The state at ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB. Hello folks. While still enjoying Arsenal’s weekend win over the spurs – even though we did not play very well – I came across an article on this site on Bacary Sagna’s wage demands and I could not help but join the debate. There are things that need to be said about how Arsenal football club is run and this should not be misinterpreted as not supporting the club. It is ridiculous and utterly stupid that we are quibbling over Bacary Sagna’s contract demands. If we all believe in fairness and rewarding excellence, then there is no argument to be had here. Based purely on performance, has Jack Wilshere performed better than Bacary Sagna? I guess we all unanimously agree that the answer to that is an obvious no. What about Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and the soon to be rewarded Aaron Ramsey? While they do not play the same position as Sagna, will you say they are better players than he is? Are they more consistent than he is? Are they more reliable than he is? No, but they all earn more than he does. Fellow gunners, that is not fair. Bacary Sagna did not get the nickname Mr Consistent for nothing. He has been that good for Arsenal over a period of an astounding seven years. Ramsey had a stellar half season after being a total mess the season before, and rumors of him being rewarded with a massive contract one year after getting a new contract are all over the place. Is it fair? I love Ramsey and Walcott and Wilshere and I think they all deserve their pay raises, but so does Bacary Sagna. In fact based on performance alone, Bacary Sagna deserves that pay raise more than any other Arsenal player. He ticks all the boxes. He is a solid and responsible professional on and off the pitch. Bacary Sagna is not that football player that will make headlines for breaking an opposition player’s leg, smoking, getting drunk or sleeping with some woman that is not his wife. Simply put, Bacary Sagna is a model professional. Should we not be communicating to the world that at Arsenal, professionalism, excellence and loyalty are rewarded? One shouldn’t even be asking that question. What many of you do not know is that Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor were not the only players to be wooed by rival clubs. Bacary Sagna has been sought after by many top clubs over the years but he swiftly turned all of them down. He never flirted with these clubs and never gave us fans the kind of sleepless nights and anxiety that the likes of Cesc and Robin gave us. Bacary stayed loyal to the club and what does he get for his loyalty? Nothing. If I were his wife, I would be mad at him for lacking ambition. The man has been on the same 60k a week salary since he signed seven years ago, while he watched players like Adebayor and Van Persie go on to double if not triple their salaries at other clubs. Now he is watching youngsters like Wilshere, Walcot and Ramsey go above him in earnings and yet, he has been a better performer than all three. If you were Bacary Sagna, how would you feel? Let us stop all this nonsensical talk about him strong arming the club. Our leaders are stingy. Is it money that Arsenal does not have? No. Arsene Wenger earns 7 million pounds a year and Ivan Gazidis earns 2 million pounds a year. For the industry standards, these two guys are overpaid and incidentally, they are the ones who determine our player salaries. Funny isn’t it? The Arsenal management are quick to remind us that they cannot pay Chelsea and Manchester City prices but they have no problems paying themselves those same astronomical prizes for winning nothing in ten years and ripping the fans off while they are at it. Why would this club demand loyalty from Sagna when we cannot show him loyalty? Doesn’t loyalty cut both ways? If we want to be a top team, we have to pay our players well, like top teams do and if it finally comes down to Sagna leaving, why shouldn’t he join another team that appreciates him more than Arsenal? You and I will jump at the chance to double our salaries in another company so I wouldn’t begrudge Sagna for leaving. I will blame our club instead. I believe in fairness. Every gunner in our global gunner family deserves to be treated fairly and that includes the fans and players of our football club. Bacary Sagna might be aging, but he is a unique player in that he can play multiple positions. Here is a guy that is monstrous in the air even for his height. When he loses his pace, he can be shifted to center back without compromising the quality of our defense. This means that Sagna can still play for us for another three or four years, so the age argument is a porous one. So why are we even debating his salary? For years, we were accused of not having leaders and experienced heads in our dressing room and just when we finally started assembling a team that ticks all those boxes, we want to let a player like Sagna leave? Not only is that unfair, it is retarded. Replacing Sagna with a younger player of the same quality and experience who can play the Arsenal way, will cost us even more money and further limit Jenkinson’s development and game time. We need to stop messing around in this club of ours and finally start putting our house in order in every area. God knows that we have waited long enough for the stability we currently enjoy in this 2013/2014 season after years of losing our best players every other summer. Justice is fairness. Have a good week guys.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:13:06 +0000
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