From Tom Stratton
Myles,
Like many who voice their opinions in the Arsenal Blogosphere, I am a frustrated fan, slightly incredulous at some of the decisions Arsene has made, and continues to make.
But I think some perspective on Arsenal as a club is needed to understand why Wenger continues to act as he does.
My basic point is this: Arsene is working to the criteria for success that were in place for all of us before the EPL became the most exciting domestic football show on Earth and Arsenal moved into a stadium that befits one of the very top clubs.
If one takes a closer look at the club’s behaviour and performance over the number of years needed to put the Wenger era in perspective it makes for interesting reading. Between Bertie Mee’s double success in ’71 and Arsene’s emulation of the feat in ’98 Arsenal won the league just twice.
That is twice in 27 years, with a few FA cups, a couple of league cups and a Cup Winner’s Cup thrown in.
Arsenal were a grand old name of English football, but they were not consistently winning honours as Liverpool, Everton, Nottingham Forrest, Aston Villa and Leeds all did at points during this period.
Some of our best players left at their peak – Kennedy, Stapleton and most relevantly, in my opinion, Brady, who was genuinely world class but felt his ambition could only be satisfied elsewhere.
So why, with such much greater gaps between major trophies previously, are we so exasperated at a 7 year wait for trophies in which we have been in the hunt most years? This is the Premier League effect. There are now only a few clubs with the resources to consistently challenge for major trophies, as a result of the way money has been distributed since the onset of the EPL in ’92 and the Champions League at around the same time.
I co-wrote an article (http://www.fabians.org.uk/debates/life-chances-and-equality/football-social-mobility looking at the declining competitiveness of English football, and the consequences have been that for clubs that rode the crest of the Premier League wave, or have had massive cash injections, expectations are now much higher than they ever were previously for big clubs.
Founded on stability, incrementalism and tradition, the club’s fans, many of them children of the EPL era, are asking it to step outside its comfort zone and demand results in greater quantity and faster than ever before.
In many ways Wenger has been a victim of his own success. He gave us a glimpse of what Arsenal could be: a club world-famous for winning, often, and in a style very few can match.
More importantly however, as the fan’s expectations rose on the back of glorious triumphs, the pragmatic board kept the success criteria much the same due to the stadium move.
When Wenger says that coming second every year and qualifying for the Champions League is success, he is talking about what was demanded of him between 2004 – 2010, when the club’s debt, and latterly the fear of falling property prices, meant the cash flow from the Champions League was vital to keeping Arsenal viable, with any trophies a bonus.
But we are now a big club.
We have the biggest club stadium in the largest city in England. A fan base that can only be bettered by Man U and Liverpool. The club should be high on every top player’s list of clubs to join.
However, Wenger is working to the old board’s criteria for success and not so long ago the fans would have accepted simply being in the hunt.
For the past few seasons we have wondered whether Arsene could shift his philosophy away from his expertise – success on medium-sized budgets – to truly acting like the manager of a club that now demands a trophy a season.
All the evidence points to the conclusion he is finding that transition impossible to make and the next stage of our journey might be made without him.
But, in our clamour for success, we would do well to remember that there are very few clubs who are successful every season. And even fewer that do so with stable foundations at the club.
There is only one established model for consistent success in what is an unprecedented era – a club that stuck by their manager through thick and thin.
Our expectations have changed, the Board’s will have to as well if we are to continue to pay to watch the team, but we should not forget that in large part Arsene is the architect of this shift in expectations.
It’s not so much that he is too stubborn or proud, but that he has been left behind.
Regards,
Tom
Myles replies:
In 1971, Don Howe and Frank McLintock were almost as important as Bertie Mee.
Even back then, the Arsenal manager had a big control issue. Bertie broke up the Double team far too soon to make life easier for himself.
Frank wasn’t finished.His QPR finished well above Arsenal one year
Between 1986 and 1991, George Graham was a special one.
Most of George’s decisions and judgements in those five years were as good as any manager ever.