The Mail Bag
Youth
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There has been some mention made in the mailbag over the last few days about us signing young players and little else. That Sheppard kid from Shelbourne, that kid from Swindon Town and three youth players signing professional contracts. With only 15m to spend on transfers, in a summer supposedly awash with money, you would have to wonder about whether or not the possible stadium deal with Tesco's is putting more of a constraint on our ready cash than we first thought.
Our share of the cost at present on the Tescos deal is an estimated £25M to £30M. Once specific plans or proposals are released the actual figure could well be higher. As the plan or proposal is put into effect, and we start building, the figure could increase again as time goes on. Given how slow the whole process of settling on a plan has been to date, having to put money away until we know exactly what our share of any stadium cost would be could involve the next two or three transfer windows. We could possibly be looking at the paltry transfer fund we have now for some time to come.
Most of us would like to see a transfer kitty of £25M to £30M. Buying proven players with this money could mean increased revenue for higher league finishing, champion's league money, increased gate receipts and merchandising. We could then look at building our own ground. How long though would it take us with this approach to have enough ready cash or even financial muscle with the bank to pay for our own ground. In the mean time, West Ham and Man City get investors and new grounds with which to attract those same proven quality players. How much worth does that enlarged transfer fund have then?
I don't know what the answer is. I'm not happy with how the transfer window has gone to date either. I want to see big-name players come in. But I also want a decent ground for those players to play in. With our finances right now, I can't have both together. Time to make a choice I'm afraid.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Posted 21/06/2007 at 19:28:45
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Asenal fell off their own high standards when Wenger’s cash was cut, but due to their ’safety line’ of class players already there the fall wasn’t that far.
If we ’fall off’ our own ’high’ standard(?)..how long will the safety line of our ’class players’ take to pull us up short??? I dread to think, thin as this ( thin Blue ) line is numbers wise.
And remember, Arsenal are the only club whose position ( consistant CL and in London for catchment ) to require them to keep up with the big boys. We are AT LEAST 5 Yrs off attaining that status and another couple of years off the top 2-3 consistantly to justify it. So whats the rush...Unless you know or need it to be different Billyboy!!...and thats the thrust of mine and a lot of others arguements... LACK OF IMFORMATION!!!
Surely it would be better to build the team up to a point where they could justify moving to a better stadium. Rather than playing in a brand spanking new stadium with the likes of Gary Naysmith and all the young lads. Because I guarantee if we knacker this season up, Arteta and a few others will not be here by the end of it.
It smacks of conspiracy theory I know but it does match what little is coming from the club.
1. Improving the quality of our youth squads to increase our likelihood of homegrown talent in the medium/long term (with the savings on "big transfers" downstream or revenue from selling on young "surplus/fringe" players that hopefuly result)
2. The apparent constraints on our current transfer budget percieved to be due to financing the new stadium.
To my mind, the signing of young players is a positive step, and more to do with positioning the club correctly in the longer term. Its becoming even more important as we see the price of "established" english players spiral. As such it should not be considered in the same breath as major signings to bolster the first team squad. The funds required to buy to amend for previous short sightedness in our youth policy are particularly apparent this year (jagielka and/or Barton at 4-5M+ a piece, when we already had them for next to nothing).
The debate over stadium funding vs player transfers is much more valid - however we as fans are only going to be able to judge that one when the transfer window shuts and we can determine how much we have spent, and whether the team can be considered to have been improved from this year.
Interesting to read in the news that Preston have accepted two offers for Nugent... wil one of them be from us? If so, will history judge it to be worth the money or another waste of our limited resource - given that we’ve got some exciting, CHEAP youngsters (and I mean Vaughan, Anichebe, not Sheppard - yet) genuinely challenging for his place?
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1 Posted 21/06/2007 at 21:12:38
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You would have expected our neighbours over the park to have fallen into a similar trap, if it was not for their American cash cows.
But I won’t lose any sleep over it and, God knows, I wouldn’t expect the club to keep us informed, as that is quite clearly not their way of conducting business, we are afterall, sadly, an afterthought.