A failed state with a failed leadership

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
23 Apr	3:00 PM	P	Bolton Wanderers (A)	1	2	Lost

Well, that was a laugh, wasn't it? Just hours from Arsène Wenger's staunch (and baseless) defence of our gargantuan 16-game unbeaten run in the league, and there goes that bubble so meekly at the Reebok Stadium- kaput! Hilariously, the media powers to be decided to paint it as Groundhog Day, declaring our title push as "over" with Tamir Cohen's last-gasp near post header! Err excuse me, where have you been all those weeks? Anyway, did Wenger finally admit his mistakes, one after the other, shedding light on his immature squad's misgivings?

Oh no. Instead, a most terse, arrogant defence of his actions that have made us a right joke amongst the big clubs over the years, heralding his policy as the "right one" and praising his lot's "fantastic attitude".

Fantastic attitude? Three home defeats and countless draws, including that crime at St. James' Park, a sacking offence in itself, and bottling the League Cup against absolute minnows, the one big chance to get that monkey off our backs, does not exactly read fantastic attitude to me. They failed, time and again, and time and again we're obliged to rant in absolute contempt at what has befallen our once-suave and now paranoia-ridden manager.

One blow after the other, and the rot is set to continue given this shambolic state of affairs that is the management and beyond at this great Club.

It simply goes beyond the lousy defeat at Bolton yesterday. This has been going on ever since Patrick Vieira's last kick for the Club in Cardiff many moons ago now. Chucking away leads like we're giving out chocolate bunnies at Easter; the countless headless chickens in defence especially on set plays; pass, pass, pass and pass again, we've seen it all before. Except Wenger hasn't, or refuses to see it.

On a personal level, I am at an all-time low when it comes to all things Arsenal, this great Club that I know and love inside out. Not only have I fallen out love with the one man who had the greatest influence on that love for the Club as I grew into this fanatic Gooner that I am today in Arsène Wenger, but I just do not know anymore. I simply do not know.

I, for one, frankly cannot bear listen to the same senseless rhetoric after every cock-up we have endured in the last two months, symbolic of the last six years, with Wenger having decided that a mixture of soft, spoilt kids and mediocre idiots can run the Arsenal show. It is painful; it really is painful. Painful and pathetic, hearing him going on about mental strength, when all we see is a bunch of kids with the collective solidity of a blubbering jelly mountain. It's painful and pathetic when you hear of his promise to improve the defence by "ten goals to win the championship" for the last three years, only to see the defence get worse year on year (indeed, we are five goals short of our shambolic 41 goals against last season, and with four games to go).

Many in the ridiculously cheesily labelled "football family", especially those with links to the Club, have remarked time and again of the need for a "change of policy", a "change in tack", a "riddance of the dead wood" as the season unravelled spectacularly over the last few weeks before our helpless eyes.

I'm not so sure that this is enough anymore. Wenger was given more than enough time, enough chances to change policy, to change tack, and to rid the Club of the dead wood. He hasn't, and more so he had promised to sufficiently strengthen the squad with the quality and experience needed to win honours. He broke that promise year on year, window on window.

I simply cannot and will not buy what he says any longer, and we now realise that many, dare I say a creeping majority, share this view.

Yet he still refuses to budge. Even more hilariously, his board above him plan to push ahead with a 6.5% increase in season ticket prices, not to mention probable increases in membership fares. A failed sporting institution pocketing profits on a regular basis and ripping off its base in broad daylight. With no sense of pride, no sense of real ambition, no sense of a dream.

Who is accountable for this mess? Look no further than the archaic board and a vain Arsène Wenger, once professorial, now dictatorial.

And what's even more ridiculous, is the (now) significant minority, but minority nevertheless of remaining Wengerites, or AKBs, or whatever on earth you want to call them, who have the audacity to accuse anyone who speaks up of being a moron, a traitor, a fake supporter (fill in as applicable). It is as if we are all the pawns in some fascist footballing state, all obliged to bow, all obliged to tow the party line.

Well no.

Arsène Wenger had done great things for this Club, and as I acknowledged, had been the protagonist for my love and unwavering support for Arsenal as a budding child going into adolescence, and this applies to millions others, here in London and all over the world.

But this was yesterday. Today, he has well and truly messed it all up, for reasons partially out of his control, at least initially. But you tell me who else stuck with the Almunias and Eboues and Denilsons and Diabys of this world? Who else promised experience and quality and then plumped for Arshavin, Chamakh and Koscielny? Who else promised caviars and delivered sausages? I think we all know the answer, Wengerites or not!

Tragically, and I have said this before, the one person suffering more than all of us is indeed Arsène Wenger himself. He simply bleeds Arsenal, and so I cannot disrespect him for that alone and for what he had previously done, even when he disrespects me time and again by spouting out his usual "mental strength" and "best squad ever" gibberish.

But there simply is no choice: time to get off this most downward of rollercoaster rides, boss. Time to give someone else a go, time to let us all breathe...

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