The Battle of Stamford Bridge

[CrazyHorse]

Bet you didn't dislike him too much before he left for a big club

We are a big club! Cheek! He was ok as an Arsenal player but showed a greedy money grabbing side when he moved.

Massive paradox there GG. If you were a big club he wouldn't have had to move cos you'd have paid him what he wanted. Just sayin' like just sayin'.

[Gooner Girl]

Bet you didn't dislike him too much before he left for a big club

We are a big club! Cheek! He was ok as an Arsenal player but showed a greedy money grabbing side when he moved.

Massive paradox there GG. you were a big club he wouldn't have had to move cos you'd have paid him what he wanted. Just sayin' like just sayin'.

In terms of what we have won throughout the past 100 years or so we are a big club, but unlike the other 'big' clubs we refuse to pay big wages (compared to them, anyway) in some ways I admire the board and Wengers stance on this and in other ways I find it flipping irritating because it does put us at a disadvantage. I'd love to know which players we have missed out on over the years because of our meagre wage structure...

[boltonboris]

Ashley Cole for one

[Armchair Wanderer]

Juan Mata

[Gooner Girl]

Ashley Cole for one

Well on the whole Gael Clicjy was a fairly adequate replacement with a fat better attitude so I'm not quite so devastated about that one!

[boltonboris]

Gael Clichy for another one..

[Debo]

Standard praise for oppositions manager http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... elsea-boss

[thebish]

Ashley Cole for one

Well on the whole Gael Clicjy was a fairly adequate replacement with a fat better attitude so I'm not quite so devastated about that one!

I'd imagine Fibreglass, Clichy, Toure, Henry, Adebayour, Nasri all moved for better money. If they weren't all greedy gits - and loved arsenal - surely they'd have stayed? what was stopping Henry staying f'rinstance?

[bobo the clown]

This parsimony goes way back ..... Peter Reid around 1980 !

Arsenal offered him lower wages than Wolves, although Wolves offered us a lower fee. He went on strike effectively coz he wanted the better cash.

Then injured & .... well, all Bolton fans know the rest.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

In terms of what we have won throughout the past 100 years or so we are a big club

Ooh, have we still got the British Empire? Lots of lovely workers and materials in them there colonies. Let's just hope this balance-of-power thing maintains peace in Europe: as long as we can avoid getting dragged into expensive continental warfare, we'll be set forever.

Anyway, at today's presser Coyle said Mark Davies will be fit, but Joe Riley's a doubt and KD's definitely out.

[Armchair Wanderer]

In terms of what we have won throughout the past 100 years or so we are a big club

Ooh, have we still got the British Empire? Lots of lovely workers and materials in them there colonies. Let's just hope this balance-of-power thing maintains peace in Europe: as long as we can avoid getting dragged into expensive continental warfare, we'll be set forever.

Anyway, at today's presser Coyle said Mark Davies will be fit, but Joe Riley's a doubt and KD's definitely out.

Was just reading about how Arsene Wenger did it at Arsenal, and why he's not still doing it in the Why England Lose book. It's blowing my tiny brain, do you know those authors DSB? Read the book?

[RedStarBelgrade]

Nah,I'll hold to irony.

Anyway,what about Sturridge? .... for the first time in many years,I'm not worried about their strikers (except Torres breaking goal drought,as I said earlier).

so we dismiss both Sturridge & Torres from our concerns and, of course, Drogba's shot nowadays ... or are you still in irony mode R-SB ?

I said strikers,not wing forwards.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Was just reading about how Arsene Wenger did it at Arsenal, and why he's not still doing it in the Why England Lose book. It's blowing my tiny brain, do you know those authors DSB? Read the book?

It's on the to-read list, with a dozen others, but such recommendations help nudge it upward.

Don't know either author personally; I've previously (distance-)worked with Kuper on a feature, but never Szymanski.

[marshall_42]

No need to read it now. THis review covers it well enough.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/au ... imon-kuper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Armchair Wanderer]

No need to read it now. THis review covers it well enough.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/au ... imon-kuper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm a geek but I'd say it's worth a read

There are still plenty of good things in this book. The best chapters are more conventional economics than freakonomics, explaining how and why money flows through the game, including an eye-popping account of how poorly the financial side of the sport is still managed by people with much more money than sense. There are also some fascinating stories...

[thebish]

In terms of what we have won throughout the past 100 years or so we are a big club

Ooh, have we still got the British Empire? Lots of lovely workers and materials in them there colonies. Let's just hope this balance-of-power thing maintains peace in Europe: as long as we can avoid getting dragged into expensive continental warfare, we'll be set forever.

Anyway, at today's presser Coyle said Mark Davies will be fit, but Joe Riley's a doubt and KD's definitely out.

Was just reading about how Arsene Wenger did it at Arsenal, and why he's not still doing it in the Why England Lose book. It's blowing my tiny brain, do you know those authors DSB? Read the book?

and - in a nutshell - why is that?

[Armchair Wanderer]

Spoiler alert

Originally... New-ish owner, wages had been rising (i.e. you're keeping your best players and attracting other quality players), the French national side was doing well so the French players he knew about and brought in were good, plus he monitored the stats, nutrition and stuff like that (it gets a bit vague on the detail of the last bit).

He's doing less well now because wages aren't as high as competitors (it's a selling club), France team not pulling up trees, and everyone does the stat/nutrition thing now.

There's an interesting quote from Tony Adams, putting Arsenal's success more down to the wages/players than the manager.

[Lord Kangana]

What year did we win at Stamford Bridge with a Terry own goal?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

What year did we win at Stamford Bridge with a Terry own goal?

13th December 2003

Us v them results here

Quiz for non-clickers: who scored our other goal that day? Bonus points for naming the home scorer... (not JT)

[thebish]

Spoiler alert

Originally... New-ish owner, wages had been rising (i.e. you're keeping your best players and attracting other quality players), the French national side was doing well so the French players he knew about and brought in were good, plus he monitored the stats, nutrition and stuff like that (it gets a bit vague on the detail of the last bit).

He's doing less well now because wages aren't as high as competitors (it's a selling club), France team not pulling up trees, and everyone does the stat/nutrition thing now.

There's an interesting quote from Tony Adams, putting Arsenal's success more down to the wages/players than the manager.

so - in a slightly smaller nutshell - arsenal's success was really built on high wages??