So reads the banner that can be seen clearly behind the goal at the Emirates every time the Gunners appear on TV (without the question mark...we added that for reasons which will become apparent). And why shouldn’t the Arsenal faithful put complete trust in their leader? Not only has he bought regular trophies and champagne football, but also he has given his club, employers and fans alike, a vision.
The world is scoured for the best young talent. They bring in the best local lads they can find at 8 and 9, then as FA and FIFA rules relax at older age groups, first they can extend the radius from which they source players within the UK, secondly they can start bringing in precocious talents from overseas.
An elaborate yet thorough scouting network is in place that sees all manner of dossiers on youngsters presented to Wenger and his most trusted aides before a small number of the recommended players are actually signed. Once in the club, all these kids are schooled in the Arsenal way...that’s not the Herbert Chapman way, or the George Graham way, or the “1-0 to the Arsenal way”. It’s the Wenger way. Total football played the way the neutral loves.
Chuck in the subsequent savings on huge transfer fees that helps keep the club stable off the pitch, and it’s clear why both board and fans alike have been prepared to cut Wenger so much slack as he strives to leave a legacy that could serve the club well for decades to come. And with the extra income being generated fortnightly by 60,000 Emirates punters as opposed to Highbury’s 38,000, all should be rosy in the N5 garden.
Yet in spite of the shadow of Fergie’s retirement looming over Man United (plus the small matter of lying ‘only third’ in the League); continuing doubts over both the long term ownership of the club and Rafa’s ability to deliver the Premiership title furrowing Merseyside brows; and credit crunch concerns and a faltering home record causing consternation at the Bridge...it’s Arsenal, of all the so-called Big 4, who are currently being touted as a ‘crisis club’.
Clearly the ‘c’ word is much over-used by a media that feeds off inventing such crises on a daily basis. However, we didn’t need the booing of Emmanuel Eboue to tell us that all is not well.
It is arguably the very fact that a Big 4 exists that is at the root of Wenger’s problems. He and Fergie had effectively managed to create a Big 2, certainly in terms of sharing the Premiership trophy between them. Liverpool were trading on past glories, and when, in their first season under Benitez, their neighbours Everton beat them to 4th place, it looked as if the wheels really had come off. Then came Milan’s 15 minutes of madness in Istanbul, a dodgy UEFA ruling, and they were contenders again.
All this whilst Chelsea had charmlessly gatecrashed the party with their roubles.
Suddenly, getting a new stadium which would take matchday income to a figure more akin to that at Old Trafford, whilst aiming to have a more successful youth set up than their main rivals, wasn’t enough. Liverpool were five times European champions, whilst Chelsea were just plain rich – each of these facts appealing to footballers of a certain mindset. United continued to peddle the “biggest club in the world” line, along with a modern day heritage peppered with glamour few could match in the likes of Best, Cantona & Beckham.
Where could Arsenal fit into all this? No European Cups, no bottomless salary pit, and a less than glamorous pre-Wenger heritage, despite the trophies. This, arguably, is the key to the ever-more increased stubbornness that Wenger appears to thrive on. He needs to have a sales pitch with which to attract the great and the good to his club. His vision of a young, dynamic team playing one touch football is that pitch. It’s why the likes of Walcott and Ramsey opted for Arsenal. And it’s why he won’t sign Michael Owen or the good, old fashioned centre half he’s arguably needed since Adams and then Campbell moved on.
Arsenal fans will argue that the club has enough going for it that genuine big names would happily sign for them. The board regularly let it be known that the funds are there for a £20 million+ signing if that’s what the manager wants. Clearly, it’s not what he wants. And whilst we neutrals may lap up the exquisite pass & move master classes Wenger’s team often provide, you can understand the fans’ frustration as they fall behind their rivals in terms both of Prem finishing positions and cup wins.
Closer analysis also reveals that Wenger has clearly changed tack in the trophy-less past few seasons. Many of his earlier Gunners teams had players of overtly physical presence – not just those he inherited from Graham / Rioch, but also signings of his own such as Campbell, Vieira and Petit. Hard men like these allowed the likes of Bergkamp and Henry to play. The current squad has no obvious equivalents.
Star turns such as the aforementioned Henry and Bergkamp no doubt earned big salaries...and were augmented by experienced internationals such as Pires and Ljunberg, who would not have come cheap either.
The closest to star turns in the current squad are van Persie, Adebayor and Fabregas – all relative babes in arms, at least two of whom have commented negatively in public about the club’s wage policy. As for experience, it’s woefully lacking. Gallas, Rosicky, Silvestre – a headcase, a sicknote and a United reject would be the cynic’s summary of that trio.
Just past the halfway point last season, with Arsenal delighting the purists with their football and topping the League, it seemed that selling Henry and relying on youth had been Wenger’s masterstroke. Even after the post-Birmingham meltdown caused by Eduardo’s sickening injury and Gallas’s temper tantrum, many felt that this season the team might come of age and truly challenge.
However, when it became clear that Messrs Hleb and Flamini had decided that the grass was greener (and the pay packets fatter) on the other side, it looked like a watershed moment for Wenger’s crusade. Two players he had nurtured and supported through less than glorious starts to their careers in North London showed scant loyalty in return, moving on after their first consistently good season for the team.
Arguably Wenger was right not to cave in to their wage demands as it would have left the whole of the first team squad forming a less than orderly queue outside his door. His compromise solution was to ward off Adebayor’s admirers with a prohibitive price tag and a decent, but not squad-unsettling, pay rise. However, it was hard to avoid the feeling that Europe’s super-powers were beginning to think that they could treat Arsenal as feeder club-cum-high quality finishing school. Would Wenger make the big signings to disprove that theory?
Whilst Nasri was effectively a direct replacement for Hleb, and commanded a relatively hefty fee by Wenger standards, Flamini & Gilberto have not been replaced by players of similar stature. Fabregas must be very lonely in centre midfield.
With the departure of Mad Jens, Almunia has been left with a 23 year old and a 20 year old as his only competition. Whilst he’s proved more capable than many imagined, he’s hardly in the Schmeichel / Seaman / Cech mould, the truly world class ‘keepers whose saves save the points that win titles.
Equally, there is no regular centre back partnership that comes anywhere near Ferdinand / Vidic or Terry / Carvalho.
In short, no spine.
Wenger changed many negative views of Arsenal very quickly after his arrival in 1996, but for a number of years he was dogged by a rash of red cards for his players leading to accusations of squad ill-discipline (not helped by his infamous “I didn’t see it” knee jerk response to many unsavoury incidents). There were also complaints about bullying and intimidation by the likes of Vieira (most famously in the Highbury tunnel with Gary Neville before one R. Keane got involved), and a scowling Martin Keown & co. after a late van Nistelrooy penalty miss at Old Trafford.
It appears that Wenger is now striving to be the ultimate football romantic. No obscene salaries, no over-inflated transfer fees and also no overtly physical players, no on-field intimidation of refs or opponents. Just scores of players from the u9s upwards schooled in playing the beautiful game at its most beautiful.
To the neutral who loves to watch them play, we applaud...just as neutrals in the 70s, 80s & 90s would have applauded successive Dutch teams, Platini-era France and Portugal’s golden generation...a couple of Euro victories scant consolation for not one World Cup between them. Just as we all applauded Argentina in the 2006 World Cup despite their ultimate failure. Just as we applauded club sides that fell short of the title such as Bobby Robson’s Ipswich, Dave Sexton’s QPR, Ron Greenwood / John Lyall’s West Ham.
We non-Big 4 supporting neutrals might want them to win the title or the Champions’ League, but we’ll forget about it in seconds if they don’t. But Arsenal fans want more than the moral high ground. They want trophies. They’re a big club used to winning titles regularly, not least under Wenger.
And for the first time ever, a number of them, not just the odd phone-in nutter who thinks John Radford still plays upfront, are questioning whether in Arsene they do trust any longer
