Raskolnikov Enahoro
I am honestly sick and tired of all these so-called Arsenal ‘fans’ complaining about Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is doing a fantastic job and I for one am sick of people questioning him.
I am here to offer a defence of Arsene therefore. For starters, Arsene is not to blame for any of Arsenal’s issues: the Board are the real culprits of the piece. Yes that is correct, hear me out.
Whose decision has it been to play the likes of Diaby, Denilson and Eboue for so long?
Whose decision was it to fail to instruct and coach their team into practicing set-pieces?
Who recruited the likes of Denilson and Bendtner?
Who said they would happily accept second place ‘for the next twenty years’?
That is all quite clearly, the fault of the board! Arsene Wenger, like Rafa Benitez before him, is being unjustly treated. He has had his hands tied financially, and has been doing an outstanding job under difficult and arduous circumstances. The board have not given him the green light to spend any funds on players – and the few scraps he has been given, he has spent very wisely.
Arsene is financially prudent and runs the club with excellent analytical, financial management. As an example, let us use a case study, such as Denilson: signed at a cost of £3.5 million in 2006. Has been at Arsenal, earning wages in excess of £2 million per year, for five years. So, if we multiply his £2 million per year (conservative estimate), and add on his transfer fee of £3.5 million, then Denilson equates to a whopping bargain of £13.5 million! And once Denilson is sold to Real Madrid for £17 million, Arsene’s sound policies will be shown as being excellent.
The same exercise can be used with any of Almunia, Fabianski, Clichy etc.
Arsene has been so financially constrained by the board that he has only been able to offer the likes of Eboue a reported £60k per week, whilst top quality performers like Rosicky have had to make do with a reported weekly wage of only £65k per week.
While clubs like Manchester City (more on them later), have been splashing out on average defenders such as Kompany for £5.5 million, whilst Chelsea signed Ivanovic for £9 million, while Ferguson was signing Evra for £7 million, and Vidic for £7.5 million; Arsene has only been able to spend £10 million on players like Koscielny. Which of the aforementioned players do you feel has the most resale value then?
Arsene once said he would not sign Xabi Alonso as this would have ‘killed’ Denilson. Do people not now finally see the method to Arsene’s ways? Signing Alonso, and then selling him on would have only resulted in Arsenal selling the player for £30 million – the fee Real Madrid paid for Alonso. Meanwhile, Madrid stand to pay a lot more for Denilson!
The problem for Arsene is the presence of cheating, financially doped clubs with rich owners. I am looking especially at Chelski and Citeh here. They are responsible for inflating the market beyond repair. If only there were not managers, only too willing to avariciously use their riches to make a fast big buck on players such as… oh let’s say Adebayor, Toure? If only certain managers would make a stand against such outrageous super-wealthy owners like Abramovich, and not sell them top-class English left-backs, and swap these out for moody Frenchmen… the transfer market runs on supply/demand, and Citeh and Chelski would be unable to inflate the market, without unscrupulous managers using them to make big bucks one minute, and then the very next minute, decrying their scandalous practices as an excuse for failure!
Then look at Arsenal’s outstanding success that is the Youth policy? Our youth policy is the envy of Europe. Look at the sheer number of academy trained goalkeepers that Arsenal have produced over the past fifteen years? Look at the number of quality academy defenders Arsenal have also produced since Wenger arrived. The only questionable defender Arsenal produced in all that time was a dodgy left-back who we had to sling out, since the little runt wanted £60k a week! The cheek! Thankfully, Arsene had a masterplan and the wonderful Gael Clichy was entrusted to replace him instead, while the £60k a week went to Eboue and Walcott instead.
Look at the amount of top class academy strikers our youth policy has also produced then? We even have the luxury situation of being so overloaded with talent, that Wenger, out of the kindness of his tender heart, has allowed Jeremie Aliadiere to be playing reserve team matches ahead of some of the other kids we have waiting for a game! Imagine what class the kids could learn from such a proven top quality player? Especially after all those nice things he said about Arsenal FC when he left, what a classy man.
The one thing I especially like about Wenger, is that nationality does not appear to be a problem whatsoever. Arsene never looks at passports and selects players purely on the criteria of class and quality. Look at the quality, cost and/or wages of players like Squillaci, Chamakh, Koscielny, Silvestre. Look at the return of the prodigal son, Jeremie Aliadiere.
In fact, the youth system is in no shape or form, a veil under which Wenger intends to hide as a short-term means of not spending in the transfer market. It Is a youth system, as youngsters Squillaci, Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann and Silvestre will attest.
I am also sick of people demanding trophies, whilst moaning about the 6.5% ticket increase. What an ungrateful, knee-jerk load of moaning minnies. Six years without trophies? What is this in the long-term? Bermondsey United FC went seventy years without a single trophy. Arsenal FC is not about trophies, the club is so much more than that. And besides, it depends what you call a trophy.
How many other managers in Europe can claim to have won the domestic third place and fourth place Champions League qualification trophies as many times as our dear leader Arsene has? Hmmm? The fans should feel privileged to be paying upwards of £1200 per season to witness some of the finest players the Premier League has to offer. Fans asking for £80 million signings and asking for a defensive coach, discipline and heart should p*** off and go support Barca or Real. Tactics, consideration for the desires of the fans and trophies are not ‘the Arsenal way’! Besides, spending any of that £56 million pre-tax profit, or any of the £41 million made from Kolo and Ade means that we will end up doing a Leeds. Look at what recently happened to Liverpool after they sold a player for £50 million, and then spent £56 million on replacements. They will be playing Championship football next season as a result.
And to all those people calling for Arsene’s head well you never know what you’ve got until it’s gone. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
