Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
if you were tanking the fans of teams in English football who have had it 'easiest' in the last 8 years, ranking Arsenal anywhere in the bottom 95% would be ludicrous
how has it been tough?
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It's relative. It's true they haven't had it tough compared to Portsmouth or Rangers fans and I wouldn't compare them to lower league clubs at all but for a club that got used to being at the top of the heap, they have had a long dry stretch.
7 or 8 years finishing either 1st or 2nd, during which stretch they won 4 FA cups and had 6 finals appearances and now haven't won anything since the FA cup in 2005, mainly because they have kept their budget while Abramovich and the other sugar daddy owners have vaulted past them. They also usually lose their top two players almost every summer against the wishes of their fanbase by insisting their wage structure stay in tact; van Persie, Song, Nasri, Fabregas, Adebayor, Toure, Hleb, Henry, Cole, Vieira, Flamini and many more over the last 7-8 years, while some of them aren't great today they pretty much all exited while they were still very productive and many of them well loved by the fanbase.
They're due to start winning again. They've built their club the right way, on good solid financial footing while clubs like Chelsea and Man City have vaulted past them while running huge losses.
I don't care that much for them but I think they might have their day again in the next few years.