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The state of the nation of Arsenal – 20 years later

FA Cup Final Win – A great way to finish. Photo – Offside

Starting from midnight tonight (Sunday 9th August), I officially hand over the reins of the Gooner editor to Layth Yousif, although actually Layth has been producing and organizing most of the content for the website for a few months now, with only occasional offers from me. . When I wrote my piece on winning the FA Cup final last weekend, I stated that I would do another editorial before hanging up the keyboard, and this is it: a reflection on the changes in the club in the 20 years since I became publisher.

In August 2000, Arsenal were competing. They were really supposed to repeat their 1997-98 FA Cup and league double in May 1999, and the following season they were defeated on penalties in the UEFA Cup final. My first season with Mike Francis’ success saw the team undeservedly defeated in the FA Cup final by Liverpool, but the good times would follow. Five trophies in four seasons, including another double and the Invincibles season, and then a run to the Champions League final when the club said goodbye to Highbury.

So we were all ready for the future. A new stadium meant a huge increase in revenue, but success proved elusive. The FA Cup was of less and less significance as the prize money for winning the trophy and broadcast revenue was dwarfed by the Champions League and Premier League. While I have really enjoyed the four FA Cup wins since Arsenal moved to the Emirates, they did not translate into a Scudetto challenge at the end of the season. Things got worse to the point that at the end of this season that has just ended, qualification for the Europa League was a cause for celebration.

On the one hand, the credit goes to Arsene Wenger for keeping the club in the Champions League all those years, but when I look back now, after that run in 2006, have Arsenal ever been really competitive in the tournament? The results suggest not. It was enough to participate and feed on the money. In the Premier League, there have been seasons where the Gunners were in a really good position to challenge, but when the rubber hit the road in the culminating weeks of the season, the wheels came off repeatedly in the (by heart) four seasons in which it could be said that Wenger’s teams were in contention with two thirds of the season gone.

So the gradual decline was tolerated and complacency allowed, as long as the books were sound. It became obvious to even the most loyal that Arsene was a knocked out color when his team was knocked out from lower tier opposition in both domestic cups in 2013, coupled with numerous humiliating home and away defeats against teams that stood. winning trophies while Arsenal looked pleased to finish fourth. Sure, both Chelsea and later Manchester City were lucky enough to be bought by owners willing to finance the strengthening of their playing teams, but let’s not pretend Arsenal had no money. They did, but it was badly spent.

I would point to the departures of David Dein, Keith Edelman and the death of Danny Fiszman as the turning points in the way the club has been run. It all added something to the club, even though Edelman didn’t really care about football. In hindsight, there’s no arguing that Ivan Gazidis turned out to be a disaster, finally recruiting people to do the work needed to help the club years too late, and a man who was full of bites, but nothing by way of delivery. The combination of Mesut Ozil’s final deal award and Unai Emery’s recruitment meant he left the club in a mess, the only competent individual he hired (Sven Mislintat) was forced to leave after Gazidis was left for Milan.

Due to Daniel Fiszman’s long feud with David Dein, on his deathbed he made the disastrous decision to cede the club to Stan Kroenke, in order to ensure that there was no chance of Dein returning. Now Dein is no saint, but I’d rather someone run the club who cared deeply, like Dein. Stan Kroenke has had effective control of Arsenal since 2011 and, significantly, during this time, the club has really seen their status slip away, not helped by allowing Arsene to stay too long.

So where are we now? Fighting against the odds and hoping that Mikel Arteta will prove himself to be the next Pep Guardiola and stay at the club if he is. Spending decisions must be made very wisely and hopefully will not be compromised by the influence of agents close to the executive team. Money, however, is a real problem, as the news shows that 55 will be fired from Arsenal. It speaks volumes about the game that a club employee’s salary of a couple of months could probably cover the annual salary of everyone who will lose their jobs. And that’s because the increase in money that went into the game was largely poured into the bank accounts of players, managers and agents. Successful clubs simply operate around the tie model as they try to match their rivals to secure the best. Arsenal often made money as they exited the competition, but still spent significantly. Either the players who had been secured weren’t up to par or it wasn’t possible to get the best out of them.

And this is where there is hope. Mikel Arteta has proven that he can produce something greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps not consistently, but just knowing that his team can beat the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea means Arsenal can face matches against that opponent in the future with more confidence in themselves than they have enjoyed. for a long time. It provides a platform, as players accept Arteta’s methods, and they will be more willing to break the instinct for the coach knowing there are good reasons for doing so. It has become clear that those who are not fully involved in what he is doing will not get a share. The findings will mean that this policy is endorsed by fans, not that they can express any opinion that Arteta is likely to be aware of for the time being.

Additionally, the manager is presumably a part of the decision-making process about who joins and who leaves his team. It appears he played a part in the decision to give David Luiz an extra year. It will be interesting to see who gets recruited before next season starts in September. We will get a better idea of ​​Arteta’s abilities as he has a full season to shape his team.

Football is a matter of hope and, indeed, one element of this has been sucked into the Gooners by how their club came out of contention under an absent owner. Stan Kroenke made the decision to pay off the stadium’s debt to (hopefully) assist the club financially, rather than extract money from it at a later stage. Time will tell, even if the American is certainly not reliable.

The FA Cup victory returned optimism, as did other significant victories in the final weeks of this long season that still continues in UEFA competition. But of course we’ve been here before – in 2014, 2015 and especially 2017. It didn’t work then, even though it was then that Arsene was no longer the coach he used to be.

So, my 20 years started with a spell that became as good as it gets for a fan (except for the 2006 final – winning would have been a good result), followed by a period of uncertainty, culminating in the acquisition of Kroenke. , the Gazidis years and – apart from some good days of the FA Cup final – a lot of sausage compared to the caviar of Arsene’s first decade.

But hope has returned that the club can beat the odds, as they did so memorably under George Graham. And I can’t wait to try whether or not they can as supporters, rather than fanzine editors. Thank you for putting up with my digressions all these years and for the kind words expressed by many at the news of my departure. But this “king” is dead. Long live the new: I hope you see as many trophies in your first five years on the editor’s throne as I have seen in mine.

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