PERSONALITY TEST

Played 23, 10 defeats, 4 draws and 9 victories; that's the factual bit out of the way. What does that tell us? I guess it is a set of statistics that reasonably reflect a mid table team. How we got here is something that countless column inches and hours of debate have gone into. How we move forward is the bigger question. Naturally, learning from past mistakes is a key element to moving forward but have Arsenal Football Club done that? Have Arsenal Football Club realised that a clear vision and plan is needed?

When you look at the current squad its relatively easy to see where the strenghts are, and the weaknesses. The manager too, has strengths and weaknesses but one thing that is intangible is the personality of the club. Not so much "where are we" as "what are we?"

To know what the club is is to know what the upper echelons think, what their plan and philosophy is and how the manager processes  that information.

We can assume that the club decision makers want the Arsenal to be a club that challenges for major honours on a consistent level; so far so cliche. But what else do they want us to be?

Arsenal have a London home a large diverse fan base, tradition, history and a certain mystique and I can't help but think that, while all these things obviously attracted the owner  in the fist place, they are not being utilised effectively. If we do not take advantage of our soul we will not attract the players we need. Not every player is motivated by money, there are those who want to be part of something and for too long it feels that there hasn't really been something at the Emirates to be part of.

There are clubs that have a defined personality, and a trajectory, and those clubs tend to endure; for better or worse. Our personality has become harder to define under Kroenke and the people he entrusted to run the club. 

We don't want to be a revolving door club awash with dirty Post Soviet money, nor do we want to be an all mouth and trousers club. We want to be THE Arsenal, and I would imagine that most reading this know what that means. Not a club with a sense of entitlement like clubs run by middle eastern nation-states but a club that is unique, a club that looks back but also forward.

The 2021/22 season is an opportunity to reestablish The Arsenal and I would hope that we are able to bring in the right staff, both on and off the pitch, to enable that. Staff that get it, staff that understand and are made to feel part of something.

I suppose the one thing that remains an open question is if the manager is the right man for the job. Longer term, I for one honestly don't know.