Forgive me, Arsene...

 

Yes, I eventually failed to stick to my usually unshakable gun. I called for your sack. After 16 years of religiously following you as Manager of the great club called Arsenal…yes, 16 years because I only became a fan that moment Nwankwo Kanu joined. Teams like Ajax, Barcelona attracted my football interest then because of the finesse these teams displayed. Hitherto, English League never truly appealed to me because of its kick-and-follow style. Even though Chelsea, under Gullit and later Vialli, attempted to play the beautiful game the beautiful way, I wasn’t fooled until you showed consistency in playing football the right way.
 

I got stuck with your philosophy and the revolution in playing style, which completely changed the English League! I fell in love with your free-flowing entertainment pattern of football exhibited on playing tuffs all over England and Europe. I wasn’t alone…you drew millions of fans to eternal love for the red-shirted artists from North London.

My love for your methods multiplied in thousand folds when you not only built your strength on discovering hidden talents but also introduced a very astute business side to the game when building a bigger and more benefitting stadium for the fast-growing sporting outfit became your instant priority. Even at the expense of your personal glory, you orchestrated a movement at a time economic recession was crippling Europe and the entire world. You cut down costs, sold big players and relied on the academy to continue keeping the team competitive while the grand movement to The Emirates became a reality achieved on schedule.

That that professionally-planned-and-achieved movement coincided with the sudden coming of BIG DADDIES into the people’s game is one of those uncertainties of life even the most astute planning hardly foresees. Moving to the stadium didn’t just end the old order…funds, massive funds, were borrowed and payment schedules must be religiously met. As a gentleman you have always been and a PhD holder in economics, payment default was out of the question.

So, you endured name-callings, especially from one unruly opportunist whose first major coaching breakthrough coincided with one desperate club that was clutching to last fingernails getting snapped up by one oil tycoon, who had more money to throw about than was really good for the beautiful game. You knew the importance of the extra funds coming from Champions League participation to offsetting the debt and drew your priorities, setting top 4 target as your minimum goal.

Along this very stiff-structured budget, your players, even those you picked from obscurity, started getting turned by the sheer power of the lucre being dangled at them by competitors, who were not only jealous of the feat you already achieved but also very determined to making a mockery of your achievements. They introduced the toga that only trophies mattered, paid the press heavily to spread the bug and criminally invented the term, TROPHYLESS! 

They took away Ashley Cole, a player you nurtured into becoming the best left back in England, by flouting every professional rule. Then Patrick Vieira followed the door…Alex Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, you soldiered on…paying off the debt, patching whatever remained, waiting for that moment to beef up your team and start winning trophies again.

 

But then followed the heartbreaks of Cesc Fabregas going ‘home’ in a most-protracted transfer that even the Mayor of Barcelona bizarrely got involved! Samir Nasri followed, then Robin van Persia and Alex Song…you were devastated, completely. No manager could undergo such exodus and stay firm. You are a very strong character but there are limits to human resistance. For once, you nearly missed out on the coveted top 4 …but your tenacity would push our dear team over the line on the last day. And the journey to re-build began.


 Already you had brought Laurent Koscielny, Per Metersacker, Mikel Arteta around that crazy time when the spine of the team all departed. You followed with Olivier Giroud, Santi Carzola to start giving dear Gunners another spine…they may not have effectively replaced the departed players but they didn’t really drop. Yes. But the TROPHYLESS song is being sang at every turn. Even your own very fans were singing louder, making the enemies glee openly with that air of fait accompli.

Then Mesut Ozil was added to start giving dear Gunners world class acquisition once again. Then you took off the season flying off the blocks. Even when I knew we didn’t have the team to win the title yet, you continued to astound with results that we suddenly started hoping… the rest, they say, is history.
 

I was not disappointed that we came fourth…I would have taken that at the start of the season…I lost all the patience from the manner we lost some games. You know already the games I have in mind…but let me shock you by saying I wasn’t disappointed with our display at the Etihad…that 6 – 3 score line was seriously aided by inexplicable terrible officiating. Even though I faulted your taking off Flamini when you did and replaced with Sergi Gnabry.

Losing 5 – 1 at Anfield where we missed only Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott was my most embarrassing moment of the season. Liverpool were not that great…dear Gunners made them look excellent.
 

Then came the shameful show at Stamford Bridge! In less than two weeks after the loquacious enemy branded you a specialist in failure, you went to that dreaded venue without CAUTION as your watchword. How could you have kept Flamini on the bench in place of Ox-Chamberlain as a box-to-box midfielder? With Arsenal full squad, that Chelsea team was still far superior in quality. What were you thinking going into the game with all-out attack in mind? Without Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, Podolski…facing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge could fetch only one result. Not starting from the off to minimize that outcome angered me beyond expression. If you couldn’t start Flamini under such circumstances, why on earth was he re-signed? We got hammered 6 – 0. Maybe nobody has told you but you need know it now and keep tight that we go through hell over here in Nigeria trying to contain Chelsea fans with their persistent taunting. When you let your team get slaughtered by such unimaginable score line, you were only unwittingly invoking a civil war within our countries supporting ranks!

And then came Everton. At Godison Park, you needed a draw. There was no shame in playing for a draw with a team that has already beaten Chelsea and Man U, drawn with Liverpool and equally played dear Gunners off the park at our own Emirates. But you went all attack as usual and got trounced 3 – 0! By Everton! That was when I lost my cool … and for the first time in 16 years, I called for your sack or rather honourable 'promotion' upstairs…I called for Jurgen Klopp to take over from next season. Yes, I shamefully did…I reckon that no living or dead person ever involved with Arsenal could be more legendary that Arsene Wenger …no one! I felt probably, you have achieved as far as fate could permit…that the other far easier aspect of winning trophy again was meant for another manager/s. I believed that if you could ever buy one player for 42.5 mil pounds, that the debt has really been paid off and funds available again to compete…

 

But I’m now offering my apologies…not because you eventually made top 4 and won FA Cup…no. Three matches you played after losing to Everton showed you’ve claimed back your astute ability. Against Man City at The Emirates that ended 1 – 1. Your response in the second half showed character. Then your league match with Hull City at their ground showed ruthlessness … then …
 

The FA Cup Final! From the displays of the Gunners in the two matches I mentioned, I had confidence that you’d land the long-awaited trophy. I went to watch at a pub. When they scored after just three minutes, I ordered my O’Mpa…hmmmm…this is my brand of beer, the best brew around our shores now and I’m not kidding. But I hadn’t sipped half a glass through before a second goal rattled in. Trust Chelsea fans, they were dancing on my face! I told them dear Gunners would lift the Cup. I couldn’t fault the Gunners for the early goals. The first one came through a training ground routine. The delivery to Huddlestone at the edge of the box was well-rehearsed and perfect, the ex-Spurs strongman hit on the volley…his mishit found Chester with a clever, if lucky, deflection. The second, well, Ramsey was too easily turned for my liking but Fabianski did everything to keep out the initial header …  but, again,  Davies’ blast was destined to make it 2 – 0.

Somehow, I was not disillusioned. Falling two behind at an FA Cup Final was a perfect setting for you and your team to tell the watching world if you had any spine. Carzola stated that proof. And when you brought Yaya Sanogo for misfiring Podolski, the game completely changed. For once in a long while, you got your substitution spot-on, and at the right time. Even Giroud who had a terrible 65 minutes suddenly came to life. The equalizer was inevitable and it eventually came … after waving off three stone-wall penalties for dear Gunners, fate smiled on Arsenal when they equalized via a wrongly awarded corner…and from this moment, it was all Arsenal. Gibbs would have settled it but somehow contrived to miss from six yards. But providence was evidently saving it for the right man. Who else but Ramsey to poke home after over five attempts aided by your masterstroke introduction of Rosicky and Wilshere! Metersacker almost spoilt it at the end but no man can change destiny!

Need I tell you that by then I was gulping down my third bottle? I would have joined Podoslki in bathing you with what was left of it if the TV screen permitted such luxury. Finally, the jinx was broken…that TROPHYLESS song has been exorcised. Personally, I will support your extension…I will only urge you to be open-minded in the transfer market to add real quality to the side to win trophy/ies next season…

 

You know exactly the players we need. Don’t be tempted by the sudden availability of Fabregas… go for players dear Gunners truly need. A player like Alexis Sanchez would have been a good substitute for the Luiz Suarez you couldn’t get. Lars Bender is good but there are many strong DMs everywhere to be signed. It’s like Bacary Sagna is gone … pity but there are great right backs to fill in. Please, please…don’t be tempted into promoting Jenkinson…such move will only bring back that dreaded song!
 

I rest now, hoping to write you again when you come back from the World Cup.

I remain,

A full-blooded Gunner!