one Arsene Wenger , there's only one Arsene Wenger
Dear Myles,
I have always enjoyed your writing. It is opinionated, concise and erudite. It draws a big following, so thanks.
But you are turning into a misanthrope, you are becoming a critic without construction.
Come on Myles, who are you trying to kid?!
It is easy to be a sourpuss, to criticise, to scorn, to moan and groan.
In truth, you don't simply want to dismiss the 'spindoctor' Wenger. You are, in fact, polarized. You are caught in a web of inconsistencies, dichotomies and complexities, just like the rest of us as you show your passion for this club.
Wenger's Arsenal has provided us with tangible joy and success we would not have thought possible. Watching 'The Invincibles' at Highbury against Villa in the 48th game of the 49-game run, I turned to my cousin and said: "This is the best football team I will see in my lifetime. It has everything." It was poetry, it was power, it was coruscating, it was ruthless and sublime. It was theatre, it was the best show in town week after week, watching some of the best athletes in the world.
Now our manager, the greatest talent-spotter in the game, faces a new economic reality. The prosaic reality of a global credit crisis, a prolonged economic downturn, a multi-million pound stadium to pay for and the competitive reality of global billionaire investors bypassing years of patient growth with gilded loans to pay for success.
How could he sustain excellence with less investment and increased costs?
Is Wenger not a genius, Myles?
Net Spending
1997-8 to 2002-3
1 Manchester United £87.5M
2 Liverpool £63.3M
3 Tottenham £59.7M
4 Manchester City £55.9
5 Chelsea £50.7M
6 Arsenal £18M
2003-4 to present
1 Manchester City £361.6M
2 Chelsea £315.3M
3 Tottenham £119.7M
4 Liverpool £106.8M
5 Manchester United £46M
6 Arsenal -£5.1M
In the face of these pressures, Wenger has kept Arsenal at the top. Look at the figures again Myles. No one else could have done this. No one else would have tried. Everyone else would have said: 'Thanks, but I'm off now. I need real money to prevent failure.'
What do you want, Myles?
You want that Wenger leaves tomorrow? You want him to be replaced? You want any other fly-by-night globetrotting manager to come in? You wanted Arsenal to stay at Highbury? You didn't want the club to invest in the future? You want everything now, this minute? You want the club to live beyond its means? You want the club to destroy its pluralist investor model to be owned by a fake sheikh and his oil assets? You want us to be like Manchester City? You want the club to stop being a business model that every club in the game admires from afar?
We know you don't want these things Myles! Not deep in your heart.
You want Arsenal to succeed with dignity, to conduct itself in the right way, with values, standing and custodianship it has fostered through generations.
That's why I can support this club. Why we want this club to succeed. Why this club deserves success. You want it too. And more to the point, we know you would not want it any other way.
Keep up the good work,
Yours,
Ezra
Myles replies:
Arsenal has never made me cry. I don't get upset about football results any more. I've grown out of that.
Indeed, no football match has ever made me cry. My heart missed a beat once, when Helmut Haller scored that early goal in the 1966 World Cup Final. We were at the other end. Left back Ray Wilson headed the ball to Haller and the blond German shot and the ball went across Jack Charlton and past Gordon Banks and into the net. I was aware that my heart had missed a beat. Since then I've not been aware of my heart missing a beat.
I'd sent away for a booklet of tickets for all the Wembley matches and one at White City. The booklet cost £22, I seem to remember. Maybe it was £18 or £24. I was at Manchester University and that was a lot of money to a student but I wanted to see the World Cup. I rarely planned more than an hour ahead but, in this case, I sent off my cheque months before the event. Mainly, I wanted to see Pele and other foreign stars, who were impossibly exotic to a football fan in England at that time. My other heroes were Denis Law, Cassius Clay, the Rolling Stones and novelist Joe Heller.
Twenty years later I met George Graham and realised inside 90 seconds that Arsenal would change, so I was in the press box for every home game after I met George. Apart from when we had three weeks in the Algarve and I missed the Charity Shield,the first home game, sometimes two home games.
Ten years later I met Arsene and he was very different and I knew Arsenal would change again. Ended up writing a book about football, something I had wanted to do since I was at school.
Deep in my heart, I want to see Arsenal playing stylish power football with an organised back five.
You mention The Invincibles. That is the template. Wenger ｃ ｒｅａｔｅd that template. He knows what works, he knows what it takes to win the league. But he ignores that now and prefers to reward failure. He bluffs and spins and ends up as an also-ran every year. He is so intransigent that he preferred Diaby to Arshavin in an FA Cup semi-final.
Bottom line, it's Arsene Wenger's club and Gazidis works round him.
Wenger is on £6 million a year and it would cost £24m to sack him. Next year it would cost £18m to sack him. So he's bombproof, he can do whatever he likes. He'll continue to sign French players who earn less than him. Most French footballers feel faint when his name is mentioned and want to touch the hem of his garment.
He's a club-builder who has worked 24/7 for the last 14 years and he's now seized control of the entire train set and made it a vehicle for his ideas.
An arrogant sports scientist, an ayatollah of attacking football and pretty football, he's much more interested in the aesthetic of athletics than in winning trophies. He's playing his own game, re-inventing the sport, and Arsenal is an ideal vehicle for that.
He ignores fans, bloggers and hacks. He refused to do a Q&A with shareholders last season but he's doing one on Thursday, September 16. An accomplished public speaker, he stars at the AGM, where only vetted questions can be asked. He makes a profit, even in a recession, and keeps Arsenal in the Big Four.
So he is, truly, a one-off.
"One Arsene Wenger, there's only one Arsene Wenger !"
That's what they sing. And they're not wrong.
Aug 31, 2010
