Well, it’s safe to say yesterday was an interesting day once Arsene Wenger had finished his pretty astonishing press conference (transcript here – video here). The Arsenal manager was in chippy form, and he sent people’s blood pressure through the roof with some of his comments.
Watching it at the time, there were a couple of moments when I thought ‘Oh-oh!’, and the reaction in some quarters has been vociferous. The thing that many people took away from it was that he was blaming the fans for our poor home form. So, let’s look at what he said. First up, on the title he said:
We lost the championship at home against the lower teams, but we played sometimes at home in a very difficult climate.
Now, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the atmosphere at the Emirates has been poor at times this season. I’m told it’s something that the players have noticed, and more than once we’ve heard about how the team feel less pressure away from home. However, this is essentially a by-product of how the team are performing.
I was there when we beat Manchester United 3-0 in our most effective, exciting performance of the season and the stadium was rocking. It was fantastic that day, and that’s because we played well. The crowd did not inspire the players, it was the other way around. Perhaps there’s something a bit symbiotic about it, but when it comes right down to it, it’s how we play that drives the atmosphere.
Of course there is a school of thought that says fans should get behind their team throughout the 90 minutes and I get that. I’ll always shout and urge them on, but not everyone is the same. Human nature comes into play. And when you see the team playing poorly, and not for the first time, anger and frustration bubble up within some sections of the crowd. It’s worth remembering that we’re talking about fans/supporters, not cheerleaders.
I also think that a general malaise, that has been present for some time, means the team becomes a lightning rod for that frustration as it’s the only way fans can give voice to that unhappiness. Boos at half-time and full-time might be viewed through the prism of a bad scoreline, but it might also be because we didn’t buy an outfield player last summer, or another title challenge going down the toilet etc etc.
We have to realise that away from home we are championship winners. At home, against the smaller teams, we dropped the points.
Second part true, first part patently false. And it’s a strange thing to say. If you’re concerned about the climate, why do or say something that will contribute to worsening it? I mean, there’s no such thing as ‘away from home champions’, and even if there were it’s not us, it’s Leicester. Then Sp*rs. Then us.
He had a pop at some former players:
Some people who question them, I know them well, have less character than this team has. Because I saw them play and know them closely. They should not question the character of these players because they are exceptional characters.
Again, one that doesn’t really stand up to great scrutiny, because a team with great character doesn’t drop the points we’ve dropped this season. He pointed the finger elsewhere too …
Look, there are some group of people who try to manipulate our fans and do that well. I believe apart from an agenda, a personal agenda and big ego, there’s not a lot behind it. That’s what I think, basically.
… but wouldn’t expand on that. And while he did talk about how he shared the frustration of fans because of the way the season has gone, there seemed to be an unwillingness to direct any of the criticism internally.
We know, of course, that he rarely criticises players in public, and when he says things like “We wanted to go a step higher up and win the league. It was possible, that’s why we’re frustrated. As well you know, I can understand the frustration. Nobody is more frustrated than we are,” that’s his way of taking responsibility for it.
While I obviously can’t put words in his mouth, something more along the lines of, ‘This season wasn’t good enough by the standards we set and we’ll do as much as we can to make it better next time,” would certainly have gone down a lot better. Obviously it wouldn’t appease everyone, but rather than diffuse all the anger ahead of today’s game, he’s pretty much poured lighter fuel on it and thrown a match on top.
He’s an intelligent man, he knows what he’s doing and saying, and he’s obviously prepared to deal with the consequences of that. Suggestions that he’s unaware of the current mood don’t hold true to me. He references it specifically, he talks of those manipulators and so on, so to me it’s obvious he’s biting back to an extent. If only the team had shown that willingness to stand up and fight at times this season.
Last night further quotes emerged in which he revealed that during the stadium build banks insisted he sign for five years to provide stability to the project. So, while clubs such as Barcelona and Real Madrid targeted him, he stayed at Arsenal.
When we built the stadium the banks demanded I signed for five years. I did it. Do you want me to tell you how many clubs I turned down during that period? I have shown I am committed.
He continued:
The banks wanted the technical consistency to guarantee we had a chance to pay back. I did commit and I stayed, under very difficult circumstances. So for me to find people are reproaching me for not winning the championship during that period I think is a bit overboard. I accept criticism but I think that it is a bit too far.
A little bit shifting the goalposts here. I think the criticism isn’t really about not winning the title then, it’s about not winning it now when we do have the financial firepower we worked so hard to achieve. It’s about not making use of all the resources we have available to us. It’s about living with familiar failings season after season.
This morning though, in the cold light of day, I’m inclined to take some genuine distance from it all. I do think that people have worked themselves up into a kind of frenzy, as if this a football club on the verge of destruction rather than one that is probably going to finish in the top four of the Premier League.
As much as I’m disappointed and frustrated about what we’ve done this season, and as much as I would like to see things change, I just can’t allow myself to get that angry about it all. I think it’s sad to see Arsene Wenger like this, at odds with fans and former players because of the way his team has underperformed. I think it’s kinda sad that he chose to say what he did yesterday when he could have been far more diplomatic. It’s sad to see the abuse levelled at him because it is so relentlessly vicious at times.
I think it’s sad that fans are at odds with each other. It’s sad that the divisions that already exist become wider and wider even as there’s a growing consensus about what might be best for the football club. It’s sad that there are people whose sole aim is to widen those divisions through their behaviour. And I do NOT mean those who choose to protest today, that has been arranged, for the most part, in the most polite, most Arsenal way possible – as discussed on this week’s Arsecast.
It has provided an opportunity for some people to latch onto it in a self-promoting, self-entitled way, and I want nothing to do with them. I fully support people’s right to protest and make their voices heard, but a protest does not give you carte blanche for aggression and rancour, and to behave without even a modicum of manners and decency. Your ‘passion’ does not excuse your boorishness. It’s possible to make the same points without the vituperation.
When you have the club photographer reminding people on Twitter he’s just a photographer because of the invective and abuse left on his Instagram pictures, you know things have gone down a very unpleasant path.
Right now, for myriad reasons, Arsenal make me sad. There’s a match later, we play Norwich this evening. I’ll watch it and if we score I’ll be happy. If we win, I’ll be happier. It won’t solve the problems of the world, or indeed the problems we have at the moment, but that’s because it’s just a game of football.
