Posted by dandan

It puzzles me to see the number of Doomers and Gooners who inhabit the blogosphere including this site occasionally. Wailing and pouring vitriol over any one, who dares to suggest that five years without a trophy is purely a natural pause in the circle of life of a top premiership club.

Now of course, many will leap on me crying idiot, top is top, how can you be a top club if you don’t win things. Easy; when the club down the road celebrates and does laps of honour on finishing below us in the league whilst “winning” the chance to qualify for a competition we have participated in for the past dozen years you know someone has got their priorities wrong.

Winning isn’t always about coming first. If it was 35,000 people wouldn’t run in the London marathon every year when only one can come first’ Ok there are several races in one so you can have perhaps three winners, but the point remains the same, winning isn’t every thing, there are many victories in that race.

For clubs like Arsenal winning is a burden, an expectation that is based on the fact that we have won before. Every year 20 clubs set out to win the Premier League, but in the 18 years of its lifetime 43 clubs have tried, but only 4, Man Utd, Arsenal Chelsea and Blackburn have ever won it. Note, that Liverpool is not among those illustrious few, although in the old first division they won no less than 18 titles.

Consider that, no premier league title ever for an undoubtedly top side. There I go again, a top side I say and they have never won the premier league. But travel the world as I have and what do you see, youngsters wherever you go wearing football shirts, Man Utd usually with a 7 on, Arsenal 10 or 14, Chelsea they go for 9, Real Madrid, Barcelona and surprise surprise, Liverpool 8.

Now I have met and chatted to people wearing these shirts all over Africa, in North and South America, even on Islands in the remote reaches of the oceans from St Helena to the Falkland Islands and Christmas Island to Fiji and Tahiti and many more. These guys can name the squad and quote enough statistics to make any anorak happy. So winning is also being known all round the world, building a fan base that can finance and refinance the club over and over again.

Winning isn’t short term. Winning is taking your turn with the rest of the elite and being there or there about’s enough to guarantee a large slice of the available TV coverage because that is how the fans worldwide get to know your club, until your boat comes in and you return to winning ways.

Liverpool have of course won the European Cup in 2005 and the FA cup in 2006 but would give their right arm for the league trophy and yet, do you hear the their fans abusing the manager the way that some of our fans do. If Rafa worked at the Emirates IMHO he would have been hung from the crossbar by now.

Arsenal are by any criteria, save the narrow one of current silverware , winners. Playing a brand of football that is beautiful to watch. They remain solvent and are fast approaching debt free. They will soon own their superb new stadium to go with the state of the art training complex and an academy filled with many of the world’s finest youngsters.

If the board are to be believed, this season a war chest is available to the manager, enough to finance the  purchase of the final players to turn this  team of potential  into the pot winners that so many crave.

It was 40 years ago today Arsenal won their first European trophy, a 4-3 victory over Anderlecht of Belgium. A few of our fellow bloggers were there that famous night and I would like to describe the evening for those who couldn’t attend.

At the time I was a fresh faced, long-haired lad, fully loaded with Arsenal fanaticism following a decade of dire football. I arrived at the ground at least 3 hours prior to kick-off having taken the trusty 210 bus to Finsbury Park. The walk down St Thomas Rd was, as always, a slow meander past the death-burger stalls, the guys selling rosettes, scarves and rattles, and the paper salesmen. The early evening air resonated to shouts of “Wear your colours” and “Matchday Programmes”. The aroma of dung from the police horses mingled with smell of hotdogs, beer and cigarettes. The Highbury area was packed with expectant, excited fans. I bought my programme from the Arsenal Supporters Club stall (very lucky), and then went into the sweet shop under the North Bank to buy a bag of lucky Everton Mints before joining the immense queue to get in the ground. I took my place midway up the North Bank as central as possible. And waited in one of the noisiest crowds I had ever experienced.

It was a typical early Spring English evening. My recollection is that there had been much rain that week and the pitch was heavy. As darkness fell the ground was illuminated by the cold glare of the spotlights, and the fog from 30,000 cigarettes lay a few feet above the players. In those days almost everyone smoked and the pall is one of my outstanding memories of those evening games at Highbury.

Over 51,000 packed into Highbury, which should be compared to the attendance limit of 39,000 when we left our wonderful old stadium. The ground was humming. The marching band came out to “entertain” the fans, some fat chap sang a couple of songs. The team came out to warm up in front of the North Bank. We chanted and the players responded with a wave and a smile. All 12 players had their own chants from Scotland’s Number One  to Big John Radford, all were sung with equal gusto, though the North Bank darling was of course Charlie George – one of our own.

We started with 7 English and 4 Scottish players and an English manager.

Having lost the first leg in Belgium 3-1, we were underdogs but I was very bullish about our chances. If I am honest, I cannot recall too much of the game apart from Sammels winner and the insanity of that moment. Words cannot explain the feeling – you all know what I mean, when the logical process gets left behind and the emotions take over. Time stops. It’s a type of petit mal. There is only one thing like it (wink wink).

People were praying for the final whistle (Sammels scored with 15mins to go). The noise at the end was ear shattering. Frank McLintock received the Cup and then all hell broke loose. The entire North Bank invaded the pitch, followed by everyone else – even the East Stand Upper! I stayed on the pitch dancing with strangers for what seemed like hours until we were shepherded out. I cannot recall another occasion when the pitch was invaded and it remains the only time my feet have touched the hallowed turf.

This was our first trophy for 17 years, yes, 17 years! It was the first trophy I was privileged to see us win. The joy was unbridled. In those far off days I was teetotal yet was persuaded to take pint or two, which accounts for my having little memory of the celebrations that followed!

The names of that team will go with me to my grave. It is THE Arsenal team to me, much as the Invincibles are to the current generation of young Gooners.

Thank you Messrs Wilson, Storey, McNab, Kelly, McLintock, Simpson, Armstrong, Sammels, Radford, George and Graham, and last but definitely not least, Mr Mee. Thank you.

By dandan

Arsène Wenger, I believe, faces the toughest summer of his career, because on top of the obvious need to revitalise the squad with three or four new players he also has to wrestle with the new premier league rules limiting the squad size as follows.

All clubs will have a named a squad of up to 25 players of which only 17 can be over the age of 21 and not home grown.

A home-grown player will be defined as one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the Season during which he turns 21).‪

Clubs will be able to supplement their squads with unlimited additional players under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences.

Changes to the squad list of 25 may be made during the period of a transfer window.

It is interesting to note that home grown does not just apply to players brought through the academy of the club he is playing for, thus Sol would qualify having come through the spuds system from an early age. We have 7 first team players in this category.

Campbell, Djouro, Bendtner, Fabregas, Clichy, Song and Denilson

Add to this the fact that we are allowed to add as many unregistered under twenty one year olds as we like and it would appear to make us well placed with our existing squad. However it does mean that any player reaching 21 has to be registered if he is to continue to play, thus needing an existing player to be deregistered. One wonders how long an unregistered 21 year old or deregistered older player would want to stay

This clause seems to me to make any players that Arsène sees as surplus to requirements  very saleable, given that many clubs will be scouring the country for players that will allow them to fill up there squads.

Could be that Arsène’s youth project will prove to be a real moneymaker for the club. Once again it seems Arsène has done it right.

Being able to loan players out will also be pivotal as to how squads are handled, given that additional young players can be added in January, promising players can be put out on loan for 6 months premiership experience prior to joining the squad as unregistered players.

So how would our squad look? My initial take would be

New GK, Fabianski, Mannone

Djourou                            Campbell

Clichy                                Eboue

Gibbs                                 Sagna

Traore                                Vemaelen                      2 new CB’s

Arshavin                              Denilson

Diaby                                    Fabregas

Nasri                                     Ramsey*

Rosicky                                 Song                               Wilshire*

Bendtner                               Chamakh

Van Persie                              Vela

Walcott

* = Unregistered players, playing regularly

I expect Almunia, Gallas, Sylvestre, Merida, Senderos, and Eduardo to leave the club.  With a new Goalkeeper, 2 Centre backs and a Centre forward to join us. Arshavin is also very likely to go. So a new holding midfielder would be handy although Eastmond could be used in that role.

Perhaps some of our loan players will also be sold or indeed added to the squad, it gives you some idea of the decisions Wenger must make with so many of them approaching twenty one, which has become very much the cut off point career wise.

Interesting times ahead I think