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“WENGER OUT”
“IN ARSENE WE RUST”
“ONE ARSENE WENGER”
“IN ARSENE WE TRUST”
There has certainly been a large divide amongst Arsenal fans regarding the future of their manager. Since 2005, Arsenal have come away with no trophies and while it’s not fair to say they haven’t been challenging enough as they have, this certainly isn’t the Arsenal of previous times. Fans have become downright frustrated at how Arsenal have become the butt of all jokes and right now, sit at 15th place, 2 points off the relegation zone, after suffering their worst start in Premier League history. This isn’t something that has happened only of late – Even in 2009, when Wenger was struggling to get his team to 4th place with competition from Aston Villa, there were calls for him to get the sack. Some fans want Wenger out, some want Wenger to change his philosophies, some want the board out and some want the backroom staff out. It’s even rumored that there will be a protest held (not for the first time as well) at the Emirates Stadium when Sunderland visit Arsenal, calling for Wenger’s head. While my opinion is of a neutral view, I can understand where the beliefs of both sets of fans stem from:
THE PRO-WENGER GROUP:
- Wenger is the one who made Arsenal what it is.
- If it wasn’t for Wenger, fans wouldn’t have even dreamt of title expectations.
- Wenger got Arsenal from a defense oriented team to one of the most elegant, attacking sides today.
- Wenger has churned out the top stars in today’s footballing world.
- Wenger has consistently got Arsenal in the Champions League, 14 years in a row.
- Wenger’s Arsenal hold the record for most games unbeaten – 49.
- Wenger’s transfer budget had been limited due to the debt of the Emirates Stadium.
- Rome wasn’t built in a day, give this squad time – believe in Wenger.
- You can’t completely judge Wenger until the end of the season – there’s still the January transfer window.
- If Wenger was sacked, who could even replace him?
- If Wenger was sacked, and was indeed not given enough transfer funds, what would other replacements do?
- If Wenger was sacked, what if we found out it was the board’s fault all along?
- Fans forget what Wenger has achieved for us, just because of a small slump.
- If there’s one man who can take us out of this situation, it’s the man who put is in it – Arsene Wenger.
Some fans have made their views loud and clear.
THE ANTI-WENGER GROUP:
- Wenger has done a great job until now, but when your time is up, your time is simply up.
- Haven’t won a trophy for 6 years.
- Wenger doesn’t even spend a small percentage of the money available to him.
- The board doesn’t select the players or tactics or 4-2-3-1 formations which have failed, it’s Wenger!
- Wenger is stubborn and won’t change his philosophy at all in the near future.
- Wenger churns out the top stars but ends up selling them, hence increasing our reputation as a feeder club.
- Wenger is more than happy with the profits made by a player he’s signed rather than challenging for a trophy.
- The club takes so much money from the fans and doesn’t reinvest it in the squad.
- There are better managers who wouldn’t reward mediocrity and would be open to new ideas.
- Wenger has had the same backroom staff since 1996 with his ideas becoming stale, while Sir Alex Ferguson constantly changes his staff.
- Just because Wenger has done so much for the club, does it mean he doesn’t fear for his job and does anything he wants without facing repercussions? One shouldn’t be loyal just because of achievements in the past and Wenger should be judged in the present.
- As mentioned by many sources, Wenger controls everything, from the wages of the players to the training routines, so it’s impossible for the board to reject his desire to “spend more.”
- By the time of the January window, it’d be too late, given our current form, we might still be in the bottom half of the table.
- This could be the season where we finally don’t end up in the top four. We are deteriorating as a club.
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My view is a combination of the ones mentioned above – While I wouldn’t want to see Wenger leave whatsoever and I very well respect his accomplishments, he must change his philosophy and tactics ASAP. Just because he’s made Arsenal big, does it mean he can do whatever he pleases (though in his perception, for the good of the club) and fail without facing any consequences?
So much profits and yet so little transfer activity.
This is a bar graph of Arsenal’s profit trend from 2006-2010 and with the sales of Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy and Eboue, as well as the inflated ticket prices, 2011 should also be high up on the graph. If this much profit is being made, why can’t Wenger utilize it? It’s understood that the board have kept money available to him and yet he is still so stingy, even prepared to let go of our last choice preference in midfield, Mikel Arteta due to not wanting to increase his wages by the odd 15,000 pounds per week. You say he did spend around 48 million pounds this summer? Well, majority of those signings were panic buys post the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford, as mentioned in my other article. Also as mentioned by an Arsenal blogger, northbanklegend, who is interested in the financial aspect of the club -
If we take a look at the accounts as at 31 May 2011, when some season ticket money was received, but before any transfer money and also before the £25M sale of Queensland Road and new sponsorship deals with Bettson, Indesit, Citreon, Thomas Cook, O2 and Carlsberg were agreed, Arsenal Football Club had £160M in cash at the bank. Yes just to repeat that, £160M in the bank!
Anybody who tells you the club does not have money is lying, we have more money that nearly all the clubs in the Premier League.
While many committed Arsenal fans would call these anti-Wenger fans “plastic fans”, they do bring up some valid points. It’s not like they’re changing their club, they will still support Arsenal even without Wenger. However, as a neutral with regard to this topic, I wouldn’t want Wenger to go at all and I will still support him. If the so called protest was to take place at the Emirates against Sunderland, that wouldn’t really help the morale and confidence of the team would it?
