World Class Values

When you think of the kind of football Arsenal are playing these days, it’s surprising that there seems to be so much anxiety in certain quarters about the future.

For months it was the much publicised view that with the loss of their inspirational captain Patrick Vieira, Arsene had really bungled and the penalty was a poor season in the Premiership and the pain of watching Chelsea and Manchester United pull away, along with a resurgent Liverpool.

How curious, then, that of the above, only Arsenal remain in the Champions League – a competition in which they’ve already disposed of the mighty Real Madrid, find it hard to remember when they last conceded a goal and take a 2-0 lead into the second leg of their tie against the runaway Serie ‘A’ leaders Juventus – you know, the side Patrick Vieira plays for.

Well actually, short-term at least, it isn’t the side Patrick plays for – because in addition to being outshone by Cesc Fabgregas at Highbury, Patrick picked up a second yellow card which will debar him from participating in Turin – a sad end to a miserable evening for one of the Gunners great heroes.

It raises an interesting point – something which Thierry Henry, who is an intelligent man as well as arguably the world’s best player, is sure to contemplate before he announces the long awaited decision about his future which seems to have kept the press in speculation for years. How many Arsenal players who have left the club during Arsene Wenger’s time have actually bettered themselves as footballers, as opposed to their bank balances, by doing so? Anelka? Petit? Overmars? Vieira? Anyone?

And this in turn prompts another, related, question – the other side of the coin. How many players have bettered themselves professionally by joining Wenger’s Arsenal? That, by contrast, is a very very long list of distinguished players and what makes it truly remarkable is that most of them arrived for modest fees and were, at the time, not well known.

The man who has done so much to turn so many players into world class performers also made a modest entrance to Highbury several years ago. “Arsene Who?” they asked. Several trophies, a new training ground and a new stadium later, nobody asks that any more – because the manager of Arsenal is widely recognised as the best manager in the world.

Locally, that kind of status generates not only pride but anxiety, since it has been clear for some time that Arsene Wenger’s services are coveted all over the world, both at club and at international level.

Fortunately for Arsenal, the extraordinary thing about Arsene Wenger is that he is not just a miracle worker, capable of building teams that play sublime football on a fraction of the budget available to others, but a man of rare integrity and honesty who genuinely loves the club.

That is why Arsenal fans can be confident that the last thing he does as manager will be to find a successor worthy to take the work he has done to even greater heights.

And long before that day, it is likely that the best player in the world will, appropriately and wisely, commit his future to the club guided by the best manager in the world. For all the above reasons and to the delight, not just of Arsenal supporters but football fans all over the Premiership.

With the possible exception of Tottenham and Chelsea.