Former Arsenal manager George Graham has been oddly vocal about Arsenal, following their 2-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford last Saturday, claiming Arsene Wenger must build a side capable of winning the Premier League, and Champions League qualification is not enough for The Gunners.
Now we all know this it is not something that we are hiding behind, the club do definitely need to build a team capable of winning the Premier League because I think for all of us we would love to get the seven-year itch off our back and bring home a title. In addition, I agree Champions League qualification is not enough for us. Yes, we do get money for achieving this, but we should be aiming to win it, not just to benefit financially from it.
Currently, our board expectation is to finish in the top four, whereas years back it was to win, or at least challenge for the title. Wenger can’t do it all himself. The board have to be held accountable for this as well.
There is no doubt in my mind that if the board were to give Wenger say £100 million, with the message that we want to win the league, I think we would be capable of doing it. I know many people will say that Wenger wouldn’t spend it. However, we don’t know for a fact that the cash has been there for Arsene to spend and judging by their cagey AGM meeting, I would have to question the board’s motive(s)
Graham goes on to mention:
‘The problem with Arsenal is their objective is to finish in the top four rather than aiming to win the Premier League title.
‘They’re quite happy to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League. I understand the financial importance of the top four but, if Arsenal get through to the knockout stages of the Champions League, they class it as success and that’s a problem for me.’
He is dead right. For the board it is seen as a success, to the fans it is now seen as ‘same s*it different season’. I want silverware, and that is ultimatelywhat is going to make us happy. We need to start winning something. We have a fantastic stadium but no trophies to put it in, and that just isn’t good enough.
In the summer we signed Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, and that shows desire. But we need to build on that and maybe it needs to start in January with another 2-3 signings, and the desire for Theo Walcott to stick around.
Until the board decides that they are going to support the club and give something back to it, instead of taking and making a profit, then we are going to be stuck in the same situation year after year after year, which means losing players until the stadium debt is cleared.
Is Graham right?
Let us know below
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Graham’s dead right! Sadly, who’ll listen to his 2 pence? Gazidis ? Hillwood ? I highly doubt!
I agree with what you say but feel that the funding is not the only issue that needs to be put right before we can win something.
I have long been a fan of Wenger but the players he has bought over the last few years do not make me feel he is the right manager to buy experienced expensive players. Along with many other fans i have spoken to, i can name many players purchased by Wenger that have been absolutely shocking and we still pay them huge salaries and can’t get rid of them. Our salary bill is amongst the highest in the league. I’m not sure i remember Wenger going in for established players that cost a premium, even in his jobs before Arsenal he purchased inexpensive players and sometimes made them into stars. Of course with Arsenal it’s easy to remember the Henry’s and Viera’s etc but over the last few years this has largely dried up.
I for one bought into the youth academy idea, this was meant to be Wenger’s master plan, unfortunately it hasn’t worked and most of youth players have moved onto other clubs out on loan.
One last thing is the matches against Norwich and Man utd. Is it only me and the commentary team on the radio that think Andre Santos and Gervinho are a joke? It was just incredible to see Santos playing against Man Utd, why not play Sagna and Jenkinson? It’s not rocket science that is needed to know what part of the pitch the opposition will try and exploit when he’s playing. Of course that’s exactly what Man Utd did and the team we played the week before. Thankfully Gervinho was injured.
I’m sorry but as a Lifelong Arsenal supporter, 60 years, and having lived in Highbury with the rest of my family (all staunch Gooners) i am feeling that Mr Wenger needs to step down and we need a change, in a graceful and organised way of course.
Yours unhappily.
at the end of the day, we strengthened and sold almost in the same breath. Lack of ambition by not holding on to key players as they develop has stopped our progression into a top two team. The only way to do this is to buy quality and hold on to quality and we havent got the balance of playing staff right in the way the books have been balanced. The message is clear that the board will not change and top players will be lost for profit regardless of who is in charge. wenger would not have wanted RVP to go but he clearly could not convince with the lack of financial backing coming from the board. Wenger has saved the boards ar*es for the last few seasons on a very limited budget. Dont blame him overall but think about how he was hurt when they got rid of our negotiator Dein and maybe some signings have been to a degree forced on him to fill voids and by playing them he makes a point. Santos is an example of that..a defender who cant defend but he plays him a lot and Wenger is not stupid.
Actually, buying those three player does not show any desire at all!
All we do is replace, we do not strengthen! We sold Van Persie and Song – last seasons best players – used the proceeds from those sales to fund the purchase of the above mentioned three players.
That is not ambitious, it would have been ambitious if we had kept Robin and Alex, but by letting them go it is just another step back!
Selling your best players every year is a disaster and buying in to replace rather then strengthen is not even good when you keep the team together – what arsenal are not doing!
Giroud is no RVP, pod isn’t either and cazorla looks like he is getting fed up already…
That is all the truth that can help arsenal if they announce winning @ the club this time and put it to practise by bringing more quality players 2 or 3
all we need is the board to come back to senses of the 2005 downwards seasons and show some commitment and see the club to wining the trophies for we as fans are fade up with the top four position and the so called championship qualification