David Evans
From when I started watching Arsenal in the early '80s up until now, there has always been a fundamental disconnect between the fans and the people in positions of power at the club and between expectations at board level and expectations of every fan. Arsenal is now, and has always been, a very, very, conservative club. It delights in its reputation as The Arsenal, the Bank of England Club, Marble Halls etc. This invention of tradition was happily encouraged by Old Etonians on the board. There was always a certain degree of contempt from the boardroom for the working class boys on the North Bank. In the truest tradition of the classic English class-system dynamic, the fans were always condescended to. Association Football before Sky and the Premiership was a little bit vulgar. The arrogance from the board level manifested itself in a perverse sense of pride, and any ineffectiveness on the pitch was always tempered by the safety of knowing that at least the club did things “the Arsenal way.”
In the pre-Wenger days, this arrangement was tolerated. The expectations were relatively low because, historically, success was rare. In the '80s, beating Liverpool, United and especially Spurs, and finishing in the top ten, was a “good” season. Compare the elation of winning the Littlewoods Cup in 1987, and what it meant to the fans and the players, with the pathetic performance and behaviour of the players in last year’s final against Birmingham.
The current squad of players has no cultural frame of reference or appreciation for the traditional values of the club or the experience of the fans. When you are used to winning, as we were from 1998 – 2006, this didn’t matter. Our players, and even the manager, are unable to garner enthusiasm for “lesser cups” or even less glamorous fixtures. Amazingly, Wenger has consistently scorned the Worthington and FA Cup, or “chucked” it, like last year’s visit to United. Most of our current players see their relationship with the club as a temporary stop on the gravy train that is modern football. In fact we can’t even give away Almunia, Bendtner and Denilson, as they are on such ludicrously high salaries that are completely out of whack with the quality of the player. Wenger talks about our players being winners, but the reality is that most of them have won nothing, and only care about the Champions League, which is perhaps the hardest of all trophies to win. It is a great irony that the last trophy the club won was an FA Cup won with a most anti-Wenger football performance.
Historically, sheer determination, more than flair, won Arsenal matches and Arsenal had players who would fight. They were often local heroes that the fans could identify with and players who had a great deal of pride, if less skill compared to the modern footballer. A Peter Storey, Steve Williams or Paul Davis tackle was appreciated as much as a Rocastle dribble. We no longer have that type of player, and in a watershed moment our heralded passing game was outpassed by Swansea City.
The trick to on-field success had always been to combine a certain amount of steel with flair. The solidity of the back four and emphasis on defense could be artfully combined with the skills of a Liam Brady, Charlie Nicholas or Anders Limpar or, later, Overmars, Bergkamp, Pires. Remember how Pires and Overmars were criticized by Arsenal fans for avoiding making tackles or “getting stuck in”. This was palatable because Adams, Keown etc. would compensate. There is a reason rival fans called us ‘boring, boring, Arsenal’ as often, let’s be honest, we were. However, we celebrated it, and our most emblematic chant is still ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’. The reality is that many games were won in the '80s and early '90s by playing unattractive football and feeding the ball to Alan Smith and Ian Wright. Our win against Parma was one of the biggest spoiling jobs of all time. Tony Adams’ raised arm even became a part of popular culture.
As we all know, Wenger’s genius (and luck) was to inherit a strong defensive spine and a team drilled under George Graham to appreciate the defensive foundation of success and combine this with some extraordinarily talented attacking players. It was understood that attacking flair was ineffective without a solid defence. Even in the centre of midfield, Vieira and Petit’s partnership in the ’98 double-winning side was crucial for their physical presence and the protection given to an ageing back line. Under Wenger, we have not bought one world-class defender except for Sol Campbell. You could argue for Gallas, but we had to give up the best left-back in English football as part of the deal (even though he is a you know what).
Now we have a powder-puff squad, led by a delusional manager. The much-heralded attractiveness of our football is overstated. Yes, we play some lovely stuff, but often without creating any real danger for the opposition. Fans want trophies and trophies attract new players and give the club recognition, not just in England but - crucially - overseas as the game becomes more and more global. As Wenger told us, “when you eat caviar every day, it’s hard to return to sausages”. The board and the marketing men underestimate the cost of failure on the pitch and tout the season-ticket waiting-list, and we have a chairman who claims that finishing outside the top four is “not a disaster”. If any other senior people at Europe’s top clubs were to say this, it would be sacrilege.
The club’s move to a bigger stadium was billed as an opportunity to bring Arsenal to the top table in European football. The argument was that 60,000-gates would generate income for world-class players and provide the financial platform for domestic and Champions League success. But how many world class players have Arsenal ever bought? Vieira was an unused gangly kid and Henry was an expensive sulker that Juventus made play on the wing. Nobody would touch Overmars because of serious knee injuries, and Fabregas was a kid desperate for first-team action. Arguably, the only established star Arsenal ever bought in recent times was Dennis Bergkamp and even he was considered damaged goods and mocked by the Italians for his introverted personality and aloofness. When Bergkamp and Platt were signed by Bruce Rioch in the summer of ’95, no Arsenal fan could believe it. How un-Arsenal!
So why do Arsenal fans think the culture of the club should now be any different from what it always has been? Why do Arsenal fans think that today’s transfer policy should be any different? What evidence do we as fans have that there is real ambition at the club to win trophies? Even the “we don’t buy superstars, we make them” quote by Wenger means in reality that after they become superstars we sell them. The difference now is a serious lack of quality in the squad as a cycle of untested kids and prospects attempt to settle and develop while we desperately hope that more senior players stick around. There is no leadership on the pitch or elsewhere, as Wenger is the only voice allowed. But again, the club’s stance is not new, and it is behaving as cautiously now as it ever did. Wenger has the perfect argument (correct) about the declining world economic situation and can support his frugality by citing new UEFA requirements for debt etc.
The bottom line is that AFC is a club built to finish in the top six, not the top two, and this has always been the case. Success in the past was often due as much to sheer determination and luck than strategy. The determination has gone, as nobody believes in the Wenger strategy. The thinking was that we are the biggest club, in Europe’s biggest city. But then Chelsea, and now Manchester City, upset the balance further by being able to spend money to achieve success that outstrips any other club’s resources. How ironic that so many former Arsenal personnel are now involved in the higher echelons of Manchester City - David Platt, Brian Marwood and even Patrick Vieira, and on the pitch there’s Adebayor (on loan) Touré, Nasri and Clichy. They are using their Arsenal MBA somewhere where they can actually put it to use. Note, Yaya Touré was at Arsenal’s feeder club Beveren and Wenger declined to sign him after a trial, but took his brother Kolo and Eboué instead.
Why waste any energy worrying about transfers that will never happen? This is the same season that we have had for the last five years. Wenger said in August that a big club doesn’t sell its best players. A week later Fabregas and Nasri were gone. He didn’t replace them in the same way that he didn’t replace Overmars, Petit, Vieira, Touré or Adebayor. Instead, the club pocketed the money and panicked late in the market after the humiliation at Old Trafford, where the club offered refunds to the travelling fans! Can you imagine Barcelona or any other club feeling they should offer refunds. It was a complete admission of failure, and designed to quell a growing mutiny amongst loyal, paying fans. Buying ageing pros such as Benayoun, Arteta, Mertesacker and Park contradicted his prior strategy to the point of raising the question as to whether these were Wenger buys in the first place. You can argue the success or failure of these signings, but nobody believes Arteta is the same level as Fabregas, or Benayoun as Nasri. The time to buy was in July, and really buy, so as to keep the existing quality players and bring in some new talent to energise not just the squad but the fans who pay to watch.
Van Persie will go in the same way that Vieira, Henry and Fabregas did, as will Wilshere unless Wenger leaves first, as he will never admit his strategy is wrong. Again, this should not be a surprise. The club don’t care, as long as we keep turning up every week to pay the most expensive prices in Europe to watch one of the most mediocre squads in Arsenal history. The men in suits who don’t come out of their executive boxes until ten minutes into the second half will also start to think twice. The fan base is alienated and economically marginalised, so AFC have already lost a generation of young fans who are not able to attend the games. Thank God Man City are not in London, or half the boxes would be empty already. After all, how much longer can anyone watch these overpaid, mediocrities before you say “enough”. David Dein, a penny for your thoughts.
