Myles
The readers and comments you publish seem to place everything as positive or negative and there seems to be very little middle ground. I wonder whether this is an intentional editorial decision or whether there is just an absence of reflective thought that can be detached from emotion.
As someone who has been warned by stewards on more than one occasion to calm down at risk of ejection (whatever that entails), I have tried to find it in myself to work out what makes me so angry at Arsenal sometimes.
I might be right, I might not – but I think it comes down to a few things that are ignored on this site.
Firstly, Chelsea and Manchester United are better than Arsenal.
The reasons for this come down to bigger risks in the market and less concern (certainly in the past) with player failure. Let’s not forget that they have both spent a fortune on awful players who brought English football nothing.
Next, Arsenal are not (as one of your very recent readers suggested), making profit for the shareholders.
They could not care less how much profit the club is earning right now. It is solely that the club is making profit and it means that as money going into the club goes up, eventually we will be the most lucrative proposition in the future. The share price can continue to go up and sooner or later we become the most profitable club in the world. That is the aim at least. But the problem is the billionaire owners don’t work to this philosophy. So while Wenger et al press on with their mission to grow in what they believe is a legitimate manner to grow a club the rival owners continue with what they perceive the best way forward for them. Arsenal and Wenger’s long-term vision is that they will eventually achieve success based on living within their means. Kind of like a John Lewis as opposed to Tesco.
Arsenal have no right to win anything if other teams are doing better. Are people implying that because Arsenal once tasted success, they should be entitled to demand that success each year? Are Man U and Chelsea no less entitled and if their playing and paying systems work better on the front line, then short term the fans, players and manager are happy while the money men fret about the growing or unmanageable debt.
Wenger is like Steve Jobs trying to take a piece of the Microsoft market.
The problem is that Arsenal don’t have a product or USP like Apple. I agree with you that Wenger is a master of spin, but I disagree with the fact that at any other club Wenger would be out of a job. What Wenger brings a club is akin to what Dario Gradi did at Crewe and he had years.
The amount of luck needed to win things in football is staggering. Whether you create your own luck or not, one cannot depend on technical accomplishments gaining trophies. Inter Milan proved that. So did Spain in the World Cup. Spain were no different to Chelsea in South Africa. You take your hat off to them, but feel short changed.
Lastly, Wenger is a visionary – but I don’t mean this is necessarily a positive way.
Lt Ron Hubbard was one too. His processes and beliefs are interesting but absurd at times. If everyone else continues using the existing system of football club management, then Wenger’s accomplishments for the club can only be celebrated in house and behind the scenes.
So what are we left with? I believe Arsenal do achieve some success. I think that trophies are key but have little value when ‘purchased’. I believe that Wenger is trying to mix the ethos of Ferguson at United and Clough at Forest but they don’t blend as yet.
Myles your issue with Wenger is you are bored of him and predict the same with him for the future. This is because you are a betting man and are comfortable with your predictions because even though you are not right, you’re confident that you are more right than wrong in your belief. As all of this is abstract as no one knows the future, you are worth reading because this confidence suggests information. But we all know deep down that we know nothing about the set of circumstances that unfold to win a trophy over the course of a season. You have to win all your games and how this is done is something all clubs have to contend with.
I think that arguing on Wenger’s systems and failures is the same as arguing that Communism is the only alternative to Capitalism and look how awful Communism is. Which is true except that Capitalism is wrecking the world (and small scale wrecking football), and we all tolerate it because it is nice and shiny.
No one knows what makes success year on year but everyone knows the ingredients of failure. Tribalism within fandom leads us to demand success in order to feel good about ourselves. Assumed knowledge of football is also a misnomer, as we can only base our knowledge on history and the present. We speculate in transfers that would bring success but none of us know about the gelling of personalities and styles that brings success – why? Because we have never managed a high profile club?
Myles, do you know how Mick Jagger circa 1970 feels in front of a crowd, or can you only report on his swagger, voice and command of his style?
It does not have to come down to positive or negative. I could quote Frantz Fanon and say “every spectator is a coward or a traitor” but is that totally fair?
Then again I could suggest that knowledge of the masses can achieve so much in accumulated experiences. This place is a pub conversation where all can be heard but it makes no real difference as we don’t have the answers. We react to the questions set by the problems and issues thrown up by Arsenal.
I’ll finish by asking a question that has bothered me for some time now.
Was Thierry Henry more successful at Barcelona than he was at Arsenal? Whatever the answer, if it is only considered in two parts, then we are going about it the wrong way.
I am sure as hell no apologist for Wenger, and I feel that Arsenal are run like New Labour, but what is it to be properly on the inside? Does Wenger feel that he is putting his reputation on the line by picking Almunia or Diaby? Are these small questions the ones we should really be asking?
If not, what are the key questions and how best do we answer them?
I wager, like everything else on ANR, no one really knows and it’s kind of fun.
Thanks
Myles replies :
Danny, thanks for a beautiful letter.
You are so well- educated that you are aware of all the things you don’t know.
However, why torture yourself by wondering whether Henry was more successful at Barcelona than he was at Arsenal?
Wenger was in awe of Henry, so he built his Arsenal team around him. Vieira took his kicks, Bergkamp gave him killer passes, Pires linked with sublime skill, Freddie made zippy, runs behind the defence, and the phenomenally competitive Ashley Cole helped them to score the goals that won those trophies.
Henry was so spoiled at Arsenal, he found it very hard to adjust at Barcelona.
I can’t tell you how Mick Jagger felt in front of a crowd in 1970.
But Mick said that a rock concert is an assembly of people who want to have a good time, nothing more than that. Mick is a great manager who would never tour in year when Bruce or Jacko or the Floyd were touring, never play a festival which they didn’t control.When Santana were big, the Stones had long guitar solos. When Bob Marley was big, they were recording in Kingston. When country was hip, Keith hung out with Gram Parsons.
Mick is an exciting showman and an indefatigable socialite. Sir Mick, what a rebel !
I’d see him around from time to time, drunk at the Marquee, checking out Wembley Stadium when Little Richard and Chuck Berrry played there, gliding into an aisle seat at the Staple Singers as the lights went down. Mick is smart and always kept his finger on the pulse. I met him at a party for Van Morrison and we had a memorable little chat. One night at the Rainbow I stood in the wings next to Mick, just before he went on to sing two songs with Billy Preston. That was a mistake.
Mick Jagger doesn’t make many mistakes, even now.
It looks very different on the inside. And it’s much harder to sign top players than fans imagine.
At their worst, Arsenal are never as nasty and selfish as New Labour, who spent 50% of their energy on infighting, 30% on spin, and 10% on attacking the Tories.
What are are the key questions at Arsenal?
Easy questions, simple answers.
(1) Why give a loser four more years?
(2) What comes after Wenger?
Answers are (1) he makes a profit and (2) Nothing, he will never go.
Wenger will stay at Arsenal forever in pursuit of his dream, the Champions League. He can’t imagine retiring without winning it. He said that himself. He will never hand his club over to another manager.