After a miserable week in the domestic cups, scraping a draw at home to Leeds United and losing to Ipswich Town away in Suffolk, normal service was resumed on our visit to the Boleyn Ground on Saturday. At least that’s what we in the Gooner Nation hope.
The ‘Appy ‘Ammers were efficiently despatched in a 3-0 win that keeps us tucked in third position in the League, behind Manchesters Citeh and Yoonited. Chavski and the Spuds lie behind us. The title race has become a tale of two cities this season – London and Manchester – as it has been since the Premier League’s inception in 1992/3 with the sole exception of Blackburn Rovers’ triumph in 1994/95. Liverpool looked like they might rise to become regular title challengers again at one point, winning the Champions League on that memorable night in Istanbul in 2005 and reaching the final again in Athens two seasons later. Following the tender mercies of American carpet-baggers Tom Hicks and George Gillett Liverpool are now more worried about relegation than the title.
It easy to titter at Liverpool’s misfortune. Much as I’m tempted, I don’t. I think, “There but for the grace God go us.” Let us not forget that we put in a formal bid to buy Wembley and move there permanently. We were also actively looking at other sites other than Ashburton Grove after Wembley fell through. In my worst nightmares we could have ended up in some soulless shed out on the M25 with poor public transport links. We have a talent in this country for copying what happens in North America after they’ve moved on on that side of the Atlantic. Most new stadia there are now built in the inner city.
The takeover by Blackburn Rovers by the Indian chicken processors Venkey’s has fiasco written all over it. Despite what we know can happen because it has with Portsmouth, the Premier League has waved through the Venkey’s takeover. It would appear on closer examination that Venkey’s, whilst a large, established company, isn’t quite the Indian transnational behemoth those spinning their case were making out. It was left up to various journalists to dig this information out. I hope that I’m completely wrong and that Rovers are safe as a club under their ownership. I’m not encouraged by some of the new owners’ steps so far.
Likewise the Premier League has already waved through any move The Unspeakables might make from White Hart Lane out east to the Olympic Stadium site at Stratford. There seems to be a head of steam building up amongst Spurs fans to oppose this. Likewise amongst West Ham fans, the other contenders to take over the Olympic Stadium after 2012. I don’t intend to go into the ins and outs of that issue here. That’s for elsewhere.
My point is that the Premier League is a chocolate tea-pot when it comes to defending the game’s best interests and that of its most loyal “customers”, us, the supporters. It’s only and sole purpose is SHOW ME THE MONEY! If you’ve got wads then you’re alright as far as the Premier League goes. Never mind if you stole a lot of it like Thaksin Shinawatra.
Never mind that you might actually be non-existent like the Saudi Ali Al-Faraj, nicknamed Ali Al-Mirage by Pompey fans. Never once in his period of ownership did he darken the doors of Fratton Park. The fact that he might very well be a non-existent straw-man, an artificially constructed front for others, it didn’t stop “him” passing the League’s “fit and proper person” test. The test itself has become so discredited that it has been re-named the “owners’ and directors’ test”. Some of the conditions have been toughened up but it remains an inadequate tool to ensure that any person buying a Premier League club is in reality fit and proper.
Neither can the Football Association perform the role it should have as the game’s guardian and regulator. It is hobbled by its geriatric blazers and the self-interest of the Premier League which effectively vetoes any real oversight being exercised. I’m not a Luddite. I don’t want to go back to much of what we had to put up with in professional football pre Hillsborough – unsafe grounds, poor and neglectful policing and stewarding, rampant racism. The old days did however have their positive side. Affordable admission prices, games not constantly move around for television, better atmosphere by and large and an adult choice to sit or stand as you wished.
The trick with progress is to keep what’s worth keeping and improve what’s not. Tradition should be respected, nurtured, cherished but not blindly worshipped. By and large we’ve got that balance right over the years at Arsenal by making constant innovation a club tradition. Herbert Chapman is the most obvious figure who should take credit for propelling us to the head top of the football tree in the inter-war years. Generations of directors around the axis of the Hill-Wood and Bracewell-Smith families also deserve credit for what they got right and their sense of custodianship.
We can but hope as we embark on the second decade of the 21st century that Arsenal will continue to innovate on and off the field to the benefit of us all. If things go wrong however, we supporters shouldn’t imagine that the Premier League or the Football Association will come riding to our rescue. The former isn’t interested and the latter is incapable. We’d be on our own. Just as Wimbledon were. Just as Portsmouth were.
Meanwhile, on the park we face a tricky visit to West Yorkshire on Wednesday night for our FA Cup third round replay with Leeds United. For my money, Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri made all the difference against the Hammers, compared to our miserable cup performances. We need to see a far more disciplined, assertive performance on Wednesday night at Elland Road if we’re to go through to face Huddersfield Town in the fourth round.
Let’s hope that the lessons of last week have been learned.
Keep the faith!
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