Your Shout: A glowing role model
Published: 20th January, 2011
I WANT to make a rallying call to Arsenal fans everywhere to remind them that winning trophies really isn’t everything.
To be deemed successful it seems a club has to win either the Premier League, the Champions League or the FA Cup. But the fact is that only one team can ever win these competitions each season.
So are we saying that ALL the teams that don’t win something are bad sides? With two of these trophies being knock-out competitions, luck is just as important as skill.
I know fans will argue that it has been five years since Arsenal have won anything, but sometimes running a club properly and implementing a structure that promises to deliver consistency and long-term success takes time.
Arsene Wenger was rightfully named Manager of the Decade recently, while UEFA singled out Arsenal as a role model to other European clubs over the way they conduct transfer dealings and manage their finances.
I, for one, am proud to support a club that works towards protecting its own future, and I sleep soundly at night knowing that Arsenal will still be around when my children’s children need a club to support.
Wenger’s strict grasp of the purse-strings may frustrate the fans, but so long as Arsenal remain one of the most solvent and financially prudent outfits in European football, success on the pitch won’t be too far behind.
And most importantly of all, it will come at the right price!
STEVEN EDWARDS, N19
Next, they’ll be too tired to spend their weekly wages
I WAS appalled to hear Arsene Wenger blame Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat against Ipswich in the Carling Cup on fatigue.
I’m sorry to hear the players were so tired, it must be draining to work out how to spend their £50k-a-week. These players would never have survived as part of the Gunners’ double-winning team in the 1970-71 season.
Did they still take their wages for this inept performance against Ipswich – a side that went into the first-leg of the semi-final off a 7-0 drubbing against Chelsea?
Blaming too many games is just a poor excuse from Wenger. Arsenal had no desire to win, and, with one or two exceptions, are just a bunch of mercenaries.
Perhaps Wenger doesn’t have what it takes to motivate his players any more! Wenger has reached his sell-by date and his excuses are pathetic.
GEOFFREY GILBERT, NW8