Is this an indicator of how big Rafa's job is to catch Utd and co?

[Milan_Milan]

They have debts the size of the Atlantic Ocean.

True, but also the revenue streams to be able to service those debts as well as have money left over (a lot more than we have) for team building. They spent what, £70m? (including eventual Tevez fee), in the summer whilst having to service the debt. Not too bad.

[Pacman]

and Arsenal have the last seasons had to fight very hard to qualify for the CL.

So? Arsenal are also now one of the richest clubs in the world with one of the best young squads in the world that cost them less than 50mil.

[AFII]

It's not about that though is it.

Wenger has proven it can be done you just need to be ****ing good at your job. So AFII living in FM2008 thinking you need 100's of millions to win the league is talking about of his arse.

You can do it the Wenger way IF you are prepared to take a couple of "bad" years without any chance at all to challenge for the title.

Arsenal decided to change their goal for a couple of years so they would be able to challenge Man U in the future. We could do the same, but how many of us are prepared to change our goal from winning the title to a top four place?

[Milan_Milan]

So? Arsenal are also now one of the richest clubs in the world with one of the best young squads in the world that cost them less than 50mil.

You don't know how many 2-3m youngsters Wenger's bought that didn't make it though.

They've bought a lot of young players for relatively big money. It's come off for them but the risk was massive. They risked having no first team ready/good enough players whilst having spent say 50m on 15 young players.

[Pacman]

You can do it the Wenger way IF you are prepared to take a couple of "bad" years without any chance at all to challenge for the title.

Arsenal decided to change their goal for a couple of years so they would be able to challenge Man U in the future. We could do the same, but how many of us are prepared to change our goal from winning the title to a top four place?

You are going off the subject here, the subject was about Moores and the fact that you said under him we would have had no chance of winning the league which I have proved to be bollocks.

[AFII]

You are going off the subject here, the subject was about Moores and the fact that you said under him we would have had no chance of winning the league which I have proved to be bollocks.

Do you really think that we could win the league with a £20m/net transfer budget season after season?

That would probably mean no Torres for example?

[Pacman]

You don't know how many 2-3m youngsters Wenger's bought that didn't make it though.

They've bought a lot of young players for relatively big money. It's come off for them but the risk was massive. They risked having no first team ready/good enough players whilst having spent say 50m on 15 young players.

Every player you sign is a risk though.

The Arsenal board have backed their manager, they trust his judgment and he has delivered time and time again. He has brought young kids in and maybe them into super stars. He has done it with very little money proving that you don't need to spend 20-30mil on players to be serious title contenders.

[Pacman]

Do you really think that we could win the league with a £20m/net transfer budget season after season?

That would probably mean no Torres for example?

Wenger's done it.

[Guest]

You don't know how many 2-3m youngsters Wenger's bought that didn't make it though.

They've bought a lot of young players for relatively big money. It's come off for them but the risk was massive. They risked having no first team ready/good enough players whilst having spent say 50m on 15 young players.

And Wenger was a big student of the english game and culture even before coming here and that bought him a couple of years.

As you said, it was a massive gamble, but instead of spending £ 89m pounds, they spent half of that on the best youngsters around. That's a policy which has been successful.

Rafa has followed the same blueprint but the competition is already fierce.

[Morten_nogamst_Pedersen]

It's not about that though is it.

Wenger has proven it can be done you just need to be ****ing good at your job. So AFII living in FM2008 thinking you need 100's of millions to win the league is talking about of his arse.

But AFII doesn't play FM, CM or anything like that, he reads alot of history.

[Pacman]

And Wenger was a big student of the english game and culture even before coming here and that bought him a couple of years.

As you said, it was a massive gamble, but instead of spending £ 89m pounds, they spent half of that on the best youngsters around. That's a policy which has been successful.

Rafa has followed the same blueprint but the competition is already fierce.

[Imy]

We are light years behind Utd with regards to revenues and years behind Arsenal with regards to youngsters actually pushing for a first team spot. On the whole Rafa has'nt given any of them a real opportunity to prove themselves.

Wenger's kids are all about pace, power and trickery, all are extremely comfortable on the ball - basically they are moulded in to what and how Wenger likes his football. So far we've not seen any of that from Rafa.

Wenger is a special case and no way can he be used as a basis of argument that you can spend peanuts and challenge for the league.

[carlton]

Speaking about money I thought the club hired a new commercial/marketing guy several months ago, apparently he is a local bloke and has lots of experience in Asia etc building brands. Anyone know if he's done anything?

[nebbers]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6ce04264-bc8...0779fd2ac.html

United record gross turnover of £245m to 30th June 2007. Last figure I can find for LFC is about £122m.

They have twice as much money coming in

I know they spend more, but IMO catching United on approximately half their budget is a seriously difficult task. Rafa's done pretty well so far I reckon.

Good point. Out of interest what is profit compared to ours? Turnover figures alone can be misleading.

[sonsofthedesert]

Speaking about money I thought the club hired a new commercial/marketing guy several months ago, apparently he is a local bloke and has lots of experience in Asia etc building brands. Anyone know if he's done anything?

This kind of thing will take time. We wont see much evidence for a year or 2.