WTTGT Writer: Jak Penny
He’s the man who sculpted Arsenal into unbeatable title winners and the Barcelona of North London.
Since taking over in 1997, the relatively unknown Arsène Wenger has since become one of the greatest managers in the world.
His ethos of possession and incisive attacking football transformed the Gunners from perennial mid-table dwellers, to title winners in less than a season.
Numerous FA Cups, a Champions League final and the unforgettable unbeaten 2003/04 season followed but since then, things have steadily declined.
The last six years have seen Arsenal fail on all fronts to mount a serious challenge for any major trophy.
Losing the Carling Cup final to Birmingham City in February displayed the Gunners’ inability to win under pressure, something that is increasing with every passing season.
During the week, chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, made the claim that the fans will determine the Frenchman’s fate.
Is this an indication that the board are losing patience with him and his young squad?
There are those who have grown tired of Wenger and his failures to deliver on the transfer and trophy front.
But the Gunner’s boss does have staunch support from a majority of the Emirates crowd
Any sign of discontent from the stands could prove to be the nail in his coffin but only a fool would sack a manager of his calibre.
With every club the fans are the voice of the club and have the power to determine the fate of a manager.
But for Wenger, a man who has transformed the club from top to bottom, the benefit of the doubt has to be applied.
Since the Invincible’s season he has lost the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Vieria, Pires and Ljungberg and has since struggled to replace these key players.
The constant rumours of captain Cesc Fabregas’ departure to Barcelona and his injury problems over the last few years have left Arsenal without leadership.
But jettisoning Wenger on the fans recommendations would be ill advised. He’s building a young squad who need nurturing by the master himself who can turn them into winners.
A trophy is on Arsenal’s horizon and their boss still has it in him to build a squad capable of challenging for honours in the very near future.
I think this article is written by an unrealistic and unambitious individual who believes that Arsenal are not a team who should be winning trophies and can be content finishing fourth in the league.
Fans like you are contributing to where we are now and six trophyless seasons full of hope but no end result. Wake up! Wenger needs to buck up his ideas and stop continuing with this 'young kids' line. They are not young any more and they have had six years to mature.
Time to deliver!!!
I agree with swgooner its nonsense to say he's building a young squad who need nurturing.He's been building this squad for 6 years when are people gonna realize that old excuse about being a young squad doesn't wash with anyone anymore.
wenger needs to buy mature players with experience despite the fact that he nurtures players and sells them to other clubs which has retarded progress in the club
A Wenger apologist article if ever I saw one. The reported 'majority' of Wenger supporters is dwindling with every passing day, every mediocre or young player that the coward signs, every big departure from The Emirates, every poor performance at home, every capitulation away, his bottle abuse and tantrums…
It will be a beautiful day when a new manager with ambition, bottle and tactical nous is installed at the Arsenal and we see this has-been finally gone!
By the way, I suppose the author forgot that George Graham delivered trophies and titles to Highbury when he said that Wenger had changed us from perennial mid-table finishers (unless in the old days, a team would win the league by finishing 10th).
WENGER OUT!!!