By DJarse
September 3 2011

2011 A Sad and Chaotic Year for Arsenal Fans. I have been an Arsenal supporter for 50 years – yes, 50. Hard to believe, as my brain thinks I’m only 35….No disrespect intended to younger fans on this site, but in 50 years you definitely see the ups and downs a bit more clearly. This year the down has been one of the worst – partly due to raised, and then dashed, expectations.

The Wenger years

I have absolutely no doubt that the Wenger years have been the best in my lifetime as an Arsenal supporter (don’t turn off now, I will get to criticisms later!). The invincibles were…well…invincible ! I doubt it will ever be repeated. Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Adams – these players were worth the exhorbitant prices to see. My favourite moment of all was Adams scoring the 4^th goal at Highbury against Everton to win the league, set up by Steve Bould! We were unlucky not to win the Champions League final against Barca.

I don’t go along with the view that winning is all that matters. I have so enjoyed many of our games in the last 15 years even when we have not won – the flair in the team has been fantastic at times. During the Wenger years, I have attended our matches much more regularly than in all the previous period – that says it all. But for the first time since Wenger arrived, I am in two minds about taking out another mortgage to attend a few home games this season.

The club has lost its way – but not just the club…….

I know I am not the first to say it but I feel the club has lost its way in the last three or four years. I will talk about the footballing side in a minute. But I feel the state of our club reflects how society has lost its way too. Now for the politics (have a snooze, if you must, but it’s relevant).

I’m a socialist and a Green. I believe in fundamental human decency, equality, respect for others and for the planet. Football is only a game (Shankly was wrong, even if it was a great joke!). But football has also become the epitome of everything that is wrong with the world and society – it has become inextricably linked into the grotesque capitalist economic system.

I commented a few weeks ago in a post on this site about football’s highest earners, that the wages were literally obscene. I use the word advisedly – obscene. My sister has recently retired after being a nurse for 40 years. Samir Nasri will earn in his first month at Manchester City as much as my sister did in 40 years of nursing. That cannot be right. Please don’t reply by burbling on about “market forces”. It is disgusting – full stop. There is no justification.

Inequality is growing here and everywhere. The wealthiest 1000 people in the UK have assets of almost £400 billion – more than double our national budget deficit. They could pay it off and still be super-billionaires. But they won’t. They want more – and they want you and me to pay for it. The bankers caused the world economic crisis and we have to pay. And when people riot – we are told there is “a moral crisis in society”. I agree – it is the immorality of the rich and powerful. See my recent blog on this issue:

What about football? Well in these same last few years since the economic crisis, the takeover of football by the super-duper-uber rich has accelerated. Abramovic and Chelski and now ManCity. As in the rest of life, the ultra-rich and powerful simply buy and get what they want. FIFA’s Fair Play rules will be brushed aside, despite Arsene’s naïve belief to the contrary. Our Board members and former members have made a fortune on their Arsenal shares and we are paying for it with the highest prices in the premiership.

You see football and politics/economics – it’s hard to separate them.

The mistakes of the last few years

I wish I could blame the filthy capitalists alone for the problems at the club. But I can’t. There have been real failures in player scouting and recruitment (or lack of it), in coaching, in leadership and in the management of the club.

Let me say straight away that we have had some bad luck too. Eduardo’s broken leg stopped us winning the premiership that season, I am certain. The fumble between Koscielny and Szczesny in the Carling Cup Final and the outrageous sending off of Van Persie against Barca scuppered us last season too. We might easily have won the Carling Cup at least and probably finished second in the premiership without these unfortunate twists of fate, that so cruelly undermined the team’s confidence.

But Wenger has to shoulder some blame too. It has been absolutely obvious to every supporter of the club (almost without exception) that our defence was not strong enough, that we needed to blend our exciting young players with some more experienced old hands, that we lacked real leadership and a genuine captain (not someone being given it as an inducement not to leave the club). These problems have been with us now for three years. Even with the influx of new blood in the last 24 hours, those deficiencies are still evident.

I admire Wenger’s refusal to pay ridiculous sums for 2^nd rate players. But then why does he sanction paying so many 2^nd rate fringe players in our squad equally unjustifiable salaries? And the transfer fee policy is not consistent. Apparently we could have bought Phil Jones from Blackburn for £10m last winter but baulked at the fee – only to offer half as much again this summer to be gazumped by ManU. And why did we pay a ridiculous £6m for Squillaci, for whom there were no takers this summer even when we tried to give him away.

As others have speculated, there is clear incompetence in our recent transfer dealings – for which Wenger probably only takes part of the blame. Others should fall on their sword.

The final insult was that the average age of Ferguson’s team for the 8-2 rout last weekend was lower than ours. He has managed to bring through younger players very successfully and integrated them into a team with more experienced players in a way that we have consistently failed to do. Our youth policy has unearthed some gems but also lots of overpaid underperformers who leave at the sniff of more money elsewhere.

END OF Part 1

In part 2 DJ will consider the situation after the recent transfer splurge and consider the balance sheet for the season ahead.

PART  2 Here