Chelsea's £150m wage bill has bought them success - Wenger
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Chelsea's £150m wage bill has bought them success: Arsene Wenger says Blues spending is out of control
Just when Chelsea looked to be marching unhindered to their third title in six years, along come Tottenham to remind us, on a day of high drama at White Hart Lane and Old Trafford, of football’s capacity for the gloriously unpredictable.
And few will have enjoyed it more than Arsene Wenger as he prepares his Arsenal ide for their match at Wigan Athletic today, suddenly handed a championship lifeline by the
north London rivals he was cursing, rather than thanking, just a few nights earlier following their own derby defeat.His pleasure will be all the sweeter as he remains a firm opponent of the kind of spending that has taken Chelsea to the top of the table.
In fact, Wenger thinks Chelsea should be stopped from what he sees as buying titles.
The Stamford Bridge club’s newly released accounts reveal that they spent a staggering £142.6million on players salaries last year, the highest sum in English football history.
Out of reach: Wenger says Chelsea spending is exorbitant
It is over £20m more than Manchester United’s playing budget and £40m more than Arsenal’s. ‘What is not normal is not our wages bill, but their wages bill,’ said Wenger, who resents Chelsea being able to continue to splash out more than his club — and United — despite not bringing in the same revenue.
‘That should not be allowed.’ Indeed, the Arsenal manager believes the game’s governing bodies should legislate to prevent Chelsea spending the record sums on wages that could carry them to the Premier League and FA Cup Double.
Chelsea and their fans will be shocked by Wenger’s comments. After all the big spending in the early years of Roman Abramovich’s ownership, the club have been positively frugal by comparison this season as the Russian seeks to rein in the spending.
Only Yuri Zhirkov and Daniel Sturridge arrived this season, at a cost of £23m — just £4m more than United paid for Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan and which does not begin to compare with the £80m Real Madrid forked out for Cristiano Ronaldo alone.
Expenditure: Zhirkov (right) cost £18m
But the belief that English football at the top level is impoverished as a result of the recession is undermined, not just by Manchester City’s spending power but also by Chelsea’s wage bill.
Wenger’s attack on Chelsea and lament for the financial imbalance may have something to do with his frustration at his perception, before yesterday’s new (slim) hope, that his side had fallen short in a trophy campaign for a fifth season in a row. It also had much to do with his chagrin at the authorities failing to act quickly to prevent
what he sees as unfair spending.New UEFA rules have been drawn up aimed at preventing clubs accumulating debt while still spending heavily, which is why Abramovich converted many of his loans to Chelsea into equity and also one reason why Liverpool’s indebted co-owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, are seeking a new buyer.
Recently, however, the big clubs of Europe persuaded the governing body to delay implementing the rules from 2012 to 2015. Wenger turned 60 this season. Time is slipping away for him.
Dredging up defiance after recent setbacks, he insists, however, that his club can
compete on the field with Chelsea and big-spenders United, despite having lost twice to both this season, and even surpass them next season.‘We cannot compete for wages but I believe we can realistically compete on the pitch,’ he added. ‘I’m convinced of that. As well, we can overcome them. We were for a while not investing, maybe because we were building the stadium. But I think now our financial situation is much stronger and that we will be capable of buying the players we need to buy.
‘Not all the top players can go to Chelsea. There are top players Chelsea don’t want to
buy who are still good enough for us.’
New arrival: Chamakh
Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh will be the first Arsenal signing of the summer,
with Wenger admitting that he needs to buy.However, he rebuts criticism from former England manager Glenn Hoddle, a Wenger
devotee, that Arsenal are developing a reputation for being forever a team for the future.Wenger also cites injuries as a crucial factor in his team’s capitulation to Barcelona and Tottenham over the past fortnight.
‘We have played the last 10 years in the Champions League so I don’t call that teams for the future,’ he said. ‘If you go into the final sprint of the season without four or five of your best players, you are going to struggle. If you take Messi and Xavi out of Barcelona when they go into March, I would like to see how they do.’
Wenger does concede that next season will be ‘a decisive year’ for his team, although he says that even another campaign without silverware would not spell disaster for the club.
‘This club have never been in a stronger situation,’ he added. ‘The club have a new stadium, fantastic training facilities, are in a strong financial situation and have a very young team who are playing at the top. What can happen to the club?’
But it could also be a decisive year for Wenger, with both Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov pondering a full takeover.
‘I am like everybody. I act every day like I will stay my whole life here knowing that it
can stop as well,’ he said. ‘It will be the final year of my contract. I will give the maximum I can for this club because, first of all, it’s my nature and I want to do well for the club.‘After, I don’t think the future of this club is linked with me. All the ingredients are here to be very successful and we will be.’
There is in Wenger’s voice a wistfulness that suggests weariness, however, despite all the positive talk he delivers.
More twists like yesterday and a summer of refreshment might help, but with the authorities, especially the market-driven Premier League, unlikely to heed his plea for
financial regulation, could it be that the Frenchman is preparing to give up the unequal struggle of seeking to mix it with the money men he so resents? -
nice dig
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he is just sour.
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i think Wenger wants an idealistic, even playing field for the league, in terms of wages, debts and etc.
Well, it may protects against teams such as portmouth, or even Leeds, not too sure how the big clubs will decide.
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there is no such thing as even playing field in this world, money does talk and talk loud
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i would like to see Hull win the EPL someday :) They can do a chelsea.
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Originally posted by Saltiga:
there is no such thing as even playing field in this world, money does talk and talk loud
well, in states, I think for NBA, they do have a salary cap, and maybe that's something that can be activate here.
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Originally posted by iceFatboy:
well, in states, I think for NBA, they do have a salary cap, and maybe that's something that can be activate here.
not really possible in football imho, NBA is the best basketball league and even when cap the best would still wanna ply their trade against the very best basketball can offer, but in football its alot more difficult as players will have other league to go to and that'll cause the standard of BPL to drop and if you keep the cap higher to attract the better players then its no different from what it is currently
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without money arsenal wont be where they are too.
clubs get relegated because they have no money to attract the good and top players.
the fact chelsea spent more than arsenal dont make arsenal better. unless arsenal can win without spending.
but then which club can win without spending?
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Originally posted by Saltiga:
not really possible in football imho, NBA is the best basketball league and even when cap the best would still wanna ply their trade against the very best basketball can offer, but in football its alot more difficult as players will have other league to go to and that'll cause the standard of BPL to drop and if you keep the cap higher to attract the better players then its no different from what it is currently
hmm. true in some aspects. NBA is the best, but also the highest playing. Similiarily, La Liga is attracting talents but also due to the tax break, whereas in EPL, there is no tax break.
if U don't have talents in EPL, people won't watch, the standards won't improve, but then Ur locals may not get chances in terms of playing,so English national team, even coaches, suffers.Seems all are related. so a chicken, egg thingy.
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Originally posted by dragg:
without money arsenal wont be where they are too.
clubs get relegated because they have no money to attract the good and top players.
the fact chelsea spent more than arsenal dont make arsenal better. unless arsenal can win without spending.
but then which club can win without spending?
true, but i think the key here is the obscene money the rich owners are coming in with, and making it a money game.
Gunners were forced to develop from youth rather than buy established, battle-hardened stars and hence their consistency took a hit whenever their key players injured/suspended. whereas for rich teams, they can slot readily available top players in. hence the disparity.
of course, for gunners, they were shouldering the stadium debts, and hence the prudence. but it seems they are going to flex their muscles in the transfer market soon.