How did Arsenal fall so far and what can they do to rebuild?
Arsenal fans show their support during Arsenal FC open training ahead of the match between Arsenal and Singapore during the 2015 Barclays Asia Trophy Tournament at the Sports Hub National Stadium on July 14, 2015 in Singapore. (July 13, 2015 - Source: Stanley Chou/Getty Images AsiaPac)
8-2
Chew gum, check. Glasses, check. Dark and heavy coat keeping the cold on lock and hiding the prestigious red tie, check! You know the rest. With Fergie on the touchline, his red troopers were fashionably running riot. They were subduing the other red, making a show of what used to be a formidable opponent. Nani, Rooney, Ashely Young, and even the soon to become a Gooner in Danny Welbeck had all gotten in on the act, embarrassing his future employers. I bet it felt like a Germany blitzkrieg for the visitors as Manchester United finished 8-2 winners on the day. That is 59 years after Arsenal had done the same to the Red Devils.
It all just started as another Premier League weekend, in need of a scoreline and 3 points up for grabs but the 8-2 loss to Manchester United wasn’t just a stain on a season record; but a scar forever etched in the hearts of the entire Arsenal community, both present, and future. It still remains until this very day.
But that’s not where it all started, all hell had broken loose a little earlier than that.
49-0
It actually didn’t start here either, but why not revisit some of the greatest footballing stories ever written. Before they were “the Inevitables”, Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal were once upon a time, “the Invincibles.” During the 2003/04 Premier League season, the Gunners finished an entire 38-games season unbeaten to clinch the coveted English title, even extending that record to 49 games until, as luck would have it, Manchester United ended that run in 2004. It was the perfect story, a young foreign manager in Arsene had been unpopularly handed the reins in 1996 at one of the most prestigious clubs in the country.
Ringing some changes around the whole managerial landscape that included diet, he took his time to really come through but eventually assembled an incredible force that literally no one could stop. Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Lauren, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg only to mention but a few were just a few of his headliners in an all-star line-up that tore up defences for fun. In a space of 9 years, the Frenchman amassed a total of 7 titles. Rain typically follows a drought, but not quite in the Arsenal world, they had it backwards. Here is where things started going south.
The cost of ambition
Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie celebrate after Arsenal won 7-1 during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Blackburn Rovers at Emirates Stadium on February 4, 2012 in London, England.
(Feb. 3, 2012 - Source: Paul Gilham/Getty Images Europe)
A dream that does not cost you, is seldom worth pursuing. Even that bit is also true for Arsenal. As more trophies clang in and ticket sales made the till ring, Arsenal’s famous hunting ground became smaller. The leadership, board, players and even fans perhaps felt it too. They were now envisioning the conquest of Europe and more world-wide influence. Replacing Highbury with a shiner and bigger Emirates seemed the right accessory to the vision. It was obviously going to cost money, but that was not all.
a. The great exodus
Without going so much into the construction project itself, the bottom line is that it demanded so much that Arsene Wenger’s player grooming skills came in handy. As the former Gunners manager once recalled, they had to sell their best players to make it work.
“People do not take a step back to look at what has happened.
"For me, the environment changed between 2006 and 2015, because we were under financial restrictions (the construction of the Emirates), at a time when a lot of money was injected into English football.
“We had less money, we had to sell our best players, whilst other teams were strengthening… sometimes with our players. But the expectations were exactly the same.
"To be completely honest, I have never worked more than during this period, between 2006 and 2015. I had signed a five-year contract because the banks required it whilst we were building a new stadium.
“We had absolutely no guarantees and I went to the end of my contract because I wanted to respect this challenge. But it was difficult. I am proud of what I have done.” – Arsene Wenger
Samir Nasri of Arsenal (L) is congratulated by manager Arsene Wenger as he scores their second goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on November 8, 2008 in London, England.
(Nov. 8, 2008 - Source: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Europe)
It would have been easier if it was a typical business transaction of exchanging money for a product or service. Core players left the club for other pastures, not just any pastures but that of their bitter rivals. It was subtracting themselves and adding to a foe, or even better, selling their soul.
During this period, legendary club captains such as Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie left for Barcelona and Manchester United. The young boy who had grown to become a man and a legend at the club in Cesc Fabregas also followed Henry to the Spanish giants. In a dagger to the heart move, Togolese international in Emmanuel Adebayor switched allegiances to cross-town rivals Tottenham and even came back once to humiliate them by the most savage goal celebration of the decade. All of Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Bakary Sagna joined the blue-half of Manchester. Time will not permit us to mention the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain who departed the club for almost nothing to already strong rivals, amongst many others.
Some of these players’ contracts were left to run out and the sanctioning of their sales to rivals did little in showing the club hierarchy understood and respected the culture of the club.
b. Lots of misses and few hits
(L-R) Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal pose with the trophy after the FA Community Shield match between Manchester City and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2014 in London, England.
(Aug. 9, 2014 - Source: Clive Mason/Getty Images Europe)
To make matters worse, even when the Emirates Stadium was finally furnished, the club made some questionable acquisitions of new players. Ones which never really popped but became mere shadows of legends who had left. We are talking of the likes of Olivier Giroud who eventually reached a century of goals for the club, but his shortcomings made fans miss captain van Persie even more. Yaya Sanogo, Takuma Asano, Kim Kallstrom, Mohamed Elneny, Emmanuel Frimpong, Nicklas Bendtner, Lucas Perez are some of the names either bought in or came through the academy that never really made an impact but rather became scapegoats and constant reminders of the despicable state of the club. One of the brighter lights of that generation became Santi Cazorla, the little magician who danced through opponents and dazzled fans, not forgetting Hector Bellerin who stormed out of Hale End Academy into the first team. The latter remains an integral part of the fabric of the club to this day.
c. The ugly sisters
As the Gunners were trying to sort out their bedroom issues from around 2006-15, their rivals in the Premier League were not folding their hands. Chelsea through billionaire Roman Abramovich had begun reaching deeper into their pockets, bringing world-class managers such as Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez to the club. They were also signing world-class players such as Fernando Torres and Drogba for hefty fees, all resulting in trophies. The law of replacement was in effect. The same applied for Manchester United who were still stable under Sir Alex Fergusson at least until 2013, Manchester City, Tottenham, and Liverpool who emerged as some of the big winners of the decade.
Just to put things into perspective, the mighty Gunners who had registered at least a 4th place finish and secured Champions League football for 19 consecutive seasons between 1998/99 to 2016/17, finished the decade having not achieved the same feat in the last 2 seasons of the 2010s.
d. The fighting parents
Stan Kroenke, Arsenal shareholder (R) and Chips Keswick, Arsenal chairman (L) are seen in the stands during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Burnley at Emirates Stadium on May 6, 2018 in London, England.
(May 5, 2018 - Source: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images Europe)
Perhaps the sticking point to all their struggles could be argued as the lack of a steady vision from the club hierarchy which failed to steer the club off mediocrity. Some of the images that come to mind remind us of the non-alignment of two majority shareholders in Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov. The latter was believed to be more ambitious and endowed with loose pockets. Usmanov wanted to buy out Kroenke but eventually sold his stock to the former after several attempts, further charging the environment surrounding the Emirates.
e. Glass half-full or half-empty
By the book, most of Arsenal’s troubles were supposed to disappear after the construction of the shiny stadium that costed much more than money. Well, not quite. As Arsene Wenger once lamented in one of his reflections after leaving the club, “they had built a new stadium but left their soul at the old one.”
Performances oscillated over the years as the Frenchman tried to initiate a major rebuilt. During that period from the late 2000s, going into the 2010s, Arsenal endured a drought of 9 years without major silverware. That brand new shiny stadium almost seemed like an imposing figure of a curse until when they won the English FA Cup in the 2013/14 season, and then two more times after that.
“However, in a late twist of fortunes, Emery’s Red Army capitulated towards the end of the 2018/19 season. They secured just 4 points out of a possible 15 in their last 5 games and lost an elusive top 4 spot that was literally theirs to lose.”
A new genesis
As things charged up around the Emirates, an explosion was obviously inevitable. Stagnation became the general feeling amongst most of the Arsenal faithful. The fans had grown fairly used to more prestigious titles and codenames such as “the Invincibles,” chasing top 4 finishes and cowing under the whip of the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United with humungous scorelines such as 5-1, 6-2, 6-1 and 8-2 could not just cut it. The big dog had shelved off a few titles and pounds of pride to become the underdog. Change was inevitable.
With 21-years of service under his belt and having overseen it all, to many, the leadership of Arsene Wenger and Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis had become the symbol of failure. The two eventually left the club after initiating some changes that would form the bedrock of a hopeful future.
A fan bows to Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal after running onto the pitch the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and AFC Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium on October 06, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.
(Oct. 5, 2019 - Source: Getty Images Europe)
22-0
After going through a series of candidates with a commanding fear of repeating Manchester United’s failures in replacing a long-serving manager swirling their minds, Gazidis and the Arsenal board eventually settled on Unai Emery after months of phone calls and interviews. It was actually hard to argue with the decision given the limited resources Arsenal had, to bring in more famous names. The Spaniard had worked water into wine stuff at Valencia, seeing the La Liga club through some of its darkest periods and bankruptcy. He had also won the UEFA Europa League three-consecutive times with Sevilla and earned himself a ticket into the cash-laden French Ligue 1’s Paris St Germain.
Emery preached change, intensity, and restoration of the club’s bond with its fans. All the right things. He even became a fan favorite in his early days for tactical tweaks that saw the Gunners go through a 22 match unbeaten run. In particular, the traveling fans chanted, “we’ve got our Arsenal back,” in their all entertaining 5-1 win at Fulham in October 2018.
However, in a late twist of fortunes, Emery’s Red Army capitulated towards the end of the 2018/19 season. They secured just 4 points out of a possible 15 in their last 5 games and lost an elusive top 4 spot that was literally theirs to lose. Not only that, but they also forfeited a return to Europe’s elite club competition by fashionably capitulating in the UEFA Europa League final to lose 4-1 to Chelsea. A debut season under new management with so much promise became a typical Arsenal season in a flash.
Going into the new season, they never recovered. Poorer results eventually led to the dismissal of the Spaniard just one and a half years after his appointment. It was time to go back to the drawing board.
Positive signings
Putting aside the Emery appointment that didn’t quite work out, there are a lot of positives that fans took and can take from his spell in charge. Firstly, the new management structure which now included a Head of Recruitment, Head of Football, Head Coach, Club Lawyer, and the Chief Executive has already done major surgeries that could reap huge benefits in the future. In past times, it was typically Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis who ran everything, the club manager and Chief Executive.
Unlike the periods of the likes of the aforementioned Sanogo, Asano and Lucas Perez; Arsenal’s new hierarchy has already brought in gems of footballing talent in the likes of Matteo Guendouzi and Gabriel Martinelli. Even the Hale End Academy seems rejuvenated with talented youth players such as Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson knocking on the door of a starting berth. Most impressively and rare to the Arsenal that everybody had grown used to, they arm strangled the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Napoli and Chelsea to bring in record transfers of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe. The former is already the new captain of the club and one of the most prolific strikers in the division.
Potential, something that was arguably present in the Gunners former times of stadium construction and the exodus of players, is very much palpable right now. It also seems like they’ve found the right person to organize the squad and craft a new pathway.
Sergio Busquets of Barcelona evades .Bukayo Saka of Arsenal during the Joan Gamper Trophy pre-season friendly match between FC Barcelona and Arsenal at Nou Camp on August 04, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain.
(Aug. 3, 2019 - Source: Getty Images Europe)
Mikel Arteta, the “reincarnation” of Arsene the managerial prodigy
Just like the appointment of Wenger back in 1996, Mikel Arteta’s return to the club as the Head Coach drew several skeptics but is slowly starting to feel like the correct one. At just 37-years of age with no experience managing any club, Arteta made the switch to the Emirates from being Pep Guardiola’s Assistant and Manchester City. Just 3 years after he had hung up his boots.
Blind faith, that what it was called and looked like. Especially given the fact that proven and highly experienced gaffers such as Carlo Ancelotti were available at the time of his appointment.
Well, it’s still too early to say that the Spaniard has already changed the direction of the club. What’s more certain is that he has brought the feel-good factor back to the squad, stamped his authority and communicated his vision of a playing style. Arteta is also working on repairing the bond between the club, fans and has already worked wonders in giving new opportunities to players such as Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka whose exits were imminent, often abused and scapegoated by fans. The kind of things that a rebuilding job will take at any club.
Results were still to improve at the time of the writing of this piece but there were enough reasons for the Arsenal faithful to start believing again.
Towards the promised land
Poetic justice says that anyone associated with Arsenal football club deserves a breather. A period of growth, better results, fun, challenging for the most important titles amongst others. But as we all know, this is not a perfect world nor some script in a book, 2020-30 might and might not still be their decade.
Only time will tell, but all hope is not lost.