They were never exactly the best of friends, especially when Arsenal were the main rival to Manchester United in the search for trophy success, but Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson clearly have some respect for each other, rather than the thinly veiled dislike and disrespect that is between the Arsenal boss and Jose Mourinho.
So I am not all that surprised to read the words of support for the Frenchman in the Daily Mail by the former United boss. With the long running debate about whether Arsenal should stick with Wenger or get a new man in never far from the minds of Gooners, and always just one poor game away from sparking it off in the football media, Fergie appears to come down firmly on the AKB side.
The Scot acknowledges that the long wait for a trophy and the ongoing wait for a Premier League title would normally have seen a club as big as Arsenal change the man in charge, but just as United stuck with him in times of trouble, Fergie thinks that Arsenal have done the right thing. And he has a word of warning for the WOBs out there, namely that the Gunners will struggle to find anyone as good as what we already have.
He said, “It’s just like me if I hadn’t progressed the club after the ’94 team or the ’99 team I would maybe having the same problems as Arsene, but he’s stayed with his conviction, he’s stayed with what he believes in.
“When all the pressure – I’m thinking about the pressure I said to a few of my friends – who are they going to get to replace Arsene Wenger, you know, who are they going to get who is better than Arsene Wenger?
“And that’s why they don’t do [sack him], that’s why they’ve stuck by him.”
But how long will Arsenal continue to stick with Wenger without an EPL title to celebrate, especially when we still see terrible performances and results like the first two Champions League games? Does he have to win the big trophy this time to keep his job?
Thing is he needs someone to come in now as the number 2. SB isn’t a number 2. We don’t need ppl to come in and spend millions like Man U Mann city Liverpool we need to keep the books in the black. A young manager is needed to work with the team and for AW to find talent from his desk
Which is why Henry, arteta, Pires and others have all been involved in training and of coaching at youth levels.
I would be interested to know why u think hold is not a no.2 and who u think is a great no.2? Who was mourinho’s pellegrini’s and ferguson’s number 2 when they all won the league last time out? Who were the bayern, barca and real madrids number 2s when they all last lifted their respected leagues? And champions leagues?
The fact is the only people who think wenger is doing a poor job are the wob’s of which mourinho is one? Funny that? if u really think a rival is poor at his job, wouldn’t u want him to stay and continue being your rival?
Wenger will know what his targets are for the season as laid down by his employers and much like the last 2 seasons he will try to achieve those targets. When a manager delivers 2 of the 5 trophies availble to him in a season a gets automatic qualification for the champions league, it is difficult to question him,when he follows that up by putting the team in 2nd place in the premier league, and only 3 wins away from another Wembley cup final, his bosses will be happy, although the blot is obviously 2 defeats out of 2 in the champions league.
I recall 2 seasons ago WOB’s stating if wenger at least lifted the fa cup and we had a day out at wembley it would be nice. Well 6 Wembley visits and wins in 17 months, 2 fa cup trophies and 2 super cups (oops sorry community Shields) later and so many have gone back on their words.
but the community shield is a joke ..and the FA cup can be won by anybody from westham to swansea to Arsenal to Mancity. where it really counts is where the manager is taking a beating hands down..the champions league and the English premier league. if wenger will/can deliver either of those then i will happily admit he’s the rockstar u all make him out to be .otherwise he’s not doing anything much extra that any other average premier league boss cant do.
Don’t worry mate.. This year is our year, this is our biggest and most talented squad since years ago! I am confident we can win most our games, we’re scoring goals and our fear factor is back! Can’t wait for Welbz and Wilshere to return for the second half of the season!
I enjoy watching arsenal play…they fascinate me. I give credit to Wenger for that, and I don’t see y there is a need for a new manager, I really don’t.
People who still want wenger out have clearly not seen arsenal stats;
did you know that arsenal is ranked 3rd in the world behind Madrid and bayern?
Did you know that we average 20 shots per game? Third behind real madrid (20.7) and Man City (20.6).
We average 7.1 shots on target per game, with only bayern (8.8), Madrid (7.7) and Barcelona (7.4) ahead of us.
Defensively, we launch 3rd highest number of tackles per game (21.5) In EPL, only Sunderland (25.6), spuds (22.6) and Liverpool (22.3) are ahead of us and yet we concede the lowest number of fouls per game (8.9)!
No team has conceded fewer goals than arsenal in the epl this season.
But still some fans still want wenger out!
You miss the most important statistic there is (funny that)! Major competitions/trophies won..
Can you do that all again and this time compare us to Barca, Real et Al based on European Cups an leagues over the last 20 years.
Success happens on the field an not on a excel sheet.
#StatoIsAlive&Well
With or without Wenger we wouldn’t be in the stats you mention. Moot point. Success happens everywhere, not only on some field.
Football success is equal to major trophies won. After all it it is competitive sport.
Yes, there are many factors that make a team or or successful but I fact Is teams a remembered that great on their achievments and the history books only tell who won the major competitions.
And not who headed the ball the most over a season or who completed the most sideways passes over 90 minutes etc..
Wake up to reality! we are not the third best anywhere. At least not where it counts.
New phone has a real issue with this site. Typing legible words is impossible.
Where have you guys been all these years? The Arsenal squad has been on a rebuilding phase since the opening of the Emirates stadium. During that period, we had a very shallow squad dominated by young inexperienced players simply because the club didn’t offer any proper transfer funds for the manager to work with.
During that period, I don’t think winning the epl or ucl was on Wenger’s job description, which is why he never got sacked. Securing ucl spot every season was a great success for a team dominated by teenagers…however, eversince the board declared the end of the financial 3 seasons ago, arsenal became competitive again.
If we gonna use trophies as a measure of Wenger’s success, then its only fair to consider periods when he had a competitive team. Which started 3 seasons ago and since then he has won 2 back to back FA cups, I strongly believe we are poised to win something bigger this season
COYFG!!!!
“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they
may gain by giving that up.”
— James Belasco and Ralph Stayer.
maybe Wenger is the best there can ever be…maybe there is someone better…but we will never find out unless we take a chance on someone else!
Take a chance? This is what it came to? At this point there aren’t many people we can “take a chance” with. Even the ones deemed good (because none is better manager than Wenger) have bullet proof contracts and they are enjoying where they are now.
Wenger will leave, you should not worry about that. Wenger decides.
@Budd, you better start looking for a new avatar hadn’t you!?;)
No. Not really. I have explained many times that the bloke in my avatar is not Wenger. I have an uncle which looks identical to Wenger. People stops him on the street for autographs.
hahaha .
i can see wenger inside u.
Right .., who better than Fred Goodwin could run RBS who better than bob diamond to run barclays who better than martin winterkorn could run VW who better than Carly fiorina could run Hewlett Packard …. The point is that any club that is unhealthily identified with one individual runs the danger of becoming complacent and sclerotic … That has been true of us for five years with predictable results …
Where their times up off coarse you have to change managers. I just hope we are looking at candidates right now. Changing managers is an eventuality. Out with the old and in with the new.
Damn, we’ve just missed out on Big Sam as a replacement for AW , but Brenda is free, and Tim Sherwood will be available soon.
COYG
That is true. Even if I think I joined the AOBS after the two ucl defeat I also acknowledge that finding g a replacement t has always been the main reason for me to stop waning a replacement…..because the big question remains. Who?
I am not saying AW isn’t replaceable but I don’t want someone to come and learn at arsenal. And I don’t want someone who just because they can be the teacher they D leave us for a better salary. I guess I want someone who loves the club . Difficult task
All well and good saying all that Fergie, does not exactly read like ringing endorsement for me…..its all about perspectives I suppose….saying Wenger stuck to his guns in the face of failures in the EPL and CL reads to me like he is aiming a thinly veiled barb ay Wenger refusal to move with time hence his failure…..anyways, interprete the article anyhow you like, my own question is this…..as some people are of the mind nobody else cam guarantee AFC CL spots and the occasional FA, what will happen if, God forbid Wenger drops dead or is not able to manage anymore, just out of the blues?…i suppose AFC will cease to exist, yea?
The impression I got is ..if something had of happened which stopped Fergie from recycling his team with like for like quality, in the periods he mentioned, well then the same thing would likely have happened to him. I think Alex feels maybe Arsene showed us too much loyalty in putting our club ahead of his own ambitions.
Also ..there is only one way to interpret ..who are they going to get that is better than Wenger. So Damochy ..there is no hidden meaning and he is just plainly speaking well of Wenger. Some people ..sigh.
Yingyang…..if every body holds such shortsighted and myopic views on managerial appointments then some of the best young managers we have around now will still be on the sidelines watching anachronistic dinosaurs managing teams just to maintain the status quo…..Guardiola,Klopp,Enrique, Someone just to mention a few will not be at the top of their games now if they were never given a chance….even the Wenger you lot are banking on to manage AFC until he goes into his grave will not be here today if someone did not think out of the box and decided to tale a risk…..all that talk about who will take over when is gone is just down to laziness cowardice
@ ArseOverTit
Which of d teams u mentioned of having success in d last 20yrs had to build a new stadium and not have money to buy players to improve a squad over a 6year period? Arsene isn’t perfect but give d man some damn credit..!
Juventus!!