Last week we were accused of not being even-handed and not allowing all views to be expressed without attack. The following was a comment that Spectrum posted this morning that I have reproduced for discussion. 

This is a worrying time for many supporters and as such we have witnessed some in fighting, please blog with each other with respect and remember that we are all Gunners.

peachesgooner

As my catchphrase cuts too close to the bone for many on here and upsets them so, I’ll make a concession and dispense with it. But only for this site.

I see my posts caused a bit of angst and controversy. I regret upsetting the equilibrium that you like to admirably maintain, but do understand this – I have firm opinions on our club because I feel passionately about it. And of course you know by now that I am a fierce critic of Wenger, whilst nevertheless still acknowledging and appreciating what he HAS done for us in the PAST.

Some of you say I have only negative things to say, but that is because looking at our long time and continuing decline,( which only gets worse ), leads me to no other conclusion. In that tomstoned and I are of similar mindset. We don’t believe in sugar coating those negatives, being in denial about them, or blaming the press, bad referees, or other influences whenever the fault lies with us.

Tomstoned made some sensible comments, but I see the same type of abuse and put downs were thrown at him as well, simply for being candid in his assessments and observations. Or for having an opinion which deviates from the norm * – *( you have to admit that this is mostly a Wenger sympathetic blog, after all ).

As he also said, being truthful, however much it hurts for some to hear, doesn’t mean you love the club any less. I’d go further than that. It shows you love the club even MORE. Because anyone who really cares, would feel a sense of duty to highlight where and how we’re going so wrong. This is my perspective. And so many of you confuse criticism with disloyalty.

You want me to be positive ? Okay. Jack Wilshere is by far our most consistent and hardworking player. He has the right attitude and will one day make a terrific captain. We have Arteta who is Mr. Reliable. And Cazorla, though a proven cheat* ( *being honest again ) has been one of our better signings. We have a new stadium, manageable debt, first class training facilities,and on the surface APPEAR to be well managed financially.

So why then, are we consistently failing on and off the pitch YEAR AFTER YEAR ?

Why is Gazidis rewarded with a bonus for overseeing an operating loss ? I thought only bankers were rewarded for incompetence !

Why do we not invest in the team ? Why do we sell our best player to our ( former ) rivals, who then goes on to help them establish a now 21 point lead over us and is AGAIN the league’s top scorer ?

Why is the board tolerating a man who is on the highest footballing salary in Europe ( or the world ), just to achieve the bare minimum – which is to qualify for the champions league ? Who is responsible for our lopsided wages policy ?

How come we sign dozens of kids, most of which don’t fulfill their potentia,l and many of which we end up sending out on loan whilst we STILL pay their ridiculously inflated salaries ?

Explain why our defence has progressively shipped more goals each season for the last five years, yet Wenger refused to bring in a specialist defensive coach. There are many more examples, but time doesn’t permit me to list them all.

We see the same pattern of failure and underachievement each season, yet many of you still act as his apologist. Blaming everything from bad luck to poor pitches to lack of funds or the colour of the match day programme. It’s time we reclaimed our Arsenal from the control of a greedy unambitious board, and a manager who if he had any self respect left, would have admitted he can do no more for the club despite “doing his best “. Because there are occasions when your best just isn’t enough.

Written by Spectrum

A few days back GIE, our new AA Daddy, asked a question about the records of our previous managers, so I thought I would take him on a trip down memory lane.

Starting with –

Sam Hollis 1894-1897

From a background as a pub landlord he became our first “secretary manager” there is some doubt as to whether he was the “manager” or just a trainer. Prior to his appointment the team was managed by a committee of players and club members.

P118, W53, D18, L47, GF253, GA225, Pts%52.5

# Trophies zero

Thomas Brown Mitchell 1897-1898

Our first “professional manager” he was a Scotsman from the Dumfries area and he took the club from tenth place in the league to fifth before resigning in March 1898.

P30, W16, D5, L9, GF69, GA49, Pts%61.7

# Trophies zero

George Elcoat 1898-1899

From Stockton on Tees, he was our first “Exile”, and he showed a strong preference for Scottish players having eight in his first team.

P34, W18, D5, L11, GF72, GA41, Pts%60.3

# Trophies zero

Harry Bradshaw 1899-1904

Regarded as Arsenal’s first successful manager a clever tactician who guided us to a second place finish in 1903/4 gaining us promotion to the First Division.

P170, W90, D31, L49, GF307, GA156, Pts%62.1

# Trophies zero

Phil Kelso 1904-1908

A hard rugged Scot he managed the newly promoted Woolwich Arsenal to two consecutive FA Cup Semi Finals.

P148, W59, D32, L57, GF215, GA226, Pts%50.7

# Trophies zero

George Morrell 1908-1915

When Sir Henry Norris purchased Highbury it was George Morell who oversaw the club’s move from Plumstead. He holds the unenviable record of being the only Arsenal manager to have experienced relegation with the club.

P266, W95, D65, L106 GF334, GA377, Pts%47.9

# Trophies zero

Leslie Knighton 1919-1925

Under his management we never finished higher than tenth, coming twentieth in 1924/25, He was sacked at the end of the season and replaced by the legendary Herbert Chapman, apparently Sir Henry always regretted sacking Leslie and left him 100 pounds in his will.

P252, W87, D57, L108, GF309, GA360, Pts%45.8

# Trophies zero

Herbert Chapman 1925-1934

He established Arsenal as English footballs dominate force and his football concepts and ideas served as a template for teams and managers all over the globe. He won the first trophy for the club winning the FA Cup in 1930. His 1930/31 team scored an incredible 127 goals – still a club record. He championed innovations such as floodlighting, European competitions and numbered shirts. Tragically he passed away from pneumonia in 1934 aged 55 years. A bronze bust of Chapman stood inside Highbury as a tribute to this outstanding manager.

P336, W157, D84, L95, GF736, GA541, Pts%59.3

# Trophies 3

George Allison 1934-1947

He started off as a journalist and became Arsenal’s programme editor – later in 1927 he commentated on the first FA Cup Final to be broadcast. He won three League titles and the FA Cup before retiring in 1947. In 1937 he had a role, as himself, in the movie The Arsenal Stadium Mystery – one of the lines that he uttered at half time was “It’s one-nil to the Arsenal. That’s the way we like it”

P294, W137, D80, L77, GF552, GA345, Pts%60.2

# Trophies 4

Tom Whittaker 1947-1956

He was the club’s first team trainer under Herbert Chapman and took over the reigns from George Allison in 1947; he won the League in both 1947 and 1953 plus the FA Cup in 1950. During WW11 be became an RAF pilot reaching the level of Squadron Leader, he received the MBE for his distinguished service. Sadly he passed away from a heart attack in 1956, aged 58.

P378, W171, L101, GF688, GA509, Pts%58.6

# Trophies 3

Jack Crayston 1956-1958

A former player with 187 appearances for us his football career was cut short due to a serious knee injury incurred in WW11 while serving in the RAF. In his first season he took us from eleventh in the league to third place before ending up in fifth position.

P84, W37, D15, L32, GF158, GA154, Pts%52.9

# Trophies zero

George Swindon 1958-1962

He was a former Arsenal goalkeeper with 297 first team appearances he was replaced in goal by Welsh international Jack Kelsey in 1952/3. His best finish as a manager was third in his first season.

P168, W67, D39, L62, GF304, GA305, Pts%51.5

# Trophies zero

Billy Wright 1962-1966

The first player to win 100 caps for England and was captain more than 90 times. His Arsenal teams never finished any higher than seventh. He was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Football writer Brian Glanville discussing Billy Wright’s time at Arsenal, wrote: “he had neither the guile nor the authority to make things work and he reacted almost childishly to criticism”

P168, W64, D41, L63, GF307, GA309, Pts%50.3

#Trophies zero

Bertie Mee 1966-1976

Under his tutorship we won our first trophy of any kind in 17 seasons beating Anderlecht and winning the Inter-Cities Cup. The next season we won our first “Double” winning the league at White Heart Lane, on the last day of the season, and seeing Charlie George score the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Liverpool

P420, W181, D115, L124, GF554, GA444. Pts%56.8

# Trophies 3

Terry Neil 1976-1983

Prior to becoming Arsenal’s manager he managed Tottenham for two seasons – nearly getting them relegated in the process. He became the youngest manager in our history and took us to three successive FA Cup Finals – 1978 to 1980 winning only one when we beat Manchester United 3-2 in 1979. In 1979, he came close, but was unsuccessful in pulling off a major transfer coup when he attempted to sign Diego Maradona.

P294, W127, D87, L80, GF404, GA318, Pts%56.1

# Trophies 1

Don Howe 1983-1986

Billy Wright signed him in 1964 and made him club captain; in 1966 he broke his leg playing against Blackpool and never played first team football again. During his time as manager he brought through players the likes of Tony Adams, David Rocastle and Niall Quinn.

P126, W57, D27, L42, GF184, GA156, Pts%52.4

# Trophies zero

George Graham 1986-1995

He played 227 games for Arsenal and was the leading scorer in 1966/67 and 1967/68. As our manager he was renowned for building his teams around defence, perfecting the offside trap along the way. He purchased Ian Wright from Crystal Palace and Ian went on to become our leading goal scorer. George made Arsenal one of the dominant forces in English football but unfortunately in 1995 he was forced to resign after he admitted to receiving an “unsolicited gift”

P364, W167, D108, L89, GF543, GA327, Pts%55.6

# Trophies 6

Bruce Rioch 1995-1996

He replaced George Graham in 1995 and stayed for just one season, he guided Arsenal to a UEFA Cup place securing qualification on the last day of the season. His enduring legacy at Arsenal will be the signing of Denis Bergkamp.

P46, W22, D13, L11, GF66, GA38, Pts%57.3

# Trophies zero

Arsene Wenger 1996 – Present

In his first full season in charge he guided us to our second double. He also guided us to

the UEFA Cup Final in 2000 and the UEFA Champions League Final in 2006, we lost on both occasions. Arsene is the most successful manager in our history having won two doubles and four FA Cups. The club have also qualified for the Champions League in the past sixteen seasons. Under his stewardship the club have signed such players as Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Marc Overmars, Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires, Frederick Ljunberg, Robin Van Persie, and Cesc Fabregas. He is the only manager to have an unbeaten season in the English Premier League going a total of 49 games unbeaten including the entire season of 2002/3.

P620, W356, D158, L106, GF 1174, GA586, Pts%66.0

#Trophies 7

GunnerN5

The Roman Empire was perhaps the most famous in history, but as we all know, its rise decline and fall saw a city state expand to conquer what was then the whole of the known world, before its rulers allowed the barbarians to infiltrate the Empire, emulate its own tactics and finally destroy it.

Are we now seeing a similar fate befalling Arsene’s Footballing Empire?

Arsene Wenger became manager of Arsenal in 1996 with a revolutionary philosophy of building teams that were to become famous for their desire to entertain, not just Gooners, but every other football fan throughout the world with an over-riding emphasis on attack.

Wenger’s purist style of management saw him buy and develop only players with absolutely sublime technical ability, allied to speed of thought and an athletic speed and grace to match. His immediate acquisition of the relatively unknown Patrick Viera to join the already established genius, Denis Bergkamp, marked his intention to mould his first Arsenal team into one of the best and most stunningly graceful attacking teams of all times.

The advent of this brilliant managerial philosophy, together with equally gifted players, soon saw the explosive rise of Arsene’s Empire, as his attack minded vision saw him quickly acquire other players such as Titti Henry, Mark Overmars and Robert Pires, who all had the requisite specialist, technical skills which enabled Arsenal to strive for, and reach, the very zenith of footballing achievement in England.

League and FA Cup Doubles in 1997/98 and 2001/02, and other League and Cup trophies, heralded the success of his policy, and with his ‘Invincibles’ team also redefining defensive cohesiveness he seemed to have set the seal on many triumphant years of success stretching into the future, with Wenger being raised to the apotheosis of his profession.

This fabulous attacking style was in absolute contrast to the dour and pragmatic philosophy of other English clubs, with their reliance on clod hopping defenders and resolute ‘defend until the last man’ attitude, and this only served to underline the extent and influence of his coaching, dietary and man management skills, and Arsenal rapidly became the ‘second favourite team’ for fans of other clubs worldwide.

Then came what many have seen as the beginning of the decline of Arsene’s great footballing empire, caused initially by the pressing need to move from the old, much loved Highbury stadium to the newly built Emirates stadium, still oddly lacking in atmosphere and which has yet to carve its own chunk of history, while the attendant astronomical costs of that venture are still hanging heavily over the club’s ability to fully compete with the other top clubs in financial parity.

Substantial monies needed to continue Arsene’s philosophy of acquiring top quality players for his grand team rebuilding designs dried up, and this, together with the arrival of Abramovich, and the other no mark oligarchs who then proceeded to lavish obscene and apparently unlimited amounts of money on their own clubs’ transfer targets, and in upgrading

their training facilities and scouting systems, saw Arsenal lose ground against them, slowly at first, and then at an ever increasing rate, which saw our club incrementally drop from being a ‘top 2’ team, to a ‘top 3’ team, to a struggling ‘top 4’ team, and this year – who knows?

This astronomical rise and subsequent slow decline in the fortunes of Arsene’s empire was compounded by changes in the attitudes of some of our most gifted Arsenal players who began to question the vision and desire of the manager, and opted, instead, to leave and pursue their careers elsewhere by joining our closest competitors, driven by both a lust for money, unbounded by well meaning ‘socialistic’ limits, and also for the trophies that have persistently evaded Arsene for many years.

So, you might ask, was that all it took to bring about the reversal in the fortunes of our club?

No, that is not quite right!

A change in absolute, mutually agreeable, shared ownership, occasioned by a savage internecine bout of warfare, between previous friends David Dein and Danny Fizman, eventually saw the equally fractious acquisition of the majority shareholding in the club by ‘Silent Stan’ Kroenke, who swiftly lived up to his name by becoming an absentee landlord/owner, who immediately delegated the running of the club to his appointed managers, with Arsene Wenger quickly asserting himself as the real power behind the throne.

The ability of absolute power to ‘corrupt’ absolutely, is evident in Arsene’s apparent reluctance to delegate material control of first team coaching, or the acquiring or firing of youth team players to either Pat Rice, or Steve Bould when he was Youth team coach, as has been reported by a number of Arsenal ‘sources’ naturally reluctant to be named.

Be that as it may, Arsene has also proudly spoken of his own direct involvement in every aspect and stage of the new stadium’s design and building plans, not as an auxiliary adviser, but as a principal and administrator.

In addition, and of particular concern to many fans, frustrated by Arsenal’s transfer policy and salary structure, is the admission by Mr Wenger that he is personally responsible for Arsenal’s ‘socialist’ salary structure, as well as the enforcement of the transfer budget; the calculation of the transfer value of potential recruits; the salaries to be offered to them; and the final, often fatally protracted, decision as to whether or not to buy and when that should be, which has apparently caused failure in acquiring certain players.

In effect, if all these observations turn out to be true, Arsene has effectively, and primarily, subverted the authority of the Chief Executive who is powerless to retaliate, and Gazidis has probably calculated, correctly, that Kroenke, in any dispute between himself and Wenger, will take the view that it is easier to replace Gazidis than Wenger. Incidentally, this may explain some of the vague and conflicting quotes attributed to Gazidis.

Whatever the cause, your correspondent believes that a tipping point is rapidly nearing, where the future of our great manager will be decided, either by the rapid fall of his Empire, with the concomitant premature ending of a visionary manager’s career, accompanied by a

quickening descent of our club into mid-table mediocrity or a near miraculous change in policy will be needed to save the day.

Any student of management would surely agree that Arsene needs to relinquish his ancillary control of the club, however competently an economics graduate might feel he is doing, and allow others to oversee and manage club finances, and to delegate coaching and day to day footballing matters to those such as Steve Bould, and entrust the minutiae of transfer dealings to Gazidis and Laws, and single-mindedly focus, exclusively, on his footballing vision for the club he has done so much for, and almost singlehandedly transformed, over the years.

All the intellectual power, sheer brilliance and force of personality of Arsene Wenger will be needed to stabilise the current decline in our footballing fortunes. He will need to regroup and reassess the club’s footballing needs and the resources necessary for the building of yet another legendary, trophy winning team, and just leave finding the funding wherewithal for this latest project to others, and he will then undoubtedly succeed in leaving a fitting legacy for a truly exceptional man.

There is a clear choice to be made by both Arsene Wenger and the club management, as outlined above, and, depending on which option is taken, could decide the future footballing and financial success of our club, or result in a huge setback from which it might take a lifetime to recover from.

Emotions are already running high amongst many fans, and a growing number are beginning to mutter about the merits of the forced retirement of Arsene Wenger, but I am confident, that the right decision will be made for the benefit of the club, and this will soon herald the dawn of a new era in the club’s rich history.

The Rise, Decline and RISE of Arsene Wenger’s Empire, is within reach, he must grasp it!

Written by Red Arse

I don’t believe that anyone at the Club really believes that individual games in the league matter.

We operate a longer term strategy. Survival, at least until the world becomes a fairer place, and by survival I refer to the CL spot that retains the Club at the top table of World Football.

Look at the other Clubs in the PL, and there is not one who operates our philosophy. The difference between 1st and 3rd is the ability to fight and scrap for that extra point or two in every game. Every little bit really matters and counts. Ditto for anyone fighting to avoid the drop.

Then you have the runners and riders in the middle. Every season, one or two will emerge from the pack and punch above their weight. These are the highly motivated, well organized machines.

From top to bottom, we operate a Low Risk Strategy.

It is all about Averages. So long as our Average is better than the rest, all is well.

This is produces Average Mentality, and permeates its stench from fiscal strategy, to transfer philosophy, to team selection, tactics and wages.

A bad individual performance does not matter. Consistently exceptional performances shall not be rewarded. Mediocrity, on the other hand, will.

Can the Club change, and I mean now, in the very short term? Yes, I believe it can, but it will come from the top. Arsenal FC is a safe investment. Somewhere for the very wealthy overseas business man to find a safe haven for a part of his gigantic portfolio. The word I dislike most that I have just typed is “safe”.

Safe means low risk. Little games don’t matter.

Well they bloody well do to the fans. Every moment of every game matters.

My view is break your f’ing wage parity, at least go into games thinking draws are not good enough, don’t reward mediocrity, and however unfair the world may be, start living for the moment. Fight today, and stop living for tomorrow.

Give me five good men that will go the extra yard than fifty average, and they will deliver.

Right now? Buy a midfield warrior. A very good one, and sell anyone you need to to make it happen. Give Theo his sodding money, and if he fails to earn it, flog him in the summer.

Wake up Arsenal and take a Risk. Who knows, we may win a Cup along the way.

Written by MickyDidIt89