8 Years Of Hurt The Building Blocks Of Success
The Özil signing was like the second coming of Jesus to Arsenal fans the world over but as the hangover of the signing slowly recedes away, whispers of 'unsuccessful window' and 'not enough money spent' have begun to surface, though not in full effect as yet but it's only a matter of time.
It is like an unyielding rigmarole of doom and gloom that shrouds the gooners. The trophy drought is all that seems to dominate the minds of the fans. Sure, for a club of Arsenal's stature it is important to compete and win a few trophies along the way, but does this mean that complete disregard is shown for all their other achievements?
The stadium has been a wonderful accomplishment, sure it has caused a few setbacks simply due to the huge amounts of money involved in building it but it has put the club on par with some of the biggest names in football.
Buying players of Özil's caliber would have remained a pipe dream with a stadium like Highbury. With a match day turnover in excess of £3million the fans can be assured that the future is bright and that the club move was nothing short of exceptional planning and vision. Clubs like Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool have been trying to achieve the same with varying levels of failure which only goes to show how well the Arsenal board and manager have managed the situation, all this while keeping the team competitive.
Another blessing that the Arsenal fans have been endowed with is the style of play. Does Wengerball not excite in the same manner as the Tiki-Taka? It would have been easy to resort to a more bland style of football given the circumstances but the manager has stuck with his philosophy and continued to play attractive football, something that has become synonymous with the Arsenal in the English league. It is important to maintain an identity and the club has worked hard to preserve it.
Another positive to look at would be the youth setup which has produced some of the best young talent in the country with the likes of Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs being the most recent names to be promoted from under the tutelage of Liam Brady. Recent England managers have been very vocal in complaining about the dearth of local talent being promoted by the bigger clubs and this is a problem that plagues the entire league and not just the bigger clubs.
Arsenal have made a very concerted effort to change this and should be commended for not giving up on it despite the lack of trophies and the money now being available. This is what football is about, not just the money and the glamour that now surrounds it. Everything that is required by a club to make it successful is now in place or has been falling in place for the last eight years and should not detract from the club's achievements just because of a lack of trophies. All this will surely help in the long run and make the club even more of a force to contend with.
Perhaps what makes Arsenal's lack of silverware even more insufferable is that clubs have completely changed their fortunes in the same period. Manchester City, Chelsea et al have gone from nobodies to proper title contenders. Change is inevitable, expecting to see that change overnight is foolishness. It might have happened for some, by some stroke of luck(read: rich oligarchs) but others have to take the harder route. Also, it is not necessary that the change be positive.
Clubs like Leeds, Portsmouth and Liverpool are proof of that. The changes have been taking place at Arsenal, in a positive direction no less, only it has been a bit slow which is to be expected given their main drawback has been the lack of financial power and improving that depends on a lot of external factors.
Another matter of dispute among fans has been the manager, Arsène Wenger. The accusation against him has been that he hasn't moved with the times, that his ideas are outdated and that his intransigence both tactically and in the transfer market is hurting the team. The fact is, apart from a few isolated incidents none of those accusations ring true especially if you consider his reign as a whole or even collectively as a season. His biggest detractors used to say that he didn't contribute to the development of local talent, now he's gone and formed the British core. No stubborn manager would do that, he's taken his flaws to heart and he's worked on them.
Take for example Arsenal's defensive record, recent seasons have been marred with defensive frailties and a lack of organization at the back. The manager has brought in personnel and coaches to fix that and the second best defensive record in the league (behind Manchester City) last season doesn't lie. No tactically inept manager would have managed that.
He's made mistakes but he has tried to improve them, that doesn't mean he's going to take every opinion on board and use it to make a change, he wouldn't be a very good manager then. He's made an easy scapegoat by the media and the fans but it is only because of the incredibly high standards he's set for himself and the club through his past endeavors. And for that alone he deserves more time and more support, at least till the end of his current contract by which time he should have made good on the promises he made after the stadium move.
All this is not to say that trophies are not important, of course they are but fans don't get medals for their support. All they get is the everlasting memories of the campaign, the highs, the lows and all that in between followed by the relief when it is covered in glory at the end of the campaign.
Arsenal have provided us with all of those except the last bit but it is sure to come soon. The Özil signing is another big step towards it. But do not mistake this for an overnight change of plans, the fans were promised this a long time ago, all those years of trophyless misery were not for nothing, this is the result of the club's perseverance and the effect of it hasn't yet been felt in it's strongest.
Wenger has so far accomplished all that he had promised during our stadium move, now all that remains is the last step. Call him a failure if that trophy remains elusive in the coming one or two seasons but for now he's on track. Let the last eight years not be looked unto as tragedy, let it be remembered as the building blocks for sustained future successes.
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