In the Summer of 2005, I was back in England for 2 months. Reading the sports page of The Daily Mail one morning in a coffee shop I noticed an article suggesting that Juventus were making a bid for Patrick Vieira. Here we go again thinks I, nothing to write so it’s time for the 'Vieira is leaving' story. I say to myself, 'Well. of course this time they can’t say its Real Madrid because that was put to bed last year, so lets say its Juve'. I really didn't think anything would come of it.
But the next day I was reading The Times and they were going into quite substantial detail of meeting with officials, so on so forth. I start to think, 'this isn't Paper Talk after all, on top of which, there's no denial from the club and I start to get the picture this is actually a possibility. The rest, as they say, is History. Patrick Vieira was sold to Juventus for just short of around 14 million quid.


Now we can argue that fact PV4 was not on top form at Arsenal for the last 2 seasons and we can wonder about the effect of his leaving has had on the players, but I want to view this from what I think it showed about the intentions of the club:

They say actions speak louder than words and I don’t think there could have been a bigger one. I think what has happened since has further identified those intentions.


We as the fans live for today, we don’t view the game as a business, but the fact of the matter is, football is a business, and that applies today more than ever.


I have 2 friends who are football agents (I won’t name them because everyone will quite rightly abuse them... especially the one who brought Gilberto to ArsenalS attention !), I also have one friend who is an England International. Now I can tell you that when they talk about these things, I listen and seen through their eyes, you realize how much of a business Football has become.


We are moving to a new stadium for business reasons, because the club needs bigger revenues in order to compete in the global market that Football has now become. You only need to see our Managing Director Keith in touch with the fans: Edelman gloating about the cost of tickets at the new ground to tell you he is not thinking about fans loving the club, he’s thinking gate receipts.

We will earn significantly more in revenue. Our gate income will probably be the highest in the world. We will have 60,000 fans and higher-priced tickets - and more premium tickets than any other club in the UK

So back to the sale of our captain. PV4 has written about the events in his book and he was told that the club was 'neutral on this one Patrick'. I think this shows the clubs first thought was - this is good business, 14 million for a guy who is close to 30.


Now this next part is pure theory on my part, I will stress its only my view, but its based on how things work:


I am thinking, though of course it would never be publicly stated, that Arsenal Football Club didn’t think that we could catch Chelsea this season. During that summer, Chelsea made a bid of over 30 million pounds for Gerrard, had bought Arsenal target Sean Wright Phillips, for twice his value, and basically had their Chief Executive boasting (quite correctly as it turns out ) that 'The premiership would be won from a group of 1'.


The Board will have sat down with the manager explaining that for financial reasons they were interested in the deal from Juve and will have asked would we still be able to compete for honours if PV4 was sold. He, of course, would have said he would rather he was at the club but would feel that the current squad with a a couple of additions would certainly be up there. In a nutshell I doubt anybody at the club would ever have contemplated finishing outside the top 4 places for a champions league place when they were looking to sell Patrick Vieira .


We made one signing in the summer, the arrival of Alexander Hleb who I would say at 24 is more of a long term replacement for Bobby Pires. That was it and then its on into the season.


The next big decision time would have been January and the transfer window. I think the purchases at this time show far more of how the club is now thinking.


The facts are that we are unable to compete with Chelsea in the short term. The approach has been to buy young players who can be brought along as a unit so in say 3 years they'll be up there. Walcott is 16, Diaby 19, Adebayor was 22 this week... It's quite clear that Arsenal (while not admitting to it, of course) are going to forgo the Premiership title race for now and build a new side to compete in 3 years time.
Now for us Fans its hard to take, we want it all now, but in truth what are the options ? Man USA have spent to try and close the gap on Chelsea, but its not happened, they have more money than us, and they are not closing the gap, and Man U have to watch the $$$ now. Let us not forget as Gooners we have been spoilt for the last 9 years.


I know it could be argued that if we don’t have a team creating success on the pitch then we won’t have fans in the stadium and of course that is what makes football such a risky business to run, but I do not think the team Arsene Wenger is building will be too far away.


To most fans the move to the new stadium is the start of a new era, but for Wenger and the Board, its been a part of their lives for 4 years now. I know that A.W.'s involvement in the Stadium has been a very active one, even down to asking that the therapeutic baths, been lowered an extra 5 millimetres! I think the Stadium is one of the main reasons he has remained at the club, he is totally committed to the project, his next objective which clearly is a work in progress is to build a side to grace it.


So what's next ?


Of course there is constant talk about Henry and his future, what will he do ?

Thierry is now 28 years old. Other than winning the Champions League, he has done everything at Arsenal and no matter when he leaves he will leave as a Legend. I, for one, feel privileged to have watched him play. I have mentioned this in a previous post, but in the end for Henry it’s about his career and his career also stretches to Nike football boots, and Renault Clio Adverts. If you are a high profile player, that’s where the money is. It's why image rights play such a big part in transfer deals now. And he is telling the truth when he says staying at Arsenal is not about the money. It isn’t, well at least not what wages he is offered. It is about playing at the highest level when you are at the peak of your career. If Arsenal Football Club are not able to convince him that we will be competing for the 'Top Honours' for the next 2-3 years, he will leave, and no Gooner should blame him. He knows the business, he has seen what has happend with PV4, and one day it will be him that the Board are " Neutral" on.
In my heart I hope he stays, but my head says he is likely to be playing in the Nou Camp next season. As a couple of Gooners have mentioned on here, the Club will go on. We've seen players leave before - who would have thought Ian Wright would be passed as top goalscorer for the clulb ? Perhaps in 6 years Walcott will be closing in on Henry’s record, we just don’t know.


If Henry leaves, I think you will see Robin Van Persie (who Dennis Bergkamp thinks could be the best of all the young players) given a try at playing that roll and let’s not forget A.W. has a pretty good eye for taking a winger and turning him into a striker! R.V.P has an eye for goal and this season he has shown what he can do. That goal against Blackburn at Highbury was special. Sadly, as is the story of our season, injury has restricted his chances. If we get a big fee for Henry then perhaps as some of the Gooners mentioned yesteday, We may go for Torres, I think that will be dependent on what funds are available to be used for transfers.


Ashley Cole is another that they say could be leaving in the summer. Again its possible, the Chelsea saga did not go down well upstairs and it is rumoured that the Board would not be adverse to a sale. I think Gael Clichy has the makings of a world class player, but Cole is the best left back in the world and you can see how we have missed him. Sadly Clichey would have had a chance to prove his worth, but of course he is also out injured. I would find it hard to believe though that both players would leave in the summer, but as someone once said football is a funny old game!


The key for the club right now is to get into the Champions league, and that is not going to be easy, but its still not beyond us.


This season has been strange, yes. By Arsenal standards its bad, but in most cases you can point to why its happened, its not like some clubs who have spent millions and still can’t get it right, look at the poor old Toon.


No club would be able to cope with the injuries we have had this season, I have not done any stats but I would love to see how many times in the entire season has Wenger been able to field his first choice 11. Add to that senior players losing form, a lack of goals from Freddie and Bobby, and the problems are there for all to see.


I asked yesterday who other Gooners think we should sign in the Summer, and where they think we need to strengthen? A number of you say we need a strong midfielder, I think that’s what Wenger bought Diaby to be, but Ya Ya Toure was one that came up a few times, problem on that could be the fee if he has a good World Cup he will be out of our price range. Another was Javier Mascherano, Again a class young player, but i think he will go to Spain, but I agree he would be some addition. You can check others mentioned here And thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it.


I am basing my view on the fact that I know we don’t have much money to spend, unless of course Barcalona are getting the cheque book out !

I am not as pessimistic as some Gooners, I think the plus points to come out of this season is that the youngsters have had a chance to grow and will be better next season, Senderos has had some tough times, but I think you will see him develop into a quality center half. With that in mind and the current financial situation of the club, I don’t think we will see any major signings, World Cups always put the Prices of players up, and I don't think at the moment we are in a position to splash the cash, infact I think its one reason we bought in January.Saying that we will probably sign some kids, of course, that I have never heard of.


So thats my views on how we stand and where we are going, based on a little bit of knowledge of how others operate in the game we love. As always I would love to hear what other Gooners think. hit the Comment button and give your opinions.


Dave The Gooner.