From Alexander Tovey : Tantric Wenger
It’s been really interesting recently reading comments from readers.
Some slate Wenger, some slate the slaters, talk about our golden era, abject goalkeeping and so on.
Here is my problem with Wenger’s management : it is like tantric sex.
We worked hard as a club to get to a point where we can win things, and instead of going on winning and winning and winning we have maintained a high level which is always kept 5% away from glory.
In short, we have always been one or two players short of winning the league, never abject but always one or two player shy. The gaps have been obvious to all and more often than not have been defensive ones.
This has been the most frustrating part of his tenure, the knowledge that just one small investment could have led to an era of success that would have rivalled Liverpool in the 80s and United in the 90s.
From Mark Ritson : Bring back David Dein
Arsenal have become a rudderless oil tanker.
There is no doubting they are a big club in the world of football and they can be force to be reckoned with on their day but at the moment they are adrift in the ocean.
What is the Arsenal plan?
It appeared the plan was for Wenger to build a cheap but talented young team that could compete for the major honours. A cheap team because the new stadium was supposed to be hampering our ability to compete in the transfer market.
Firstly, Arsenal have never competed with the big boys in the transfer market, the fact we have never spent over 20 million quid for a player proves this. Don’t get me wrong, not every player over 20 million quid is a good player but we have never been prepared to pay such a price even for a proven player at the top of their game.
Arsenal made Thiery Henry and at his peak he would have been worth more than 20 million quid but Wenger would never have paid such an amount for him event though he was a player Wenger adored.
The second point is that the has still be making profits year on year during the building and honey moon period of moving into the new stadium. Where has this money gone? Even if for one year Wenger didn’t want to spend any money because he thought the squad was sufficient surely the board could put some aside into a war chest for future years.
As Wenger has spent no real money in the last few years such a war chest would be very healthy, especially if you add the GBP 46.5m that has been accumulated with the sales of Adebayor, Toure and Eduardo.
Such a war chest would have given Wenger the ability to try a buy a Tores or Villa and keep prize assets like Fabregas happy.
We now see Arsenal haggling over 3 to 4 million quid for a goalkeeper and 6 million quid for a defender. 10 million quid to solve the fundamental problems holding the team back.
Personally I believe it should be Given and Jaglieka, even if they would come to 30 million quid.
If David Dein was still Chief Exec we would not be in the position we are no with transfers. The players that Wenger wants would be in the squad and playing in the team.
If the current club management system was around when Wenger first arrived we would never have signed the players we have enjoyed over the last 10 years such as Henry, Vieira, Overmars, Petit, Campbell and the like. Either their wages or their transfer fee would have had Wenger and the rest of the current clowns looking in the biscuit tin for the loose change rather than the bank account the millions of pounds.
Everyone keeps saying how successful we have been delivering Champion’s League football year in year out. You qualify for this by coming 4th in the league ! Where is the merit in finishing 4th every year, why is this such an achievement?
If the football club is not committed to winning trophies and I mean real commitment rather than we will have a jolly good push at trying to win a trophy then why are we in business?
David Dein or leader of a similar ilk would never have let the club drift along as it has done in the last few years. Who is really running the club and what are their ambitions ?
Bobbing along and banking 40 million quid profit each year may be appealing for the shareholders but is destroying the bond between the club and supporter who want a different agenda….. we want trophies!!!
From nioconnor : Emails
Myles
I have read and enjoyed your posts for a good few years.
Whilst I don’t agree with everything you have written, I do agree with certain things. Wenger is one of the few managers in the world who could have maintained a top 4 finish whilst the move to the Emirates was being funded so you have to give him his dues for that and also the fantastic period before then when we changed English football. I remember the Terry Neill and Don Howe era when top 6 was a success with a decent Cup run.
Gunners fans now are used to a high level of success and that is what is frustrating.
There is no doubt that Wenger has saved the clubs millions but it is now time to kick on from where the club is if they are otherwise it is stagnation (not ideal when you have other clubs investing heavily). If someone new was to come in they would need to do a complete overhaul of the squad and try to spend money in the most difficult transfer and financial environment there has been since the Premiership started. I don’t think a lot of the players are good enough or passionate enough for the club (Almunia, Eboue etc), I do think an English team needs a certain amount of English players (think Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal previously under Wenger), I also think that the art of defending, practising set plays and changing the shape / style of the team to suit the opposition should not be seen as beneath Wenger and his beautification of the English game.
At the moment, the team are a poor man’s Barca or a slightly richer man’s Ajax. I think it will be more of the same this year.
From Ray : Watching talented players perform is fantastic
Hi Myles,
Just some comments on a couple of Arsenal’s many talented players.
(1) Andrei Arshavin is an absolutely brilliant player. He isn’t perfect but he is fantastic. I have watched him live at the Emirates and he is just so damn talented! Defenders couldn’t even foul him let alone tackle him! Arsenal fans have to appreciate that sometimes when he doesn’t perform it is Wenger’s / the team’s fault. Last season Wenger played him up on his own against Chelsea and Man Utd – Just shocking! People who put him down just don’t get it and there is no point trying to explain.
(2)Are we going to see a new Theo Walcott this season?
I keep forgetting he is only 21 and has had significant injuries. He has started the season by impressively utilising his speed and making direct runs, both on and off the ball. It’s a shame that Nasri is injured because Theo would be one of the few runners that he likes to look for (as you pointed out previously). He has taken a few set pieces and has also crossed and passed really well. Are we finally seeing the football evolution of Walcott? A guy who can realise his talent by playing consistently and understands that goals and assists will define his success? Maybe he has been chatting with Arshavin. I really hope he continues as he has started because he puts in the effort and is fantastic to watch.
Thanks for the insights into AFC and all the best,
Ray
Myles replies :
Ray,
Your optimism on Walcott is commendable. I don’t share it.
Arshavin has been playing with better players than Walcott since he was nine.
Alexander,
He will always be two or three players short. He’d rather have too few players than too many. It is easier to control too few. And failure is more easily explained. And most of the squad have to owe their careers to him. Squillaci is 30 and was William Gallas’s deputy in France’s failed World Cup team.
Mark,
I wish Danny Fiszman was big enough to forgive and bring Dein back.
Whatever Dein did, the future is more important.
Four more years of Wenger without Dein will be another four years of no trophies.
Arsenal lost its soul. Tried to leave its history behind. What a crass & colossal own-goal that was ! The “bond” between supporters and club is based mainly on the loyalty and gullibility of the fanbase.
Since Chelski, Arsenal has not tried to compete. It built a new stadium instead. The stadium is a big, shiny, space-age cash machine which makes more money every season because they open more corporate restaurants every year. Arsenal is now a French club controlled by an American corporation and “Arsenalisation” and the laughable Fanshare are mere window-dressing. I like “Arsenalisation” but all that should have been done before the stadium opened.
Silent Stan Kroenke can turn it into Wal-mart if he wants. Glory does not come into it.
Last I heard, he was trying to buy the Rams in instalments.