A Question of Values

There’s no denying that there are rumblings of discontent about Arsenal. It is a minority reaction and it is not entirely unexpected at a club where success is the norm, but as the late Professor Cyril Joad might have said, “It all depends what you mean by ‘success’”.

Take Chelsea for instance. They are the reigning Premier League Champions two seasons running and that is success, although according to the News of the World it has come at an astronomical price. They allege that the club cost Roman Abramovic £60 million, plus a cool £80 million to wipe out accumulated debts. But that’s just the start of it. In three years he’s stumped up a mind boggling £477 million to buy players, with Shevchenko costing £30 million (the price of failure?), Essien £24.4 million and Drogba £24 million. To keep them, he pays Shevchenko £130,000 a week; the cruising Ballack, captain John Terry and Didier Drogba £120,000 apiece; Lumpy Lampard and Joe Cole £94,000; ‘Cashley’ Cole £90,000; Makelele and Essien £80,000; and even Wayne Bridge (who rarely plays) £70,000. And for all that you get trophies, diving, posturing, haranguing referees, some spectacular goals and a lot of boring, mechanical football. Football by numbers in every sense of the term.

Now Arsenal have not been Premiership Champions for a few years, but last season they reached the final of the Champions League and despite having to play most of the game with 10 men they came within 10 minutes or so of victory. They have arguably the best manager and the best striker in world football and having lost world class players of the calibre of Bergkamp, Vieira, Edu and Pires, they are building a new team to grace their magnificent new stadium – a predominantly young team which promises to be the best in Arsene Wenger’s time at the club. By common consent they play the most attractive football in the Premiership and if they had converted even 60% of the chances they have created, they would already be top of the Premier League.

And the price of all this progress? That’s a tricky one because it is not the Arsenal way to disclose transfer fees – but we may safely assume that it is miniscule compared to Chelsea’s spending. Or to put it another way, it costs the earth to assemble a team that grinds out trophies, but you can still get absolutely magical football for a nominal fee – if you know what you are doing.