Over the years of supporting Arsenal, I’ve seen many high and mighty claims made on a variety of topics and these are bandied about as a stick to beat either the club or the manager or players with. I’ve had many a discussion and debate trying to clear the fog of misinformation but the same claims continue to be made. Here at Positively Arsenal, we will look to debunk some of these claims and explain the reality in the hope that people can find it informative and at the same time learn to better see through these myths that get propagated.
I figured I’d start with the most common one, the supposed 7 year decline from challengers to fighting for the top 4. I think it’s a rarity now to see an article in the media or watch a football match on TV without seeing or hearing the mention of 7 years and the words “trophy drought”. To an extent, this media brainwashing has worked on far more people than you’d expect but then again, the human race has always been one that is easily swayed by whatever is seemingly the popular opinion. Most people seem to talk about this decline like it has been a disastrous downward spiral since 2004 when it has been anything but.
The claim of a decline is only even remotely true if you look at a starting point of the Invincibles (the highest peak any team could ever hope to reach) and the players in that and an ending point of today, a point when the season isn’t over. But to look at it in such black and white fashion is such a simplistic and simple-minded dismissal of a very complicated time in Arsenal’s history. A time that I will seek to explain in this post to show what really happened.
We turn the clock back to 2005, to our last glorious cup win, a penalty shoot-out win that we were rather fortunate to get considering we were outplayed for most of that game. More significantly though, we finished 2nd in the league that year, a good 12 points behind then winners, Chelsea. The first signs of the odds we would be up against was there to be seen, that the year after a season unbeaten and finishing 11 points above them, Chelsea had managed to literally buy themselves a 23 point swing by adding Robben, Drogba, Carvalho, Cech, Ferreira and more in just one summer.
While Chelsea were busy buying the league in 2004/05 and 2005/06, our last seasons at Highbury, these were the years of the aging Invincibles team and the years when the first phase of rebuilding began. While this time marked an FA Cup and a dominating run until the Champions’ League final, our performance in the league dropped in comparison, especially in our last Highbury season. It took us some good fortune and dodgy lasagna to finish 4th that year, despite having most of the Invincibles still around. What’s more surprising is the fact that this squad finished 24 points behind league winners Chelsea (who continued their reckless spending)
Our rebuilding during this time was quick, drastic and enforced by a combination of age and the need to offload big earners without resale value (a bit like Chelsea are doing now with Drogba last season and Lampard now). To plan and compensate for these departures, pieces were gradually added with the likes of Hleb, Rosicky, Adebayor, Gallas, Sagna, Walcott and more. While the first season together was shaky in 2006/07 with the expected disjointed nature of new teammates in a rebuilding team, there were still signs of a promising team coming together especially indicated by a run between early December and mid-March that saw us just suffer one defeat in 14 games in the league. However this was another season finishing 4th and this time 21 points behind the winners.
The full potential of this squad was reached in the 2007/08 season where we played the finest Wengerball in years. This team racked up a great set of results and sat on top of the table as true title contenders all the way until late Feb when our season began to shatter just like Eduardo’s ankle did in that infamous game. A string of poor results (and poor refereeing in the case of the Champions League) followed with just one win between then and the middle of April and this decided our fate in the league. Despite a strong finish with a few wins on the trot, we just fell short, 4 points off the title in 3rd.
This team had the makings of a great one that was capable of reaching great heights had they stuck together. However, greed struck with the loss of Flamini and Hleb to teams that could offer a better financial package than we could at a time when the financial restrictions of moving to a new stadium was starting to visibly affect us. At the same time, after an excellent season, the caricature that is Adebayor began to show his temperamental nature while agitating for a move and departed the very next summer to Manchester City. A falling out with then captain, Gallas, meant that Kolo Toure was also let go off to the newly rich team from Manchester.
This forced the second rebuild since the Invincibles, one that built around a youthful core that was showing signs of blossoming. The likes of Alex Song, Nasri, Theo, Fabregas and even Denilson, Diaby and Bendtner contributed greatly towards keeping us in the top 4 and inching closer to another title challenge that was around the corner. We finished 4th in 08/09 and 09/10 thanks to these youngsters and some spectacular play from Arshavin as well and the gap to the top was slowly decreasing, with an 18 point deficit in 2009 narrowing down to 11 in 2010 (a season when we challenged well into March when we were just 2 points off the top before falling short).
Then came the next big push for a title from an Arsenal team since the Invincibles in the 2010/11 season. Nasri, Fabregas, Arshavin and Chamakh were in sparkling form at the start of the season and kept us in the title hunt well into March at the end of which we were 5 points off 1st place United, with a game in hand and a game to face them. This despite a season long injury to our best center back in Vermaelen and a goalkeeping injury crisis that meant we had to call Jens Lehmann back on emergency loan for a game. However once again, bad luck struck and after a devastating defeat in the Carling Cup final and dodgy refereeing knocking us out of Europe again, a limp end to the season saw the title challenge fade and the club finished 4th again, 12 points off the top.
Since then we’ve again been forced to rebuild, losing players to impatience or greed (or both) over the span of two summers just as the financial restrictions were beginning to lift and genuine strengthening would’ve been possible. The following table shows you the changes in the team, in the year of every genuine title challenge. It is so startlingly clear how much we’ve been affected by this rebuilding cycle of players leaving and almost an entire squad getting overhauled due to factors ranging from age to greed to impatience.
It is full credit to the man in charge that despite being forced into doing such a drastic overhaul so frequently in the last few years, he’s kept us within reach and at worst, a year away from the next title challenge. For all his accusation about being too tactically rigid, the evolution of tactics and the adaptation to key players departing is nothing short of remarkable and yet somewhat unappreciated too.
The last section of that table shows you what we have now and what we will continue to build on come this summer. You can see how hard the team has had it when having to cope with such a drastic change after losing two players whom the team was built around (Cesc and RVP). You can also see that there is a fantastic foundation present, one we can be proud of and one which will serve as a platform to future success. And lastly, for the past month or so, you’ve seen evidence of what this team is capable of when it truly comes together. Just like 08/09 or 06/07 before that, the time right now is the teething period before we attempt to take our bite of success.
As for the point about the myth of the decline, by now I think this analogy will make sense. Calling what we have gone through a decline is like being in the Himalayas, and claiming that everything other than Mount Everest, the Invincibles, isn’t high enough and that every valley between peaks we encounter is a disaster. A little more perspective, a little more patience and a little more understanding is all it takes to realize why our last few years have been a rollercoaster and further realize that there is only one way from here, and that is up.
Positively Arsenal 
Excellent analysis Adi – you must have put a lot of work into this and it was well worth it. I think the leavers have gone now and this summer will be the first stable one for years. I wouldn’t be surprised if the prospective additions are already identified and we will be in a position to build on what we have instead of having to replace. This team is coming together nicely and as there are no summer tournaments the players will be able to rest and prepare for next season’s assault on the title. God willing there are no more major injuries.
LikeLike
Must say I love this site. It could even bring me back into the blogosphere but if that’s the case it will be exclusively here.
So much of the sentiment expressed here resonates strongly with me. It harks back to the days when the match day experience was what it was all about. I recall looking forward to the game all day before the KO, meetings mates for beers and seeing the same old familiar faces. Joking with those faces about the possible match outcome; “the scousers are on a roll just now, we’ll probably get pasted”. More beers to sustain the after match analysis (fuck off MOTD we don’t need the snide). Good results lifted me until the next game, others were accepted with a shrug of the shoulder before we moved on to other subjects.
We accepted our place in the world and were very grateful for success. Grace and gratefulness are totally absent these days as the expectation of success dominates all feelings and emotions. Oh! and it started at Highbury where the old bulldog was never far from the surface if things went wrong. I had to get that one down.
Anyway keep up the great work here and thank you!
LikeLike
Well done Adi .That is EXACTLY how I see it
LikeLike
That was insightful and thought provoking but only for those that cares to see the positive. There are so many miserable souls out there who will see something else. I simply love the overtly positive view of everybody here. We’ll both rejoice together at the end of the tunnel.
LikeLike
Terrific piece of work Adi – one of those articles that I’ve no doubt I’ll refer back to time and again. Nice to know it’s in a safe place!
In terms of the overall thrust of the article, you’ve eloquently made the point about the serial rebuilding that’s been going on to a greater or lesser extent pretty much constantly since the Invincibles.
What I don’t understand is why so many think that a team forced down this rebuild route is not going to struggle to vanquish all and sundry. Although still a work in progress, I’m personally amazed at how well we are doing THIS season, given the numbers of newbies that have come in and are still, necessarily, bedding in.
Agree 100% with Passenal; I genuinely think 2013-14 will be an amazing season for the club.
LikeLike
*all* not both ☺
LikeLike
Bloody hell Adi – what a bit of work !
LikeLike
Great stuff. Articulate and thoughtfully argued. Thanks.
“human race has always been one that is easily swayed by whatever is seemingly the popular opinion”
Or if you say something enough times it eventually becomes fact. Decline? 7 years? pfft. People always go on about the alleged “drought”, but I’ve actually thoroughly enjoyed the last few years as much as any before (the football, not the constant whining and bitching from certain “supporters” that’s been a drain). There’s been some trials and tribulations of course, and it has been something of a rollercoaster at times, but that’s all part of the journey. This team is settling now, showing belief, there’s some real character in there at the moment to go with all the talent. The future’s looking bright.
LikeLike
Top post Adi..
Apparently santos was seen in a brazilian airport closing in on his move to gremio..
Podolski put a post on his official
Twitter account which read:
‘@Andre-santos27 We will miss you
man, I wish u all the very best
£Gunner God bless you’.
All the best to him..
LikeLike
KS, I’m sad to see him go – it’s always sad when a player leaves without showing his best form. I think it was skunk-shirt gate that did for his Arsenal career. It’s hard to believe he is the same player from pre-Olympiakos. But it just goes to show what injury and lack of support can do to a player’s confidence. I am pleased for him to be going back to Brazil. He seems like a nice inoffensive chap, always smiling and happy. Someone like him deserves the best and I’m sure he’ll get his career back on track. Good luck Andre.
LikeLike
It could be worse Passenal,there could be an “i” at the end of his name
LikeLike
Great post Hawkeye. People tend to forget that football has been around for a hundred and some years and will be around for another hundred and some more. We may be struggling with our stadium debt and players looking to cash in elsewhere, but that will not last forever. We’ll be in an upswing soon enough and all the doubters will go back to bragging to their mates the way they did when Arsene had the club winning doubles and going a full season undefeated.
LikeLike
Adi, if that’s the kind of post you churn out when busy, I’d love to see what you put out when you aren’t busy at all.
LikeLike
Sadly his time will come George and he will probably get a similar level of abusive comments from the sheep who conveniently forget the contribution he has made during his time here.
LikeLike
Fantastic piece, Adi, lots and lots of hard work and a really good read.
Welcome Hawkeye, like you I thought my days of reading football blogs was over but Frank (where is he?), Adi and George have started something wonderful here.
LikeLike
Absolutely fine post and research. Thanks!
LikeLike
Thanks for all the kind words ladies and gentlemen…I haven’t managed to be as active here as I would like (lots going on in life right now) but I hope to change that soon and get more involved
@Gainsburg69
Thanks…my writing only comes out when I really feel passionately about something and this whole series that I have planned on Arsenal myths…also, when the time is right I will share a poem I wrote about a specific Arsenal day as well
@Harry Flowers
I agree…a lot of the “facts” thrown around by the doom brigade are basically lies that have been repeated so often that they believe it themselves
@Andrew and Passenal
I totally agree that the way this team is coming together with a platform and every chance of building on this without losing the core during the summer, 2013-14 will be a ton of fun to watch…as i’ve said many times this season, this feels like an 06/07 ahead of an 07/08
LikeLike
And Ladies Adi ,and Ladies
LikeLike
If people haven’t read this piece on the attitude towards doping as a comparison between AW and SAF…do take a look – http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/opinion/comment/tom-english-the-growing-crises-in-football-1-2783602
I have a theory that occurred to me when reading about all this…is there a chance that Van Judas forcing his move (while questioning ambition) had something to do with this? Basically Arsene and the club refusing to abide and him forcing a move to whoever helps him make a different kind of leap to the next level?
Just a thought
LikeLike
@George made a cheeky edit and added it to the original comment
LikeLike
Fantastic analysis, Adi. As I myself like to get a bit lost in numbers and statistics I can always appreciate it when someone else does a bit of research and digging. It’s funny how you can present the obvious so clearly in your post, but still many people struggle to understand. That after losing Cesc we were in transition, successfully rebuilt the team and were ready to kick on in the next season, but unfortunately RVP then decided that the little boy inside of him wanted to suckle on Ferguson’s teats for a bit and went out, too. Cue another season in transition. If we keep the core we have now, I don’t see what will prevent us from mounting a proper title challenge next season. It’s going to get only even more likely if Wenger manages to unearth another one or two transfer gems.
LikeLike
I could have done that for you Adi .Now that I think about it
LikeLike
Nice one, Adi, ….aaaannnnd a big fucking hello to my mate Hawkeye. Hawkeye, gainsbourg and Passenal on the same day. Delightful.
Arsenal, Arsenal Arsenal, Arsenal , Arsenal…yeeeeeeeeeesssssssss.
Just listening to Born Free. One of my favourite Matt Munro songs. I play it to my horses, just before I stick their halters on. Childish I know. Anyway he was a Hoxton lad. A Gooner. Matt Munro that is…and here it is
LikeLike
That will of course be Monro, not Munro,or even Monroe, who is one of my first loves
and who Fox still control many years after her death to the point of it being impossible to put up a snippet of her songs without the fuckers trying to make money out of it..the utter cunts.
LikeLike
Great great result yesterday. Much more significant than any ‘neutral’ commentator or journo has realised. This is our run in to next years EPL. Which we will win by a country mile and with real style.
LikeLike
Great post Adi. I fully believe we would have won the tittle in 2007/08 had it not been for the refs been sent out to get us.. Go and revist our matches that season starting with the one which Eduardo had his leg shattered and you’ll see what i mean.. Starting with the match itself, Mike Dean(suprise suprise) let Birmingham get away with everything and i remember correctly before that penalty(which he gifted them) Ade had his shirt torn inside the box but Dean waved play on. Though many dont want to accept it, bent refereeing is one of the biggest problems in this league and to win it you must not only have a squad to beat the other teams but also beating the refs when Fergie comes calling.
LikeLike
Sorry to hog the space but I have to say that I am really pleased about Richard III. Particularly happy that we have found him. Still a bit miffed about his missing feet but I reckon that we have 95% of him. If he was Jack Wilshere I would say that at least 80% of him was still missing. But he isn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if that bloke who went to the Big Mancs gets found in a car park one day. Without his feet. Just a hunch.
LikeLike
Adi, after the horse placenta business, I would not be surprised if he was the type who is willing to do whatever it takes to win, in which case he is in the perfect company.
Hi Frank, I thought you were MIA. Good to see you back.
LikeLike
..speaking of hunches it turns out that Richard III did not have a humpback. He had an S shaped spine, lateral. Scoliosis not lordosis. Which means he probably had one shoulder lower than the other..but no hump. I like him. I think if you read more about him there is a strong possibility that you might too. Henry VII is the real bastard. Bit like the Big Mancs.
LikeLike
Sorry to detract a bit from the topic in that last comment. Brilliant post this Adi and i agree about the part where a lie becoming the truth just cos its popular. If you look at the 7yrs we have been in 2 Carling cup finals, a CL final and a couple of semi finals. Hardly a disaster.
LikeLike
I am often MIA, Passenal. I get tired.
LikeLike
I may be a poor supporter. That is to say a poor supporter rather than a poor supporter or even a poor supporter. I am not worthy rather than not wealthy or one to be sympathised with. Though I do support the poor but probably not as much as I should.
LikeLike
Sometimes its good to take a break. I did for a while when I gave up posting on that other blog, but I’m glad that this place has been created now, so if I fancy a chat I know where to go!
LikeLike
You are a star, Passenal. Nice to know that you are still there.
LikeLike
…we have Adi, George, Andy and Stew to thank for that. Take a bow chaps. Superstars all.
LikeLike
Speaking of getting tired (which Frank was) my scroll wheel is feeling a lot less tired these days. No need to scroll loads of posts.
LikeLike
Bloody hell Adi, you’ve done it again,well done mate really enjoyed that write up.
LikeLike
excellent adi, great structure too…important events. from pos 1-2 pre stadium move we dropped to pos 3-4 while repaying ground and playing with kids and could have won something too…could have… fkn refs and epl butchers and the sky-manu-chlski axis….
LikeLike
good night people
LikeLike
Good night George
LikeLike
HELLO. Just letting you know I’ve been keeping an eye on you boys and girls. Good job Adi. You’ve made the case that our optimism in the future of this squad is well founded. Good job.
LikeLike
What a plonker
http://bbcsporf.lockerdome.com/articles/106299735
LikeLike
That won’t be what his manager called him Dups!
LikeLike
congrats to all the Naija people! Super Eagles have done us proud!
LikeLike
You may very well be correct there AA.
I agree with Team Spirit.
LikeLike
Adi well done… I never doubted that this team will eventually come good. all we need to to keep the core 1st team together for the next season and you just watch and see them explode to the finishing line of all there is to be won before them!
But for the departure of players like hleb and Reyes and injuries to Eduardo and Rosicky as crucial times in 1 or 2 seasons, we would have passed this stage
LikeLike
Brilliant article. The tables were very good as well. Thanks mate.
LikeLike
@Mahdain
I agree with you about the team needing to be good enough to beat the opposition and referees. The systematic referee bias is quite ridiculous.
LikeLike
I actually wanted someone to write about this. Its true. I would have blogged this myself but did not have enough data I guess. Nice article. 😀
LikeLike
Today’s outstanding post by George is now up — https://positivelyarsenal.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/no-place-for-faint-hearts-a-meerkat-comes-home/
LikeLike