Myles,
Everyone can see you have been negative about Arsenal for a couple of years now, and sometimes it has been hard reading it.
Occasionally, I get as far as deciding that I will read your blog no more, but I always come back for similar reasons to the other readers.
My views are: Arsene has been the spiritual leader of Arsenal for some years now and at the start when he was full of the joy of what he was doing, following Arsenal was sheer joy. That joy has been absent for a while now within Arsenal and among the supporters and the bloggers. Each blogger deal with it differently, of course.
What we’d all like to see is Arsene back to where he was. Will it ever happen?
It has been said many times that the true measure of success is how you deal with failure. Each of the last 3 or 4 summers Arsene has been on a journey to rediscover his own enthusiasm for the new season. You cannot fault him for the determination he has shown to lift this club back to the top. How much longer?
I will make one more observation. It irritates me what a lot of the blogs make of what Arsene says. What Arsene says and what he feels are different. His job is to keep Arsenal ticking over and moving forward, even though he must feel as much abject horror for example as the rest of us did at the end of last season. He has to establish a reputation for looking after young players to attract the next wave of talent (and attract it he does).
He has to generate the impression of success and the desire for fans to come and watch. If he does not he fails his primary duty to the club. How can you criticise him for that? As I say, what he says and what he feels are different.
Myles replies :
I was a journalist for over 30 years. I worked with hundreds of managers.
Many are actors. Some are superb actors, like George Graham and Arsene Wenger. Many are bullshitters, like Ron Atkinson and Graham Taylor, others are paranoid and have good reason to be paranoid. Many are bitter, twisted little men, but some are decent guys doing a difficult job honestly.
After 10 years I realised that managers have to give a winning impression, especially after a bad result.The ability to give a winning impression can keep someone in a job for years.
I don’t listen to what Wenger says. I don’t read what he says. But friends often tell me what he says.
I judge a manager by what he does and what he wins.
If I tried to answer all your questions, I’d be here for three hours.
Sincere apologies for that own-goal at nine this morning.