Tuesday 4 September 2012

“Arsener has money to spend but there’s a limit,”

Arsenal chairman Peter
Hill-Wood has
admitted the club
“can’t compete” in the
transfer market with
rival Premier League
teams.
However, he insisted
the Gunners could still
challenge for the title
and that manager
Arsene Wenger was
not under pressure
from the board to end
a trophy drought
spanning seven years.
Hill-Wood added he
was “disgusted” by
those fams who
verbally abused French
manager Wenger, in
charge at the London
club since 1996, last
season.
Hill-Wood told
Tuesday’s London
Evening Standard. “We
can’t spend £50 million
on one player.
“At a certain level, we
can’t compete. I don’t
think (Arsenal majority
shareholder) Stan
Kroenke is going to put
the sort of dollars in
that (Roman)
Abramovich or Sheikh
Mansour are putting
into Chelsea or
Manchester City.
“That’s not the way he
thinks clubs should be
run,” Hill-Wood added
of the American sports
entrepreneur
“Luckily, Arsene
understands that. He
got an economics
degree from
Strasbourg University
so he’s certainly no
fool. He knows how a
club should be run.
“That annoys a lot of
people but clubs have
to be sustainable.
We’re not going to go
bankrupt in the way
one or two other well-
known clubs have.”
Hill-Wood cited the
case of Scottish giants
Rangers, now playing
in their country’s
fourth-tier after
entering
administration, as
“something we’ve all
got to guard against”.
“They spent far more
money than they could
afford. We’re ambitious
enough but we’re not
going to end in the
same plight as Rangers.
“That is a fact of life. So
my advice is, don’t get
miserable about it.”
Last season saw
Wenger come under
more pressure than
ever since he took
charge 16 years ago,
with some fans even
heard to chant: “You
don’t know what
you’re doing”.
Hill-Wood said: “What
those fans shouted did
not influence me one
little bit. I was
disgusted to hear them
because Arsene’s been
absolutely outstanding.
He is still outstanding.”
This pre-season saw
Arsenal captain Robin
van Persie become the
latest big name to quit
the club because of
their ‘lack of ambition’
but Hill-Wood said:
“We have a pretty
good chance of
challenging for the
Premiership. I don’t see
why we cannot win it
this year.”

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