Picture the scene if you will, two years from now on the eve of Christmas 2007, a gaunt figure in a beige raincoat stands outside Highbury & Islington tube station, snow drops falling on his weathered face as he gently shakes the small red and white collection box in his hand. Passer?s by largely ignore the figure, the odd one or two take pity and try to make out the lettering on the side of the worn collection tin, ?Arse-something? before digging deep for a copper or two still nervous that the collector might actually spend the money on liquor to drown his sorrows rather than pass on to his chosen charity. The fans who had once roamed these streets have now deserted the club since its move to pastures new yet the collector remains hopeful that seasonal goodwill and the unlikely chance of someone remembering the once great club who used to be in the area will pass by.
The figure is of course the now dethroned former Arsenal manager, Mr Wenger who has loyally stayed on to help the club out of its current plight of facing financial ruin. Seem too hard to imagine? Ok so the thought of Wenger with a charity box might be, but Arsenal facing financial ruin? Perhaps not!
You see I have a theory in regards to that lot from Woolwich now camped up down the road ready to pack up their trailers and possessions at the end of this year to move to a new site. I believe that things could go very wrong for them and the catalyst for that could be their demise on the playing field and also the movement of the floating fan to the now more glamorous Chelski. Ok so I use the term ?fan? loosely and only in the sense of someone who knows how to spell it and has a fully paid up Sky subscription but nonetheless these people are financially significant to a club like Arsenal. And I hear some of you say ?What playing demise?? and arguably having secured a knock out Champions league place you may be right. However I would point to the loss of Vierra and the potential loss of Cole and Henry at the end of the season to Barcelona, it has been proven that Arsenal lack the resources to replace these players with genuine equivalents with their money currently tied up in the C-Ashburton Grove project. Furthermore one look at the premiership table finds neighbours Spurs a whole 4 points clear of Arsenal in the league, potentially 7 points after this weekend if Arsenal fail as most have to pick up anything against Chelsea on Sunday.
The problem is deeper rooted though than just a declining team, the club finds itself in a vicious circle. When the new stadium plans were first unveiled Arsenal were riding high as premiership winners and ultimately attracting the large floating vote of popular support with Highbury sold out to Japanese tourists and the like every week. So the club wanting to capitalise on the income lost due to a lack of seats decided to plough a considerable amount of its and its backer?s money into the new stadium. All good so far? And then along came Roman and his millions, suddenly Arsenal?s success was challenged and ultimately conquered. Suddenly the popular vote shifted, Victoria line stations now resembling Tokyo airport as the mass exodus moves from the North to the West takes place leaving the new stadium looking like a big white elephant that the club will potentially struggle to fill each week once the initial interest factor has died. Despite Arsenal still being committed to the new stadium, the only chance they have of recapturing the popular support is they conquer Chelsea. In order to do that an ageing and depleting squad needs a fresh injection of talent of the very highest order to be able to even compete with Roman?s zillions and Arsenal don?t have the funds to do that with so much money tied up in the build of the project. Hence the vicious circle.
It is for these reasons I sincerely hope our own club proceeds with caution when considering its future ground and location. Any project must leave the club still with the funds to compete in the transfer markets of the world. Sadly Arsenal believed the playing side was taking care of itself, in fairness who would have predicted Chelsea?s sudden artificial rise?
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