RTK Blog: What if we lose to Udinese…?

Ok this is my nightmare, Arsenal fail to make the Champions League and lose £25 million revenue and drop into the Europa League, then to put it bluntly our chances of staying in the top four are made increasingly worse, as the high quality players who would have come to Arsenal with the lure of Champions League Football will look elsewhere. So when Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger get on the plane to Italy next Tuesday, they will be sweating slightly and hoping that Udinese are held to a draw. It just goes to show how error prone Arsene Wenger has been in this transfer window, because as a result of Koscielny’s back spasm against Liverpool, we are down to ONE fit senior Centre Back in the Premier League. If I were the CEO of Arsenal I would not be sleeping well for the next three nights. Yet he will be unable to buy a single high class player before the end of Wednesday night as I shall explain.

There were performances to be proud of today at the Emirates, mainly because of the pressure that was being placed upon those young shoulders. Arsene Wenger has gambled now once too often. Losing key players like Jack Wilshere to injury could not have been foreseen. However not having recruited a long awaited Centre Back and a Fabregas replacement could have been. The long term future of the club now rests upon one match. Arsene Wenger is right to say that it is not doom and gloom in football terms, but morally Arsenal Football Club is staring over the precipice. Armageddon awaits and what will happen to the fan base? your guess is as good as mine. It is clear that Arsene Wenger is awaiting the outcome of that fixture before making final purchases. The agents of those target players will also want to wait and see if Arsenal qualify for the group stages. The only players who would sign before Wednesday will do so only for financial reasons in contractual terms, and are those the kind of players we really need? It will be a real crisis for the first time, bred and born in Islington.

Yet it need not have been this precarious, given sensible planning, a forthright determination to acquire targets instead of arrogantly trying to save the Shareholders money. If Udinese beat the Arsenal, I predict that the Arsenal share price will fall by at least 10%. Internecine rivalry will lead to protests at the ground, Arsene Wenger will find that the only friendly place will be the Board room, and may for the first time in his career consider breaking a contract before it has expired. Ivan Gazidis will wring his hands and claim that Arsenal will be able to withstand the loss financially and look to blame everyone else except himself. Yet these two very powerful men, Ivan Gazidis and Arsene Wenger, will both have conspired without intention to seriously weaken confidence in the institution and heritage that is Arsenal Football Club, something that two world wars failed to do. What an amazing claim to fame to have. Let the countdown begin. Three days to Salvation or Doom? I think Salvation, but not by design…

Rocky The King     follow me on twitter @RTKafc_insider