It’s hard to criticise Arsene Wenger when you see what he has achieved at Arsenal. He has transformed the side into a team that play wonderful attacking football, and helped them get through a difficult transitional period without too much upheaval. However, success is measured in trophies and the lack of them is a growing concern year on year for Arsenal fans.
Post-Invincible’s and Pre-Emirates era, Arsenal looked at how they could achieve their aim of building a new stadium without tumbling into freefall, deciding that to do this they needed to go through a transitional period of four or five years. They had to decide how they would try to stay at the top whilst there was less money available. Wenger put off-field matters first and choose a policy of investing in the youth, as he was restricted by the constraints placed upon him by the board. Arsenal worked on a self-sustainability approach, which has left them on a stable foot going forward, the urgent debts are taken care of, and they are in nowhere near the amount of debt as their rivals. This is an admiral achievement in the current climate.
Wenger managed through that difficult transitional period-with little to no resources-to keep the side within the top four year after year. As well as retaining their place as one of the big four he ensured that the books were balanced, and the financial model stable, this is a huge achievement and one to be commended, as not many Premier League managers would have managed through that difficult time.
During the transitional period Wenger moved on some big names, and kept his transfer spending policy tight to ensure profits that would keep the ship afloat, and accelerate their reduction in debt. Has this rigid towing of the financial line cost them though? Could they not of gone on to greater things and achieved more had Wenger thought less about matters off-field and more about matters on-field. He sacrificed big names to turn a profit, at the cost of the experience throughout the side that could have bolstered a number of their title campaigns.
Wenger has always acted in the best interests of the club, but now it seems that his obsession with youth and saving money has gone too far, alongside his stubborn nature and refusal to buy big. The Arsenal squad is still young and developing and who knows they might even challenge this season, but this stubborn belief that the youth will come good seems to have been going on for too many years. The signing of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton for a purported £12m won’t placate fans too much who will be keen to see money spent in the right areas. There’s also the worry that it might be too little too late.
Wenger weathered the storm and got them through the tough times, so now that they are on a stable footing, why is he not making the moves necessary to strengthen the side? Wenger makes money for the club every year, and this needs to be used for squad strengthening rather than lining the pockets of those in charge. If Arsenal don’t start to shell out and add quality to their squad, then they will continue to lose big players year on year and their trophy drought will go on.
Arsenal are now finanically sound, the transitional period is over, and Wenger saw them through it, but now is the time for some success to be seen on the field. The money should be there to invest, and I’m not saying go crazy, but one or two investments in experienced players to shore up the squad wouldn’t go a miss. It may be against Wenger’s policy to buy experienced Premier League stars, but he needs to adapt if he is to bring success to Arsenal on the field, as well as off it.
Wenger has been a dream for the chairman and board. He has towed the financial line to keep the club healthy. By choosing not to spend, he has made them millions, thus ensuring Arsenal are a financially viable club, but is his biggest mistake choosing to generate club profits at the expense of sporting success?
Written by Lauren Rutter for FootballFancast.com. Let me know your thoughts below or follow me on Twitter @LaurenRutter
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It’s TOEING the line, not towing, you poorly educated slubberdegullion.
Ye gods this was wrong when you first posted it 5 days ago and it’s still wrong now. Please learn the proper use of English and stop pedalling this errant nonsense?
Completely agree – what I dont understand is why he is doing it. Why stand so steadfast in principles that are day by day taking away from his undoubted achievements at the club. He was a hero, he still should be, he wont be in 12 months.
You two above are quick to point out the incorrect spelling of a word, but i guess you all will never see the importance of the article, because its show how dumb fucking Arsene is, and you two seems to be Wegner lap dancers………..