WENGER, TALENT DEVELOPMENT AND SILVERWARE

Coach Arsene Wenger of Arsenal FC is one coach who does not allow the facts to i
nterfere with his conclusions. His mind is made up that he should develop footba
ll talents by not going for the big names and not focusing primarily on silverwa
re. So far, he has not won any silverware in five years, but he is not ready to
change his mind or his tactics. Not even after FC Barcelona outlined the fact th
at big names are synonymous with silverware in a compelling Champions League ous
ter of Arsenal FC on a 6-3 aggregate.
Coach Wenger is actually one of the best coaches in the world, but he is in the
wrong line of work. He should be heading a Football Academy somewhere and develo
ping talents for mega clubs like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, A
C Milan, Arsenal and the like. But, perhaps, he has successfully proved that a m
an can give expression to his passion anywhere – he has turned Arsenal FC into a
glorified Football Academy. An Academy which has churned out so many world-clas
s stars and has prepared and lined up many others like Cesc Febregas, Theo Walco
tt, Nicklas Bendtner, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby and Denilson for the world footbal
l community.
Thierry Henry was a “subscript” when Wenger brought him to Arsenal FC and there
he became a superstar and a superscript. FC Barcelona came knocking, like the Pi
ed Piper of Hammelin, and Henry was away and gone. Then there was Emmanuel Adeba
yor who stepped up from oblivion, at Wenger’s beckoning, to lighten up the Arsen
al skies. But Manchester City snatched him up and he was gone with the wind. And
now poor Wenger is in the fight of his life to hold on to the classic Cesc Fabr
egas as FC Barcelona comes knocking one more time.
Other players that the great Wenger unearthed (while in Monaco FC) include Georg
e Weah, who went on to become FIFA World Player of the Year with AC Milan, and V
ictor Ikpeba, who later became African Player of the Year while in R.F.C de Lieg
e. At Arsenal FC he discovered relatively unknown footballers like Patrick Vieir
a, Francesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie and Kolo Toure and turned them into world
-class athletes.
That Wenger manages to secure a spot in the Champions League almost every year a
nd makes some reasonable progress in the League is a testimony to his incredible
coaching abilities. With less than five million pounds he assembled a defense w
hich went the length of ten matches in the Champions League of 2005 without conc
eding a goal, before losing the final to FC Barcelona. But that the team has not
won anything in half a decade is proof that experience is still thicker than yo
uth and determination.
But that would not change anything because after five years of not winning anyth
ing Wenger is like a gambler who has become used to disappointments and losses.
His explanations of losses could put the political establishment to shame. Summi
ng up the routing of Arsenal by a merciless Messi, he said that Arsenal lost to
the best player in the world and the best team in the world. He forgot to note t
hat the best team in the world was put together by paying cash for quality – not
developing talents!
According to Arsenal shot stopper, Manuel Almunia, Arsene Wenger will stay true
to his project of youth development despite Arsenal s mauling at the hands of FC
Barcelona. And adds Wenger, “We re at a stage where we re developing players. T
heo Walcott, Nicklas Bendtner, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby and Denilson are 22 or 23
. They have shown great qualities and they will get stronger every year. We have
to add something, for sure, but we have time to think about that. We were very
young and what we did was very positive. We had six or seven players under 23 in
the team and we had plenty of opportunities. We showed we lacked maturity in th
e weight of the final ball.”
A very touching story, but it sounds a little like a wish. It is Wenger’s wishfu
l conclusion and it does not interfere with the fact that many of the mentioned
players may leave “the pseudo Academy” when other clubs come calling with blank
cheques. They may not stay and be developed by Coach Wenger! And what did the wi
se coach mean by “We are at a stage where we are developing players”? He has bee
n developing players for years now and he has not learnt yet that a developed pl
ayer is a loose cannon which could end up anywhere. Football is not about develo
ping players, that is a job for football academies; it is about winning silverwa
re. You cannot send recruits to warfronts without the back up of battle-hardened
warriors showing them the way and the skills. But then Wenger is someone who pl
ays the game according to his rules, not the rules of the business.
Another fact Wenger does not care a whistle about is that Arsenal FC has not won
any silverware since 2005. That is just the way a Football Academy, which is al
lowed to play in the Premier League, would think - because its goal would be to
develop talents not win trophies. In fact Arsenal’s performance convinces me tha
t if Oxford University were allowed to put its football team in the Premier Leag
ue, they would do pretty well. If Arsenal, run with a football academy’s mentali
ty, could do so well, think of what the great Oxford could do? At least it may n
ot do worse!
Perhaps another coach with a stronger competitive spirit would have been concern
ed that for the first time in a marvellous career, Lionel Messi, scored four tim
es in one match against his team. This would have meant that his defence lacked
depth and quality and needed experience to cope with the rampaging Messi. He had
scored three hat tricks this year but used Arsenal FC to shoot himself into a q
uadruple. Not Wenger the nice, good old coach who is developing talents as a top
priority and not interested in such talks.
If you know where Wenger is coming from you would understand the man’s warped ps
ychology. He started his football career playing for FC Duttlenheim before being
recruited to the third division club AS Mutzig by Max Hild. AS Mutzig was known
for playing the “best amateur football” in Alsace. Now you know where his philo
sophy of having Arsenal FC play the best football even if they do not win trophy
came from?
What Wenger loses in not winning silverware, he makes up in transfers. A 2007 su
rvey proved that he was the only coach to make profit on transfers. In successiv
e years between 2004 and 2009 he averaged a profit of £4.4 million per season on
transfers by buying players cheap, developing them and selling them high. He bo
ught Nicolas Anelka from Paris St. Germain for £500,000 and sold him to Real Mad
rid two years after for £22.3 million. With this profit he bought Sylvain Wiltor
d, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires.
Wenger is undeniably the most successful coach in Arsenal FC’s history. Under hi
m the club has won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups, though its best
run in European Football has been the 2005 Final which it lost to FC Barcelona.
Wenger is a great coach and his ability to read the game and make tactical chan
ges are legendary.
But all said and done, if Wenger fails to appreciate the fact that football is t
oo serious an affair to be left in the hands of boys, Arsenal FC may wait longer
for silverware and he may continue to console himself with his past successes.
Unfortunately, the world does not live in the past – this explains why automobil
e makers give us one reverse gear and five forward gears. The future, Coach Arse
ne Wenger, is the message; do not rest on your history.