Nobody could argue that at times the football Arsenal play is pure eye candy to all football fans, regardless of personal alliance. But it still hasn't proven to be winning football. Critics will point at Wengers obsession with art, an obsession which some might say clouds his abilty to stick to the basic task sometimes of putting the ball in the back of the net. It's taken 5 years, but it's still proving difficult for Arsenal to win things and now these youngsters who are reaching their early 20's are getting itchy feet. Some are bailing out!Alex Ferguson has accepted that the days of bringing 8 or 9 loyal british youngsters through the ranks and turning them in to not just the backbone of his treble winning team but in to a close-nit family, a brotherhood even, are over. The fact is, English youngsters who show half an ounce of ability and potential are far too expensive. Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Darren Bent, Stuart Downing, Shaun Wright-Phillips....the list is endless. Players who may well go on to be great but so far have proven nothing but a glimmer of talent here and there are costing up to 25m quid. That is what is ruining the English game, it is forcing a foriegn invasion.
It seems to me that Mike Ashley is looking at ways to buy cheap players and sell them on for huge profits down the line. All well and good should the results on the pitch not suffer and that money is poured back in to the club......but Mike Ashley is a businessman, he was born to make a personal fortune and a close look at his previous business deals is enough to make any Toon fan question his motives of buying the club.
If we are going in the direction of buying loads of talented kids, then maybe we should all just relieve ourselves of the burdens of supporting this club and come back in 5 years once they are all deemed good enough to get us in the top 6 every season?
People don't pay money to watch a team of kids making school boy errors whilst using our club to gain experience with the sound-bytes from the club such as 'promising future' and 'if he keeps his head down and keeps learning from his mistakes'.
Been there, done that remember!
Jenas, Dyer, Viana, Bramble, Ambrose are just a handfull of the promising kids we have bought in recent years and sold for a loss after seeing them grow up to talk the talk but put in in sub-standard performances. The jury is still out on Milner and N'Zogbia with neither proving to be anymore than good players on their day. If Milner gets sold this summer it would suprise most people if we made a profit but at least in N'Zogbia's case we might make a few quid.
But has such a blue-print ever worked, other than at Manchester United all those years ago? Wenger has got close...but with his failure to add that final brush-stroke to his canvas, it's a case of close....but no cigar.
Keegan wants ready made players, he wants ready made flair players....he's signed a 3 year contract....not a 5 year one. And I think most Toon fans want next season to be far more than the first year of this 5 year Ashley plan. I think most of us would rather see Keegan given a blank cheque, or even a 50m quid cheque. Looking at his previous signings it's hard to see why he shouldn't be trusted.
The big question is, how is Keegan going to react to another job which is becoming...well, not what it said on the tin.