[FM11] The Arsenal

[djvandyke]

Arsenal Football Club has a proud history and among the most successful in England with 13 League Championships & 10 FA Cups to their name.

The Arsenal are known for their tradition and for doing things the right way however the club have decended into turmoil.

Visionary manager Arsène Wenger joined Arsenal in 1996 and made an immediate impact.

Seen as an innovator on these shores Arsène brought modern European training techniques, dietary controls and fitness regimes to English football.

He signed foreign players of exceptional technique and blended that quality with the resilience and sprit of the George Graham era.

Natural born leaders Tony Adams and Martin Keown formed the core of a well drilled defence alongside Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn and exceptional goalkeeper David Seaman.

With solid foundations in place Arsène signed an aggressive and powerful midfield tandem of Manu Petit and Patrick Vieira. He signed lightning fast goal scoring winger Mark Overmars for the left flank to compliment him with battling and energetic Ray Parlour or the right.

Up front mobile predator Ian Wright and creative genius Dennis Bergkamp backed up by the signing of a brilliant hungry French youngster Nicolas Anelka.

Veterans such as Steve Bould, Giles Grimandi, & David Platt provided cover along with a few promising young signings.

In his first full season Wenger had brought the League Title and FA Cup back to Highbury.

Seen as a bit of an upset at the time, looking back it obvious, the side was of exceptional quality but key to the success was balance.

Wenger had added a central midfield pair of great stamina to protect the aging legs of his back four.

Bergkamp played deep so there was no need for a creative central midfielder.

He let the gifted Paul Merson go and replaced him with the inferior but harder working Ray Parlour to cater the offensive nature of Overmars push up as a third forward on the left.

Arsenal remained competitive but finishing second over the next few years. As the older players Wright, Platt, Bould and Winterburn left and Petit and Overmars were pouched by Barcelona Arsène had to rebuild. As well a signing many squad players of dubious quality he brought in Kanu, Ljungberg, Lauren, Pires, Henry Wiltord, Edu & Sol Campbell.

By 2001 Wenger had one again built a remarkable side. The outstanding quality of players he had signed had raised the bar even higher. Sol Campbell, a physical monster at the back complimenting and learning form veterans Tony Adams and Martin Keown. Lauren and youngster Ashley Cole displaying the battling qualities and dark arts of defending as schooled by the veterans still at the club.

Vieira had become a leader in his own right, he and parlour also passed on his battling qualities to Edu, Ljungberg even former lightweights Pires and Henry became aggressive combative competitors.

Combined with this physical aggression was the natural flair Bergkamp, Henry and Pires but what really set this team apart was to power and pace of the game they played. It was on another level to anything seen in English football before. A bench full of seasoned professionals were also ready to step as required.

This team went on to achieve another double in 2001-2002 and the magnificent 'Invincibles' 2003-2004 winning season, an entire league campain unbeaten forr the first time in well over 100 years.

I could be argued they under achieved. The greatest club side in English football history should have made a bigger impact in Europe and perhaps been even more dominant domestically.

2004-2005 ended with a disappointing 2nd place and a fortuitous FA Cup victory via penalty shootout, despite being on the back foot for 120 minutes against nemesis Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

From these glorious highs has followed a prolonged period of decline without winning another trophy.

In 2006 Arsenal moved into their new 60,000 capacity Emirates stadium. Although the new stadium would greatly increase match day revenues the cost of the project was £460m for which Arsenal received no public subsidy. A £260m bank loan borrowed, later replaced by bond issue.

Although the club publicly denied that the costs of financing the stadium would impact the ability to compete in the transfer market net spending decreased.

With the purse strings tightening an extraordinary new threat emerged from a small club in west London. Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 with the intent of bringing success at any cost. £126m spent on players in 2004-2005 alone.

The rules of the game had changed and Arsenal were no longer able to compete directly for the biggest names in world football.

Arsène Wenger had always invested heavily in young players; he had developed a highly talented 2nd string who regularly demonstrated their outstanding potential in League Cup competition. He would make these talented youngsters the nucleus of the team.

A new philosophy was born. The club would no longer invest in established players but instead use its still considerable recourses to secure a wealth of some of the world’s best young players.

Experienced players such as Keown, Parlour, Kanu and Wiltord were all allowed to leave in 2004/ 2005 and replaced with youngsters such as Van Persie, Flamini, who would both go on to make a positive impact but not quite ready to replace the experience lost.

Arsenal collapsed in 2005-2006 and almost lost out on Champions League football, only to be saved by Tottenham players eating a dodgy lasagne before the last game of the season. Patrick Vieira had been allowed to leave at the start of the season and not replaced, gifted kid Cesc Fabregas was thrown straight into the starting XI. Cesc coped remarkably well, we still had a strong squad but the loss of Vieira was felt badly, the form of some senior professionals dipped. Arsenal began to look a bit lightweight; as the side got visibly smaller we began to be dominated by aggressive northern clubs and teams of giants like Chelsea. The signings of the taller Diaby and Adebayor in January papered over the cracks and helped save forth place. In contrast the Champions League campaign was a great success; Arsenal made the final against Barcelona and almost won the competition, losing out to two late goals having taken the lead with 10 men.

Within two seasons the experienced Pires, Ljunberg, Campbell, Reyes, Lauren, Cole and Henry had also been sold. A new and exciting young Arsenal was built around the magnificent cultured midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

With highly technical but less physically imposing youngsters at the club Wenger began to implement a possession based style of play.

The formation switched to a more suitable 4-51 and the system became highly focused on control strategy allowing Arsenal become highly dominant in terms of possession.

This young Arsenal side came very close coming to achieving success on numerous occasions but continually fall short. Be it the regular end of season league collapses or cup final defeat, losing has become a habit.

Media critics have cited lack of experience, defensive errors and the indirect style of play as the reason for Arsenal’s failure. Although the majority of Arsenal fans have remained remarkably loyal throughout this unsuccessful period patience has finally been exhausted.

The inability of Arsène to rectify the failings of the side in preparation for the coming season lead to open hostility from some sections of supporters.

Just days before Wenger's shock resignation he signed 5 experienced professionals to help try to rectify the situation. An 8-2 defeat at old Trafford, one of the most humiliating days in Arsenal’s long history proved the catalyst for this sudden change in direction however the quality of the new requites has been questioned leading to accusations of panic buying. Champions League football which has been taken for granted by Gooners for so long is no longer assured as big spending rivals Liverpool, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs have all significantly strengthened. Wenger’s sudden departure has left the club without leadership & direction. I take over a great club in disarray.

[HorusFM]

I'm going to have to refer you to the Rules at the top of the page, djvandyke. Welcome to the board, but please heed these guidelines. The pictures will definitely need to go.

[djvandyke]

Sorry, lock this then. I think I should use the FM-Careers-Forum yeah?

[tenthreeleader]

Yes. I'm moving this there.