If Arsene Wenger’s career was a kung fu movie, we would be in the part where the search is on for the villain who poisoned Arsene’s rice. Taking cues from the charismatic Frenchman, all eyes would be on the usual suspects, the media, referees, disloyal players, Roy Keane, Sam Allardyce, and the most obvious targets, those pin-stripe-suited figures throwing around Scrooge McDuck money for fun. But this film’s twist is that Arsene may have stubbornly poisoned his own rice.
Without question, Arsene Wenger’s footballing philosophy is the stuff of legends, the kind of stuff that inevitably leads to statues and shops with corny names. It is a presence in football that can’t quite be contextualized and fully appreciated until you run down a laundry list of coaches and realize how few have recognizable philosophies capable of lining up with the world’s great –isms, communism, socialism, capitalism, Barcelonaism. But as with all great –isms, there’s a downside, and Wengerism is no exception to this time-tested rule. As a great man who I may have made up once said, “Shifting landscapes wait for no philosophy.”
Back in 1996, Wengerism took the world by surprise, and by world, of course, I mean England. Arsene was a career coach with multiple successes under his belt, but his body of work didn’t quite resonate on a global scale until he replicated his successes at Arsenal, transforming the club and English football along the way. His philosophy was built by tapping into a continental pool of players that had yet to be realized or trusted by his peers in England. Add the Japanese-inspired modifications to the traditional, English training regimen and some good old-fashioned outside-the-box thinking and the insightful Arsene was well on his way to transforming an English league that, in many ways, was in desperate need of modernization.
Wengerism quickly became easily identifiable. Movement, pace, obscene technical ability, disregard for passports, and a dedication to healthy living collectively became Arsene’s ayahuasca (an Amazonian psychedelic drug thought to transform how you view the world). Over his first few years, England stood transfixed as if in a drug-induced state. The world inhaled. And then inhaled again. I certainly did. Multiple times.
Few could outrun Wenger’s newest disciples, an amalgamation of good old-fashioned Englishmen, seemingly random foreigners, and a superhero Dutchman who was scared of flying. The trophies were immediate and people soon began lining up around the corner to devour the teachings on tap at Highbury. Suddenly, a Frenchman was the philosopher-king of English football. He was “The Professor,” the robed, noble Frenchman sitting on the side of the pitch with his Coke bottle glasses telling the world that the era of English football as we knew it was over. Fini.
Mesmerized, slightly disoriented fans and media types weren’t the only ones to succumb to Wengerism. Arsene, susceptible to the trappings of success just like previous purveyors of transformative thought, also bought into Wengerism. And that’s where the trouble begins. No philosophy, not even the most transformative, should go unchallenged forever.
Looking at the human record, there are countless examples of what happens when individuals develop philosophies that successfully end up radically transforming thought and/or behavior. Often, these typically charismatic figures peak, which is then followed by a slow procession into a delusional state characterized by a fierce bond to the glory days and a perpetual belief that a formula that was once all the rage will be so again. It’s just a matter of time, isn’t it? That’s the worrying and poisonous component of success. Sure, it’s not an absolute; it doesn’t cripple everyone. But Arsene’s steadfast reliance on a philosophy that initially brought success just might be the very poison that leads to his demise. Said another way, Arsene may have unknowingly betrayed himself.
Arsene transformed football by keeping his mind open to new approaches and angles. He absorbed what leagues and cultures had to offer and hit the English scene at the right time, with the right recipe. But since then, one way to view Arsene’s stance is that he has stood still, staunch in his belief that his philosophy is the end. The irony is that this highly cerebral being may have reached a point of success only to discard the one thing that brought him success: an open mind.
All philosophies must evolve, and like all hardened souls who have doubled down on their philosophies as gospel after initial successes learn, being right and successful at a specific point in time doesn’t make you right for eternity, or right under all conditions. The Arsenal philosophy worked with a certain set of players at a certain point in time in a certain market, almost to perfection. But unfortunately for Arsenal, we no longer live in that world. Arsene no longer has the jump on foreign markets. No longer are there remote corners of the globe. Globalization has arrived and what was once Wenger’s Coca Cola formula is now public knowledge. Now, the race for continental talent, the talent necessary to execute football “The Arsenal Way™,” can be purchased by anyone with access to mines, oil, or vast resources of chicken. No longer is Arsene’s spell, alone, enough to draw players who can now express themselves at much higher salaries elsewhere. Yet, for some reason, we still reflexively talk about sexy football at Arsenal. Why? If we are being honest, sexy football hasn’t been around for some time. All you need to do is look at the style that was on display at Highbury a decade ago (which admittedly is a high standard for any team) to see how the latest versions of the team are much closer to Inconvincible than Invincible. Check your bowl, Arsene may have poisoned your rice, too.
We’re all wondering how this movie ends. Does Arsene take his own life by continuing to eat his poisoned rice, or is there another twist, a twist where the director reveals that Arsene has actually mastered skills taught at competing monasteries and defeats Manchester City in the final fight scene using Qatar-style?
At first glance, changing Arsene may be as difficult a task as convincing Chairman Mao to accept capitalism, or convincing Richard Dawkins to accept Jesus as his savior. But regardless of what he decides, the landscape around him will continue to change. That is inevitable. It is also likely we will inevitably learn that training young players to compete The Arsenal Way™, only to break through and find out that other teams have already explored the world and brought in experienced players already capable of playing The Arsenal Way™ while selling farm-raised Arsenal Way™ players to these same clubs is a suspect formula, and one that looks to be unsustainable.
Arsene has a strong, commendable philosophy, but if he wants to continue being a savior and avoid end-of-career buffoonery and caricature, he must learn to proactively introduce experienced, serious talent into his team, or risk losing the reputation that he has spent his life rightfully developing. I wish it didn’t work that way. It isn’t fair. But it is 2011, and today, reputations are easier than ever to build. They are also notoriously easy to dismantle, bastardize and destroy.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom. If you are wearing your prescription, rose-tinted glasses, the potentially good news is that Arsene already knows all of this. It has now come out that back when Arsenal was in desperate need for a goalkeeper, they bid £20 million for Liverpool’s Pepe Reina. They seemingly made bids for Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Götze, Lyon playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, Rennes holding midfielder Yann M’Vila, and maybe even Lille hotshot Eden Hazard. Each of these bids, and these are only some of the ones that have surfaced, would have broken Arsenal’s record transfer fee. These bids suggest one important thing: Arsene knows and he’s now willing to spend well beyond what he has spent in the past. Whether he’s willing to spend enough is another question. So the potentially good news for Arsenal fans is that Arsene’s poisoned rice may not kill him, but rather, might have strengthened his immunity and expanded his powers. He may just be waiting for the right moment in the movie to maintain the appropriate level of suspense. If this is the case, this kung fu movie may have one last hilarious, unexpected turn.
In the meantime, keep your eye on your rice.
Miriti Murungi can also be found at Nutmeg Radio, and @NutmegRadio.
Read More: Arsenal, Arsène Wenger
by Miriti Murungi · October 28, 2011
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Loved this. After having read so many “Arsene doesn’t get it” articles over the past few months, this was one that actually took the longview. Fabulous.
Excellent post, good writing is always appreciated
Nice. Let me tell you what I liked about this. It’s not that Wenger transformed football while at times being his own worst enemy, I think we all know that. What I liked was that this piece was insightful and thoughtful without the really by now abused ROP template of going on for three or more paragraphs about Maori woodcarving or Semiotic quantum analysis and then getting to the football by some tangential and belabored reconciliation between boot colors and one of the aforementioned non sequitors. The opening here is quick, playful and then moves on to what we are really here to read about: football. Well played by keeping the metaphor spread thoroughout instead of front loaded and awkwardly reinserted as has become the norm for pieces here recently. Football can be talked about in its own right intelligently. One does not have to talk about something else that passes for an intelligent topic and then try to make football an intelligent topic via proxy.
fantastic write-up.. take a bow son!!! absolutely brilliant.. you just got yourself an avid reader…
Fantastic read…big, big ups!
Miriti, I take it you’re from the slopes of Mt Kenya, That was a brilliant article. Wow, had to re-read it again.
Will promote this at home
Appreciate the kind words.
@edu – Asante. You take it right. I’m thousands of miles removed, and you could never tell if you heard me speak, but of course, that’s where the roots are from! I love how you can track me to a slope by my name. Bring everyone from home to RoP!
@whatever Thank you for sharing this. We will we try to adopt your preferred template for all our future articles, because our mission with the site is, and always has been, to please you specifically.
@Brian Phillips – First, this particular article is a really good one. As an Arsenal fan, I think the author really makes a fine critique of Wenger, and I hope he is right that Arsene is learning.
With that said “whatever” has a point, even if he did not need to be so snarky to make it. Part of the charm of this site is that authors really shoot for something unique. Here, I think Miriti really nailed it. Some of the articles do not always work. That is part of the charm of the site. In that spirit, I think your response to “whatever” is also a little on the snarky side.
Enough said. Keep up the good work.
@Tim in Portland I’m not trying to be snarky, but
I mean.
One of my favorites in quite some time. Thanks!
As an Arsenal fan trying to justify my hunger for a trophy and a love/hate relationship with Wenger this article is like my favorite bowl of fluffy white rice boiled in chicken broth, one that I shall come back to again and again.
Brilliant!
Great article. I always feel that critics of Wenger’s approach never answer the obvious question – what is a viable alternative? When City, Chelsea, and United can (and do) trump any offer that you make for top class talent, what are you supposed to do? Arsenal lost Nasri b/c City could triple his wages, they lost out on Mata b/c Chelsea could offer a much higher bid, and they will most likely lose out on Hazard for the same reasons. Liverpool tried one alternative approach, which was to spend really big on one first rate signing (Torres) and hope he works out. I guess Arsenal could go this route too, but it hasn’t exactly filled the Anfield shelves with trophies.
Really cool piece, Miriti. Enjoyed it greatly.
I just want to know what’s on Arsene Wengers iPod. Anyone?
Excellent article, really enjoyed it. As Mike said, it’s more than just ‘Arsene doesn’t get it’, it’s more sympathetic than most Wenger articles tend to be these days, and, as Miriti wrote, it isn’t fair that reputations count for so little.
The English comedian Frank Skinner once told a story about how he saw Wenger sitting in a hotel lobby, and asked the receptionist for a plate, a knife, and two apples. He then proceeded to eat the apples slice by slice. The manner in which he ate the apples was suitably stylish for such a man, but Skinner found it unusual that he would want two apples at once. Nobody ever feels like having *two* apples, surely?
I’ve always remembered that story, not because I find it amusing (Seth Rogen is to star in a big-screen adaptation of this anecdote, I believe), but I think there’s something in it that captures the essence of the man: calculated, sophisticated, but somehow perhaps just a little superfluous. And full of pips.
@Ruud Gullit Sitting On A Shed Or he likes apples. Amusing as the anecdote is, your analysis of said anecdote, heck everyone’s analysis of Wenger (Miriti’s well written piece included) probably reveals more about you/them than it does about Wenger.
@Brian Phillips – I agree, free is a very good price.
Yours in soccer,
Tim in Portland
A truelly awesome article, as an Arsenal fan it’s really great to see a write up that has a refreshing definition about it and not just jumping on the same old bandwagon… Great stuff.
Amazing article …. specially “The Arsene’s ayahuasca” !!! 😀
I enjoyed this. One thing that gripes, though, if only a little, is this: it’s a piece about a philosophy that isn’t actually explained. By philosophy, do we mean his meagre spending, his championing of youth or the way his teams set out to play?
For me, it’s the latter — but it’s still a relatively recent thing. In the past, Wenger actually played the English way: out-and-out wingers (Overmars, Ljungberg etc.), bullish defenders (Adams, Dixon & co.), classic centre-forwards like Ian Wright; hell, he even bought in Franny Jeffers — for an exorbitant fee, I should add — to be his Jimmy Greaves-esque ‘fox in the box’.
Over time, he has created a philosophy I suppose, but I’d argue that it hasn’t actually changed English football, and that it has evolved rather than been there from the off. Today, I think it can be summarised as such: a supple front five of adroit, technically gifted footballers, all of whom prioritise craft and intelligence over speed and range, should win football matches for fun. They play to feet, relish possession, are happy in confined spaces and think less about their own movement and more about the movement of others.
Does that sound like any other team in England, let alone the national side? The only way Wengerism has changed English football, I think, is that it made Manchester United greater still — Arsene was the kick up the arse Fergie needed. Perhaps he ushered in an era of ludicrously underaged signings, but that was coming anyway.
I don’t know what my point is here, besides that I only wish English football HAD been influenced more heavily by Wengerism. Then we might actually have a chance of winning something of note rather than crash out, true to half a century of form, with no sense of footballing identity whatsoever.
@whatever : Well said man!
@Ruud Gullit Sitting On A Shed Nice!
@OP FRANNY JEFFERS! Hrmph, if anything, he was worth the money simply for the fact that we can reference him so frequently.
“By philosophy, do we mean his meagre spending, his championing of youth or the way his teams set out to play?”
I see those two as related, not as an either-or. I feel the constants with AW have been his dedication to speed (off the ball and moving the ball), technique, keeping the ball on the floor, and when looking for players, he looks under the rug. At one point that rug was France, then it became 13 year olds, but there is a meagreness attached to both approaches. He’s always tried to find value for money.
And to your point re: AW simply as a catalyst for Sir Alex, maybe you’re right! That’s an interesting way to think about it, but I still think AW posed so many new questions re: diet and approach to play that really made a lot of people take a step back and question life. I’m not so sure, even with all the trophies, Sir has ever made people question life. I need to think about that more!
Fantastic piece…. And one written with a different tempo to the what is generally on Run of Play. And no – I am not criticising how generally the articles of Run of Play are – they are a lot like Xavi and I love them, this one had the pace and power of a Thierry Henry :). Good stuff, hope to see more of Miriti here. Cheers.
Wonderfully put. It is not fair to rip apart Arsene as if he were a mere flash in the pan. Arsenal’s lack of recent success is a far more complex plot that that (One that would possibly overshadow the most well-scripted Kung Fu movies). This article finally does justice to what Arsene has achieved in the past but yet scrutinizes his philosophy in the present scenario. Looking forward to more such reads.
In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on my rice.
Well, at the end of the day, it’s not ultimately Arsene’s decision how much he can spend is it? Economic reality dictates that until Arsenal is bought out by a crazed oilman, they will never be able to secure the services of a player that Man City, Chelsea and the like are really interested in.
Nice article. While I think Wegner does understand he may need to change, he should always continue to locate great young players at the beginning of their career. He just needs to be happier about ripping off the bigger teams when he unloads them. While no team at Arsenal’s level wants to be a selling club, it is an easy way to raise the funds to buy players you need when there are three or four teams in your own country that throw money around like idiots.
Arsene Wenger has had incredible success as a manager, even before coming to Arsenal. However, his time at Arsenal (especially in the realm of Thierry Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, etc) was a time that was magical for him and put him on iconic/legend status. Going an undefeated season is absolutely incredible and may never be done again! Well done Arsene! I mean, for goodness sakes, his name is almost the same as the club!
Excellent read, loved the kung fu analogy. The problem for Wenger is that Arsenal simply cant offer the wages handed out by the richer clubs. Its a shame that football is in such a corporate commercialised state.
I’ve just stumbled on this site and stuck it into my bookmarks. I have to be honest though, as well written as this piece is, as somebody else has pointed out, i’m not too sure what Wenger’s philosophy is, or how he revolutionised football (i’m not saying that you should have told me this btw, i just never understood what it is or where the notion came from).
The problem for Arsenal as i see it is that they cannot replace Wenger and expect the results to improve without significant expenditure (the competition is way out in the distance in this respect) AND a really world class manager to go alongside it. This won’t happen. I don’t believe however that Wenger has what it takes to topple the teams ahead of him with the power of City and Chelsea to compete against.
On the question of Wenger’s philosophy, i’ve just never understood what it is. His success started when he inhertited Arsenal’s greatest ever back four and goalkeeper (not individually, but as a unit) along with one of football’s greats of the last two decades in Bergkamp. He went out and signed Overmars (a great player, though he was a big money signing and one that United tried to get but i’m sure i recall turned away when he asked for a “clothing allowance”), Vieira (another great player who was not, as people seem to think “unknown”, but in fact an understudy to Milan’s brilliant midfield), Petit (2.5 Million signing who had 222 appearances for Monaco) and others, but his success came from big money signings and the great back 5 he inherited.
I’m not discrediting the acheivement or the brilliance of this Arsenal side, but it wasn’t anything like the modern idea that he just plucks nobodies from nowhere for nothing and has them playing like Barcelona. Similarly, his second great side “The Invincibles” was again based around big money investment.
I find it a little bewildering that we declare a man a genius for finding “unknown” foreign talent when he joins a foreign club when nearly always the first thing a manager does when he moves overseas is buy players from the market he knows best. It’s probably also worth mentioning that foreign players were hardly the rarity that you say they were, and that the main reason for the sudden influx in the late 90’s was down to the sudden emergence of the Premier League as a global force financially. At United for example, although the early 90’s saw players like Kanchelskis and Schmeichel (real world talents plucked from obscurity), they were not in a position to go out and sign top European players when the top players were earning a few thousand in England and yet Italian clubs were paying £13 million for players like Lentini (don’t forget, United were nearly bought for not much more than that only a few years earlier, and it was a long time before an English club broke the £13 million transfer mark). The foreigner rule both slowed down the influx before setting it loose again once it was abolished.
What Wenger needs to do now is identify talent that allows him to do something more than flood the midfield with skillful, attacking midfield players that prefer to play centrally, and find balance in the way that other clubs manage. I’ve always thought his more recent sides had no tactical flexibility and played a certain way, and that if you played a certain way in return that they wouldn’t be able to adapt. Tactical improvements are crucial to Wenger’s future success, and particularly identifying more dynamic players in certain positions to make for a more adaptable team/squad. His record in buying top class defenders and goal keepers is also highly questionable.
I look at Wenger as one of the world’s best managers, and i put him behind only Ferguson on the list of Premier League greats, but saying that, i don’t want to hear anymore nonsense about his brilliance at identifying the talent of players like Henry (an £11 million player signed from one of the world’s top clubs, and universally regarded as one of the world’s top young players – a superb buy, but not exactly plucked from obscurity) or Fabregas (no club in the world didn’t know about Fabregas, though again, it was another superb buy), or the legitimate obscure buys he now makes that consistently provide him with season after season of relative failure. Even as a United fan, i’d love to see him overtake the two big financial powerhouses of City and Chelsea, but i fear a future for both clubs where their aspirations are capped in the way teams like Everton’s currently are because of the huge gulf in power.
The only real question i and most people have about Wenger is why does he have a negative spend for the last 5 or 6 years? Is it enforced by the pressures of the stadium cost, or is it because he won’t spend the money? (One final note – why are there so many articles about how well Wenger has operated in the transfer market to achieve the trophyless period he has had, and yet there are none about Ferguson’s achievement in the transfer market since the Glazer takeover which has seen United’s net spend drop below Villa, Sunderland, and Stoke, and only marginally higher than Fulham, Bolton, and Wolves, and yet win several titles, a European Cup, and 3 finals?)
clap, clap, clap 😉
claptrap.
wenger has a nice philosophy but must change it to protect his legend? really? if this was the case of Wenger, i would be terribly disappointed. that a hack thinks this way bothers me less because principles are necessarily for everyone. for some they are useless appendages that get in the way.
the summer spending spree was a must because of the high turnover the club had among players leaving, on loan and at end of contracts and players like Clichy…and on top of the high, high turnover, the team lost its top offensive star and captain, the 2nd offensive star of the team and the captain of the future who was lost to injury (Wilshere). Mvilla, Juan Mata, Hazard, Marvin Martin and Gotze were names that were worthy of replacing the 2 creative midfielders and Wilshere.
You can replace a nasri eventually, and maybe even a Cesc, eventually and even a Wilshere but replacing all three at teh SAME TIME?
That is exceptional for ANY team.
So it is perfectly normal for Arsenal to have bought players to replace maybe 1 or 2 of the 3 mentioned.
Once those key onfield leadership roles are filled, Arsenal will continue buying young players like Ox and Jenkinson and foreign players that fly under the radar like Gervinho and Vermalaen that dont make the big money. You know, like Newcastle is doing.
The chance that the team will lose their top 3 creative players at the same time again seem pretty slim so I dont expect this pattern to be repeated.
But ‘give up your philosophy’ to save your legacy by paying absurd sums and high pay packets to star players seems just sad. Spending money is not a miracle solution, Caroll and Henderson are proof. Spending money to accelerate the process that might be stalled a bit by the loss of three key components is not the same as changing your philosophy and bidding for the Snejder’s and Tevez of the world.
Arteta has done better than expected and I dont think the team is desperate to get this done in January.
However, Gourcuff has to leave Marseille and Deschamps who had to take him back out of desperation last week and he wants to go to Arsenal so it could actually work out quite well (they have to buy Marvin the Martian who was the leadgin assist guy in Ligue1, the french Xavi. he is a pass happy creator, a steve nash of football who is the exact type and salary that Wenger goes for.)
The legend of Arsene is intact. No matter what happens.
And im pretty sure the man himself probably cares very little about it.
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I didn’t like this article.
As someone has already mentioned before – the “philosophy” isn’t explained.
And thus the article isn’t saying anything new or original at all. The idea that Wenger is a stubborn old fool lost in his past glories has been around forever now, propagated by journalists who are too lazy to figure out what Wenger’s philosophy is.
But I also disagree with the premise of the article. It is not that Wenger has stood still and clung to his philosophy while the world moved around him. The philosophy, in general, is correct.
The problem for Arsenal has been that the advantages that Arsene Wenger gained early on have all been lost. The other teams have caught up. That is not a fault in Arsene Wenger or his philosophy. That is just a fact of life – your competitors will catch up.
If I would describe his philosophy, it would be “play attacking football, focus on technique rather than physical qualities, focus on developing your own players using your own money, and use football as a force of good in the world.”
The fact is that the philosophy still works. Some clubs have found ways around it – namely Chelsea and Man City – and they have been able to buy off players that either Arsene wanted to buy or already had in his squad.
You seemed to suggest that Wenger should spend more. Well, you can never outspend those two clubs – and they have been the main barrier between Arsenal and success.
Clubs still find it difficult to implement most of his philosophy, however. The distrust of foreigners is gone, yes. The teams in England are slightly more focused on technique.
But the clubs still don’t manipulate the transfer market as well as Wenger.
His philosophy is not “don’t spend” but rather “spend wisely.” Spend on young players, on potential, and mold them into great players at your club.
Clubs still tend to waste millions on mediocre, overrated players.
And Arsene Wenger’s ability to spend wisely has allowed him to stay competitive despite the financial clout of the Manchester clubs and Chelsea. Along with Barcelona and Real Mad who have also been spending increasingly obscene amounts.
So has Wenger really stood still? No, not at all.
His last few years have been barren but he has been perfecting his philosophy.
If he really had become stubborn, set in his ways, he would not have wanted to move out of Highbury. He would not have wanted to create a new team that would play on a bigger pitch with a more technical style.
After 2005, Wenger created a team that was far better in Europe. He didn’t try to replicate the personnel of the Invincibles, he tried to create a different but better team. A team that could not only win in England but defeat the best teams in the world in Europe.
The win against Barcelona at the Emirates showed how far Arsenal had come, despite not having won anything.
In the past 6 years, it has been a different type of progress.
To me Wenger has always remained open minded, and he has always looked forward.
The very fact that you are looking for reasons to explain his failure is wrong. Because he hasn’t really failed.
I think he has done quite well considering he was always outspent and always lost his best players at crucial times.
Perhaps he has been too idealistic at times. Maybe thinking Flamini, Nasri, Fabregas would have stayed together and won something. Perhaps he was wrong to expect such loyalty from his players.
But that is really the only thing you can blame him for.
The reason Arsenal have not won anything in the past 6 years has more to do with economics than philosophy.
And if the Financial Fair Play rules (or something similar) comes into play, then we’d be once again saying forward thinking and innovative that genius Arsene Wenger is.
@OP
Brilliantly said! I don’t see his philosophy changing or manifesting itself in the English game. I don’t think Arsene’s responsible for the excessive bids for unproven talent though. I’d attribute that to Chelski and the original Gallactico’s. If more English teams adopted Wenger’s philosphy perhaps you’d see a more balanced PL. However, that said, the PL is probably the most balanced league in Europe. Nice work!
I like rice
Best piece of Arsenal writing ever!! You sum it up perfectly. Got yourself another reader.
Great article! I’m french and big fan of the Man. Arsene Wenger simply rocks even if many people don’t get it!
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A Clever campaign for Arsene to jump into the bandwagon of those who want to get medals by all means even if it means buying a 50 cent player for £50M. My worry is that this campaign train is capable of driving the EPL to abyss. It is the same thinking that props up the idea of teams saddling themselves with a pack of ego capsules feeding fat on naïve investors . How can the game develop when the rule is when u have a bad player u keep and when u nuture a good one u must sell to the sharks
Fast-forward 3 yrs and Ozil has been bought for a record fee but Arsene still adamant and woes upon woes befall Arsenal(azznal i mean)