GO AHEAD, call him a miser.

Laugh at him for being tight-fisted. Ridicule him for being naive.

Arsene Wenger doesn't care. He just won't spend money on signing marquee names of world football.

'I'm not in the business of buying superstars. I'm in the business of creating superstars,' the Arsenal manager insisted.

'I don't buy success. I make success.'

You can't argue with him; not with a man who boasts a Masters degree in Economics, not with a man who has delivered exactly what he promised.

In his 12 years at Arsenal, Wenger led the Gunners to three Premier League titles and four FA Cups.

Not a bad return from a manager who, according to research last year, found he was the only Premier League manager to have made a profit on transfers.

There are some who pointed to Wenger's hands being supposedly tied due to Arsenal's budget constraints. The north London club reportedly still has a mountain of debt to clear from the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

They are wrong. It's not that Wenger has no money to spend, as his former Arsenal director Keith Edelman insisted. The club allows Wenger to spend ??pounds;30m on a player if he wants to, but the Gunners' boss says he does not need to.

'When we decided to build the stadium I wanted to anticipate the possibility of financial restrictions, so I concentrated on youth,' said Wenger.

'I also felt the best way to create an identity with the way we play football, to get players integrated into our culture, with our beliefs, our values, was to get them as young as possible and to develop them together.

'I felt it would be an interesting experiment to see players grow together with these qualities, and with a love for the club.

'It was an idealistic vision of the world of football.'

That idealistic world has somewhat become a reality.

The names Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Matthieu Flamini, Denilson and Aleksandr Hleb mean nothing to Arsenal fans until they passed through the fatherly hands of Wenger.

As a team, they wowed the world with some of the most beautiful football ever witnessed last season.

Wenger's philosophy has provided Arsenal fans with both delight and frustration.

There is pride among supporters at the club's development of young players, and joy at the football they deliver, but there is also frustration at the lack of trophies.

It doesn't work like this, Wenger's critics weighed in with their disapproval. In this modern era of football, money is everything.

And when you've got the cash, you got to invest and strengthen your squad.

And make your stars happy before another club nicks in with better offers.

Wenger admits: 'It is very important to meet the players' needs inside the club, the way we play, the way we behave, with success on the field and in financial rewards.

'If you can achieve that as a club you can keep them together. I don't feel at our club you have to make any other sacrifice than financial, because all the other aspects are better at our club than anywhere else.'

Leaving success

The financial sacrifice is, however, non-negotiable.

'I believe you need a wage structure,' he explained. 'If you want to be fair with everybody, or try to be as fair as possible, you could make the odd exception but you need a logic in the way you pay your players and in the way you structure the whole wage bill.

'Personally, I don't think it is right to lose ??pounds;100m ($232m) and to play football.

'I feel that the skill of a manager is to do the maximum with the resources he has and try to be successful.

'If you do not balance the books you go bankrupt and die. I could push the club into big debt. I go away with success and the guy who comes after me suffers for five years because he cannot buy a player any more and the club goes down.

'Now, the guy who comes after me has good players he can work with, he has a healthy financial situation, and he has a club in good shape.

'That is part of management as well.'

- Wire Services.

JUST what is inside that sharp footballing mind that makes Arsene Wenger one of the world's best coaches? We examine his coaching and management philosophies - through his own words

ON CLUB VALUES

'I feel if you come into a club as manager, you have to first work out its specific qualities.

'For me, Arsenal are a club which try to respect tradition, style, honesty, fair play.

'A club needs values. If a club has no values, you go nowhere.'

ON TEAM SPIRIT

'You check that every day the team is bonded. You try always to make sure it is integrated. It is never guaranteed, and it is very fragile and vulnerable. It can be upset by exterior factors or interior factors and can disintegrate very easily.

'It is the manager's skill to always assess it and to address the situation when needed.'

ON ASSESSING YOUTH TALENT

'In assessing a player, I'll look for intelligence, motivational level and talent.'

ON HIS YOUTH POLICY

'I felt the best way to create an identity with the way we play football, to get players integrated into our culture, with our beliefs, our values, was to get them as young as possible and to develop them together.

'I felt it would be an interesting experiment to see players grow together with these qualities, and with a love for the club.'

ON WAGE STRUCTURE

'I believe you need a wage structure. If you want to be fair with everybody, or try to be as fair as possible.

'You could make the odd exception but you need a logic in the way you pay your players and in the way you structure the whole wages bill.'

ON SOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

'I feel that the skill of a manager is to do the maximum with the resources he has and try to be successful.

'If you do not balance the books you go bankrupt and die. I could push the club into big debt. I go away with success and the guy who comes after me suffers for five years because he cannot buy a player any more and the club goes down.

'Now, the guy who comes after me has good players he can work with, he has a healthy financial situation, and he has a club in good shape.

'That is part of management as well.'

ON BEING A MANAGER

'As a manager, it is often necessary to suppress your own personal feelings. The feelings of the team must take priority.

'I have become accustomed to not showing my personal feelings. I have made it a habit to always think about the team.'

ON PASSING ON THE KNOWLEDGE

'From generation to generation, you want your philosophy to survive.

'Now that I have been long enough in the job I have had many players who have become managers. You feel that at least you didn't disgust them from doing the job.

'The fact that you had players and gave them a taste to be a manager is always a big satisfaction.'

WENGER'S STRICT STANDARDS

'For Arsene, it is technique over everything. He wants to know what a player's touch, control and vision is like. Without that, they can forget it. It is his No.1 quality. If a player meets that criterion, the manager might ask about his size, weight and pace, but even then he has exacting standards.'

- Arsenal scout Don Howe

WENGER'S BELIEF IN EVOLUTION

'One of his greatest assets is the fact that he recognises the need for a team to evolve. There is not a single survivor at the club from the day he walked through the door and yet this team has been in development from that very moment. It is incredible to think of it that way, but he has been refining it ever since.'

- Former Gunner Nigel Winterburn, who played under Wenger between 1996 and 2000

WENGER'S METICULOUS PLANNING

'Wenger is a meticulous planner and he organises, and takes every training session. More often than not, he is the first man out on the pitches and will be the last off. Every training session is a timed programme. If it is a 15-minute session, it is 15 minutes. Not 16 or 17. It is disciplined and carefully calculated.'

- Winterburn