Dear Mr Wenger,
I have been an Arsenal supporter for as long as I can remember in my 35 years on this earth so far.
I am originally from Melbourne, Australia but spent a long time working in the UK between 2002 and 2008 before moving out to New Zealand in late 2008 and where I am still residing at the present time.
I have been a great supporter and admirer of you and the work that you have put in at Arsenal for over 10 years now and have loved every minute of watching the team that I support and that you manage, play some of the most breathtaking and exhilarating football I have ever witnessed whilst under your tutelage.
Unfortunately after 6 years without winning a single thing, me and other Arsenal supporter friends of mine as well as the majority of the intellectual football world, are of the opinion that you may have become so damn stubborn and set in your ways that you have become completely blind to what is actually happening around you and more to the point, completely blind to what should have already been done and if it hasn’t happened by now to what needs to happen immediately? Are you so bloody stubborn and proud in your beliefs that you can’t see that your refusal to spend any decent money on current or prospective world class players now, is only going to harm Arsenal in the long run? Are you so blind that you think by not giving in to the transfer fees of today’s world and saving some money on the front end that you are completely jeopardising the Arsenal’s chances of playing deep into the Champions league competition or God forbid, not even playing in the competition at all next year and therefore lose Millions of pounds in lost revenue!!! Are you so completely blind to the fact that you will eventually lose a hell of a lot more money than you think you are saving at the moment by not making the signings that everyone else in the football world clearly knows that you need to make in order for the Arsenal to remain a top four club let alone challenge for trophies? Why is it that everyone else in the whole footballing fraternity around the world can see this obvious situation unfolding in front of our eyes except for you? Are you so blind and incredibly stubborn to the fact that this situation that YOU have created is only going to get worse because of the fact that the top world class players that are currently playing around the world all want to play Champions League football at a top club and that the way things are going, YOU WON’T even be able to offer them that opportunity anymore!!!! So why would any of them want to come and play for the Arsenal if you are unable to offer them this opportunity?? It’s not like you are even willing to offer the world class players the top wages that they command now when Arsenal is in the Champions League, so it’s pretty bloody obvious and I’ll bet my last dollar that you wont be doing it when Arsenal aren’t even in the Champions League to compensate any player/s for this then!!
It is so bloody clear to everyone in the football world except for you it would seem that the situation that YOU have created at the Arsenal this year has been a significant contributing factor to the exodus of players from the club this year and that your sheer bloody stubbornness to act quickly and strengthen the team has resulted in what can only be described as the dissolving of the team spirit and belief before our very eyes! Who in their right mind can even blame them for this when they have a manager that is seemingly content to let players walk out of the club and not even replace them as well as being so completely stubborn and unwilling to spend any money on proven and experienced world class players and all the while appearing to be so downright arrogant and proud in your belief’s about how things should be and that YOU know better than everyone else!! All of this going on around the Arsenal players is enough to start them privately questioning YOU and not believing in your team plan, not to mention the fact that they are seeing rival clubs bringing in new world class players to add strength, depth and quality to what are already strong player lists and therefore beginning the breeding of doubt amongst themselves that they are unable to compete against the very top clubs in the Premier League and around the world which will unravel the very fabric of the club that YOU have spent so long in creating!!
Wake up Mr Wenger, the facts are that things aren’t the way YOU seem to think they should or would like them to be and it is such a massive shame that for someone who is as intelligent as you are appears to be so completely blind to the situation developing around them and is either unable or unwilling to accept these facts and to see where your past and current policies regarding the transfer of players to the club will ultimately take the Arsenal to in the future! Mid-table and scrapping for Europa League places with no real chance of winning any meaningful silverware!
Are you so blind that you can’t see that your sheer bloody stubbornness in this regard in recent years and refusal to buy in any world class players to help the almost great side that you had put together to become a truly great side that actually wins some silverware is the very reason why the likes of Samir Nasri, Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and others are either wanting to leave, have already left or are in the process of leaving the club that I so dearly love and support and is the same bloody reason that the Arsenal struggle to even attract the desire and attention of current and or potential future world class players to want to come and play for you and the Arsenal. It really is very simple Mr Wenger, football players want to be the very best they can be and if that means they are good enough to play for a top flight club, coming in a very close second would be the desire to win some silverware and see some reward for their efforts on the pitch. If you are unable to provide your players with the evidence that this is achievable then they will not believe in you or your ultimate plans for the Arsenal’s success on the pitch. This evidence that the Arsenal players, members,staff, fans and everyone connected to the Arsenal FC are crying out to see and hear about would be for the almost great team that you have put together to be complemented by the addition of a few top drawer world class players that are needed to make this almost great team that hasn’t won a thing for 6 years now finally emerge and cement themselves as a truly great team that has actually won some significant silverware to go along with and support the claims that are needed to be not only recognised, considered and accepted as a great team but to be remembered that way as well.
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I am absolutely fed up with the excuses that you are constantly giving in the media of not having the money to compete in the transfer market because I know, Arsenal members know, Arsenal supporters know and the football world knows that the amount of money that you have made and saved by buying players for relatively low transfers and selling them a few years later for massive profits as well as the success’s of moving in to the Emirates Stadium and the extra revenue that this has created for the Arsenal FC in recent years, that you absolutely have the money to push the boat out every now and then for a player that you want to join the Arsenal. I find it insulting that you seem to offer this excuse up time and time again for the general public and expect them to swallow it. Well let me tell you Mr Wenger, I’ve been swallowing it for 6 years now and its now beginning to taste foul and rotten and is causing me to wretch and feel sick because I can clearly see the course and road that your stubbornness and selfish pride has got the Arsenal FC on along with every other person in the football world with some level of intelligence and its clearly not on the road to success.
This is not rocket science Mr Wenger and I have always thought that a man of your intelligence and knowledge on the game of football would be able to see what even the common man on the street can understand and see what is sticking out like a “sore thumb”. Please Mr Wenger, swallow your incredibly selfish pride for one moment and come to your senses by realising just what needs to be done and do it now! Otherwise the result will clearly be something that I dare not even dream about and will ultimately lead to tarnishing your reputation and having a negative impact on how you will be remembered at the Arsenal forever.
One last point. I find your hypocrisy over player transfers to be offensive, distasteful and embarrassing. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with you in your comments and opinions surrounding the “dirty tricks” that the big clubs employ in trying to entice a player away from his current club and I am in no doubt that several of the ex-Arsenal players had obviously been “tapped up” somewhere along the line and has resulted in the player ultimately departing from the club and whilst I detest this sort of behaviour and wish that it didn’t exist the fact is that it does exist and it will always be that way so rather than wasting my time and energy on debating “how thing’s should be” I just accept this fact and move on to something worthwhile and something that I may actually be able to have some form of positive impact on. It’s no different to, and whilst I silently bemoan the fact that Arsenal are just not able to compete on the same financial level as the Man U’s, Chelsea’s, Man City’s, etc, I have to accept that these are the facts and deal with it. I sit back with interest and take note of your comments surrounding these issues. So when I then read about the constant speculation over Phil J from Everton and Gary C from Bolton over the last 6 weeks, I look at you with disappointment because whilst you are not seen to be openly targeting the player and making no formal bids, is this ultimately any different to the way the other clubs go about their business? You are just doing it in more of a sly and discreet manner so as to be not seen as the bad guy with the only real difference being that the other big clubs actually end up doing the business that is required to get their man. As for your blatantly disrespectful bid of 6 or 7 million pounds for Gary C yesterday? Words actually fail me here and all I can come up with to say is that you must be an idiot and so far out of touch with reality that I’m seriously concerned for the immediate future of the Arsenal Football Club. Whether you would have got Juan Mata or not is completely irrelevant now but the way you went about trying to obtain his signature is an absolute joke. I have no doubts that if you had of just come in with a bid that brought the clause in his contract into effect immediately instead of the 1-1.5 mill less than that figure then he may well have been an Arsenal player by now! It’s more of the same when it comes to my belief that if you had of shown the Arsenal FC, playing squad and fans that you were serious about making a real challenge for the title this year by acting quickly in the transfer market by bringing in the players you wanted and allowing them to gel into the team before the season started so that they would be as comfortable as they could have been at that stage, then chances are Cesc, Samir, Clichy may have still been at the club and filled with the confidence of being equipped as a squad to mount a serious challenge to the title this year. Don’t tell me that you didn’t have the money and needed to sell Cesc first either! This whole saga has been dragged out over and over by all and sundry but you knew that this would happen anyway, so why would you let it? This situation that you have created has been allowed to sit and fester before it spread like a cancer and engulfed the whole club and it’s supporters and I am sure to some degree the players as well. I mean, how could it not? You let this happen Mr wenger! No one else!
Its time to wake up and smell the coffee Mr Wenger and realise that times in the football world have changed and so should you.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Shallvey