CanadaGooner
If we can all just step back for a minute and reflect on what has happened in the past 16 years at Arsenal, without being too divisive, I think a few factual points will be acceptable to all Arsenal fans regardless of whether or not you still support Wenger or you want him out.
1. The handwriting has always been on the wall and I don’t think it has come as a surprise to anyone who knows enough about football, that Arsenal have now ended up where we currently are - divided and clueless.
2. The philosophy of clubs like Man Utd and Liverpool over the years, as they each dominated, was to “win it all”. Both clubs wanted to win everything they could get their hands on, be it the League Cup, the league itself, the FA Cup and the European championships. There was never a time when Man Utd or Liverpool got to the final of any tournament and decided to play a bunch of teenagers out of stubbornness or to prove a point. Wenger brought that destructive arrogance to Arsenal and, at the time, it worked well, as we were competing for everything else and the Carling Cup felt trivial, and not many fans challenged that elitist attitude. Unfortunately, the reality is that teams need trophies to boost morale and create that ‘winning’ pedigree in their players. The moment you’re left with a bunch of players who haven’t won anything and feel very comfortable with ending each season with nothing, you’re in trouble.
3. Once a football manager begins to dabble in the financial side of the business - demanding a bigger stadium (not to get more fans in nor to improve the atmosphere; but supposedly to generate more financial muscle to take the club forward?), the situation becomes one where attention to detail is missing and that manager becomes totally distracted. It almost happened to Fergie during the early days of the Glazer takeover of Man Utd, and that distraction cost them that season. Fergie, being the wizard he is, stepped back, left others to it, and reverted to what he does best, which is manage the football team. They swiftly returned to winning ways and, I daresay, haven’t really spent much more than what Arsenal have spent in recent years. Unfortunately, at Arsenal we have a manager who believes his past successes entitle him not only to manage the team, but also to dabble in everything else, including this idiotic fantasy that they (Gazidis and co) can create a ‘model’ for financing a football team. In their collective lunacy, they have continued to push Arsenal further and further away from being a football club, to being a business with no other objectives than to balance the books at the end of each season.
4. Looking to the future, and beginning with the current season, does it need to take a genius to tell Wenger that the best thing to do right now is concentrate on winning the Capital One Cup? (Ed’s note – this article was submitted before the Bradford match last week) This is a trophy that is clearly there for the taking, and, with that win, we will not only eliminate the hoodoo surrounding the trophyless seasons, but we will also begin to give some belief to young players like Jenkinson, Chamberlain and others, that the club’s intention is to win trophies and build a team that can compete across the board. Unfortunately, we all know what is in store for us in that competition (more complacency).
5. People continue to moan about the players Wenger has brought in. Let me ask you this - if you’re a footballer and are suddenly at the top of your game and a club that has won nothing in seven years approaches you at the same time as clubs that are serious about winning trophies (Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea etc) also approach you, who would you sign for? So, what Arsenal are left with is a bunch of players who are not the cream of the crop, and are simply signing for us in order to have a decent season and move on elsewhere, e.g. Nasri. Do you think Santi Cazorla has joined Arsenal because he had a sudden urge to win trophies? No, he has joined Arsenal because he likes Man Utd and Man City, but he know a good season at Arsenal will get him to those clubs (can you blame him?). Arsenal can no longer attract decent players, and we also now no longer have a manager who can make the best of average players, as he is now too busy trying to build a financial model and is engrossed in other aspects of the club rather than focusing on managing the team and winning games.
Week in, week out, we continue to heap abuse on a bunch of players who shouldn’t be anywhere near our starting eleven. A few seasons back we blamed injuries; now we are scraping the barrel as our best players are simply not motivated enough or not good enough to win anything. All the usual mid-table teams in the Premiership now see Arsenal as fair game and they expect to gain a point or three every time they play us
So, what next for Arsenal and Arsène?
