Just Arsenal Fans

It is impossible to read the blogs across the Arsenal world and outside of it, without seeing the call for Wenger’s head or questioning his managerial skills. And this gets absolutely annoying. There are several reasons why Arsenal are in the position that they are in. Transfer policy, youth system, injuries, poor performances and a couple of questionable tactical moves by Wenger. All are explainable if as fans we look beyond the obvious. Nitesh in his article points out that we cannot forever look at the future promise but would like to see the team perform in the present. I cannot disagree with this. So lets look once again beyond the obvious (what you can see vs what you are not seeing).

We can only guess that the Board is not interested in a winning team but in a profitable team. Businesses have to, i repeat, have to maintain continued profitability. Without this goal, what is the use of being in business. But their profits are also based on a winning team. They have been working on using the youth system to bring up the superstars without keeping the experienced players. This has cost them. So what if the Board ran the team like many fans (those calling for Wenger’s head) would like. Spend huge sums, work with huge deficits, change managers who don’t live up to expectations, change directors (Dein, Gazidis) often, change CEO’s often, etc. The most powerful slogan says “there is nothing more consistent than change”. So true. So with this in mind, let’s look at the most successful manager in the business, Sir Alex Ferguson. He is now 25 years into the job and he himself has said that he was often not sure if his employers would keep him or sack him based on his teams performance. He however is the boss and he makes this known to all. Anyone remember these performers, Keane, Beckham, Van Nistleroyd, and many lesser performers ? Great players but when their britches got bigger than their boots, their rear got the boot. No one argues with him and he has consistently put out winning teams, BUT, at a huge cost to the club. Anyone could argue that he had problems with Nani (the new Ronaldo according to Nani), Phil Jones recently, Anderson and many others. However, he did not give up on them. He plays them. Sometimes they play well and sometimes they don’t.

Notice that last year, he did not spend the close to 100 million he got in transfer payments for 2012. He did however, up Rooney’s contract to keep Real Madrid from stealing him. He paid 32 million for Berbatov and Berbatov is always in Ferguson’s doghouse. The man scores but he is not an energetic Rooney. He loves to stroll around the pitch, but he scores. Why is he on the bench ? That is a 32 million dollar bench player. You will also notice that the Glazers who bought the club when it was already in great debt, have sought to deflect away the debts by issuing bonds of around 500-800 million dollars. That is a lot of money to have as debt. You could argue that the club is worth over 1 billion so the debt is not so bad. I disagree. This oversized debt will only get worse as the interest has to be paid constantly. It will affect the clubs activities and I will guess that based on Ferguson’s 2012 activities, it already has. So what has made United a winning team. The huge debt, period. Ferguson has bought many expensive players over the years and has bought success. Good for United. Hope this type of financial model survives. The fans have been a very tough group even wanting to get rid of the Glazers. The Glazers want a return on their investment. The fans want the Glazers to invest their money with their heart. This expectation is a load of rubbish. No investor will ever advise you to invest with your heart. Those who do become cruel disillusioned taskmasters like Abramovitch. They will spend to be a winner until they can take it no more. This is the reality at Inter Milan, AC Milan and Barcelona. Don’t even ask about Real Madrid. Contrast the manager’s spending habits with Wengers.

Wenger is an Arsenal fan with all of his heart. He does not want to see this club lose. He wants it to remain at the highest winning level. He has often stated this case, repeatedly. He wants it to be a club that lives within its means and continues without huge debts. The move to the Emirates put the club in hock for over 300 million. With vision, the club built flats/condos on the old Highbury site and paid down huge swats of this debt. They have sold their best players and kept the profits. The debt keeps being paid down which means the clubs interest payments are lowered. Just like our credit cards, line of credit etc. Now there is more money to spend. 2012 should have been their year to really compete but Fabregas and Nasri wanted out. They were the buildings foundation and they crumbled the foundation and consequently dream of Wenger. Now he must give tough love to his problems.

Wenger has shown that he will negotiate for players and will keep to his price instead of paying the selling clubs price. Why ? I don’t know for sure but I look at it this way, I am at an auction looking to buy a seized Rolex by Customs. Customs are trying to get the best price at $5000. I have only $1000 cash, however my credit card could make it to $5000. The bidding goes past the $1000 and I now have to make a decision, go with the flow or be disciplined. No matter how much I want that Rolex, I will not lose my disicipline. If I buy at $5000, I will have to also pay interest on the credit card which will eventually push the price to above $5000. I would now have a large debt (for me that is), that will get larger with the interest payment. So now I have to eat peanut butter sandwiches to enjoy my new/old Rolex. Wenger is disciplined. Wenger has played the transfer game many many many times over. He knows the game so if he decides to not buy on a trumped up bid he knows why. He is often correct and sometimes not. He goes with the odds. This has saved the club tons in interest. So what, you ask? Spend, damn it !!! This is where the Board comes in as indeed they should. A huge debt load affects their share price. They want to make money on their investment. This is what investors do. Don’t fool yourself that our Russian billionaire does not look at the club as an investment. He just made a bundle on his Facebook shares. Finally, ask yourself why Abramovitch makes so many decisions to buy players who have turned out to be flops, Shevschenko and Torres. What was his analytical process going into the bids ? Did he use his heart or made a business decision ? Yes, Arsenal has many of its own flops but not as expensive as other teams. This is down to Wenger’s savvy and not his hesitation. The other major problem as I have so often mentioned is how do these players fit into the Arsenal playing system ? They often don’t and Theo is a prime example. He will eventually. So my main point is that Wenger is a soft target for many fans. However, his record outshines his failure to win trophies since 2006. All great teams go through an adjustment period after losing many of their senior players. It is no coincidence that we are fighting Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea for fourth. These teams are also going through their own adjustment period. In Wenger, I do trust. He is Arsenal at heart and he wears his heart on his sleeve. I also enjoy watching his team play exciting football even if at this moment they do not. They will. Does Mourinho wear his heart on his sleeve for his club ? Guardiola ? Opinions are divided.

by Weslee

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