Paul Skinner
Once Nasri has finally been sold and the Fab/Nas media circus comes to a close, where will we be, despite all that I read in the press and on the On-line Gooner, I still believe in Arsene and know that he would have realised he would have lost two of his best three players and that he is virtually back to year zero in his rebuilding plans.
Whether we should sell Nasri or let him run his contract now no longer seems to be an issue. I think maybe Arsene wanted to hang on to him for one more year to provide some quality continuity while the likes Wilshere, Ramsey and Frimpong grow. It is a gamble that Stan and the board want to take as despite the money we will get for Nasri now, it puts in more jeopardy the £25 million dividend of a top four finish and Champions League football.
Whether Arsene will be allowed to identify transfer targets or whether Stan and Ivan will bank the money remains to be seen. Arsene and the policy of building around youth was agreed between Arsene and the board to help pave the way for the building of the new stadium. It is an agreement that most believe suited Arsene as I am sure his dream is to build the club in the direction of Ajax as was and Barcelona as it is now. It is a policy that we know hasn’t yet come to fruition, but he has reached three finals and provided a consistent top four finish which would have been deemed as success in the late 70s early 80s, but Arsene has raised his own bar too high. Redknapp on the other hand has had virtually three seasons at Spurs had pot loads of money spent on his squad, has won nothing, not even reached a final, but is treated like a God for finishing fourth once.
The problem is that we deified Arsene after the success he brought us and thus when things are not going according to plan he is vilified so much, but as Lee Dixon says Arsene is a winner and this failure hurts him as much as it hurts us. So don’t think sacking Arsene will necessarily bring us the success we all crave. The new manager will have to sign up to the same financial plan that Arsene (willingly) did six years ago, there won’t suddenly be £200 million spent on a Ronaldo or a Messi. Having said that we could and bring in a more defensive coach and he could drill the quality that we have and bring in some true soldiers to bore our way to some minor trophies but in this day and age of City, Chelsea and global branding that is as far as that policy will get. I must admit that I cried in 89 after such a long wait for a title and don’t get me wrong Graham was an excellent manager and despite his failings ultimately a good servant for the club, but having seen us win trophies the Arsene way I don’t want us to go back and neither do the TV companies from whom we derive so much revenue.
If you recall when we bought Nasri, Arsene was fighting to hang on to Hleb, it was an either or, either we could hang on to Hleb or have the money to buy Nasri, the way the club has set up it’s finances we couldn’t have both, I think Arsene would rather of had both, but given the choice he had he would have preferred to hang to Hleb as at the time he had more experience and was integrated into the team. Anyhow where is Hleb now? I don’t know, I don’t know whether Flamini is still with AC or whether he played a significant role in last season’s title, but when he first signed he hardly got a game, Adebayor is probably signing for Spurs, how the mighty have fallen. Arsene gets so much from his players and gets some of them to punch above their weight, maybe that is because he pays them slightly more than other clubs would; but probably the reasons are manifold as I am sure that Arsene has more than one string to his bow.
It is constantly said that some of the more senior players like and Song and Rosicky are not good enough, but Arsene talks about only buying when it will improve quality, given the financial strictures set by the club then selling Song and Rosicky will only mean that we could buy back players of comparable quality, unless of course we bought younger players with less experience, the very thing that Arsene is most vilified for, or older players with only a season left in them or else sell two players to buy one and run down the size of our squad further.
The answer then is that for real change you will not only have to force out Arsene, but Stan and the board too, once that was done you could then bring in someone like Usmanov. That will bring us loads of money, as I am sure there are many creative ways you can get round the financial fair play ruling. However this will turn us into another soulless cash rich playground like Chelsea or City, I personally would rather not have that, I am proud of how the club stands, but I am sure there are many who would relish that opportunity. The thing is, like we have the ‘Arsene experiment’ at Arsenal, Chelsea and City are experiments too, Chelsea is supposed to be self financing by now but isn’t, they spent £50m on Torres and won nothing last season. Perhaps by pumping enough money into these clubs they will develop such a large fan base they will become self supporting or maybe the owner’s money or interest will run out first, who knows as I say they are experiments still in their early stages, but whatever happens I want to be sure that my club lasts through my life time and I am not convinced that the Chelsea and City model will be sustainable. It may bring immediate success and it may distort the market so much that it makes it virtually impossible for more prudent clubs to acquire experienced quality players, but will it build foundations that last, that remains to be seen, although I am not ruling that out.
The Friday before Fabregas was sold Arsene was asked in a press conference, “Did he expect any players to be leaving the club today”, his answer was that he “Does not expect anyone to leave the club”, the gentleman of the press then said “Does that mean he is going to keep Fabregas”, Arsene’s answer meant if that is what you want to print that then go ahead knock yourself out, but the truth is Arsene doesn’t expect any player to leave this club, he believes Arsenal is the best club in the world, he turned down Real Madrid to stay with us, he loves the club and works hard for it. Because he tows the company line and doesn’t malign his bosses or runs down his staff in public does that make him arrogant or just professional? I don’t agree with everything he does he is not superhuman and the club is not unimpeachable, we should stand up and complain about ticket price rises without investment in the squad and we should encourage him and Ivan to perhaps pay over the odds for players such as Jagielka one that he himself has identified and that we need so much and we should be asking what all these miscellaneous expenses are on the balance sheet, but Arsene himself is an excellent manager, he has class, dignity and erudition and he is very loyal to this club. If you really want to get rid of Arsene then you will also need a major shake up of the board and the ownership, those who balance the books and assign the transfer and wage budgets. Arsene is just following the policy that he has signed up to with the board and any new coach will also have to sign up to that policy too. We will then see the new manager having to say all the same things in press conferences that Arsene does, but probably with a lot less eloquence.
Reading the submissions to the On-line Gooner I am in the minority and nine times out of the ten the majority is right, but in this I will not be swayed by the majority, I will be keeping faith with Arsene and as he asks I will be showing my love, attending as many games as I can and cheering on Wilshere, Ramsey, Frimpong, Gibbs, Chamberlain, Campbell, Miyaichi, Szczensy, Afobe, Lansbury, Jenkinson, Ebecilio and Miquel as well as the few senior players that we have left as we start another year zero.
