Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has hit out at players who use excuses to leave a club when all they’re interested in is the money on offer elsewhere.
Tempted by agents who tell them that first they have to get the money in order to then get the women and the power, players say they’re moving to ‘win things’ or for ‘a new challenge’, but Hill-Wood says this is a load of old tommyrot.
“That is just a smokescreen. All they are interested in is more money”, he told the Daily Star (autoplaying video alert). “They put out other statements but that’s really what it’s about. How much can they spend? I don’t know but they are p*****g it down the drain.”
Arsenal’s ability to pay top wages has been under intense scrutiny in recent times and the club face the problem of trying to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Man City, whose owners bankroll the club from the money they make from oil.
“We know it is there and you have just got to face it, but we have got a limit to how much we are going to pay these boys. If some agent is prepared to come in and upset the player and try to move him on for a lot more money there is nothing much we can do. What you have got to do is not lose your own head and pay what you think you can afford.
“And if a player doesn’t accept that, so be it”.
Some points of note:
1 – The world’s supply of oil is limited, so if Arsenal can keep in touch with these clubs until the wells run dry then we’ll be in a great position to capitalise. Especially if we invest some of our transfer funds into finding a way to make fusion power a reality. If we can get there before anyone else we’ll be more powerful than General Zod himself.
2 – The wages thing is a bit of a straw man argument. Look at Sp*rs. The most pessimistic of fans would say that their team is better than ours right now but they spend a lot less on wages than we do. Simply paying our players more won’t help. In fact, it’s our wage structure that’s the issue, not so much the amount of money we spend on wages.
3 – If we all accept that football is a business these days, paying what you can afford to pay is not a stick to beat the club with. It’s the right way to do things. Any expectation that Arsenal should be able to pay the same amount of money to their players as Man City is ridiculous.
4 – Footballers are, for the most part, greedy bastards represented by greedy bastard agents. Money has always impacted the game like this and it always will.
So, in conclusion, there’s nothing shocking or new to what PHW is saying but it’s rare you hear someone within the game castigate players for their avaricious ways. And maybe it’s something we ought to hear more of.
‘…castigate players for their avaricious ways’? Who swallowed a dictionary this morning? Lovely sentence, good rhythm.
Thanks. Avaricious is a great word
What does it mean tho?
Greedy
“Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Arseblog and Pepsi C………”
I was gonna have a right rant at that Spuds bit, then re-read it, thus avoiding the perception of being a twat (in my opinion anyway).
Oh, why always The Daily Star with PHW?
Toff, old Etonian, double barrel name, friend of The Daily Star.
Good question, I really don’t know.
They pay the avaricious old cunt loads of dosh? (I’m gonna use avaricious – and cunt – all day now).
PHW is right .He forgot to ad d they also want to play for teams with better chances of winning a trophy.Man City fall into this category. Arsenal have a long way to go to attract big names.
If this season ends in a disaster ie failure to compete in the cl 2012-13,big names won’t be coming,
But the point and reality is if these players that left had stayed like Nasri and Clichy we would still be able to compete and would have a better chance of winning a trophy. We were competing for trophies last season with those players so there overall excuses for leaving were utter codswallop.
You can’t really argue with that. Were it purely a footballing decision then clearly the simplest solution would have been to work harder between January and June and win Arsenal some trophies last summer without the trouble of having to move house, uproot your children (assuming they had any), and wait an extra 12 months before any trophies were up for grabs.
This is my personal thought. You may not agree with it. That is your right.
super comment!!! 1 million likes!!
^^chris..
Point 2 is the key one. That’s where AFC could actually do something. The club issue statements as if we pay way less, but overall we don’t, in fact it’s a huge wage bill, especially in relation to the youth and unproven nature of most of our squad. But that’s how Wenger wants to divvy up the budget as he wants ‘harmony’ within his squad, so that’s how it’ll stay.
he should ‘castigate’ Darren Dein then
Or just shoot him.
Shooting the greedy little twat works for me……
This idiot should keep his mouth shut particularly when he and his family have been on the Arsenal gravy train with all its perks for years whilst hardly putting anythig into the club.
More shit from the board’s most useless cunt. Fabregas took a pay CUT. Money may have helped make Nasri’s mind up for him, but would he have gone if Man City were mid-table and Arsenal fighting in the top four? No.
Arsenal were in the top four. He’d have gone somewhere because his agents turned his head with money.
But Man City weren’t mid-table. He joined a club that he now saw had as much chance as winning silverware as Arsenal, if not more. Otherwise I don’t believe he would have left.
Well, I’d disagree because I think money was the overrding factor in his decision to leave.
When the City deal got complicated he and his people contacted PSG to try and engineer a move there. It began when his people made contact with United who offered a shit load more money.
Of course when you to move to a club like City you can say it’s ambition and the chance to win things but I genuinely don’t believe that was the case with Nasri. Easy way out stuff.
All we know about PSG is that Leonardo spoke to him in June, but Nasri said he didn’t want to leave England. Then, truly, Nasri, at 23-24, signing for PSG when Inter, City and United want you, impossible. The fuss started because, him, the prince of Marseille didn’t say firmly ” I don’t want to go there, I’m from Marseille”, but said he could have listenend. Anyway, Paris was never an option. If the City move had collapsed, he would have stayed at Arsenal for the season.
Arsenal FC is like gadget that needs upgrading,but instead of upgrading it,they are complaining ,running their big mouths off ,slagging other clubs off,this is why we are where we are today, One man was never afraid to speak his mind,that was MY MENTOR DAVID DEIN.The same David Dein who warned us these things happening now will happen and brought in stan kroenke who is now a major share holder.was fired for doing what he felt was good for the club. There would be no bigger fan than David Dein,he was in touch with the fans and in touch with the… Read more »
Your mentor?
Who are you?
and why do you occassionally PUT THINGS IN CAPITALS for no apparent REASON
I know, I found myself randomly shouting midsentence, while reading it internally making myself jump!!
Oh well! After all the oil wells have dried up. We’ll be competing with ManShitty in a couple hundred years!
Global Warming, man. You forgot global warming. We won’t have a couple of hundred years if they keep burning all that oil. Somebody will go over there and put a plug in all their wells in about five years when they realise what a 2 degree rise in world temperatures will do to the major cities of the Eastern and Western US coasts. Man City will be abandoned in six years. Then we’ll be supreme (ignoring Utd, Chelsea, Blackburn, and Notts County, of course) That leads me to a very important question. How high above sea level is Ashburton Grove?… Read more »
Good point about White Heart Lane, although I think I would prefer to see it drowning in a sea of dog sh*t, pretty much in tune with the local area.
He’s right of course, but it would sound better coming from the mouth of someone who wasn’t such an avaricious cunt himself!
What it means is that the club will not be paying a fortune in wages to keep rvp and anyone who seriously thinks he’s gonna stay is either very naive or is deluded into thinking the board will change. I no most people on hear only like to read good news, the board is great, we have turned the corner etc or ya get a thumbs down but rvp will leave as simple as that and nothing in the way this club has gone about its business in the last few years shows that the attitude in terms of transfers… Read more »
Perhaps they could show their appreciation by not bloody booing the team he captains at half time in every home game ?
These are my thoughts. You may not agree with them. That is your right.
The last line of this piece bugged the heck out of me. We don’t need to hear these sorts of antiquated thoughts from PHW more! Money is what players want. Why is this a bad thing? The players have the unique talent, why are they not supposed to cash in? Don’t give me this BS about loyalty to the club, cause the club never shows loyalty to its players. If Samir Nasri got in a car accident tomorrow and lost his left foot, the club would run away from him like a particularly ripe dead cat. So don’t blame Nasri… Read more »
What nonsense the club has shown loyalty to players and supported them like Paul Merson through his drug problems Tony Adams through his alcoholism and prison term. This club has a lot of time and patience for it’s players a lot more than other clubs
Exactly
Nonesense! The club doesnt show loyalty to players that it feels are surplus to requirement! But yet we expect players to be loyal. If Eboue for instance wanted to stay but the club believed they have a better replacement! would the club care about what Eboue wants? the answer is No! PHW is a cunt, and whether he likes it or not what he’s saying is true for most footballers if not all. we’ll unfortunately have to do with players like jenkinson, and young talents like Oxo cos the simple fact is we cant compete with the wages of other… Read more »
Fair point but it only applies if the club values the player. What happened to Ian Wright, when Anelka burst on the scene we shipped him out, cos he was surplus to requirement. Same for Merson, Parlour, & Pires. And any other player over the age of 30, regardless of how they felt for the club were only offered 1 year deals. So if another club offers them a longer deal, how can you balme them for leaving??? The only loyalty the club should expect is from its supporters. We have constantly labelled our ex-players as greedy or cunts, Cashley,… Read more »
Alpha thats not entirely true with Ian Wright as his last season was plagued by injuries and even when he moved to West Ham he only played 22 games for them over 2 seasons. And what top premier league club is offering players over the age of 30 long term deals even Man United have only offered Giggs a year by year deal for the last 3 seasons. It’s hard to offer someone in the twilight of their career a contract like that as if something does manage to go wrong there is no way you would ever be able… Read more »
Exactly my point Chris, Ian Wright was plagued with injury so we decided he was surplus to requirement, regardless of how Ian Wright felt, but if it was the other way round we would claim Ian wasnt loyal!
Likewise the contract situation, if a player in his 30’s is only offered a 1yr deal and another club is offering him a longer deal, what do expect him to do? considering he’s career is almost over and he needs to secure his future.
Loyalty or lack of loyalty works both ways!
Thats a very jaded view considering Wright stayed with us when we were struggling in the league and bare in mind he was in his mid 30’s when he left. His loyalty was rewarded by breaking the all time scoring record at the time and also winning Premier League a winners medal in his last season. I personally have no problem with players in their 30’s going elsewhere to play when they are surplus to requirement it happens at every team. But the difference is players like Adepaymemore Ashley Cole and Nasri were not surplus to requirement and motives for… Read more »
So basically what your saying Chris is:
Its ok for the club to get rid of players once they are surplus to requirements
but a player on the other hand is disloyal if he decides to go somewhere else where he’ll be paid more??
Double standards mate!
The club cant always have things their own way.
I’d be much happier if our directors and manager just admitted this reality and tried to live within it,
Is that exactly what he said?
Eeerm yeah. Which kind of makes his point, frankly rather strange…..
players get paid their shirt numbers
bendtner asked for 52
and cesc left after being given the number 4 shirt (used to be 15)
why do you think nobody wants almunia’s jersey? and why do you think diaby never plays?
happy to help
[…] extent, half-a-season Nasri. Chairman Pete has come out and blasted players like Nasri for leaving for the cash. Not true I guess, seeing how Fab took a pay-cut to join […]
PHW has always been a bit of a tit hasn’t he?
The key point for me here, is that Arsenal Football Club – like all businesses – has a wage budget. It is a lump sum, with a separate bonus pot, and it is budgeted for each year. Exactly how that budget is spent, and on whom, is then decided by the relevant senior management. In terms of total wage spend, AFC are in the top four spenders in the premier league. Obviously Chelsea and Man City are top two, as they are oil-rich, and then we fare very well, usually quoted as fourth highest wage bill, or thereabouts, behind Man… Read more »
i think the size of our squad accounts for our large spend on wages
and why the Daily Star? Always the Daily Star
Does dicky desmond have a particularly incriminating set of negatives?
It is not greedy to want to maximize your earnings, especially if the source of those earnings is as fleeting as athletic ability. What a bunch of socialistic “tommyrot.” Clubs use players just as much as players us clubs. Welcome to Economics 101.
Thank you.
This idiot seems to forget that, unlike him, players don’t play till they turn 60.
The balance of power is not with the clubs and hasn’t been for years, clubs can only transfer a player when he agrees to it as he has a contract. However to most players a contract means nothing as they will just plant stories in the press and agitate for a move. This often leaves clubs with no choice but to sell, either that or lose the investment made in the player for nothing. I’m amazed you think clubs have that much power, the only protection against player greed is long term contracts in the hope to gain a decent… Read more »
So it’s ok to charge the fans way above the average for watching arsenal but when a top player wants parity with what other clubs are paying it’s greed and disloyal What a total bunch of pricks this board are. Bring arsenal prices down to match those of other clubs and he may have a point. And before some clever sod says we will lose our players then because of lack of funds what the fuck is happening now anyway and we have the funds.
Well said Voldermort!
Absolutely spot on.
Let it go mate. I tried. I failed via thumbs down. This board is pure shit and they’re just as , if not more, greedy than any of the players. Pure hypocrisy is how I see this little PHW gem. The quicker this cunt buggers off the better as far as I’m concerned. We the highest ticket prices , we should should see the highest level of talent (in the home kit that is). I don’t see how that can be argued. Alas, bring on the thumbs down.
Eric Abidal is talking about other clubs wanting him. He is the Barca defender who when diagnosed with cancer last year was embraced and loved by his teammates, management and fans like no other. In fact, Puyol and Xavi let him wear the captain’s armband for the Champions League Final. He raised the trophy. There was crying and hugging and tons of emotion. I was even moved by the display. His contract is up at the end of the year and while “he still loves Barca” he is talking up Milan, City and PSG. Hilarious. Guarrantee his quote was written… Read more »
Of course, he may have discovered that life can be surprisingly short and cancer treatment surprisingly expensive, and may be thinking that he needs to do something to secure his family’s future should his cancer return.
I don’t know his case any better than you, of course, but trying to make a “money grab” isn’t necessarily a greedy or selfish act. Just saying.
These are my thoughts. You may not agree with them. That is your right.
Well I’m not sure what to think really but this is mostly due to the potent real ales on offer here in the sheep-tastic Cotswolds… PHW was simply saying players’ real motivation is money regardless of their contrary protestations. He must be right. What was annoying about Nasti was that he didn’t have the balls to fess and say “I am moving because I want to treble my wages”. Had he done so, perhaps we would have thought differently about him? So, a little late in the string, I’d like to offer a couple of words to support Blogs’ splendid… Read more »
NONSENSE!!! We pay shitty players a lot of money and don’t pay the better players enough, that’s our problem. If you take out incentives (bonuses) paid by Man Utd to their players, their wage bill was pretty much the same us ours but they have arguably a LOT better squad than we do. There’s only Man City and Chelsea who pay astronomically and their squads are full now so what’s stopping Arsenal? Is not like Chelsea have been buying players from us. I’m just sick at the ineptness of this club. We need some youth, vision, and creativity at the… Read more »
Mediocrity has been rewarded far too much, for far too long, so we currently have the squad we deserve in that respect, although some of these players have been shipped out this year. (on loan in some cases exactly because their wages are too high for the clubs that were interested to make the deals permanent).
Key thing is, it’s not the players fault for signing a contract they have been offered by the club (Bendtner on £52k, Denilson, et al) – it is the blinkered and misguided policy of the management.
Or, it’s the management attempt to ensure they have a reason to stay after they have received the training and cachet that goes with being an Arsenal player and start to come to the notice of other, richer teams. Whatever I hear people saying here I try to remember that our board and management are businessmen and have been in the football business a long time. Businessman don;t pay inflated wages for young employees without a reason. How would Arsenal fans feel if all of our most promising young players were being grabbed by our competitors at the age of… Read more »
Nasri
Ashley Cole
Hleb
Anelka
The players we lost who wanted mopr emoney like Nasri, Cole, Adebayor were monstrous cunts and I for one wouldn’t want anyone like that at our club still, regardless of how good they think they are. Bergkamp could of earned whatever he wanted elsewhere but stayed, so there are examples of player loyalty and the amount of time we stuck by other players with personal issues or serious repeated injuries and there’s examples of club loyalty. It can happen, but making excuses for someone who is earning £100k per week and saying it’s ok that they move for £120k per… Read more »