Arsène Wenger's revival at Arsenal will take time
On the outskirts of Chernobyl, in a town called Chernigov, stands a children's cancer hospital.
Every night inside the Revival Centre, patients offer up thanks to Arsenal Football Club, who have brought funds and hope to a blighted region. With 2,000 treated last year, many children now survive.
Some don't. The last request of a 15-year-old terminally ill girl was that she be buried in her beloved Arsenal top.
Arsène Wenger admits to feeling "humbled'' by the work of Arsenal's dynamic community department in places as far afield as Chernobyl as well as in their Islington backyard. The manager assiduously supports such acts of benevolence as those involved with the Revival Centre readily testify.
"When I discovered how sick these children were in Chernigov, I wrote to all the Premier League managers,'' explained George Mills, a charismatic Londoner who has dedicated his life to helping the victims of Chernobyl. "Arsène was the only one who replied."
Wenger put Mills in touch with Alan Sefton, the energetic head of Arsenal in the Community. "Arsenal gave me van loads of kit, books and boots to take out,'' continued Mills. "And then they began sending coaches out to train kids and local people.'' Money and medical equipment followed.
"It has been a miracle. We now have seven buildings and 127 staff in the Revival Centre. When we go there, everybody in the town shouts 'Arsenal, Arsenal'. When everybody else seemed to have forgotten them, this famous English club came to them – and saved lives.''
Mills joined Wenger and Sefton at the Emirates on Thursday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Arsenal in the Community. Sitting in the Legends suite, Wenger listened intently to all the stories about how Arsenal were tackling every scourge from obesity, knife-crime and illiteracy to the enduring fallout from a nuclear disaster, as happened at Chernobyl in 1986.
"When I hear all this, I know even more that the team has a responsibility not to let the community and the club down,'' said Wenger, having found an empty corporate box for a quiet chat.
The thoughtful Frenchman looked through the window at his field of dreams. He glanced at the list of club honours etched into the stands. So much at Arsenal is going right but they crave a first trophy in five years. "Trophies are the cherry on the cake,'' Wenger stressed.
Really? Surely trophies are the cake and the cherry is the performance? And so began a debate about Wenger's credo.
"People say in the last five years Arsenal have achieved nothing! Which would you prefer: winning the Carling Cup or reaching the Champions League final? Champions League final of course.
"In 2006 we have been in the final. But because we did not get the trophy, people say the achievement of reaching the final was rubbish. But it's the first time Arsenal have reached the Champions League final. That's an achievement.
"Don't forget, some other people fight for trophies as well. If you are a 100-metre sprinter today, you can be fantastic but you have to beat Usain Bolt. If you were born 10 years earlier, you would be the best in the world. That's competition.
"We fight Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa. They are not all Usain Bolt but they are all good teams. And we are not Usain Bolt.''
Arsenal challenge for honours the "pure'' way, Wenger argued, by balancing the books. He nodded at the mention of the debts at United and Liverpool.
"At some stage they will have to obey the financial rules. It cannot go on forever. If you earn £1,000 and you spend £2,000, you can last a couple of months but then somebody knocks on the door.'' A lesson in managing finance]
That somebody could be Wenger's compatriot, Michel Platini, the Uefa president who plans to ban teams from Europe if debts are not addressed.
Clubs with real money, such as City, threaten Arsenal in the long term.
"City will get it right,'' said Wenger. "They need time. We have to count City as a competitive force in the future because of the money. City and Chelsea have a way to be successful. Buying players of 27, 28 is the easiest way to do management.
"We have gone a different way: we have created a special spirit because our players have lived together from 16 onwards. It is important for football in general that Arsenal are successful; it will make people believe there is not only one way.
"I listen to people who say: "We lost but we had five or six players of 22'. Twenty-two! We have an average age of 22 and we're fighting for the championship.''
But what of the fans' fear that some stars might leave if the silverware does not arrive? "They are all on long contracts. That means we decide what will happen. All the talk about Fabregas and Barcelona is nonsense.
"The most difficult job I have faced in football has been in the last five years: to move into a new stadium with young players and maintain the club at the top in a Champions League position. I fight very hard to do this. I don't get the credit.
"We have all the assets you need: strong team, strong financial situation, a new stadium. The next step is the trophies. It will come naturally. Of course, we are under increasing pressure to deliver from the media and the fans.
"Of course I will worry if we don't win a trophy this year. I worry every year. I know how much energy I put into this job.''
So the lure of Real Madrid was never an issue?
"I was never tempted to go to a place with money. When I sign a contract, I try to go to the end of it. I felt I was needed here because I have gone into a process of developing young players. It would have been unfair to walk away and say 'do what you want now'. It was important for me to be steady and strong.''
Such "moral values'', as Wenger described them, define a man who assimilated many principles while coaching in Japan.
"I loved watching sumo. When a sumo wins, he never shows his happiness out of respect for his opponent. I found it classy. And I loved how the Japanese work incredibly hard.
"Life is about performance. It is about hard work. If we live well in society, it is because people before us worked very hard. The guys who invented the vaccine and the aeroplane didn't lie about. A little boy in a shanty town with belief, talent and attitude can become the best player in the world. With hard work.''
Such industry would bring reward for the team of Fabregas, Wenger believed, just as it did for his 2003-2004 vintage of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry.
"The Invincibles were not always as creative as our modern team but they had fantastic players and they were five, six years older than this team. To make it 49 games unbeaten you need not only to be good, you need to be highly focused and they were.''
Contrasted with earlier Wenger sides, his current model gets accused of lacking leaders. "A leader is somebody who influences in a positive way the people who are with him – and that can be through different ways.
"Tony Adams was an outspoken, authoritative, tactical leader from the back. Fabregas is more a leader through skill, commitment and desire to win. Sol Campbell is a leader, a winner. He's ready to die to win. I can see him going to the World Cup.
"There are other potential leaders in this team. You will see them in three, four years. When John Terry had the England captaincy taken away, there was the same question: who are the leaders in the team? A player might not know he's a leader until somebody says 'you can do it' and he grows into the role.''
Mention of Terry turned talk to England's latest scandal. "Moral issues are different compared to France. Terry would never have been a debate in France – at all – even though it could have been affecting the dressing room. Private life is not a contract with society. It is a contract between you and your wife.''
So Wenger objected to coverage of Ashley Cole's indiscretions. "That's between him and his wife,'' said the Arsenal manager of his former player. "We never had a problem with him – only one difference over his contract.''
During his time at Arsenal, Cole was always a willing backer of the club's community programme. It's the Arsenal way. "They do highly impressive work,'' said Wenger. The children of Chernobyl can vouch for that.
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Arsenal are celebrating 25 years of 'Arsenal in the Community' this week. Arsenal have delivered 5.5 million hours of service to one million participants. The department has been at the forefront of pioneering a range of sport, social inclusion, education, diversity and charitable initiatives over a quarter-century. For more details visit www.arsenal.com/community
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/7326648/Arsene-Wengers-revival-at-Arsenal-will-take-time.html
