SURSTRÖMMING AT THE EMIRATES

 

And lo, there was a weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in North London as the stark reality of how far the Arsenal have fallen from the once giddy heights, finally registered with the optimists and pessimists alike.

I say 'giddy heights', what I mean is the year in year out European qualification, the FA Cup Wins, The European Finals and Semi Finals, the victories over Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea, yes the overachievement of recent years. That's right, over achievement.

I'm not talking about the title challenges, Championships and imperious unbeaten season because that's all pre-Emirates.

The point at which we find ourselves is directly related to our abandoning of one of the great football stadiums in world football for purely fiscal reasons, or should I say greed?

We were told that the intention was to make the Arsenal more competitive by increasing revenue and thus being able to recruit effectively giving us the personnel with which to compete with the oligarch and nation state clubs. And we believed it. We were pitched snake oil and by jingo, we fell for it.

An organisation lives and dies by it's recruitment, recruitment of the right people to do the job, for which they are paid, effectively. Staff retention is also a cornerstone of successful business but when that retention is repeatedly of staff not fit for purpose the smell of rotting fish begins to waft. 

I'm talking about recruitment at all levels. Ineffective decision makers, ineffective management ineffective playing staff all of whom are given questionable financial renumeration.

Which brings me back to overachievement. It's fair to say that the club's recruitment has been shambolic at best and financially questionable at worse and within this context what we have managed to do since 2006 is remarkable. And before, dear reader, you reach for the 'acceptance of mediocrity' stick, consider what we as a club, that has been consistently mismanaged and neglected, have managed to do while the very foundations of our great football club have been chiselled away is frankly, unbelievable.

That we haven't gone into a complete nosedive,  haemorrhaged fans, had the tax man nosing around, been subject to a due diligence investigation, had a mass exodus of youth players, or become a club without a trophy of any kind like that mob up the road is nothing short of a miracle. That this season is the first in a quarter of a century that we have not had European football is also remarkable given the neglectful and shambolic leadership.

Naturally we all want more, we want the club to perform, at all levels, to a standard commensurate with the vast amount of money that the fans put into the club. We want to see decision making that stands up to scrutiny. We want to see logic and rationale behind recruitment and not have to worry about who is greasing who's palm when it comes to new players.

I am astounded that the fan base weren't  up in arms about the purchases of Cedric Soares and Willian and the nature of the contracts given. I'm surprised that there wasn't  a furore about the Martinez situation. I'm amazed that there wasn't a mass protest about the way in which the manager handled last season's Europa League Semi Final. From top to bottom the decision makers at Arsenal Football Club seem incapable of making decisions that are in the interests of the club.

Which brings me to where we now find ourselves. A mid table team who are a long way away from being contenders in the league. It happens, it has happened to plenty of clubs. Some have regained their status some haven't, but  the reasons for our current plight  (if you discount corruption) seem perverse to just chalk down to  incompetence.

The move to the Emirates was indeed an engine of change, but what we didn't realise at the time, because let's face it, there is a level of trust between fan and club, was that the engine of change was solely about reaping the rewards of a captive audience in the biggest club in the greatest city in the world. The income has not been reinvested in any meaningful way on the pitch, it's been placed in the hands of those with scant regard for the Arsenal. 

What can be done? I have absolutely no idea. A change of manager I believe is inevitable as Arteta's inexperience is being exposed, but can a new manager make any meaningful, longer term changes in a dysfunctional organisation? What manager of renown would want to come to the Arsenal under the current regime?

A fish rots from the head, is an old saying, and this aquatic analogy is a fitting one for the club. The Ownership would have us believe that we are being served Surströmming, but it's not the Baltic delicacy we are being fed it's a cartoon cat's supper.

The one positive that I can glean is that the Arsenal have a long history of victory in adversity and maybe there is a scattering of people at the club that are still in it for the greater good. Maybe those are the people that may eventually expose the murkiness, maybe our fan base will finally say "enough is enough" and instigate a bit of fan power. Maybe.

In closing I feel that the owner doesn't care about anything other than money. We are stuck with him and his rotten employees, we are stuck with stupidity we are stuck with, neglect and continued stagnation. The only thing that will make any difference is if Kroenke's income is effected negatively and at the moment that seems a pipe dream as the club still makes enough money to bolster the bank balance of the charlatans feasting on the heart and soul of a  great British institution.