Source: Telegraph
Arsenal on the cusp of domestic and European success says Arsene Wenger
Despite the lack of domestic trophies in recent seasons, Arsenal’s Champions League consistency has been considerable, with the club reaching the quarter-final, semi-final and final over the past four years. Wenger, though, is well aware that Arsenal often struggled to reach the latterstages of Europe when they were regularly winning the Premier League and FA Cup.
“When you look back at it, when we won those first domestic trophies we didn’t look good enough in Europe, and now we are doing well in Europe but we’re not winning the domestic trophies,” he said.
“It’s quite amazing. But I think now we are getting back to competing well on both fronts. When I took over, the Champions League was quite new and we were not seeded in Europe at all. It takes some time to build up your ranking, and now we are in a comfortable position.
“What I would hope for the club is that over the coming ten years, this club will be dominant in England and in Europe. That’s my hope. We have worked towards that and I also believe that the new financial rules that Uefa will bring in will be in favour of our club.
"The basis we have built here with the young players will be a big plus for us. The financial situation of our club is strong enough. Therefore I believe the ingredients are there. Now we want to transform that into victory on the pitch. I think the work we have done in the last 13 years will help us in the next 13 years.”
Wenger has also repeated his prediction that a new European League could feasibly be created, particularly if a group of club owners get together and decide they would like a different structure.
“It could happen,” he said. “It will depend a little bit on the situation of the big clubs. The television rights are not the same everywhere at the moment. If it is Real Madrid or Barcelona for example who are forced into a situation where they have to share their television money with everyone else, they could find a surge towards some other way of creating more revenue.
“The danger is also if we have many different billionaire owners of clubs,who know each other, they could get together and create their own league. At the moment, the balance between domestic and Europe is right, but it will be decided by the owners. If these people regroup, and want to create their own league, how do you fight against that?
“But as long as you can maintain and interest an audience domestically, itis not in danger. The problem could come when you have too many rich owners in the same domestic league, and they are excluded from competing at the toplevel in Europe through not qualifying, they might think ‘is this investment worth it, or do we have to find another solution?’”
*This is an extract from the Manager’s Monthly in the November edition ofthe Official Arsenal Magazine, available now from club shops. To subscribe,12 issues for £33, call 0845 88 00 445*
