Arsene Wenger: Friend or Foe?

Once upon a time, Arsene Wenger was the most admired manager in the entire world. He has been voted coach of the decade by the Institute of Football History and Statistics and has outscored other great and respected managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho. But, recently, Arsene Wenger has fallen into some disfavor with the fans due to the well documented trophy drought. Nowadays, he is known primarily for his astute transfer deals and player development skills rather than carrying the tag of the best manager in the world. To cut to the chase, he is now considered a has-been by many people. However, Wenger is really not the person to be reprimanded for the trophy less years at Arsenal; instead, one has to see if there are other factors – numerous intricacies left in the shade by selfish reasons? Although, there may be some downsides to Wenger but that is the case of all the great things present in the universe and Wenger is no exception to this time and tested rule. So, is Wenger responsible for the empty trophy cabinet at the Emirates or is he merely a victim of the situation?

Money is, regrettably, the essence upon which the modern game depends. I wish it didn’t work this way but this is the bitter truth in the beautiful game of football and it is especially true in the case of Arsenal FC. This money is the main reason behind the trophy drought at Arsenal as they simply cannot compete with the huge budget of top clubs that simply allows them to purchase top quality players. For a club like Arsenal, though, it presents a problem. Arsenal does not have a Santa Claus and thus every venture needs to be artful and organized. While the likes of Chelsea can have Romelu Lukaku not even featuring for them and Manchester City can afford to buy top quality players just for the sake of it, Arsenal simply do not have the means to do so. Along with buying every available player, these mega wealthy clubs also aggrandize the transfer market excessively. As a result, top quality players are hard to come by and as soon as these wealthy clubs become interested in an Arsenal target, Wenger pulls out of the race. What is more devastating is that he sells his best players to these same clubs for money as if he is raising a poultry farm rather than building a football team. Wenger needs to stop this and take control of the transfers as he has been around long enough to know that selling your best players each season will really get you nowhere. We are much nearer to the point of self destruction that we are to the invincible era.

The most distressing thing for me is when Wenger says that the Gunners are proud of their achievements. But it is difficult to come to any conclusion other than the fact they are comfortable with where they are—content to walk on the line where they amplify the earnings each year. There is apprehension that this philosophy is never going to change, and there is definitely no reason to think it is going to lead to trophies. The Gunners, like always, will nourish young players and they will watch them walk away to these well provided for clubs.

Now, the thing that needs to be changed is Wenger’s philosophy which is primarily based on developing young players and reaping the benefits of the financial merit of investing smartly. When it comes to financial matters, Arsenal are the archetype of a football club as their financial model is a sound and self-sustaining one. Now, how many clubs in the world can do that? Despite all these years without a trophy, Arsenal are second behind Manchester united in revenue despite having built a new stadium and that too having qualified for champions league each year.

Another factor is the rise of Tottenham and Manchester city in recent years which adds to the competition of the coveted silverware. Go back a few years and the premier league was essentially composed of the big four. Now, I am not sure whether Liverpool can be considered a big club anymore. On comparison between Arsenal with Liverpool, Arsenal have been performing constantly better than Liverpool, who, despite investing a lot of money into the club have struggled and are stuck in the middle of the table for God knows how long. Thus, therein lies the great management by Arsene Wenger who, despite having a limited budget, has never allowed Arsenal to steer below the top four.

So for things to change, sacking Wenger is not the solution of the problem and getting rid of him will only make the matters worse for Arsenal. What needs to be done is that the board has got to go, along with Peter Hill Wood. Arsenal board is primarily concerned with generating money. A major issue is that the Arsenal board is willing to contribute on transfers, but not the wages that a exemplary marquee signing would want. In the case of Juan Mata, it was fundamentally his wages that kept him from joining the Gunners after Chelsea became interested. Mata wanted 150k rather than the 100k which seem to be the limit of the board. Needless to say, the board disagreed.

Anyone remember David Dein, the vice-chairman of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007? He took an active interest in the transfer market and was also responsible for the appointment of Arsene Wenger. During the Dein era, Arsenal made a lot of marquee signings and for the very first time, Arsenal had a truly international superstar at their disposal when Dein flew to Milan and personally captured the signature of one Dennis Bergkamp (anyone remember him?) and was also involved in bringing in players from the invincible era. The slow dissolution of Arsenal all began when Dein left Arsenal in 2007 citing “irreconcilable differences” between himself and the board. Arsene Wenger made clear that David Dein’s departure was a big loss for the club and was also believed to have asked Dein whether he wished him to resign from his post. Dein reportedly told Wenger that he should not leave Arsenal as the club would suffer a lot if he decided to leave.

Arsene Wenger is definitely the right man for the job and has served Arsenal wonderfully since 1996. If not for him, Arsenal would never have been a top club in the first place and definitely wouldn’t have been playing sexy football. Wenger’s principle of augmentation and economic austerity is illuminated by his aesthetics that incorporating a special way of playing football from the academy is bound to produce fruit in the course of time. Furthermore, the recent signings of Podolski, Cazorla and Giroud shows that Arsene has finally learned from his past mistakes, and is slowly building towards the same esteemed spot they held just a little while back. Nonetheless, as for now, Arsenal has not yet turned a corner. They are not yet ready for a prolonged title challenge. With Financial Fair Play regulations chipping in soon, let’s hope that the transfer market also returns to its natural state enabling ‘the professor’ to turn his magic wand and do what he does best to finally bring some deserved silverware to the Emirates stadium.

If Arsene Wenger’s career were a children’s tale, we would be currently in that part of the tale where the search is on for that cunning villain who poisoned Arsene’s food. But has Arsene stubbornly poisoned his own food? So it might be that Arsene’s poisoned food has not killed him, but rather, has strengthened his immunity and expanded his powers. He may just be waiting for the right moment in the tale to maintain the appropriate level of suspense. We are all waiting to see how this movie ends. Does Arsene take his own life by continuing to eat his poisoned food, or is there another twist, a twist where the writer will reveal that Arsene has actually mastered all the skills and will finally defeat Manchester City in the final great battle using his economics degree in the last chapter of this amazing tale of the professor.

Whatever happens, Wenger is one of the greatest managers of all time and there is no two-ways about it.