An analysis of Arsenal - The Most Successful Club in England.

"If I have one merit I knew always, I think I have been loyal to this club and committed. I do not say I was always right but I knew always that it was a privilege to be at this club. In many many years, people will look at this period and think that we have put the club on the right track, that we have defended the right values and they will think that together we were not very stupid." - Arsene Wenger

Why are footballers paid? Why do we, as fans, buy a ticket to watch them play? Footballers are playing on the field to entertain us. That's their job. Arsenal football club pays them reasonably high for that job. Still there are players who are not satisfied and want more money and leave Arsenal. Such players, in my opinion, are a disgrace to the sport. Why? You'll get the answer by the end of this article.

I won't mention names but if a player says he's not happy with around £80,000 a week for entertaining a crowd and not contributing to the society in any way, he needs to look at himself, reflect, take a bath, slap himself and wake up from his filthy thoughts. His monthly salary would be £320,000 per month. £3.84million per year. How much do doctors get paid in the UK? Average salary is £100,000 per year. Close to what that unsatisfied footballer earns in about 10 days. Now compare a doctor to that footballer. A doctor is an asset to the society. He contributes to the society. He works for the people. A footballer should look at that and ask himself, "Do I really deserve to earn more than a doctor?"

An average French player not happy with his £55k-per-week salary

That footballer however, leaves the club because he was 'highly underpaid', to earn over £200,000 a week, for entertaining the crowd and doing nothing fruitful for the society. Such players are a disgrace to the sport.

Arsenal football club has a set of values. At Arsenal, if that player says he wants £200,000 a week, he will be asked to pack and go. Does that sound reasonable now? At the time the media was laughing at Arsenal. They said that the manager is stupid for not paying him over £200,000 a week. They said that the manager is stupid for not paying him twice what a doctor earns in a year. Well this is the world we are living in. Despite all the criticism, Arsenal kicked the dirt out of their squad. 

All big clubs are spending lavishly on players' wages, except Arsenal. Arsenal's top paid player earns around £100,000 per week, which makes Arsenal a laughing stock for the media. Even though £100k per week is also a very high salary. All footballers in these big clubs are overpaid. It is more likely to get worse. The lust of trophies is making clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea spend shamelessly on players' wages and set a trend. A disgraceful trend.

In this crazy world, Arsenal maintained a standard. They not only kept the finances under control but also had a very successful run in the Premier League. It can be well summed up by this quote of Gary Neville:

"They've spent £9million net in 10 years and maintained the level of consistency of getting in the Champions League. They've built a football stadium, they're paying off their debt and they're nearly there. If they move up now it will look like one of the most magnificent managerial performances when you look back in history. Half the Arsenal fans are annoyed because they think they should be doing more and should be doing better, but of all the madness and debt that surrounds football, what they have done is absolutely the right thing." - Gary Neville

When you look at all aspects of the game, it is only Arsenal that stands out in England as the most successful club. Arsenal haven't won any trophy since 2005. One reason is that there were some disgraceful players who left the club in lust of cash. That made the squad weaker. Arsenal didn't bow to their lavish demands and still maintained a decent record. They were never out of the Champions League in these 8 years, despite mercenaries leaving the club.

Article written by Mugais Jahangir.  (@mugaisj)
[Video by Adi Manjunath. @FrenchFinesse]

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