Alex Steine
Way back in the murky past, before Arsène Wenger came to stay, and stay, and stay, European football competitions began. Europe had to stop going to war with each other first, which they did, though some of those earlier games may have suggested that the conflicts were just transferred to the football pitch. In the mid-fifties it was decided that a cup for champions should be inaugurated, so the European Cup began its life.
The idea of European competition was a noble intention, but Real Madrid had other ideas, and constantly destroyed the opposition, winning the trophy year after year. So no competition, within a competition! As the team of Di Stefano and Puskas insisted on keeping the ball, and winning the competition, a second one was needed. So the bizarre Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was all but hijacked, revamped and offered as a secondary, and soon to be, prestigious alternative. Initially it had been an odd competition, whereby only cities that had held a trades fair in Europe were invited. Not a club but a city! This crazy situation continued for a handful of years but slowly evolved into the European Fairs' Cup. Arsenal had won this in 1970, by which time it had become a top European Trophy to win.
Around the same time, another cup competition was under way, and what a mouthful! The European Cup Winners' Cup, started. Imagine boasting, 'We are the cup winners of the Cup Winners' Cup, oh and in doing so, the ragged rascal ran...' So by the mid-sixties three competitions existed. The status quo of the day determined that the European (Champions) Cup was king. Though the Cup Winners' Cup was established as second in the pecking order, it was a false assessment, being somewhat inferior to what came to be known as the UEFA Cup, by the start of the 70s.
This was because of the following quirk. The entry to the ECWC was only gained by winning a domestic cup, every country's challenge cup; therefore you qualified by being a winner, just as you did with the European Cup qualification, as it was now commonly referred to. All fine and dandy, and of a superior order, compared to the blossoming UEFA Cup, because you could qualify for that with a high league position, which seemed a little perverse even to ardent supporters. The crux was that the UEFA Cup allowed two, or three, and in later years four clubs from powerful footballing nations to enter. The ECWC had just one, so knock out Juventus and Italy's influence ended; in the UEFA Cup, if you beat Inter, Torino could be lining up against you in the next round.
The early 70s heralded a fairly stable period, though evolution was happening, even though it may not have been obvious to the watchful eye. Drawn rounds decided by the toss of a coin, and then, as much to combat defensive play as to reach a decision, the 'away goals' rule was introduced. Even so, we had a pacific and peaceful period, though in 1970 I remember going through a form of mental torture between losing the first leg of the Final to Anderlecht, in Brussels, and the second at Highbury. Today with instant information, websites and twenty-four hour rolling news channels, it may seem inconceivable, but we, as fans, were really much like mushrooms in those days, 'kept in the dark with manure heaped on top of us'.
Today's complaining fans have no idea how far we as supporters have come to gain a status. We had gone into the competition with that away goal rule in place, played the first leg, consistently outplayed for the entire game, yet obtaining a life-line in the last minute, when 'Big Ray' got that vital away goal. A few days after, a snippet in the 'rags' announced that the away rule might not operate in the Final. What! How outrageous was that? There we were, clinging to the belief that we only (only?) had to win 2-0 to lift the cup, and yet here were the grey men, deciding to work against us, with seriously muddled thinking. Not much has changed there then. After a couple of days of uncertainty, that idea was revoked. Phew!
For around twenty years the three competitions continued with only slight developments and alterations, but already signs were there that the ECWC was struggling. In the wake of European politics, and freedom of movement and labour, football suddenly zoomed forward, powered by money. We in England formed a Premier League, draped it in filthy lucre, and began thumbing our noses at tradition. All too quickly the European competitions changed. The changes were not driven by natural improvements, but were openly powered by money. The ugliness of capitalism was about to get uglier.
The European Cup was too fragile for the marketing desires of satellite television. It couldn't consider promoting a competition which might lose a big team quickly, by knock-out methods, so it changed the rules. In fact, the goalposts were moved so often now in world football that they might as well have been on casters. All tournaments and competitions employed some basic ground rules, 1) get as many entrants to the 'Finals' as possible, and 2) keep them there as long as possible.
The European Cup died, or one should say it metamorphosed into the Champion's League. With the new foundling a group stage was set up, ensuring more games to be played. This wasn't enough, so the net was widened and runners-up were allowed in, then third and fourth placed teams. Champions' League? That description was a misnomer, but it meant more money. The rules were changing, and too fast for most to keep up with. The ECWC, unable to sustain itself against the financial might of the Champions' League, buckled and expired. Though, I'm glad to say, not before Arsenal had added its scalp to our honours belt, on a magical night in Copenhagen in '94.
Now the way was clear for the third competition to become the only alternative to the mega rich Champions' League. It too, calling itself The Europa League, adopted a peculiar group system, but Thursday night and Sunday afternoon programmes choked the life out of clubs participating. A sense of separation from the main body is perhaps a bit harsh as a description, but it must certainly have seemed a little like that to clubs who have been involved in this inferior competition. Thankfully, we at the Grove have never trodden that weed-covered path.
We did gain entry once, in 2000, when another peculiar rule allowed us as eliminated Champions' League participants, to sidle in through the back door, reaching the final, before losing the cup on penalties. You couldn't make it up, could you? However, money is the lifeblood, and also the nail in the coffin of virtually all ventures in a cash-driven society. Football, despite wails from purists, traditionalists and those just plain resistant to change, will never be excluded from the financial merry-go-round. This I feel is as good as it gets. It has shown that even the Europa League cannot compete on an even platform with the resources of the Champions' League. It's a big dog little dog situation, and if you are one of only two dogs, why would you strive to be the little dog?
So, here we are with two competitions. One we sacrifice principles, perhaps honour, and certainly truth to qualify for, and the other we shun as if a pariah, that only less fortunate neighbours can aspire to. What has gone wrong? Well, in a globalised world, money talks; just ask Neil Diamond. The difference now is, to coin an analogy, it screams, and it isn't melodic. We fans at the Arsenal are constantly at loggerheads over policy. I hear the charges laid at the door of owner, board, manager, and staff. Those charges are strong and abusive. Liars, cheats, con men, rip-off merchants, exploiters. Actually they perhaps are all those things and, possibly, none of them. Money now rules the game in a way never before witnessed. The money comes from sponsors who are trying to sell their wares. They want mass exposure and satellite TV offers that, but terrestrial TV pays too, and all the spin-offs add their two penn'orth.
The biggest and most powerful often swallows up the minor parties. VHS and Betamax went head to head once; now one survives. It is a natural order - Darwinism! Why should football competitions be any different? As a legacy it is diabolical, and Arsenal Football Club experiences the dilemma as no other club does. We all suffer the fall-out as Arsenal fans, and it is ongoing. What I mean is this. The big-spending money clubs, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, have established a foothold as Champions' League entrants. They qualify year after year, and nothing looks like changing that any time soon. So a final berth is gleaming on the horizon. You claim that by finishing fourth. That is now our rainbow's end, to find our own pot of gold.
As a successful club, both playing-wise, and as an organisation, we find ourselves victims of the very success that we have created for ourselves. We are constantly good enough to keep ahead of the tide, though in recent years we have got our trouser legs wet. We finish in the coveted Champions' League qualification positions and attract vitriol from our own fans for doing so. It is a far more complex problem than these words suggest, but that is where the smoke comes from that obstructs our view. We are caught in a loop. Be better than the rest, finish fourth, get the bag of gold, have an unsuccessful run in the Champions' League, as we are up against the powerhouses of European football, start again the next season, repeat ad infinitum.
Groundhog Day is mentioned often, and is a picturesque but valid description of our plight, and make no mistake, it is a plight, but only because of personal expectations. If you complain of finishing fourth, it's only because you believe we should be able to improve enough to finish third, second or first, by spending more money. Or utilising our resources more efficiently, with the same, or different entities at the helm of the good ship Arsenal. Possibly. Like much in life, it is a gamble. All the time the European gravy train is chuffing along we endeavour to be aboard; that much seemingly, is vital.
I am at liberty to say I despise the Champions' League, but should I feel hatred for an inanimate object? I am not that crazy. It is just a singular example of the grubbiness of today's world, and the values and gods we instruct our children to worship at the feet of. The great deities Sky, sponsors, advertisers, consumers, are all intricately linked; try to take one down, you take on them all. In fact we are 'them', all of us. We crave a newer car, a bigger house, decking, we even want that holiday of a lifetime, annually! Still, I see it as an integral manifestation of the pure greed, and corruption, of my team, and top-flight football, so I would damn it if I could.
Yet with all that said - the huffing and the puffing - we could be on the cusp of a new direction at Arsenal, which we would all welcome with open arms, forgetting our woes and screaming our salutations to the heavens. Trepidation has dictated in the past few years; perhaps that is about to change for the better. Perhaps. All I do know is that my memory tricks me on occasions. I drift away and become that young, long-haired man once more. Boarding the Dan Air flight from Luton to Brussels. Returning in the early hours, keeping my peace, and steeling myself for what was to come. Inevitable misery, or triumphant jubilation? Still licking my open wounds, from the two previous years’ defeats at Wembley. Then going nervously to Highbury to see my team win! To see my hero McLintock, dear, dear, Frank, lift the trophy. Arsenal, proud winners of The European Fairs Cup!
