Arsene Wenger: A Tribute to a Football Legend

Arsene Wenger: A Tribute to a Football Legend

Arsene Wenger this week celebrated his 15^th year as the manager of Arsenal Football Club. This is a really enviable achievement when one considers the mere fact that he is already officially recognised as the London’s club longest serving coach in its entire history.

Added to that, the club itself is also celebrating a remarkable 125 years of competitive existence.

Being a football coach is certainly not one of the most secure jobs in the career market. In fact it is one of the most unreliable jobs in terms of tenure and longevity. This is more so in the highly competitive English premier football league. The competition is tough that annually, at least a third of the coaches in the league have to leave their jobs under very unceremonious circumstances.

In spite of all this, Wenger has still not managed to retain his high pressure job but also set a high standard for success like no other coach in its 125 year old history. In so doing, Wenger has set a new yardstick for success at the club both in terms of longevity of tenure and also the magnitude of success.  

He has now surpassed yet another of Arsenal’s coaching legends, Herbert Chapman who until then held both the records for the longest serving and most successful coach in the club’s proud history.

Chapman was the coach of the club between 1925 and 1934.

But like Wenger, Chapman was a visionary who was way ahead of his time. Like Wenger, he was also a peerless revolutionary. It was during his tenure that Arsenal sealed its lofty status as one of England’s elite football clubs.

However, Wenger has not only managed to match up to the legendary Chapman’s lofty standards but has also surpassed them in a spectacular manner. Today, Arsenal is not just one of the most elite clubs in England but it is now an acclaimed football brand in both Europe and the rest of the world.

In Africa for example, Arsenal is now the most supported football club in the entire continent. Under Wenger, the club has grown in the football crazy continent and easily surpassed both Manchester United and Liverpool in mass popular appeal. This is largely due to the fact that inherent in Wenger’s legacy at the Arsenal, is a series of French speaking football stars who helped him garner so much success over the years.

It was Wenger who was brave enough to recruit little known African footballers who have now grown to become household names like George Weah, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure and Alexander Song.

This enabled Arsenal to have a cross-cultural and linguistical appeal to both Anglo and Franco phone Africa; a feat that other great English clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have so far failed to surpass or let alone match.

However, it was also his preference for buying players from his native France that went a long way in helping Arsenal build its large base of fans across Africa. For example, he brought to London such legends as Thierry Henry who very much like Wenger, was a ‘nobody’ when he first arrived in England but grew in stature so much till he became a global soccer icon.

Today, Henry is regarded as Arsenal’s greatest football player ever. Need I mention the likes of Patrick Viera, Nicholas Anelka, Robert Pires, Emmanuel Petit, Sylvain Wiltord and more recently, Samir Nasri?

Outside Africa, Wenger has also helped Arsenal to develop a global appeal. It may not yet be the world’s most famous football brand but Arsenal is now definitely up there with the elite clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

So what have been Arsene’s biggest achievements during his record breaking tenure in North London?

I think his greatest achievement so far is a close tie between his decisions to give the little known Juventus flop  Henry, a chance at the Arsenal or the 49 match unbeaten run by his 2003-4 team now known as the ‘Invincibles’.

In so doing, he also evolved the team’s style of play into one of the most entertaining ones in the world of football. Just like Brazil, Arsenal has now become every football fan’s second favourite team!

The other possible contender could be his overseeing the visionary move from the old iconic Highbury stadium to the new one at the Ashburton Grove. This move was part of the various aspects that Wenger he invested in to ensure that the club not only modernised itself but strategically positioned itself as a global football icon.

And of course, Wenger has led the Gunners to a lot of trophy success! He has won the league title three times and has won the FA cup four times. He has also led the team to its only ever UEFA club Champions League final in 2006.

It is on this highly emotive subject that I end my well-deserved tribute to this great man. It is true that since 2005, Arsenal has not yet one a trophy but this should not be used as a legitimate excuse to undermine the legacy of his spectacular success over the years.

Wenger has paid dearly for putting the long term interests of the club by his financial prudence that has led to Arsenal being regarded as one of the best run clubs in the world today. The club has multiple-ownership and prides itself in a long term self-sustaining operational model. This will ensure that the club not only celebrates its 125 years anniversary but lives long enough to be competitively existent in the year 2136 when it will celebrate its 250 years anniversary!

This is no mean feat especially if one considers that Wenger had not yet proved himself when he landed in London on that fateful day in September 1996. He was such a NOBODY at that time enough to inspire a derogatory headline one of the leading newspapers in England that screamed aloud the big question, ‘ARSENE WHO?’

Well we do now know who Arsene Wenger is today! He is a revolutionary, visionary and peerless football legend! There is only ONE Arsene Wenger!

Swaziland Activists Thank Global Zimbabwe Forum For Solidarity

"SUDF/SCCCO Salutes Global Solidarity, Condemns Police Brutality"

The Coordination Team comprising the Swaziland United Democratic Front (SUDF) and the Swaziland Coalition of Concerned Civic Organizations (SCCCO) hereby acknowledges and salutes Swaziland Civil Society (CS) in its entirety and our international solidarity partners for once again duly heeding our call to participate in the ongoing Global Week of Action on Swaziland (GWoAS) in and outside our borders.

We wish to express our indebtedness in particular to COSATU and its affiliates, particularly SAMWU, NUMSA, SATAWU, SACCAWU for continuing the trend they set last year by actually gracing us with their presence despite the risks to their membership of defiantly re-entering the borders of Swaziland following their unwelcoming and humiliating treatment by the Swaziland police during last year's GWoAS. Comrades, you have once more demonstrated your unflinching commitment to the cause of multiparty democracy in Swaziland by actually putting your money where your mouth is.

We say a big THANK YOU!

We cannot leave out the Global Zimbabwe Forum who, have continued to ensure that Comrade Solomon Sox Chikohwero represents them among the throngs of pro-democracy Swazis in the streets of Mbabane, Manzini, Nhlangano, Siteki, etc.

To the South Africa Chapter of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC), we say we note your invaluable contribution in profiling the pro-democracy struggle worldwide, resulting in SDC chapters proliferating in Africa and beyond. We do not underestimate the value of the Swaziland Chapter, which forms the anchor and thread for the entire pro-democracy campaign.

We realize that it is through this chapter's determined work in the dangerous political terrain inside Swaziland that 37 countries of the globe are commemorating GWoAS in solidarity with us this week. Finally, we welcome and appreciate the thousands of people and organizations all over the world who continue to stand by us during such trying times, including the work of the SSN forum in raising our issues.

In this regard, we wish to acknowledge and warmly accept messages of solidarity from the WFTU, Africa Contact (AC), the SACP, the ANCYL, Botswana National Front (BNF), Action Support Centre (ASC), National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), Swaziland Student Union (SSU), NEHAWU, Communication Workers Union of South Africa (CWUSA), ITUC, WFTU, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), ITUC, and many others, for their untiring support.

The SUDF/SCCCO Coordination takes this opportunity to condemn in the strongest terms the uncalled for brutality meted out to demonstrators and students in Siteki and Mbabane respectively yesterday. We are appalled at the arrest and forceful removal of visiting COSATU Deputy President, Comrade Zingiswa Losi and COSATU Deputy International Secretary, Comrade Zanele Matebula in Siteki.

We say to the SA government and the international community, here is once again evidence of the intolerance that reflects absence of democracy against which we have been struggling all along. How much more brutality do you need to convince you that Swaziland suffers foremost from a political sickness that unconditional economic bailouts will never remedy? We therefore insist on stringent political reforms attached to any such bailouts from whatever source.

Forward with the spirit of non-surrender forward! The actions continue and conclude in Mbabane on Friday. Amandla!

For more information, kindly contact:
Mduduzi Gina (SUDF)
comfortmgina@yahoo.com
+26876119211

Musa Hlophe (SCCCO)
sccco@swazi.net
+26876048988

Life in Exile Under the Rule of the Malemas!

by Ishmael Kauzani

On behalf of the Zimbabwe Youth Wing Organization, i would like to express our social, economic and  political statement. An overview opinion in regards to Malema's issue and the current state of affairs in South Africa since his disciplinary hearing started on Tuesday.

Firstly, i would like to justify our standing point, reassuring those in power (ANC) that we do not intend to neither incite violence nor intervene directly since we are restricted by your Constitutional mandate upon foreign nationals.

We strongly feel, it is too late to reprimand Malema and his allies accordingly because the consequences are likely to affect industrial growth, harmony in social relations and business prospects in this country and the SADC region at large.

Whatever decision they will take and the outcome too; that is, if there is one! ANC will never be the same again because it seems they are many political heavy-weights involved in this saga.

Certainly, some unfortunate individuals will be sacrificed in the process despite the possibility of Zanu PF involvement and influence since President Jacob Zuma started pushing for the implementation of SADC Election Road Map in Zimbabwe.

Why is the outcome of the hearing is taking too much time? It is a huge burden to the tax payers in terms of the remuneration to the task team involved before engaging other costs. Not to mention the loses by traders who were affected by riots and looting in the streets of Johannesburg.

Surprisingly, these are the same politicians who humiliated former President Thabo Mbeki after the famous Polokwane Conference and the very same Julius Malema was on the forefront in recalling him!

Personally, i am not Mbeki's fan because he betrayed Zimbabweans living in exile through biased mediation during his tenure as SADC mediator by giving Zanu PF a lifeline in the Government of National Unity also known as (GNU) in Zimbabwe.

The repercussions of the decision are likely to be felt at both domestic and the reginal level, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) was supposed to investigate Malema's alleged dealings before this seating and ANC would have a better solid ground to fire him.

Somehow, Advocate Thuli Madonsela has suspended the NPA investigations on Malema's empire because of inadequacy resources?

The motivation seems to add rather than subtract from the lawlessness prevailing in the SADC region as Zimbabwe, DRC (Congo) and Madagascar are now known as high risk areas. They are now among five hot spots in the region including Swaziland and Malawi, according to a survey done by some SADC analysts.

The indefinate closure of SADC Tribunal in August 2010 was also unacceptable since it prevents the citizens of SADC from accessing the very mechanism created to ensure compliance with with the law and provide redress for wrongs suffered.

We will consider a court action against the ANCYL at the SADC Tribunal once it is functional again for calling opposition parties  in Zimbabwe  imperialists fronts. This is sadly, a prejudicial stance which unfortunately may incite xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans living in South Africa.

Aluta Continua!


* Ishmael Kauzani is a Johannesburg based Zimbabwean pro-democcracy youth activist.

Luxury Gate and the MDC’s False Sense of ‘Arrival’

By Tabani Moyo

The dust of the government’s hollywood lifestyle is refusing to settle down. It cannot settle down especially when the people are living in such a sea of poverty. However, the development has shown beyond reasonable doubt that the MDCs are stuck in an omnibus syndrome to governance. The mimicry politics have taken over the voice of reason as the so called ‘democratic change merchants’ stampede for the gravy train.

I happened to bump into three ministers one from the MDC and two from the MDC-T riding in their new filthy lucre. The windows where lowered, music loud as if to attract attention from the public in the exhibition of a newly acquired status. The status of a polished league of gentlemen/women I guess. I said god forbid. These are not business people who have the leeway to do whatever they want with their profits, but public officials ridding on the poor taxpayers’ hard earned income.

What happened to the so called paragons of virtue, those who saw everything wrong about public officials abusing state funds on luxuries? The virtue seems to have sublimated during the ‘opposition’ times, as the train gets more gravy laced, the elements of virtue are crucified on the altar of public suffrage.

As we stand no single minister has declined the offer of these fuel guzzlers, their consciences are clean and their declaration of intent manifest that they are still in a struggle for a better Zimbabwe!

Personally, I don’t have a problem with ZANU PF being implicated in this bangle, we as a people know of its heinous deeds. That’s why the people of Zimbabwe risked limb and life in forming and supporting an alternative vehicle to rid the rot in ZANU PF. It becomes confusing when the line between ZANU PF’s actions and those of the MDCs becomes blurred. 
20 million on luxuries!

The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) is set to increase the utility cost of delivering energy. The public hospitals have collapsed, children this summer shall die of mosquito bites, the industry performing below 30%, women failing access basic sanitary facilities and our education system turning into an elitist platform among other things.

With the above cacophony of problems, we have learnt that ZANU PF and the MDCs can actually unite in ‘looting’ from the poor. The current blame shifts between Minister of Transport, Infrastructure Development and Communication Nicholas Goche and the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti should not be tolerated to continue stealing our intellectual space in the papers. 

The decision to purchase the goodies is a collective one from the cabinet which the three parties are represented.

In this process there is no room for afterthought. The three parties could not agree at cabinet level on the need to increase civil servants salaries but unanimously agreed to squeeze harder the drying pockets of the taxpayers.

As I stated before such are the pitfalls of proximity to state power it exposes the cravings which were going to manifest themselves soon after the ‘opposition’ takes total control of state power. We are better off with some of these happenings are unfolding at this juncture of our cultivation as a people.

The MDCs only got into office two years ago; they are already leaving the lives of movie stars or the English premier soccer stars.

One can only remind the MDCs of the calamity of approaching this ‘struggle’ with omnibus gloves. It gives the impression of a false sense of ‘arrival’, a false sense of destiny. The ministers believe, their yearnings have been achieved, hence the need to amass as much as they can before sporadic cabinet reshuffles.

These state trappings are dangerous for the same people who came up with these platforms or movements can still do the same and push aside primitive ‘accumulativists’ into political dustbins.

Tabani Moyo can be contacted at rebeljournalist@yahoo.com