Tom Kingsbury
I have many feelings dwelling up inside of me; feelings of anger, resentment, hurt and of shame. Jealousy is also playing quite a high part in my thoughts too. Like many a Gooner, I have witnessed our season nose dive drastically since the shambles of the League Cup final, and have read countless article about the failings of Arsenal and ultimately the failings of Arsene Wenger. But yet I sit here hoping that Wenger is the man to lead us out of this quagmire. I think part of me hates reading things that are anti-Arsenal and anti-Wenger, but this season I’ve found it hard to disagree with these articles. After all, we may not all agree with what is written but the reason it’s written is because we care about our club.
The problem for me – and I hope I’m not the only one here, is that my brain feels completely scrambled at the moment. It’s not just this season, but Arsenal, its ownership, football as both a commodity and in general just seems to have warped into some kind of all consuming beast that is increasingly alienating me from my two passions; Arsenal and football.
I no longer feel as if going to games matters as much as it use to; putting the costs aside for the fan, the big clubs have become obsessed with creating global brands whereby kits change every year, pre-season tours to a different continent are the norm, and with football becoming a ‘family’ sport, it has encouraged fair weather fans to pop up with their usual dire opinions clearly influenced by one of the tabloids. For example, ‘dont get me wrong mate, I love to watch arsenal pass the ball, but they miss something British, know what I mean?’ Yeah f*** off mate and do us all a favour and flush your head and all its useless thoughts down the toilet.
All these elements have helped the passionate fans who really care about the club and have genuinely been brought up on their club feel alienated. It doesn’t matter if I don’t buy a ticket because some schmuck will be next in line to pay the price. Only difference is that same schmuck will end up booing once Arshavin or Diaby misplaces a pass. In moving to Ashburton Grove we have replaced a proper, English ground with some kind of theatre whereby if one isn’t happy with their performance, they can boo their team thus making it harder for the said team/player to perform.
I’m digressing from my point here – I’m caught up in my emotions and taking it out on factors I cannot change. The main point of writing this article is about Wenger. Wenger? Remember him, the man who changed the face of English football with his philosophies and coaching methods, who led a team unbeaten for a season and won countless trophies? No, don’t recall him? Maybe you remember the Wenger who has led us to 6 trophyless seasons, relying on youth recruitment and watching it slowly grow to fruition only to let you down when it really matters. Frustrating isn’t it? Especially as for the last 3 or 4 seasons the team has been so close to winning something, only to bottle it. It seems that when it really matters, simply looking at the current Arsenal players puts them off.
And that’s the silly thing – this season was probably the closest we have come to winning something yet we look as if 4th place will be all we can take from it. We all know the story- we get to February looking strong only for something to happen to knock us off the pace. Eduardo’s injury, Barcelona away (1st time), Birmingham cup final, are all examples of games or scenarios that have squeezed that belief out of the team in recent seasons.
And the reason? One simple word - experience. Or leadership. Maybe character. No hang on it’s Belief. Or perhaps Balls. No its Drive. Ah, definitely Ambition. Whatever you want to call it, its missing. Cesc doesn’t need to be captain to lead this team, he does it through the way he plays. We miss something that’s for sure. And the players have let this club down.
I’ve never been a staunch critic of Wenger and this is why; Arsenal were never a big spending club before we moved, and they aren’t now. The only difference now is Arsenal are still burdened with a debt of nearly £200 million. Hats off to the club for reducing it but the board are obsessed with paying it off and finishing in the top 4. The problem we as fans have is that the board come out and say there is money to spend - how much we don’t know. Wenger however, has invariably come out on several occasions and said we cannot afford a top class player and rightly so. They are usually an experienced leader/player who has won countless trophies and puts his neck on the line for the team. Only problem is he will probably cost a minimum of £25m and be around 27 years of age. We haven’t mentioned a wage, signing on fee, image rights or even the fact the player will either stay for the rest of his life, leave on a free transfer or – better yet, leave for an undisclosed fee so no money is made. See the problem? Arsenal are run as a business first and foremost, and the board won’t take that kind of gamble. Or putting it another way, the club weren’t prepared to stump up 2 or 3 million for Chamakh when next season we could get him for nothing.
Don’t get me wrong, Arsenal and Wenger should be acknowledged and praised for running a club properly, but it’s the same as commending a player who doesn’t dive. Eventually he will get fed up and realise the only thing he is really enriching is his integrity and not his trophy cabinet. The reason I believe in Wenger is that he shoulders a lot of burden from the board. This club is run like a political party and on the face of it, they are never going to come out and say ‘we have no money’ or ‘we can’t afford top players’ as it’s a sign of weakness and ultimately supporters will feel less inclined to part with their money.
The problems have risen from allowing the club to stagnate. David Dein was never properly replaced who had a huge impact on transfers, Gary Lewin’s departure seems to have increased injuries, and no one seems to really question Wenger.
Having said that however, the fans read articles on how we are selling out the stadium, making record profits and so on, yet season after season we are falling short by only an experienced player or two, leaving the fans disgruntled. I accept this and agree with it; until the board and manager sing off the same hymn sheet and tell us what is really going on, conspiracy theory remains the king.
Ultimately Wenger will be remembered for the things he hasn’t won rather than what he has. What worries me most is that the same frailties have been exposed over the last 3 seasons and that this season – more than any other, is one that could have been avoided. Fabregas raised his concerns last summer and I wrote last year how this may have been the impetus Wenger needed to buy in what was needed. He hasn’t acted on this and now Clichy and Nasri may be on their way; if they do, the clearout many expected may not happen.
With servicing debt comes the need to make money. In doing this – as Wenger has done, this has stalled the team into hitting similar heights each year as players (often experienced ones) are replaced with rookies who take time to adapt and settle in. Wenger’s most regrettable mistake of recent seasons may have been in not re-signing Vieira and not convincing Sol Campbell to stay for one more season. Give me those two over Squillaci and Denilson any day.
Don’t get me wrong, the players rather than Wenger have let the club down this season. Arsene maybe was expecting some leaders to develop by now but they haven’t, and in consistently telling the players they are good enough and not highlighting deficiencies he has to an extent encouraged failure. Wenger must go away and do some serious thinking. If he is not the man to lead us on,then he has to be man enough to call it a day. Adebayor recently said Mourinho would never have lost to Birmingham in a cup final; perhaps Wenger needs to readdress his leadership skills.
