Monday 20 February 2012

Arsenal's Poor Campaign: Searching for Answers in the Boardroom


Top of the morning to y’all
So ladies and gentlemen, if there is one thing that is certain this season, it’s that our trophy drought continues except of course we can beat AC Milan by 5 goals. You know going through a season without winning a trophy is not as bad as the media paint it to be but when a top club like Arsenal hasn’t won anything in six years, and the manner in which we lose it all is the same, then there is something fundamentally wrong somewhere and really am tired of looking for the answers on the pitch and casting my searchlight upstairs. Yes you heard me THE BOARD.
I have always wondered why after these entire trophy-less years, the Arsenal board have not as much as tighten the noose on Arsene. If a team’s success is measured by the trophies in the cabinet am sure the Arsenal board should be worried by the cobweb infested cabinet that is ours because after six years of being empty there should be cobwebs-Oh yeah we won Emirates cup a couple of time- BOLLOCKS. If the board are not showing that they are concerned about the situation of the team, then something is wrong.
The situation of the team in recent years makes one feel all the board are concerned about is the accounts being written in green at the end of every year. That as long as the club continue to declare profits, they don’t really care if we win trophies or not. I guess that's why they can’t seem to fire Wenger because how many managers can take a bunch of mostly average players to the knockout stages of the champions league for more that fifteen consecutive seasons which ensures that the club shares in the television rights largesse every season.
News Flash People: we might not get it next season.
When Stan Kroenke bought about 66% of the club’s shares last year, I felt optimistic that the club would be provided with the much needed capital base to compete in the transfer market with our rivals but unfortunately, the man has only lived up to his nickname: Silent Stan. Believe it or not, Kroenke heard about Arsenal just 10years ago and from the looks of things, he only seems to be interested in the returns on his investments and doesn’t love the club like the fans do. Never before have I seen Silent Stan in the stands during a home game.
Billionaires do own and invest in clubs and still show that they love them. Roman Abramovich and Mike Ashley are a perfect example of this. Abramovich is driven only by the successes of the team and his obsession with the champions league trophy is well known and he would have achieved it if only Terry’s penalty had been 3 inches to the left on that rainy night in Moscow. During Newcastle’s home games, Mike Ashley does not sit in the Directors’ box. Why? It’s because Mike always wears a Newcastle jersey and the Directors’ box is reserved strictly for suit clad gentlemen and so Mike has to find a space among the fans. And he owns the club. The last Kroenke came close to the pitch was when he visited the team at the training ground once during the season and the players were understandably blushing like sixteen year old girls on their first prom night.
What am saying in essence is that Arsenal are owned by people whose sole aim is profit and not the trophies that the fans crave for every season and am sure the only time anyone would get a word out of Stan on the affairs of the club is if the accounts appear in red.
Wenger is a very courageous man and should be commended not only for what he has been able to achieve under these conditions but also for taking the blame for the inadequacies of the board all these years. This is not to absolve him of any blame though as he has his share of wrongs too. He is the manager and he is responsible for every team he puts forward to execute a match and as they have been stuttering lately, he is to be blamed for that.
Arsenal is a well-run club. Run better that most clubs in Europe and this is where the board has to be given its kudos. Our financial stability is one that is matched by a very few clubs in the footballing world but that being said, the fans don’t come to the stadium and travel with the team all over Europe every season just so we can show off our impressive record books, we do it for the love we have for the club and to celebrate trophies at the end of every season and that has to be made abundantly clear to the board with whatever medium.
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 God bless the Arsenal Iree o.

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