Why Arsenal has broken us

[IBK]

Been a long time since I've started a thread. I hope this hasn't been posted elsewhere, but Gunnerblog's entry on 5 May is one of the best, lucid commentaries on where we are both as a club and as fans, that I had to re-post it here. Sums up 100% how I feel - and why it is so difficult to be moved to write about Arsenal these days. Here it is.

I used to write about Arsenal here all the time. I loved it. I did it for free and I did it for pleasure. If you read during those days, I remain incredibly grateful.You probably haven’t noticed, but over the past couple of years entries on this blog have tailed off to an eventual halt. While I’ve continued writing, podcasting and vlogging elsewhere, I’ve found it difficult to find the time and energy to update this site. This, after all, was always a labour of love—and the sad truth is that much of the love has gone.
In many ways, this blog is a shrine to Wenger’s Arsenal. It was his teams that made he fall so hard for the game that I dedicated a significant portion of my life to writing about it. I’m now lucky enough to do that professionally. I cover Arsenal for a variety of sites, and I recognise it’s an incredible privilege. After years of graft, my work was my hobby. But over the past couple of seasons, it has begun to feel very much like work again.
The reason I’ve returned here is because when you’re writing for other people, you usually have to have a measure of objectivity. You have to be professional. This is not a professional piece—it’s a deeply person one.
Here’s the thing: I need Arsenal to change. I need a new story to get my teeth into. Part of the reason I haven’t been writing here is because I know you’ve read it all before. It’s increasingly difficult to find new and entertaining ways to say “we looked quite good then we absolutely fucked it”.
Arsenal hark on about stability, but continuity can prove the enemy of optimism. Turbulence brings about the possibility of change, and Arsenal fans are surely ready to welcome that now. I know I am – I’m fully aware that it might get worse before it gets better. Bring it on. I feel like I’ve watched 1000 episodes of Friends back to back and now you’re gong to randomly change the channel. Yes, we might land on Made in Chelsea, but at least it’s different. And we might get Planet Earth. We don’t know. Just change the fucking channel. What is elite sport about if not taking risks?
I’m beating around the bush, because I’m not sure I’ve ever said it in such plain terms, but Arsene Wenger has to go. It’s horrible to say because I’m such a huge admirer of his. Trust me, when you’ve sat opposite him in a press conference, it’s difficult to square this brilliant, erudite man with some of the vitriol and abuse he receives from his harshest critics. He isn’t ‘comical Arsene’, he isn’t a joke — he’s an incredible manager and thinker who has clung on too long.
Make no mistake, we’re in a real mess now. When Wenger signed his new contract in 2014, many assumed it would be his last. However, it feels like almost no plans have been to put in place to deal with the eventual succession. The board are paralysed, and players unwilling to commit. As a club, we are sleepwalking towards a nightmare of a summer.
Well, I feel wide awake now. It’s sad but satisfying to have some clarity. Arsenal need a new man to break this cycle of perpetual disappointment. I’m invigorated by the prospect of something different.
So I’ve come out of retirement to say that I hope Arsene Wenger will soon enter his. Or go to another club—genuinely, it would make me really happy to see him succeed elsewhere. I would love to see him complete his CV and win the Champions League. I hoped for a long time he’d do that with Arsenal, but I now recognise that isn’t going to happen.
I still think he’s capable. There are clubs and leagues where Wenger could still be a success, but unfortunately Arsenal and 2017’s Premier League are no longer one.
It’s almost impossible to break down where it all went wrong, but the simplest answer is that it never really went wrong—it went stale. Top level sport is about pressure and accountability, and those things have been uniquely absent at Arsenal. The manager has never been under real threat, and that comfy atmosphere has seeped into the playing squad. There has been pressure from the fans, sure—but never in the history of the club have the fans held less sway. There are tactical issues of course, but the fundamental problem is a lack of ambition and aggression. The owner and the board play a huge part in that too, and I hope some of the anger at Arsene is redirected at the entirely deserving Kroenke & Co.
Earlier this week, Wenger spoke of himself as a ‘masochist’. He’s entitled to his kinks, but as an Arsenal fan I no longer want to subject myself to this. Any algedonic pleasure has long since worn off.
I do love Arsene, but I love Arsenal more. For that relationship to work out, I need something to give. Change the manager, and maybe we can have a fresh start. Start again. Renew our vows. Maybe I’ll even blog here more often.
I’d love Arsenal to be fun again. I’d settle for it being interesting. Give me something different, Arsenal. Give me a reason to believe.

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[Power n Glory]

It's a good piece. Caught it on Arseblog. Sums it all all up. If Wenger's not gone by the end of this season and that's me done with Arsenal. There is nothing left to say.

[Marc Overmars]

When you talk about exactly the same things every year then eventually people will lose interest and that's what we're seeing now. You have to be a real glutton for punishment if you haven't checked out yet.

I don't care where we finish, whether it's in the top 4 or not, above Spurs or not, it's all academic. This club needs a wake up call.

I'll still maintain an interest in the cup because as fans I don't think we should ever turn our noses up at a trophy, but even then you have to think what good will that do, as it might pacify enough fans and give Wenger a window of opportunity to sign his deal.

[Letters]

This is my favourite part:

I feel like I’ve watched 1000 episodes of Friends back to back and now you’re gong to randomly change the channel. Yes, we might land on Made in Chelsea, but at least it’s different. And we might get Planet Earth. We don’t know. Just change the fucking channel. What is elite sport about if not taking risks?

Good article.

[Niall_Quinn]

Read it yesterday.

Gary Neville and his lot will tell us we're spoiled, precious, we never had it so good. Be careful what we wish for.

Easy for them to say because they haven't been suspended one inch from touching distance, frozen in time, finger tips reaching for over a decade. And we're supposed to celebrate never quite making it, it's supposed to be an achievement to fail with such consistency. Even so, the fans sat on their hands, the most docile bunch imaginable. The revolt is finally happening because now we're being pulled back to two inches, three, a foot, a yard. Tease us by dangling the prize but don't take the piss by withdrawing the carrot altogether. After all this time of being patient, trying to understand, taking the reasoning of the board and the manager at face value. Like idiots. And the man we trusted, Arsene Wenger, is not only letting this happen but he seemingly approves. There's the betrayal. There's the source of the vitriol. Not the results. With a willingness to learn and adapt, results can be fixed. But betrayal is permanent and the damage is done and can never be undone. So he has to go. That is settled.

But it's only football, they say. No it's not. It's another thing that has been taken away from us by the banksters and the city suits and their eager to earn henchmen. Something that was ours that we were invested in. Well we're still invested by habit but now we share nothing with the clubs, any small control input has been shut down, nobody is listening to us or can even hear a word we say as we watch the sport we grew up with being bagged up and pinched by a bunch of soulless bean counters who think the, "Hand of God", belongs to the Fed chairman and, "It's up for grabs now!", is the opening bell on the stock exchange. Vicious, nasty, unimaginative, banal, bland, mechanical, deeply unimpressive and uninspiring cunts, despite the price tag on their suits. Their reassuring, public relations smiles are a screaming invitation to punch them in the face, as far as I'm concerned. But from where do we get the opportunity to lay a glove on these bastards? It seems the only solution left is to give them exactly what they want. Concede, hand it all over without a fight. Don't give them the money they crave. Cut our noses in spite as they ignore us and persuade Asians the expensive shirts made by slave labour Asians are a crucial accessory for anyone who wants to be part of the mock fandom that has replaced the real thing.

The OP has identified the real issue. Yes, Wenger has to take the heat right now because he deserves it and because he's a major part of the problem. But it will be a real shame if we think we've achieved anything on the day he leaves. That's just the start of it. For me it's not a case of, "Wanting my Arsenal back." It's much bigger than that. I want my world back. I want to live a life that isn't exclusively defined in monetary terms. I want these horrible vampires that have quantified life and attached a price tag plus mark up to be routed from the face of the earth. The fight for Arsenal is a battle in a much bigger war. The removal of Wenger is an opening shot.

[GP]

When you talk about exactly the same things every year then eventually people will lose interest and that's what we're seeing now. You have to be a real glutton for punishment if you haven't checked out yet.

I don't care where we finish, whether it's in the top 4 or not, above Spurs or not, it's all academic. This club needs a wake up call.

I'll still maintain an interest in the cup because as fans I don't think we should ever turn our noses up at a trophy, but even then you have to think what good will that do, as it might pacify enough fans and give Wenger a window of opportunity to sign his deal.

The fact that you can go back to threads from 5 or 6 years ago and see the exact same thing (though maybe not with the same frequency) tells you all you need to know.
It's time for change. There's no reasonable argument against it left.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I want these horrible vampires that have quantified life and attached a price tag plus mark up to be routed from the face of the earth.

You mean human beings?

[selassie]

Been a long time since I've started a thread. I hope this hasn't been posted elsewhere, but Gunnerblog's entry on 5 May is one of the best, lucid commentaries on where we are both as a club and as fans, that I had to re-post it here. Sums up 100% how I feel - and why it is so difficult to be moved to write about Arsenal these days. Here it is.

Good article IBK, I've missed you posting on here mate!

[Globalgunner]

Why Arsenal has broken us?
Death by a thousand cuts, 10 years on the torture rack. That has certainly done it for me.

[selassie]

When you talk about exactly the same things every year then eventually people will lose interest and that's what we're seeing now. You have to be a real glutton for punishment if you haven't checked out yet.

I don't care where we finish, whether it's in the top 4 or not, above Spurs or not, it's all academic. This club needs a wake up call.

I'll still maintain an interest in the cup because as fans I don't think we should ever turn our noses up at a trophy, but even then you have to think what good will that do, as it might pacify enough fans and give Wenger a window of opportunity to sign his deal.

That's exactly how I feel MO and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I actually don't care about where we finish or who finishes above us, I mean how sad is that? That is me literally saying I don't really care about Arsenal....

But this is what things have come to, the emotion and fun has been taken away due to season upon season of the same thing...I don't get excited anymore about watching the team I have supported for nearly 40 years.