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Doesn't Wenger Deserve The Benefit Of The Doubt?

The middle aged man walked into the living room in his casual home clothes. The fireplace is already lit. "Who lit the fire?" he wonders since it was always his duty to light the wood to spread the warmth. As he comes closer he sees the young master of the house sitting cross legged on the giant luxury chair with his hands rested on his knees and his face resting on the clenched fists. The kid barely had any expression on his face. His eyes were dull, devoid of any emotion and were staring into nothingness. Although they looked into the flames it felt like they were wandering in darkness.

"Aren't you supposed to be outside playing soccer with your buddies?" queried the man as he took his seat on the nearby couch to the right. Friction sound of the velvet couch brushing against his clothes and then awkward silence for a few seconds; just the crackling of the wood in the fire. The boy slowly turned his head to the right, looked at the man with no change in his facial expression and face still resting on the clenched fists.

"I'm not in the mood."

"And why is that may I ask at the risk of prying?"

Awkward silence for a few more seconds before the kid finally speaks in a lifeless monotone as he looks away into the fireplace again.

"Because Arsenal didn't sign anybody this time. Wenger only brought in Petr Cech. Everyone knew we needed to add a little more squad depth especially in the central defensive position and up front. He didn't sign anybody. Instead, he's sitting in Paris now waiting to commentate on some international matches."

"Well, that's probably because he believes these players can get the job done."

That statement seemed to have stepped on a nerve and the boy's eyes bulged open in shock and a bit of temper. He moved his hands and rested them on the arms of the chair, rather grasped them tightly. He put his feet down on the floor, rather stomped them. He leaned forward and for the first time there was tension in the room.

"HUUUHHHH????? What? You think THESE players can 'get the job done'? What job are you talking about? I've been thinking that THIS is going to be our season. We have an amazing platform to win the Premier League this season. Maybe even the Champions League if we put in an amazing run! We've won back to back FA Cups. We've brought in really good quality over the last 2 seasons. All we needed now was some quality squad depth as contingency in case of injuries. But NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! (He thumps both hands in anger on the arms of the chair). Arsene Wenger....... that (exhales his frustration) miserly Arsene Wenger didn't get anybody in. What is he even planning? If he doesn't bring in quality players to freshen up the squad then Ozil and Sanchez and Cazorla will all want to leave eventually. You need to keep winning trophies, bigger and better trophies and that too consistently to keep these world class players in your team and also to attract other world class players. Obviously they'd even cost that much as well but don't we have a fortune in our bank now? With most of the stadium debt settled he doesn't even have that excuse anymore. So why did he get only a goalkeeper in this summer? We already know he dislikes the winter transfer window and wouldn't look to get anyone then if there's no need. This was probably the only chance we had. He'll be out of contract soon and then what? He's done SO bloody much for the club! I wanted to see him lift the Premier League trophy once again and finally even the Champions League if possible with Arsenal before he retires. But he's becoming his own obstacle!!!!!!!! GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR it's FRUSTRATINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!"

He falls back into his seat. The man is honestly surprised as can be easily guessed with his bated breath and wide open eyes. The young master breathes slowly, deeply, but calmly. He had finally vented out what he had to. Slouching into the armchair he takes a look at the man.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm just surprised that you would be so frustrated by all this. Isn't it just a game? It's not like you're even directly contributing towards the club either. You're sitting here across the seas getting happy, sad, getting mood swings over a few people who don't even know that you exist. Sounds all meaningless to me."

Now the young master's turn to look at the man in surprise.

"I can't believe you just said that. The last time I came in after a game of soccer you were talking to me and the others about the game and how our outlook should be. And now you're saying THIS? What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing. I am still the same. I just choose not to get swayed by what the media feeds us unlike some others."

"What are you talking about? Please speak directly. I'm not in the mood for your metaphors."

"Very well then. (He walks towards the fireplace and puts out his hands to warm himself) You remember when Arsene Wenger commented that his team could go unbeaten all season and everyone laughed at him?"

"Yes I do. That's the season I started supporting Arsenal!"

"Now imagine if Twitter was available at that time. Can you just imagine what kind of abuses or mal-intended words would have been directed towards him? He knew his team so well that he knew their capabilities far better than they themselves. You can still have that vindicated in the documentaries they made after that where the players themselves say that they thought he was nuts and was just putting on needless pressure on them. But they did it the very next season, didn't they?"

The kid is now silent. A small wrinkle on his forehead as he tries to make sense of where the man is going with this example.

"Forget that. Go back to the time when Arsenal brought him on as the successor for Bruce Rioch in 1996. You weren't even born then but you obviously know about the 'Arsene Who?' headlines in the morning newspapers that hit the next day. Surely they got their answer soon enough as to who he was and what he was capable of."

The wrinkle on the kid's forehead deepens and he's almost irritated now to see if the man even has a point or not.

"What I'm saying is the media always, almost always shows you only one side of the story. They always try to present facts in such a manner that they get good TRPs or as it is called these days - click-baiting. And even today, I can tell you that more than half your frustration is because of the media. Allow me to answer each point you mentioned one by one."

He rubs his hands on his arms and legs and walks back to the couch and settles down.

"You mentioned that we have a fortune in the bank. Correct. Around 200 million. Our chairman mentioned it himself in an interview during the summer and because of that people are under the impression that all of that money is available as the "Transfer war chest". That's incorrect. That's probably the total amount of liquid funds the club has and will still need most of that money for running the club, salaries, wages, even clearing some of the stadium debt that's still pending etc. Because we're a self-sustaining self-financing club we can never dry out our coffers and hence, there'll always have to be a minimum balance of cash we'll want to maintain in our accounts. Whatever is available for transfer is the net amount after all these deductions. Let's say we have about 80 million in transfer funds then. That would mean Arsene only used 10 million of it. He would still have 70 million and he didn't use it. That doesn't mean he didn't try to use it, does it?"

"You're sounding like one of those AKB friends of mine. No proof. Only blind belief in one man."

"Well do YOU have proof that he didn't try to get anybody into the team?"

Awkward silence and a slightly angry look on the kid's face was met with a smile from the man.

"Innocent till proven guilty. You yourself said that he's done SO much for the club. He's turned down offers from some of the biggest clubs and even international roles to take care of Arsenal. Do you REALLY think he'd want to jeopardize his own achievements? Do you REALLY think he'd have made no effort to bring in anybody? At all? The media only says who the club is linked with based on rumours and speculations. They listen to these football pundits who give their views on what they feel a club lacks currently and they provide their logical reasoning to arrive at those conclusions. The media then runs a search for whoever could be available in those positions for those clubs and the journalists write articles based on that info. Fans believe that the club is then targeting those players realistically because the journalists use titles like "Club targets player XYZ to beef up attack or bolster defense". In reality, the club might not even be interested in that player. But this is how the media manipulates your mindset. There is no way they can get proof of the efforts the club staff would put in to get a target but fail at it. Unless the club revealed it the media wouldn't know about it. That's why you rarely hear about how much the manager tried to get a player in but failed. Arsene Wenger is not a man who lusts for recognition. He does what is right. The media need not know who he is targeting at what price and what salary and so they will not know. Simple. If knowledge leaks out then that could inflate the target's value. Following so far?"

"Yes".

"Okay. So Arsene and his team try to get in a couple of players. The Chairman in the same interview where he revealed how much money we have in the bank also stated that he knows that Arsene is looking at a couple of specific players to strengthen the squad. Now you can brush it aside calling it lip service to keep the fans happy or you could read into it and understand that Arsene has very specific targets and wouldn't settle or compromise on those targets. If those players can't join the club then he's not going to get someone inferior to them; inferior in his eyes at least. When you have a team which finished 3rd in the toughest league in the world and has won back to back FA Cups you know that only really world class talent can take you further and beyond. That usually takes a lot of money as you rightly pointed out. If negotiations fall through then the player doesn't come in but because you don't even know if the club is genuinely trying to get that player or not, you just sit and assume that no work is being done at all. If the player doesn't want to join Arsenal, or if his current club doesn't want to sell him or if terms could not be agreed upon then it will only look like nothing's happened, although it means that a lot of effort was wasted and nobody is going to know about it."

He walks towards the refrigerator, pulls out a bottle of cool water and takes a couple of sips. Places the bottle back, close the door and walks towards the couch.

"So you only see what you are shown but your mind must question what you can't see. You must try to understand the larger picture. Arsene Wenger is the kind of man who admitted last season that he made a mistake by not reinforcing his defense when he had the chance at the beginning of the season. You honestly think and truly believe that he's gone so senile that he'll repeat the same mistake again the very next year? If no player joined the club it need not mean he didn't try. It could mean that they all tried but it didn't work out for some reason or the other. Regardless of how much money we might have in our bank account we are still nowhere close to being financially as healthy as United, City or Chelsea. That is a fact as well. You see for yourself how these clubs are literally throwing cash to buy their players. You want Arsenal to be the same? Even if you did, Arsenal cannot afford that because it's not our business model."

"Okay I get what you're trying to say. But it's not sinking in. Were these players really that far out of our reach? Benzema? Cavani? Just two of the names that are being thrown around."

"Realistically speaking, if Real Madrid agree to let Benzema go, who do they have at his level in his position? Nobody. So unless they had a replacement lined up for him they were not going to let him go. Similar could be Cavani's case as well. But do we know this? No. It's just mere speculation because we try to make sense of what's happened. But aren't these speculations far better than just blindly accusing the club for not trying at all? You called some of the fans as blind followers but then aren't you also blindly criticizing without facts? In the name of venting out frustration you lose the basis of your sensible argument. Arsene is not beyond criticism or questioning but he still has more knowledge of the game than you and I could ever have. You're right in a way that he's probably becoming his own obstacle. In fact his early success is itself becoming an obstacle because he probably over-achieved and that set the standards and benchmark and he'll obviously be compared with those achievements. But then again, once you've tasted that kind of success do you really honestly think you'd want to settle for Champions league qualification each season? Do you really think it'll then just become all about the money because he has his retirement in mind? Do you really think your club's Board are so stupid and witless that they pay him such a high salary for just coming 4th each season? David Moyes left United because he didn't fulfill his contract agreement of achieving top 4 finish. van Gaal managed that and so he stayed on. Or else if he had missed out on 4th, who knows? Maybe he'd be in search of a job right now too. But what if Wenger's contract only mentioned that he should get Champions League qualification till such time that the club can financially compete with these power money clubs so that they can aim for higher success? If that's what it was all about then he's achieved the targets set for him so why would he leave or why would the club ask him to leave? But do we know this? No. We can only speculate. It's all a game of speculations because we don't have all the information and we'll probably never have ALL the information. That then means you choose to stick to one side of the story. So why would you choose to stick to the side which makes you question your feelings towards the club or the commitment that the players and the staff have towards the club? Why stick to forecasting dark futures ahead because the club didn't meet YOUR expectation of buying a certain player or players? For whatever reasons they might be, Arsenal have not brought in any players. Is that the players' fault? No. So there's no point in blaming them for it. Is it the club, the manager and the staff's fault? Perhaps but since we don't know all the facts then don't you think you should be giving them the benefit of the doubt that they would've tried their best and still somehow fell short?"

The kid heaves a huge sigh. He's been subject to a really long lecture and he understands why he needed it but he still struggles to come to terms with what he should be doing next.

"So what are you saying? I'm wrong in asking these questions? I should always think that my club is doing everything right and they're faultless?"

"No! Not at all. Like I said, nobody is beyond criticism but abusing is something which you should avoid. Everyone makes mistakes too. But you need to try to look at the bigger picture and try to understand the project and vision your club has undertaken before you pass such hurtful judgment on anybody involved. What you must do now though is believe in the players and their ability to achieve more consistently positive results. Regardless of what's happened or not happened, Arsene Wenger will now have to put his faith and belief and time into the current set of players he has and as fans who claim to support this club through thick and thin that's what we should be doing too."

"Is that why you're so calm about all this?"

"Expectations are ironically the most common reason for disappointment. I won't lie. I had predicted through my own logic that THIS is going to be our season. We would be in a really good position to challenge for the title this year I had hoped. I'm not saying we aren't now but we're probably just a player short. Either way, I still believe that if these players fulfill their potential they can do wonders. Arsene Wenger believed in his dream of Invincibility and the players eventually participated in that dream and they achieved it. There's no reason why he can't believe in his dream of winning the Premier League and Champions League with this team and whether or not the players also share that same dream is up to their self-confidence and belief and trust in each other. Cohesion"

That brought a small smile on the kid's face. He didn't have anything to say back. He didn't want to ask anything either. He just sat back again this time leaning towards the left and placing his head on his hand as he rested on the arm of the chair. He looked into the fireplace again but this time with that glimmer of a smile on his face.

The man saw this and he got up, patted the boy on his head, wished him goodnight and went to sleep.

 

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Tags: Arsenal, Wenger, Transfers

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