I’ve been angry for a while now. Keeping Almunia as your first choice for three seasons and insisting he was a great keeper was the tipping point for me. I was at White Hart Lane for the game two years ago when he punched it out for Danny Rose to volley in ended 2-2, ended our title hopes. I was also at St Andrews when he punched into his own net, also ending our title hopes.
The false economy of the Arsenal board is clear, as yesterday’s disaster has shown us. If you don’t spend substantial money on players you don’t get the results that bring in the profits. If you come across overly thrifty in the transfer market you don’t get to play at the top table and you lose out on important income. I still think we’ll finish 6th this season and to be honest the Champions League is just a distraction which we’re never going to win. But it does send out a statement to be in it though and we need the money. Look at Manchester United; they win the league, they spend a heap of money, they win a double, the money comes pouring back in. It’s an effective business model.
I’ve tried to be positive over the last few months – actually I haven’t that’s a total fabrication, I’ve been apocalyptically cynical and painted an unremittingly bleak picture of what is happening at Arsenal - but I’ve been massively impressed with how a) mental b) buff and c) good at swearing Emmanuel Frimpong is. The man is an Arsenal legend in the making and along with little Jackie Wilshere alongside him there are finally two genuinely talented, genuinely passionate home grown players to get excited about. I’m glad we’ve got rid of the wantaways albeit totally flabbergasted that they were sold in late August not early June. But my biggest fear is that the new breed will end up wanting away too. As my Spurs mate put it last week: Frimpong will be the new Yaya Toure (in the City midfield).
It’s beginning to feel increasingly like we’re a feeder club for City. And while money does not equal a big club we’ve now had many examples to suggest that money does, sadly, buy success. The way they tore spurs to pieces yesterday was further evidence of that. Besides Chelsea and Manchester City in the last decade we’ve seen Lazio do it in Italy, Deportivo La Coruna do it in Spain and Wolfsburg do it in Germany.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not advocating a silly splurge. When I hear of Tevez on £160k basic weekly salary it makes me so sick I want to turn my back on football all together and follow a decent sport. Like bowls. But Wenger has had money to spend and there have been genuinely affordable targets that he has turned his nose up at in favour of s**t bargain basement options like Marouane Chamakh.
The time has come for the Arsenal fans to demand that Wenger spends properly on experienced, proven Premiership quality players or hand over the reins to somebody who is prepared to do so. Keeping us at bay with the promise that this new batch of youngsters are “top quality” will no longer wash.
We want Gary Cahill, Scott Parker and ok, I’ll even let him have Eden Hazard… and we want them now. It’s just a shame that if we do get them they’ve got to arrive at a club mired in negativity.
All of this, and Wenger’s frankly bizarre post-match interview at Old Trafford yesterday prove that he’s lost it, it’s sad but it’s probably time he went before he spoils everything he did previously. It’s about a 50/50 split between pro and anti Wenger fans at Arsenal at the minute but if we are 8th or 9th at Christmas as I predict then the tide will turn. Even the anti Wenger fans don’t want to be anti Wenger but he’s leaving us with no choice. He’s absolutely infuriating and just seeing his voice and hearing him speak these days is enough to get me angry.
Up the A**e.
Source: Josh Surtees, The Sabotage Times on 29 Aug 11
No comments:
Post a Comment