John Evans
For me, the Champions League Final highlighted just how poor a season Arsenal have had. We ended the Premier League campaign a whopping 12 points behind a team that were simply outplayed in every department of the game by a Barcelona side who virtually dominated from start to finish. How poor did they manage to make United look? Was it really that much of a surprise to realise that United currently have a very mediocre side?
I wrote an article on this website some time ago, when there were nine league games remaining. I stated the facts at that time that we had 58 points from 29 matches played and if we maintained our current levels of points taken per game we would end the league campaign with a total of 76 points. I then asked the current playing squad to show us whether they were a bunch of winners or losers by either increasing or decreasing this points per game ratio in the title run-in.
I stated my own pre-conceived opinion and stated with confidence that the points tally next to the word Arsenal would read a lower number than 76 come the end of the season and as sure as eggs are eggs, we ended the season with a tally of 68. We got a total of 10 points from our remaining nine league matches, with a points per game ratio of 1.11. This was down from the earlier season average of 2.00.
So what does all this tell us? The answer is, sadly, nothing we didn’t already know, and herein lies the problem. We haven’t just become a team of losers; we have already been this for some time now, and this is the reason why we clearly need a change of personnel from the top down at our club. We have grown a culture that breeds the very thing we all do not want at our club in recent years. It has all become about simply being in the top four and getting the money rolling in all over again for the next season.
There are two problems with this approach. The first is that if you set this up as the Holy Grail season after season, you will never ever finish any higher than this and there is a fundamental reason for this. As soon as Champions League qualification is in the bag the players feel like they are already on holiday and it shows, not only in their personal performances on the pitch, but also in the results column. The last game Arsenal were competitive in this season was Spurs away. Was this the result of it being an important game for the fans as it is a North London derby? Or was it simply that if we had lost this game fourth spot at the time would not have been the certainty it was after we avoided defeat? As soon as a top four spot was assured we stopped playing in the same way, the tempo went from our game and the results went down the plughole as a result.
The performances against the likes of Villa, Stoke and Fulham were not a surprise as we have got used to this type of performance at the end of the season as it happens every year now. The players feel that their job is done and they all back off. The drive is no longer there and that is because it has been made clear to them what the club’s expectations are at the beginning of the season. This level of expectation is ‘get us back in the Champions League for the new campaign and we’ll make sure your weekly wage reflects this ‘success’.
The second more baffling aspect of this mentality is the simple fact that if you set your sights very low, you then run the real risk of putting in jeopardy the very target you aim for come August every year. The fact that we only aim at being fourth makes it more likely that in the long run we will fail to reach this aim. Next season for example we will come up against the usual suspects United, Chelsea and City who in reality will all be stronger next time around than they were this season and they all ended this campaign above us. I can confidently predict that all three of these teams will finish the season above us in the final standings next time round just as they did this season. That only leaves you with fourth to play for and we will face tough opposition from Spurs and Liverpool for this one final Champions League place. Spurs will run us closer than ever next season, you can be sure of that. They are not in the Champions League and will not concentrate much effort on the Europa League, making it more likely that they will improve in the Premier League. The other obstacle to us finishing fourth does not even have the Europa League to worry about, as Liverpool are not in Europe at all next season.
Bearing these facts in mind and the likelihood of Kenny and Harry splashing a bit more cash during the summer months are any of us confident that we will even finish fourth next season? I am not, and would even go as far as saying I would not be surprised in the slightest if we fail to finish above our North London rivals for the first time in what feels like a lifetime next season. This is not being a doom merchant. It is facing facts as to how far we have been allowed to fall in recent years and I strongly feel we need to wake up and smell the coffee before it is all too late.
Sometimes in life things have to get worse before they can get better and from what I have seen it may well be the case at Arsenal that we need to be dealt the blow of not making the Champions League for real change to occur. The one thing that hurts the club we all follow is a lack of money coming through the bank account so what else can be done to force change? The answer in real terms is nothing. As sure as a few of us might stop renewing season tickets etc, there will always be another mug behind us in the queue to take our place who happens to have a few extra quid for the club to gobble up in some way or another. We can boycott the club’s merchandise outlets but, for the same reason as above, this is futile.
The strange reality of the state we find ourselves in as a club is that you could find some supporters actually wanting the club to suffer the indignity of seeing a lack of Champions League football for a season or two. This situation could then be the point in time where we as a club are forced to change tact and up our ambition levels all over again to try and reach the same heights we used to climb on a fairly regular basis in the past. Obviously some of you will now come back and ask how can you call yourself a fan if you want us to not make the top four? In response, ask yourselves this question. Who is the real fan when all you want to see and accept is simply never going to be good enough to see the club you claim to support win any silverware?
I used to have a season ticket at the old Clock End at Highbury and we used to taunt visiting Chelsea fans with a chant about them not having any silverware. It went to their tune of flying high and we changed the words to ‘silverware, no silverware you still haven’t got no silverware’. How times have changed. The even sadder change that has happened in this same period of time is that the cost of that same season ticket has trebled just at the same time as our aims as a club have been slashed.
In summary we have not improved one jot over the past five seasons. The closest season in terms of points gained compared to the last one was 2006-07 when we ended that campaign on 68 points with a similar goal difference to that of last season. If we do not improve on this next season then the likely outcome will be a season with no Champions League football to come in the following campaign. I personally feel this outcome may not be a bad thing in the long run.
