Arsene Wenger is man who has split opinions on what he has achieved at Arsenal and on what could have been. Having joined the club back in 1996, the now-67-year-old Frenchman, the longest-serving manager in the top flight, has come a long way – as have Arsenal.
He is the man who steered Arsenal into the modern era of football where success both on and off the pitch go hand-in-hand. He revolutionised the game in England when foreign managers were arrogantly looked at with disdain. He has seen unbelievable highs and forgettable lows in his career, especially after moving from the old idyllic Highbury to the behemoth that is Emirates Stadium.
Now, after 21 years, his future at the club is in doubt and certain sections of the fanbase want him gone. But many believe he is a misunderstood man who is a lightning rod for all the criticism aimed at the club. Only a select few truly know what the real deal at Arsenal is.
Being the gentleman that he is, it is highly unlikely that Wenger will spill all the secrets he has kept over so many seasons in a book that tells all about the club he loves. Nevertheless, here are a few questions fans will want answers to should he ever pen down his memoirs in a villa somewhere in the south of France in the future.
1) What exactly happened in the case of Robin van Persie?
Robin van Persie’s career at Arsenal was one that failed to live up to expectations due to the fact that he was world-class but made of glass. A number of injuries saw the Dutch striker sidelined for crucial periods of the season and it wasn’t until his last one-and-a-half seasons at the club that he became the success that Wenger envisioned when Van Persie first signed for the Gunners in 2004.
His goalscoring streak started in January 2010 and by the end of the 2011/12 season, he had scored 59 goals. The Premier League Golden Boot was his in 2011/12 (with 30 goals) and the club looked like they were in the ascendancy following the loss of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.
Then came that fateful summer when contract negotiations took a cruel turn for Arsenal fans. The Dutchman refused to put pen to paper as he did not agree with the direction the club was headed. He wanted world-class signings while Wenger chased the likes of Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski who had never proven themselves in a demanding league like the Premier League.
Meetings at Wenger’s house saw Van Persie reportedly disagree on not only new signings but also Steve Bould taking over from the retiring Pat Rice as the assistant manager because he was never going to challenge Wenger’s beliefs. The pair never reconciled and Van Persie moved to Manchester United for a paltry fee of £24m – where he eventually won the league title in his first season.
Which players did Van Persie want at Arsenal? And why weren’t they signed?
2) What exactly is going on at a boardroom level at the club?
Ever since two billionaire owners – Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov – wrestled for control of Arsenal, most of the board members sold their shares to Kroenke – mainly because then-director Danny Fiszman did not want Usmanov to gain control.
At the time, it seemed like a wise move as the American owner was ready to give the reins to Wenger to guide the club instead of the Russian businessman doing a Roman Abramovich and spending big to sign star players in what was then a financially unstable climate at the Emirates.
Now? It seems like they chose between the lesser of two evils as the club seems to be drifting into mediocrity under Kroenke – just like his franchise sports teams in the USA.
The club seems to have lost its way even after stadium debts became manageable and huge commercial deals were signed to maintain a steady flow of money coming into the club. Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis promised to compete with top clubs in the transfer market but, instead, they were getting thrashed by the same clubs (remember the 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern?).
It all started to go wrong when David Dein left the club in 2007 when the rest of the board thought he was trying to take over the club. It was Dein who appointed Wenger and sanctioned moves for players that formed the Invincibles. He was used to winning and he knew how to successfully run a football club.
Why did the board have irreconcilable differences with Dein? What is Kroenke’s ambition? Is Gazidis really capable of running a club that was used to winning trophies?
3) Why did he fail to convince players he later regretted letting go?
Everyone understood the fact that Arsenal needed to sell most of their Invincibles core (some of whom were ageing) for the sake of the new stadium project. Finances took a hit at a time when clubs’ incomes were yet to break the glass ceiling and the game had yet to be as commercialised as it is today.
However, there were some player sales that were not part of the plan and it was the club’s failure to address those issues that saw Arsenal become a ‘selling club’.
Take the case of Cesc Fabregas who was wooed and prised away by his boyhood club Barcelona. In hindsight, it was a terrible move as the Catalan club did not need another midfielder. So what was discussed with the Spaniard after he had been trained and polished into a fine gem at Arsenal over eight seasons?
“The regret I have is that he wanted to leave here. This club and myself had a very positive influence on Cesc’s life.” – Wenger
And what happened with Ashley Cole? Granted, there was no way to match Chelsea’s new-found riches at the time but why wasn’t he given an improved contract to retain him at the club – especially considering he was homegrown and an academy product?
There are more examples: Nicolas Anelka, Alexander Hleb, Alex Song... It’s a long list.
4) How many incidents had he actually seen but lied about?
How many times have we been infuriated by Wenger’s comments in post-match interviews? Incidents that changed the game, incidents that disgraced the game, incidents that would make any manager sweat over how he can explain it all away?
No, Wenger was (and still is) the master of deflecting questions and it frustrates journalists and pundits alike when they cannot comment on his thoughts about key events in the game.
The French manager has admitted before that he does protect his players in the media. It was a ploy he used especially in the first few years at the Emirates when youngsters needed to be shielded from the cut-throat world of public criticism. And he made it a point to never bring up any particular player’s errors and dwell on them, preferring to deal with it privately.
“Sometimes I see it but I say that I didn't see it to protect the players and because I could not find any rational explanation for what they did.” – Wenger in 2009.
But there are so many incidents that he clearly must have seen? Per Mertesacker’s red card tackle on Diego Costa? Alexis Sanchez’s handball goal against Hull? The planes that carried the ‘Wenger Out’ banners this season?
How many had he seen?
5) Why were so many players given chances when they failed to make the grade at Arsenal?
Nobody ever knows how a footballer’s career will pan out. But at the same time, there are managers who do something about it rather than allow players to stagnate. They are either coached differently or they are moved on to make way for someone else.
In Wenger’s case, there are a number of players that were given so many chances that looking back you wonder why they were never replaced.
Abou Diaby was one such player. Suffering one injury crisis after another, it was a pity that Wenger gave him so many seasons to recover. It effectively cost them a fit player who could have taken his place in the squad. Wenger saw potential in him but sadly not everyone is destined to be a footballer at a top club and Arsenal paid the price for years.
Another player who has been treated like royalty is Theo Walcott. He held the club to ransom to demand higher wages knowing very well he would get it following the departures of Van Persie, Fabregas and Nasri. But once he did, his decline was shocking.
Walcott has been at the club for 10 years and is yet to really show he deserves a spot in the lineup. Now, at the age of 28, he doesn’t even get into the England squad.
The new English core was a great project with Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Calum Chambers, Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs supposed to take the next step. Sadly, only Ramsey has fulfilled that potential and only to a certain extent.
Why have so many players failed? Is it because they weren’t coached properly or did their attitude in training let them and the club down?
Sadly, we may never know the answers to most of these questions.
