Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said that it would not be a disaster if the Gunners fail to finish in the top four this season and miss out on the Champions League. Meanwhile, the British press and some supporters are wrongly calling for Arsene Wenger to be sacked.
Hill-Wood has been known to anger many Gooners, including myself, with his comments to the press. On Tuesday, he told the Daily Star:
“From a financial point of view, not qualifying for the Champions League is quite a blow. We have been planning for not qualifying every year, so it is not a disaster, but it would be nice if we could.”
The lack of urgency from the board is astounding. Of course, Arsenal should be able to stay afloat financially without the Champions League money, but, from a footballing stance, not qualifying for the Champions League could have very detrimental repercussions. Arsene Wenger would have trouble luring quality players to North London and keeping the current stars at the club.
Hill-Wood’s words almost sound like the board have been expecting the team not to finish in the top four. Considering the amount of cash spend in recent years, possibly the “plan” is to count on Wenger working miracles year after year. Qualifying for the Champions League consistently has been the manager’s great accomplishment since the move from Highbury.
While many Gooners, myself included, ask for more than just simply qualifying for the European Cup, Wenger’s success in this area cannot go unrecognised. He has had to deal with selling some of his best players and not investing the fees paid for those players back into the squad. Instead, our manager has scouted the globe to find little-known gems in the dust. Whether the board are limiting Wenger’s spending power or the manager is not spending due to his own philosophy matter’s little when considering the club’s performances on the pitch. Simply put, Arsene gets the best out of his players, and, because of that, he is one of the best managers in the world.
After throwing money around for years and after seasons of underachieving, Spurs are finally having some success, which is unfortunate timing considering the state of our club. Manchester City and Chelsea have jumped ahead of us only because of their massive spending over the last several years. It would be unrealistic to ask our club to spend as much as them, and, even then, many supporters would not like Arsenal to become the new club participating in what Wenger calls “financial doping.” Liverpool continue to throw money at overpriced English players in an effort to return to Europe’s premier club competition, yet they still haven’t overtaken us.
We should ignore the silly articles currently running in the papers, such as two stories in The Sun which were published on Wednesday. The first is a great example of lazy journalism. Six sentences reporting that Arsene Wenger will not buy any additional players in this transfer window. Of course, there are no sources, but what do you expect from The Sun?
The second piece is a bit more expansive, but still lacks substance. The column basically calls for Wenger’s head while suggesting replacements such as Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers and Norwich manager Paul Lambert. Perhaps these two managers will someday be good choices but neither are in Arsene Wenger’s class. Remember when many in the press were anointing Owen Coyle as the successor to Wenger? It is laughable now. Until they have extended success in the Premier League, Rodgers and Lambert could very well be in Coyle’s position a year from today.
Judging by the number of comments below each story, it is easy to see why the press choose to publish these absurd hit pieces. The articles are controversial and, because they cover “Arsenal crisis”, garner a lot of attention, both from Gooners and supporters from other top clubs. If only the media was not so sensationalist…
By no means is Arsene Wenger perfect, but he is one of the best managers in world football. He has deficiencies, but not many could do any better than he has done, especially considering the relatively low amount of money spent on transfers in recent years. He has an immense amount of loyalty to Arsenal, and it would be a shame if we turn our backs on him now.
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