Arsenal: UEFA’s Newly Considered Regulations in Favor of Gunners’ Policy

Arsenal’s ruling body and manager received a huge boost for their confidence after the announcement of the UEFA administration that they will work towards accepting new regulations which would restrict the financial freedom of some clubs. By introducing the Financial Fair Play concept, they are hoping to retain the integrity of football.

Among the points being put into consideration were that clubs would be forbidden to repeatedly spend more than their income; a limit would be put on the players’ wages and on transfer fees as well; also the clubs would be expected to fulfill their commitments, whatever they might be, on a timely basis.

UEFA’s new theoretical, for now, regulations would attempt to curb the financial chaos that some clubs are creating by spending a lot more than their income. These are clubs usually owned by very rich people who ignore the actual turnover of the club and take all financial issues in their own capable hands.

Clubs like Manchester City, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and others would have to adapt and are expected to strongly feel the ramifications of this rule.

Arsenal, however, has already embarked on the road of a financially self-sustaining club and it is certainly in a significantly more favorable position than most of its rivals.

Speaking on the Arsenal website, Arsene Wenger shared his thoughts on UEFA’s intentions:

“We can be only stronger, because at the moment we fight with teams who do not respect that [Financial Fair Play],” said Wenger.

“I do not know how much time it will take to get that rule in place, but we will adapt.

“Whether the rule changes or not, it does not influence the way we behave.
It can only influence the way some other clubs behave, who do not live completely within these rules.

“But I believe we will dominate even without a change of rules.”

It is certainly a welcome decision by the Arsenal manager and board. But to really be able to comprehend how teams would be affected by such decision by UEFA, we will need numbers.

How much have the clubs really spend? Is it that much?

In the past years, here’s how much the major players have spent in the transfer market:

Chelsea, under their billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, has spent around £600 million since he took over in 2003. Real Madrid has spent an even more staggering £673 million since 2003.

The two titans rocking the financial world of football are followed by the new member in the club of billionaire-owned football clubs, Manchester City, with the sum of around £185 million (£120 million spending during this year’s summer transfer window and around £65 million more from the previous years).

If you compare that with Arsenal’s measly £60 million since 2004—a sum which still remains unreachable for the majority of clubs out there—you would begin to understand why UEFA is attempting to take such measures.

Since the invasion of billionaire owners began, the world of football has been split into two. On the one side, there are the supporters of—let’s call it—the-brutal-law-of-nature financial policy in which the small one is eaten by the big one; policy signified by the big spending of the clubs, with the help of their billionaires’ unending resources.

On the other side, there are people like Pele and the current UEFA president Michele Platini, who believe that football is much more than a business and have more than once come out with their annoyance and disapproval for the unreasonably big spending of some clubs.

Pele once said for the L'Osservatore Romano, “All I know is that it is not fair or democratic,”

"It is the big one eating the small one. Maybe it is normal, but it is dangerous for football.”

It makes you stop and think, doesn’t it? Where is the whole thing going with this transfer-fee funfair going out of control? To top it, the inflation of money amongst economic crisis certainly doesn’t help those numbers too.

So, in the end, someone has decided to act. UEFA is considering the new rules, and they have made the first steps in keeping the integrity of football in tact.

For some it may be a step backwards, but for others, this could mean the beginning of a long process of reincarnation of football in its purest form.

One thing that cannot be denied is that UEFA’s drive to make the football clubs financially self-sustaining would improve the financial health of football. Eyes can be turned away from foreign desirable players and turned towards the clubs’ own youth divisions.

The rule could help the development of more players from the youth ranks. What better than seeing more world-class players emerging on the field, and not only a handful of great players?

One thing is certain: A change like that can bring the end of the billionaires’ reign in football, and the clubs that have not been bought by ones would benefit the most.

Arsenal: Can Manchester City Result Provide the Wake-Up Call?

Just when you thought Arsenal are on their way to materialize their dream, they are thumped hard on their bottom once again. In a closer encounter than the result suggests, Arsenal lost their second match of this season’s campaign.

Goals were scored by Micah Richards, Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebayor, and Shaun Wright-Phillips for Manchester City, putting the match beyond doubt. A mild consolation was provided for the Gunners, in the form of two goals, by Robin Van Persie and the returning Tomas Rosicky.

Despite the surprisingly positive start of the season, this match further fuelled the doubt s that there are problems yet to be solved in Wenger’s side. What was even more worrying on the day was that the Arsenal manager allowed himself to be tactically outplayed by his counterpart.

His recently discovered 4-3-3 formation seemed worryingly ineffective. While, the reasons for that cannot be fully credited to the fine work of the opposition. It was more than obvious that Arsene would look for domination on the wings, placing the tall and imposing players, Nicklas Bendtner and Abou Diaby, there.

They are not known for their speed, and that was Wenger’s first mistake. Micah Richards outplayed the slower Diaby and neutralized him. On the left side, the Danish striker was also struggling to create chances for his team. Eduardo was left on the bench, when it was obvious that a faster player would do a lot more damage on the wings. Wenger did not see that soon enough.

Another mistake Wenger made, was when he decided to use the team’s most creative player on the right side of the midfield. Why was that needed?

Cesc Fabregas, provided with the right helping hand, can dictate the tempo of the game from midfield. So why place him on the right side and, subsequently, isolate him from the game?

He had a lot less to do there. Alex Song was preoccupied by giving a helping hand to the defence, and Denilson barely had what can be called a decent game.

The midfield looked unimaginative and dull.

Something that could not be said when Andrey Arshavin was playing. Fabregas has the quality to change that, but on that day his strength was not used by Wenger. And that was mistake number two by Wenger.

Now, while a result of 4-1 might indicate a dominating game for the winning side, it was far from that. The two sides were not that far away from each other in terms of quality.

The difference lay in defence.

The recently criticized side of Mark Hughes for their lack of defensive resources may have proved their critics wrong. The partnership at the back between ex-Gunner Kolo Toure and recent purchase Joleon Lescott looked as stable as a rock. They easily neutralized all attacks from the air. On the other side of the field, their colleagues dressed in red and white looked shakier than ever.

The impression of Thomas Vemaelen and William Gallas collaborating well, that they managed to create so far, was stripped of its substantiality after this game. They were too far apart from each other, could not communicate well, and allowed the oppositional attacking players to out jump them far too many times.

As if to not stay behind the lone man restricted by the two posts, Almunia, also had a terrible game. He could have saved half of the four goals that he conceded. The first one would not have even gone in, if it was not for diving Almunia’s back to bounce the rebounded off the post ball inside the net.

But it’s easy to be critical of the goal keeper when the defence has not been playing well. Almunia will share the responsibly of this loss with the rest of the team.

One thing was made certain: Arsenal still have a lot more work to do to materialize their dream. It’s far too early in the season to discount them from the title race, but conceding four goals cannot be called top quality too.

We are asking ourselves the question: what went wrong in Manchester? Is Wenger going to ask himself the same question and benefit from the answer?

Time will tell.