Wenger, Hill-Wood, Fiszman, Gazidis: What Is Going on At Arsenal?

'Victoria Concordia Crescit'. Translation: 'Victory grows out of harmony.'

The motto of Arsenal Football Club and one that adorned the club's crest for many years. However, one has to ask just where is the harmony at Arsenal in recent years? Per chance is this the cause of a lack of trophies?

From this Arsenal fans perspective there is a distinct lack of harmony between the Arsenal board, manager Arsene Wenger and the fans.

Peter Hill-Wood and Danny Fiszman tell the Arsenal fans that Arsenal have enough money to buy a "superstar", "£30million on one player" while Arsene Wenger claims "We are a rich club but not that rich."

So who are we to believe—the board who control the money? Our most succesful manager? Neither?

I am of the opinion that Arsene Wenger is a frugal manager, one that will not pay out over the odds for a player, however I do not think he lacks intelligence, and if pushed, would stretch the budget to get a player he wants.

Last summer, the big story surrounded the possible and almost completed signing of Liverpool midfielder Xavi Alonso.

Having seen Gilberto and Mathieu Flamini exit the Emirates, midfield needed reinforcement and Alonso seemed the man to compliment fellow Spaniard Cesc Fabregas.

In an effort to keep things short, the deal fell through.

Now many an Arsenal fan will have you believe that Arsene Wenger called off the deal as he felt Alonso was overpriced, various sources will have you believe that Alonso was looking for £200,000 too much on his wages or Liverpool were looking for £2million more than what Wenger valued him at.

However, a more reasonable person will tell you that the Alonso to Arsenal deal was pending on the Gareth Barry to Liverpool deal.

Rick Parry refused to free up the funds for Liverpool to sign Gareth Barry, thus Barry stayed at Aston Villa and Alonso stayed at Liverpool.

Now which sounds more likely, A or B?

If you are getting a player of Alonso's quality for in and around the £13million mark you don't nit pick over what in football comes down to peanuts.

Gokhan Inler too was poised to come in but even more rumours suggest that the deal fell through as he failed a medical.

Hence, Wenger knew before the season started that a ball-winner in the middle of the park was desperately needed.

Xavi Alonso, Gokhan Inler, and Lorik Cana were all names banded about, yet none came.

Come the start of the season it was left to then 20-year-olds Denilson and Alex Song to try and fill in the gap.

Neither at the moment can be said to be adequate for a team with hopes to mount a serious title challenge, however it would be unfair to say that neither are good enough for the Arsenal squad.

Denilson is up there with the aforementioned Alonso as one of the players who has completed the most passes in this season's Premier League.

Yes, they may not be eye-of-a-needle passes that spilt defences but they are neat and ball retention is key to a team like Arsenal.

In the last few weeks Alex Song too has shown he has improved.

Wenger has wheeled out the line all season that he didn't purchase any of the mentioned names as he did not want to "kill" Denilson, Song or Diaby, but this hardly sounds right does it?

Personally it sounds like a motivational tool to keep the young players, who he has no other choice but to play, confident.

It seems that since 2006 Wenger is on some sort of crusade to win with young, inexperienced, cheap players, but is this all true?

Since then many an experienced player has joined the club and at a reasonable price.

Aliaksandr Hleb joined in 2005 from VfB Stuttgart for a price believed to be around £10.3 million. At the time he was 24.

Emmanuel Adebayor joined in 2006 at the age of 23 from Monaco for what is reported to be a fee of £3.1 million. However, with West Ham having a fee of £6million turned down previous to this move the other figure of £7million seems more likely.

Others to come in those years include Tomas Rosicky, William Gallas, Eduardo and Andrey Arshavin. All are mid-20s or older and all apart from Gallas came for a reasonable fee.

So it is not only "children from France and Africa" that Wenger buys. Yes, perhaps too many come in but is it out of want or necessity?

Just how much "financial constraint" is Arsene Wenger working under?

Time and again he has alluded to the fact that he knew when he signed his current contract that funds would be tight, but just how tight?

Does he have to keep buying the younger players or can he afford more established stars like Andrey Arshavin?

Arsene Wenger seems to think that he is running a tight ship while Hill-Wood and Fiszman suggest the belts could be loosened slightly.

Last Thursday at a Q&A session, Wenger opened up the floor to questions from shareholders and by all accounts was taken aback by some of the vitriol aimed at him.

The Times reported today:

‘He is particularly exasperated at the supporters’ failure to appreciate the financial constraints under which he must operate, a feeling that reached its height after he was subjected to criticism and aggressive questioning when he attended a meeting of the club’s shareholders last Thursday.’

Lee Dixon came out in support of the manager and asked for fans to calm.

"He feels the frustration just like anyone else," Dixon said. "He has produced one of the best training grounds in the world, one of the best stadiums in the world and some of the most attractive football ever been played. And people still just say 'we haven't won anything'. They just have to be a bit more patient.

"I want him to succeed because I can't speak highly enough of him and about how he goes about running a football club.

"When he came he was going to get rid of us all because we were 32. I ended up playing until I was 38 - six years under him and I won two doubles.

"He is a man of integrity and he does not deserve to be treated in this way by a section of his own fans." 

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood too chipped in, in defense of the manager.

"Frankly, some of the questions were quite disgraceful," he told the Daily Mirror.

"There you have the most successful manager in our history and two or three of the shareholders made the most negative and somewhat hostile and sarcastic comments, which I think were completely out of order.

"I was very upset by the questions, I have to say. We, and he, kindly agreed to have this meeting and whether we have another one is a moot point.

"Arsene was very diplomatic and honest in his answers and deserves great credit for that. But I wouldn't have been anything like as polite if they had asked me."

However, did Mr.Hill-Wood ever stop to think about why fans and these shareholders fail to appreciate what Wenger is doing?

Perhaps it is because Hill-Wood and the board members keep telling us, the fans, that Wenger has "£30million to spend on one player" if he so wishes.

Which is it Mr. Hill-Wood, is Wenger operating a tight ship or been a stingy man obsessed with a dream?

Hill-Wood and the Arsenal board smack of people who want their cake and to eat it.

They charge the biggest entrance fees to view games, food is charged at a premium and all the while fans are told to sit in their seats and clap politely by the neo-Nazi stewards.

I personally, and many may not agree, have been of the view that the board are to blame for Arsenal's woes and fan unrest.

If Arsene Wenger is running a tight ship and doing his best then stop telling us that he has millions to spend, bring down ticket prices slightly and lower expectation.

If however he has money to spend and refuses to do so, put him under more pressure. Tell him he must at least win the FA Cup.

If Arsene Wenger is chasing some Utopian dream of winning with cheap kids is it still not the fault of the board for letting him continue?

Perhaps they are all too happy to let him continue as long as they have money in the coffers.

If Arsene Wenger has too much power at Arsenal then who let him have it? The board perhaps?

It wasn't the fans that unveiled a bronze bust to him.

Either way the 'Victoria Concordia Crescit' motto must be returned to Arsenal if this club wants to keep moving in the right direction because at the moment it seems a bit of a mess.

Peter Hill-Wood, Danny Fiszman, Ivan Gazidis must come out and echo the same thing. Don't blame the fans at being angry, it is the board who have caused the confusion that has lead to this anger.

This article may have raised more questions than answers because frankly I don't know what or whom to believe anymore.