Before I start I must admit that I'm a little confused myself as to where I stand with this issue...probably somewhere in between the visceral anger of the Wenger out contingent and the warm glowy love of Wenger Knows Brigade. Question: Has Wenger's early years in which he developed our greatest ever sides, found some of the clubs legendary players (and changed English football and Arsenals reputation forever in the process) bought him your unconditional support? Is David Deins "job for life accolade" to Wenger deserved and still hold true after these barren years? Is it psychological ie the messianic status that developed through out the years of finding word class players on the cheap and turning them into league title winning entertaining footballers? Is it something to do with his name ie Mr Arsene-al Wenger? I sometimes think that there is some myopic/psychological issue at play....which makes it uncomfortable to see anyone else sitting in the hot seat...a bit like a father figure? A psychological block? Or was Mourinho right when he said that Wenger has the easiest job in football in that no matter what he does he seems to get absolutely no heat from the board or the "Wenger Knows" hard core contingent? As all other managers on his level, earning his wages, live and die by the sword (Fergie is not a good example to counter the point as he has consistently delivered, albeit with the aid of huge investment)
Answer to your question: No, Wenger doesn't have my unequivocal support. Do I think he should stay in the job ? Yes Why? Because I still think that with some money from the board, our problems can be addressed with buying a DM, a LB and another Striker and that Wenger is the best placed person to continuing managing Arsenal.
Agreed. I'm addition I don't know how you can call 7 consecutive years of cl barren. The board has crippled wenger financially and under the constraints he's done remarkably. Laid the foundation for years to come and deserved are loyalty in return for shunning ventures overseas.
Well top 4 is very good but it's fair to say that if it was "enough" then we wouldn't have the fans protest etc (or indeed be having the many discussions on Wengers future on this board). Top 4 is the foundation on which the house is built...well we've been waiting 7 years but not a brick in sight. As for overseas interests, he's not working for free. Whatever the financial constraints are it hasn't prevented others, including him, from making tens of millions out of the club. Also do you think he would've lasted more than a season or two had he not won anything with RM or Barca...I don't think so. He's a smart guy.
Irrespective he wouldn't be short of offers no matter what the outcome. As for cl I believe under the board the foundation is all we got for the next two,years until stadium debt is repaid.
I don't know. If the time comes for Wenger to go, and I accept he has to go eventually, I would have to hear the name that replaces him. I'm not going to say, "Sack him," and accept any scrub on the scrap heap to replace him. To my mind Bould isn't ready. I thought we looked fragile when he took over for those CL games. So, Wenger out, no. If you say "----------- in", then maybe.
It's tempting to think that a change of manager would equate to a improvement in fortunes. But that isn't necessarily the case - you just need to look at Chelsea for evidence of that. The way I see it, Wenger has been operating with one hand tied behind his back for the last 7 years. I'm not saying that he hasn't made mistakes, everybody does. But I still think that he is one of the best managers in the world. Now we appear to have our finances sorted out, I'd like to see what Wenger can do with the purse strings released.
Although up until last Season I've always been a steadfast Wenger supporter but I am starting to wonder if he no longer has what it takes. He is starting to resemble Clough in his final few years - stubbornly sticking to an approach that just is'nt working. Although I do believe that player sales have hurt us more than ANYTHING else over the last few years it is also apparent that Wenger is unwilling to pay the 'market price' for a player, regardless to how badly the squad is in need of strengthening. Even when money is made available. Last week Wenger stated that he needed to make 2 signings this January but he has ALREADY started back tracking on this. Dont be suprised if we dont sign anyone. I sincerely hope we do as I feel this squad desperately needs a quality striker and a defensive midfielder if we are to qualify for the Champions League yet again.
As said above it's easy to say 'Sack him" "we should be winning the league every season" etc, but there's been little thought given to who is better and attainable (I have seen Guardiola's name bandied about on Twitter but that's living in a dream world). I am very disappointed this year and have been very frustrated for the past 9 or 10 years where we seemed very close to signing players who could have strengthened us where we desperately needed only to not have. But at the same time I have seen Liverpool sack Benitez because he was doing poorly (and Pool being nowhere near us) and them crashing down the table - Newcastle and Portsmouth spending more than us and crashing out of the league, I've seen us spend less than Chelsea and Man C and finish above them. And so changing manager worries me as we spend the same on transfers as a team just above relegation, yet finish in the top 4 - yet we could get a manager in who could spend way over what we can afford and put us in serious debt (Harry Redknapp anyone?) but could still finish much worse than Wenger (Dalglish at Liverpool, lots of Newcastle managers, Jol and Ramos at Spurs ect). Also I don't know of any other manager whose managed to compete with the billionaire clubs such as Man U, Chelsea, Man C (or in other countries Barca, Real) without spending huge amounts while at the same time bringing through great youths and spotting great talent. We definately need to improve as does Wenger - but do we have the finances to bring in a Mourinho style manager who would need to spend to match the best (and spend big?) or would that just bankrupt us?
Well said As I mentioned, it's tempting to say 'sack the manager' and expect it to immediately change our fortunes for the better. But there's a litany of examples where that proves that isn't the case. For the top managers, Mourinho, Fergie, Guardiola etc their success came with spending huge amounts of cash. What are we expecting ? That Arsenal will get some kind of Abramovich styled bankroll along with a new manager ? People say they want Guardiola - is he going to bring Messi, Iniesta and Puyol with him ? Whoever manages Arsenal will have to deal with the reality that is at Arsenal, there's no magic wand to wave at this situation and think it will somehow suddenly make it all rosy again. The pragmatic solution is to stick with Wenger and give him the cash to buy the players that we need - and that, is down to the board.
Yeah its tricky but at the same time we should evaluate our managers performance objectively. Has he lost his touch? Is he still capable of taking us forward? .. are we letting sentimentality cloud our judgement?
As I mentioned earlier, I think Wenger has been operating with one hand tied behind his back for the last 7 years, so it's hard to assess his true performance. Basically I think he's done pretty well to keep us in the champions league over these seasons. I'm not sure another manager, given the same restraints would have done. If the board are true to their word and we're able to spend up to £3Om per season more on the squad, then I think Wenger should be given the chance to show what he can do with it. I think it would be cruel to sack him and then give a new manager the kitty he never had.
Iv'e been surprised it has taken Arsenal fans this long to protest. Wenger seems to be hand in glove with the board. Profit overrid's success. He and the board are paying themselves huge salary's and treating their loyal fan base as blockheads. Wenger if a man of genuine morals could walkway any time if he didn't like status quo with his head held high. I understand there is loyal rational core like many on this board but how long will you take this pomposity ? The board and Wenger are one. ( I have no love of the way my club is being run ,or football in the UK. The Germans do it better and give me the Barcelona way in a perfect world)
I think this is an area that both Wenger and the Board are going to have to re-evaluate their policies on. I can understand why Wenger never wanted to go down the route of paying over the odds for players and of course that's suited our board.
Interesting debate. I think Wenger has had the worst 18 months of his career , he gave in to Na$ri, was helpless to keep Cesc and then watched his new club captain drag himself off the treatment table to post the best season in his 8 year Arsenal career and secure a move to OT and £200k a week. Where I think Wenger has failed is with the relative mediocrity he has bought: in 10/11 Ryo, Squilaci and Chamakh came, then the following Summer Park, Gervinho and Santos, that's 6 sub standard players bought to the club inside 12 months, add Mertesaker and Jenkinson who are still question marks and these deals just aren't good enough. On the upside Arteta, Pod and Giroud are all successes, Cazorla looks to have disappeared off the radar and Oxo worried the best in Europe last season yet can't get near the pitch this. We were desperate for a striker yet found another loan deal for Joel Campbell who now looks to be anotehr Vela or Bendtner with the club keen to offload whenever possible. I started the season very optimistic but it's quickly turned to disappointment. And whilst I'm the first to point the finger at the chequebook bullies for ruining football and putting us in the predicament we're in, I genuinely now think that nothing short of a major overhaul that will probably take 2-3 years will get us anywhere near competitive at the top of the table, and the touble is (as a journo in the Evening Standard pointed out tonight), other clubs aren't going to step back and allow us to catch up, they will continue to re-invest and buy top talent. I think many of the failures of the club come down to Wenger but I still believe he is an incredibly dedicated and talented man who loves the club and will work 24/7 to make things better, the trouble is he's not a young man and I am coming round to the view that if a top top manager was available next Summer then AW should move upstairs - under no circumstances should he be sacked, he deserves a hell of alot more respect than that, as he does from the fickle trophy starved fans booing him and the team, poor behaviour IMO. Not a massive issue for me but maybe we're just heading back to the club we were 30 years ago, but in 1982 you could get into Highbury for less than a quid and in demanding top dollar from todays fans that return may not be acceptable to many...
"in 10/11 Ryo, Squilaci and Chamakh came, then the following Summer Park, Gervinho and Santos, that's 6 sub standard players bought to the club inside 12 months " amen to that brother . The talent scouts who reccommened these people need to be hung drawn and quartered.
Why is Ryo in that list? He's only 18 and will be very good in the future. Not his fault Wigan are idiots who won't play him (The onlyocassion he started he got an assist BTW and he's earned praise in the few times he's played)
Leave AW alone he says Arsenal are NOT in crisis and insists his side are in “fantastic shape” and he would not swap places with Manchester City. stop complaining http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag.../Arsene-Wenger-Arsenal-are-not-in-crisis.html
To be fair , i dont think any of us would want Arsenal to become Man City. Why would we. ? Tonites performance by City shows starkly that money cant guarantee success. And any success that you do get , earned or not , will be disparaged by the footballing community as " bought and paid for "
