Van The Man And Some Interesting Discussion

By Biswarup Roy Choudhury
for Arsenal New Today

Published: November 17, 2011

Van The Man And Some Interesting Discussion thumbnail

I have not been writing for a couple of weeks now. Not that I didn’t want to, but its just that I have been really busy with work. Didn’t stop me from watching our games though. And what a game it was against Chelsea! Going to Stamford Bridge and scoring five goals past them. I bet not even the most optimist of Arsenal fans would have predicted that kind of result when our season began. Robin Van Persie is absolutely on fire. 27 goals in the last 28 games is just amazing statistics. For me, on current form he is the best striker in the world right now. And the great thing is that he is back from the internationals unscathed.

It was a moral boosting win for the team too. Eight victories in the last nine games shows that the team is on the ascendancy now. The belief is back and I’m not saying they will win the title, but there is a very good chance that they will finish as one of the top four.

With no meaningful football for the past couple of weeks, my friends and I were discussing the developments over the season and it turned out to be quite an interesting discussion. One friend suggested that given the form that we are in, we could possibly go on to win the FA Cup at least, if not the League. While another suggested that it is still too soon to expect Arsenal to win something. Explaining further, he said that Arsenal and Arsene Wenger had known all along that moving to a new stadium would significantly reduce the club’s capacity to fight in the transfer market, and the only way they could keep themselves competitive was to qualify for the Champions League proper.

When asked to explain why, if this was the ambition from the very beginning, did the club not say so and why did the board and the manager always say that they had the money to spend if they wanted to, my friend said that ”Wenger never categorically said that we would WIN the league” and those who thought otherwise were being naïve.

The discussion trailed off to other things, but it made me realise how strong some peoples’ emotions are towards Wenger. Perhaps, for them Wenger is Arsenal and Arsenal is Wenger. I won’t deny that I think Wenger has taken our club forward and he is the best manager we ever had, but for me he is not the most important. Arsenal Football Club is more important than Arsene Wenger.

If qualifying for Champions League was indeed the ambition all along, then Wenger has been LYING to us all along. If we didn’t have the money to compete, then the board should have told the fans. Perhaps it was to ensure that the fans didn’t despair when the likes of Chelsea, United and City were buying players left, right and centre. But, for me, I’d any day like to be told the truth about the club’s financial capabilities rather than living in false hopes. In that respect, I must say I like Harry Redknapp. The old ‘twitchy’ tells things as is..a quality I admire.

What do you think?

Share/Save

Van The Man And Some Interesting Discussion

Sponsored Links

Latest News