No point sugar-coating this. This has been a pretty tough time to be an Arsenal fan since late February. I wrote in these pages on how important the result of the Carling Cup Final was to the club, and what failure would result for the rest of the season. There seems little point in recounting what happened post-Wembley as I think we all know, and frankly, it's a little too painful - especially as I was mere yards away from the awful cock-up that gifted Birmingham victory on that day.
The debate has been raging throughout anyone who has even a passing interest in all things Arsenal. Does the manager Arsene Wenger need to go? This has been a very emotive issue amongst the fans, and so I will try to remove the emotion of the situation and look at things objectively. What would it mean for Arsenal to continue to trust in Arsene? And what would it mean if he were to leave?
As has been stated by many other managers, no other coach would be allowed to continue in a job at a top club after a trophy drought that has now reached six seasons. And while Arsenal have arrived at the threshold of the game's coveted prizes, there has been a consistent failure to get over the line. Many have proffered reasons for this, Wenger has kept the blinkers on, not veering from his belief if how to succeed for a moment.
But rather than a strength, this stubbornness has been a weakness since 2005. Good financial sense and attractive on-pitch aesthetics are intangibles that can't be placed in the record books.
The fans are unhappy with the lack of success. And this comes down to the fact that what most fans want are bragging rights. And nothing helps the banter in the pub than saying, "When was the last time your lot won anything?"
Well the answer is six years, and every step forward from the likes of a Jack Wilshere seems to be cancelled out by a step back with a Sebastien Squillaci. And with expected improvements from Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool & Chelsea next season, the problem for Arsenal may not be winning trophies but finishing in the top four.
The Transfer Market
While Wenger has always been one to accentuate the positive in public, in recent weeks the Frenchman has stated that a combination of nerves and poor efficiency in defence has cost Arsenal dear in the business end of the season. Arsenal have proven that with their best XI, they can beat any side. Many of the lacklustre displays this season tended to coincide with the appearance of the club's fringe players.
Wenger staunchly said in a press conference this week that he will not change Arsenal's style of play. In and of itself, that is fine. But he has to make sure that he has twenty players to perform in this style, not thirteen.
It wasn't that long ago Wenger that the Midas touch in the transfer market. It was pretty irrelevant that you hadn't heard of our latest summer signing, because they'd always come good. If he can do it again in the summer, and make sure that we can replace quality with quality when injuries happen, Arsenal will be a much tougher nut to crack next season. How often has a tremor of dread whizzed through The Emirates when the stadium announcer says that the likes of Denilson or Manuel Almunia are in the team? Very few sides succeed
when they don't have the means to compensate for injuries in their squads, so a couple of reliable players as backup can cushion the blow when absentees occur. Think of the extra points that could have been gained if the absences of Van Persie or Fabregas were as less keenly felt due to adequate foot soldiers in the ranks.
Throwing Out The Baby With The Bathwater
While fans may look on enviously at the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid & the two Manchester clubs, we have to remember that few clubs are as well positioned for the upcoming Financial Fair Play regulations than Arsenal. And that is down to Wenger. The building blocks for success are in place, it just needs the cement to fuse it together. While this season has fizzled out to a damp squib, Arsenal are not far off where they and the Gooners want to be.
And as I've also said on these pages before, the board has thrown in their lot with Wenger. They have given him complete control to manage the club his way, which is understandable given his record. The fact is that there doesn't seem to be a Plan B. Unlike most teams abroad or teams such as West Brom or Chelsea, Wenger doesn't just coach the first team. Managing a football club is nothing like the popular game, "Football Manager". Picking eleven players and assembling them in a system to get the best out of them is only the start. From the finances to the training sessions to what food is served in the club canteen, nothing happens at Arsenal without Wenger's say-so. It's believed that he also had a hand in the architectural construction of The Emirates Stadium.
He may not have been born on Holloway Road but this is a man who lives Arsenal as much as any fan. Would Pep Guardiola be willing to entrench himself in the club in such a way? Would Jose Mourinho remain in charge for a generation or would he end up leaving after three years at the helm? Sir Alex Ferguson is the only man to manage at the top level for a sustained period of time. And even he doesn't have as many duties to perform as Wenger. Replacing him would not just be about finding someone who can bring silverware, but someone who won't dismantle the work that Wenger has put in since 1996.
Personally I suspect that some of those calling for the head of Arsene Wenger are fairweather fans who only took an interest during the successful years in the last days of Highbury, people who assume that Arsenal was always a land of milk & honey - exhilarating football that would always produce baubles come May. Well some of us remember the days before Wenger. The end of George Graham's tenure was embroiled in rancourous controversy, while Bruce Rioch's one year in charge was a tempestuous one in which Ian Wright threatened to leave. Arsenal were on the way to becoming one of English football's sleeping giants. Wenger's arrival was the slap in the face that the club needed. Revolutionising the way the club was run from top to bottom, the impact of what Arsene Wenger has done will never be more clear than in the Tony Adams goal against Everton that sealed the title in 1998. Listen to the incredulity in the voice of commentator Martin Tyler. Like many football fans up and down the country, he couldn't believe that a side lambasted for being boring became the most entertaining team in the land in only two seasons.
Many say that Arsenal are just a couple of players away from being complete. Well, if that's the case, why would you undo five years of work by getting rid of the man who's made it all possible? Expectations at Arsenal will always be high, but that doesn't mean that one should forget where Arsenal were back in 1995. And they could be in serious danger of going back there if Wenger was to go now.
What The Board Should Do
But that doesn't mean that he should be untouchable. Patience is a virtue but it's not infinite. I maintain that Arsene Wenger should remain Arsenal manager, but I also think that the days of "Arsene knows" are finished. His previous successes earned him a deserved grace period to rebuild this side, but the grace from the fans is over. Personally I think next season we should judge him the way we'd judge any other manager. One way or another, we'll be able to see how effective Wenger's youth policy has been soon enough.
