INTRODUCTION.
It’s been eight years and no trophy is in the pipeline
this season again i.e. a trophy for straight good eight years. Top four finish
has been the trophy of Arsene Wenger and the board because it makes their
accounts balanced and surplus in their financial statement. The 25m per season
for UEFA champions League qualification and with that it will guarantee their
sponsorship deals.
The fans paid more money for tickets than any other clubs
in the EPL and merchandise are not even put into consideration by the board. In
spite of no trophy every season, increment in tickets every season.
I believe the fans deserve more than a top four.
Below will be the total and complete diagnosis of what I
believe went wrong with my Beloved Arsenal FC;
• When
Arsene Wenger was employed?
• Arsene
Wenger’s Achievements.
• What
actually went wrong after the glorious years?
• Selling
stars, buying world flops and Profit Making.
• Overview
of some stars Arsenal FC can never replace?
• And
possible solution and way forward.
WHEN
ARSENE WENGER WAS EMPLOYED?
In 1996, Wenger was named manager of Arsenal and two
years later the club completed a league and FA Cup double.
He led Arsenal to
appearances in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final and 2001 FA Cup Final, and a second
league and cup double in 2002. Arsenal retained the FA Cup in 2003 and a year
later regained the league title, becoming the first club to go through an
entire league season undefeated since Preston North End, 115 years previously.
The team later eclipsed Nottingham Forest's record of 42
league matches unbeaten and went seven more matches before losing in October
2004.
Arsenal made their first appearance in a Champions League
final in 2006, though they lost to Barcelona. In 2012, the club qualified for a
15th successive season in the Champions League, despite their worst start to a
season for 58 years.
During his tenure, Arsenal moved to a new training centre
and relocated to the Emirates Stadium in August 2006, after 93 years at
Highbury.
ARSENE
WENGER’S ACHIEVEMENTS.
Under his management, Arsenal have won three English
Premier League titles (1997-1998, 2001-2002, 2003-2004), four FA Cups
(1997-1998, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2004-2005), and four Community Shields (1998,
1999, 2002, 2004).
Between 1997 and
2005, Arsenal finished first or second in the league.
He is also the first non-British manager to win the
Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season - 'The Double' - in England,
having done so in 1998 and 2002. In 2004, he became the only manager in Premier
League history to go through the entire season without defeat.
WHAT
ACTUALLY WENT WRONG AFTER THE GLORIOUS YEARS?.
The first answer is obvious, Wenger himself. The
professor’s course is no longer relevant yet he is still teaching it. It’s like
GHC in 2013, or Microsoft DOS, you cannot do much with it. Wenger’s much hyped
youth project has not borne fruit in eight years.
Fabregas, who was 16 when it started, got tired of
waiting and left.
Samir Nasri left and won the Premier League in his first
season away WHILE Robin Van Persie
has the potential of winning a treble with Manchester United – his head must be
spinning like full AC fan.
Wenger has for
eight years been unable to engineer a trophy; really, even the Carling Cup, and
just to underline the extent of the problem, he went ahead to invent his own
trophy-the fourth place cup. I don’t know whether to file that under lack of
ambition or inability to compete.
Wenger has had the money and the scouting network to
bring world class players to Arsenal. He landed Vermaelen, Oxlade-Chamberlain,
Carzola, Song and Sagna all brilliant players who can form the spine of a
championship team, but then he turns and acquires players like Squillaci,
Kolscieny, Andre Santos, Chamakh and Gervinho.
Wenger’s problem is not that he sells stars alone, it’s
that the times when Arsenal need world class players the most, Arsene Wenger
goes off and brings a Squillaci.
THE
SECOND PROBLEM at Arsenal is of course the accountants.
These are the guys who have shielded Arsene Wenger for eight years, they
applaud during every transfer window when he walks into their offices and
instead of asking for tens of millions asks for five or three, they love him to
bits and would not trade him for Pep Guardiola.
So long as Arsenal Football Club confuses the accounts
department for the heart and soul of the club, they will continue to live in a
time warp of disappointment and under achievement. It’s good to make money, but
the business of a football club is winning, period.
THE
THIRD PROBLEM is the number of journeyman-kind-of-players
at Arsenal. Manchester United has three world class strikers Van Persie, Rooney
and Chicharito. No striker at Arsenal instantly commands the label world class,
Giroud is okay but he is not world class and neither is Podolski if you want to
call him a striker and let’s not even talk about Walcott or Gervinho.
The Theo Walcott experiment is not working; I know he
scored one goal in December that reminded people of Thierry Henry but does that
makes him a striker?
In midfield, when they have world class players like
Arteta, Cazorla and Wilshire until they bring in Diaby like they did against
Blackburn and mess everything up.
THE
OTHER PROBLEM with Arsenal is they have never had a really
good goalkeeper since David Seaman left. Szczesny is not bad but he is also not
the most reliable fella in the world and his subs, well let’s just end there.
Watching Arsenal against Bayern Munich on Tuesday was
interesting for one reason, Bayern did not give a damn that they were away,
they were not scared one bit of Arsenal and they were right.
Three away goals is just too much and the thought that
Arsenal can waltz into Germany in a few days and score three unanswered goals,
well that’s just ludicrous. It’s not impossible but it’s highly improbable.
SELLING
STARS, BUYING WORLD FLOPS AND PROFIT MAKING…
Arsenal has announced a profit of £17.8million in the
club's latest half-yearly results but the figures are significantly influenced
by the changes in the squad which occurred in the summer transfer window.
The Evening Standard reports the Gunners made £23.2m in
player trading after selling stars including Robin van Persie and Alex Song
while acquiring Lukas Podolski, Oliver Giroud and Santi Cazorla and tying six
first-team players including Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott to new deals. For
accounting purposes, the cost of signing a player is spread out over the term
of their contract.
Last year Arsenal announced a £49.5m profit for the six
months to November 2011, thanks to selling Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael
Clichy but the previous half-yearly figures showed a £2.5m loss as there were
no major departures in the summer of 2010.
The figures showed turnover fell by £7.4m to £106.1m due
to there being four fewer home fixtures than the same period last year and the
importance of turning a profit on transfers is underlined by the club’s
operating profit falling to just £5m compared to the previous £15.2m figure.
OVERVIEW
OF SOME STARS ARSENAL FC CAN NEVER REPLACE.
·
David O’Leary (Record appearance 772).
·
Tony Adams.
·
Lee Dixon.
·
David Season.
·
Nigel Winterburn.
·
Ian Wright.
·
Thierry Henry (Record time scorer 278).
·
Dennis Bergkamp.
·
Marc Overmars.
To mention a few.
AND
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AND WAY FORWARD….
The common sense analysis of Arsenal’s problems comes
down to this: because of the ineptitude of the manager and the board, Arsenal
doesn’t have good enough players. We
should spend more, and change the manager and we need leaders on and off the
pitch like Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira.
Possibly a new head of the club with a lot of money would allow us to
spend our way out of trouble.
It can work. When
Manchester City was sold in order to be part of the promotion of the World Cup
in the middle East it had all the money from the oil rich state pumped into it
and the club won the league.
I believe the philosophy should be totally changed or
adjusted with some experience players if the so called youth development is
still going to be on.
I pray for my beloved Arsenal and the management.
God bless Pooja, God Bless My Beloved Arsenal Fans, God
Bless All Haters, God Bless Arsene Wenger, God Bless Arsenal FC and Management.
