Ivan Gazidis has rejected the offer of cash for transfers from investor Alisher Usmanov. It is a significant show of belief in the strength of Arsenal’s business model and a put down for Usmanov.
It is a very thinly veiled attempt at winning more favour with the fans and putting pressure on the club to buy more players ala Real Madrid. Some fans will be annoyed at the way the board have just rejected this offer, but if it had been accepted then it would have set a dangerous precedent of involvement on Usmanov’s part.
The best thing the club can do is stick to it’s sustainable model of business. The cash thrown about by the likes of Real Madrid is unrealistic and in the long term it gets you nowhere, building a team with character and understanding is more important.
The pressure on Arsenal to win trophies will always be there, and until Arsene wins one with this generation there will always be critics of club policy. The potential is there, as it has been for several years, Arsenal fans just need to learn the art of patience.
ArseSpeak 
Agreed.
What is this issue about patience. Are we in the stock mkt or what? Buy players and get the trophies. The longer we stay without winning the more likely to loose our best players!
I am pretty sick of of press and fans saying be patient,we have been! Can’t think of another big club were the manager could not win anything since a lucky Fa cup shoot out in 2005 and people still regard him as a genius.
Can’t think of many clubs with a manger who is so loyal to his players he can’t see the wood for the trees.
ok, so you take 40m buy two or 3 players and win the FA cup like chelsea then what? you now owe this fool 40m for what? this trend of wealthy businessmen underwriting expenses for liverpool, united, city and the rest can not continue forever…the simple fact is everyone is in football to make money, once they figure there is only so much to be made, they’re going to leave and what will happen to those teams?
why is Stan Kroenke so quiet, he seems to be the boards favoured tycoon to go with so where is his money?? We need new players, lovely football but defensively naive and no clinical finishing. since the fast attacking invincibles, we are now slowly slowly pass, pass keep ball, lots of posesion but not enough goals, teams like fulham and hull get a breakaway goal and cost us vital points. lets use Arshavins drive and Walcots pace to go at defences, I pray Eduardo is back to his best, god are we gonna need him
Do you think the likes of cesc will stay if we continue to not win trophys
I can now clearly see that some so called Arsenal fans love Trophies more than they love the club itself. It is a shame. So you lot wants the club to spend! spend!! Spend!!! Let me remind you…
Just a few years back, the time of the last Galaticos, Real Madrid was just a tick away from bankruptcy because of their overspend. The corrupt Spanish Government had to use dodgy means to bail them out by buying mere training ground for a jaw-breaking amount of money that helped Madrid to dodge the bullet. How much did they win with the 1st Galacticos? Please go and do your own research. Work out the cost of galactico per win ratio and tell us how much dividend it pays them.
A few years ago, Leeds United was in the top 5 of the EPL. To sustain a Champions League & Premier League campaign, they spent over £98m of borowed money. How many did they win? Where are they now? Did they think about the future of their club?
Real Madrid are now spending money provided by the corrupt Spannish banks without a care in the world. They are not using this money for capital, money generating assets, rather, they are buying players (perishable items, susceptible to diminishing returns) at inflated prices. Well, those banks have shareholders. Very soon, these SH will begin to ask questions. The banks will then have to ask for their money back. How much will Real Madrid get even if they won the Spanish League and the Champions League? How much can they realistically (no speculations please) get from shirt sales? Don’t forget to deduct the huge players’ wages. What percentage will that amount pay back? They will soon regret their irresponsible spending.
Liverpool got a letter from Nat West concerning their huge debt. They did not build a new stadium; neither did they embark on any capital project. Why, then did they have a huge debt that is now threatening to choke them? Because they were spend money trying to emulate Man U & Chelsea. Did they win the league? No. Who is facing the problem now? The club.
Did you notice how Man U have slowed down in the transfer market even after getting £80m on Ronaldo? Why? Because their irresponsible spending of the past have caught up with them. They are in huge debt. Why should that be? Afterall, they are generating a lot of money from their very big stadium and world wide marketing. Well, they emulated Real Madrid and so got into a huge debt problem which is now choking them.
Chelsea have Abromavish who lost money in the credit crunch like everybody else. No wonder they are not spending as much these days. Even they too have a huge debts which they are struggling to pay back. They do not have a huge stadium. How then will they clear their debt? I hope Abromavish does not get fed up one day and just opt to leave like the Newcastle owner.
Arsenal have debt too. But they borrowed the money, not for intangibles such as buying players, but for the stability of having a very big, money generating stadium and money generating real-estate. There is a market down-turn in real-estate at the moment, but it is still okay. Arsenal is meeting its repayments and gainning valuable equity in the process, reducing its debt. Why? Because the club has stuck to its self-sustaining business model. Not spending above its means and not borrowing to spend on intangibles. Building a team, rather than buying one. It also remains under multiple ownership so that no one owner can tie the club to his/her own misfortunes.
If this does not please any so called Arsenal fan, then I sincerely believe that such a person is only in love with trophies irrespective of what happens to the stability of the club. If the founding fathers of this club had done what you guys are advocating now, there would not have been Arsenal for you to claim to support.
So, think!
I agree with LRV a lot, especially with regards to the Leeds United situation. Ridsdale chased the dream and Leeds won nothing despite the investment.
Post administration, their fans are just happy that the club has not folded. Must we be so sort sighted to just persue immediate glory at any cost?
And finally a decent article, I’ve been fed up reading the last few. Thank you for sorting it out!
jojo, lrv, we are in debt, bigtime. Now, what was the purpose of that debt again?
we at least need to buy quality DM to support Denilson. We can also sell two CBs since we got six to raise money for these buys. We need to spend NOT to overspend.
contrary to popular belief. we do not want Arsenal to spend, we want them to win things. whether that is by spending or not. if the future of the club is secure then so be it but the fact remains that 4 years is a long time in football these days. What we need is to see signs of improvement through the squad. whether that is through talented youth or by the squad being strengthened makes no difference to us. as long as it improves the squad and we are challenging (realistically) for honours. we all know what is missing in midfield and at the back and arsene has addressed one of these issues (we will see how thomas does) and we know by his links with certain players that he would like to address the other. when we say spend we dont mean send the earth. just spend on what is required. personally i don’t believe that usmanovs money is needed for that and we don’t know what the conditions of that loan/gift were. lets not get uppity just because it was refused as it may have been good reason. it would have been interesting to see what lassana diarra or gareth barry or even nigel de jong (who i rate highly) could do alongside cesc. aaaah well cest la vie. roll on the knew season
LRV U have some good points indeed! But with all do respect it hurts me when we loose it ruins ma day, my week, draws against teams we should beat makes me pissed off! I love this team with all my heart but why cant we atleast buy one or two new signings. Not talking abt overspending! But dont u miss that rush, that enjoyment in winning trophies? Do u remember those days? I surely miss them! Every year I tell erryone we will win the FA, Premiership, League Cup an Champions League! Because I have faith! But who takes me serious anymore! They mock my faith! We have a strong squad but we need a new gilberto and a new striker! To see the worlds greatest club underachiving have not been fun! Trophies is not everything but still winning is what the game is about!
-In Wenger We Trust