This season, as an Arsenal fan, I had hoped to finally see them lift a major trophy and bring it home to the Emirates. The FA Cup wins from the past two years have seemed to have built up the confidence of the players and given Arsene Wenger the tactics he needs to finally deliver a league title after so many years. On the surface, it seems the Frenchman is the cause of grief for so many Arsenal fans; however, this season, after drawing Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League and being eliminated by Watford in the FA Cup as holders, many fans are fed up with the way the club has been run over the past few years and this begins to raise many questions of the management and board members. At this point where mediocrity has become the norm, many fans are wondering, what’s the problem with Arsenal?
As we saw in the case of Chelsea, lazy players and spiteful attitudes were to blame as Jose Mourinho was interpreted as the root of the issue. The issue went much further than that, as it does in the case of Arsenal and Wenger. The 66-year-old has given the club years of loyal service and moments of glory that few fans would be willing to forget, but the issue now becomes a club of incredibly inconsistent players reliant on a select few stars.
This dependency on world-class players puts a heavy toll on them with very little rest, which only contributes to the injury problems that’s seemed to have plagued the club in the past. The only solution to this is to buy players that match the quality of the likes of Mesut Özil, Petr Cech, and Alexis Sanchez, who seems to have experienced a significant drop in his performance compared to last season. This has been blatantly obvious to fans for many years, but through accusations of Wenger’s tightfistedness, some truth has to emerge, and the blame placed on Wenger by the fans, is wrongfully cited.
Stan Kroenke, as the majority shareholder, treats the club as a business as opposed to a club seeking victory and competition amongst their rivals. Wenger, if as thrifty as us fans seem to think, must be willing to spend in order to compete and if still reluctant, must be forced by Kroenke to finally spend and give the fans what they want. When it comes down to the core, Kroenke must force Wenger’s hand and drive the club to victory for the end of his managerial career. Some may claim that failure comes in Wenger’s faith in players such as Mathieu Flamini and Olivier Giroud, but if victory were really the priority of the club’s majority shareholder, Kroenke would not be borrowing £3m from the clubs funds after buying a new ranch, he would not be leaving the clubs beloved manager of nearly 20 years hung out to dry, and he would not put the business side of football ahead of the passion of the fans.
Through Kroenke’s misguided vision for Arsenal, it becomes clear that success in the business world does not translate into success on the pitch. With Wenger giving up so much for this club it, becomes a disgrace to leave him out like this, and for the man who works seven days a week and split with his wife to devote his whole being to the success of Arsenal, it becomes clear that he still cares deeply for the club and the pain and suffering so many fans have faced, are rooted in issues that go further than Wenger and until they are resolved, this yearly cycle of disappointment for us Arsenal fans will continue to happen year after year.
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