on this day.........

[Bojan KantKick]

That Arsenal side was a thing of beauty. Built by Wenger, plenty of steel, determination and style all rolled into one.


Jens - No nonsense keeper bought for just 1.5m pounds from Dortmund. Bargain.
Cole - Youth team product
Sol - Freebie from Spurs
Keown: No nonsense club stalwart brought back from Everton.
Kolo - Bought for peanuts straight from Africa
Lauren - Bought from Mallorca
Ljungberg - Bought for peanuts from Sweden
Vieria - A gun but recruited from Italy after an indifferent spell there.
Gilberto Silva - Bought from Brazil on peanuts
Pires - Bought from Marseille
Henry - Bought on the cheap from Juve after an indifferent spell and reshaped into a devastating CF by Wenger.
Bergkamp - One of the few already world class players that Wenger bought from Inter who turned out to be an absolute bargain considering he gave 10 years service.
Wiltord - One of the few big money deals in the team at 13 million back in 2000. Was a bit part player but still did very well.



I don't think any modern team, not even Leicester comes close to this team in how little was spent on it (relatively) and how many of the players were developed at the club. He truly was an elite manager back then with revolutionary techniques.


Don't think you can win a title these days building a team like Wenger did with this one.

Good post but Henry wasn't cheap at the time. If anything he was expensive at 11m given that he hadn't really done anything prior to the transfer.

 

[Zidane98]

Good post but Henry wasn't cheap at the time. If anything he was expensive at 11m given that he hadn't really done anything prior to the transfer.

Fair point but still a relative bargain for what he was turned into. Think this is the sort of team that nobody can possibly dislike other than their direct rivals at the time.

 

[glenferry23]

Good post but Henry wasn't cheap at the time. If anything he was expensive at 11m given that he hadn't really done anything prior to the transfer.

Yes he came with a decent enough fee at the time, which at a guess would be the equivalent of say ~£30m now give or take? Maybe more.

There were some question marks at the time given he was drifting a bit as a pacy winger, but Wenger converting him into a striker was a masterstroke.

 

[Zidane98]

Yes he came with a decent enough fee at the time, which at a guess would be the equivalent of say ~£30m now give or take? Maybe more.

There were some question marks at the time given he was drifting a bit as a pacy winger, but Wenger converting him into a striker was a masterstroke.

I guess him & Salah are very similar in how they joined the PL. Not that much fanfare when they joined, relatively modest fees considering the players they would turn into. Henry was obviously more off the pace but then again Serie A was a much better league back then.


Difference was Salah stayed as a winger after signing and with a bit of luck hangs around for the next 3 to 4 years giving us the very best years of his career!!!

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Yes he came with a decent enough fee at the time, which at a guess would be the equivalent of say ~£30m now give or take? Maybe more.

There were some question marks at the time given he was drifting a bit as a pacy winger, but Wenger converting him into a striker was a masterstroke.

It's hard to put a current day figure on it but I'd say it was more than £30m, probably £50-60m. Shearer was £15m a few years earlier and was the best striker in the league. It was an Arsenal record fee paid at the time (Before Wiltord and Jeffers were bought in the following years). In hindsight it was a snip at £11-14m (papers say £11m, transfer market says £14.5m???) but at the time it was a very speculative purchase that proved to be a masterstroke.

I wonder if Wenger would have bought Henry or Arsenal would have been able to afford Henry had they not bent over Real Madrid with Anelka for £22m (bizarrely, transfer market say it was £31m???). The sale of Overmars the following season pretty much funded Jeffers and Wiltord in a far less successful transaction for all parties.

 

[DBAH0]

DBAH0 enjoy.

Ha stupid Optus Sports won't allow me to watch that over here.

I think we had prime Payet right now, we'd be a top 4 team, he was that good in that first season we had with Slav.

 

[Cruyff14]

25 years yesterday since Wenger managed his first game at Arsenal. Crazy.

 

[Zidane98]

25 years yesterday since Wenger managed his first game at Arsenal. Crazy.

His methods were revolutionary at the time. One of the best ever managers despite hanging on too long at the end of his career.

 

[chef]

 

[Cruyff14]

On this day, 19 years ago, a 16-year old Wayne Rooney scored his first goal in the Premier League and ended Arsenal’s 30 game unbeaten streak.

Remember playing my Playstation One in bed on a Sunday morning and hearing on the radio our unbeaten streak had come to an end. It was the first time I remember being sad about a result.

 

[Cruyff14]

2005 - Henry became Arsenal's all time leading scorer with this beauty

 

[Cruyff14]

This day is quite historic for Arsenal it seems lol

8 years since Wilshere did this

 

[Zidane98]

This day is quite historic for Arsenal it seems lol

8 years since Wilshere did this

Incredible he is 30 and now clubless. His Tottenham are s**t chant was pretty funny.

 

[chef]

 

[moomba]

 

[RossFC]

On this day in 1949, a legend was born.

 

[glenferry23]

That volley assist by Silva for the 6th goal (I think it was the 6th) was utterly ridiculous. Unbelievable control of the football. "A seismic day".

 

[RPCB]

Worst end to a season that one. Not only losing it with the last kick of the season but also leading by 7 points with 6 fixtures remaining when United had only dropped 10 points between December 3rd (next league fixture after the 6-1 City defeat) and April 11th. And then it all went **** up. 1-0 defeat to Wigan and 4-4 against Everton (leading 4-2 in the 83rd minute). The last weekend of the season shouldn’t have even mattered.

 

[Bojan KantKick]

 

[SM]

Pretty far into the season for this which is pretty impressive. Would be like if Brentford had gone top over the weekend with a win. I think actually for a while they were keeping pace with that start of ours.

 

[SM]

 

[ADL9798]

On this day 2 days ago:

 

[RossFC]

On this day 2 days ago:

I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

 

[Bojan KantKick]