Arsenal at the Double

Article by e-Arsenal's Lewis Borg-Cardona

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Arsenal completed a domestic cup double of sorts at the weekend, when Arsenal Ladies won the FA Women’s Cup Final for the thirteenth time, beating Everton Ladies 2-0 at Stadium MK, in front of 15,000 fans, thanks to goals from Yukari Kinga and the evergreen Kelly Smith. That made it the second time in the club’s history it has achieved the male/female FA Cup double in a single season.

However, whereas the men’s squad’s FA Cup win heralded another three years of manager Arsene Wenger at the helm; Ladies boss Shelly Kerr had already announced her intention to step down - following four defeats on the trot - before her side did her the favour of allowing her to leave as a winner.

It’s true the male version of the Arsenal team went the entire season losing no more than one Premier League game in any given sequence, but really, would Arsenal dispense with Arsene Wenger’s services after a run of four defeats? I don’t think so.

So what does this tell us about the aspirations of the respective Arsenal squads ? With a tally of six FA Cups, three Continental Cups, one UEFA Cup, five Premier League Championships and two Super League Championships in the time it has taken the men’s side to win that solitary FA Cup, it could be argued that the Arsenal Ladies side have considerably greater expectations than their male counterparts; hence the managerial fallout from a relatively fallow opening four games that see Arsenal bottom of the eight team FA Women’s Super League table, with one draw, three defeats and a solitary goal scored. Not good enough for the undisputed queens of English women’s football, even in the light of unprecedented pre-season changes that saw 14 players leave the club in the last two transfer windows, including club stalwarts like Kim Little, Ellen White and Steph Houghton.

Admittedly the last time I can remember Arsenal’s men losing four in a row (and I stand to be corrected) was back in the 1994/95 season, when Stewart Houston took temporary charge of the first team, following George Graham’s sudden sacking in February of 1995; an interregnum tainted as it was by the whiff of scandal still clinging to the marble halls. Mind you, a decade later, during Arsenal’s last season at Highbury, Arsene Wenger’s side did suffer a distinctly duff December that saw them lose three on the trot, including a 0-2 home defeat to league leaders Chelsea; a result that ensured Arsenal remained in eighth place, a full 20 points off the pace set by Jose Mourinho's men.

Of course the Ashburton Grove hierarchy will argue that Shelly Kerr hasn’t been relieved of her job; rather, she resigned of her own volition. As she said in her own statement on the official club website: “I've had a fantastic 16 months with Arsenal, but feel this is the right time to step aside.” Whether she fell on her own sword or was stabbed in the back is a matter for conjecture at this stage, but the reality is, she’s gone, albeit with another trophy on the CV.

If not longevity, what Shelly seemingly does share with Arsene Wenger, is an inability to switch off and – up to now - a willingness to sacrifice her personal life for the job. As to the future, following the FA Cup Final victory she was happy to share her immediate plans, once again via the official club website: “I'm going to go home, walk my dog and have a holiday because when you're involved in football at professional level you work around the clock.”

If Shelly was feeling the pressure after sixteen months in the hot seat, I can’t imagine what it must be like for Arsene Wenger, seventeen years and counting as the boss. Now signed up for another three years, he’s not about to walk away anytime soon. As for a holiday, Arsene’s starts next week: it’s called the World Cup, and somehow I think you’ll find it will be a working holiday.

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