Fleet Street’s favourite Gooner, Amy Lawrence ran an interview with Arsene Wenger last Sunday that basically dredged up stuff we were already aware but in which one word stood out: Arsenal’s “socialist” model of paying players.
Don’t worry, this blog isn’t going to be about the whys and wherefores of left-wing politics, but in a world where most managers and players would struggle to spell the word let alone implement something akin to it, it serves to highlight how unique the manager is, and how unique the fans’ predicament is too.
It is somewhat of a red herring – paying a teenager £50,000+ a week wouldn’t win Hugo Chavez’s approval – but there’s no question the club runs with a flatter wage structure, where the gap between youngsters and experienced, proven pros is far narrower than any rival. It’s the reason Arsenal has the fourth-highest wages in the league, yet struggle to offer £100,000 a week.
And, quite frankly, it’s time for revolution.
Sod the players, think of the fans
At Premiership level, there are no players in need protection. The needy of football are the fans, they are the ones left out of pocket for their involvement in the sport. And it is painfully apparent that a policy of equality among players is leaving Arsenal’s needy decidedly short-changed.
Arsenal have routinely lost players whose worth has moved beyond what the club can pay. Would this team be stronger with Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri in it? Do bears sh*t in the woods?
Arsenal routinely sign contracts with young players that pays them far in excess of what their on-field exploits deserve. Is Aaron Ramsey worth £55,000 a week? I’m no hater, but I don’t need to be to know that’s ridiculous.
In the last seven or eight years, we’ve seen only a handful of exceptional players come through the ranks – van Persie, Fabregas and Wilshere – but the number of duds suggest this is not thanks to the wage structure but in spite of it. More often the club is left with overpaid players no club wants to relieve us of.
Outdated and now outgunned
The club’s approach is outdated. Before the days of Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour – and PSG’s Qatar Investment Authority – it may have worked. But the wages available to the very top players, who are the ones Wenger is banking on unearthing and honing, are now double that which the club can offer. We’re inherently set up to lose our best players.
In football, money talks; and it’s a scandalous waste of our ample resources to wilfully tie so much up paying players that are anything but exceptional. Paying our best players their market worth and rewarding those that make step up makes sense. Paying players first-team wages then expecting them to step up stunts many and creates an issue when they do and expect another pay rise – see Walcott, Theo.
Will FFP help?
Arsenal are banking on the football world changing to suit their model. The hope at board level and in the dugout is that Financial Fair Play will put an end to £200,000-a-week wages. The only thing more likely than an Arsenal team meekly surrendering a lead is an Arsenal suit talking up the effect of FFP.
I’ll believe it when I see it. Man City have already shown that they can circumvent the rules imposed, and the actual severity of the penalties are yet to be seen. Will UEFA really punish the teams that are among its biggest attractions? I don’t think so.
Old dog, new tricks
As with all the criticisms of Wenger – and there are many – the sense is that change will only come with the manager’s departure. It’s a shame. He is a legend at the club, and still has much to recommend him.
It’s questionable whether many other managers would have wrung consecutive Champions League appearances out of the players he’s worked with in recent years, and his integrity and honesty would put Alex Ferguson to shame. But the squad is his remit, as are coaching and tactics, and his way is just not working.
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