Michael Preston
Let us assume that the weaknesses we all see are as well – and painfully – realised and accepted by the football management of AFC as by the contributors to this forum. Let us assume also that the manager really had little choice or direction over the timing of the transfer activity of the summer. Let us concede that we have had more than our share of bad luck this season – Vermaelen (again), Diaby (again), Wilshere and now Sagna, not to speak of Koscielny and Djourou (again).
If there’s one thing you can’t accuse the manager of, it’s lack of intelligence. Despite his apparent obstinacy and commitment to a (to the fans, at least) frustrating policy of parsimony and youth-dependence, it’s clear from the flood of transfer gossip that many attempts were made to bring in new players from other clubs. (Even given the propensity of hacks to invent stories, there’s too much smoke for there to have been no fire). The last-minute Christmas shopping that brought in some useful but make-weight players to fill out the squad was just that. It was not intended to provide the long-term heart and leadership that everyone, the manager included, knows we need.
The manager, for whom I still find it impossible not to have enormous respect, now finds himself in a Blackadder situation. Like the character Baldrick, he has a cunning plan. This is to use the Fabregas/Nasri money to buy a rising star with international recognition and a long career ahead of him around whom the gifted youngsters in the squad can coalesce and whose presence will deter RvP and the other imminent contract-renewal problems from leaving the club. It’s not a bad idea (even if the bigger purses of Chelsea, the Manchesters, and the big Euro clubs will always prove a tough hurdle to overcome when the candidate is a genuine quality player). In fact, it’s an idea to which I suspect every single Arsenal supporter would subscribe wholeheartedly.
Up till now, the difficulty we have had has been to satisfy the financial needs of the clubs with whom we have been dealing, be they Bolton, Lille, Marseille, Dortmund or whoever. Arsène’s frugality has combined with our Fabregas/Nasri-induced vulnerability to leave us few cards in a negotiation. Every club knows both our need and our cash resources.
Now, however, the counter-party clubs are unlikely to be the biggest problem. I suspect we got a glimpse of that with Juan Mata, though the facts will probably never be disclosed. Arsenal’s greatest challenge is to persuade the player(s) that we need to join us. We may be nearing an inversion of the Grouch Marx maxim, in we should never buy a player who wants to join us.
How do we overcome this? I don’t have the answer (I’ve not spent half a day in football management), but I hope the cunning plan has allowed for it. It will take all of Arsène’s charisma and persuasion to attract the players we really need, and he will need some help from the Board and the majority shareholder. This is where the Club has to demonstrate incontrovertibly that the results on the pitch are as important as those in the accounts. Otherwise, our team-building will be dead on arrival.
