I Am Arsène
Bear with me. I do not intend to offend or get religious but one of my favorite parts of the Bible is at the end of the Book of Genesis. It tells the story of Joseph. If you are unfamiliar with this story, Joseph was the child of Jacob. Jacob saw greatness in Joseph and favored him from the moment of his birth. Joseph was very gifted but because of this his brothers were very jealous of him. They sold him to slavery and told Jacob he was dead. Joseph became a slave in Egypt and because of his talents rose to the very height of power in Egypt. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all the land of Egypt.
Joseph saw a famine coming so he stored up grain to cover the famine years. All the surrounding peoples came to him for food because they did not store up. Eventually his brothers came to him not knowing who he was, for food as well. Joseph forced them into confessing what they did to their younger brother only to finally reveal to them who he was in a very powerful moment saying "I AM Joseph!".
When we decided to fund our own stadium Arsene saw lean years ahead but knew if he stored up better times would come. Oh, and by the way, building the stadium was the absolute right thing to do regardless of our trophy "famine". Before the decision to build no one can argue that Arsene was a Godsend to Arsenal. He could have walked on water as far as any supporter was concerned. (Biblical metaphor intended). He took us to heights that live on in our hearts that we will never forget. He managed a team to one of THE greatest records in sport in my opinion. An entire season unbeaten and went on to go 49 PL matches unbeaten. He did this in one of the most competitive leagues on the planet. This will not likely ever be repeated in my lifetime.
But over the last 8 years many of us have forgotten who he is. Many do not recognize the great man because of the famine of what we all feed on, silver grain in the shape of cups. We all hunger for glory again for our beloved Arsenal and the longer we go without it the less we recognize the great man. But, I contend that he is the same man that fed us until our cup runneth over with glory and bragging rights. This man is no different today than he was 10 years ago. His gifts are still there and he is as sharp and witty as ever. Anyone who has seen his pressers can vouch for that.
We have all seen over the last month or two that our financial position is soon to become quite good. We will be in a great position to really compete for honors again. Sponsorship deals are being renewed and new sponsors are coming along with added(and quite large) deals. We have stored up and now the fruits of our labor will finally be brought to bear in terms of player acquisitions, player retention, salaries, etc. Talk is we will be splashing plenty of cash in the summer market. The famine will finally be over.
I am completely convinced that Arsene is still the man to lead us forward. He hasn't changed. I believe we have. He will no longer be worried about a famine. He will not have to store up anymore. He will be able to focus on what he does best which is building a team and teaching them to play the beautiful football we all love. I believe champagne football is returning very soon with the man who introduced us to it in the first place. The great man will be vindicated.
So this man we left for dead over the last year will show us that he is still the same man we remember long ago being very special. When he lifts our next trophy it will be his way of telling us that he is still the same man. It will be his loud proclamation to us:
"I AM Arsene!"
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