A hypothetical dilemma....

[Southcote Spur]

If we finished third I want Chelscum to win the CL.

I think us and Arse are competing for the same players. So by Arse missing out - we will have the upper hand

I must admit that I was a little envious of Le Arse signing Podolski. Would this have been a signing that would have been welcomed by everyone at WHL? :-k

 

[Mumorn]

I must admit that I was a little envious of Le Arse signing Podolski. Would this have been a signing that would have been welcomed by everyone at WHL? :-k

Internationally very good (although most people would be in that German team).. not the best at club level. He reminds me a little of RVP a little bit, I'd hope it's a replacement for him.

 

[billyiddo]

Podoslki has only really hit it off at one club - the one time he left for better things he had a strike rate of 1 in 5 over 3 seasons (Bayern) and was promptly sold back - maybe he has grown as a player since then but id be skeptical if we had signed him

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Podoslki has only really hit it off at one club - the one time he left for better things he had a strike rate of 1 in 5 over 3 seasons (Bayern) and was promptly sold back - maybe he has grown as a player since then but id be skeptical if we had signed him

Agreed, superb buy if he can settle in and perform - but no guarantee of that at all

 

[braineclipse]

Podoslki has only really hit it off at one club - the one time he left for better things he had a strike rate of 1 in 5 over 3 seasons (Bayern) and was promptly sold back - maybe he has grown as a player since then but id be skeptical if we had signed him

I wouldn't have been super stoked if we signed him either. In his best positions (from what I know), we have Bale on the left (or rather, he should be), we have VdV playing behind a striker and he's not really the type of lone striker we need. We need someone who adds a bit of strength and height to our team like Ade. I think he would have done well, he will probably be an upgrade on Gervinho for Arsenal, but it's not some super signing for them and wouldn't have been for us either.

 

[COYS]

Who gives a fudge about Chelsea winning the CL? I'd rather see them in it next season than Arsenal. Will Arsenal keep RVP if they're in the EL next season? Clearly not.

 

[Crab.C.Nesbitt]

Who gives a fudge about Chelsea winning the CL? I'd rather see them in it next season than Arsenal. Will Arsenal keep RVP if they're in the EL next season? Clearly not.

Personally I hate Chelsea every bit as much as arsenal, and there is a lot of history and rivalry between Chelsea and us. They have fudged us over down the years big time! To say who gives a fudge about Chelsea suggests to me tat you are either quite young or don't know that much about our club and our history! Would you say the same if it were arsenal in the cl final, coz if you can't stomach them winning it I don't see how you can not care about those cheslbricks fudgers winning it!

 

[COYS]

Personally I hate Chelsea every bit as much as arsenal, and there is a lot of history and rivalry between Chelsea and us. They have fudged us over down the years big time! To say who gives a fudge about Chelsea suggests to me tat you are either quite young or don't know that much about our club and our history! Would you say the same if it were arsenal in the cl final, coz if you can't stomach them winning it I don't see how you can not care about those cheslbricks fudgers winning it!

Alright fine. If Arsenal went through this year what if they won it next year? Watching Arsene lift the European Elite trophy. There is a much bigger rivalry between us and Arsenal than with Chelsea. How you can say it's the same, I don't know. Yes they're racist/anti-Semitic ****s, but we need Arsenal to collapse as much as possible now. If Chelsea win it the only reason I'd be quite upset would be because they beat us to it as the first London club to lift the European cup, not just because I hate them.

This isn't about Chelsea, this is about Arsenal - the team I hate most in the world, and Tottenham's biggest threat and obstacle.

 

[Fuego]

My dad is an Arsenal fan, my sister is an Arsenal fan, my mother supports whichever team is doing better out of Arsenal and Spurs, I live with Arsenal fans... I have only one option, I'm sorry.

For what it's worth, Terry won't be able to play in the final, so I feel less guilty... But I cannot take "Arsenal have qualified for the CL for the last 100 years" forever, fudge them.

Arsenal not getting into the CL is a fudging disaster for them, they'd take a huge step into a Liverpool style melt down... The fact that RVP is pretty much waiting to see if Arsenal get CL football before deciding whether or not to sign is huge, the money they'd lose would totally fudge them. They need that money, they might have issues with FFP if they fail to get CL football... fudge me yes. They can fudge off with their "we're a perfectly run club" when they don't meet FFP rules and everyone else does because everyone else has owners that write off 30 mil of losses and use loopholes to get around the rest. The irony would be so amazing.

They need to attract players, they need the money, they need everything from the CL... Chelsea, Emirates Marketing Project, etc can live without it, it is Arsenal's lifeforce.

I did a post a while back, possibly on the old board that outlined a few other things that'd totally fudge them if they missed CL football, but for me, it's worth it...

I would take a Terryless Chelsea winning a trophy to stop Arsenal from getting into the CL, I'd take them winning the fudging quadruple if it meant we got into the CL and Arsenal didn't. They could win the World Club Championship afterwards too, I'd be forever grateful for ending Wenger's lucky CL qualification run and for contributing heavily to Arsenal's decline. fudge yes, sign me up.

Amazingly beautiful things come at a price, I am willing to pay that price.

 

[Totting Them Up]

My dad is an Arsenal fan, my sister is an Arsenal fan, my mother supports whichever team is doing better out of Arsenal and Spurs, I live with Arsenal fans... I have only one option, I'm sorry.

For what it's worth, Terry won't be able to play in the final, so I feel less guilty... But I cannot take "Arsenal have qualified for the CL for the last 100 years" forever, fudge them.

Arsenal not getting into the CL is a fudging disaster for them, they'd take a huge step into a Liverpool style melt down... The fact that RVP is pretty much waiting to see if Arsenal get CL football before deciding whether or not to sign is huge, the money they'd lose would totally fudge them. They need that money, they might have issues with FFP if they fail to get CL football... fudge me yes. They can fudge off with their "we're a perfectly run club" when they don't meet FFP rules and everyone else does because everyone else has owners that write off 30 mil of losses and use loopholes to get around the rest. The irony would be so amazing.

They need to attract players, they need the money, they need everything from the CL... Chelsea, Emirates Marketing Project, etc can live without it, it is Arsenal's lifeforce.

I did a post a while back, possibly on the old board that outlined a few other things that'd totally fudge them if they missed CL football, but for me, it's worth it...

I would take a Terryless Chelsea winning a trophy to stop Arsenal from getting into the CL, I'd take them winning the fudging quadruple if it meant we got into the CL and Arsenal didn't. They could win the World Club Championship afterwards too, I'd be forever grateful for ending Wenger's lucky CL qualification run and for contributing heavily to Arsenal's decline. fudge yes, sign me up.

Amazingly beautiful things come at a price, I am willing to pay that price.

Hold on mate, to be fair, they do meet FFP rules because interest on debt incurred to meet an allowable investment (in this case, building a new stadium) is not counted as an expenditure for FFP purposes. And thank GHod for that, because we're going to have to go down the same road as them if and when we ever get our fingers out and start building.

Secondly, and let's remember this, Chelski fans are the vilest pieces of racist, anti-semitic filth you will ever come across in top-tier football. You'll never hear Arse fans singing and saying what that lot do. Scum of the earth, and it's them that would be lording it around as winners of the CL.

 

[he_is_you_know]

I can't believe the vote is 50/50. Arsenal missing out on one season of CL won't be the financial apocalypse that some seem to expect. We lost ?ú22 million in TV revenue by only making the EL this season compared to last year's CL run, and the total is probably a bit more if you take match day revenue into account. Losing ~?ú30m for one season is a real tinkler, but it isn't the end of the world. Van Persie leaving would be great but it pales into insignificance compared to the likes of Terry, Cole & Drogba holding the CL trophy aloft.

The real deciding factor for me is that if we finish third and Chelsea win the CL, then we're bumped down to England's fouth entrant and we have to play a qualifier to even get into the competition proper.

 

[Fuego]

There are conflicting reports about 3rd place having to play a qualifier.

Secondly, and let's remember this, Chelski fans are the vilest pieces of racist, anti-semitic filth you will ever come across in top-tier football. You'll never hear Arse fans singing and saying what that lot do. Scum of the earth, and it's them that would be lording it around as winners of the CL.

True, although Arsenal fans are no angels. I'm fairly sure they had a song about Ade nearly getting killed on Togo duty. I definitely agree with your point about Chelsea fans though.

 

[Fuego]

Ok, now the FFP part.

I did say might.

they do meet FFP rules because interest on debt incurred to meet an allowable investment (in this case, building a new stadium) is not counted as an expenditure for FFP purposes. And thank GHod for that, because we're going to have to go down the same road as them if and when we ever get our fingers out and start building.

They have to lose about ?ú40 mil, which they won't from losing CL alone. They'll lose about ?ú25 mil from loss of CL TV money and then it's anyone's guess how much they'll lose based on match day revenue. It is possible that they'll lose ?ú15 mil from that, but I'm guessing more than anything.

Now that would be enough to fudge them (not so much that they'd get thrown out of Europe, but enough for them to rely on having to write a cheque to bail themselves out, without a rich owner, I'm not sure how Arsenal would do this), but they would go into the Europa League. The cash from that should save them...

But wait, there's more...

I hate undisclosed fees, so I'm going based on google (not reliable at all)... Podolski for ?ú10.9 mil....

That puts them in the "fudged" bracket again.

Whenever Arsenal are anywhere near the "fudged" bracket, they sell players.

Fabregas, Clichy, Nasri, etc have all been calculated into last year's profits... So they'd need to sell someone this year.

The big name with little time left on his contract is RVP... Without CL football, he might want to go anyway, but Arsenal will want to keep him...


So they give RVP a new contract (their best case scenario), how much will that cost? With Rosicky's new contract as well as other new contracts... (Walcott's contract will probably be renewed too...) Arsenal's wage bill is going to go up again...

They still need to sell someone, they have their versions of Jenas, Bentley, etc that they can't sell, so who will it be? Their squad doesn't have any depth as it is, so they are going to be significantly weakened if they sell, partly because it means one signing is all they'll be able to afford.


But no means is this the financial apocalypse for them, but Arsenal are not run like Chelsea or City, they just write off losses, each pound that Arsenal loses hurts them directly. Wenger has been saying for ages that the club needs to make about ?ú20 mil a year.



They really can't afford to not finish in the CL twice, but the first time they don't get in the CL, it hurts them so much that it becomes much harder to get into the CL again... They lose the strengthening the CL money would have bought them, they still have to make ?ú20 mil somehow.



I don't think for a minute that failing to meet FFP would mean Arsenal get kicked out of Europe, I am sure Arsenal would rather sell players than fail to meet FFP anyway, but it hastens their decline.

We haven't imploded due to not being in the CL this season, so I'm not saying Arsenal will be mid-table next year if they don't get CL football... But you've got to assume Chelsea won't make as big a mess out of next season, so if we get CL football and Arsenal don't, we will be able to strengthen and they won't.

Plus, fudge Arsenal, come on... Chelsea winning a trophy or Arsenal losing an arm, I know which one is better for our CL hopes next season.

 

[markysimmo]

I must admit that I was a little envious of Le Arse signing Podolski. Would this have been a signing that would have been welcomed by everyone at WHL? :-k

Be interesting to see how he copes with his homesickness, after signing for Munich from Cologne he got home sick and moved back, wonder how he will deal with London

 

[PaulH]

it's irrelevant anyway as I can guarantee that should L'arse finish 4th and Chelski win the CL then the scum will appeal to whoever will listen and David Dein will pull some strings and they'll get into CL anyway

 

[awesome dawson]

Terry got his karma

 

[Spursalot]

I don't get the people voting for chelsea to win the Champions League.

Prior to hating any other team i am pro spurs.

(if city win the league)

If we finish 3rd and Bayern win the CL the TV revenues are

City (40%)
United (30%)
Spurs (20%)
Arsenal (10%)


If we finish 3rd and Chelsea win the CL the TV revenues are

Chelsea (40%)
City (30%)
United (20%)
Spurs (10%)


Doesn't really look like a difficult choice if your a spurs fan first... :-s

 

[camspur]

Don't want Chelsea to win the CL because it'd mean Saudi Sportswashing Machine don't get a place next year in it, us 3rd Saudi Sportswashing Machine 4th Arsenal 5th, :lol:

 

[Libero]

No way do I want Chelsea winning that trophy. To be honest, Arsenal's business model is not dissimilar to ours and I would rather they got the spot than Chelsea. They do things the right way in terms of their financial dealings and live within their means. Add into the fact that as a club, Chelsea are completely classless from the fans to the boardroom to the pitch. I mean really, despite our hatred of Arsenal, Chelsea have so many scumbag players that is almost on the same level as their fans!

 

[mick cooper]

But it won't be tainted though. In 20. 40, 80, 100 years time, no-one will be saying ignore that Chelsea CL win, it was tainted. All it will say is that Chelsea won the CL in 2011/2012 season. Just as hardly anyone mentions that 5 of Real Madrid's European cups were won at a time when the competition wasn't great and Franco was supporting the club. Or than AC and Inter are bankrolled by wealthy individuals, in ways not too dissimilar to Chelsea or Emirates Marketing Project. And no-one remembers the seasons when teams missed out on the CL.

All people remember is the trophies.

Both Barcelona and Real Madrid have governmental financial support. Both clubs are used as political pawns in elections - as to how much the successful political candidates will back and support them. Both teams have massive city council support.

It would be the equivalent of Boris Johnson and the GLC suddenly building us a ground, giving the club training facilities and massive tax breaks.