I was asked by the venerable Faisal Khan to put down a few thoughts about my beloved Arsenal and when I started I couldn’t stop, so here goes…
The first Arsenal match I went to was ironically George Graham's last as manager - a soporific 1-1 draw against Leicester at Highbury where Ian Selley broke his leg. Those were the days when you could get a ticket as a Junior Gunner for £5 (more on ticket pricing later).
Those were also the days when Arsenal were as parsimonious in the transfer market as they are now: refusing to pay Chris Sutton £10k a week before he ended up at Blackburn; losing out on the likes of Andy Sinton (probably no big loss); and going further back, Tony Cottee. So financial caution at the ‘Bank of England club’ is certainly not a phenomenon confined to the Wenger era.
However, I am by no means a Wenger apologist. I believe the man has flaws that mean the option of sacking him should be very firmly on the table just like it was for theMonaco
And let's look at Wenger's time atMonaco
Those were also the days when Arsenal were as parsimonious in the transfer market as they are now: refusing to pay Chris Sutton £10k a week before he ended up at Blackburn; losing out on the likes of Andy Sinton (probably no big loss); and going further back, Tony Cottee. So financial caution at the ‘Bank of England club’ is certainly not a phenomenon confined to the Wenger era.
However, I am by no means a Wenger apologist. I believe the man has flaws that mean the option of sacking him should be very firmly on the table just like it was for the
And let's look at Wenger's time at
Wenger was adept at bringing in high calibre players such as Weah, Hoddle, Hateley and Klinsmann, and giving them the platform to perform at the highest level. The zenith of this philosophy was a French title in his first season in charge (1988), a French Cup and a Champions League semi final. Then
Or is it? The fact is that in the here and now, despite his fantastic achievements (which I by no means wish to denigrate), Wenger is presiding over the decline, on the playing side at least, of a great club.
Gone are the quality players that drove us to unprecedented success in the late 90s and early 00s, replaced by players developed in the petri dish that is the Colney Crèche (shout out to Myles Palmer for that phrase).
Wenger had a dream like MLK. But while MLK dreamt of a society of racial and social equality, Wenger's dream was a football world of financial equality (albeit in an Orwellian Animal Farm sense) free from the 'financial doping' of Russian oligarchs and Arab sheikhs. But, alas as we've seen over the past few years and weeks, both society and the football world remain very much unequal.
Wenger's response to this increasing football inequality, a response which was also largely influenced by the financial pressures of moving to the Emirates, was to adopt a philosophy to pluck young players from clubs all over the world and indoctrinate them into the Arsenal way. This, according to the theory, would help them to develop a strong love for the club ensuring commitment lasting throughout the best years of their careers. As the past few summers have shown it hasn't quite worked out that way with players jumping ship before they'd reached their peak, most brutally illustrated last year by Messrs Fabregas and Nasri.
So why has this happened? Why has the Wenger philosophy, in my opinion, proven to be fatally flawed?
Well, firstly because most of these players had no inherent love or desire to play for Arsenal in the first place. They were attracted to the club due to the fact they were paid more than any club at that time would have been prepared to offer them and there was the promise of a fast track to first team football. However, like most footballers, they were driven by a desire for success, the type of success that isn't demonstrated by finishing in the top four every season but by winning trophies. So is it any surprise that when the so called bigger clubs come calling the factors that motivated them to leave, in many cases, their home town clubs to come to Arsenal are the same factors that motivate their desire to leave the club? Any love they may have developed for Arsenal is greatly overridden by these factors.
Secondly, because of a significant lack of experience in certain areas of the team. The young players haven’t been given the right platform to express themselves due to there not being enough experienced players to guide them through tough moments in games and seasons. Done away with were the likes of Vieira, Pires, Henry, Campbell and Gilberto before their time had come; players who knew what it took to live up to the expectations of playing for Arsenal (taught to them by the likes of Adams, Bould, Keown et al.) and could have imparted their considerable experience on our young players.
Alan Hansen once famously opined that you never win anything with kids, in reference to the Man Utd title winning side of 1995/96. And you know what, he was absolutely right. Because while that team had young players like Beckham, Scholes, Giggs et al., they also had experienced warriors like Cantona, Pallister, Bruce, Irwin and Schmeichel.
Wenger clearly didn't learn this lesson. But to compound his error he over invested in remunerating these young players, before they’d proven themselves, so we're now in a situation where the likes of (the perennially injured) Diaby and (the perennially underachieving) Walcott are earning £60k a week, further limiting our ability to be competitive in the transfer market.
So when I see our team shorn of its experienced quality, replaced by handsomely rewarded and pampered youngsters who show no sign of delivering the goods, I despair.
I also despair because there was another dream. A dream that the move to a new stadium would give Arsenal the financial clout to buy the very best players, thereby putting us in the upper echelon of world football. But the reality has been very different. Continuous bargain basement shopping (Park and Chamakh spring to mind) while Arsenal charge Harrods ticket prices. And that's the difference between the old and new age Arsenal parsimony. In the old age, the fans were not as financially fleeced (going back to my £5 Junior Gunner ticket price, approximately £8 in today’s money) as they are in the new age (to maintain the comparison, Junior Gunner tickets now cost at least £14).
Last summer was the final straw for me. Ticket prices went up by 6.5%, significantly above both CPI and RPI inflation, and we sold arguably our two best players for circa £60m with no commensurate re-investment in the squad.
So my response is to vote with my feet. I refuse to pay money to watch Arsenal (ok, I still pay my Sky subscription) or purchase any merchandise. And this boycott will continue until I see investment on a level that befits a club of our status. Does that make me a 'fair weather' supporter as some people would claim? No, I reject that charge ferociously. I'm simply a long standing supporter who loves his club, still a Junior Gunner at heart, but has become disillusioned with the direction my club is taking and feel that this stance is the only way I can make my little voice heard.
Secondly, because of a significant lack of experience in certain areas of the team. The young players haven’t been given the right platform to express themselves due to there not being enough experienced players to guide them through tough moments in games and seasons. Done away with were the likes of Vieira, Pires, Henry, Campbell and Gilberto before their time had come; players who knew what it took to live up to the expectations of playing for Arsenal (taught to them by the likes of Adams, Bould, Keown et al.) and could have imparted their considerable experience on our young players.
Alan Hansen once famously opined that you never win anything with kids, in reference to the Man Utd title winning side of 1995/96. And you know what, he was absolutely right. Because while that team had young players like Beckham, Scholes, Giggs et al., they also had experienced warriors like Cantona, Pallister, Bruce, Irwin and Schmeichel.
Wenger clearly didn't learn this lesson. But to compound his error he over invested in remunerating these young players, before they’d proven themselves, so we're now in a situation where the likes of (the perennially injured) Diaby and (the perennially underachieving) Walcott are earning £60k a week, further limiting our ability to be competitive in the transfer market.
So when I see our team shorn of its experienced quality, replaced by handsomely rewarded and pampered youngsters who show no sign of delivering the goods, I despair.
I also despair because there was another dream. A dream that the move to a new stadium would give Arsenal the financial clout to buy the very best players, thereby putting us in the upper echelon of world football. But the reality has been very different. Continuous bargain basement shopping (Park and Chamakh spring to mind) while Arsenal charge Harrods ticket prices. And that's the difference between the old and new age Arsenal parsimony. In the old age, the fans were not as financially fleeced (going back to my £5 Junior Gunner ticket price, approximately £8 in today’s money) as they are in the new age (to maintain the comparison, Junior Gunner tickets now cost at least £14).
Last summer was the final straw for me. Ticket prices went up by 6.5%, significantly above both CPI and RPI inflation, and we sold arguably our two best players for circa £60m with no commensurate re-investment in the squad.
So my response is to vote with my feet. I refuse to pay money to watch Arsenal (ok, I still pay my Sky subscription) or purchase any merchandise. And this boycott will continue until I see investment on a level that befits a club of our status. Does that make me a 'fair weather' supporter as some people would claim? No, I reject that charge ferociously. I'm simply a long standing supporter who loves his club, still a Junior Gunner at heart, but has become disillusioned with the direction my club is taking and feel that this stance is the only way I can make my little voice heard.
I could write more about what (and who) exactly needs to change but I think I’ve gone on for long enough, so that’s a debate that will need to be deferred to another time (another blog, perhaps).
Anyway, it's been a blast doing this guest blog and I hope my views hold some resonance with some of you. If not, I still thank you for taking the time to read my, probably, incoherent ramblings. Peace out.
