By Myles Palmer
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THIS YEAR’S ARSENAL AGM was a bit like the Labour Conference : Don’t mention the elephant in the room.
Don’t mention Iraq, don’t mention Vieira.
Having had four days to reflect, I think the AGM should use Arsene Wenger in a way that is more appropriate to his abilities and status.
OK, the formalities are the formalities,the accounts are the accounts.
That side of the meeting is not especially interesting.
Arsenal FC earns a lot of money and spends a lot of money and the directors are there to make sure that the club does not spend more than it earns, or more than it can repay.
AT ARSENAL, we take that for granted.
It’s a serious club, well run by serious people.
The financial side is taken care of by Keith Edelman and Danny Fiszman.
So most shareholders do not worry about that.
They worry about the team and the results and getting match tickets.
Since Arsene Wenger is the best public speaker on the stage, and the man people want to hear, I always feel he should be placed next to Danny Fiszman, rather than on the far left of the stage.
Arsene is also adept at answering questions. He is experienced, fluent, persuasive, charming and sometimes droll.
If the AGM used Arsene in a slightly different way, the meeting would be more enjoyable and more re-assuring for the shareholders.
Last Thursday’s meeting lasted 65 minutes, there were sixteen questions, and the only man to mention the V-word was the manager.
It was the first time Arsene has stood up to face the AGM with his team eighth in the table.
He spoke for six minutes and twenty seconds and then answered a question about Robinson, Carrick and Defoe.
Overall, I thought Arsene was a shade more apologetic than he needed to be.
But you can make up your own minds about what he said.
One thing about ANR is that we have a lot of discerning readers who can take a sensible view of complicated matters.
Arsene started by saying, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your continued support, we will need it this season.”
There was laughter.
“Like any other season. I think we will get it right. We have just out of a season where we finished second, and that was a disappointment.
“But it was still second, and we won the cup, and as well we had the 49- game unbeaten record. It means that the standards are very high, the target is very high, and of course we want to finish well, as high every season.
“I must say that at home we have had a quite satisfying start to the season, we won all the games. But we had a very disappointing start away from home, and that makes me unhappy.
“In the previous season before we had the whole season unbeaten, we played a whole season unbeaten away from home. Usually one of our strengths is to be strong away from home.
“We have been hit hard by international games and every time we lost our game after an international. Because we were hit very hard by injuries after international games.
“At the moment I’m a strong believer in the quality of the squad I have at my disposal. I just want to explain a little bit what my thoughts are behind that. Because at the start when we decided to build a new stadium, I tried to anticipate the problems we could face with the ageing of our squad.
“And I felt that at that time, the finances would not be available to maintain completely the level we had. And I invested a lot in young talents, and I feel we did well in scouting the young talents. They are remarkable.
“The structure of the squad at the moment, you can divide our squad, out of 23 players, with 50% below the age of early twenties – some are 18, 19 – and the rest of the squad is close to 30 or over 30. Therefore, we are a little unbalanced, with a reduced number of players between 24 and 28.
“That is what we try to correct a little bit in the break, and try to address, I hope, in January. I don’t think it is a big problem when all the experienced players are available. But in some away games , we have played with a very, very young team.
“We didn’t suffer a lot in the domination or possession at all, we were still very dominating, but we couldn’t transform our superiority into points. That, of course, has caused a little damage.
“I think as well that in many of the games away from home, we have been beaten, every time we had bad luck. In the first 20 minutes at Chelsea, we lost Ljungberg. Last week it happened again at West Brom.
“But I feel, despite that, I’m very confident in this team, I’m very confident in this squad, and I know that there has been some questions about the spirit and the unity of our squad, but I can tell you, more than ever, when I see them practise on a daily basis, and I see the ambition of the young players, their spirit is absolutely fantastic.
“That’s why I am very positive because I’m confident that we have the quality. I am confident that we will make quick progress when everybody is back now, and I personally still think that we will fight for the championship.
“What makes me very positive is that the team improves very quickly, they are very keen to learn, and that this year more than ever, I feel that the championship will be played in the second half of the year.
“Usually on Boxing Day, we would be on game 21 or 22. This year it will be game number 18 on Boxing Day. That means there is a long way to go and still 20 games to go, and we have a good chance to come back. As well, the Champions League, because we have been after it for a long time now.
“We will still fight for the FA Cup again, and give a chance to our younger players in the Carling Cup. But overall, I feel that the spirit of the club is high, and our situation is very strong, we have a strong ambition to become the best in the world.
“I know at the start of the season there was a media campaign and it was all doom and gloom – and that is not shared by me at all.
“The future of the club is very bright, we must not let people get us down, with negative vibes coming around us. There is everything there to be positive to have a very bright future together. But of course we have to stick together, and continue to develop the club.
So I’d just like, of course, to answer the question, if you have some questions. And hopefully, we’ll win our next game, and go on from there.Thank you very much.”
Big applause, as always, for Mr Wenger.
A shareholder asked : “Concerning the lack of English players at the club. It’s been said they’re too expensive, but we could have bought Robinson for £2 million, Carrick for three, Defoe for five. Which I’d consider fairly low fees for Arsenal, and even if they were unsuccessful I’m sure we could have sold them on for about the same price.”
Arsene said, “Well, that’s a difficult question. If I can answer the second part of the question first. The target when you buy a player is not to sell him on. You don’t consider that too much. (applause)
“I agree that you would not lose money for that price. I don’t like to consider too much the passport when I buy a player.
“The advantage of buying English is of course they know the culture, they are more stable, less likely to move. On top of that, it’s easier to create a common spirit.
“But I still feel that at Arsenal the way we try to operate is to create values that we feel are important for the club.
“And I believe that the values can be shared by English players, but as well they can be shared by foreign players if you bring them in early. They can identify themselves with the values you want at the club.
“The idea that I always try to defend, I hope, is that Arsenal is special because Arsenal is about values more than anything else. And we want these values to be shared by the board, by you, by the players, those special values have to be shared by everybody.
“Considering these three players, I must tell you honestly, I considered all the three of them. So you will make a good scout for us (laughter). But it didn’t work for various reasons.
“For some of them I was very far, in negotiations. And in the end it didn’t work. It’s very difficult to explain sometimes I felt that the boy would not play, I felt that the competition was too hard.
“I felt for example that Carrick was too similar to Vieira – you can come back to me and say : Vieira is gone now ! Sometimes I felt the boy would not play immediately.
“And sometimes it was too much competition for the same position. But the three players are of course very good.”
October 25th 2005.