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After several years without a trophy to boast about, many Arsenal fans have begun to question the club’s ambition, a fact that would have seemed unthinkable only a decade or so ago. Recent comments from the movers and shakers at the club such as Ivan Gazidis (CEO) and Tom Fox (Chief Commercial Officer) have suggested that the good times are only just around the corner, but patience levels among the faithful are starting to wear thin.
When the club made the decision to say a fond farewell to their beloved old Highbury home, scene of so many Brylcreem and sideburns-related triumphs of the past, they were rightly praised for their vision and their courage. The stunning Emirates Stadium is one of the finest in the country now, and although it offers comfort, safety and an imperious view to spectators, the dearth of silverware ever since has taken the shine off the metamorphosis.
In previous times, clubs built new stadia, or even just new individual stands, and then went into a decade or two of spiralling debt which in some cases still hasn’t gone away, but in Arsenal’s case the finances have been dealt with rather well. The only problem is that it has made them something of a selling club in that time, and until things get straightened out they will continue to struggle to hold on to their stars.
The loss of Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and others has weakened the heart of the side, and the frustrations of many of their fans are centred around the perception that the board care more about creating a sound financial model (whatever that is) than they do about seeing some red and white ribbons tied to a nice shiny trophy. So far this season, with the futures of Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna coming under scrutiny, it’s a case of same old same old for Gooners everywhere.
There is every possibility that one day Arsenal fans will look on this period as a disappointing but necessary blip in their history, caused by the sensible decision to use a new stadium as a tool for propelling their club into Europe’s true elite. Once the debts are beginning to clear, the chances are they will be able to compete on the pitch and in the transfer market with many of those at the top table, except of course the clubs that, thanks to oil-rich backers, have effectively won the lottery in recent times.
Most Arsenal fans were expecting to suffer a few years of pain in order to get to this stage in their evolution, but they perhaps thought the lean times would have come to an end by now. After a stop-start season so far, the Gunners are already a long way behind the Manchester clubs, and their all too familiar inconsistency suggests they won’t be capable of closing any gaps. They are in the knockout stage of the Champions League yet again, but history tells us Arsene Wenger’s men will go out as soon as they are drawn against one of the top sides.
To most observers, Wenger has performed miracles to keep the club in contention at least over the last few years, but this season there are more whispers of discontent about him than ever before. It seems a shame that his genius is even being called into question, especially when taking into account the hand the board have dealt him, but he continues to carry himself with dignity and flatly refuses to point the finger at anyone else.
It does appear that Wenger has a substantial amount of money to spend when the January transfer window opens, but talk of funds being available has been floated before. If the Frenchman does spend big this time, however, it will serve as a definite sign that the club is emerging from the dark days of relative poverty at last. They’ll never be able to compete financially with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, of course, but most Gunners fans would probably prefer to support a club that wasn’t hastily built on a sudden influx of big bucks.
Perhaps the main issue at the moment for Arsenal’s fans is, however, whether the board truly does have the ambition to battle it out on the pitch for trophies anymore. There seems to have been an almost obsessive drive to make ‘the brand’ more financially sustainable, but brands don’t win titles, players do.
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