John Evans
It is always a good opportunity for any football fan to take stock of the way their club is headed during the summer months of inactivity re: the field of play.
It is worth pointing out at this stage that I am 36 years of age and have supported Arsenal since the age of 7 when my father first took me to the old Highbury stadium to watch us play Newcastle in March of 1988. Paul Gascoigne played that day and missed a penalty, he was being heavily linked with a move to Spurs at the time for £1m and I remember asking my dad how a £1m player could ever miss a penalty!
Since that day I have been a regular over the years, taking up a season ticket with my dad at Highbury as soon as all seater stadia was introduced back in the early nineties. I was brought up in a working class household where the mood inside the house would be affected by the result of Arsenal matches on any given day. If Arsenal won my dad would be happy, if they lost his mood would be somewhat darker for the day ahead. You could say he was overly involved but this way of thinking certainly rubbed off on me as a child growing up and I have followed suit to some extent.
I can never remember a time since 1988 where I was not involved mentally with each and every game that Arsenal played so would certainly consider myself ‘a true gooner’ if that is the right phrase.
Looking at the last couple of seasons from a distance certain things stand out to me as clear as day. Two seasons ago we had our best chance in over a decade to lift the Premier League trophy. The stars aligned that season as best they could. All of our so-called major rivals for the title flopped, some in spectacular fashion. Others simply had a very mediocre season and we were left with the simple task of overcoming Leicester and Spurs to be crowned as Champions.
To say we failed that task is an understatement. Not only did we not win the title we failed to even compete. We could not cope with Leicester and finished with a points tally into double figures less than Leicester. Let’s not beat around the bush here, we were pathetic. The truth of that season is that we bottled it 100%. The bar was lowered and we dropped to our knees to go under it still. The fact that some fans celebrated at the end of the season that year as we scrambled to get above Spurs on the last day for 2nd place summed up everything that is wrong at our club for me.
Spurs did not crumble in ‘typical’ Spurs style as some would have you believe at the time. They genuinely thought they could beat Leicester to the title right up until that draw at Stamford Bridge where their own title hopes died. They were not pre-occupied with the thought of merely finishing above Arsenal, they wanted and expected to win the league that season and dropped off once that dream was ended. That is not a character trait of a loser in my opinion, quite the opposite.
Moving on to last season it stands out that two ‘achievements’ have managed to keep Arsene in his job for the last decade without too many grumbles from ‘the fans’. One was that we had managed to finish above Spurs every season that he had been in charge at our club (keeping the fans happy). The second was the annual ability to scramble into the top four and secure a Champions League berth for the next season (keeping the directors happy).
Over the previous decade we had struggled grimly on three separate occasions to keep the Champions League qualification record alive. On all three occasions it was Spurs that we were battling with on the last day and on all three occasions we came out of those last day battles as ‘victors’. Once at home to Wigan in the final ever game at Highbury (lasagne gate!) and then twice needing last day away victories at West Brom and Newcastle to secure the much coveted 4th place trophy.
Last season was different. It wasn’t just different in the sense that we failed to make that 4th place our own. It was different in the sense that the players downed tools on Arsene for the first time ever. Away to West Brom and Palace the players did not play for the manager let alone the club. They did not respond for him when needed as they had done in those previous seasons when we needed a result to nick 4th spot. There was no passion, no mental strength and above all no willingness to help out the man under pressure at the top. Arsene lost the players as simple as that and we paid for it as a club by finishing 5th and outside of the ‘gravy train’ that is Champions League qualification.
The two records that Arsene could cling to as reasons to stay on had gone. His contract was coming to an end. So let us get that into context:
Over the last two seasons we had our best chance to win the league title with just Leicester and Spurs to overcome and not only did we not manage it we didn’t even manage to compete.
The season after that we suffer some of the worst performances by Arsenal in living memory, fail to finish 4th and have to enter the Europa League and also fail (by a distance!) to finish above Spurs which until recent seasons was seen as a given.
Arsene’s contract expires one month after that season ends.
When you take a step away and see the above facts for what they are it seems totally absurd to me that Arsene has still managed to comfortably get himself a new contract. I 100% fail to see how this can in any way shape or form be justified based on the above facts. The performances have dropped, the playing staff changes but the same old failings still exist season after season. Even when give the title on a plate by all the main rivals we can’t cope with the pressure applied from Leicester City.
We as fans are then simply told to accept the decision of the club in awarding Arsene a new contract and get behind the team and manager as normal.
I ask you these simple questions: When in living memory has any other football manager at any club around the world had rallies held by the supporters of the club he manages against his tenure continuing and then been offered a new contract by the club?
When has the away support (the most loyal at any club and is the true representation of the views of real fans at that club) held aloft numerous banners for the manager to leave at a number of games (live on tv) and the manager then be offered a new contract?
I fail to think of this happening at any other club in world football ever. Yet we are told to simply accept the decision, continue to pay in our money as nice little people do and move on.
Let us get one thing very straight here. Arsenal Football Club simply can’t win a Premier League title under the current manager. Chelsea, Utd, City and Liverpool flopping like they did in 2016 is a once in a lifetime event. Even given that dream scenario not only did we not win it, we failed to compete.
