THE ARSENAL board has always been resistant to change, especially when it comes to loosening the purse strings.
But unless the Highbury hierarchy listens to Arsene Wenger, gets real and starts smelling the coffee over Ashley Cole, it will be forced to preside over the dismantling of everything the Frenchman has been trying to build.
Yesterday's launch of the Premier League probe into Chelsea's "illegal" approach to Cole bought Arsenal a bit of time.
Not even Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon would be brazen enough to make further contact with Cole until the investigation has either cleared Chelsea of any impropriety or branded them guilty - although the likely penalty of nothing more than a fine will have little effect.
That at least gives Arsenal a window of opportunity to make Cole the sort of offer he cannot refuse, probably trebling his £27,000 per week terms to head off the Premiership leaders.
And while the bean-counters among the Highbury board may not want to admit it, they have to accept that their only way of preventing the collapse of everything Wenger has sought to erect will be by caving in to the reality that Chelsea have changed the face of the game for good.
The brazen nature of the Chelsea challenge is one that will have the Arsenal board coughing into their brandy glasses.
But Wenger, looking with a mixture of envy and disbelief at the financial resources that first Claudio Ranieri and now Jose Mourinho have had at their disposal, probably always knew that this day was coming.
Vice-chairman David Dein, the director who works most closely with Wenger, had been preparing for it too, ever since the first few weeks of the new Chelsea order. In the immediate aftermath of Abramovich's takeover, Arsenal were among the first to feel the aftershock.
Chelsea's targeting of both Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry was serious. So serious, in fact, that Arsenal feared both their French aces were on the point of quitting Highbury for Stamford Bridge.
Wenger's relationship with both players proved enough to keep them in harness, but when he arrived in Monaco for last season's Champions League draw, with Abramovich's huge yacht moored within half a mile, Dein's quip barely masked the bitter truth.
As Chelsea's spending broke the £100million barrier in the space of three months, Dein joked: "Roman Abramovich has parked his Russian tanks on our lawn and is firing £50 notes at us."
But the bottomless reserves in the Abramovich armoury mean that the shells have kept on coming, a fusillade stemmed only by the imposition of the transfer windows.
What Abramovich, Chelsea and Mourinho want, they fully believe they will get.
If a problem emerges, money finds a way to smooth it over. And very quickly.
Like it or not - and Arsenal don't - money talks. In fact, in football, it shouts, and Arsenal's voice has been far too timorous. That is why Wenger's words have to be acted upon by the board. If they do not meet Cole's demands, there would be an inevitability about his defection to the other side of London.
The repercussions would be huge. While Wenger's influence is profound, the glue that has kept things together has been his ability to persuade the players that their ambition is matched by the club.
Failing to keep Cole, and allowing him to decamp to the club which has emerged as their most likely successors as champions, would be a signal that the battle is effectively over already, that Arsenal are throwing in the towel. What would follow would be cataclysmic, the beginning of the end, as Arsenal faced the prospect of watching on as Chelsea and Manchester United disappeared further into the distance. Rather than queueing up to commit themselves to the brave new dawn at Ashburton Grove, the players will be looking to the exit doors.
Forget the plans that Wenger has talked over with Henry, Vieira and Robert Pires. Ignore all the ideas the manager might have had about becoming the dominant force and producing a team fit for their new £400m home.
The player drain would become a flood, as unstoppable as a force of nature, and with ramifications that would become truly unpalatable for the Gunners faithful.
Chelsea have already effectively turned West Ham into a feeder club. Suddenly, Arsenal might find themselves in the same position, powerless to resist the sheer weight of financial reality.
That is a prospect that the Arsenal board should dread. But it is all too real and explains Wenger's fears and desperation that the money men hear his call.
If not, then his own long-term position must come into question. Wenger has been at Highbury for nearly nine years, altering the club in every aspect, bringing outstanding football and great success.
But all the time, the Highbury chief has needed to be convinced that the ambitions he held were truly shared, and that the club was willing to bankroll his dreams and aspirations.
Now, more than ever, he needs to see and hear that again.
Wenger is responsible for making Cole into the player he is. That his most successful home-grown protege could signal the break-up of everything he has envisaged would be a bitter pill to swallow. The Arsenal board have no choice. Compete - or die.
..and here's more on the wanted lists
IF the unthinkable becomes reality and Ashley Cole walks out on Arsenal for Stamford Bridge, it could start a stampede of clubs chasing the top Highbury stars. Here are some of the many names who would be on the wanted list of the best teams in Europe
JENS LEHMANN: Borussia Moenchengladbach/Stuttgart - The Calamity keeper could go anyway as both German clubs want him.
SOL CAMPBELL: Inter Milan - He insists he will be playing in Italy in five years' time. Could Cole's departure bring that plan forward?
PATRICK VIEIRA: Real Madrid - All of the top clubs remain an admirer of the powerhouse skipper. And he knows it.
THIERRY HENRY: AC Milan - Unlikely to follow Cole to Chelsea or subject himself to Spain's race problem with Real.
ROBERT PIRES: Real Madrid - Wenger stole him from under the noses of Real six years ago. Could the Spaniards have the last laugh?
JOSE REYES: Barcelona - Battling homesickness and a loss of form anyway. A return to Barcelona might just be the answer.
FREDDIE LJUNGBERG: Juventus - Contract talks have already begun in an attempt to keep him out of the Italian club's clutches.
PASCAL CYGAN: Okay, okay, maybe Arsene Wenger will be able to keep hold of at least SOME of his players
----------
Anybody read this? Utter rubbish. Cole leaving wouldn't signal the departure of seven players. Sol Campbell just signed a new deal for another three years. Reyes is just getting his form back (you know, playing with a smile on his face like he used to), Freddie won't leave, Pires is beginning to enter the twilight part of his career, and Thierry will be here as long as Arsene is.
Complete crap, as usual.
But unless the Highbury hierarchy listens to Arsene Wenger, gets real and starts smelling the coffee over Ashley Cole, it will be forced to preside over the dismantling of everything the Frenchman has been trying to build.
Yesterday's launch of the Premier League probe into Chelsea's "illegal" approach to Cole bought Arsenal a bit of time.
Not even Stamford Bridge chief executive Peter Kenyon would be brazen enough to make further contact with Cole until the investigation has either cleared Chelsea of any impropriety or branded them guilty - although the likely penalty of nothing more than a fine will have little effect.
That at least gives Arsenal a window of opportunity to make Cole the sort of offer he cannot refuse, probably trebling his £27,000 per week terms to head off the Premiership leaders.
And while the bean-counters among the Highbury board may not want to admit it, they have to accept that their only way of preventing the collapse of everything Wenger has sought to erect will be by caving in to the reality that Chelsea have changed the face of the game for good.
The brazen nature of the Chelsea challenge is one that will have the Arsenal board coughing into their brandy glasses.
But Wenger, looking with a mixture of envy and disbelief at the financial resources that first Claudio Ranieri and now Jose Mourinho have had at their disposal, probably always knew that this day was coming.
Vice-chairman David Dein, the director who works most closely with Wenger, had been preparing for it too, ever since the first few weeks of the new Chelsea order. In the immediate aftermath of Abramovich's takeover, Arsenal were among the first to feel the aftershock.
Chelsea's targeting of both Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry was serious. So serious, in fact, that Arsenal feared both their French aces were on the point of quitting Highbury for Stamford Bridge.
Wenger's relationship with both players proved enough to keep them in harness, but when he arrived in Monaco for last season's Champions League draw, with Abramovich's huge yacht moored within half a mile, Dein's quip barely masked the bitter truth.
As Chelsea's spending broke the £100million barrier in the space of three months, Dein joked: "Roman Abramovich has parked his Russian tanks on our lawn and is firing £50 notes at us."
But the bottomless reserves in the Abramovich armoury mean that the shells have kept on coming, a fusillade stemmed only by the imposition of the transfer windows.
What Abramovich, Chelsea and Mourinho want, they fully believe they will get.
If a problem emerges, money finds a way to smooth it over. And very quickly.
Like it or not - and Arsenal don't - money talks. In fact, in football, it shouts, and Arsenal's voice has been far too timorous. That is why Wenger's words have to be acted upon by the board. If they do not meet Cole's demands, there would be an inevitability about his defection to the other side of London.
The repercussions would be huge. While Wenger's influence is profound, the glue that has kept things together has been his ability to persuade the players that their ambition is matched by the club.
Failing to keep Cole, and allowing him to decamp to the club which has emerged as their most likely successors as champions, would be a signal that the battle is effectively over already, that Arsenal are throwing in the towel. What would follow would be cataclysmic, the beginning of the end, as Arsenal faced the prospect of watching on as Chelsea and Manchester United disappeared further into the distance. Rather than queueing up to commit themselves to the brave new dawn at Ashburton Grove, the players will be looking to the exit doors.
Forget the plans that Wenger has talked over with Henry, Vieira and Robert Pires. Ignore all the ideas the manager might have had about becoming the dominant force and producing a team fit for their new £400m home.
The player drain would become a flood, as unstoppable as a force of nature, and with ramifications that would become truly unpalatable for the Gunners faithful.
Chelsea have already effectively turned West Ham into a feeder club. Suddenly, Arsenal might find themselves in the same position, powerless to resist the sheer weight of financial reality.
That is a prospect that the Arsenal board should dread. But it is all too real and explains Wenger's fears and desperation that the money men hear his call.
If not, then his own long-term position must come into question. Wenger has been at Highbury for nearly nine years, altering the club in every aspect, bringing outstanding football and great success.
But all the time, the Highbury chief has needed to be convinced that the ambitions he held were truly shared, and that the club was willing to bankroll his dreams and aspirations.
Now, more than ever, he needs to see and hear that again.
Wenger is responsible for making Cole into the player he is. That his most successful home-grown protege could signal the break-up of everything he has envisaged would be a bitter pill to swallow. The Arsenal board have no choice. Compete - or die.
..and here's more on the wanted lists
IF the unthinkable becomes reality and Ashley Cole walks out on Arsenal for Stamford Bridge, it could start a stampede of clubs chasing the top Highbury stars. Here are some of the many names who would be on the wanted list of the best teams in Europe
JENS LEHMANN: Borussia Moenchengladbach/Stuttgart - The Calamity keeper could go anyway as both German clubs want him.
SOL CAMPBELL: Inter Milan - He insists he will be playing in Italy in five years' time. Could Cole's departure bring that plan forward?
PATRICK VIEIRA: Real Madrid - All of the top clubs remain an admirer of the powerhouse skipper. And he knows it.
THIERRY HENRY: AC Milan - Unlikely to follow Cole to Chelsea or subject himself to Spain's race problem with Real.
ROBERT PIRES: Real Madrid - Wenger stole him from under the noses of Real six years ago. Could the Spaniards have the last laugh?
JOSE REYES: Barcelona - Battling homesickness and a loss of form anyway. A return to Barcelona might just be the answer.
FREDDIE LJUNGBERG: Juventus - Contract talks have already begun in an attempt to keep him out of the Italian club's clutches.
PASCAL CYGAN: Okay, okay, maybe Arsene Wenger will be able to keep hold of at least SOME of his players
----------
Anybody read this? Utter rubbish. Cole leaving wouldn't signal the departure of seven players. Sol Campbell just signed a new deal for another three years. Reyes is just getting his form back (you know, playing with a smile on his face like he used to), Freddie won't leave, Pires is beginning to enter the twilight part of his career, and Thierry will be here as long as Arsene is.
Complete crap, as usual.
