Must admit I’m baffled by the “partnership” with Colorado Rapids and proposals for “marketing” and “player development”.
If Arsene Wenger can’t find an English player good enough to play for Arsenal, how will he find an American?
While Manchester United might go on tour and play a game in Seattle, the HQ of Nike, then fly east and play in Boston and New Jersey, Arsenal like to play Barnet, St Albans, maybe Norwich, a couple of village teams in Austria, and a game in Amsterdam on the way home.
That is what their scientific manager thinks is the ideal preparation for his players. He does it that way because it works. His pre-season is meticulously rehearsed so that the orchestra is in tune and swingng on day one of the Premiership. If they win the Community Shield on the way to that first day, fine. He knows what he likes and what works for his players. He absolutely hates long flights and jet-lag. He doesn’t want his players waking up in the middle of the night. Sometimes it takes an athlete’s body two weeks to adjust to a new time-zone.
For Arsene Wenger, marketing may be desirable but the physical preparation of his players is fundamental to his work.
And his comments last week confirm that he has a lot of offers for his team to play here, there and everywhere. We guessed that was the case.
He said “I don’t like the pre-season tours. But the club has become so popular that we have a lot of proposals now to do it. I hope I can resist as long as I want because it is a lot of money that is offered. But I will have the final say.”
That’s it : I will have the final say.
If AFC is British -owned, Arsene will be here. He works where he can be in charge. Monaco, Grampus Eight and Arsenal have only one thing in common : all three clubs let him do it his way.
If he can’t have the final say at Arsenal, he will not be here. He will do it his way or not at all. He is an uncompromising character who would not take orders from a Russian owner, an Arab owner, or an American owner.
Arsene Wenger is a club-builder and a star-maker and he gets his kicks seeing the young ones improving and becoming World Cup players.
If Danny Fiszman isn’t around, I don’t think Arsene will be around. And Danny doesn’t seem to be around much any more. And David Dein no longer plays a role in the day-to-day running of the club. Palace chairman Simon Jordan said in the Standard that Dein has been marginalised at Arsenal.
The silence from Arsenal’s main shareholders is deafening. Danny hasn’t said : My shares are not for sale. Dein hasn’t said : My shares are not for sale. Lady Nina has not said : My shares are not for sale.
So their silence, and the Liverpool takeover, and the Colorado deal, sends this message : the last of the Big Four might be available.
Arsenal is only great club left in the richest league in the world, it’s in London, it has one of the world’s great managers – and it might be for sale.
And, obviously, it’s worth a lot more with Arsene Wenger in charge.
He is not the only football coach in the world but he will be a very hard act to follow and the Arsenal board know that better than anyone else.
Long-term, the $64,000 question isn’t : Could Arsenal be sold?
It is : If Arsene stayed, and had big budget, would he buy readymade stars?
After all, it took him ten years to sign a foreign player from another Premiership club. And while William Gallas is one of the three finest defenders in world football, the circumstances of his arrival at Arsenal were unusual, to say the least.
To sum up : Arsenal is a big club in a big stadium with a cheap team. They have the finest cheap team you’ve ever seen and it might win a trophy this season.
The books look good, although accounts are just numbers accountants prepare for each other. Accounts can be opaque.
However, in a year or two, when the Emirates Stadium cash machine has generated many millons, the books will look healthier than they do now.
So 2008 or 2009 would be the ideal time for the club to be sold, if it is sold.
Arsene said on Sky that the club will be strong when the stadium’s paid for.
“I’m very sad to lose Highbury. Because ideally I would have moved out of there, moved to the Emirates, and keep Highbury like it is, and play some games with the youth teams, the youth cup, and the reserve team. That would have been ideal. But you do not have the finances to achieve that.
“You have to move if you want to survive at the top level. For the managers to come, for the future generations. When that stadium is paid for, the club can really have another development.”
That’s a bit worrying. The stadium will probably be paid for in 7-10 years. At the moment it looks like most of their cash is being put into building the flats at Highbury, which will pay off handsomely in the long term.Sentimental old Robert Pires has bought one.
Arsenal will take the risk, and the profit. But that could mean they have a cheap team next year and the year after and for five more years beyond that.
As the football club has mutated into a property company, the squad has become weaker than it should be, so Arsenal now needs an investor.
And that might be what this Colorado deal is all about.
Rapids owner Stan Kroenke is a quiet and private guy, like Danny Fiszman.
From what I’ve heard about Kroenke, I reckon those two would speak the same language.
Arsenal are good deal-makers. We hope.