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Why axing Wenger at Arsenal is not an option

By 2011/10/10 28 Comments

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Firstly, before you start reading this article, you should know that I am not a part of the AKB gang. Nor (as you may tell from the title) am I campaigning to get Wenger the boot. I am simply pro-Arsenal Football Club and to be honest I can appreciate the arguments from both sides of the apparent divide.

I would like firstly, to look at the reasons that players join Arsenal Football Club. I believe there are two; 1) because we compete in the Champions League regularly, and 2) because Arsene Wenger has an almost unparalleled reputation around the continent for developing players. The Oxlade-Chamberlain transfer is probably the most recent example of this, but there are a plethora. If Arsene Wenger was not in charge of Arsenal, it’s likely that our latest wonderkid would be plying his trade for one of our Premiership rivals. Simply speaking, if you take Arsene Wenger out of the equation, we don’t have much going for us in the transfer market, particularly with Champions League qualification this season in doubt.

Arsene Wenger makes mistakes. Of course he does. Is the man perfect? No. Will our next manager be perfect? No. Was Herbert Chapman perfect? No. I, like many fans, have been left pulling my hair out at our tippy-tappy, lightweight brand of football in recent years. It is a far cry from the dominant, powerful, one-touch stuff we saw a few years ago from the likes of Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Pires and Ljungberg. Of course the fans have a right to feel frustrated. At the same time, you have to appreciate that in the era of Bergkamp and Henry, it was essentially a straight shoot-out for the big competitions between us and Manchester United. It would be interesting to see how the same team would do with the additional competition from money-spenders Manchester City and Chelsea these days. I’m not trivialising the achievements of that great team, as we all know you can only beat the opposition in front of you.

When Wenger does eventually hang up his…glasses, his biggest legacy will be the Hale End Academy. Having watched the second leg of T*ttenham’s Ropey League tie against Hearts, one thing struck me. If that is the best that the Spuds academy has to offer, fear-not Gooners, they will be in our shadow for another 15 years to come and we will have Arsene Wenger and his staff to thank for that.

The 6 year (and counting) transitional period has hurt the fans badly, but it is not the worst period in the club’s history by any stretch of the imagination. For pundits like Frank McLintock to come out in the public domain and claim that this is the worst Arsenal team he has ever seen is utter tripe. I can tell you, Frank, the first Arsenal game that I went to, was at home to Swindon Town in 1994 when we managed to scrape a 1-1 draw… and I beg to differ!

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  • Vinay

    He is irreplaceable simply put. The man has done so much for this club and is also the only man who can get the club back on track again. trust him as we have always done and he will deliver. Arsene Wenger is eternal to Arsenal FC

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    • Reginaldperters

      what a load of bollox.

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      • Nicenshine

        Ii have been dissapointed n angry at the way Arsenal is today. Yes Sacking Arsene is not an option. Trophy this season or next is not going to happen. Arsene do have a way of spotting talents no doubt about that. But come reality to the stage that most are using Arsenal as a stepping stone to a better future. If Arsenal is not winning a trophy or challenging. Do you think these talents staying 5 years or more want to waste their short football lifespan in arsenal not winning anything. One of the easiest yet challenging ways is to win trophy to convince them to commit n also attract any players. If this is not happening, Arsenal will not be able to win n will just keep on selling players n cannot keep hold of plyers

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    • Anonymous

      “trust him as we have always done”

      So I guess Arsenal didn’t exist before Wenger?

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    • Ieuan-preece

      how long should i trust him cos ive been doing it for the past 6 years any idea when he will turn it around. any info will be much obliged thank you

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  • Anonymous

    Ok so Wenger can attract kids because they know they will get a chance but how successful has that strategy been for us?

    the obvious problem with this is that young players see Arsenal as a finishing school before moving on to bigger clubs and winning clubs.

    Any manager could have pulled off this strategy frankly. What’s the point in attracting young players (and spending most of your budget to do it) if you can’t keep them together to win trophies.

    Also I have to argue that the academy hasn’t been very successful. 15 years of a supposedly brilliant coach for young players and how many have we seen come out of the academy and into the first team? Ashley cole, now gibbs and wilshere. Anyone think of any more?

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  • TM

    From a fan perspective we need change….at best..lets give him a two/three year break/holiday/leave to help him with his comeback….Arsenal has been going downhill for some years now…

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  • Bigsyisback

    You are talking absolute rubbish mate, pure and simple rubbish !..If Wenger is so good why is he not able to get the best out of Arshavin ? proven talent beyond doubt but confused and looking lost, why is he not able to get the best from Theo Walcott ? still no better than he was 6 years ago and in serious danger of not even making the England squad if people like Johnson, Downing and Young continue to put in decent shifts, one good cross for England Friday night and the rest ended up in the top tier..why has he not been developed ? why has Gibbs not kicked on like expected ? why has Pennant gone from strength to strength elsewhere ? why has Upson proved more than capable since leaving ? are you talking about Henry who he plucked from obscurity and made a name ? Henry would have been world class wherever he went , flicking a ball up spinning and volleying from 30 yards is not the work of Wenger it is a work of a genius…Vieira was another who turned into a wonder player who had natural ability and made it good, don’t confuse giving people and players confidence with being a genius and awesome at developing players..for every Henry there is 10 Walcotts, for years and years Arsenal have been wheeling out the kids in league cup matches and most of them are elsewhere being turned into footballers like Lansbury now is..as for Spurs and the kids well I think you are being super harsh and again talking B*llocks…the average age you are referring to that night was 18, people like Harry Kane and Andros Townsend are not good enough and never will be for first team football on a regular basis..but stop and look at yourself before making such hideous comments, where the F**k is Owusu Abeyie these days ?
    I will have any amount of money you like Tom Carroll is running the show with England and Spurs in the next 5 years, with your very own Jack next to him..so do your research first and stop talking rot, I only hope for your sake Oxo is not ruined by wenger like Walcott has been ..Venables would have been playing him down the centre since day 1 and the same can be said for Arshavin too ..never mind the monthly circle will go the other way next week on here, love wenger hate wenger every other week..wake up smell the coffee and ask yourself why a man with such great youth policies has nurtured only Jack Wilshire since a kid ? the rest were all picked up from other academies doing the business for Barcelona, Monaco and co already, how many Herts and Essex boys are in the first team these days ?..yeah thats what I thought !

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    • Bigsyisback

      Wilshire and Gibbs is the answer to that..now apart from Ashley Cole I am really struggling to think of a Wenger Product that made it big at Arsenal via the youth System…for the record we have Livermore, King and Townsend at the moment, and you are in no position to argue with anybody about their ability levels either with the likes of Carl Jenkinson being brought in..a rare show of true colours from me but I won’t tolerate B**locks being spouted.

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      • Anonymous

        you might find this interesting:

        http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s378/st171322.htm

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        • Bigsyisback

          that is a fantastic and very interesting article..

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      • Woolish gooner

        Townsends is class but he has bale to get by,won’t happen and I agree with you tottenham have better prospects as a arsenal fan that is very damming as it’s what we are all about,how we have fallen,wenger out now

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        • Bigsyisback

          not sure Spurs have better prospects just not sure that given the history and the clear lack of first team talent that has progressed through the youth policy at Arsenal under Wenger anyone should be putting the boot into Spurs too easily..gone are the days of Rocastle, Thomas, Adams, Merson, Campbell, Parlour etc and somehow Wenger has managed to fluff it all up and convert the press that his method is better than in years gone by..he has actually failed miserably at producing youth ..see the article Superrob has linked .

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  • Charles Christie

    No manager is irreplaceable, except for SAF (as his record proves), so whilst Arsene Wenger has done wonderful things for Arsenal as a whole, he cannot be allowed to continue down the path of complacency, mediocrity and missed opportunity that seems entrenched in Arsenal at the moment.
    The team needs rebuilding and instilling with a new team and work ethic, and given that Pep Guardiola is now ready for a new challenge, I would argue that he is the perfect candidate to replace Mr Wenger as manager. I would however, also argue that Mr Wenger should remain and sit on the Arsenal Board, as he still has a lot to offer the wider cause.

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    • 037

      give SAF the challenge of staying competitive in the top 4 while moving stadiums and staying financially sustainable, and only then can you claim that SAF is “irreplaceable”

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      • WC

        SAF stayed competitive while United was buried under 1.3B in debt after the takeover. However, he has people who concern themselves with that so he can be a coach. Wenger is the manager, coach, director of football, accountant, janitor, ticket taker – why? When Dein and Fiszman were still around they were the ones who dealt with the business and Wenger coached his team – that is how it should be. Gazidis just sits in his office and does what exactly? Why is Arsene trying to be the only employee at the club when he should just be the coach?

        Arsene has shown he doesn’t have the nous or network of contacts that Dein had to broker deals for world class players so why doesn’t he give up and let Arsenal hire someone who can or beg on their knees for David Dein to come back. It’s no coincidence that the quality of players he have bought has drastically declined since Dein was forced out.

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        • Anonymous

          So you work high up in highbury house do you? How do you know who does what? How do you know that “Gazidis just sits in his office”?

          That’s the reason there is this whole massive argument amongst arsenal fans about whether Wenger should be sacked. we don’t know who made what decisions. If we knew the ins and outs of all the decisions made it would be obvious who was in the wrong. It could be the fault of the new owner, the old owners, the CEO or the manager and some blame could be attached to the playing staff as well.

          Also how do you know that the reason the quality of players has declined because of that specific reason. Other clubs manage to sign top quality players without Dein. Its got nothing to do with one individual, its about the money. Its always about the money.

          I would say a bigger reason why the quality has declined is because we have decided to spend around a third of our transfer budget on youngsters every year which was the sudden shift in transfer strategy that coincided with Dein being forced out.

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  • Bradster

    I fear it’s a bit late in the season to get a new manager to make do with the crop of players we have. Wenger needs to open his mind to the possibility of changing how we play. He went out and bought (claimed not out of desperation) players that are not of the Arsene Arsenal mould, so why keep trying to play them like they are?

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    • Anonymous

      Because Wenger is a poor tactician? I would argue that the current group of players need a different manager for them to be able to succeed.

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  • Ayagumede

    I think many fans are trying to pull to wrong person out of Arsenal FC. Fine Wenger gets sacked, but the same bloody stingy board that don’t wana spend is still there.

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  • Bigsyisback

    Shit this has really got me annoyed and I shouldn’t be, Has anyone stopped to realise that Football and in particular International football goes in cycles ? ..Arsene Wenger is French, he managed to get a very good Arsenal team (very very good to keep it fair ) full of French players at a time when French Football was at the pinnacle of the International game, once you get Petit and Vieira, how hard is it to get Pires ? Henry ? Anelka prior ? Clichy ? etc etc..Wenger found himself in a bigger situation than Harry has with Modric, Corluka and Krancjar, it is not hard to keep men from the same nation happy especially when you are from their nation too..
    I respect Wenger but I am not sure he has ever been tested until now and most of that is because he made the most of his contacts back home and got the best players on the planet under one roof, jesus he didnt even have to find Bergkamp, Rioch had done that for him, even I could be a success in that scenario..

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  • the font

    first there is not a divide there is a few brainless twits who i suspect have never been to the emirates and are drunk for most of the time they spend watching arsenal on the box and then there is a army of pro wenger true arseal supporters around 2.5 million of us if you look at any blog that says wenger out they forgot to put who to replace him with two much booze not enough grey matter

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    • Anonymous

      2.5 million? where does that number come from? Pure fantasy.

      And there are loads of names of manager who could do a better job with the amount of money we have, than Wenger has been the past few years. I suspect that Wenger could do a better job as well if he wasn’t so stuborn, but he is so he has decided on the path he will take and against all advice he will stick with it.

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  • Myhonda152

    Guys,

     

    Give Wenger by end of the year to proof his is correct! At
    this point we need to give and take, we have enjoyed a good time and good
    football under Wenger. Sometime thing happen NOT as we plan, our poor was NOT
    due to player leaving. However, due to key players injured, since our good players
    have been injured for months, course this will affect your performance and
    result. At this moment all Arsenal supporter should stick together and support
    our team and also Wenger. Next few weeks we will get a boost, Thomas Vermaelen and Abou Diaby will join back our first
    team, we hope we could bounce back…

     

    List of longer term injured player.
    Bacary Sagna (Ankle)

    Abou Diaby (Ankle)

    Jack Wilshere (Ankle)

    Johan Djourou (Muscular)

    Laurent Koscielny (Ankle)

    Thomas Vermaelen (Ankle)

     

    Thank you.

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    • Bigsyisback

      Has to be typed by a member of the original cast of Monkey, my money is on Tripitaka given the wording and general ‘pathos’ to it..

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  • Joskin

    Pointless article this because he will never be sacked and will only leave when HE feels the time is right for him.  I truly believe that Wenger has done well for Arsenal, but that those days ended after the defeat in the Champions League final.  We’ve been going down hill ever since – though I never thought it would be as dire as it is now.  As for Wenger being brilliant at bringing on players, well, we know about Vieira, Anelka and Cole and the like…but what about Reyes, luzny, steponov, Jeffers, Squilachi,Diaby, Denilson, Sendoros, Keshelny and my personal ‘favourite’ Johan ‘what’s a football’ Djourou?  He’s had brilliant players under his wing but he has also brought in a lot of bloody awful ones as well.  Of course he’s as human as anyone else, so this idea that only he could ever manage Arsenal is complete rubbish.  Of course someone might do a better job or they may be a total disaster.  We will never know until he finally leaves.

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  • Weslee

    FOR YOU DOUBTERS, HERE IS CHELSEA’S BIG CHEESE,
    “Even before [Financial Fair Play] we were of the view we couldn’t rely on Mr Abramovich for ever,” Buck told the Daily Mail.
    “We had to figure out a way over the
    medium term to stand on our own two feet. Maybe Financial Fair Play is
    making us do that a little bit quicker.
    “We have to up our sponsorship income. We have to reduce our transfer fees, reduce our payroll and up our match-day revenues if we can. Naming rights could also be important.
    “An academy costs maybe £5m a year to run, so if you can get maybe one player every year or 18 months into the first team, look at the transfer fees you’ve saved. The economics are pretty clear. Implementing it is much more difficult.”

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  • Godfather_cwq

    As I’m in the mood I’ll continue. The lure and smell of money will lure our talent away. This club is full of talent that we are training up for our rivals. Without huge investors we cannot compete at the very highest level. Ive said this for three years now. We are a fluffer club for the BIGGER clubs. Do me a favour, Manchester City!!? Where did they come from?

    Wenger isn’t the problem. It’s the powers out there not creating a level playing field regarding investment capital and wages. You know – like those football management games you all play. If it were I think Wenger would be still the thorn in Ferguson’s big red nose. It’s Simple – we can’t compete with the smell of cash. Money is destroying the game.

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