Arsenal fans are being taken for a ride, and it’s about time it stopped.
Or so might scream the headlines of click-hungry websites, desperate to boost their numbers by appealing to one of the largest on-line fan bases in world football. Cue then a predictable and oft-repeated article about the highest prices, the weaknesses in defence, the absence of a striker, the failure to add a single outfield player last season, the reluctance of Arsene Wenger to spend money and the absent owner’s clear intention to disregard the down-trodden fans and treat the club as his own personal cash cow. I have seen or heard it a thousand times, so relentless is this particular narrative from the BBC, Sky, BT Sport, most of the newspapers and countless blogs and tweets. I sometimes wonder what comes first: the TV view, the newspapers or the grass-root reaction. Maybe they just fuel each other symbiotically, but the end result remains much the same; a large portion of the global fan base is encouraged to think they are being hard-done by, and were it not for the greed, senility and foreignness of Kroenke, Gazidis and Wenger, all die-hard Gooners would once again have something to cheer about. Just how many times do you need to be drip fed the view that your club lacks ambition, that your manager doesn’t do tactics and that your team lacks leaders before you begin to believe it?
I’d be inclined to believe it myself if I hadn’t at some stage in my life been taught to think for myself, and if I hadn’t spent many, many years playing, coaching and watching sport. But just to clear up a few obvious points, signings such as Ozil, Sanchez and Xhaka, the stadium move and the reinvestment in the Colney set-up seem at odds with an unambitious approach, while the claim that a Wenger team is a tactic-free zone is hardly borne out by the most recent season’s second place finish, or indeed, the remarkable and successful consistency of the last 20 years. As for the lack of leadership, I would suggest that few outside the dressing room could know the truth of that, but again the league placing and the recent lengthy cup-run that took in two trophies along the way, not to mention a couple of Community Shields, suggests that at least occasionally one or two players have stood up to be counted and suggested to their team mates that they might care to do the same.
In fact, it is entirely possible to look at the last four years and conclude that they have seen real progress with a brand new squad being assembled and tangible playing success to point to. Indeed, those with some knowledge of the club’s finances might even go so far as to suggest that this progress coincides with the financial burden of affording the new stadium being significantly eased due to new commercial deals and more eclectic off-field revenue streams. I can’t claim to be a typical supporter because I don’t know what you have to be to be typical, but from where I stand the team is doing pretty well and there seems much to look forward to. Having said all of that I found last season frustrating because we didn’t perform as consistently brilliantly as we might have done, but the reasons for that seemed clear to me. And it is those reasons, which I found obvious, and yet which so few seemed to acknowledge, that led me to the conclusion that the fans are being taken for a ride – or taken for idiots by those that control the press.
You see, whenever I watch our games I am struck by what seem to me obvious facts. The first is that in all but a few games we dominate possession, and are frequently faced with packed defences. Finding a way through professional sides set up to defend is not easy, but more often than not we do find a way. But sometimes it requires a bit of luck, or a moment of outrageous skill, or for a defender to make a mistake and give away a penalty. In fact, you might suppose that when so much of the play is focussed on and inside the opposition penalty areas that that might happen fairly often, especially in home games. Leicester, runway winners of the League last season, were awarded 13 penalties, but Arsenal only received 2, neither of which were at home. Supporters of all teams tend to think that their side is on the wrong end of decisions, but it did surprise me that the press and pundits seemed so little interested in this seemingly anomalous statistic. And despite the inevitably biased way I watch The Arsenal I am constantly amazed at how much leeway is given to opponents when it comes to foul play, and how little to our own players – but I am even more amazed at the silence of those paid to give informed opinion on the game when it comes to reviewing the way the games pan out. Easier I suppose to concentrate on a defensive error (which feeds the can’t defend, no spine narrative) or a glaring miss (fuelling the Arsenal need a striker story) than run a feature on the cynical rotational fouling practised on a regular basis against us that blunts momentum and saps the spirit. As I may have mentioned before, tactics based on foul play can only succeed with the collusion of the match officials: swift and appropriate cards awarded quickly nip rotational fouling in the bud. Either referees are being duped, or they are deliberately turning a blind eye, perhaps in the interests of “game management” to preserve the robust and competitive nature of the Premier League. Again, what surprises me is the silence on the issue from the journalists.
If rotational fouling blunts a team’s momentum, then injuries are even more damaging for a side looking to build up a head of steam. Arsenal certainly haven’t had much luck on that front recently, and the season just gone was no exception. While there are some persuasive arguments to imply that the club is in some way culpable for these injuries, there are also valid points of view that suggest liberal officiating also plays its part. But perhaps the strongest argument of all is the one that says given the absence of Cazorla, Gibbs, Coquelin, Rosicky, Arteta, Ramsey, Alexis, Wilshere and Welbeck for significant parts of the season the team did remarkably well to finish second in the league, progress to the knock-out stages of the proper European tournament and the last eight in the FA Cup. Again, my interest is in how little this view is advanced by those supposedly in the know, and I wonder why that is the case. I am not suggesting that excuses be made, but am suggesting that it is disingenuous for press and pundits to claim the side lacks direction, fight and leaders when so many first-choice players have been side-lined. It seems at best a strange oversight, at worst a cynical manipulation of the truth to give a view that the club is somehow clueless.
Throw in other oft-repeated distortions such as the highest ticket prices (some are, most aren’t) and the lack of investment by the owners (really?) and an artificial picture emerges of a complacent and greedy club, a tactically naïve group of pampered players and a manager long-past his sell by date. It is propaganda pure and simple and the sadness is that it spoils the enjoyment of fans who perhaps otherwise might derive great pleasure from seeing their side compete so successively (more times than not) at the very highest level – and also maybe creates an atmosphere of negativity and mistrust among the very supporters who the side most relies on to create the buzzing home atmosphere that is worth several points a season. You only have to compare the relative treatments of Liverpool and Arsenal (although you could easily throw Manchester United, Chelsea and Spurs into that equation) by the press to see the difference. Arsenal could (and perhaps should) be held up as a magnificent example of a well-run club that has consistently over-performed over the last 20 years. You might expect all those who care about the game to do just that.
But it isn’t and they don’t. And I am left wondering why.
Positively Arsenal 
highest ticket price, pricing a generation of Arsenal fans out of the game, yet our £10 youth ticket rarely sells out, nor does our £26 Cat C tickets.
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The great unwashed won’t like this one little bit. It suggests that not only are they stupid, but they are gullible.
Which of course is true.
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Hear, hear! The fourth estate needs to do better.
The levels of gullibility in the social-media space is astounding. Ppl still disseminate memes thinking they are facts. It’s why anyone can put anything on twitter, true or not, and still find enough people to believe it.
Too many Gooners are fixated not to think independently, but to support certain views – esp those that has been peddled so much that it has morphed into common-sense, even if none of it stands up to scrutiny. They hv so-called superfans as their opinion leaders, who have this knack to come up with whatever ‘facts’ that crosses their juvenile minds.
Truth is an inevitable victim.
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I can only pity them. If only they could see what they are missing. The fun of supporting one of the most entertaining teams on the planet, poor fools.
COYG
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The bigger the (online) fanbase the more it will segment and the harder those who wish to attract its attention have to work to achieve it. Hence the complete rubbish that is spouted to draw attention to otherwise fact free opinions. Empty vessels continue to make the most noise it would seem.
Excellent piece again on this site – always worth a read and always worth supporting. Thanks
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So very well said FH. And it is this abdication of journalistic responsibility which lies at the root of my oft repeated hatred of the press corps.
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FH, if I may be Pedantic for a sec!
Arsenal did sign a player in January 2016, so the self-imposed super injunction has been lifted?
The fan base is not supported, when the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust is a primary source of disinformation and misinformation! The spokesperson never mentioned the £275,000 subsidy given by the Arsenal Overseas Limited, to support the ill-fated Fanbase scheme.
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Another superb article, my word I feel spoilt.
FH you have eloquently articulated what many think and feel and increasingly support with evidence. Our colleagues over at Untold have gathered data that support pretty much everything you have written.
Thanks
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Well said – I see pretty much the same sort of things as you do and share your exasperations with the media in its widest sense who never give our great club the kudos we deserve.
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I don’t have the words to express how much I am impressed by this article. To many of us, it pretty much says it all.
Many Arsenal fans are taken in by this negativity….making them the laughing stock of many other fans….poor Arsenal….only second place etc….
There is a clear media agenda against this club, and as you say, some of the officiating leaves a lot to be desired. I recently read our last penalty at home was jan 2015. I stand to be corrected here, but with what we saw in many games last season, it is entirely possible this game may go two years without a penalty at home….that is staggering, especially when, as you say, compared with Leicester this season, or Liverpool a couple years ago. Then, the rotational fouling….nothing is done , yet a media outcry and a ref disappearing from the EPL for six weeks when Coq tries it, and gets away with it. Maybe our players just aren’t very good at fouling?
But, perhaps all this is imagined…..and maybe Granit Zhaka will come in and get away with what Alli, Dier, Drinkwater, Morgan and Huth have this season.
The last word in this excellent article is Why. Perhaps a manager or owner unpopular with the English football establishment /media?….after all, Wenger embarrassed them on his first day. An attempt at a brand of football much of the country is resistant to because most lack the technical ability to play? Wenger has a bit of cruyffs philosophy about him, we all know what the great man said when asked if he would ever manage in England….it wasn’t very complimentary. Perhaps Media figures who support rivals doing damage? Something more sinister? Wish I knew.
But will always enjoy watching this team
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Great FH,
but far to logical for some.
The long list on accusations, if correct, points to a Leeds or any other club who have fallen down the leagues. The fact our club is the most consistent is not celebrated but used as a stick to beat us with. Only our perverse press could continually report such an achievement as a failure.
Morgan is the self proclaimed king of the wobs and the press, the fact he is actually a prize prick tells the impartial observer all they need to know.
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Marvellous stuff, FH.
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A lovely article that truly exposes agenda driven social media. It is all about ‘bait and click’ journalism and it is disgusting. The hubris of a section of our fan base is embarrassing. I am often amazed at how many times I read experts on Twitter and Blogs, who have never a pub team, but know better than Wenger.
The false sense of entitlement from those fans who have worked themselves into a permanent state of being a malcontent is nauseating and delusional. Their delusion was brutally exposed what was supposed to be a mass protest. At the Emirates, we saw one man and his dog protesting, after being informed of a mass protest via social media and the shameless ‘Hacks’. On Twitter, I saw those who initially supported the protest disassociate themselves from the protest and protesters whilst giving all sorts of ridiculous reasons for the failed protests. You just could not make it up. How could such an embarrassment of a protest be news worthy? Why did such idiocy get any press attention? The ‘hacks have a lot to answer for.
After all the insults and mockery, we (those of us who support our team unconditionally) had the last laugh despite what we can say was a disappointing season. Arsenal, once again punch above their weight by finishing 2nd. This was not supposed to be part of the narrative of the WOBs, and some could not hide their disappointment on Twitter.
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Great article. Thank you. Up the Gunners!
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“I don’t have the words to express how much I am impressed by this article. To many of us, it pretty much says it all.”
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Very good FH. Unfortunately ‘bad’ news sells.
The only slight hiccup is where you discuss penalties, an odd phenomena last season with just two given for us and just one against us which, if you look at the data; http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_League_Penalty_Statistics.html is highly unusual.
It is not just highly unusual for us, as we are normally up and around the top quartile performers in the penalty statistics, but for any club in the PL. There are one or two instances I can see in the charts of clubs being involved in just three penalty incidents in a season.
The other reason for the hiccup is if I were to accept that the penalty count is evidence of bias or dishonesty or gross incompetence on the part of officials and had a definite effect on the outcome of the PL placings then what would I make of our own chart topping performances in 05/06 and 06/07 ?
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Really well put, clear and frankly impossible to argue against. Well done. Love it. Pisses me off no end though.
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A very well thought out and written article and I agree with most of it. The one thing I would take issue with is the club’s spending in recent years.
“Wenger’s reluctance to spend money ” isn’t something that was invented by the media but rather was born out of Arsenal transfer spending post the stadium move.
While some of it was obviously justified, especially in the early stages after the move, some can be viewed as an unnecessary self imposed belt tightening.
When you are being outspent by the likes of QPR and West Ham United in the period between 2010-11 and 2014-15 seasons, then it’s hard to convince your audience that you are being ambitious. Especially when in each of those seasons Arsenal’s cash balances were on average around £150m.
Now, of course QPR are hardly a club anyone should try to model their finances after, but spending a net of £87m by Arsenal in that period is hardly what you might call making the most of your recourses.
Of course it’s Wenger’s brilliance that’s mainly behind Arsenal’s being competitive with the likes of City, United and Chelsea, who’s net spending for the period was £466m, £326m and £273m respectively , but one must wonder what if only Arsenal had spent just a bit more and maybe got that one or two players to put them over the top.
The same can be said about not strengthening enough last Summer in key areas and trusting players to do the job they might’ve been ill equipped to do anymore( Arteta, Rosicky). Staying loyal to his players is Wenger’s trademark, but being too loyal can sometimes be his downfall, as expressed by some of his former players( Veira, Henry)
A bit of ruthlessness can be useful at times.
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Well Andy, you would expect a team like Arsenal to be near the top every year. You would not expect another team to have 6/7 times as many.
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The 13 Leicester penalties in itself is bizarre – highest ever
I wonder how many they will get next year ?
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There were a few puzzling tales about transfer spending and Arsenal’s willingness or not, to flash the cash. The oddest was the Mark Schwarzer non signing where, reputedly, the signing broke down over relatively small sums of money in 2011 from Fulham – £2-£3-£4 million. We will never know the full tale but it was a miss, in my opinion, for him and for us.
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Tom, I think technically you are right the lack of spending is a real thing not a media lie. However do you think that at Arsenal it’s seen as a genuinely viable alternative. That development and only a few additions that represent value for money, (and most crucially aren’t stars that all command £100k p/w salaries) are the way to operate. There are so many more subtle benefits afforded by running a club like this. Again the faith shown in Arteta. Perhaps he was expected to be able to contribute more? But how many players have we got/had that stay and enjoy their football at this club because of that type of treatment? I’d bet the positives out weigh the negatives massively. Sure we could have had Elneny 6 months earlier. But who’s to say that ditching Arteta might not have ruffled a few feathers and made players re-think how they could potentially be ditched.
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Anicoll, I always think that moves like that break down over personal terms rather than transfer fees. Perhaps he wanted more than all keepers had had before. It would then set a lasting precedent on keepers wages at Arsenal? It’s possible and Schwarzer is not good enough to alter wage structures for. Cech on the other hand…
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I heard that when Mark Hughes went in, Fulham bumped the price up to £10m. That was when we pulled out. Good source too .
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Andynic
I’ve done some research on pelanties, using the same source!
Penalty Differnce then LCFC is at a ten year high. In conjunction with the overall drop in total pelanties awarded in the PL which is approximately 20% lower then the mean average over the last decade: the last time we had this few pelanties was in a different era.
So the two combined gives a big swing in favour of the recipient of that high PD, in conjunction with the lowest total of penalties awarded in the league in the modern era.
Over that ten year window AFC have never come that close to such a high PD, one or two others have but with a higher number of pens in the league the statistical bias in their favour would’ve been a lot less then for LCFC this season. Summary: it’s not possible to argue against the boost LCFC had from their high frequency of pens, their overall PD.
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One things the bombabrdment of gibberish has obscured is the simple understanding that Arsenl Football Club operate in a different market to the one dictatded by oe or two Special Agents and Agencies.
And it’s been that way since before AW was the manager – please refer to GG.
It is quite odd for passionate Experts on the club to constantly deny and ignore how the club operates.
Yup. Some Arsenal fans have been fooled and made fools of.
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Bad day for the WOBs. Two managers they wanted to see with us, Gary Monk and Owen Coyle….looks like they are ending up at Leeds and Blackburn.
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Els-nenny
Arteta has been a model professional and a very good representation of everything Arsenal stand for, so yes, I agree, you always want to give a player like him the benefit of the doubt, Rosicky likewise. However, sometimes the hard choices need to be made.
In my opinion there are a few Arsenal players who are entirely too comfortable in the knowledge their jobs are safe. Sometimes that’s not a good thing.
Take Campbell for instance. Definitely a player who fights for his right to play. Has he ever slacked off? Probably not, which is more than I can say about some other members of the squad.
As for benefits of running the club the Arsenal way, I think they are more than just subtle.
Regime stability and long term planning can match, and sometimes better the results of managerial merry go round style of running the club with frequent change of player personnel, if overseen by someone like Wenger and supported by adequate spending, which brings us back to my original point.
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Hi Tom
Yeah I expect hard choices are made very often. I bet he gets more right than wrong. Like allowing RvP to leave when he did. It was probably a good amount of money received in hindsight. Perhaps Arteta was bordering on a mistake but I still maintain that the effect on morale within the camp will be a positive one. When you hear about ex players telling new signings to sign for us, these Arteta type decisions are the driving force behind that. If we played the transfer game and didn’t give youth a chance do you think Djourou, Senderos and Ozyakup would be speaking positively to Xhaka. No me neither.
The matter of motivation is probably a small negative side effect. But I don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m sure the fact we had the heart of our team ripped out in one injury stricken game had more effect.
When I mentioned subtle benefits, I did mean that there are also obvious and massive ones too. That to me goes without saying.
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Foreverheady,
A very well informed and interesting Post.
You touched on some of the statistics relating to goals scored via penalties, and the effect the disproportionate number of which were penalties awarded to the ultimate Champions Leicester as compared to the miserly number just exceeding 1 that was awarded to the Gunners.
Frankly I was unaware of that fact, but I am not surprised given that there has been a dearth of information in the press regarding this.
However, I have read, over and over again, that we were a lame second to the Foxes being 10 points behind them at the end.
I was, however, aware that we were extremely close to them in terms of the number of goals scored, and goals conceded by looking up the league tables.
So, that brings the statistics commonly used by some fans to confirm their own various biases into question. All statistics need to be carefully analysed for them to be used correctly, and certainly one conclusion that could be drawn from the information you have provided, other than the 10 point difference between ourselves and the Champions, is that if we had received more penalties, or they had received less penalties — then the effect on the points won would be very different, and the championship winners may not have been Leics, and instead might well have been ourselves.
I suppose my comment falls into the ‘what-if’ category, but it just shows that we were not a poor second in the Premier League, at all, and despite our dreadful injury roster, we had a steadfast attempt at winning the league – and, but for the whim of critical refereeing decisions, we might have been crowned as Champions.
Wishful thinking? Well, I guess so, but when arguments rage, as they so often do, about how poor our team or our manager is, it does not hurt to remind everyone that football is often subjected to external pressures, referees/injuries, outside the control of the team or the manager, and that needs to be factored in when insults and complaints about them are being bandied around.
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I like a challenge Henry and I have had a quick look at Leicester’s results and who scored penalties for them since Christmas via the BBC;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/results
Just three penalties were scored, two in a 3-1 win against Everton, so without the 2 pens that day the score would have ben 1-1 so they lose 2 points. The game before that is the 2-2 with WHUFC so without that pen their 1 point for the draw is removed.
Leicester’s penalties do not really strike me as much of a factor although if you have the energy it may be that there were closer and more significant penalties pre Christmas.
What DID stand out is the number of games the Foxes won 1-0, no penalties, since the turn of the year.
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They won 6 games 1-0 in 2016, we won 2 and just one other game by a single goal.
Slim margins
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Hi Anicoll
I was responding to the information given by FH, and I had been surprised at such an imbalance in the numbers of penalties awarded to Liecs, and ourselves, which could possibly have had a distorting effect on the ultimate points awarded to each club.
As I said previously, I was unaware of those facts until I read the Post, and I have not had the time, or the inclination in truth, to research the results, as it is now history — but it struck me that it was not so much those penalties that were awarded to Leics, that were necessarily the issue, but the penalties that were not awarded to us, that could between them have soon closed the 3.5 games gap between us.
Not something I would stake a claim on, of course, as it was just surmise — and, of course, I wanted to support the overall sentiment of FH’s excellent Post. lol
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Andy, I wonder how many 1-0 results they would have managed if the penalties wrongly not given against them had stood? I seem to recall a few.
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Football is a ruthless sport.
Look at poor old Juanfran. Many consider him to be have been the pin up full back of recent years. No joy for him.
If anyone has or had earnt the right to make any mistakes, then someone who’d rebuilt a squad whilst avoiding the kind of horrors inflicted and seen at other big PL squads in recent seasons, whilst winning two back to back FA cups might have earnt the right to do so. There is some evidence (the Norwich home game will do) that many do share this not very complex understanding. That’d be the old silent majority then. Plus the board. And anyone else who matters (not piers morgan).
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“I can’t claim to be a typical supporter because I don’t know what you have to be to be typical, but from where I stand the team is doing pretty well and there seems much to look forward to. Having said all of that I found last season frustrating because we didn’t perform as consistently brilliantly as we might have done, but the reasons for that seemed clear to me. And it is those reasons, which I found obvious, and yet which so few seemed to acknowledge, that led me to the conclusion that the fans are being taken for a ride – or taken for idiots by those that control the press.”
Genius writing..thanks so much!
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i do believe there was an element of liniency at a stage for Leicester…. as though the story of the underdog was picking pace!
I recall the game morgan scored fouling… i recall a giroud or alxix goal cancelled for a foul. I that same game, someome literally stopped the ball on the line for lecester….
if that morgan goal did notstnand and the pen and sending off for that stop… since the game ended 1 – 1 then it is likely a loss of 3 points!
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Testing
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Well that’s better
H – I was just having a bash at looking at the effects of LCFC unique penalty score on the outcome of games since 1/1/16
If there had been lots of 1 goal wins then clearly the impact would have been decisive – as far as I can see having looked at the game while there was a + effect it was limited in points won.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/06/02/arsenal-manager-arsene-wenger-is-going-no-time-soon-says-chief-e/
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Ivan Gazidis (left) has said he fully expects Arsène Wenger to see out his contract CREDIT: ANDREW CROWLEY / REX FEATURES
Jeremy Wilson, deputy football correspondent
2 JUNE 2016 • 10:30PM
With the famous five-legged chairman’s chair and the surrounding oak panels that were lovingly transported two streets from the site of the old Highbury Stadium, history seeps from every corner of Arsenal’s boardroom.
Yet when any major judgment is taken inside these four walls, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis, the future will always take priority over the past.
One of the biggest decisions of all now looms and, as our conversation takes its inevitable turn to Arsène Wenger, Gazidis is emphatic about the thought process that will shape every deliberation, not least those of a man who will reach a remarkable 20th anniversary as manager in October.
Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Wenger and Gazidis talk in the stands at a recent under-21 game CREDIT: ACTION IMAGES
“There is not nostalgia on either side,” says the 51-year-old Gazidis. “It’s not what motivates us or him. The reason we have Arsène as our manager is because our board believes he can deliver success. The reason that Arsène is here is because he believes that he can deliver success. If either of us didn’t believe that we would not be constrained by nostalgia or longing; we would have to make a change. Arsène would understand and support that. But it’s just not how either side feels. We feel we are on a good path.”
Wenger turns on fans over ‘difficult climate’Play! 02:35
Wenger is now into the final year of his contract and, while he himself has said that he could wait until the end of next season before resolving his future, the club believe that they will know much earlier.
There has been no hint of him winding down.
“He’s in his mid-sixties, it’s natural to think about when his time here might come to an end, but the truth is nobody knows,” adds Gazidis. “He is in fantastic shape. He is deeply engaged and excited. One of the biggest challenges we will face is the transition, whenever it happens, but that is not something we are going to be facing imminently. Obviously, he is going to be managing us next year and we are planning and making many decisions for the long term.
Arsène Wenger – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger arrived in north London almost 20 years ago CREDIT: EPA
“The reality is we wouldn’t leave things until the last minute. I’m comfortable both that if Arsène is going to extend we will know that and if, whenever that is, he is going to come to an end, that he will give us the time that we need to prepare for that transition. The relationship with Arsène is very deep. It will be done behind closed doors and we will have our transition plans well worked out.
“He has always put the long-term health of the club first. He wants to hand over a football club, whenever that it is, that is in great shape. He views that as a massively important part of his legacy. But we are just not in that mode. I know Arsène wouldn’t stay on if he thought the club wasn’t heading in a good direction and thought he wouldn’t be able to deliver what the fans want.”
The debate about the extent to which Wenger and the club are indeed delivering is, of course, never ending. An attempted ‘Time for Change’ protest in April focused on the 12 years since Arsenal have won the Premier League. The counter argument, of course, is Arsenal’s consistency, the two FA Cup wins since 2014 and consecutive Premier League finishes of fourth, third and second, even if this most recent season was clearly a big missed opportunity.
Gazidis’s answer is that, yes, the past year cannot be looked upon with anything but frustration, but that the broader picture must also remain in focus. “We have to be disappointed, certainly not satisfied, to end up second,” he says. “We wanted more than that and I think that there were chances during the season. We are taking a long, hard, realistic look at why we fell short of our ambitions. You can’t say second place is a disaster, but it’s not what we are about.”
Gazidis believes that one of the lessons throughout football last season was the gains that could be made not in the “messiah complex” of a manager or star player but the structures inside a club. “What is clear is that the big spending was not the solution to all problems,” he says. “It was clever spending and a lot of ‘difference makers’ underneath the surface.” Those ‘difference makers’ include fitness and medical departments, psychology, analytics and youth development.
Arsenal fans protest – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Some sections of the home support want Wenger out CREDIT: REX FEATURES
Although injuries again weakened Arsenal at critical moments, Gazidis says that the soft tissue problems were actually at “historically low levels” and that more freakish impacts were the bigger issue. “But we still have to ask ourselves difficult questions: Did we have the right squad depth for certain difficult functions? We have a good idea of where we feel we fell short and where we feel we did well. Because we have a highly-visible manager who represents so much continuity, there is a misplaced belief that things don’t change. There has been tremendous change within, fully embraced and led by Arsène.”
The wider mood surrounding the club is certainly very changeable. The season, ultimately, did end on a high after pipping Tottenham for second place and an early £30 million deal for midfielder Granit Xhaka will help enthuse restless supporters. Will there be more? A defender and a striker are also sought, while contract negotiations for Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez are ongoing.
Profile of Granit Xhaka Play! 00:39
Negotiations may well stretch into the start of next season but there is little prospect of either moving this summer. “We are in a position that we were not in four or five years ago where we don’t have to sell our best players,” says Gazidis. “We can go and sign world-class players if and when the manager identifies them.”
Squad investment, he says, has never been restricted and is strongly encouraged by the majority owner, Stan Kroenke. He points out the arrivals of Özil, Sánchez, Petr Cech and now Xhaka in successive summers. “We have very high aspirations and care deeply,” he says. “But we don’t have an owner who storms the corridors on a Monday, who calls the manager and says, ‘Why aren’t you starting this player?’ and enjoys high-fiving 26-year-old athletes. To me, that’s good.”
Ivan Gazidis – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is going no time soon, says chief executive Ivan Gazidis
Arsenal chief executive Gazidis CREDIT: BLOOMBERG
Gazidis knows that the domestic challenge will only intensify next season and, as well as noting the arrival of two managerial heavyweights in Manchester, expects further surprises.
“Leicester’s achievement is incredible but it may not look so exceptional when we look back in four or five years,” says Gazidis. “We are very driven to take a further step and deliver trophies domestically but, ultimately, in Europe.”
He knows that there will be some scepticism at such confidence but, equally, is certain that some of the anger that is now so visible on social media is not actually the considered barometer for supporter mood.
“I know there are tensions but you have never seen the unity of this club break,” he says. “Our renewal rate on season tickets is higher historically this year than ever. I don’t use that to say all fans are happy, but most people are not engaging daily on social media and their opinions are much more nuanced than it might seem.
“What’s quite difficult is that once people have created a story in their own mind, their own confirmation biases will kick in. It’s true of all of us. My confirmation bias is we are club making progress. Our ambition is to win the Premier League but we have had our best finish in years and two FA Cups in three seasons.”
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Ivan is doing a Q&A with AST or some such, I think its tomorrow, and I would say the interview above will have pulled the rug out from under many of the malcontents, of course it will be the cause for more whinging from some of them.
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JB™ @gunnerpunner 5m5 minutes ago
I love how everyone’s trying to find all these reasons why England are struggling other than the ability of our footballers.
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Superb FH. Tell it.
Thanks.
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Ed, tonight is supporters end of season event at the Emirates. There are several supporters groups going and each have a specific number allocated. You have to be invited by your own organisation, I have been lucky to get one of the A.I.S.A places. The Q&A is only one part of the evening and more importantly there is free food on the go, and one free beer.
Tom Watt normally host’s the invent and they also have a ex player. Ian Wright has done this in the past and strangely enough is incredibly nice to Ivan, not at all like his media self.
There are always bloggers at the back who transcribe the event as it happens, I think the Q&A starts about 7.
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Ian I think Lee dixon is the player for tonights event. Interesting that you say that its the different groups that invite its members to it, as I’ve see several AST members claim that its Arsenal that pick who attends from each group, and that AFC have not had the good manners to let fans know if they have been invited or not.
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You must give us a write up of the evening – you’re our man at the top table !!
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You can tell it is Summer – a week to go before an international tournament and the media press pack tearing into the England manager like a pack of hounds into a wounded fox.
They can’t help themselves I suppose – their Dad’s slaughtered Robson and Taylor, their Grandad’s probably told the public what a clueless idiot Alf was in June 66 – it’s in their DNA
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its looking like some BPL clubs U21 teams(The Division 1 section) might be allowed into the Football League Trophy (Johnston Paint Trophy) for 2016/17. Talks are on going on the matter. Also the U21 league might be made into an U23 league, and expanded.
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Glad to hear Ivan’s…measured…. words. He has to be careful what he says, the word twisters are everywhere, but from what he says, sounds like a club with a plan, and a sense of their own destiny, and hopefully events will ensure Wenger stays for a bit as he suggests.
Sounds like, basically, he is using polite words to tell the WOB/media where to go.
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Just glad it seems AW is riding the pressure and will not be pressured or annoyed out of the club!
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