Yes but now he isn't and it's TWENTY years later and he's just signed on for another TWO years. His man-management skills include not upsetting our defenders by pointing out that they have all the defensive ferocity of a cockerpoo in a tutu.

Sorry, Hoy, but this thesis of yours is just pure cheese. We're not holding on to him because its the dignified Arsenal way (which never really existed except in the fantasies of a bunch of men-children who also believe in Biggles). It's got bugger all squared to do with a principled refusal to listen to the sans culottes. It's because Wenger *%^@*** runs the club with Kroenke's permission, Gazidis is a lazy *%^@*** coward, and nobody can do anything about it.

We can but dream of such a joyous event and I for one would pay a lot of money to see his face when it happened.

What would he do do you think? Fiddle with the zip of his puffa? Throw his arms out at the fourth official? What about Bouldy? He would probably carry on chewing and staring grimly through the stand opposite him?

Depends what you mean by resources. The financial clout of clubs is hard to measure. Chelsea for example have "no" debt. Our revenue is way above Tottenham etc.

We were certainly able to compete with United prior to the stadium and should be able to now. Their wealth didn't fireproof them from the impact of Ferguson leaving.

A huge underestimation of United's squad strength. Even discounting Ibra and Bailly because of injuries, there are at least eleven men in their squad who would improve ours - De Gea, Jones, Pogba, Mata, Martial, Young, Rashford, Herrera, Valencia, Fellaini and Matic.

Also I have no problem with them sacking Rioch. It was definitely the right thing to do - I wish they would act with the same decisiveness again. The point was simply that there is no longstanding Arsenal tradition of doing things in a bally old decent way that just respects a chap because Rioch was out on his arse before you could say Lady Nina's bloomers.

Disagree.

Do you think our league position on the last five years truly reflect a job well done considering the squad we have? And looking further than just our final position in the table, do you think the overall quality of our football - offensively and defensively - in these last five years reflect what we should expect from our squad?

How many of these are evidence of United outgunning us financially? Unlike Mbeppe which was always a gigantic pie in the sky piece of willy-waving, we could have probably signed any of them (in the sense that we had the money) with the exception perhaps of Pogba...

Being the stubborn, stupid, selfish, graceless, ungenerous, unimaginative, elitist that he is, he probably wouldn't even notice. Bouldy would already know about it because he is the replacement.

I have said often that I believe we are punching our weight when we finish fourth in the league. Given who we are up against, and their squads, anything higher than that is a bonus. Finishing 5th last years was disappointing, but atypical.

On the quality of football I think we remain one of the best teams to watch in The Premiership, although we have fewer of the golden attacking days than we were once used to. We don't have a great striker like Van Persie or Henry, but in Özil we have a master, and it is no coincidence he is the one Arsenal player wanted by United. Our defensive lapses frustrate, but our weakness in that department is overstated. It may surprise people to know that mostly over the past five seasons our defensive record has not been that far off the eventual champions. Last year admittedly we were a distant 11 goals worse than Chelsea; but in 2016 equal with Leicester; in 2015 just four worse than Chelsea; in 2014 just four worse than City; and in 2013 six goals tighter than United. The defence is not the disaster it is sometimes made out to be.

The table doesn't lie. Tottenham were in our shadow for years under Arsene, unlike any previous period in our modern history. They stepped out of it last season with a cracking team, but it is yet to be seen if they become blinded by the light.

It was done in a dignified way - that was my point. Rioch's reputation was never harmed by the club, which is how it should be.

I don't think United got them on free transfers. I'll leave you to total up their combined value.

I honestly don't know how you can say this or what you even mean by it. It was done with swift brutality and was highly public. Getting sacked is getting sacked, sure you should do it in a professional way but the idea that Arsenal sacked Rioch in a singularly graceful manner is just preposterous, almost infantile in its determination to elevate the chosen object of admiration to a status no other can match.

The only person harming Wenger's reputation is himself by refusing to recognise, as did the great Argentine manager Bielsa with Newell's, that he has nothing left to give and that his time is over.

For all I care they could sack him by having Gunnersaurus deliver the news or flying a plane over the stadium or sending a carrier pigeon. Ideally, of course, he would opt to listen and not sign another contract. He's had plenty of opportunities.

I didn't say they did. I said that it is not a list that suggests a financial blitzkrieg with which we simply could not compete.

Your model is simply too deterministic. Finance is very important but there are other variables.

Can any one shed some light on what happened between Jack and Alexis as they went off on Sunday?

If you look into it I think you will find that Rioch was offered a 3 year contract at Arsenal which he refused to sign until fourteen months into the job. Arsenal continued to employ him although he could have left whenever he felt like it. When he was finally ready to sign the contract he had shown that in some important ways he was not quite the fit Arsenal needed, so they did not take up the option of signing him. There were two sides to the story, but Rioch admitted his communication with the Board was not as good as it should have been. He has never bad-mouthed the club.

He was sacked after a season. End of story.

I agree with that, and believe I have said so, but the money far outweighs the other variables. It is common sense to accept that.

Its a wrap.

Jack clearly doesn't abide by Arsenes knowledge and wisdom as he seemed to be unhappy at Sanchez giving the ball away and spoke to him about it.

Now he's spoken to him about it this problem is going to get worse and worse, he should have ignored it.

I find the notion that we are being outgunned financially extremely humorous when watching Granite Xhakas recent 35 million pound performances

That could be some way down the track ... no room for a natural remedy for hemorrhoids at this moment in time John

I'm happily sitting on the sidelines entranced with the OldMan v Daz marathon .....could go on to eclipse the infamous Wiltord / Ljunberg debate .

You are taking the p**s but that could happen , Wilshere and Sanchez at loggerheads doesn't bode well for the team .

Arsene not having a word with the defenders ... that's another story .... lunacy

There is an element of truth to it though, it doesn't take much analysis to see that the current PL table reflects almost perfectly the financial hierarchy of the league, Sky must be grateful that the Russian and the UAE money came in to two relatively small clubs, otherwise United would be in a league of their own and they could have ended up with a Bundesliga type situation when one team totally dominates outside of once or twice in a decade.

Sadly of course that "external" investment as Wenger would say, has probably cost us a great deal, on and off the field, almost as much as Wenger's inept management (at times) and total disinterest from Stan Kroenke.

Xhaka does look like a waste of £35M though and Mustafi at a similar amount the jury is also out on, that is probably why there was a reshuffle amongst the scouting staff..

I think overall though everyone is just so bored of it all, I do hope that the rumour that there is a clause in Wenger's 2 year deal, whereby he can leave next summer is true, as it does feel like he is holding the club back now, albeit I am not convinced that we can progress much without a change of ownership, at least it would be something different.

Worth putting it in context of transfers at the same time? Batshuashyi to Chelsea £32m; Wijnaldum to Liverpool £25m; Ayew to West Ham £21m; Benteke to Palace £27m; Sissoko to Spurs £30m; Slimani to Leicester £29m and Mikihtaryan to United £27m.

I'd swap our non mobile midfielder for any of those players

Sanchez is off in a few weeks mate.

Jack is quite free to call him a fuckpuffin if he wants

Time for Wilshere to shine. Ramsey is out injured.

Reports suggest we're signing Steven N'Zonzi for around £35m from Sevilla in January. Was he the bloke who looked really good in the Emirates Cup? If it's true (which of course it may not be) I wonder how long it'll take Wenger to make him no better than Xhaka?

That's a lot of money for a 28 year old whose played for stoke, Blackburn and Sevilla.

Penny wise, pound foolish. That is what Wenger has been doing.

He should have gone in hard on the star status players. Pay above the odds when they are young and with higher chances of making it good. Instead, he vacillates on the additional 1-2 million (of a more than 50 million transfer !!!). He loses them to the more decisive buyers, and then moans about it. He then ends up getting players like Xhaka and a few others, on a price that is still expensive. And what does he get? A less than assured player. Players like N'Zonzi could have been bought earlier, at probably a lower price, and with more years to play with the club. Wenger ends up buying "discarded" players, injury prone players, older players, but still at a high price. He used to be able to buy value, but now he thinks he is buying value.

Self fulling prophesy of his, which he either wants to believe is true, or needs to posture that it is true. I think it is the latter.

Way to go Jack (if that is what he is chastising Alexis about). We need more players who cares (like Jack). Our 2 Captains, Per and Kos, are so meek. Kos does not command on the field. Why in the world is he made Captain, when he is so quiet? I put it on Wenger, for failing to be brave about it. Pass the armband to someone who can lead the team. We need more than Jack, on the field, to rile the team on when things are not going well. Ironically, Alexis used to be that man. And ironically, he doesn't seem to care anymore. He will be an asset to the right manager and right team. Wenger and the Arsenal he is coaching, is not the right team for Alexis.

Gooner7, I think Mertesacker was the right choice for club captain but has hardly played since becoming captain. But when he does play, he should be captain as I'd say he's the best candidate for the job. Without checking he must have been captain far more often when standing in for Arteta.

I'd agree Koscielny isn't captaincy material. I think Mustafi is more a captain than him. The issue with Wilshere is that he rarely plays, and according to reports could be leaving anyway.

It is but if we're willing to spend (or lose) £60m to keep a demotivated Sanchez for one season, it doesn't look impossible.

Remember though Bernard we can't financially compete with city, Tottenham and umm Leicester according to some on here.

I've put on half a stone from all the popcorn I've been eating.

Talking of haemorrhoids, haven't you got a grinder that'll work??

One thing that caught my eye and that I had forgotten about the Rioch sacking was that they did it right before the start of the new season.

Which was classy.

I also read up a bit on the Wright dispute - to be honest, I think Rioch was correct to worry about Wrighty much as I love him. Everybody knew that set-up of him being the only scorer wasn't going to win us much more. Rioch did Wenger a massive favour there by starting to tackle that difficult issue. I was also interested that both Bergkamp and a few others were pissed off about the Rioch sacking.

Still think the club did the right think given Wenger's impact but...wait...how long ago was that...oh yeah only 20 m@#$%$f$%&#$% years.

Otherwise known as a gagging clause - I believe Harvey Weinstein also favoured this form of "good management".

Number one at the time of Wenger's appointment was Macarena by Los del Rio. John Major was still Prime Minister. Charles and Diana had been divorced for a month and the OJ Simpson trial began...

Feels like only yesterday and makes you realise how utterly preposterous it is that a noisy minority feel it might be time to call it a day...