Eddie Howe - yay or nay?

As so I haven't said that then. Cleared up.

 

With respect, the highlighted part is where I think you and some others are simply making sweeping assumptions.

The salient point here is 'competent managers' and that's the tricky part. The argument I'm hearing is that simply because we have the available resources, any other manager can simply come in and do at least as well as Wenger and possibly improve on it.

The point I am making is that whilst Wenger (and the board) have obvious flaws, there is no guarantee that another manger can achieve what Wenger is currently doing (there are 16 other teams in the league who would gladly swap places with Arsenal) There is also the possibility that we could actually do a lot worse. This is the part that people don't seem to be taking into account. There seems to be this attitude that anybody can replicate what Wenger is doing achieve more.

That said, I agree it could swing both ways and until we replace Wenger we're never going to know. The point I am making though, is that it isn't simply going to be as easy as getting rid of Wenger and assuming that another manager will improve our situation. When it comes to replacing him, the club have got to get it right.

 

I just feel like the dynamics vary from club to club and it's incredibly difficult to compare one club's experiences of replacing a top manager with another because they have their own set of circumstances or previous events that have impacted their future. I'm not saying 'simply anyone' can do what Wenger has done, but someone who has a good track record at delivering for previous clubs definitely should be expected to. Any manager worth his salt should be capable of doing so.

Honestly Piskie, I've not said this and I've not seen anyone on here lazily claiming that just anybody could replicate what Wenger has done. But you would expect a number of managers to be able to when they would have a far better set-up here than at other clubs.

But regardless of who it is, it's going to be a calculated risk. We will have no way of knowing whether it's right or not until we've had the benefit of hindsight. No manager we get will be a guaranteed success.