It's Preview And Prudence Time At The Grove
Feb 27th, 2009 by 'holic
I still have a nervous twitch when anybody mentions the game at Fulham this season. It seems like we have been waiting an age to exorcise the demons of that particularly horrendous performance, one of the worst of the Wenger years.
Looking back, my tipping of William Gallas to score on Tuesday night was a few days too early. If anybody should want to put that day firmly behind him it is the former skipper. The Gallas of those days though is a different kettle of fish from the defender who has taken the opportunity to work on improving his performances in recent weeks. Another ‘holic pound (or two!) will hopefully not jinx him this time.
One would suppose that Arsene Wenger would not want to change too much from the side that played so well against Roma. Arshavin is surely ready for a second appearance in the red and white. I would suggest that he should be the only change in personnel, although a switch to 4-4-2 could be accommodated by pushing Bendtner up alongside van Persie. Diaby’s miraculous recovery could mean Eboue steps down.
It’s difficult to resist the whole ‘we should win but then again we should have won so many matches against lesser sides this season’ scenario, but I will. Fulham are improved on recent seasons, but should still not be able to resist a side with genuine top-four claims. Another ‘holic pound is going on a 3-0 win to Arsenal. Spring is springing, and so must we!
An End To The ‘We Should Splash The Cash’ Arguments?
I have been meaning for a while to do a piece on the finances of the club, and particularly the Highbury development. The interim results published this week save me the bother of doing a whole bunch of research, and frankly explain the situation more clearly than I could probably have achieved.
In a nutshell, those who have clamoured for the Football Club to spend the pile of cash that has been accumulating in the football side of the business must have been blind to the realities of the property development.
We have known for sometime that the loan to cover the reconstruction of Highbury was due to be repaid on completion of the construction phase. At the planning stage it was thought that a near one hundred percent sale of the properties at the values projected in a buoyant market would bring a healthy surplus to be either re-invested in the next stage of the development, or shared with the football side of the business.
Now we know that the loan will have to be renegotiated, and the financiers can sniff blood. The prudence of keeping cash in the football side of the business may help to alleviate some of the pain of those negotiations. Ringfenced or not, in the current circumstances it looks as though the football side of the business could well help to bail out the property arm that it was intended to benefit from.
The board get a lot of flack for getting things wrong. Dare I say they seem to get the big decisions spot on and they deserve to be congratulated on their financial stewardship in difficult times.
13 Responses to “It's Preview And Prudence Time At The Grove”
1st drink?
A very positive post, ‘holic. 🙂
Well, a cliche of a must-win game is more than overused this season, so… come on you mighty reds.
One of the few Arsenal performances I’m glad to say I missed t’was the visit to Craven Cottage earlier in the season.
The team sheet shouldn’t be too difficult to predict. I dount we’ll part with any of the back five who’ve been doing so well of late. I expect we’ll see Arshavin back into the mix in place of Eboue maybe.
Wenger might see this game as one in which to rest Van Persie, not because the lack isn’t an important one but because he’s shown a lack of willingness to play him too often to prevent any injury troubes popping up again. It’s not unfeasable thinking as we could use Bendtner and Arshavin up front, Nasri and Eboue on the flanks, with a Denilson/Diaby pairing in the center. Then RVP to come on if required. I would obviously prefer Van Persie to start, and Arshavin to come in on the right, taking Eboue’s spot however.
I’m confident too. I’ve held back on my betting of late because we’re just so unpredictable but I might have to take a look at the odds on Arshavin who looked dangerous in his debut against Sunderland.
2nd drink?
Positive attitude…yeah…dats wat we need at the moment…
wenger should play his strongest team from the outset then take off RVP and Nasri as soon as he can to give them the rest they need.
Will Diaby and Den start in the middle? Hope so, as song wont be in the team then! I would think Arsh and Nik would also start but I would like to see more of Vela and also Ramsey.
Just a glass of full-bodied red please, ‘holic.
I would also suggest that we go all out and try and get a goal or two early on. Fulham laid down and died in front of Manure last Wednesday week, and I think we should try and kill them off in similar fashion.
Evening Snail,
Our taste buds are aligned it would seem. You can help me with this wonderful rioja I am sliding down the gullet. Delicious stuff.
I see you’re a connoisseur ‘Holic. I’ve become a huge afficionado of spanish wines in the recent years. It looks like their wine-making skills have progressed inversely to their footballistic ones… Anyway I’ll keep that in mind for the day my life brings me to London. Although I’ll make sure to bring in my luggage some of those palatable nectars one can enjoy on my side of the ocean.
Another deliciously positive post. I share your optimism regarding Fulham, although I would like Song and Diaby to start in the middle. Denilson is becoming such an important player for us it would jeopardize our hopes for the season if he were to get injured. I’m sure no one would have bet on him to have spent more time on the pitch than anyone else at this stage of the season but he’s only 21 and it’s time he gets some rest.
Unfortunately I’m slightly more worried about our financial situation. We’re short 1/3rd of the planned 180 mils revenues from the flats already built (not counting the eventual opt-outs on the sales) and what’s left will take much more time to generate revenue (or at least get us out of the loan) than what was previously estimated (basically end of next year).
All this means that the lean transfer policy will last longer and it probably will take another 3-4 years before we can start buying a few world-class players to balance the team when needed.
I’m 120% confident Arsene can take us to the top with our current team and transfer policy in the next year or two if not this year in the CL. But for this to happen we need to qualify for the CL at the end of the season.
One thing at a time, let’s stick it up Fulham’s arse first.
Water today. Too much German Burgundy-style pinot noir yesterday, not bad but not worth the hangover either.
An interesting read as always. Enjoyed even more with my Chilean red that has been allowed just the right time to breath.
If we play like we did against Roma, and create as many chances then I feel nothing other than a positive result. I hope that the midfield starts with Diaby and Denilson in the middle, with Arshavin and Nasri wide. Play Bendtner and RVP up front. That looks strong for me. Diaby seemed to give the midfield a far better balance on Tuesday night. An early goal to settle the nerves please. Then let’s make it a cricket score.
Interesting reports re the finances this week and I do agree with you re the board getting it right the vast majority of the time. I was not one of those demanding loads of new signings. However, I was someone who questioned where the money was? This was especially as we had reported record turnovers and had recently been confirmed as the 6th wealthiest club in the world. I see the problem with the flats as hopefully only being short term. The report I read basically said that out of 655 units only 60 remained for sale. The others had all been contracted to be sold. The problem was that the buyers were finding it difficult to complete on times because of the current lending situation. Hopefully with recent government investment this will start to ease and it will not be long before all are sold.
One thing I would add is that I do believe that Champions League qualification is vital. I know the quotes out of the club has disagreed with this but I must admit, I beg to differ. If we do not qualify then it will not be the end of the world, but the knock on effects will be vast. That said, I still think 4th or even 3rd is not out of the question.
Keep the faith.
Excelent post. Come on you reds.
At last, somebody reporting the TRUE financial bloggaspect of the club.
Congratulations.
There is a major blog out there that sickens me to my very core, spouting regular bullshine about the finances of the club and how wenger should be spending X millions because we have X millions cash in the bank.
Every time this blog is pushed about these finances and asked to explain the loan repayment of 130M (ish) due spring 2010, they ban you from posting.
One of that blog’s co-bloggers even regulalry posts “f off back to japan wenger” on the comments section when we lose/draw a game.
Apparently they can do and say what they want because they have club level tickets.
Neuvo Goons.
bloggaspect???
lol – weird typo
*aspect
Arshavin to score in a 1-0 win at 27-1 at coral.co.uk, thats where the holic pound should be…but each to his own.