Somak Goswami
Re: The article A response to the Negativity by Richard Lancaster which appeared on the website yesterday…
Fake bids
Richard, it's very hard for anyone to figure out what went on with the bids. All we have are tabloid reports to go by. The club themselves are hardly truthful about it. Wenger admitted to the Suarez bid but wouldn't admit to the Higuain bid though we know Higgy's dad did say there was a bid. However, we also know for a fact that Wenger's bids are often farcical. He will not budge above what he considers the player is worth, but the hard fact is the market dictates a player's price. Wenger lives in his own world. This kind of bidding is not very different than fake bids. What's an extra 5-6 million if we could land Higgy and he would help the quest for silverware? Is that too hard to do for a club with reportedly 70M+ for transfers? Wenger wouldn't budge from his 24M bid and Napoli landed him for a few million more. Now we must lose out on players to mighty Napoli because the man's completely out of touch with reality?
What did Wenger do by saving the 5-6 M? He gave it to Flamoney in terms of wages; a player who deserted us when he was actually a decent player and who nobody wants now. I suppose Wenger knows better than the club Flamoney spent the last 5 years at. Wenger bid 40M+! for Suarez. Did he try with 45, 46 or 47M to test Pool's resolve? No he won't. Because he will not bid a penny more than his valuation. It's always about him. His valuation. His wants. His desires. It's never about the club. Then there's the whole derisory bid aspect. Again, it's not a whole lot different than a fake bid. Which idiot would think that Newcastle would sell Cabaye on the cheap when they know Arsenal have money and are desperate for players? I'll tell you which idiot. An out of touch with reality Wenger. We know about the derisory bid because Kinnear is on record saying Wenger has to match Newcastle's valuation. The whole Schwarzer saga where Wenger would not give in to 100/200k more was flat out embarrassing for a club of Arsenal's size. We could have done with Mark that season. The Cahill situation is another one of those. Coyle soundly criticized Wenger's derisory bid. Wenger lost out on a defender we could have done with and he went to Chelski 6 months later. Is this how a manager of a big club behaves? Now you know why fans are extremely suspicious about Wenger's transfer dealings. They have reason to be.
Brainwashing
If anyone does the brainwashing, it's Wenger. He's convinced a large part of the fanbase that fourth is an actual trophy. I can't think of many people who can pull of such a huge spin cycle. Can you? He's convinced folks that playing in the CL (despite being embarrassed regularly when meeting a decent side) is a real trophy whereas the FAC or CC are not. He's brainwashed legions of fans into believing that the transfer market is crazy, that the world of football economy is about to collapse and all the other things he believes entirely in his own head. He even pulled off the spin about Silvestre being a good signing. I think Ferguson probably still laughs about that one now and then. He's convinced everyone that Arsenal run a great youth academy, yet anyone would be hard pressed to name 4-5 players that Wenger has brought along on his own in his 16 years at Arsenal. Wenger is a king of the dark art of spinning lies and half truths into truth and I cannot even imagine you're accusing the media of brainwashing when the fact is no one in the world of football today is more adept at brainwashing than Wenger.
Negativity
Negativity does not come from any alleged brainwashing by the media. The negativity comes because of Wenger's lies, spin and inability to even compete for a trophy, let alone win anything, over the last few years. The negativity comes because he fools around in the transfer market as this season has shown. Flamoney? Sanago? Unreal. Name me one other top club where these kind of a shenanigans would be tolerated. This is what drives negativity. He talks of "top class", "super quality", "special" players and then signs up Flamoney. Who wouldn't be negative after this kind of cynical manipulation of the fans' sentiments, tell me? If today Gooners are squaring up to each other at the E******s, who is responsible for the polarization? Year after year he finishes fourth and celebrates it harder than the title winners. This attitude drives negativity.
He cannot coach defence after spending "30 years in football having made 1000's of substitutions" and he makes the worst substitutions of managers at this level. For all of this, he pockets a neat 7.5M/year. More than what Ferguson used to make. This is what drives negativity. Then he talks utter bollocks about Real Madrid being after him. He wouldn't last 6 months at Real, let me assure you. He holds forth on petro dollars in the football world and preaches to all and sundry, yet who acted as a paid consultant to PSG's Arab owners during the takeover? Wenger. This kind of hypocrisy drives negativity. He's the one manager that needed to do real work in the transfer window, but while other managers busted their chops finishing deals, our man was off to the Confederations Cup earning money commentating.
Name me one other manager of a top club that was commentating when business need to be completed at the club that pays his salary. People do get irritated when they see callousness like this and that creates negativity. How could a club like Arsenal lose to Wolfsburg for Gustavo? Only Arsenal could. He talks about CL football drawing players, yet name me one player he has signed over the last few years that wouldn't have come without CL football? Gervinho? Giroud? Freaking Flamoney? Please. This is what drives negativity.
But, people of your ilk won't understand any of the above. Your lot are still blinded by a busted flush of a man and simply unable to see what the rest of the world sees clearly. I'll pray for you.
(Ed’s note – Just a reminder that The Gooner and onlinegooner.com are platforms for Arsenal opinion right across the spectrum. If we received pro-Arsène Wenger submissions, we run them. It’s a reality that we get more pieces that are critical of the current state of affairs, but encourage views from all sides, and those in the middle.)
