Conrad Drykoningen
I now actually want Arsenal to fall out of the top 4 next season, because it’s the only way currently that I can foresee a change of direction by the club.
I wrote an article back in March entitled Time to end this ourselves for which I received some pretty hostile reactions from the AKB camp, who were still convinced the club and AW were very much still on course to win the title this year. However I also received various comments from the AMG camp whom agreed that something needed to be done and agreed with me that their was simply no way we would have the “mental strength” to go and win the title (hardly a Mystic Meg moment on my part, so I am not looking for any credit here). The point is it would appear the vast majority of fans from whichever camp simply do not have the stomach to protest, and I can understand why as we are after all still in the top 4. This is why I now think the only way we can take a step forward is to initially take two steps back.
The board and AW in particular have long since lost sight of what we were supposed to be able to achieve once we had moved to the Grove. The money started to roll in and became priority number one, and once the board had ousted David Dein all obstacles had been removed to this end (I also wrote an article approx 2 years ago stating the need to bring back DD). The most important part of achieving this personal financial bonanza for the select few on the board, was the fact they had, and still have a manager in charge who is on a personal crusade to change the game of football. The one where no money is spent on transfers by rearing only kids and to somehow introduce this new brand of tippy tappy football in the vain belief it would be a resounding success, and then all other clubs would somehow follow his lead. The problem is they have already followed his lead by copying the devastatingly effective pre-2006 team with players like Vieira as the role model, and this model is still much more successful than our tippy tappy don’t shoot s***e football (the Stoke fans were sadly spot on, it is boring).
The upshot for the board members has been the coffers started to fill up, despite the ridiculous wage bill of underachieving players and by not spending in the transfer market. In fact making further money from the player trading account as the cash surplus figure now stands at £110 million. This is why the share price has reached astronomic levels, and has enabled the greedy supposed custodians to line their individual pockets by selling out to Stan Kroenke. Not sure how that made them custodians when they sell up without ever investing a penny of their own money but that’s propaganda for you! In addition they rewarded AW with a £6.5 million annual salary for making them all rich, and not for actually winning anything!
This is why I now want Arsenal to fall out of the top 4 because it is crystal clear to me that money is the only thing this club are now interested in. The sudden loss of circa £40 million from Champions League participation would make the board and in particular Kroenke and Gazidis sit up and hopefully wake them up from their comfortable cosy smug self satisfied stupor, and perhaps make them realize that actual real success on the football pitch is the way to really succeed and ironically probably make them more money by doing so. The only other way is for supporters to not renew season tickets to send the message to the board that we have had enough of paying the extortionate prices with no quality experienced players ever being bought in. The reality is that they will sell out all the season tickets despite the fact a very large proportion of these fans are not happy with AW or how we are being short changed - after the promises made about competing for the best players in the world once we had moved to the Grove. The club know our deep life long love and loyalty to our club is such a strong bond that only a few will not renew their season tickets, and hence they again can get away with not investing properly in our squad as on the face of it we are all happy.
If as we are led to believe Kroenke wants to expand the American and far Eastern markets you first of all need a team that actually wins trophies regularly. There is no coincidence that the worldwide fan base of Manure is approx 300 million compared to our approx 20-30 million. Obviously much more astute marketing of the Manure brand has taken place for years now, including pre-season tours and hence they have a huge head start, but their support will continue to grow faster than ours because everybody wants to be associated with teams that win, and win trophies consistently. When people in these countries hear pronouncements by AW that he would be happy to finish second for the next 20 years (even this has not been achieved for six years now) it’s not going to help sell you replica shirts in far away markets compared to Manure or Barcelona!. This is hardly rocket science but has ironically escaped the notice of our money grabbing board, as they have allowed AW to take our pre-season tour to the football crazy backwater of Austria for circa the last decade.
To bring balance to this article it has to be acknowledged that the move to the Grove was a huge financial undertaking which the board have navigated very successfully on our behalf. Having now reduced the stadium debt to very manageable levels, after having to cope with the world banking crises when the redevelopment project of Highbury was in full swing, which could have been catastrophic for the club. The board steered us through the choppy waters and we are now in an excellent position financially. Unfortunately they have decided to focus on rewarding themselves for this achievement, by cashing in instead of making statements of intent in the transfer market. This is what makes it all the more frustrating for us mere fans though because we have all understood the need for tightening our belts whilst all this was taking place, but now that we are in a position to flex our financial muscle, and have been for approx two years now, we find our manager has so warmed to his pet project that he now probably believes that were he finally to spend money on a world class player or two it would be like admitting to himself his project has failed, and he is simply way too stubborn to admit to that
Which brings me full circle back to why I want us to fall out of the top 4 because I see no other way of ending this scenario. It does go completely against every fibre in my body to even think what I have written, but I do so because I deeply care about the club and the direction AW has taken us which is a dead end cul de sac. I will admit that I simply can’t help but want to see Arsenal win every game next season as always, but herein lies the conundrum because if they finish top 4 again then we will be back to where we are now with all our frustrations just multiplied further because it will then have then been 7 years of bright tomorrows, with an eighth to look forward to!!. No doubt I will be told to f*** off and go away and support the Spuds as per usual by the AKB brigade, but that’s water off a duck’s back to me, as that is the pathetic viewpoint of people who do not have any argument to put forward about why we should continue to stick with AW, and simply highlights that they have lost the argument when resorting to name calling, or ridiculous suggestions that people like me who are Arsenal through and through for 41 years now should somehow change clubs simply because I don’t trust in Arsene.
Most Gooners who read the comments on this website will know my overall views re: AW anyway, as I write using my initials CD, and yes I just want him out. This is because he has demonstrated his inability to motivate players, any tactical nous, woeful defensive coaching, loyalty to overpaid dross players (no point listing them, as we all know whom I am referring to), refusal to plug gaping holes in this team with quality purchases (which we have been able to see for years now, despite us not having more than half a days experience), shameful blaming of refs or pitches for his own shortcomings, talking utter bollocks like “mental strength” and “my best squad ever”, and just generally because he lives in a fantasy world where he doesn’t understand why other teams have the cheek to compete against us physically, when they should just stand still, roll over and admire our wonderful football. The main reason however is his utter contempt for we the actual fans whom were here long before he came to our club, because he thinks he is so superior to us, that he can brainwash all of us into the Arsene Knows Best cult, and any of us who are not sheep with our heads not firmly implanted up his backside are “silly people” as that dinosaur Hill-Wood so succinctly put it.
