Subin: Wenger needs to finish his project – and needs David Dein!
Why Arsenal can’t afford to sack Wenger by Subin George
I don’t know how many people are aware of the fact that the last 5 years (2006-2011) has been a project by itself? Yes, it sure was a project undertaken by the entire club management and Le Professor himself to make sure the club becomes financially stable after moving to a new stadium and help nurture new young talents without losing out on a Champions League spot. As we are nearing the end of that project, it’s review time…and it sure looks like they have achieved what they were aiming for without any hassle. Wenger himself went on the record sometime back about this and stated that they would look into every aspect of the club inch by inch this summer and plunge into the Transfer market (Pray that it happens!)
As the whole world is asking for Wenger to be sacked…I have a completely different point of view and come in outright favour of Arsene Wenger and acknowledge why Arsene Wenger needs to stay. Here’s why…
Arsene Wenger personifies brand Arsenal.
Remember years back when George Graham was at the helm of things at Arsenal? Our home supporters used to boo our team off the pitch for being boring. Yes, we did win trophies…I mean a lot! But that came at a cost of being personified as a team that is too boring too watch, rigid style of play, compact defense to unhinge. When Arsene Wenger came…everyone was sceptical about the rather nerdy looking Frenchmen but what he achieved in one year was rather spectacular. Arsenal completely changed from a boring team to the most entertaining and attacking sides in the premiership. This philosophy of his gave us “The Invincibles”. Gave us Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp. Converted players like Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira into the heartbeat of the team.
The Frenchmen put us on the map. We owe a lot to this man. To me whatever he is trying to do for the club bleeds passion and whole hearted effort which was very evident from his tortured touch line antics over the week. His philosophy has changed a tad bit by preferring young talents over experience (which has cost us dearly) but as years go by I do see some players coming out of the shells and delivering. But It will need time and that sadly is not in our favour one bit.
Consequences of letting Arsene Wenger go!?!
First of all, this would kick start a mass exodus from the club. Our most prized possession Captain Cesc Fabregas will be the first person to leave the club. All of you should know, the only reason he is still at Arsenal is because of Wenger and if his “second father” leaves the club, there would be of no use to stay at a club that lacks any real leaders. Following the Captain will be players who have improved considerably like Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy (who currently have their contract negotiation stalled) and Jack WIlshere. These kids wouldn’t definitely want to stay at Arsenal if Wenger goes. Especially the youngsters would be most affected because Arsenal is the only club in Europe that let youngsters play in the First team and promote them. This would kill the whole philosophy of nurturing new talents in the club and curb our future supply line.
Second of all, Sacking Arsene would bring disaster to Arsenal and all that the club stands for- “beautiful clean football”. It would be so hard for players to get used to a new manager and new methods of training and philosophy. Getting used to a completely new style of play by a new manager would make a lot of players disgruntled. I wouldn’t see whole lot of difference between Liverpool under Roy Hodgson at the beginning of the year. I fear that happening to our club and it would just be heart breaking.
Flaws in the team and that needs to be rectified
Like most of the supporters out there, I am really disappointed how our team has become incompetent in the business end of the season over the past 6 years. There are some obvious flaws ….
GOALKEEPER
I honestly feel we don’t need any GKs when we have Szczesny. His performance over the weeks especially against Liverpool and Spurs is good enough to show he is World Class.
DEFENSE
Djourou and Koscielny were brilliant and went on clean sheet run for sometime with Szcezny guarding the back. They did reasonably well but lately they were a tad bit disappointing. I just don’t understand what is with Arsene Wenger and French players but some of them have become huge success with the club but others have become major flops. He definitely prefers French over English because their technically brilliant and come at a much lower price tag unlike their counterparts who are overhyped. This has definitely hurt us. Here’s why…
What is the one thing you notice about Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool and the Arsenal of the past? They had an English backbone who were Captains! Rio Ferdinand for Manchester United, John Terry for Chelsea, Jamie Carragher for Liverpool and “The Famous Four” of Arsenal (Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams(C) and you could add Martin Keown to that list). Englishmen bring rigidity to the backline and carry a no-nonsense attitude with all of them. They bark orders from the back and get the team steady. Sadly the current crop lacks any Englishmen in our defense and hugely affects the side.
The only answer to this problem is getting GARY CAHILL!! There is no doubt about his credentials but if you still have any…watch the Arsenal Vs Bolton match for answers to this. Ray Parlour has gone on the record to say he is the new Tony Adams and we should get him at whatever cost. Wenger needs to stop being miserly and spend on this man. Owen Coyle wants him to leave and he seems like he would want Cahill to go to Arsenal more than anyone. And get rid of the dead weights like Squillaci. He definitely needs to go.
MIDFIELD
Our Midfield is the strong point of the team but we lack a real midfield general in the mould of Vieira. Sadly Song can’t fill into his shoes eventhough he is good. We need someone to boss the midfield play and get ugly when we need to. We get compared to Barcelona for our style of play but c’mon!!!! Get realistic…if Barcelona loses the ball, the midfield maestros( Xavi and Iniesta) make the opposition go where they wanna go and eventually get the ball back but in Arsenal’s case; If the opposition has the ball they surely look like they are going to score in sometime. We lack the spine.
FORWARDS
You know what was great about “The Invincibles” era? GREAT FREAKING STRIKERS!! Like our man Thierry henry used to say “A real fox in the box”. We had Thierry henry who was supported well enough by Dennis Bergkamp. We already have World Class striker like Robin van Persie but no one to help him out like Dennis Bergkamp. He sometimes would come deep down in midfield to create chances and that’s sad!! The only possible person that could fit the bill properly comes from the same vicinity of the Emirates and our neighbour’s star man- RAFAEL VAN DER VAART!! He is so much like Bergkamp or even better! Technically brilliant, one of the best midfielders in the world and can play as Second Striker and he’s DUTCH!!
I would say it would be the buy of the Century if Arsene Wenger could get him from Spurs! Robin Van Persie persuaded Wenger to get him so many times but Wenger paid no heed to the demands. These two Dutch duos can surely cause havoc. But this sadly seems a far fetched idea.
MANAGEMENT
Okay whatever I’m gonna say next could raise some eyebrows but it’s true… DAVID DEIN needs to come back!!! He and Arsene Wenger were a match made in heaven. Wenger would say “I wanna World Class Goalkeeper” and David Dein would go out and get one. He would do all of Wenger’s dirty work. He used to be Wenger’s backbone. When the chips were down he used to bring some sense into everyone. David Dein used to bring the best out of every player and he had an excellent relationship with everyone. Sadly we lack that now in the Board Room. Rumours say he could be back in the Summer (Who knows!)
Pat Rice is going to retire by the end of the year. We need an Assistant Manager and from my opinion bringing back one of “the invincibles” would be fantastic like Vieira and Adams to get back the winning mentality in the dressing room. Even Ray Wilkins would be a good addition, How does that sound!?
In all, it’s going to be an interesting Summer and none like the precious ones. Fabregas-Barcelona love-hate relationship will kick start again. Lot of players are going to be sold and some are going to be coming in definitely. Let’s wait and hope for the best …






ray wilkins wouldnt be a bad idea.
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This article is a load of crap!!! The only good thing was BRING BACK DAVID DAIN!!! how can u say getting a new manager will disrupt the team?? Chelsea, barca and madrid change there managers like I change my pants, I don’t see no disruption in there teams, Wenger has had six seasons to prove his philosophy works, he lies, is stubborn, makes excuses and is burned out, hes has the same tactics for every match and wouldnt deam of change or improviseing or adapting them.Wenger no longer has the drive to win, nor dis he have the intrest of the supporters!! Wengers past success was down to David Dain!! Wenger has made massive mistake with his transfer dealing and his over 30s policy is a load of BULL SH#t!! If Wenger was at any other ambitious club, he would have got the sack, so why is this mug still here?? To make these greedy share holders money!! It’s time for change!!! Wenger must leave along with any players who want to follow him, these players who do leave, don’t share the passion, love of the club and die for the badge attitude we wanna see!! HATE WENGER LOVE ARSENAL
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Great post. I agree with almost all of it except that RVDV is better than Bergkamp! No way! (Probably a little biased as I’m a Hugh bergkamp fan). Honestly I highly doubt we will be able to get someone of bergkamp’s calibre. Instead van persie or fabregas (if he stays) could fill that role and we get a real good poacher. Or maybe walcott could be switched to a forward role (if he improves on his “footballing brain”).
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@Baz he has the same tactics coz they work! we just dont have the rite players to use them properly. If wenger leaves, so do our best players like subin said. I totaly agree with subin (we are missing a tough backbone) if we can sort this problem then we will be a force again 100%
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Wilshere wont leave but the way it seems, Fabregas will go if Wenger doesnt and Nasri wants to win so Wenger is actually a catalyst for their departures. I partially agree but c’mon if we got Pep Guardiola(who might be leaving Barca) or Rijkaad(who made Barca the powerhouse it is) we wont really change the philosophy but we will change the mentality and policy.. We dont need Cahill but we simply need a defender.. Even Sakho would be a great buy but Cahill can do a good job.. in midfield we can get Montolivo or buy any good DM who is either English or Italian. What do you mean we dont need a GK? Dont get me wrong Scezesny looks great but he looked nervous during the Bolton game. I say get Buffon as a player and GK coach for Mannone and Chessney.. I think we have replaced Bergkamp with Van Persie. it is Henry who needs to be replaced. I reckon a fast foward who is technically gifted.. For me I would dream of Pato or Aguero but we would really have to break the banks for those two.. with those four buys we would be complete. the exits are as follows..
Denilson, Bendtner, Diaby, Squillaci, Crapmunia, and am sure many would hate but even Fabianski.. He came good this season but if we buy Buffon, we have the best understudy in Chessney and we have never lost a match with Vito Mannone so I think we dont need him. I love rosicky but I think we should do an Eduardo with him and sell him to a good team. If Clichy needs to go then we should replace him with a quality Brazilian.. Just look at Marcelo and Bastos.. you can barely tell whether they are defenders or attackers and thats what we need. Gregory Van der Weil could come in as understudy for Sagna and eventualy take over from him. David Dein should come back effective NOW!!! my dream team would be:-
Buffon
Sagna-Cahill/Kozzer-Verminator-Bastos
Nasri-Cesc-Montolivo-Wilshere
RVP-Pato
That means reverting to a 4-4-2 which is our best formation. GOONERS FOR LIFE..
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well totally agree that wenger doesnt deserve to be sacked, but he has got things wrong, we SHOULD have been able to afford van der vaart for 8 million?
however van persie is bergkamp what we need is a striker that stays up front – against bolton as the game went on and on rvp was getting deeper and deeper and there was no class up front – even the goal rvp played it into a centre midfielders feet to return the ball!
we need a striker that will hold the line – a rumour that Klose is on the radar list but at 33 i dont think wenger will – but why not try walcott his pace will always be a threat and he is a tidy finisher when cutting in from the LEFT like his goal against spurs
i agree we dont need to spend on a keeper just get rid of almunia
defensivly we need defenders that love to header, put their body on the lines – cahill, sakho, subotic, mertesacker all have those qualities, but can we really see wenger spend £20 million on just cahill – mertesacker and sakho we could both get for a combined fee of £20 million
midfield – song is far to slow with and without the ball, we need a parker who we could easily get if west ham are relegated £5 million, m’vila has been a revelation for france, but dont know if he is physical enough
i honestly think it is time to sell arshavin while we can still get some decent money for him – hopefully this ryo lad will get his work permit once he has played for japan
i would also like to see denilson, rosicky and eboue go and now give lansbury, frimpong and JET a chance
ramsey will also have a full pre-season to prepare and speaking of JET i think he could do a better job than bendtner
we just need a few tweeks
also I would love to see either Tony Adams, Steve Bould or Jen Lehmann as the new assistant manager
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Oh and please get rid of Ebooooe
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stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
return of david dein will not change anything…
u seems saying dein would spend from his own pocket….for wenger…if not ,what ?dein would go n get player for wenger…back bone bla bla bla…..
if wenger him self don’t want to spend on proven players, would u think he would go n get players of his choice …like president of REAL MADRID forentino perez.
what r u talking about ?rafal van der vaart….r u dreaming….when wenger did not say a word for him when he was available at realmadrid…who have cost only 15m last summer…
and playing for our derby rival club….now he will cost more then 30m.have u ever think of money -wenger.
wojo is good but he is too young so we need
GK.
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guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wenger will never sign a player who would cost more then 14m…for get ….pato,cahill,benzema,hazard,sakho,batos,lukaku, so better not to waste time writting all this.
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I beg to disagree: “This philosophy of his gave us “The Invincibles”. Gave us Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp. Converted players like Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira into the heartbeat of the team”.
How many of them did Wenger sign? He has let all matured players leave since 2007 [Viera, Pires, Hleb, Flamini, Kolo Toure, Gallas etc)…and never replaced with Experienced Quality. What stupid policy does not replace quality? That is where ManU and Ferguson are better than us. PLEASE BRING BACK DAVID DEIN!!! Wenger has lost the plot.
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we want football manager who want to win trophies.wenger deserved to be board director for club not coach.
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For a more lasting answer to our current problems I think our primary goal is to get an energetic, influential, and a genuine footballing person into the board room, regardless if AW stays or leaves arsenal. Mr Kroenke will always welcome a box office winner to the board. Hint: he’s a business man by profession not necessarily a football enthusiast.
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shame on any fan that want wenger out.. How would you sack him.. The real problem we are facing now, is all you fake fans that doesn’t care about any ones feeling.. When we win a match today… In Wenger we trust lose tomorrow …sack wenger.. Tell me are we better than liverpool??????? Yet to win the . Epl for 11 year and still comes out to support their team.. Ours is sack wenger, sell eboue, ship out adebarwhore, fllamoney, we are our own problem and the media too, all we should doing is insist for changes, buy experience, bring back . David dein to assist wenger….we have one the youngest squad in the world , still we compete in every compitition we are in… Dont expect changes anytime because of stan keronke.. He is yet to take control at arsenal. The late fizzman: . God bless his soul: sold his shares to stan because of his health complications…. The arsenal boarda are the problem .. Its not wenger policies its the boards policies.. Where does all the money wenger makes in selling our experience players goes into… Think think think… We always starts well every season but fail to end well… We have just young talented player we need more players
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Shouldve signed van Der vaart ages ago.
Players will be sold but no one will be brought in
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Wenger should know that players get even better when they are 30. His policy is wrong. He never study the opponents. he lied when he said this is the best team he has had. Bring Tony Adams to assist with defending and Patrick Viera. Sell : Rosiscky, Eboue, Fabregas, Almunia, Fabiasnki, Squillaci, Djourou, Clichy, Bendtner. Bring in Pato, Bastos, Samba, Silva, Scheneider, Cahill, Chamberlain, Kalou, Diarra. Wenger needs to start kicking boots into his players not pampering them because win or lose they get paid. Van Persie is not a 30 goal striker but as witnessed in the Bolton game, he is deadly in a Wayne Rooney position (behind a striker. Eduardo would be scoring all those missed chances if he were here. We need a shoot on site policy as even Messi shoots on site.
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Wenger has achieved his goal,should handover te team to ayoung ambitious coach,Frank Rijkard can do,then Almunia,Eboue,Squillaci,Dennilson,Roscik,Arshavin,Bendtner and Chamakh should leave
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i liked this article until the point you said van deer vaart is just like bergkamp or even better, u don’t seem to know how good bergkamp was, the dutch master is easily the most technically gifted player ever to grace football, don’t compare him to van deer vaart ever again, what an insult, did u just watch dennis in arsenal, i suggest u watch the iceman during his days at ajax as well……
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I think “prince” has it totaly rite! lets hope AW happens to read his post and get’s his cheque book out lol
KEEP THE FAITH YOU GOONERS! WE WILL BE BACK!
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AND get PV and TA in the backroom staff!!!
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Agree with the first part of your article, rebuilding through self susutaining methods.
His brilliance at seeing the task and his single minded drive to see it through.
Then you ruin it all by suggesting he buy buy buy…
Shame, you almost had it there!
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Your full of rubbish and to even dare compare van der vaart with Bergkamp is an insult to arguagly one of the best ever players to grace this club and his vision was second tho none!!!! you have no clue about football
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spoilt goonerfans deserve nothing ,you know nothing you don’t support your team you never encourage your team you spoilt brats,you got a great manager, a great team, a great stadium, and a board room though tight with money they are loyal to arsenal, like it or not hill wood family have kept arsenal going for over 70 years and the arsenal way is why we the real arsenal supporters love the club, we want trophys we want success but it don’t mean you will always get it or deserve it. it a shame the younger spoilt brats don’t know what they got, because none of em had to watch years between 1950 to 1970 when we won nothing, or where only one fa cup came in between 72 and 86,you lucky that you had wenger and not don howe manageing the club you never hadf to sit through a season where we fault against relegation all season only to finish 17th,you never had watch chris huggy bear whyte a central defender play as a striker,or watch john matthews play( you think denilson rubbish you should of watched matthews play or to think of it brien kidd)
so you spoilt brats be thankful you get european football every season under wenger, unlike mee,neil,graham.
you make me ashamed to be a arsenal fan, and another thing whats this gooner rubbish we are gunners not gooners ,gooners are youth fans who can’t spell .
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@Subin. To say that there would be a mass exodus if Wenger left is ridiculous. We all know that Fabregas wants to go to Barca, and that won’t change no mater what happens to Wenger.
To say that we don’t need another keeper is daft, as Almunia needs to be shipped out, and a new keeper with experince brought in to challenge Szczesny. I don’t rate Fabianski, so he should be 3rd choice or worse.
To say that Gary Cahill is the only answer is wrong. There are many options out there for us to look at, and for a lot less money. Christopher Samba for example.
I agree with waht you said about our midfield, and how it should be strengthened.
On the strikers. I can’t believe you think Rafael Van Der Vaart is better than Dennis Bergkamp was. That baffles me why you would say that. And to say that Thierry Henry was a “fox in the box” is wrong AGAIN. Henry was the complete forward player. A great goalscorer, and a scorer of great goals. Henry wanted Wenger to sign a “fox in the box” type player years ago, to get on the end of chances Henry himself created.
And on David Dein. There is NO CHANCE he will come back to Arsenal with Peter Hill Wood still at the club.
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i was told the other week when kroenke took over that, the reasonto keep hill wood chairman was because off a gentleman agreement between them because hillwood has told them he will step down as chairman next summer? (why wait till then i no idea, perhaps kroenke wants bring his own man in,or what i heard, maybe he will listern to wenger who always wanted dein back,maybe as chairman)
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This article is piece of shit !! VDV better than Bergkamp ?? Do you watch football ?? If Wenger leaves, Wilshere will leave ?? Do you know the difference between a club and a manager ..
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you dont compare bergkamp with any1! not even god!!
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go for Given as the GK, Tiote DM, Ashley Young to right flank to substitute Ashavin and to team Persie Cisse of German these guys will make arsenal a force to reckon and sell Bendtner, Alumnia, and Ashavin and if Fabrigas will insist he want to go let him go we will have Nasri and Ashley young to take his position and not to forget to bring to wonder kid Ryo for Denilson i have the faith in this guy soon he will improve like song and everybody will shut up so will try as much as possible and keep this players Song, Denilson, Derby, Ramsey, Wilshire walcot and Nasri in MF not forgetting RVP
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What is all this “Bergkamp” worshiping nonsense? Yes he was a great player (and arguably better than VDV at his best), but VDV is not too far away.
Back to the article, I agree with most part it. However, we don’t need David Dein anymore – it would be like taking one step forward and two backwards. He has left us and that is that. We need to look forward. I suspect Kreonke would have a large say in what Wenger does henceforth, and that is a good thing as it would force Wenger into seeing some sort of perspective.
We certainly need some Engligh blood in that backline (or somewhere in the spine) simply because this is an English league and some sort of pride comes from leading a team on your home soil. Foreigners cannot feel like; they would never understand.
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If you a real fan stand up win or lose keep the faith.
We have young squad not much experience or leaders but that shall come with time.A great time isn’t made over night and doesn’t last forever scum reds 1 and 2 have loads debt and have 2 years left in all their senior players.5 years from now scum 1 and too wont be in prem they debt to big and new champions league rule that applies means they cant enter because of debt.
pro’s for us:
we are young team
We have absolutely no debt and debt free stadium.
We have great manger
we have great fans.
All we lack is funds for maybe 1-3 great leaders to complete our team.
Keep believing we have good team just need experience
Wenger should stay i believe without him we aren’t arsenal.
In unity we stand divided we shall fall.
Keep the faith forever,born a gunner sure gonna die a gunner win or lose
Forever brothers in arms cmon arsenal i still love you.
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arsene Wenger is arsenal he made us play the football that made us invincible,great players come and go victory cant last forever im afraid it has times and eras made on great individuals together at right time.
We had our time and we shall have it again soon just haven’t peaked yet or mentally strong enough as team near the bitter end.we don’t have strong willed players like scum a=have coz we not old aging over hill team.
The dirty northern scum bags shall not prevail in this new era of football they dont have youth sytem or funds and debt is getting bigger.
you should be happy we not in that situation.
its frustrating not winning but the future is bright for us in the near future be patient.
manu and liverpool cant go on forever,chelsea wont have tht dirty russian too long either.
we are the future limited funds and less budget we are using what we got best our youth.
We make players not buy them like rest world.
if you true fan you wouldnt be talking like this or saying sack wenger get rid this player that aint solution.that will cause down spiral.the truth is not many other managers can coach arsenal.if there was in near future would have be ex arsenal player thats it for me no other way.
arsenal stays arsenal no cross breeding our blood for forien scum mangers we dont know
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Reading a lot of the comments on this website you would think that prior to Wenger arriving the club won a trophy every year and the title at least once every 3-4. Wow, what a club we have.
But if you look at reality the fact in 14 years under this manager we have won 3 league titles, 4 FA Cups, and made it to the final of champs league should be something for the supporters to be proud of and apart from the 1930′s the most succesful period of football for the club.
Is 6 years a long time, well no, its not.
I wasnt alive in the 30′s and anyone that was might be able to say they were there for a more successful period, but I suspect most of the people ranting and raving for us to sack the coach were nmot either and in fact most of them started supporting at the start of this century. They now expect success all the time.
Wenger was limited in funds because of the stadium and I think he had doen well under this setup.
Lately he has spent little and it can be frustrating but is 2nd/3rd that bad that people want to sack the coach. We also have people saying the russian should have bought the club because he is worth 17bn instead of just 2 bn for the yank. Why does this matter, do you want the club to spend all there monbey for immediate success. That is not a real supporter as I suspect most would stop supporting the team if we did a Leeds, judging by many of the comments I see on here.
Its the older supporters that have been with the team thru good times and bad I would rather here from. Is this worse than the n60′s when we won nothing, or much of the 70′s and 80′s where we didnt win a league title.
Winning matters a lot but doing so in a sustainable way is key.
End of the day, the owners are not going to sack wenger and sorry but they own the club, not the supporters. So why dont you all either be a real club person, get behind the team, the manager and owners and all aim for success, or as Al Foyad said go support Chelsea.
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DEMOGOONER. you and all the others should move with time this is not the 70s. there are lots of people who could have bought arsenal but Hillwood and the board did not want. yes they have done a lot for the club but the power of wealth has shifted to the other nations : Russia, America, Arabs, Asians and even Africans so Arsenal can be bought any time whether it’s one person or a group of people. do not denounce the younger supporters as we are the future. club can be bought, wenger can go and we will have the cash to bring other top managers. I AM NOT DYING WITHOUT SEEING AN ARSENAL QUADRUPLE! KEEP THE FAITH
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