Arsenal must tell Arsene Wenger his job is NOT for life
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Arsenal must tell Arsene Wenger his job is NOT for life
The clock is ticking: How long can Arsenal wait for Arsene Wenger's emphasis on youth to pay off?
I have had some horrific moments as an Arsenal fan. Being at the Nou Camp when Teddy Sheringham scored for Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final would be right up there. Particularly as until that moment I had been quietly chanting 'There's only one Mario Basler' to myself after the Bayern Munich winger had given his team the lead in the sixth minute.
That god-awful Ryan Giggs goal against us in the FA Cup semi-final would be another; I don't know what was worse, Giggs beating our entire team with that jaw-dropping, fast-swerving, insanely determined run to smash it past David Seaman, or him then haring just as fast back up the other end, waving his shirt like a punk on acid and showing off the most hideous hairy chest since Burt Reynolds.
And, lest we ever forget, there was little Nayim from the halfway line in Paris. A shot I still see in sweaty, slow motion nightmares after a night drinking too many tequilas.
But I don't think I really knew what horror was until last week. On Wednesday I sat in my hotel room in Dubai - I'm here making an ITV documentary - watching our farcical draw with Tottenham. And yesterday, I lay on the same sofa, seeing us get stuffed by Stoke in a performance of such amateurish ineptitude I wanted to throw my couscous at the TV screen.
The Spurs farrago was, frankly, pathetic. Everyone knows that when you're two goals up with five minutes left, you get to a corner flag as fast as is humanly possible, and waste every second you can. What you don't do is have a complete, collective, mental and physical defensive breakdown. It was worse than child's play. Even my three young sons would have made a better fist of it, though at 15, 11 and seven, they may be too old for the current Arsenal team.
The only saving grace was that most of the fickle Spurs fans had left the stadium long before they saved the match, so depriving themselves of the best laugh they've had since Tony Adams was jailed.
But they've still got every reason to be happy, because in Harry Redknapp, they've acquired the best English manager in the country. A razor-smart, passionate, cunning, brave and hilarious man who, until last Monday, was my favourite character in football. He will save Spurs from the drop and get them back to the mid-table mediocrity that they usually occupy.
The downside is that, from the moment he arrived in that Tottenham dugout, our previously cordial relationship is so, like, OVER.
Far more worrying for me is my romance with Arsene Wenger. Yes, he's the greatest manager we've had and, yes, he deserves every ounce of the love and affection lavished upon him by grateful Gooners.
But Arsenal have won nothing for three years and, as I've repeatedly said since the season started, that situation is not going to be rectified with this bunch of indisputably talented but also arrogant and lazy nappywearers. We'd already lost to Hull and Fulham before the Spurs fiasco. Now we've been humiliated by Stoke, too. And the team are disintegrating into a miserable mire of stupid sendings-off and self-defeating dressing-room squabbles.
You can blame the monkeys all you like but the buck stops with the organ-grinder. It's high time that the Arsenal board stopped dropping to their knees and doing their 'We are not worthy' hand movements every time Arsene walks past them and stick a polite but firm rocket up his backside.
The conversation should go something like this: 'Arsene, old chap, if it's not too much trouble, we'd really rather appreciate you acquiring a new central defence, goalkeeper, and midfield general of the Vieira/ Keane/Gerrard variety. All older than 26, and taller than 6ft 2in please. Here's the chequebook, go and get them in January. Oh, and while you're at it, find a proper bloody captain to make this feckless shower understand what wearing the Arsenal shirt really means.'
And if Wenger still stubbornly resists, insisting that his relentless youth-only policy will eventually work, then he should be equally firmly told that the Arsenal manager's job is not for life, however great your track record.
Or, as they would put it out here, the command should switch from 'Balli, balli, balli, Arsene!' ('Whatever you say, Arsene!') to, 'Maternier ghermez ahlieh, gorban' ('The red blindfold would be lovely, excellency').
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but w/o arsene, will we c new n yet fantastic players again? like cesc?
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If wenger has the pot of gold, you think he will build his team this way? Arsenal just got the Emirates Stadium and it's not free okay?
C'mon who can build a youth team like him without so little finance compared to the other big clubs? Let him go at their own peril.
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eh, don bastard wenger leh. he's a one of the better managers around. pls.
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He's one of the best as far as i'm concerned and i'm a united fan
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he is a great manager.. the football they play is brilliant.. all they need is a sugar daddy for wenger to have the luxury of choosing and retaining the players he can have.. they lack depth hence the inconsistency.. i love his football..
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his order for beautiful football is making the EPL a joy to watch ok
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no no no... all we need is sell away gallas and get 2 CBs and a DM... Eboue can bye bye too... together with almunia...
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i think Aw failure to capture trophy is due to :
1. overly obsess with his personal achievement of unearthing young talent over
2. try to balance the books of the owners.
the latter is not his problem at all. his main objective is to win trophy not balance the clubs books. it should be leave to chairman of the club.
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Oh my? Why is everyone like turning on him now? I thought he did a really good job of staying in the top 4 with the least amount of transfer funds available.
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The thing about Wenger's youth policy is... I believe he buys too many youngsters at "high" priced... But base on their age, and not sure if they would even make it to the first team at all or within the next few years... they shouldn't be...
It was reported that Arsenal's wage bill were only lesser to United's (2nd highest) by $2m per year... (about $90m) So if base on this, Arsenal could probably have more younsters on their books than any other clubs cos their senior players aren't paid at the high end scale... So where did the money go? We have to assume they are paying these amounts out to upkeep their lot of youngsters...
I feel that most top clubs buy youngsters usually under $1m but Arsenal seem to spend more on them... Aaron Ramsey for $5m and now they are after Leeds' 18-year-old midfielder Fabian Delph for £6m...
Senderos arrived as an 18 yrs old for $2.5m and it took him a few years later before he even started playing in the first team... But he is seen as one of those successful youth purchases cos he did made it to the first team afterall even tho he was still poor... But for every Senderos, how many didn't make the grade... Do we have the figures? I don't think we know do we?
Well, those better known ones like David Bentley, Luis Boa Morte, Jeremie Aliadiere, Steve Sidwell... All were perceived not to have made the grade under Wenger... What about the others that we never heard of? Even JA Reyes had to be consider a fail signing...
Its not that he is doing a poor job, but he can definitely do better than presently...
I personally think Wenger's transfer policies has a serious flaw... I understand he gets all the credits and praises for playing nice football and admiration from some for bringing in many youngsters from time to time till a point that he may actually become so proud of his achievement that he might want to do it even better is more important than winning the title again...
I feel that if Arsenal are serious in winning the title, the board would have taken a different direction by now. But I am afraid, like i have always suspect, they are only there for the short term and when their collective agreement expire, they will sell their shares away at a higher value than what they would have got a year ago...
Why I also agree that Wenger or any manager shouldn't think he would have a job for live no matter what he has achieved for them is... It may take away the pressure and ambition that may be needed to fire him up and try to win the title again. Instead it may have moved him into a different direction and onto grooming youngsters to win it...
Alan Hansen once said you can't win anything with kids... And I belief its almost impossible... Chelsea lost their record but they bounds back in their next game, Arsenal didn't even lose a game, just lost 2 goals... and the side went crazy. It shows what experienced players can do and what inexperience does...
Lastly, I thought Sol Cambell was still a good player when they let him go cos he went on to play very well for Portsmouth for a number of seasons since and he would have also been a better captain material...
Just my take on it lor...
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wenger dont like to be held to a bargain, if he feel teams are asking too much he dont wanna buy the player anymore, which is the difference between other clubs. thats why he misses out on a lot..he got make signings also one, rosicky, gallas.. he wanted to sign essien all, but wont be held to bargain. sometimes got to spend to get the better quality ones, its just the way of the world