It’s been a week that will almost split the Arsenal supporters into two camps and has been something that has almost stifled Arsenal football club for the last few seasons. Wenger has announced that he is to leave at the end of the season, ending a 22-year association that saw the club transform from boring Arsenal to one of the most attacking and attractive sides on the planet.
I am going to mention the success as opposed to the failure, Wenger is owed a great deal of respect and gratitude for what he has achieved, not least because he managed to acquire so many world class players and extract a level from others that they never even realised they had. Looking at his tenure, you could actually divide it into two clearly defined parts. The early years were the most productive and successful, changing the fabric and style of the club and dragging it out of the beer culture and player run dark ages.
Examining every area of the club at every level, including fitness and diet. By instilling belief and a winning mentality on his arrival in 1996 and assembling a group of players that were the envy of most top clubs around the World. Everyone wanted Arsenal players, every season became littered with transfer stories regarding its top players, something that became consistently annoying on an almost yearly basis.
It’s the style of football that he should be praised the most, free flowing, exhilarating one-touch football, which has been admired and copied to death ever since. Pep Guardiola’s current City side are possibly the closest thing to Wenger’s Arsenal side at their peak and it would have been a pleasure to see the invincible’s take on the current premiership elite.
Oh, if only it could be done, that would be a match that would have been worth its weight in gold.
Yet it’s the last 8, perhaps 10 years that Wenger has found himself powerless to prevent the decline. It’s all gone so terribly wrong for so many reasons but the move to the Emirates was probably one that was instrumental for the rot. Wenger had to balance the books in order for the club to survive and it became a selling club, flogging off its jewels to ensure its future. Have no doubts about the impact on the club or its ability to compete, it is and always will be the number one reason for the wilderness years, the endless taking part and ending up trophyless.
Wenger quite possibly embarked on the most important period of his management by keeping the wheels greased and moving the Arsenal train along the track with the brakes applied and one arm tied behind his back. It’s only on reflection that we can look at how he coped in the worst of situations and still managed to qualify for the Champions League.
Quite how he did that for so long is a mystery. His ability to match other clubs financially was gone, so he had to go cheap, hoping that he could unearth talent that was emerging, that he could once again find a diamond in the rough but the damage had already been done. This period, more than any other is his greatest achievement and he did so against all the odds with his usual drive and commitment.
It’s desperately sad that he will be measured on his last years at the club, desperately trying to get the club back on terms but failing to do so. A few FA cups are no compensation for the effort he invested and is scant reward for the loyalty he showed players who simply didn’t deserve it. The inept board, absent owner and playing staff have the opportunity to reflect on their own performance and I just wonder, probably wishful thinking, if we will see another power struggle between Kroenke and Usmanov in the summer.
I’d rather Wenger stayed and Kroenke quit because he has shown no signs of having any affinity with the club and it appears to be a money based acquisition in the Worlds most prestigious league. It’s just a bangle on his wrist, a flashy watch, a gold card. He neither claims to love football or the club he owns, it’s a profit only venture with a modicum of success if luck goes his way. Wenger, despite his failure in recent years, has loved the club with an intensity that few will ever match.
Perhaps Kroenke has tired of the questions regarding his commitment and is willing to sell to someone who actually gives a hoot about the club and those that follow it. His handling of the club has meant that Wenger has had to take all the blame and responsibility. He’s never looked to blame others, never complained about lack of support and has been vilified by supporters and the media to a sickening degree.
I have made no secret that it’s time for him to leave, Arsenal need a new direction but I will not unduly criticise a man who has given the club so much. He knows it’s a results business and in that regard, he has failed in the last few seasons but he isn’t alone, others have chosen to seek the shade of the tree including the loathsome Gazidis. Gazidis is a gutless wonder that makes decisions from the comfort of the boardroom and then heads off to dinner with his phone turned off.
I blogged recently that there had been meetings between the manager and the board because of Arsenal’s implosion and that Wenger’s support was in free fall. This week the board met and my sources say that they asked for an urgent meeting with the manager. There’s no doubt that Wenger was probably asked to resign or face being sacked, something that was almost unthinkable four or five seasons ago but the decline is so obvious that the cowardly board have issued their ultimatum to preserve their own skins and interests.
Loyalty in football is secondary to the mighty dollar and how Wenger feels about this would make and interesting read, as would his relationship with Glazidis. The pair are almost strangers and are barely on speaking terms. He, more than any other has cut the manager adrift and failed to provide the support. A smiling assassin who puts an arm around one shoulder whilst the other is primed with a sharp blade behind his back, it’s nothing short of scandalous that he will remain in his position, if in fact, he does.
Arsenal now have to find a successor and those Wenger leaves behind will have to show more commitment to the incoming man than they did to Wenger. It’s going to be a massive undertaking and requires someone absolutely top draw like Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid. How odd would it be for Wenger to succeed against his likely successor in one last hoorah before he leaves?
