AuthorSports Billy So the season has drawn to a close and Arsenal, for the first time since time began, have finished outside of the top 4 of the Premier League. This is probably the unfortunate icing on the cake for manager Arsene Wenger who has endured a torrid time this season from sections of The Emirates stands and other parts of the Gunners fan base. Yes, Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League title for a very long time, and yes they always get smashed by Bayern Munich in some sort of knock out round for the Champions League, and finally yes some of the players at times this season haven’t looked up for it, so I can see why the fans have been frustrated. But, come on people, let’s get some perspective here. The Premier League, despite not being necessary the best league in the world, is certainly the most competitive so managing to win the league at all is quite the achievement, let alone defending that and dominating it.
Changes to the league in terms of TV revenue in recent seasons has arguably resulted in more competition in the league which may well change its landscape for good now. Given the sums of money washing around the competition across all the teams, it means that sides from the top of the league to the bottom (alright, maybe not Sunderland!) are capable of giving any other side in the league a run for their money. This competitiveness and uncertainty could result with us never seeing a side like Fergie’s Man Utd which dominated for years in a row, from happening again. We may now be living in an age where a team wins it one year, before losing it to a completely different side the next, and so on and so on. Throw into this mix the fact that at the time of writing it’s not just TV money propping up sides in the league. More and more clubs have foreign ownerships which has turned the game from a millionaires play thing, now to a billionaires play thing. Not everyone can compete with this model. Now I know Arsenal fall in to this Billionaire owner category, but refreshingly for a modern top flight football club, they at least operate in a manner than ensures wage structures aren’t blown and the clubs future isn’t jeopardised through financial risk. I am sure Arsenal fans would rather win the league than have a financially successfully football club that isn’t in debt, but flip that around and then ask them how they’d feel if they’re club’s very existence was threatened by the reckless pursuit of trophies? I find Arsenal TV and the fans across social media who whinge and complain about Arsenal’s current “plight” ridiculous and hard to swallow. They just aren’t in touch with the real world of football. Complaining about not being in the top four of the world’s wealthiest league or not winning a trophy isn’t a real problem to have? Try supporting a lower league side whose very existence is threatened as they can’t pay staff of players of the running costs of the stadium. Or not getting anywhere winning a trophy of any sort for over 20 years? That’s something real to complain about, not losing out on 4th position in the league! Add to this the notion of complaining about a manager than transformed the club completely since he took over, changing the squad from one with a culture of heavy drinking to one where their everyday diets have been individually tailored and new, continental style daily training session formats that were completely different from the norm in this country. In fact, it could be argued that Wenger has not only transformed Arsenal, but the modern domestic football scene in this country on the whole, dragging it from the dark ages and in to a brave new modern world of continental influences. In my opinion Wenger should stay on. He’s done enough at the club to decide when he calls time on his tenure and shouldn't be pushed out by some deluded, ungrateful fans (albeit not all of them) which have no sense of perspective of where their club is at in the grand scheme of things. Some of Arsenals fan base should be careful what they wish for, as you don’t always know what you've got till its gone. |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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