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Players are out of touch
• NO doubt there will be a lot of soul searching about the factors which account for Arsenal’s decline. Rather than some deep-seated football analysis, the answer might be more straightforward and not unconnected with the fact that, while Arsenal has the second smallest squad in the Premiership, it also has the third largest wage bill.
While Arsenal plc pays its not inconsiderable wages, I suggest that the players do not identify with Arsenal in the broadest sense. Thus, while the players might have some notion of where the Emirates Stadium is in London, I doubt if they have any idea whatsoever about what life is like in Islington.
The players are bussed in and out of the Emirates for matches. Of course, there are the occasional photo opportunities for Arsenal’s public relations department (such as Van Persie in Elthorne Park and the players’ visits to University College Hospital) but the reality is that they are few and far between.
Arsenal trumpets about its “community involvement” and its PR department works overtime in blowing this up much beyond its actual impact. But community involvement also applies to Arsenal’s first-team squad.
It is simply not good enough for Wenger and the captain de jour to exhort fans “to get behind our lads today” in the match-day programme. Arsenal needs to encourage its first-team squad to feel passionately about the club and its local community.
And what better way is there than getting players involved in meaningful activities (such as regular visits to hospitals and youth clubs) rather than to try to motivate them by money and a short-term life of supposed glitz and celebrity?
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