I have mentioned before that I genuinely feel most fans sit in between the outright parties of ‘Wenger out’ and ‘In Arsene we trust’. Maybe I just feel this way because I sit somewhere between the middle of these two groups, as do those I travel to games with, sit in the pub to watch a midweek champions league away game, or just banter about football with in general.
We want progress and bemoan Wenger when he gets things wrong, but we also praise him when he does well. The truth is the ‘Wenger Out’ group are simply shouting themselves hoarse for no reason.
The board have overall financial control of the club, not Arsene, and while he will have a large influence on many aspects (those of you who have taken the Emirates Stadium tour will know what I mean) of the team and club he is not on the board, not a major shareholder and therefore not calling all the shots. If the ‘WO’ (as I shall herby call them) fans can’t see this then perhaps it is them who should seek their football elsewhere?
For years we have fallen short of winning things, sometimes cup finals by a mere goal, other times leagues by a matter of 4 points (often a bit more to be honest) and this has driven some fans to seek someone to be angry with, the manager seems the easy target, and in some cases Wenger has deserved criticism, some signings he has indentified have failed and some of his tactical choices for games have not worked out so well, indeed I wonder had we moved Podolski behind Giroud and sent Cazorla out wide on Saturday we may have had more luck, but that’s armchair football tactics after the event so I shall stop immediately on that train of thought.
Yet there are many times when Wenger has made astute signings, out thought some of the most brilliant tacticians and has kept an element of class to the team and the club in a time when we are surrounded by classless money throwing owners and mercenary footballers.
I believe Arsene Wenger is the best manager in the world to operate under the system the board wishes to. I genuinely think your SAFs and Guardiolas of this world would not have managed to do any better over the last eight years. If you disagree then fine, but SAF has relied on Rooney the way we relied on RVP and he only managed to keep him there by chucking £200k a week at him after he threw dummy out of the pram, something Arsene would never do, and last season the desperate re signing of Scholes (who he still hasn’t replaced) didn’t bring him any silverware either.
The ‘WO’ brigade should be chanting ‘Board Out’ in truth, because the board will not change and I don’t think another football manager alive could keep Arsenal as competitive as they are with the financial constraints the board impose.
In short, be careful what you wish for……
Ed Blagrove
@EdBlagrove
I DON'T MIND WENGER STAYING ON BUT HE MUST BE STRAIGHT WITH THE FANS AND NOT TRY AND TREAT US LIKE MORONS. THAT'S WHAT I FIND VERY IRKSOME WITH HIM. TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, YESTERDAY AT HIS PRESS CONFERENCE HE SAID THIS, TO THIS EFFECT; ' 'ONCE WE SEE THAT SPECIAL PLAYER WE WILL GO FOR HIM''. I FEEL HE IS WRONG TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT AS SPECIAL PLAYERS IN THIS DAY AND AGE COST A LOT OF MONEY WHICH HE IS NOT PREPARED TO SPEND. HE'LL RATHER BARGAIN AND BARGAIN UNTIL A CHELSEA OR MANC COMES UP ON THE SIDE AND PINCHES THAT PLAYER. HE ALSO SAID THE SAME THING A FEW SEASONS NOW RUNNING AND WE ARE NOW STILL TRYING DESPERATELY TO SHIFT THOSE SO CALLED 'SPECIAL PLAYERS' OUT OF ARSENAL WITH NO LUCK; SQUILLACI, CHAMAKH, ARSHAVIN, DENILSON, PARK BUT TO NAME A FEW COME TO MIND!! IF HE STOPS DOING THAT WITH HIS STUPID POST MATCH ASSESSMENT OF THE TEAM'S ENDLESS POOR PERFOAMNCE ESPECIALLY AFTER A LOSS, THEN I AM QUITE PREPARED TO GIVE HIM COMPLETE CONTROL AT THE HELM AS I BELIEVE HE IS A GOOD MANAGER.
He takes all the criticisms because he comes across as being in charge of everything at the club! if he is accredited for the Stadium, the training ground, the plaayers' diets and whatever else, then he should and must shoulder the responsibility for team selection in terms of purchases and performances. He cannot hide from these truths. How much did the stadium & training ground cost? 100's of millions. If he can get the credit for geting the board to spend all this money, what would spending up to a mere £35M on top quality player do to the coffers of the club?
Come on man Arsene is there pulling the strings and the board listen to him 100% because if they don't and knowing his stubborn streak, he would have long gone!!!!!
The problem with Arsene (Arsenal) is that they talk the talk but never deliver in reality. Arsene says he would bring in special players but yet Mvilla, Sahin and Moses have been left for the competition to buy up (Liverpool and Chelsea etc.) Hipocritical? or just simply a smoke screen to make us believe Arsenal have the money?.The reality may be that Arsenal do have the money but have no intention of spending and after season apon season of losing games which they should have won, it does leave a bitter taste in the mouth. With season tickets at a premium its also a kick in the teeth when the best spectacles (players) are leaving.. I would trust Arsene if i knew the truth!
In truth it's not even the board's fault, let alone Wenger's. Simple fact is that other clubs are competing with sugar daddy money that other clubs don't have. Some clubs like Liverpool have done what some are asking Arsenal to do (i.e. gamble by spending more than they earn) and it nearly landed them in administration, without any success on the field either (if the value of Liverpool as a club had not risen which allowed the inflated price to wipe off their debts they would have become another Rangers.)
If people are angry about our lack of 'success' then personally I'd suggest venting your anger against teams that are basically cheating against us and the authorities that have allowed it to happen. Wenger has been incredibly loyal to Arsenal despite a lot of bigger offers from other top clubs and IMO deserves and enormous amount of respect for working in such a dignified manner while he is IMO unfairly attacked by people who simply do not understand the situation.
Bottom line – without a sugar daddy then getting rid of Wenger who constantly finds and polishes gems for us in a way that no other manager in world football has done would see us far far worse off.
Wenger really is the special one and anyone who knows anything about football would know that.
He has kept us in the the elite of european clubs since his arrival but the problem is he knows how to find players with potential and turn them into worldclass players but the board see him as a money maker for them and dont care about success only profit.The truth is that when wenger came he inherited one of the best players in the world in Bergkamp and we have never really replaced him with anyone one with that kind of creative genius – We managed to buy players that had lost their elsewhere and get them playing the best footballm of their lives but there is no such thing as a bargain anymore and the board wont spend big.
As much as it hurts to say it we need Alisher Usmanov and his billions to compete – not go crazy like the mancs or chelsea but the strength to compete for speacial players like Hazard who could have finnalyy filled the gap Bergkamp left behind.