Arsene Wenger - A Visionary

Five years without a trophy of any kind and Gooners all over the world are getting restless, all thanks to Wenger, who has spoilt a lot of fans with his achievements in the first 8 years. He took Arsenal to great heights which made him a big part of the history and now holds the key to the future.

It saddens me to see that people are calling for Wenger’s head after all that he has done for the club and is currently doing for the club. The main reason for this knee jerk reaction is the barren patch Arsenal are going through and his refusal to spend big to bring in the so called star players.

Fans should understand that the decision to move to Emirates has put a lot of financial pressure on the club. The plan to move was decided as early as in the year 1999. I clearly remember Wenger saying that “Ashburton Grove is may be the most expensive signing we could ever make”. He had to plan the next decade accordingly, predicting the financial pressure on the club’s head while making sure the club does not fall short of their targets.

In my eyes, he has done that brilliantly. The first part of the decade when the paper work for the ‘most expensive signing’ was still going on, he built up the clubs reputation by wining the league twice and the FA cup thrice along with the historical unbeaten season.The best part of this phase was the way Arsenal raised to a new level, playing some of the most entertaining football the world has witnessed.

During the second half of the decade, when the stadium started taking its shape, Arsene realized he had to change his approach till the club reaches a stable condition on the financial front. Being a MA gold medalist in Economics, the board members knew the club was in safe hands.

The stadium debt will obviously be one big liability and the interest accumulating over the unpaid amount every year will alone be more than half the squad’s value. Wenger was left with no choice but to make profit every year in the transfer window to help the club pay back the debt at the earliest. The development at Highbury square was set to help in re payment of the loan, but unfortunately the markets crashed and Arsenal could not get what they had hoped for at the right time.

Wenger built his reputation as a manager who gives preference to quality over age and helped Arsenal reach the world as an entertainment unit. This coupled with his great scouting ability, he managed to attract relatively unknown foreigners, who cost less and are more suited to Wenger’s technical style of play. This followed by recruiting lot of talented youngsters helped avoid the burden of investing huge sums of money in the squad, while competing with Chelsea, Man United and now Man City who have funds which cannot be compared with Arsenal.

Those people who blindly blame Wenger for not signing any star names or experienced players or deride him for signing only young and unpolished players, they need to think again. Since the dismantling of the Invincibles started, he has bought Hleb, Rosicky, Gallas, Eduardo, Sagna, Nasri, Arshavin, Silvestre, Vermaelen and Sol Campbell. These ten players obviously cannot fall under ‘young, inexperienced, future potential’ category. All of these players are regulars for their national team or have been regular (Sol and Silvestre) or have had sufficient games in the club level to be considered as senior players.

Yes, he could have kept few older heads from the Invincible team for a bit longer, but one has to realize that he would not be getting any re-sale value and would have to spend more on their wages given their age and experience.

Wenger like any other manager, would like to spend and bring in big players (need necessarily expensive), but fans have to realize that his hands are tied and cannot splash the limited budget on one single player and hope for him to become the World Player who would bring glory to Arsenal. The risk he will be running in this method in the current situation is really high.

Obviously, the club cannot give the world an impression that Arsenal FC does not have cash and will need to sell their star players in order to sustain. Hence, the fans have to bare the false statements from the club every year, saying that the money is there for Wenger to spend.

About two years ago, Wenger came out with these statements published by News of the World. Although not confirmed by the official site, it quoted him saying

“The strategy of the club is to sell every year and to buy less expensive players.

“We manage at Arsenal to maintain all our football ambitions – national and European – while having to free up – for 17 more years – an annual surplus of £24m to pay for our stadium. “

The night is darkest just before dawn. But when will the dawn come? More on Youth Project later.