DW Thomas
The word that keeps coming back to my mind is farcical. And depressing. How about anger? Yeah, that too. Disappointment. Disillusioned. I could go on, for a long time. I just can’t be seeing the same thing happen again, a year after we lost Cesc, can I? I talk a lot about the seasons past as Groundhog Day. Well, now, so are our transfers. And the club just doesn’t seem to care. Making profits is goal #1in the kingdom of Arsenal. These are two recent quotes from the manager, the king himself, Arsene Wenger.
First: “We have not bought the players to replace van Persie, but to strengthen our squad with the thinking van Persie will stay. That’s still my mind at the moment.” Let that sink in. To bolster the squad with RVP.
Then, after United get their man: “It's sad to lose a player of his quality. He had only one year left on his contract so we didn't have the choice.” When asked who he planned to replace the departing Dutchman with, he added: “We already signed [Lukas] Podolski and [Olivier] Giroud.”
Didn’t have the choice? You sure as s**t did. Of course, it doesn’t make sense for profitability to keep him and force him to see out his contract. But, it would send a definite message. I don’t care as much about Van Persie leaving as I do about the message it sends loud and clear to other clubs and the fans. We are feeders and can’t keep our best players. He is/was arguably our only top world class player. And we sold him, again. This time to a rival with a glorious past who lost the title last year only on the last day by goal differential. When is the last time Arsenal came that close to winning the league? Not since 2004. And we wonder why we were 19 points behind?
Wenger’s words I can no longer trust. It is all smoke and mirrors. Sure, I agree we showed some intent with the summer signings. Or might that simply be for the illusion that we will compete? To insure the fans go on buying season tickets like sheep? What about our wage structure? Why can’t we, a club owned by two billionaires, offer more money of our own to keep our best? It’s one thing to buy a player for ridiculous transfer fees, another to pay a proven top player and captain a top wage to keep him long term. If we do not add at least two more quality signings, this club will only continue to fail and see our best players get better, then leave. What will happen to Jack or the Ox in a few years when they become world class? They will most likely have won nothing and leave for better money and a chance at trophies as well. Groundhog Day. Unless things change, now.
I too am sad to see the state of football today. Money talks and wins titles. It’s been obvious for years. Sure, United, Barca, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and City have good teams with a ton of ability, but they know you must speculate to accumulate. Any team can win the title. But to compete with the big boys, you must do all within your power to improve. I don’t think Arsenal does that, and it shows. Big time. We fail to win trophies. Our best players leave. Those that run the club hide and hoodwink the fans into thinking we can compete. I want to be more positive as an Arsenal fan. I want to believe we can win things. I want to trust Wenger. But the evidence doesn’t lie. At the end of the day, who can really blame Van Persie if his desire is to earn more and win more? Yes, it angers me that he is just like the rest of those footballers who will go anywhere, burn any bridges to make more money and win more trophies. Loyalty seems a thing of the past. What happened to the players who fight to turn things around at a club, instead of leave? Maybe we can’t relate because we’re fans and we know only one club, for life. Perhaps it’s the salaries they make that seem so absurd, it’s hard to understand the difference between 130K or 200K per week. Anything over 3K would be brilliant to me. So, 40 or 50 times that is unfathomable. A dream lifestyle. Yet, they always want more.
Anyway. I say good luck and good riddance. Never keep a player that doesn’t want to stay. I still think we could have done more, earlier, to convince him to stay, had that been Wenger’s desire. As is, our wage structure will always hinder the club. Yet, Arsene and the club, I now truly believe (without reasons to doubt) are more concerned with profits and self-sustainability than performance and glory. And that’s what I want, GLORY.
Here’s one more from his pre-match press conference last week. On the money made from RVP’s sale: “We have already invested the money because we bought Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud. We have what is needed to be ambitious. We bought players who can provide, we bought players who can score.” Arsene’s definition of ambitious and mine are clearly not the same. Ambition means you want to win, and will do what it takes. Wenger’s ambition is top 4 and CL qualification, and the profits that go with it. He seems to care more about developing young players than building a team for the long haul. Name me one club at the top of any top league that has sold as many quality players and captains as us. The best teams keep their best players, at least most of the time. They pay competitive wages so they don’t leave. They certainly don’t sell them each year and not replace. Not to rivals. That is a recipe for… failure. For several years now, that is Arsenal.
