Weighing Up Arsene Wenger: The Good and the Bad

October 1st, 1996 was a great day for Arsenal Football Club. "Arsene Who?" was the famous headline across the pages of The Evening Standard as this unknown figure stepped into what would turn out to be a long and prosperous career at Arsenal.

Just under 15 years later, the man who has brought so much to Arsenal is now the one to whom many supporters would gladly show the door. While initially the Arsenal fans who wanted Wenger out were considered to have little faith and patience, more and more of Arsenal's most loyal supporters have turned cynical over Wenger's plans that have, again and again, failed.

But how did these fans measure failure, and to what extent can this failure be outweighed with his success?

The Good: Financial Stability

One would only need to spend about 15 seconds on Google to understand that the English Premier League is not known for the majority of clubs returning great profits (or any profits, for that matter).

Personally, I don't know if most of these top clubs are expecting a Leprechaun to hand them a map leading to the pot of £300 million or not, but in the most extreme of events you could see some of these top clubs facing bankruptcy in the next 20 years. It may sound ridiculous now, but given that the league's average salary has approximately tripled between 2000 and 2010, and with fees rising as well, how can we be sure?

Arsene has undoubtedly turned Arsenal FC into one of the most financially stable clubs in Europe, one that does not require that rich, multi-billion dollar investors (usually sitting on oil wells) pump funds through to the club to foster success, seeing as the managerial talent at the club cannot do that itself. In fact, Forbes have listed Arsenal as the third most valuable football club in the world, ahead of Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City.

The Good: The Emirates Stadium

The building of the Emirates stadium has come with over 21,000 more seats than were present at Highbury, not to mention the state of the art facilities that followed. In fact, £470 million were invested in this brilliant stadium, and if we assume the average ticket costs £60, that's £1.2 million extra per home game, £33.5 million extra per season (based on the number of home games last season). The payback period is around the year 2020.

From then on, the additional income can be used for re-investment. Not to mention that the development of Highbury into luxurious apartments that have been sold have aided this payback period significantly. Financially, the job he has done is brilliant.

Aesthetically, fans, visitors, and even players may be lured to Arsenal because of the brilliant stadium and the 60,000 strong atmosphere.

What people don't tend to realise is that the cost of this stadium also encouraged the sale of star players, taking Wenger's philosophy of youngsters (buy cheap, develop world-class players without the hefty initial sum) to an entirely new level.

The Bad: Our Player Assortment

Since 2006/07, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was only the second English player brought in by Arsene Wenger (the first being Sol Campbell coming back for a 6-month stint), while the rest consisted of Frenchies, Spaniards, Costa Ricans, Ivorians, Japanese, Brazilians, Moroccans, Mexicans, Welshmen, Russians, Croatians, Poles and Czechs.

Whether the foreign nature of all these players would affect the loyalty to their club can be well debated, but one need merely reference the Fabregas saga for a firm starting point. The desire to stay at a club that goes through highs and lows may be shared by our young Englishmen plus Frimpong (see Twitter), but for our former Frenchmen Nasri and Clichy, the same could not be said.

Compare this to Ferguson's lineup against Arsenal. They have now also adopted a youth policy, and in the home game against Arsenal they named six English players in their starting lineup, with another one on the bench. The raw strength and power of these players, who were grown, built and taught to play the English way, showed its dominance eight times in that game (or six if you only count the English scorers).

The Bad: Lacking a Winning Mentality

This is fairly straightforward. The team lacks the mentality, the experience and the know-how to get through 90 minutes, or to pull themselves out of a nasty situation. Players like Fabregas, Djourou, Song and Nasri have never won a real trophy in their lives (unless you count Nasri winning the Intertoto Cup, but like I said, we're counting "real" trophies). They are losers. They need players who have been there, done that, to help them get over the finish line.

Why are Manchester United champions? Because when they are losing 2-0 at halftime against Tottenham at an important part of the season, they can score five goals in the second half and win. When they are down 2-0 to Aston Villa, they need only the last 15 minutes to score three goals and win the game. When, at nearly the end of the season, 80 minutes have gone by against Everton and the scores are tied at 0-0, Hernandez will be there to turn in the cross and win it for them. They have done this a countless number of times, and it has pushed them to the top a countless number of times.

The Bad: The Pressure

Between 1997 and 2005, Arsenal finished either first or second in the league, taking home three league titles and four FA cups. Arsenal were no losers. However, once the losing started when the Emirates was built, when the experienced players were sold, that's when schoolboy mistakes and inexperience became very much present at Arsenal Football Club. But Arsene was not used to losing.

Older Arsenal fans may remember the old Wenger posture, observing the game with sharp eyes and a calm figure. The trend over the last few seasons has shown his body image become increasingly more agitated, to the point where he can't seem to get through a single game without opening up an artillery of full-hearted emotions—kicking, throwing, yelling and so on. The media don't help either.

Hence, the cycle of agitation that occurs. As more mistakes cause more pressure, he gets more and more agitated. Put simply by our dear friend Harry Redknapp, "Suddenly they started losing and he was one of the biggest nutters of all. He's jumping around more than anyone now. [...] We all do it. It's pressure."

What does this pressure do? It makes you agitated, frustrated and confused. Wenger has become increasingly disillusioned with persisting in the old dream of his youngsters bringing home trophies, with his players not leaving the club when they become brilliant, with injuries constantly being down to "bad luck," with the poor run of form at the end of every season for the last five years coming down to "bad luck."

How to Conclude?

If we decided that Wenger needs to resign, and let someone else with a fresh view come in, then the ideal move would be for Wenger to move to Head of Football for Arsenal. There is no doubt that he has transformed the club and made it financially secure enough to operate for the next 100 years (assuming no manager comes in buying players like Torres for £50 million).

This season seems a little different though. He has definitely dipped into the market with his Eftpos card and brought in some quality—namely Arteta, Mertesacker, Gervinho and Benayoun. Praise all things beautiful that Robin van Persie has stayed with Arsenal, for he is a great man and a great footballer. If we get over the constant injury crisis that occurs every season, this season may just have a few twists and turns.

Overall: give Wenger this season to show what he can do. He is a brilliant man and perhaps these signings show a bit of change from his usual stubborn ways. If he can win something, anything, let him stay beyond this season.

If not, perhaps it is time to move him into Director of Football, and let another talented manager who is fresh and balanced in his views take over.

That bold word at the bottom of Arsenal's crest may finally mean something this season.