Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Friday September 28 2007
Time: 10:39AM
UK time is: 03:20:37
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Wenger Echo's Fan's Concerns
Arsene Wenger has echoed the concerns of Arsenal fans regarding the influx of business men into English football purely to make money.
Arsenal Football Club, it's board and it's supporters are currently locked in a battle with Alisher Usmanov and his company, Red & White Holdings over ownership of the club.
Usmanov is determined to swipe as many shares as possible in the hope of gaining a 'blocking stake' and then sitting on his shares till the price rises and then, I assume, selling them on to who ever will play the highest price with no concern to the future of the club.
Arsenal gaffer Arsene Wenger has voiced his concerns that English football is losing it's soul to these business men along with blanket coverage we are finding on our tv's.
'English football is losing his soul,' Wenger told France Football. 'Fans are the keeper of our football. But the first signs of danger are there to see. Stadiums are starting to empty, TV channels and radio stations are overcrowded with football.
'There is a kind of overdose looming.'
'Suddenly the English model has gone from owner-supporters to owner-businessman.
'The danger wasn't there yesterday but it's there today. Of course you can have business integrated into the sport while still respecting the values of football.
'However perhaps it is time for people to worry.'
No doubt we will have rival fans coming here questioning Wenger and his policies, many pointing the finger of blame at the Frenchman for the inadequacies of the English game, but before they speak they must think about this.......
Arsenal Football Club is the only club out of the 'big four' that is still 'English owned'. And despite only a nominal amount of English players, Arsenal's stadium is never empty and contributes weekly to heart and soul of the English game.
_______
Note to ANY football fans reading this page; Please sign the petition linked. This not only aims to address the issues of ownership of Arsenal Football Club, but football clubs across the nation. It is in everyone's best interest that we stop the influx of people buying club with the sole interest of profit.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Oligarchs/
Thank you.
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Your Comments
Arsene is right. 'Investors' have followed the rapid influx of money into football in the same way that flies will follow a cow's arse. At some point this growth will flatten and even decline. Without growth the money men will depart to follow the next cash 'cow' offering them the best return on their investment. For that reason what happens in the short term will shape the clubs and footballs long term future.
Amos.
AW the ultimate gooner
korodon
you can go back to Sky for the change in our game. whilst i think they do a superb job on coverage, and supply and demand is there, the moving of games is becoming a joke. where are all the saturday 3pm kick offs nowadays ? that is tradition, no one likes the 5:15pm and the 12 noons are difficult depending on how far you have to travel. and don't get me on sundays. whats wrong with the monday night football ? seems very rare today to see a game monday night.
alas football is more of a business today that ever, and the successful teams will always being results, problem is now, people are looking at the next team to takeover, like portsmouth, villa, birmingham, man city to turn then into a big power and gain success that way, smaller investment larger return. but that doesn't always happen, we can look and leeds and blackburn as prime examples. don't see many making bids for spurs though !
PUREGOLD
I wonder how if AW and Dein are still good friends. Seems like they have some ideological differences!
afri-gooner
Best thing is, Arsene is a living example of what he preaches. DD said we need a big investor to remain competitive, and AW proves that we don't, and that the astute eye and brilliant manager are all AFC needs. I love this club, and love seeing us above all the big spending silvertails, including the scum!
darinb007
In situations like these (infact almost all!) Arsene Wenger is always the man in the right. this is no different. It really makes me pleased to hear him standing up for, not just our wonderful club, but English football as a whole. And i completely agree, that we need to act quickly before english football really does loose its soul.
ArsenalRob
I think it's very telling that a lot of the noises Wenger is making at the moment seem to juxtapose Dein's Arsenal need loadsa money theory (which can roghly be translated into, I am a greedy **** and I need money and power theory). I'd say Dein is letting Wenger down as a friend, he has totally and utterly let us down as supporters and if he has any dignity, he'll beugger off now and take Kroenke and Usmanov with him. But the bottom line is, Dein is a ****, so he won't.
Little Dutch
why was Dein's decision to leave a problem again? How quickly things change... One minute we're in crisis because he goes, now we're in crisis because he comes (or so they would have us believe)!
afri-gooner
Firstly there is no crisis. There is a threat to the club which is not of crisis proportions but risks the stability we have built up. To preserve this stability means suporters should voice their opinions for and against those preaching a doctrine that requires us to abandon the structure that has brought us to where we are today in favour of some as yet unspecified need requiring 'millions of investment'. Dein was the author of his own dismissal. His ego won't let him concede this so he feels compelled to threaten the clubs stability and regain what he believes is his rightful place in the club sacrificing friends and colleagues with impunity on his own alter of self justification.
Amos.
Wenger talks some Sh!t sometimes, but he's probably right about this - unless sometime is done soon.
Yid Singer
Singer (Cant bring myself to say the y word as Im jewish) The only time Wenger has "Talks some ****" as you put it, Is when he comes out with the fact that the spuds are not a bad side!!
vavavoom14
haan haan maa chod dou randi kee
DONQ
What does "English owned" has to do with anything ? You have foreign players, foreign staff, foreign manager, but you can't have a foreign owner?
k_chelski
exactly, k_chelski. its alright for wenger to buy anyone but an englishman, but when someone even suggests a foreign owner, you're up in arms. double standards, me thinks
daspecial1
Buying quality English players that are at the same level as a Fabregas, Toure or Clichey (if they even exist) means spending ten to twenty times as much. That's not good business sense any way you slice it. But we've been over this before.
I disagree with Wenger about the over saturation of football on TV though. Frankly I find it alarming that a lot of Arsenal games haven't been available to watch on TV. Even Tottenham vs Arsenal wasn't on the air in the UK, which to me is just ridiculous. There's only so many fans that can get to a stadium, and only so much the average fan can afford to pay to attend one, so if every game for every team could be shown on TV, I really don't see the harm. The real fans who have the means will attend the games anyway, because that'll always be the best way to watch your team.
Shinobi
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