He has been the most successful manager in Arsenal’s history, changing everything imaginable about the club but having endured the last five or six seasons, it’s time we all called time on Arsene Wenger.
It makes me sad that Arsenal are being left with no other option than to dismiss the man who has done so much for the club but you feel that it is inevitable. Regardless of Europa league success, Wenger has lost his way. He can not fashion a team in the time he has left on his contract that is capable of challenging for top honours.
His removal is likely to trigger improved performances and present the club with the opportunity for success, but more importantly, it may also be the catalyst for real change that the fans have been promised. A complete overhaul is needed in the summer but even if several new players were acquired, the mentality and approach will stay the same.
Poor choices and poor decisions have been evident on a frequent basis and now an epidemic of apathy has spread through the board, the club, the team and the fans and the only way the decline can be halted, is to change the man at the top Wenger will always have my thanks and admiration but he is clearly off track and can not see past his blinkered eyes. His belligerent attitude, imperviousness to changes in tactics and stubbornness towards change have made him detrimental and damaging to the club.
I’ve chosen to faff around because of loyalty to the Frenchman and have maintained belief up to a point but it can’t continue. Wenger is like a drunk at the closing time, wanting one more shot, one last taste but he will have to rely on memories alone to quench his thirst.
For the last few seasons, Arsenal have managed to stem the tide of derision and despair by winning an FA cup in the dying moments of the season and all the failure is forgotten briefly.
The next season commences and its Groundhog Day all over again. Spells of brilliance, indifference and inconsistency, culminating in a complete collapse around November or December and it results in another empty season. Arsenal winning the Europa league would be commendable and good for the fans but in relative terms, it will not change a thing.
Wenger is Wenger and he will persist with lost causes, inferior personnel and outdated thinking until he is prevented from doing so. Many seasons back, in the days of Fabregas, Wenger spoke of team potential and eventual success but that day never arrived.
New players came in and the mantra remained the same but the quality of the side actually dropped. Reluctance to spend crippled the clubs progress and they are no closer to being the finished article today than they were five years ago.
Doron Salomon of the Sabotage Times said of Wenger in January 2012:
“I personally found it amazing to learn that for a manager lauded as one of the best, he’s only won three Premier League titles.”
I still have a huge amount of respect for Wenger but there’s little doubt that his time at Arsenal can be split in two, and the latter spell is for me somewhat tarnishing his reputation. It’s sad to think that someone dubbed a “great” has gotten things so wrong.
Who is the real Wenger – the genius that brought Arsenal success when buying well? Or the somewhat stubborn manager, who along with his board has chosen to cut spending and admirably invest his faith in youth but fail to win anything since 2005″
A few FA cups later, things remain almost the same. It’s a gamble changing a manager of Wenger’s calibre but when failure is an almost yearly event and the league position gets worse, time to act decisively. When you can’t command automatic qualification to the champions league and Burnley and Everton are within spitting distance of a dubious sixth place, something needs to be done.
When away form reaches an all-time low and the league champions are streets ahead in terms of points and style, an action is required. It’s time to part company before it can’t be fixed and if you think it’s not possible, then look at the league tables over the last four years. Arsenal are in decline in every sense and all the words and excuses in the World can’t disguise the fact.
In an ideal world, Wenger would manage to get Arsenal into the top four in a close finish. He would have assured champions league status and be on the brink of bringing the title back to north London, that would be the perfect farewell but that isn’t the case and it certainly won’t be the case next season either.
