will be music to Ashley’s ears. Because this is exactly the sort of good housekeeping he is expecting from Keegan.

 

Unlike his manager — and being a hard-nosed businessman rather than a money-no-object philanthropist like Roman Abramovich — he doesn’t believe throwing inordinate amounts of money at a problem necessarily solves it.

 

Keegan, being old school, does. Despite the evidence to the contrary of his own club (£20m wasted on Jean-Alain Boumsong and Albert Luque for starters) and Tottenham.

 

Wenger has proved that if you put in place a network of trusted, well-connected and influential scouts, you can still unearth some remarkable raw material for relatively little.

 

We all know the names — Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Robin Van Persie, Nicolas Anelka, Mathieu Flamini, Gael Clichy, Abou Diaby and Denilson among them.

 

Harness this talent to the sort of remarkable football education these players get at London Colney and it’s no surprise the Gunners’ production line is so prolific.

 

Sure, there have been a few mistakes — strangely two of them his most expensive purchases, Jose Reyes and Sylvain Wiltord.

 

And because Arsenal stick to a rigid salary cap outside special cases including Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell (a free transfer), some players like Flamini eventually slip through the net.

 

Generally, though, Arsenal maintain their position in the Big Four because Wenger is such an outstanding manager.

 

This is not what his rivals want to hear. Rafa Benitez constantly bemoans a so-called lack of funds — even Jose Mourinho, for all his spending, did the same.

 

And now Keegan.

 

It’s not quite that simple! As for throwing more money away on pay-offs, Keggy will discover today that’s not part of Ashley’s business plan, either.

[Happy Face 29]

How insightful and original.

[Happy Face 29]

It's also funny that Arsene getys a pasting in the very same paper today exactly for his policies on bringing in talent...

 

‘ARSENAL are staring into the abyss’ read SunSport yesterday — and I must agree.

 

When key players begin to leave a club at the top of their profession, you know something is wrong.

 

We’re not talking about a mid-table or lower club but one of the big four.

 

Mathieu Flamini has gone and Alex Hleb looks set to follow.

 

The message is simple — we are no longer at a club that is going anywhere.

 

I’m afraid Arsene Wenger has to stand accountable. There is no doubt he has created some great teams.

 

But the club have gone three years without a trophy.

 

The big problem is Wenger has fought shy of buying big-name players. It’s OK saying you are building a team as he is now.

 

But often you need big players for the here and now.

 

Big-name players bring on younger ones.

 

They also attract better quality. Dennis Bergkamp is the classic example.

 

He was bought just before Wenger arrived and I doubt whether the Dutchman would have been there had it been up to the Frenchman.

 

Yet as much as Eric Cantona kick-started things at Manchester United, so did Bergkamp at Arsenal.

 

The mentality under Wenger seems all wrong when the going has got tough of late.

 

Alex Ferguson tells his men ‘It’s us against them’. Wenger says ‘They are all against us’.

 

This persecution complex rubs off on players — as if fate decides what will happen to them rather than their own actions.

 

When Wenger first arrived he was a picture of composure. Now he resembles Basil Fawlty on the sidelines.

 

The Gunners have been hit by injuries this season. Yet Fergie has had to deal with that as well — likewise Avram Grant at Chelsea.

 

Four points does not look a big gap at the top with a game to go.

 

But it is huge in a title race that has been as tight as this.

 

You can play as much pretty football as you like but when trophies don’t follow, questions begin to be asked. And they need to be asked of Arsenal.

[Guest BigThompers]

Is it just me, or has Keegan saying that we're a long way off Chelsea and Manure been blown MASSIVELY out of proportion. It's any excuse. If he was at any other club and made these comments, do you think anyone would have battered an eyelid? This shit-stirring is fucking immense.

[manc-mag 1]

'Keggy'?!

[Tom 14013]

Well we have spent a lot of money. We have also finished 2nd,3rd,4th,5th, with two FA Cup Finals and Champions League & UEFA Cup football.

 

+ We even made a profit on some of those players like Dyer, Parker and Woodgate.

 

Plus i think it has more to do with net spend anyway...

[Happy Face 29]

'Keggy'?!

 

 

Brian Moore quote

 

"'Alongside me is Keggy Keegle - sorry, Kevin Keegle...'"

[Howay 12496]

Is it just me, or has Keegan saying that we're a long way off Chelsea and Manure been blown MASSIVELY out of proportion. It's any excuse. If he was at any other club and made these comments, do you think anyone would have battered an eyelid? This shit-stirring is fucking immense.

Spot on, it's unbelievable. He was correct in what he said, comparing us to Arsenal is a joke if Keegan went that route it'd take us a good 5 year to get the players coming through so it's still a fucking long way off even that way, also we wouldn't be able to attract these young players like Fabregas.

[Andrew 4855]

let's not forget that 50 or so million of that was spent by graham souness

[Walliver 0]

I think it's obvious that Keegan should have just said that we're the best team in the country by miles, I'm sure the press would agree with him in that case.

[Guest BigThompers]

His comments meant nothing to me. Just sounded like somebody stating the obvious. I can't even see how anybody, anywhere, at any level could see them as anything else. It's just massive evidence that the media have something against us. I am, however, concerned that after the big deal the media did make of it, that the owner arranged a meeting on press conference day meaning it was going to become public knowledge after they had to rearrange the conference. It was just begging the cunts to speculate and stir more shit. A more hush-hush affair would have been more appropriate.

[Tom 14013]

I think a lot of it is down to the fact that they know Ashley wont come out and state the truth because he doesn't talk to the Newspapers.

[acrossthepond 878]

It's also funny that Arsene getys a pasting in the very same paper today exactly for his policies on bringing in talent...

 

‘ARSENAL are staring into the abyss’ read SunSport yesterday — and I must agree.

 

When key players begin to leave a club at the top of their profession, you know something is wrong.

 

We’re not talking about a mid-table or lower club but one of the big four.

 

Mathieu Flamini has gone and Alex Hleb looks set to follow.

 

The message is simple — we are no longer at a club that is going anywhere.

 

I’m afraid Arsene Wenger has to stand accountable. There is no doubt he has created some great teams.

 

But the club have gone three years without a trophy.

 

The big problem is Wenger has fought shy of buying big-name players. It’s OK saying you are building a team as he is now.

 

But often you need big players for the here and now.

 

Big-name players bring on younger ones.

 

They also attract better quality. Dennis Bergkamp is the classic example.

 

He was bought just before Wenger arrived and I doubt whether the Dutchman would have been there had it been up to the Frenchman.

 

Yet as much as Eric Cantona kick-started things at Manchester United, so did Bergkamp at Arsenal.

 

The mentality under Wenger seems all wrong when the going has got tough of late.

 

Alex Ferguson tells his men ‘It’s us against them’. Wenger says ‘They are all against us’.

 

This persecution complex rubs off on players — as if fate decides what will happen to them rather than their own actions.

 

When Wenger first arrived he was a picture of composure. Now he resembles Basil Fawlty on the sidelines.

 

The Gunners have been hit by injuries this season. Yet Fergie has had to deal with that as well — likewise Avram Grant at Chelsea.

 

Four points does not look a big gap at the top with a game to go.

 

But it is huge in a title race that has been as tight as this.

 

You can play as much pretty football as you like but when trophies don’t follow, questions begin to be asked. And they need to be asked of Arsenal.

 

Can this shitty rag string more than one line together without a paragraph break?

 

Talking like this

 

doesn't make what you have to say

 

any more important.

 

...back on topic, if Arsenal can hold on to some of the ridiculous talent they have on the bench and in their reserves, they'll be winning the league with no trouble in five years. But that's if an impatient fanbase, spurred on by press shit-stirring, doesn't have him out before then.

[Andrew 4855]

I think a lot of it is down to the fact that they know Ashley wont come out and state the truth because he doesn't talk to the Newspapers.

 

pretty much their ideal chairman, they can write what they want with no fear of a response

[Tom 14013]

I think a lot of it is down to the fact that they know Ashley wont come out and state the truth because he doesn't talk to the Newspapers.

 

pretty much their ideal chairman, they can write what they want with no fear of a response

 

The thing is Ashley doesn't go down to their level.

[Andrew 4855]

I think a lot of it is down to the fact that they know Ashley wont come out and state the truth because he doesn't talk to the Newspapers.

 

pretty much their ideal chairman, they can write what they want with no fear of a response

 

The thing is Ashley doesn't go down to their level.

 

which I'm quite glad of

 

let the press keep coming out with this crap and being proved wrong time and again, let the idiotic fans all over the place believe them and laugh at us for the "sorry state of our club"

 

in the end we're the ones left laughing at them all for looking like a bunch of twats

[Tom 14013]

Well I know about that.

 

It just proves the delusion theory wrong and ends up being quite ironic.

 

Tottenham are talking about pushing Arsenal out of the top four, despite finishing 11th.

 

They have no chance of pushing Arsenal out the way, especially since Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton are higher up in the queue.