Mixed feeling. Wenger isn't getting any younger and in my opinion, i think he is past his best. But as Piskie says, unless we get a top manager like Pep in, it makes sense for Wenger to get an extension. But i feel the extension will be more of a business driven decision than a footballing one. He is a low risk/high profitable solution.
I agree, i think wenger is past his best and a contract extension would be a perfect business decision rather than a football (though you cant argue with the results at the mo). I think it would have been great for wenger to go out on a high with a winning squad that the new manager needed to make little changes to. He could a also benefit from wengers player knowledge and scouting network.
TBH I have soured a bit on Pep.....I was very high on him before, but not so much now, the problem with Pep is he moves a lot, and you don't get long term commitment from him, he will come for maybe 2, at most 3 years, and then be off, so not really ideal, and not the way Arsenal are built at the moment, the way we are now is we want someone long term, for a big project, not something short term, and only to start all over again after 3 years. For some reason, he doesnt seem to handle the stress-pressure too well, at Barca he had everything, the best team, success, and it was still too much for him and he left, now the same with Munich, and if Pep thought Spain-Germany was stressful, he aint seen nothing yet. Klopp is a great example of how this league stresses you out, for the first few weeks he was all bubbly and smiling, even when results were bad, now you look at him, and he bloody looks miserable, edgy, and the smiles and laughs are all gone. Mo is another example, he came back as the 'happy one' just 2 years ago, and he looked completely miserable for most of the last year! So is Pep really suited to this high pressure? From his record, it doesnt look like he is. If Wenger does stay, then I think he should bring in some former players like Henry etc, groom them, and then let's go the Barca way, make our former players (including Bould) as the managers, that keeps continuity, and people who genuinely understand the philosophy of this club, and people we know are 100% committed for the short and long term.
I'm sorry, but unless we win the title this season, he shouldn't be getting anything. If there's one thing Wenger has had a lot of, it's time. Time to build a squad that he sees fit and that he thinks is good enough to top the other 19 clubs in the division. If he can't win the league this season, when pretty much all the top sides are weaker than they'll ever be, he will never win it again, in my opinion. If he does win it, I will be more than happy for us to give him a contract extension. If he gets the offer before the season has ended i.e. within the next month or so, I will be pretty pissed off. But providing that the offer is conditional on what he achieves this season, that would be totally fine.
For the time being Arsenal is still different to the rest but a lot of the credit goes to Wenger and what he's achieved with us. Whether we like it or not getting consistent top 4s and a new stadium has justified his contracts. Teams like Barca, Real and Bayern will always carry the most pressure and understandably have a high turnover of managers. As a club, we are able to offer the new manager a more secure and supportive environment that very few top European clubs do. Throw in a good squad, great fan base, new stadium and solid financial footing then you have a winner. In my opinion Wenger will get the contract extension offered to him and he will sign. The management are happy with the current arrangement, in that Wenger provides them with guaranteed finiancial stability with Champions league places and solidly consistent turnouts. He is a highly regarded manager whos name has a lot of pulling power. Not elite, but is suitable for their business objectives. Wenger still looks hungry and will no doubt want to carry on and try and win the Premier and Champions league. He seems to be making steady improvement and is in the best position for ages to win the Premier league. Ultimately the decision lies with Wenger and only when he decides to hang them up will we go out and have a change in management. For the time being, enjoy the Wenger show.
I agree, it's his best chance to win the Premier league. All the top teams seem to be in some sort of disarray and we seem to be the one's that look the most consistent. But I don't think winning the league has any bearing on him being offered a new contract. Maybe to some of the fans that want a change, but the suits upstairs have no desire to change things. Why should they? They couldn't give a flying toss about the football, all they care about is making money and Wenger is a dream come true. The decision is all Wenger's.
Well, if this is correct, then it is totally ridiculous. Because it means that he has license to do whatever he wants and providing he at least gets us 4th place, he will always be safe in his job. Given that we are 8th in the footballing world for highest revenue (ahead of Chelsea) and he is the one of the highest paid managers in the world, there should be more scrutiny on his performance or at least more ambitious targets should be set by his bosses. He shouldn't be expected to be safe in his job irrespective of what he does or doesn't do. That is not a professional way to run a club.
In your opinion. I don't think there has been a time that we haven't made a profit with Wenger at the helm. As I've said previously, he isn't an elite manager anymore and highly unlikely to win the Champions league.. But what he guarantees is a steady stream of sucess and financial profit year in year out. So why else would they want to replace Wenger? You think they care an iota about the football? This is a business and until Wenger makes business sense, he stays in. It's as simple as that.
Not necessarily. It's not just my opinion that someone in their job should have the authority to do as they please with minimal consequences. Surely that is just common sense.
Not saying he has completely free rein to do what he wants but he has considerable power at Arsenal and has more power than what Fergie had. I have no doubt Wenger's control reaches to the financial side of things and there is no question that he has complete control over the footballing side.. When was the last time his judgement was questioned in a footballing capacity? Only time I can recollect was during the Dein era.
I genuinely think that because he's been at the club for so long, he does have free reign to do what he pleases. That being said, getting 4th place/ a Champions League spot with the players we have should not be an arduous task. It should be something that is expected, rather than being seen as an achievement. And if something as basic as CL qualification is all it takes for him to stay in his job, it speaks volume about the lack of ambition from the club. I don't think you will find many people disagreeing with that, surely. By the way, let me just nip something in the bud (and this isn't directed to you Lazarus) - because some people may take issue with a lot of what I've said based on the fact that we're top of the league as it stands and everything is hunky dory. But that can all change very quickly and there is still a long way to go to maintain the position that we're in. I'm well within my rights to feel apprehensive about our chances of winning the league based on previous seasons gone by where we've looked strong but then faded away towards the end.
Ok I will disagree. In general I agree with most of your points and I share some of the frustrations, but I think you're wrong about the lack of ambition of the club. I think they and Wenger are hugely ambitious and want to win the league and champions league. The problem is not every top team can win it, only one each, every season. The others can only give it their best shot and try to win it. I think Arsenal do that each season and whilst we've come up short, there are reasons for that, that aren't always in our control. (Injuries, referring decisions, transfers that doesn't come off, our players losing form, the other team just being better on the day etc) But the point is that Arsenal have it in their targets to try and win these competitions. As for Wenger, he's one of the top 5 managers in the world. What he has done at Arsenal is nothing short of miraculous. He's brought trophies again in the last two seasons and now the spending shackles have been lifted, He looks to be building another great team who are capable of winning he league. The way the board will look at it is, 'Who else can do a better job than Wenger and is it realistic that we can get him ?' The answer to that is probably 'very unlikely'. If they simply thought, 'unless he wins the league this year we're not going to offer him a new contract' then they would be setting themselves up for potential disaster by not being able to have anybody as good as Wenger to take over. It would be a very hung-ho and foolish way to look at the situation. I think the board have faith in Wenger and rightly so, he's shown that he can do it before and he's got the potential to do it again.
Well there's loyalty for you! Well dear, as Mila Kounis is not available I want to stay married to you
Oh I don't doubt that they do want to win those titles. But to what extent they're willing to do all that is necessary to get us to compete with the upper echelon of teams in the world can certainly be called into question. Being the only side in Europe to not sign an outfield player in the Summer was shameful and proves my point. It was an unnecessary risk to take, so why do it? Since we've last won the league, we've only properly competed for the title once and that was in the 07/08 season. That's simply not good enough. See, this is where I think we start to disagree. I fully accept that we're not always going to win a trophy or that we're not always going to win the league because circumstances change each season and for whatever reason, things don't always go to plan. However, the whole purpose of moving stadium was to 'suffer' in the short-term so that we can compete at the top of the table for the long-run. Normally I would say that if we're not going to win the league, I would at least like us to run it close towards the end of the season. However, seeing as we're the only club who isn't in transition, has a stable squad and an experienced manager, it would be very poor for us to not win the league this season, when there are so many factors going in our favour. I can't envisage us getting a clearer path than this in the future. Some of those things that you state which aren't in our control I don't accept, though. Some of them definitely are in our control and some of which can be attributed to the fault of the club, whether it be the manager or the board of directors/CEO. Absolving them of responsibility, when they've made a number of poor decisions in the past, isn't the way to go about it. I'd also have to strongly disagree about the miraculous part as well. I don't see anything he's done in the last 10 years as miraculous at all. But that's a separate discussion. As Lazarus has said, the board have most likely weighed up their options and have seen Wenger as a low risk/highly profitable option. The idea that there aren't other young, innovative managers out there to replace Wenger has been bandied about for a while and it's also something which I don't think holds any weight. If someone came in and their target was to get 4th with the players and the resources we have (like I said, we have higher revenue than Chelsea), I think it would take a complete idiot to screw something like that up. I'm still unsure on Wenger when it comes to tactics and management of the squad, which I guess it's why I have my reservations about him. He has to step down at some point though. He last won the league 12 years ago now though Piskie. How long have we been saying that 'he's done it before therefore he can do it again'? It's the same line that has been repeated since 2005. I will be more than happy for him to stay on if he can win it this season, but if he fails to do so, I think he should step down as manager and call it a day. If he signs a new contract before May 2016, and it turns out we end up falling short in the league, I can't see too many fans being happy with the decision. I obviously include myself in that.
Football f The current team is good but it falls significantly short of being great. His invincibles team was great, it had the perfect blend of players, skill and mentality. I think the team is getting better, but it lacks genuine championship mentality at the moment. This will be tested at the end of the season as they have a very good chance of winning the Premiership. So do you think he is as good as he once was? This is where I disagree. He was pragmatic and cutting edge in the beginning, but he's tends to be dogmatic and struggles to adapt at times if it compromises his principles. He seems to be improving but whether this is good enough to be elite again is another matter. Having a shed load of cash at his disposal will help...
I'll give him credit for getting consecutive top 4's but people seem to disregard the size and stature of the club. You make very good points on us being the most stable and settled top club in the Premiership, and it's no surprise that we're doing well. But its hard to disregard that all the top teams are in some disarray or playing woefully bad. Its freakily bad you can say and to be frank, its Arsenal's for the taking. But as you mentioned, not getting any outfield players last summer has made the task harder. But this goes down to poor risk management and no one challenging Wenger's decisions. I still believe that when Wenger signs a new contract, we get a proper assistant that challenges him and keeps him on his toes.
I love the way you say "when" he signs a new contract, like there's an air of inevitability about it.
