Gazidis asks Gooners to give Arséne more time...should we?
It’s been a pretty awful week for us Addicts.
Avoidable individual errors, lamentable goalkeeping, a lack of passion, thousands of fans leaving early and serious question marks being asked about the vision Arséne Wenger has for Arsenal.
Here at Arsenal Addict, we’ve been as disheartened, depressed and downright devastated at letting in seven goals in a week against two sides we consider to be rivals.
On Monday night, Ivan Gazidis, the new Arsenal Chief Executive, joined members of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust for a Q&A session that said much for the way Arsenal is going.
Mr Gazidis speaks with an English accent, having been born in South Africa and then moving to England as a young boy, before his legal career took him to New York and MLS, where he implemented a long term strategy when in charge of basically everything at Major League Soccer.
In a nutshell, he attracted major, blue chip sponsors to sign 20 year deals with companies who bought into the long term vision of the project, understanding that there would be bumps along the way before the League really took off.
Interestingly, he light-heartedly claimed that he had also signed probably more players in his time in the US than anyone else in the world since the League, rather than individual clubs, did the signing of all the players, which Gazidis estimated at being an average of 70 international deals a year and domestic transfers on top. Let's hope he puts that experience to good use in the summer - for incoming players at least.
So what relevance is all this to Arsenal, you ask, and so did I when listening to him.
But then it occurred to me that actually, his mentality is just what Arsenal need.
No one praises or rewards second place, or fourth place, or semi-finalists in America – and Gazidis, in his measured and highly intelligent way, is going to go about making sure the Arsenal model is not just talk.
Arsenal have a long term strategy, based on servicing and paying off the debt for the stadium; building new revenue streams; developing and making a profit on Highbury Square; and producing success on the pitch without the reliance on outside money or borrowing.
In some ways, that is disheartening – we see M*nure, Ch*vski and Liverpool spent big every year while our net spend makes a mockery of the need to move from Highbury.
But while Gazidis wouldn’t be drawn on transfer funds in the summer, understandably, he admitted that Wenger is well aware that he doesn’t have the answers, that plans have to evolve and develop as circumstances dictate.
It’s a fine line between making sure your manager doesn’t think he is bulletproof, regardless of results, (an accusation that has been levelled at Wenger lately,) and interfering with his strategy in order to get quick results. I can't imagine Wenger putting up with the latter.
The last few years have been difficult...we’ve seen a great side broken up and not adequately replaced...and the wrong priorities given to games that cold have provided us with the silverware that would have kept us happier than we currently are.
Gazidis admitted that two semi finals and fourth place may be great for most clubs, but it is nowhere near good enough for Arsenal.
But I’ve bought into the Arsenal Way – if we give up on the project now, fail to back Wenger’s vision of nurturing young players to play the Beautiful Game after another year of disappointment, we will all live to regret it.
Newcastle, T*ttenham, Man Citeh...to name but three who have spent big, changed managers regularly and found themselves with nothing to show for it but debts and uncertainty.
Sunday’s debacle against the Ch*vs was the final wake-up call for Wenger. He knows he needs to supplement the squad with real quality – and he has probably seen the limited capacity of others who are simply not quite up to standard.
And Gazidis follows the American Mantra – if it ain’t happening on the pitch, everything else falls apart.
I for one believe we have to give this vision more time.
DA
Reader Comments (22)
yes, but we need next year defenetily a trophy or risk losing our best players!!!!!! If next year we dont win anything Wenger has to go!!!! End of it
1st
Yes, I think 2 doubles and an unbeaten season merits some slack
If we weren't paying top dollar then I agree more time would not necessarily be a problem, but a these prices you need something back. the entertaining football is no longer there either , A target man up front on his own. Not worth £120 of my money in these times
Sorry £1200 of my money
Wish it was £120
Good post. Nice to hear a rational and intelligent opinion amongst all the impulsive drivel that's floating around at the moment. I read the other day some prat called 'Sinbad' affirming that Wenger has to go and that anyone who doesn't agree is a thick clueless muppet.... It almost makes me embarrassed to be an Arsenal fan sometimes.
bollocks - nothing rational about this post, sounds like you have capitulated and bought in to the mantra of "Arsene Knows Best". We have a club that is rotten from the board down - and the more pragmatic rhetoric these spin doctors yarn, the cosier you fools will feel I love my club, I love what it stood for - the history, the hunger and the drive has gone from this club - and it boils down to Wenger and his bunch of merry men. I pay hard earnt money to watch my club, and i want them to compete because they want to be successful and win, I want them to put on the shirt and wear it with pride. The sorry bunch of misfits do neither - they turn up and play to get paid - thats it. Wenger doesnt have the pulse or the interest of us fans - why, simply because he knows he has people who spew his mantras about. I want to see my club bring back its BRITISHNESS - none of these lazy gits from all corners of the world, who see Arsenal FC as a stepping stone to another world/club. Enough is enough - time to stand up and speak out - and no more of this Arsene Knows Best crap - he doesnt, if he did we wouldnt be having these debates, we would be singing about how we won this trophy or how we trounced this team - not eulogising on the demise of our club.
what Gordon Freeman - you mean you werent embarassed to be an Arsenal Fan after Sundays trouncing or the no show of our players for both legs of the semi finals in the Champions League or the embarassing way we lost to Chelsea in the semi final of the FA Cup? You take great pride in the way the team has collapsed?
Given that this club is now run as a business, lets look at this from a business point of view, if someone operated like Wenger has in the last 5 years in your company, you would have sacked him by now - dead wood is dead wood - and to use a lovely cliche "you can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig"
Goonerboy, I agree 100% wt u, all these crap abt him knowing best is just not it.Playing that misfit Song alone as aholding against Chevski n Manure shows he's lost it, when he plays with Denilson our middle of the pack struggles, hw much more any of em alone, no more carrots for Arsene, we need the STICK!!!
Every part of me wants the vision to succeed but right now I just can't see it. When I look at the manner of our defeats to ch£l$ki and united I just see a gap, a gap created by those two teams hand picking fresh world stars whenever they need them...even just to come off the bench (berbatov) - and us having to nurture a fragile young side...its just too much.
We were bossed in midfield against the chavs in the F.A.Cup. It was as if they knew that if they just soaked up our youthful, energetic start then they would walk it after that...and it happened.
Against United...well, has the gap ever looked so big?
It must be said that there were unfortunate circumstances in all these big games recently...but the gap is still evident.
When we play our football against these teams, it just breaks down at the final 3rd. the type of football we play requires winning the possession battle and being supremely confident...confident enough to make that Arshavin/Hleb/Bergkamp/Henry styled pass which splits the defence while we are still flowing forward. No one is doing that right now. No one is confident enough...for a very good reason.
until 3 wesk ago i was firmly on wenger's side. i had suspended my disbelief for 2 years. and i argued against all the bile that was spouted against wenger and some of the younger players.
BUT NOW.....
i have changed. I HAVE LOST FAITH. I DON''T TRUST WENGER.
there are 2 reasons for this:
1) our shambolic witless performances against chelsea and utd
2) the amount of bullshit that wenger spouts after each game in defense of his players. i am sick of hearing how they have such great unity, how they have such special mental strength and how far they have developed.
for the first time ever, i don't share the vision. i just don't see where we are going. we are way short and one extra year's experience with this group of players will not in itself be enough to close the gap.
i'll give him unitl the end of next year, i wont be countnig silverware next may. but i will judging him by how close we came to winning stuff, how serious a challenge we maintained, and how well we fought agasint the big teams,
Buying doesnt work always - look at tottenham, liverpool and man City along with sunderland newcastle, everton oh hell the other 19 clubs. debts debts and more debts along with wantaway stars. yes manu and Chelsea have had recent success , but face it of the top 4 only 3 have won that title andthat includes US. Now go t omanagement - Chelsea have had 3 managers in , what 18 months and results? Zilch as far as the top two titles are concerned. Their dressingroom is filled with overpaid egotistical stars who play boring football, bully refs, swear into cameras and then want away because , no-body lovesthem or understands them. Life was far easier in the old 1st division without all this money. Teams built success mainly from around their grounds , players loyal to the club. Fans didnt pay huge amounts to see matches and a foreign player was the likes of Brady, O'Leary etc. I am not sorry for the likes of henry , Bergcamp etc landing on our door step, what i dont want is the overinflated priced egotists who couldnt be bothered to tog out for WBA or sunderland and are more interested in wrapping their cars around lampposts and then wantaway. My time and once ayear trip to emirates following Arsenal should not be taken up with such gobsh@#es. I want loyal players, true I want stars, and nurturing talent thru our academy will give us that.
My oh my. What wonderful supporters we have! Supporters!! They don't know the meaning of the word. What diffence does it make who we buy, if they are sat in the treatment room or at home during our big games. We have, and consistently do buy experience. Eduardo, Rosicky and Gallas are top drawer pros. If they had all played throughout the season, I would be very suprised if I'd be reading the shit written here today. Injuries have cost us dear and we don't have the resources of the cash whores at Old Trafford, Anfield and Stamford Bridge. We run this club on a self sustaining model, where what we earn is what we have. We do not rely on individuals to inject huge amounts of cash to keep us afloat, or in the case of Liverpool and United, huge loans secured against the club. If you want to watch a team and a bench laden with zillionaires then this is not the club for you. We make our stars, we don't buy many of them. Back the team, back the manager, back the board. We are Arsenal. If you don't like the cruise, get off at the next port.
Amen, Bugsey. Next stop is coming soon so abandon ship all who abandon hope. I am going to start polishing the anchor
Goonerboy - Yes, I am proud of the club and the way it's run - that doesn't make me a fool. I'm also no member of the Arsene knows brigade; I think he's made mistakes and is irritatingly stubborn about them. However, I also believe that there are few, if any, other managers in the world who could even keep us in touch with the other top clubs (and in the champions league every year) with the budget he has. The truth is that we don't have the money to compete with Chelsea or Barcelona etc on transfer fees and wages and by rights shouldn't be anywhere near the semi finals of the CL. I agree with everyone who says we need to sign experience in the summer... but who? We can't just go out and spend £25m on an Essien to replace Flamini. Players who fit the bill aren't easy to find and even when they do become available, we have to patiently wait to see if the likes of chelsea and man city are interested first - take Arshavin as an example, Arsene was obviously interested last summer, he practically said as much during the euros, but had to wait for interest from barca and whoever else to fade before the price came down and we could make a move. We certainly wouldn't be able to afford to go out and buy players like Cesc and RvP if we hadn't got them in when they were young(er).
If, as you suggested, I owned a business and Wenger was in my employ, I certainly wouldn't sack him - I'd have the foresight to see that the other "businesses" like chelsea and man city will soon come crashing down , and, due to Wenger, I would soon be in a position to compete financially with all the other properly run companies out there.
Luckily for Arsenal, it just so happens that it is run by a group of successful business men who can see this and, as a result, Wenger is going nowhere.
I remember the last time this season when everyone was banging on and on about our defensive problems.
Wenger took the boys to the training ground and fixed it.
Next thing we knew we were solid as ever and even set a record for clean sheets at home.
So we know that this set of players can defend. That's why I think all this is overblown and is hysteria.
I understand why people are angry and disgruntled. To be frank 3 consecutive drubbings would be enough to get a Real Madrid manager fired.
But we simply can't lose perspective. The disappointment this season is that we collapsed in November, and then in February we had those 4 goalless draws that finally finished our title hopes.
Our run in the Cups is DEFINTELY a positive. And I just can't accept that this squad just became bad overnight.
God the idiots who can post comments.
Here is how I sum up an anti-Wenger argument.
Just thought I'd let you guys know that I'm an Arsenal supporter. As an Arsenal supporter, I immediately inherit a god-given right to see Arsenal win trophies every single year, with at least one being either the Champions League or Premier League, but most of the time, both, with the add-on of the FA Cup, and finish with the Carling Cup. Because of this I believe that we should sack Wenger. He's not winning us anything. Providing a stable base for our future with shrewd young signings, what is he thinking? Vela, Denilson, Song, Nasri, Cesc, Walcott, Bendtner, Gibbs, Traore, Coquelin, Ramsey. These names will never amount to anything. How does Wenger explain the fact that we lost to Man United, the best club team in the world. I mean we just shouldnt lose to these teams. I want champagne football with a minimum of 3 goals a game. If this takes signing kaka, Benzema, Tevez, Veloso, Alonso, Huntelaar, Hangeland, Buffon, Casillas, then I don't care. OUr future is of no concern, we deserve victory and trophies, and we deserve it now. There are no positives to take from this year at all. 4th best team in Europe, you expect us to put up with this Arsene? The same youngsters who finished in the CL Semi's won't get better with experience, such a concept is beyond belief. When was the last good signing you made. Nasri - floats about and does shit all. Ramsey - typical Welshmen, couldn't win an arm wrestle against an amputee. Arshavin - 4 goals against Liverpool, and now what - 'Oh no, I've got the flu, I can't play'. BOOHOO. Silvestre - well I'll give you some credit for that one. Overall, nothing positive will come out of this season at all. We will never ever ever ever win anything again
Oh yeh, just to reiterate. WENGER OUT
AW can afford to toy with arsenal fans because of the attitude of many fans who believes wholeheartedly in what this man is doing. The problem is that of complacency, his job is never at risk, so he can afford to experiment all he wants. Could you believe that this guy played a weakened side against chelski in FA semi final because he valued the CL and finishing fourth more. For a club that has not won any trophy for 4 years, that was a huge let down for the fans. I feel that AW does whatever he likes which will be ok if he's mistake proof, but he has made so many questionable and downright wrong decisions recently. I have stopped listening to his rubbish about how we are close and how this team has mental strenght and character, the fact is, this team is rubbish, no fight, minimal talent, and above all, they lack basic coaching. This team only plays the same way, no plan B. This team always conceed from set pieces, this team does not shoot on goal when open, this team does not play entertaining football anymore, so please tell me how close they are to winning any thing. AW has to be part of the re-invention of arsenal, he deserves that for all his years of loyalty and success, he should be supported more than ever by the board, but most importantly, he should be reminded that he's not arsenal. He has a job to do, and we demand better from him, or we will ........
Guys, anyone saying Wenger out is being rash in my opnion. Let's look at the past few years:
03-04: Invincibles year. Not bad....
04-05: Won the FA cup and came fairly close in the prem
05-06: Champions league final where one moment of madness cost us it (I personally think we were great, brave and unlucky that night - I was hugely proud to be an Arsenal fan despite losing and we could have won!)
06-07: Carling cup final with the kids, but I'm willing to concede it was a dud transition year
07-08: Can anyone seriously tell me that if Eduardo, Rosicky and RVP hadn't got injured as much they were that we wouldn't have won the PL and done Liverpool in the CL? That was a GREAT squad.
08-09: Flamini makes the mistake of losing faith in Wenger, and they both pay the price. Longest unbeaten run since 03-04 and semi-finalists and 4th despite our captain being injured and Adebayor being way out of form.
I'm sure AW realises that he's got things to improve, but if you're an Arsenal fan you should make constructive cricitism and not get everbody down! Anybody saying "Arsene's lost it" is probably in the same band of people who sit at the Emirates and refuses to shout!
If you're a plastic enough fan to bring everyone else down about Wenger, I suggest you go and support Chelsea. He's made mistakes but all this stinky chat is bringing the whole club down at the moment!
N7Gooner - whats with anyone who says "Wenger Out" should go and support chelsea? I support Arsenal FC, not Arsene FC. Just as much as you are entitled to your opinion that the sun shines out of his arse, I and others are entitled to think and say it doesnt, without be vilified or told to go and support another team. That is why this club is rotten to the core, its because of the real plastic fans like yourself, who look at Arsenal and only see Arsene. What you are saying is.... you can express an opinion but only if its one i agree with.
We sing to chelsea fans, "where were you when you were sh*t", I will sing the same song to you...."where were you when we were managed by Don Howe"? I was a season ticket holder even back then, were you?
The cocks on Shite Hart Lane would pay you £150 million cash if you offered them what we achieved this season. Of course we're the Arsenal and they're the tiny totts but
They've spent like £200-300 Million to achieve just 1/3 of our success this year and failed over years now.
Just wanted to throw a bit of perspective into the discussion.
Ole Gunner - I think everyone here can agree on at least one thing; the pleasures of poking fun at the spuds every year as they desperately try to spend their way out of mediocrity.