Help! Our Manager Has Gone Crazy

Now if ever anyone had thought football was just a game, then they would be needing a rethink because the game has gone way beyond entertainment to becoming a full blown business both off and on the pitch of play especially in modern times. Picking it up from the perspective of being a business, everyone knows that there is a ridiculous amount of money to be made some where in there. More so, considering the massive salaries players earn these days and how much there is to be made off television rights, shirt sponsorship, stadium name rights and gate-takings not forgetting the gambling racket outside of the game.

 In the midst of all of these, it is so easy to forget the very essence and root of the game of football which is more towards competitive entertainment, and a strong clause that features constantly through the generations of gaming is the collective gathering referred to as the spectators, audience, supporters  or the fans as the case may be.

Profit Sharing Over Fan's Interest

When the managers of the game put aside the interest of such supporters especially when they are paying and it is no more free service, then there begins to show up a major problem unfolding. Enter the fray- Arsenal football club of England and how much of business astuteness they seem to have shown in these last eight years. It must be said that they have built a state of the art stadium, converted the former stadium in to a block of luxury flats that have paid off the debts incurred to build them and now add to the profits coming in, a standard training ground and many more achievements off the field. But that is as far as the commendation should go.

The club has totally lost focus as to where the main stakes lie. They continue to punish the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg - the very game of football on the pitch of play, the paying fan-base and the larger worldwide cult-like following. Almost the whole world now wonders if the club management ever heard of the phrase “striking a balance between making money and winning trophies.” Nothing like that seems to exist in their dictionary.

Profiteering In the Name of Rebuilding

How else do you relate going a whole season unbeaten with a team of experienced and quality players as at eight years ago and subsequently going virtually trophy-less for the next eight seasons? Much focus has been put on balancing the books, so much so that the manager Monsieur Arsene Wenger has intentionally phased out a whole first team squad of twenty-two players and more from the academy all in the name of rebuilding. He now has a track record of selling between two to three of his best players in one season, sometimes adding the captain and the assistant to such to-be-sold ranks for good measure.

He started the tradition by selling Captain Patrick Vieira to Juventus, then sold players like Robert Pires to Villareal, Captain Thierry Henry to Barcelona, Mathieu Flamini to AC Milan, Gilberto Silva (asst. captain) to Olympiakos, Alexander Hleb to Barcelona, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City in the same season, then Captain Cesc Fabregash, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy in the same season to Barcelona and Manchester city respectively. The list goes on, Emmanuel Eboue, Sylvian Wiltord, Lauren Etameya, and Freddie Ljumberg and on and on grows the list.

The Self-Destructive Track record 

The seeming final straw of this season could be the maintenance of Wenger’s new found track record; by selling his Captain and best player in the English premier league last season Robin van Persie, and another of his greatest players Alexander Song to Barcelona. All of this journey must have made him over two hundred and fifty million pounds in conservative estimates considering  the long list plus a series of other young lads that have been chucked out who have gone on to become great players in the clubs they left for; granting  Arsenal an earning potential - something for raising them.

In the same time that this downward spiral had been embarked on, the board had relatively kept silent because their business interests had not only been protected but greatly boosted as the club shares were increasing in value and they were making much more money. Ironically, in that same period, the ticket prices both singular and seasonal were rising to become some of the most expensive not only in England but in all of Europe. Simply put, the fans and spectators were being bilked out of their hard earned moneys with a phony charade on display called beautiful football.

Do the Fans Matter at All?

The end of the season showed no trophies and the Silverware cabinet kept gathering cobwebs as it has been empty for so long that it almost does not get a cleaning anymore. Now the money is only one side to it, the other part is the emotions of these same fans that have not only been toyed with but plainly rubbished. The latter combined with the constant ridicule from opposition fans, referring to Arsenal football club as an academy, a stepping stone, a feeder team, a team of greens and all sought of strange name tags.

With this background, the question arises “When big clubs set out every season, do they think of “Merely doing well or Going for glory - the ultimate price being the trophy?” This is what teams like Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have gone for with great dividends not only in money, but follower-ship and an appreciation of fans telling and showing them they are the major reason why they still play this game.  

A Clear lack of Prospects or Ambition Going Forward

When a player like Robin van Persie who is captain of the club and one who virtually carried the team on his back to third position last season, seats with the Club Manager Arsene Wenger and the Chief executive Ivan Gazidis ; asking them to paint a picture of the prospects for the next few years. He comes out of such meeting saying that he just couldn’t see it as they were just not so particular about trophies meaning it was more of mediocrity and money all the way. The latter happened to be the more reason why van Persie chose to join Manchester United. The seasonal aim for Arsenal Football Club had become “let’s just finish in a good position on the table, qualify for the champions’ league, and celebrate fourth place as a golden trophy.”

Easily, you get to ask yourself, “does anyone set out to self-destruct on purpose?” especially when the interests hanging involves a wide plethora of people. There seems to be no better explanation than saying - either the Manager has gone crazy or the whole board of directors are not only senile but totally obsessed with milking the purse at the expense of the Fans and the game bringing in the funds. The Question is:  where do we go from here? As the long term fans are saying it is a lesson in loyalty especially since they were there during the glory days of a whole season unbeaten, and now eight years of tears without a trophy.

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Wenger's Perfection Induced Obsession

A strong submission would be this- “After seemingly achieving immortality and invincibility with the unbeaten season, Arsene Wenger went in to a Perfection induced obsession feeling that no opinions counted anymore as he had now become all in all” the reality speaks differently and he is being brought down to earth by the results in recent seasons and another thing is becoming worrisome- the rate at which he is ageing. Rather than do so gracefully, he has chosen the path of continuous stress overdrive because of a lack of capable personnel due to his stubbornness and ill-needed frugality.

All we can say is “the wait goes on whether for a trophy or at least a golden coin if there was any silverware going by that name.” An attachment to that would be how you can manage to convince the other players left that you want to achieve anything meaningful, extending to results that depict a purposeful career. Someone had better told him to learn from Ajax and the glory days. The moment they started selling was when their downward spiral really began, turning them into one of the main feeder teams for the big clubs in Europe -a trend that has continued until now.



Picture Source: Arsenal.com

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Monsieur Wenger Finally Gets The message

Timeline is 2011, and monumentally the year marks Arsenal football club’s one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary.Everywhere else it would have been a time to roll out the drums and celebrate,with Arsenal thankfully not an exception. Sorry enough,that’s where the similarities end.In other places also, it would often mark a change in board policy,say setting a target of picking up extra trophies,bolstering the squad,enlarging the stadium and giving the fans a treat, possibly clear discounts on seasonal tickets. Amazingly, Arsenal Football Club have opted for the reverse in the majority of points earlier listed.The board refusing to change a policy that has cost the club six trophy-less years, sales of more than four experienced players plus the loan of a couple of other valuable legs. An increase in the price of seasonal tickets in a season when we should be celebrating.Weakening the squad up to a point where the team loses loses scandalously to one of its biggest rivals by a scoreline last experienced one hundred and fourteen years ago.One would be forced to say “what a way to celebrate our one hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of existence.” Rather than change the policy, Wenger insists on doing the same thing he has done in recent years that brought about the decline in the first place.

Needless to say, the last time Arsenal won the premiership was in 2004/2005 season during the era of the 'invincibles' , prosecuting the whole season without losing a game. Do we say that perfection got Wenger obsessed,and then he decided to try out another method,hoping to achieve the same result? It must be pointed out that the same squad that is now famously referred to as the 'invincibles' had in it experienced legs such as Vieira, Henry and Pires,some of whom had won the World cup and the European title as at the time; including some seasoned campaigners like Dennis Bergkamp,David Seaman,Ray Parlour,Kanu Nwankwo,Ashley Cole,Lauren Etameya,who had won a couple of African nations cup trophies and even the olympic football medal,not forgetting Gilberto Silva,who was a part of Brazil’s 2002 world cup winning squad. Clearly, it took such as arsenal of players with that much fire power to achieve such an enviable feat in contemporary English football. The question now remains “how does a coach who achieved so much with such a side,turn around and invariably deny the importance of experience? choosing to pursue an all-out youth policy,which in all fairness has proven futile in the long run?”,only monsieur Wenger can explain.

Whilst one would try not to be too hard on the man,seeing what he has already achieved,and how much he loves the club and wants to do well for it; it is hard not to class him as an extremist after doing the same thing for six years without a positive result and insisting on remaining on the same path. It is painful to mention that since 2005,Wenger has sold an average of two players every season,most times players playing in the same position when one could have stayed as replacement for the other, and at other times without clear replacements.how do you explain the sale of Patrick Vieira and Edu in the same transfer window, or Gilberto Silva and Flamini in the same season? He went on to sell players like Pires,later on Hleb, Lauren,Henry and the likes. Every team relies on a blend of its more experienced minds and a league of youth,so that the culture can be healthily transferred on and the younger players now understand what it means to play for the badge,and to show pure loyalty when you kiss the badge.It may sound like rubbing it in by a sheer comparison with Sir Alex Ferguson,who has chosen to do the latter,but who else do you compare a seasoned coach like Arsene Wenger to? Both coaches exist in a class of their own,having been the only two managers to have handled big clubs for over ten years. It is also necessary to compare as it keeps the fire burning and signifies the willingness to improve.Even as an Arsenal fan,i would admit that Sir Alex has copied Wenger’s style so many times,achieving success in the process.Can the professor just do the same? Afterall life is about learning the lesson and moving on.

Enough said about the negatives.The financial climate has not been the same as in the past, and the harsh reality is that football does not exist on a different planet, so the financial crisis does affect our beautiful game too.One must appreciate that ‘le professour’ is doing a good job in balancing the books,especially considering huge debts other clubs have been incurring combined with having to service the loan repayment of the emirates stadium expenses all at a go.Nevertheless there must be a balance,so that a club with such lasting legacy and a huge supporter base does not begin to toe the path of self-destruction by getting obsessed with a conservative policy of not spending.It has to be realized that winning major trophies even if assisted by spending,improves the popularity of the brand and in turn value of the club,by attracting a higher sales of club merchandise, richer sponsors, more valuable television rights, better sponsorship deals from kit manufactures and sponsorship partners. With a seasoned board, albeit on the decline since the departure of David Dein,one would think that it should not take much to realize all of these points ,as the whole combination is the glaring reality and the obvious truth.It even attracts fans from some places like Asia and America where the fan base is not yet as large as it should be bringing about a temptation to tour such regions in the nearest future.

Even if the board has not shown any positive prospects with their moves in the board room,it appears Arsene Wenger has been forced to get the message by the harsh realities of the day.As earlier said,balance is key and it would be a rare combination of a football mastermind and some shrewd economics. Point of note, Wenger had chased per Mertesacker for four years, as long as i can remember,only picking him up with one year left on his deal albeit at twenty-six years of age,even with the benefit of the player forcing one last promising move to a big club as added advantage.Bringing in an experienced player like Santos,a left-back for the Brazilian national team, Mertesacker himself being the captain of his former club and a seasoned campaigner for the ‘German machine’; Park chu Young,another international and captain of the South Korean national team, experienced premiership executioner by the name Yossi Benayoun,also captain of the Isreali national side and finally Mikel Arteta who has done it all for Everton,a graduate of the famous Barcelona ‘le-mercia’, and one who has played for the Spanish national team at every level except the senior team which is not hard to put down to the boom of stars the current generation in Spain has thrown up. Who says experience does not count? The only question remains, “we all hope it is not a little too late to salvage the season and at least a fourth place finish? It remains to be seen. Another clear concern which must be voiced before bringing this to an end is the training routine Wenger deploys which is more geared towards fitness than it is football specific.May be that would account for the number of injuries the players sustain, and the high number of players out on the doctor’s list simultaneously? If It was an issue of concern with much younger players who should be better at coping with it, as compared to older players that have just been brought in, one can only wait in anxiety.Thankfully enough, Wenger splashed the cash on the last three days of the transfer window,coming up with some shrewd deals and extra cash for the banks as usual.Some would attribute it to the ‘Man-Utd’ loss,but i disagree, feeling that Wenger always had it all planned this way.Only that nature chose to deal him a strong lesson to go with it.