What should Arsenal's priorities be?

This question is primarily directed towards the fellow Arsenal fans on the boards but is open for other 'neutral' opinions. What should Arsenal's priorities be next season - winning the CL or winning a domestic trophy? Wenger has defended his lack of trophies over the last 6 years by his 'success' of consistently qualifying for the CL. The problem is in recent years we have not been very competitive in the CL - over the last two years we have been knocked out by Barcelona early and didn't even qualify for the last 16 top of our group last year! Our poor international record was only mirrored by our domestic performance last season and instead of instantly qualifying for the CL coming 2nd or 3rd we now have to play the CL qualifying matches having finished 4th!

Now I know the CL equals big money for the club and has brought a certain amount of expectation that we will at least qualify for the CL each year even if we don't win it. But having spent the last 6 years trophiless should our ambitions and priorities be more modest? Should the Carling Cup or FA trophy be our priority? Should we first get back to winning ways before setting our sights on the richest prizes of the Premier League or CL? Is competing on 4 fronts wise? Should we not concentrate on doing well in the PL and maybe the FA or Carling and just let whatever happens happen as far as the CL is concerned? Too often in the past we have started well but capitulated and finished miserably. Last season was so disappointing for this reason. We need to sort out our consistency issues if we are to win anything!

I think they should make sure that they challenege for all trophies. That is all you could ask. Prioritising starts to take the focus off other trophies which they may have a better chance of winning.

Arsenal have the squad to compete on all fronts, but in terms of priorities should it come to that, I'd say Wenger should focus on domestic silverware, in any form.

He needs to add a little back bone to his side as has been much said elsewhere. Gary Cahill and Scott Parker would be two great signings for Arsenal in my book.

They can't keep scratching the surface and coming up short again. I agree with funny, the squad needs a couple of hardened Premier League proven performers and if they can attain that they have a mighty chance of silverware but it has to happen now.

They will always be easy on the eye and they can continue to do so with a couple, if not more, steely players in their ranks. They don't have to change their philosophy completely.

Wenger only has to look back to his previous championship winning sides to find the blueprint. With every Pires you had a Vieria, with every Ljunberg you had a Gilberto, with every Overmars you had a Petit, with every Toure you had a Campbell....Beasts to compliment the beauty.

I feel this current Arsenal team is too soft centered but then we all know that so why Wenger continues with his obvious stubbornness to spend the money that is reportedly available to him I don't know. Is he trying to be overly clever?

I can't see where he goes if they remain potless come may?

Silly question really qualifying for the champions league is of paramount importance to those around the top 4...

Who cares if they win the carling cup it's a worthless trophy these days.

They need to spend some big money on a goalkeeper, a dominanting centre half , a tough tackling holding midfielder & perhaps dig out a promising young striker to partner RVP.

Since the legendary back 5 retired Wenger has struggled to sort out his defence other than Sol Campbell who fell into his lap he hasn't been able to replace that.

Priority is to be competitive to the end. Yes it is disappointing to not have won anything in recent years but I think what hurts the most is we are not even been close.

Runner up spot in 2 Carling Cup finals and Champions league is all we have to show for recent times. But with the stadium and our standing in English and European football we should at least be reaching the latter stages of all competitions as well as being nearer to the top team in the league come the end of the season.

If the balance is not addressed soon, Arsenal could soon turn in to what Liverpool have become, a big club living off memories.

As an Arsenal fan, and a very disillusioned football fan who believes that the game has been ruined by the chequebook, I'm just happy that Arsenal play the style of football they do and at the level they do, this constant pressure to win a trophy is completely unecessary.
Wenger could follow suit and spent £100m and he might win a trophy, for my money it doesn't make Arsenal a better football club, in fact it merely drags them down to levels of other clubs who have needed the foreign billions to be competitive.
Any mug can buy a club, get his chequebook out, devalue over 100 years of history and tradition and win a few trophies, the bigger problem is the plastic fans who celebrate these wins and the constant cries from fans without similar financial support/income streams who demand their club spend tens of millions they don't have and risk bankruptcy just so they can stand in the pub and say they support a successful side.
These fans should take a look at where the likes of Sheff Wed and Charlton currently play football and take a look at what's happened at Portsmouth over the past year or two....

Grizzly wrote:As an Arsenal fan, and a very disillusioned football fan who believes that the game has been ruined by the chequebook, I'm just happy that Arsenal play the style of football they do and at the level they do, this constant pressure to win a trophy is completely unecessary.
Wenger could follow suit and spent £100m and he might win a trophy, for my money it doesn't make Arsenal a better football club, in fact it merely drags them down to levels of other clubs who have needed the foreign billions to be competitive.
Any mug can buy a club, get his chequebook out, devalue over 100 years of history and tradition and win a few trophies, the bigger problem is the plastic fans who celebrate these wins and the constant cries from fans without similar financial support/income streams who demand their club spend tens of millions they don't have and risk bankruptcy just so they can stand in the pub and say they support a successful side.
These fans should take a look at where the likes of Sheff Wed and Charlton currently play football and take a look at what's happened at Portsmouth over the past year or two....

Like the Arsenal side of the 30s.

It's sad to say but it's true. Football is a business and money talks. There's plenty of fans who slag off my club (Chelsea), but they also say that they wouldn't complain if it was there club.

Grizzly wrote:As an Arsenal fan, and a very disillusioned football fan who believes that the game has been ruined by the chequebook, I'm just happy that Arsenal play the style of football they do and at the level they do, this constant pressure to win a trophy is completely unecessary.
Wenger could follow suit and spent £100m and he might win a trophy, for my money it doesn't make Arsenal a better football club, in fact it merely drags them down to levels of other clubs who have needed the foreign billions to be competitive.
Any mug can buy a club, get his chequebook out, devalue over 100 years of history and tradition and win a few trophies, the bigger problem is the plastic fans who celebrate these wins and the constant cries from fans without similar financial support/income streams who demand their club spend tens of millions they don't have and risk bankruptcy just so they can stand in the pub and say they support a successful side.
These fans should take a look at where the likes of Sheff Wed and Charlton currently play football and take a look at what's happened at Portsmouth over the past year or two....

top post, couldn't sgree more

M2M - I have a number of friends who are Chelsea fans, many of whom share my views.
As for the Arsenal side of the 30s I don't recall seeing that Arsenal broke too many transfer records and of course football was amateur in them days and a maximum wage was paid, so the comparison doesn't stack up for me.
Not forgetting of course that Arsenal haven't changed ownership

Yes there was maximum wage and all that in place but they still paid players more and flashed the cash to get the best players at the time.

'but they still paid players more and flashed the cash to get the best players at the time.'

How could they pay 'more' than the limit ?
As an NFL fan you know that a salary structure/cap creates a level playing field, something football no longer has.

What I mean is there was a maximum wage but obviously not everybody got paid dead on the amount, but Arsenal paid players more than any other club, i.e. total squad wage bill.

I'm all for a salary cap but we will never see one in football ever again.