Peter Le Beau
They say that a sign of madness is doing exactly the same thing and expecting a different outcome. If this is a fair definition, then there are quite a few mad Arsenal supporters around, because it looks to me like the pattern of umpteen transfer windows is about to be repeated, yet to read the Internet many believe we are about to recruit an exotic cocktail of top players like Götze, Hazard, M’Vila and Podolski.
As I write this, the sky has darkened as squadrons of pigs fly past the window. We ought to learn the lessons of history, at least recent history, and accept that, as far as spectacular transfers are concerned, Arsenal fans are very unlikely to see the exciting transfer coup as long as Arsène is at the helm. He has had his moments—the Sol Campbell signing (although that had the fingerprints of David Dein on it), Jose Antonio Reyes (likewise) and the signing of Andre Arshavin three years ago, although that was less a dramatic coup than an interminable saga and one that has ultimately done us very little good.
It was interesting to attend home games in recent weeks. There was a weird sort of euphoria about the place, as if we were ecstatic at having our sights set on fourth place. It struck me that we were turning into Spurs. A few odd performances of quality, interspersed with some implausible defeats, was very much the way Spurs have proceeded over the last twenty years or so. I have Spurs-supporting friends (someone has to) who have never believed they would ever challenge for a title and that their club will only flatter to deceive. It has become ingrained in the DNA of the club. Can mediocrity (or relative mediocrity) become part of your culture? That was a question you only ever asked about Spurs, but if you examine us over the last few years, we seem to be morphing into them. In several of the last years, we stood early in the New Year on the threshold of possible League glory, only to fold under pressure. Last year was the worst example, but in two of the three previous seasons before, the squad failed us when the pressure got to the less experienced and lower-quality players.
When we’ve won titles under Wenger, we’ve come with a terrific sprint in the New Year, in 1998 coming from twelve points back to win the League with two games to spare, and in 2002 clinching a Double after a stupendous run from January onwards. In 2004 we never faltered all season, and the signing of Reyes was the cherry on the cake, as he appeared to be the most exciting talent in Europe.
Recent transfer windows have seen us set our sights more modestly at trying to re-sign the remaining Invincibles for a last great hurrah. Campbell, Lehmann and now Henry are the signings of a great manager who has turned from being a wily operator into a cheapskate.
I wrote earlier in the year about the almost total mismanagement of the last transfer window, and most people seemed to agree. We could already write off any chance of the League title by the time the window closed. So what if we’ve done better since? We’ve beaten only one top side (and that description of Chelsea is extremely generous) and lost to Spurs, City, Liverpool and, of course, were annihilated by a United team that now looks to be pretty mediocre itself. Our spree following that showed just what can be achieved quickly in the transfer market if you have a will to do it. We made some decent transfers and, in Oxlade-Chamberlain, maybe an inspired one, but what we see at Arsenal is the slow decline of a very unambitious club, run by an American sports entrepreneur whose main interest is in the NFL (his team, the Rams, are the worst in the whole of the league) and a Board chaired by the terminally-bumbling Peter Hill-Wood, who I would love to challenge to a game of Arsenal trivia one day.
It pains me to say it, but, over at the cesspit known as White Hart something, we see a more ambitious club who manage to keep their marquee players, who think signing Rafael Van de Vaart represents a great piece of business at £8 million (which it is), and incrementally improve the team and the squad each year. Frankly, and it grieves me to say it, they have become stronger than us for the first time in thirty years, just because they recruit ambitiously. I can’t remember any re-signings of Mike England or Alan Gilzean, either.
This window, Wenger will procrastinate over the need to sign another left-back when we have one who collapses at a breath of wind and another who is out until March. We seem to be looking in Oman for the bargain of the century. This should have been sorted by the start of the window and a good utility defender recruited either on loan or for sensible cash. It’s hard not to feel that Arsène has lost his appetite for wheeler-dealing (if he ever had one) and, now that everyone copies his methods (often more successfully), he can’t reinvent himself.
We never seem to convince our latest departing star that we are as ambitious as the club they are being induced to join. There is, of course, an obvious reason for that. We are a selling club, and the age at which we sell is moving downwards if the price is right. Wilshere says he will never leave the club. You won’t get the chance to make this decision, Jack! If this continues, the club will slip out of the Champions League and slip back into the mediocrity of the early '80s. Don’t forget who was Chairman then!
It is not easy to have great optimism from where I sit. Kroenke needs a cash cow. The prestige of an “EPL” club of Arsenal’s stature will do for him; the Board lacks the sort of ambition that Dein and Fiszman had, and Arsène has lost his mojo. Frankly, it was embarrassing to see him interviewed after the Fulham game. He brought our club into disrepute with his petulance - a club he has done so much to build. I don’t see how it can’t end in tears for him unless the ownership changes and he can be persuaded to shake up his coaching team. Not original suggestions, but it doesn’t make them wrong. At the moment, I can’t see Kroenke selling unless it’s for silly money and, unless he does, I think we might even crave the excitement of playing on Thursday nights on Channel 5.
