16/5/13
Well "Gooners" and indeed "Gooneretes", welcome. As we now approach the conclusion of another instalment of a Barclays Premier League season, as the curtain is getting ready to fall, you all know what is just down the road now! No I don't mean those muppets at Spurs, I mean of course the onslaught of rumour, gossip and endless transfer chat that awaits us at the end of every season, as the Summer Transfer Window commences.
Now I know we have heard lots of talk already, throughout the season, about what is needed at Arsenal, who needs to come in, what needs to change, who needs to be removed and so on. However expect that to be turned up a notch or two (or three) upon the final whistle at St James Park on Sunday afternoon. Once again (we hope) Arsenal will have qualified for the Champions League, which means (in theory) we should be able to attract top players to the club. This we must do, but as I will say in this piece, not as much needs to be changed as what people will have you think, a few tweaks, personell wise, tactically and indeed philosophically need to be made, but not major changes are required at The Home Of Football.
Let me start with a look back, before I attempt to look forward to this Summer's "window" and beyond. Let's not beat about the proverbial bush, when this season ends Arsenal are looking at an eight successive seasons without silverware, this is of course nothing short of unacceptable for a club like ours. Naturally therefore we HAVE fallen short once again, too often we have been found wanting in big games in the league, and on too many occasions we have been found out by relatively "weak" teams too. In the cups we have been knocked out by the B's (Blackburn, Bradford and Bayern) and as it stands we are going to just scrape into the Top 4 and Continental Qualification yet again. Therefore on the face of it not a very good season at all for the boys at Ashburton Grove. BUT.....
Despite this I feel very optimistic that what has happened this season, will stand us in very good stead for next season, and indeed beyond. You may think I am mad, and to be fair, you would not be the first or indeed the last no doubt, however I firmly maintain that Arsenal will win the league within 3 years. Why? Well, think "FCD": Financially, Contractually and Development(ly). These three words are reasons as to why I believe we can push on next season and beyond.
Let me start with F, Financially. Since we have moved to the fantastic Emirates Stadium, the home of football, the club has been under obligations to pay off debt, taken out to fund the stadium in the first instance. On top of this the commercial revenues that the club collects, have been relatively weak. This is all about to change. The stadium debt is almost relinquished, the commercial revenues are being cleverly and majorly vamped up (thanks to great work from Mr Ivan Gazidis), following a 35 million pound a year deal with Fly Emirates for the shirt sponsorship and a supposedly soon to be announced deal with Puma for a similar figure a year for the kit deal (to start in 2014). Considering that Arsenal is currently the 4th richest club in the world, with significantly lower commercial revenues than those mentioned above, our club is going to be even more magnificent shape financially. This will finally allow the manager the chance to spend money on the 3/4/5 quality players that we need to GENUINELY challenge for the titles, both domestically and on the continent. People say why has Arsene Wenger not spent money before? Well, the answer to that is twofold, 1) he hasn't really been able to and b) the overall package has not been affordable for Arsenal. By this I mean he has offered big money for players such as Juan Mata (around 20 million), Eden Hazard (around 30 million) who both went to Chelsea, and also Mario Gotze who Arsene offered around 30 million also for in 2011. However in at least two of these cases the club could not compete on wage demands with Chelsea in particular. In short, we have not been able to offer the entire "package" to the lad. Now, I believe this can now change. We should now look to these next two summer transfer window's especially as real chance to push on, and set a statement as to how we want to go forward, a statement to relinquish the tag of not spending money, a lack of "ambition" and of course banish the 8 years without a trophy to the history books. Now, I am not saying we ARE going to spend, but I feel confident that there is a large chance that we will do, as the financial setting of the club is now much much much stronger than it was before.
Secondly, let me discuss the "C" in my equation: "Contractually". For the first time in a number of seasons, ALL of our big and most influential players are secured, tied down to long-term contracts. Hurrah! Unlike the last two summers we have not got players like Nasri or RVP (Purse-Strings) in contractual positions where they can effectively "force" the club's hand. Our best players are all tied to long term contracts and, touch wood, these players should not be on the move. This means that finally we can build on the squad that we have, rather than trying to re-build from mercenaries that have moved on. This is positive, no doubt. We have got an extremely capable "basis" from which to build upon. Players like Santi Cazorla, Mertesacker, Koscielney, Arteta, Podolski are all quality players who should be and, on recent evidence in most cases, are in the prime of their respective careers. These players can be successful with Arsenal, and with the chance to add players from other clubs, resulting from the financial elements mentioned above, we can really have a go at challenging the Manchester clubs.
Finally let me answer the "D" part of my statement. Development(ly). You may be wondering why when listing players of particular stature above e.g. Cazorla, Mertesacker, Arteta e.t.c. I didn't mention the likes of Wilshere, Walcott, Gibbs, Ramsey e.t.c. Well, that is because they form the key for this part of my argument. These players, along with the likes of Jenko, The OX e.t.c., should form part of Arsenal teams for years to come. This season they have all made an profound impact on the first team. Theo has surpassed 20 goals for the first time, and is the highest scoring Englishmen across all competitions, Jack has come back from a long lay-off and impressed, the likes of Gibbs have progressed majorly in my opinion, and Ramsey especially in the last month or so has really started to show what he can do, and thankfully has finally started to reward the patience and believe that I gave to him on twitter e.t.c. especially earlier in the season. These lads will form a key part in our team over the next few seasons, they are all (as made clear in the previous part) on long term contracts now, and most importantly they will ONLY get better and better, and will ONLY contribute more and more both on the pitch in terms of quality and off it in terms of leadership and so on. This is crucial and indeed very exciting.
So, my message to you is: don't believe the doom and gloomists' around, Arsenal are very much on the edge of success. I believe that WHOLEHEARTEDLY. If we can combine these three factors FCD (that I have outlined), that is sign 3/4/5 quality players with the increased financial superiority we have now, and continue to put faith in our quality young players, I fully believe we can win the league within 3 years, as I have maintained all season!! BUT, BUT, BUT, this is all meaningless if we don't win on Sunday. We HAVE to get into the Champions League, in order to attract players, no matter how much money we could or could not throw at them. SO, Arsenal players, I put it to you, CONCENTRATE on the game fully, WIN the game, and THEN we can look forward to a EXTREMELY exciting and prosperous time ahead.........
UP THE ARSENAL!!!!!!
