Arsènal (30 page)

The real eye-opener regarding Arsène Wenger's current team is not that they failed to clear the final hurdle at the end of the 2007/08 season, but that they reached it at all with so many non-world-class players in their line-up. Getting the balance of the team right so quickly was a startling achievement by the manager and mitigated the loss of stars – Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry – he could previously call upon who were the fulcrum of his successful past teams. But finding the right balance is a delicate business and when injuries and bad luck piled up, a lack of worldliness was apparent in so many.

To underline the point, how many of the current team would get into the Invincibles side of 2003/04? Sagna certainly, perhaps Fàbregas and Gallas, maybe Clichy and Van Persie. But that's it. Sagna apart there are no undisputed certainties and arguably he owes his selection to Lauren being the weakest link rather than his own world-class status, although that may yet come.

Prioritising invention and trusting that winning is the natural consequence is all very laudable, but winning trophies is also a laudable end in itself and one that has been absent for too long. Pound for pound, Arsène Wenger has probably given his employers more value than any other manager in the history of the English game, but relativity does not win titles. In absolute terms of winning trophies, he has in recent seasons finished behind Ferguson, Mourinho and Benitez. Perhaps George Graham's discredited mantra, “I love one–nil victories”, needs to be revisited, at least in spirit. Certainly, Arsène Wenger can point to the plentiful number of goals scored and to the fact that they arrive from all over the place, but how many opportunities did Adebayor squander? And the combined goal haul of Arsenal's midfield in 2007/08 was just over half of the 42 Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo managed on his own. Alexander Hleb was not able in three seasons to equal what Robert Pires scored in one. Nevertheless, the quantity would have sufficed if so many hadn't been given away so readily at the other end. Arsenal's lack of aerial dominance at the back exposed a crucial vulnerability. Since when did an uncapped goalkeeper and a less-than-world-class central defensive pairing anchor a championship-winning side?

After paying the penalty for failing to buy in January 2008, Wenger made encouraging noises when speaking at the season's end that he is prepared to deploy more of his budget and pay the price to add quality in key positions. Unfortunately, there was no indication that he was prepared to face up to other deficiencies. Prospects must be given the opportunity to play, to demonstrate the skills learned under his tutelage. The few-and-far-between cup appearances are no substitute for the experience gained in the school of hard knocks that is the Championship. Loans can be beneficial both to the individual and the team. Wenger just has to make sure that he is sending his young players to the right club with the promise of a starting role.

But who will tell Arsène that this should happen? Certainly not Boro Primorac; it's not his job. Nor Pat Rice, more assistant than manager. Unlike Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, where former top bosses are happy to take a supporting role, Arsenal do not have the calibre of back-up. At these clubs, despite his status, the manager does recognise he might be wrong on occasions. “I'm not perfect, me least of all,” says Arsène Wenger. But if he had a strong number two, he would have certainly felt that he could delegate more and indulge himself in his love of international talent-spotting. How many more bargains might he have picked up?

However unchallenged on and off the field, it doesn't appear that he will change his way of working. So just as there is no one to tell him that on occasions his selection and tactics might be questionable, there is no one on the board to tell him that he should tackle certain issues which could shape the club's future, the main one being his succession. Wenger's legacy in bricks and mortar – the training ground and the stadium – is an infrastructure that should provide a conducive working environment for whoever follows him. The process of planning for this eventuality should start now. When there was past talk of him leaving, it was accompanied by the fear of how his exit might precipitate a similar reaction from his players. Now the fear is more of leaving a young team bereft of a father figure. The board should insist that one of Wenger's main tasks is to put in place a three-year plan for his succession (his current contract ending in 2011).

Questioned on this very subject, clearly Wenger has given the matter some thought. It was put to him, “As you get nearer to the end of your time in England, you've been here an awfully long time . . .”

“Yes, you want me out!” he interjected.

“No, I don't want you out. I think you're a national treasure!” his interviewer replied. “But then I am biased.”

“Listen, as I told you before, I had the feeling to work here that I could push this club into a position where I really feel ‘OK, I've accomplished something.' I would like to be proud of the work I've done here and push the club as far as I could and then someone else takes over who's better.”

Whoever takes over should do his utmost to persuade Wenger to remain involved. He would surely benefit by welcoming him as a Director of Football whose main task would be to determine the strategy for the playing side and develop a conveyor belt of young players. However, finding talented footballers is not an end in itself for Wenger. Would he be satisfied with turning them over to other people to work with?

For Wenger to stay in a new capacity, the club would have to change its structure radically. However, until the ownership issue is resolved, there is no incentive for the board to initiate the draconian reforms necessary. Of course, in an idealistic world, the club would be well-served if it became a member-owned club as Rogan Taylor is attempting to achieve at Liverpool, based on the Barcelona model (where the 150,000 members –
socios
– vote for their president and management board). The Arsenal Supporters' Trust could have a paramount role in such a situation. They only have the interests of the club at heart – which is not to say the incumbent board don't, but they do not represent the vigour and depth of resources that are available through the Trust and the wider world. Despite the lockdown agreement, the Arsenal board are at the mercy of their own financial proclivities and free market forces. Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City are just three examples that illustrate the instability that can occur when a club is bought and sold like any other commercial enterprise. Aston Villa and Middlesbrough just got lucky with the support and financial commitment of their owners.

Similarly, the Arsenal board can be praised for the importance they attach to stability. There has never been as much as a whiff of a suggestion that Wenger's job has ever been under threat. He is one of only four contemporary managers in the top four divisions of English football to have served more than a decade at the same club (along with Crewe's Dario Gradi, Alex Ferguson and Hereford's Graham Turner). In sticking with obviously talented men, these clubs have experi enced peaks and troughs, but recognised that they would not have achieved their respective successes unless they kept faith with the man at the helm. It is a lesson Everton seem to be taking on board with David Moyes. But not Chelsea. Avram Grant's narrow failure to win the club either of the two major prizes in 2008 cost him his post, with Brazil's World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari becoming the third astronomically paid manager at Stamford Bridge within 12 months.

“Arsene has a philosophy of how you play the game,” says Tony Banfield, admittedly a biased though absolutely credible witness. “He has lived his dream, producing open, fresh, mature, powerful and quick football that is beautiful to watch.” At times Arsenal may have fallen agonisingly short, but with the entertainment they have given it would be churlish not to acknowledge their contribution to football folklore. When people talk of Hungary in the 1950s, Holland in the 1970s, Brazil of the 1980s, do they talk about the World Cups they failed to win? Are the teams who actually lifted those trophies talked about with the same fondness and reverence as the vanquished? Only in their own countries. Yet Wenger's Arsenal won trophies as well, and are likely to continue to do so.

The second season at the Emirates was evidence that the club had come through the lean times and were credible contenders again. If a couple of situations had worked out differently, it could easily have been Arsenal in possession of two trophies after the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow. The season before had probably been Wenger's most frustrating, as the growing pains of his ‘third' team, the youngest ever, saw their interest in titles and trophies evapor ate after early March. However, excited by the potential of his players and the superclub status Arsenal have attained, Wenger signed another contract to see the job through. The refinements continue. So, as Henry, Ljungberg and Lauren move on, Sagna, Eduardo and Diarra join. Two unqualified successes and a quick profit, whilst Adebayor matches Henry's goal return of better times. Despite the expenditure by Premier League clubs on players' wages and transfers continuing to rise inexorably – they comfortably exceeded £1 billion in 2007/08 – Arsenal, along with everyone else (apart from Chelsea) are at the mercy of the Italian and Spanish mega-clubs whose ability to sell their
Serie A
and
La Liga
broadcasting rights individually give them a financial edge. So when Flamini, Hleb and Adebayor are known to be on the wish list of a Milan or a Barcelona, the sound of euros talking might drown out any plea on Arsène Wenger's part. Already the offer of a substantial pay rise wasn't enough to persuade Flamini to re-sign and others tempted by the prospect of a huge salary hike may well follow him out of the club. However, new names will be recruited and become stars. Why should the manager's eye for talent let him down now? The scouting system is in place and young prospects will prefer to join Arsenal, confident that they will receive a good apprenticeship and knowing that if they make the grade, they are likely to see first team action. As if to emphasise the point, in June 2008, 17-year-old Aaron Ramsey was signed from Cardiff City for £5 million. The young midfielder chose north London in preference to Old Trafford.

Despite admitting, “I don't think I will ever work as a manager in France any more,” he and Annie would like to return home eventually. He intends to continue working but not as the national team manager. “I've worked so much in my life on a daily basis, that I think I would be lost. If you have a good generation in a country, you can do a good job. If you don't, you can do nothing. With a club, you can find someone in Spain and a player in South Africa that nobody has seen and still make a good team. That is not possible with a country.” And if FIFA's President Sepp Blatter has his way it may not be possible any longer with Arsenal. His controversial ‘6 plus 5' proposal to restrict the number of imports to five in order to enhance the quality of national teams may have received an unequivocal thumbs down from the European Commission, but it has the backing of world football's governing body. If the regulation actually came to pass, would Arsène Wenger feel content to change his priorities and work with players who might have less quality but possess the necessary birth certificate?

In revolutionising Arsenal, the imitation of his methods has raised the general standard throughout the Premier League. In cementing the preference for continental talent at the expense of domestic, an area in which Wenger has led the way, as England's clubs become more popular and successful, the reverse effect has befallen the national team. So it was no huge surprise that as a Euro 2008 pundit for French channel TF1, he would not be analysing the efforts of the country where he plies his trade. Now the Football Association can't even find an English-born coach capable of qualifying the country for a major tournament. He might claim he never looks at his players' passports when quizzed about the limited number of Englishmen in his squad, but if he ever goes to catch a potential signing in the flesh there is every chance he will need his own. It is a policy that has served Wenger well, especially when the price of English players makes Arsenal's imports look like such bargains.

Even if he would not consider managing in his native country again, perhaps his next role could be back home. With Paris Saint-Germain wooing David Dein, and Arsène Wenger equally friendly with the club's new president Charles Villeneuve – who intends only to stay in the post for a couple of years – the future could see the dynamic duo back in harness, one as a CEO and the other as technical director or even president. Some are concerned that Arsenal had better get their act together while there is still time.

But does anyone have justification to question Arsène Wenger's conviction after all this time? “Arsenal is the club of my life,” he said when signing his fifth contract in September 2007. “I have been entrusted with complete freedom to implement and execute my plans on what will make the team successful. That means I have a responsibility to the fans to deliver silverware and also a responsibility to the players to help turn our potential into prizes.”

He will do it his way. When his work is done he will leave behind a club he has completely reshaped and fundamentally changed the culture of in the way only a select group of men have done in English football's long history. Herbert Chapman, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson, Bill Shankly, Don Revie and Brian Clough are foremost amongst them. But arguably none of them, apart from perhaps Chapman, can rival the sum total of his achievements. Aside from the physical changes in Arsenal's stadium and training facilities, he has transformed the reputation of the club. The defence was regarded its greatest strength in the titles won by managers from Herbert Chapman through to George Graham. Now, Arsenal are ranked with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United as entertainers. In being responsible for that change, Arsène Wenger has moved the club dramatically up the popularity stakes as well as the money league, just at a time when economic resources have become a necessity in keeping a team together. He will hand over to his successor a club that is one of the richest and most valuable in the world, with a dwindling and easily manageable debt and expanding revenues. Little wonder that predators lurk at the door. In making Arsenal one of the elite number of superclubs, the existing owners had to gamble on Arsène Wenger continuing to produce the quality of football that has made him the world's most coveted manager. He did not let them down.