By Boris Mellor
March 24 2007

Some Arsenal fans claim Wenger’s biggest mistake was taking Pires off when Lehmann was sent off in the CL final, others say it was Stepanovs. Arsene himself cites not resting Pires the season that Bobby crocked his cruciate ligaments.

 But having giving it careful thought I reckon his biggest mistake was winning the double in 1998, ah but I can hear your protests – mistakes are not deliberate, they are unintended consequences. Ok so he intended to win the double, but it still had unintended consequences. It led to unrealistic expectations – for example the Highbury Spy has gone completely mad, on the Internet, struck down with grief due to a 1-0 defeat at Everton.

To avoid the mistake of raising expectations too high Wenger should have narrowly missed winning the league in 1998 he could have done that by resting key players before the cup final. For what Wenger had done was overachieve at a club where the directors famous for their stinginess would never give him the funds to strengthen an ageing team enough to continue his success.

Wenger is getting a lot of flak from the press, and even a few Arsenal fans, for failing to secure a trophy this season, that it will be three season since the Gunners won a trophy. Yet in November 1993 Alex Ferguson won his first league championship in seven years at Old Trafford. It was seven years!!!!!!!!! What manager would get 7 years in this day and age? Rainieri didn’t, nor did Houllier, even though he won cups galore. Just imagine if Alex hadn’t been given his seventh year the history of English football would be very different. So there are some, probably far fewer than they believe, fans that think three years is the maximum a manager should be allowed.

In 1966 Bertie Mee was made Manager of Arsenal, in 1969 he took an Arsenal first team to defeat against lower division Swindon in the league cup final. Oh the anguish, but the next year he won the Fairs cup, and in 1971 he won the League and FA cup. It took him five years to get the league, and it was 18 years since the Gunners last won it. But now, according to some, three years without a trophy and you are out. Indeed Wenger went four years without a major trophy after 1998, and the pundits were busy writing him off. I get a feeling that some of the new fans Arsenal have are not aware of this four year drought.

But none of the above is what I am really interested in, no its mental health that concerns me. What makes allegedly sane adults lose all sense of perspective at the thought of a trophy less season. For some the merest suggestion that Wenger should be given more time reduces them to an impotent rage, and to accusations of being an agent of Arsene. Perhaps I should launch the AA (Agents of Arsene) there must be a few of us about.

Why is the time scale allowed for success being reduced so? After all life expectancy is going up, though that probably won’t improve the odds very much for Spurs fans. The reason is that the heartbeat of football has intensified, I can’t remember pundits claiming the league title could be settled on a Sunday in September. Sky and the Premiership have trivialised and intensified the football experience. The issues are chewed over, replayed and replayed, analysed and analysed until a week in football is as long as a year in politics.

Now the fixture lists are so crammed that a team can lose in three cup competitions in a week, a whole season is condensed into ten days. And its only winning that counts, don’t win and you are nothing, you are zero, if your clubs season is due to end without a trophy then that season is over. The rest of your matches are irrelevant, surely a contradictory way of selling matches on TV? Being as that is the case for about 75% of teams matches are irrelevant by February, so what is there to hang around for?

The great emptiness awaits those who have nothing to aim at, the season is over. Talking to a Spurs fan last night I got an insight into this mentality, he assured me that the new stadium would not be full again this season, that it would be hard to sell tickets. This was said with the hubris of a fan enjoying one of their longest seasons in history, thanks to a bye. I couldn’t be bothered to remind him of their FA cup exit. Now he could be right, but I don’t agree, I think most Arsenal fans know dam full well that there is everything still to play for.

But for those that don’t its all important not to throw all the toys out of the pram and deny Wenger the opportunities that Ferguson, or Mee were extended. Not out of kindness, but because such managers are rare. Clubs who get rid of managers after a year or so turn into football equivalents of banana republics, of which Real Madrid I think of the first.

We better hope that the team doesn’t feel that it’s all over, because if the season is over they needn’t turn up. If they see it that way they will not fight and third place will be lost. Third place is very important, not because of the CL place, although that is important, but because unless they finish third they cannot possibly win the league next season. No team has won the Premiership that was lower than third the preceding season. Third is the launch pad.

But it will be hard as Wenger has few striking options. No doubt another of his mistakes, in September he should have known that Henry would break down, RvP break a Metatarsal, Adebayor be suspended for not hitting Lampard, Walcotts shoulder pop out, and that Ali and the Beast would fire blanks on getting their chance. With the benefit of hindsight he should have had 14 top class strikers on his books for emergencies.

It would make far more sense to ignore the hype, be patient and let things develop. Of course to argue that makes me an agent of Arsene, but I would rather be that, than an agent of rabid media hype. Most of my years as an Arsenal fan have been without trophies, only the last 20 years of Graham and Wenger have delivered so much. In fact Man U fans haven’t seen that many more trophies in the last 20 years.

In their own ways both Wenger and Graham over achieved in comparison to their budgets, but only Arsene has produced the beautiful game and world stars. For that reason I am prepared to be patient. We saw the future at Cardiff, it shouldn’t be thrown away to win a trophy Wenger has never considered a priority, but a showcase for his youngsters.

For a large selection of Arsenal Books, DVDs, PC games AND MORE at Bargain Prices visit the Arsenal Times Store CLICK HERE

Discuss these issues in forum at the bottom of this page