Frank Lee
It was fascinating to see, in the recently released ‘89’ documentary film, some of the ‘tackling’ in the days when George Graham was Arsenal’s manager, with players upending one another as if they were on steroids such as Nandrolone Phenylpropionate - Durabolin 100 - certainly many of the challenges in those days, that went unpunished then, would get at the minimum a yellow card today. Maybe defending isn’t quite as easy these days with more protection for attacking players, but somehow, other teams have managed to establish reputations for having solid defences.
When Arsene Wenger spoke about the club’s ‘values’ at the recent Annual General Meeting, he referred to the history of the club, suggesting he was upholding a legacy with his policy, my mind went back to the defensive resilience of the team that Graham played in, in 1970-71, and those he managed in the late 1980s/early 1990s. A bit of me wondered how genuinely aware he is of what came before him at Arsenal.
Wenger told the assembled shareholders “I always guided this club with one idea - that the club is always, for me, about values. When I look at photos of the 1930s, 1950s and 1960s [Arsenal] have not always won but there's some pride for the sense of belonging to this club. I will never betray the people who create these values. Arsenal is a highly respected club, not only because we won the last game but because we represent something that is exceptional. The present for me is about style of play, winning trophies, winning every game.”
I had to do a fair amount of research online to find out exactly what these values were. Wenger often refers to them, but rarely expands on anything beyond the word ‘values’ itself. However, I did finally track this down from a press conference on the Asian Tour in July 2013, at a time when there seemed great reluctance to spend any money in the transfer window.
“I still believe that, even if we are in a stronger financial position, all our values still have to be the same. We must rely on the quality of our work, on the style of our play and the fact we develop our own players. We will only use financial resources to bring in one or two players who will give us something more.”
So that’ cleared that up. It’s…
1 - The quality of our work
2 - The style of our play
3 - The fact we develop our own players
The first value is… well, rather vague. How do you judge the quality of our work? It’s kind of an obvious value isn’t it? One that every club would claim as something they aspire to. So hardly unique.
Next up, the style of our play. In referring to the teams before Wenger arrived at the club, I am far from convinced that the values of Wengerball were paramount in the club’s successful sides. Defensive ability was regarded as far more of a priority than it is now, and there is a good case to make that Arsene’s first two league titles would not have been achieved without inheriting the defence that had been built by George Graham. This is one historical value of Arsenal that has seemingly been cast aside. As George Graham reflected in a fascinating interview for The Guardian, “I was great at organising the defence and my ideal team was Milan. They were the best defensive team I’ve seen – and the only side that played offside better than us.”
Back to Arsene’s espoused values and ‘we develop our own players’. The reality of this is that the club used to do this far more than it has under Arsene Wenger. How many of Arsenal’s academy players have become nailed on first team regulars since the Frenchman arrived? Ashley Cole and Jack Wilshere. Maybe Kieran Gibbs for a couple of seasons. You could make an argument for Alex Iwobi, but it’s early days there. Any more? In over 20 years? It’s not exactly Barcelona. Arsene Wenger buys players from other clubs’ youth systems as teenagers and develops them from within the first team squad. It’s hardly the equivalent of George Graham’s Arsenal, an era when plenty of silverware was won with a decent quota of genuine homegrown talent.
So these ‘values’ the manager refers to… it really doesn’t wash. Then again, the one thing this club has proved in recent years is that words are cheap. Winning league titles requires something a bit more, like genuine Arsenal values.
