The waiting is putting the strain on Arsenal

As they now head into a sixth consecutive year without a trophy Arsenal fans are getting increasingly restless.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has been patiently waiting for Arsenal’s finances to recover following their multi-million pound move to the Emirates Stadium in 2020. But that has meant limited funds for players in order to balance the books and results have subsequently suffered.

The invincibles side of 2004 now feels like a distant dream to Gunners followers, who have seen their title rivals clean up ever since. As anyone who follows football live scores will tell you, a lack of a cutting edge has been to blame for the side’s failures.

Many appreciate and indeed admire boss Arsene Wenger’s stubborn refusal to put the club’s future in jeopardy by spending irresponsibly. But it is when they are repeatedly told that money is available but Wenger refuses to spend it that they let their frustrations boil over.

But with FIFA’s financial fair play rules set to come into force next season Arsenal appear best set out of any club in England. Wenger’s prudent approach means they continually turn a profit and soon will be able utilise the full money-spinning force of their 60,000 capacity stadium towards inward investment, rather than paying off debts like many of their rivals.

All this means little to the fans though, who have grown increasingly concerned at the club’s relative decline.  As promising as the future is, football is played here and now, and the fans crave success today.
Therefore the Carling Cup, despite being a much maligned competition, has taken on great importance for the Londoners.

A place in the last four of the Carling Cup against Ipswich and with Birmingham and West Ham in the other draw seems the ideal opportunity to break their duck and have something to cling onto before the FIFA financial revolution in a few years time.

It would also be a psychological boost by getting the increasingly heavy six-years-without-a-trophy millstone off their necks.

But in a performance typical of Wenger’s inconsistent young side they lost the first leg of the semi-final 1-0 to battling Ipswich Town this week. Although the result was a shock, anyone keeping an eye on the livescore wouldn’t have been too surprised by the way things turned out given the Gunners’ performance.

They are well capable of turning things around at the Emirates but a slow start and the nerves will creep in from fans to the players.

That step from nearly-men to champions is a small one but is often the hardest to make.

And for Arsenal that step is becoming increasingly harder to breach as each barren year rolls by.