The Great Squad Cost Thread

[Makingtrax]

Yeah...but...but...but... It's Charlton right? The period that you quoted starts with Wenger having one of the greatest club sides ever in Premier League history (The Invincible's)

It's Arsenal's tragedy that it was dissembled and never quite reached those heights again, despite Wenger's many achievements.

I don't think you can straight squad cost compare between Charlton though. We were selling off players for big bucks during that period because we had assets to begin with. Wenger's obviously a legend compared to Curbishley - no comparison between their respective abilities - but that 8 year run was a big achievement for them.

How many managers do you know could manage 9 years in the top 4 without the club invested a single penny, whatever they started off with? It's crazy bro.

 

[Barry]

How many managers do you know could manage 9 years in the top 4 without the club invested a single penny, whatever they started off with? It's crazy bro.

Agree totally but it's a different point really. Charlton's 14th (or higher) was an immense achievement too given the size of the club.

Wenger should have got more credit for it at the time, it was framed as part of Arsenal's decline which was also true, but the club should have invested. If Wenger was given money he'd have turned it to gold. He was fully sold on being frugal though, even his autobiography never accepts that they should have seen the opportunity of that period

 

[Makingtrax]

Agree totally but it's a different point really. Charlton's 14th (or higher) was an immense achievement too given the size of the club.

Wenger should have got more credit for it at the time, it was framed as part of Arsenal's decline which was also true, but the club should have invested. If Wenger was given money he'd have turned it to gold. He was fully sold on being frugal though, even his autobiography never accepts that they should have seen the opportunity of that period

Don’t think he a lot of choice but to be frugal, it wasn’t a good time to build a stadium in retrospect. Yes Charlton was a small club, but that tend’s to affect revenue. They got £33m from somewhere and that was no small sum in the late 90s.

 

[Barry]

Don’t think he a lot of choice but to be frugal, it wasn’t a good time to build a stadium in retrospect. Yes Charlton was a small club, but that tend’s to affect revenue. They got £33m from somewhere and that was no small sum in the late 90s.

It's the great unknowable question. Wenger didn't control the finances but he also resented or resisted the rise of mega money in football to some degree. I could be way off but I got the sense that he fundamentally agreed with the board's frugal approach. Anyway, it's all history now. If we'd spent big it might have played out badly for Arsenal... Or maybe the bank loans on the stadium just made it completely impossible

 

[Makingtrax]

Can't wait for the season to start, to see what Arteta can do with another £200m+ in players under his belt.

Looking on Transfermarkt, I see since 2019 the club has given Arteta more money for players from their own funds than any other team. No 1 for club spending. That's some backing. Now we really do have a chance to win the league and more! COYG!

 

[sergio_giorgini]

Can't wait for the season to start, to see what Arteta can do with another £200m+ in players under his belt.

Looking on Transfermarkt, I see since 2019 the club has given Arteta more money for players from their own funds than any other team. No 1 for club spending. That's some backing. Now we really do have a chance to win the league and more! COYG!

Shouldn’t you be outside the Emirates prostrating to Wenger’s new statue?

 

[SA Gunner]

Can't wait for the season to start, to see what Arteta can do with another £200m+ in players under his belt.

Looking on Transfermarkt, I see since 2019 the club has given Arteta more money for players from their own funds than any other team. No 1 for club spending. That's some backing. Now we really do have a chance to win the league and more! COYG!

Why are you circling balance and not expenditure?

 

[Makingtrax]

Why are you circling balance and not expenditure?

Because that's the money the club has had to find from it's own funds over and above sales. It reflects the real commitment of the club to invest in players. More than any other club in Europe.

 

[Xln]

Can't wait for the season to start, to see what Arteta can do with another £200m+ in players under his belt.

Looking on Transfermarkt, I see since 2019 the club has given Arteta more money for players from their own funds than any other team. No 1 for club spending. That's some backing. Now we really do have a chance to win the league and more! COYG!

Glad to see Arteta demanding to be backed unlike the cuckold Wenger who didn't dare to ask his boss for money, then hit us with the "glad he didn't cost 50mil" bum who's still haunting us in 2023 preseason friendlies.

 

[Makingtrax]

Shouldn’t you be outside the Emirates prostrating to Wenger’s new statue?

I'm there in my tent as we speak. The kettles on my little burner and even with the wrappings on, the man looks like the greatest manager Arsenal will ever have.

 

[db10_therza]

Because that's the money the club has had to find from it's own funds over and above sales. It reflects the real commitment of the club to invest in players. More than any other club in Europe.

As the saying goes… you have to spend money to make money.

Arsenal is a business regardless of what us fans think. The judgement on this spending (or investing in the future) will come due in a few years when we can also consider things like how much our revenues have increased, whether we decide to sell some players that aren’t deadwood, and yes, trophies (but really that just feeds into the revenue thing when looking at it as a business).

 

[SA Gunner]

Because that's the money the club has had to find from it's own funds over and above sales. It reflects the real commitment of the club to invest in players. More than any other club in Europe.

Ok, so you are measuring the club more then, and not the manager in this case.

Net expenditure can also be a bit of a red herring as well by the way. If you look at Chelsea's net expenditure for example, they could very well "balance the books". You could argue that this isnt a superior performance by the club. But really that club just doing favourable bulk deals with Saudi Arabia.

I dont think there's anything brilliant about Todd Boehly going to KSA and selling his club and probably his soul as well.

 

[db10_therza]

I dont think there's anything brilliant about Todd Boehly going to KSA and selling his club and probably his soul as well.

Nah opportunism is good business.

Meanwhile when KSA came to Arsenal…

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Basing your expectations of the club on one financial metric is dumb anyway. Net spend over the past few years puts us right near the top but squad cost and wages put us 5th or whatever. So which is right or a more valuable resource? Hint- It's the one that fits your agenda.

The only real thing to take from this metric is we've been poor at players sales. We had some poor players on our books, Arteta has probably tanked the value of a few, Edu isn't always the best at sales. Those are all true in some circumstances.

You could give Crystal Palace the highest net spend over the past 5 years and it still wouldn't be reasonable expecting them to win the title because it matters what performance base you're starting from. These sorts of financial stats don't involve any understanding of circumstances or how football really works, that's the problem with all of them.

We were in a serious title race and finished 2nd last season, I want us to match or better that this season. You're much better off basing your expectations on what has happened on the pitch rather than cherry picked financial stats which are often pretty misleading.

 

[Makingtrax]

Basing your expectations of the club on one financial metric is dumb anyway. Net spend over the past few years puts us right near the top but squad cost and wages put us 5th or whatever. So which is right or a more valuable resource? Hint- It's the one that fits your agenda.

The only real thing to take from this metric is we've been poor at players sales. We had some poor players on our books, Arteta has probably tanked the value of a few, Edu isn't always the best at sales. Those are all true in some circumstances.

You could give Crystal Palace the highest net spend over the past 5 years and it still wouldn't be reasonable expecting them to win the title because it matters what performance base you're starting from. These sorts of financial stats don't involve any understanding of circumstances or how football really works, that's the problem with all of them.

We were in a serious title race and finished 2nd last season, I want us to match or better that this season. You're much better off basing your expectations on what has happened on the pitch rather than cherry picked financial stats which are often pretty misleading.

If your club investment in players rises year on year, that's exactly the way the squad cost rises. Be interesting to see what position we are this year when the figures come out in late September after 4 years of big investment.

 

[grange]

Watching the squad cost agenda going out with a whimper clinging to balances is making me sad in a 2nd hand embarrassment kind of way. Poor guy.

 

[Rasmi]

Ok, so you are measuring the club more then, and not the manager in this case.

Net expenditure can also be a bit of a red herring as well by the way. If you look at Chelsea's net expenditure for example, they could very well "balance the books". You could argue that this isnt a superior performance by the club. But really that club just doing favourable bulk deals with Saudi Arabia.

I dont think there's anything brilliant about Todd Boehly going to KSA and selling his club and probably his soul as well.

They sold mount and Havertz for 120 million pound and another 35 million for pulisic and loftus cheek. The bulk of their money come from European clubs

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Watching the squad cost agenda going out with a whimper clinging to balances is making me sad in a 2nd hand embarrassment kind of way. Poor guy.

What squad cost agenda? I don’t get why you guys are so baffled by a simple concept.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

Arteta is a chequebook manager with massive amounts of time, money, and inherited talent. If he doesn’t win the league or CL shortly he should be fired because no one has bought more players than we have. If Arteta fails again he has zero excuses. And for this level of expenditure anything but the league is a failure. A real manager like Wenger would have had 10 premier league titles with this kind of support.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

You could give Crystal Palace the highest net spend over the past 5 years and it still wouldn't be reasonable expecting them to win the title because it matters what performance base you're starting from. These sorts of financial stats don't involve any understanding of circumstances or how football really works, that's the problem with all of them.

Something like this has already happened. There was a 5 year period where Everton were one of the highest net spenders in the league. What was the result of this? They were mainly a lower table or relegation fighting team.