Arsenal’s FA Cup Triumph; The end of an Era?

Article by Kingsley Okiwelu

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Not winning anything in nine years can have the most curious effect on a football fan. Particularly when that club is a club as massive as Arsenal and has seen everyone at the club from players through fans to their long suffering manager, Arsène Wenger suffer under the most agonisingly crushing weight of expectations for what seemed like a never ending spell in the sporting wilderness.

Of course there is some sound logic to rationalising the situation and surmising that progress is not measured exclusively by the hidebound ritual of lifting a piece of metal every season. However, as the euphoric scenes that greeted the Arsenal’s FA Cup triumph on Saturday served to remind us, when it comes to feeling that instant rush, that frisson of pure exhilaration, that outpouring of unbridled joy at a single event, few earthly pursuits can come as close to replicating the release of pent up emotion that winning after such a prolonged hiatus does.

You could certainly see what that release meant in their faces. It was evident in the glorious gyrations, the frenzied fist pumps, the boisterous way in which the fans tugged at Wenger’s hands, on his and the players’ route to collect their medals and hoist the cup, at times almost threatening to pull his arms from their sockets. You could sense it in the wild celebrations at the victory parade, the relief and the elation palpable amongst the teeming throngs who inundated the streets, who hung from the balustrades and rooftops of Islington, all eager to catch a glimpse of their heroes. It was indeed something special. And it reminded us of the fact that no matter how much we over-analyse, football remains at it’s very core, a human game, a game which is much more about emotions than it is about reason.

Did winning the cup provide complete vindication for Wenger? The answer to that may be a qualified yes. Perhaps it was fitting that the winning goal was scored by Ramsey, one of Wenger’s fledglings, bought for a pittance, notoriously hounded and pilloried last season but rewarding his Manager’s show of faith with strong performances this term. It provided validation of sorts for the Wenger ethos, for keeping faith with youth and extracting the maximum out of innate potential. However, this victory will mean little in the larger scheme of things, if it is not followed up by sustained success. As Ivan Gazidis noted in his remarks after the game, “we have a good platform to build on – today’s a great day for us to celebrate and we should do that as the Arsenal family. But tomorrow we start work again and we’ve got to use this to progress the club, to take it forward. This was a very big step, to have the players understand what it takes to come through that kind of adversity, to get over the line whatever it took is a big step and now we need to take the next step.”

That next step has to start this summer. The building blocks are certainly there with Arsenal Manager’s frugal financial husbanding over the past decade meaning that the club is excellently positioned to compete for the best players. The emphasis on youth has also ensured that the future of the club looks to be in good hands with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Wojciech Szczesny,Kieran Gibbs and the aforementioned Aaron Ramsey all showing some progress this term. The future looks bright but there is no better time than the present to climb the next rung of the ladder towards placing the club where it rightly belongs, back amongst the very best of Europe’s elite. Wenger has indeed done an admirable job of building a team that infuses young talent with some experience and knowhow all bound together with incredible team spirit and togetherness. You get the feeling that with two or three excellent signings, this Arsenal team may very well transition from being on the cusps of greatness to actually attaining and sustaining it.

This brilliant triumph should not signal the end of an era. It should signpost the start of a brave, new age.

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