Ten reasons why I remain sweet and serene in relation to Arsenal and don’t want Wenger to leave.

58 Replies to “Ten reasons why I remain sweet and serene in relation to Arsenal and don’t want Wenger to leave.”

1. Love this piece and your right. I am younger than you but started attending matches in 1978 with my uncle who literally was a stones throw from Highbury. Similar to you I enjoy football any football, yes I get down when Arsenal lose but no angst I tend to watch recorded matches if the match was televised to analyse performance in match even if I was at match because I think in the moment emotions can blur reality and I like to form my opinion based on what actually happened not what I feel happened due to disappointment or elation at winning or losing a game. I also agree that we have never had such a better time of things. However, I think what we see on the terraces reflects society today that instant gratification or fulfilment of needs and if that doesn’t happen angry outbursts and vitriol aimed in the direction of the cause of our discontent. I think the biggest spoilt culprit of this is piers morgan and he feeds the believe that you spend 200 million you win the league mmm I don’t think so Chelsea city and Utd spent more than us this season are any of them likely to win league in fact two of them won’t even make top four so no spending money doesn’t guarantee success. My calm and reflective approach because I have been low on the streets freezing starving and to highs of gaining my university degree working having a family, so I don’t view Arsenal losing a football match as the end of the world.

2. Good stuff,Tony.

   Enjoyed that and ,as ever, needed at a time when it is common to hear people bang on about only 2 trophies in 11 years,etc. When, before, has it ever been done like that?

   Hard to find a comparison in football or life but I suppose it’d be like bournemouth fans being unhappy, now, with the years they spent in the lower divisions instead of weighting the present and recent past as the most important things, as is natural and sensible.

   I guess it is a consequence of the freakish phenomenon in modern football of a manager being in the job for so long, but that doesn’t make it any more rational. If a new man had stepped in two years ago and won the FA cup each year it would be viewed as much more of an achievement than it currently is, and that is plainly stupid.

3. No one wants AW to leave Arsenal, at least not the sane ones.

   But we all can agree that some changes need to be made if Arsenal are going to continue to compete. Arsenal is/will be forced to spend more and increase salaries too as the money keeps coming to PL clubs.

   This usually means supporters costs increase, but wait, prices for away games now fixed at £30 and Arsenal are even knocking another £4 off. 🙂

   //
   So, I found myself imagining Arsenal surprising Barca and going through in CL, and even end up winning it, alongside the PL and FA cup.

   Now wouldn’t that be something, a TREBLE?

   Then i woke up, but the dream keeps coming back again and again. 🙂

4. Good article Tony, well done.

5. “I didn’t come here to win things.” This reason is the key one isn’t it. There are lots of clubs Tony you could have chosen to support to satisfy that particular statement. But you chose Arsenal, a club that has a fine record of winning things. And winning things is I’m afraid part of the allure of supporting Arsenal. For many many fans I suspect. From the moment I looked at the club trophy achievements listed on the inside front cover of the Arsenal v Bradford City FA Cup programme of 1961 (or 2), even though they were by then decades old, I knew my club was capable of winning trophies and the League Trophy too. I still do believe they are capable. And when they don’t, or more precisely, when they get themselves into a position to do it but cave in instead, as they have caved in before again and again, I am more than “deflated”, I’m angry. I did come here to win things but as long as fans are just thought to be “deflated”, the club will carry on caving in because the expectations are too low and the expectance of failure is too high. Having said that, I do agree with your final point. Replacing Mr Wenger is fraught with risk.

6. nice one Tony, you always make me feel good about arsenal

7. An update is needed in the column “Top 4” as Arsene has finished 19 times in a row in the Top 4. 18 is the number of successive participations in CL. The confusing part is that the first Top 4 finish in 1996-97 didn’t merit CL spot. Arsenal ended third and missed out on a goal-difference because of the home defeat to Newcastle in the penultimate match of the season.

8. My favourite article you’ve ever written Tony. Thank you.

9. Those are feelings only a true supporter could have, Tony. It’s like Bergkamp said, “I, like Arsenal. Do you like Arsenal, or just Arsenal with trophies?”

   Plus, time is a great thickener of things:

   http://www.economist.com/node/17722567

10. Could not agree more.
    I was born in 67 in Cornwall where our local team of any significance was Plymouth Argyle (which we all supported by default – even if it is in cursed Devon) but like i suspect the rest of the country was in the early seventies all the boys who turned out once a week for school games wore either Man U or Liverpool shirts. That changed in 71 when we won the double and Graham Woolcock and me both declared that Arsenal was the team for us – the fantastic red and white shirts with a cannon on them and a team that was winning was enough. My father was a Baggie who had moved to Cornwall when he was 13 – he took me to the Hawthornes when I was 5 in the middle of the week and we just walked through the big barn doors and onto the pitch while the groundsmen were happily at work – but an empty stadium that wasn’t Arsenal had no meaning for me. A couple of years later and my brother declared he was supporting Spurs cos of their success. Ironically the first time I saw a top flight team play was when Steve Perryman led a Spurs team in an exhibition match against Truro City – which they won 10-1.
    My first experiences of First Division games came later when i was at Uni – Coventry v Liverpool, Coventry v Norwich, QPR v someone and Spurs v Cambridge United – the football was of limited interest cos I had no skin in the game but I went with friends who did and apart from the atmosphere of the stadiums my abiding memory was being continually on edge worried about bumping into the feared casuals.
    Then I went to work in London and my life changed – Highbury, Ian Wright and Kevin Campbell – Merson doing the 2 pints celebration – the chants the atmosphere and singing to the Clock End who replied in turn to us crammed in on the North Bank shuffling from foot to foot to keep warm and then surging forward into a mental celebration.
    Since then I have been to some very big Arsenal games – cupr Final replay in 93 against the Blades, Cup Winners Cup final in Copenhagen v Galatasary, Juventus away and the highlight of all the Italian job at the San Siro “Let’s go F***ing Mental” still rings in my ears.
    With the new stadium and although now I live in Geneva – me and my 3 sons 26, 13 and 9 are all season ticket holders and will all die as gooners.
    The huge droughts in form – the mid table results year after year – the boring boring Arsenal and 1-0 to the Arsenal years don’t have my fond memories – it is rather the beauty and excitement of Wenger’s football that I consider it an absolute privilege to watch – even when we lose.
    The passing game – the speed of transition – the impressive players – seeing us dominate possession – oh yeah and seeing Arshavin score the winner against the world’s best club team.
    I have zero sympathy with a younger generation of fans who admittedly live life at a faster pace than us, with a lower concentration span – instagram, twitter and uber communication demanding trophies as a badge of success.
    One might ask what they have achieved in their lives.
    Emirates stadium is the best in the country in terms of fan experience – i recently went with a friend who used to be on the board of Leicester City and his comment was – “it’s like a mini Wembley” – personally i think its better than Wembley. Itis also in the top 10 in Europe – certainly better than San Ciro or Turin or Lyon or Marseille or the old Bayern or Frankfurt or Cologne or Monaco Copenhagen or Ajax. Nou Camp is the only stadium I have been to which is better.
    Highbury and standing on the North Bank was better for atmosphere but I was recently at Anfield and was shocked how antiquated it all feels and was not impressed by the famous kop end and its atmosphere. As for the Lane …. nuff said
    Arsenal away support is awesome and I am proud to hear the 3000 boys belting out all our usual chants which you can always hear on the telly drowning out the home support.
    We are by far the greatest team and i will be forever in Arsene’s debt for the sheer entertainment and enjoyment – he can stay as long as he wants

11. Fishpie writes

    ””I didn’t come here to win things.” This reason is the key one isn’t it. There are lots of clubs Tony you could have chosen to support to satisfy that particular statements.”

    Indeed, about 98% of all other existing football clubs.

12. Fishpie writes

    ”There are lots of clubs Tony you could have chosen to support to satisfy that particular statement. But you chose Arsenal, a club that has a fine record of winning things. And winning things is I’m afraid part of the allure of supporting Arsenal”

    Paragraph 2 of what Tony wrote – ”the football is sensational” paragraph 3 of what Tony wrote, ‘We win more games than ever before’ details exactly how Wenger has compared as a trophy winner, and a manager who wins games.

    Perhaps you haven’t read these paragraphs?

13. Great article, Tony. Even brought a tear to my eye.

    Fishpie, that phrase ‘cave in’ is a problem. Has a team that has finished in the top four 19 times in a row, as Josif has usefully informed us, ever really ‘caved in’? What can possibly be your definition of caving in if so?

    Losing is part of football. A major aspect of the genius of Arsene Wenger is that in 19 years losing has never meant disaster. Examples of the opposite are all around us.

    No wonder consistency is a word ever on Arsene Wenger’s lips. But he doesn’t just talk, he delivers.

14. Yes ….. but……
    I am also a supporter from the 50’s although started a little bit later – first match being down at the Cottage to see us thumped by a Jihnny Haynes led Fulham 0-3… Also it’s in the blood – from my grandparents when Arsenal moved to Highbury and I can truly say I didn’t make any conscious decision to be a Arsenal supporter – it just ‘happened’ as a natural event in the cycle of life. Not that there weren’t distractions – my father was a Rugby man and if you scratched the surface there was a Spurs follower just below the surface….

    I do remember very clearly in those early years how media was always spouting on about the number of years since Arsenal last won a trophy….being the 1953 League One Championship, and as the 50’s gave way to the 60’s and Spurs’s brief glory at its start, those years increased through the empty years of Billy Wright until Bertie Mee arrived and gave us a taste of the possible with successive League Cup finals vs. Swindon (still have nightmares) and Leeds (it was a foul!).

    Then that glorious night winning the Fairs Cup, and followed by the 2nd double of the 20th Century, first part of which secured at Spurs on a wild night in May.

    OK – enough reminiscing – but just laying out that having lived through the same as you, I can identify with many, many of the points you raise in a highly logical and well argued manner.

    Wenger’s acheivements are indeed remarkable and without doubt the best manager we’ve had……. Keeping us constantly in the top 4 through the disruption and restrictions of a self funded, “no sugar-daddy”, “no government subsidies” stadium move is vastly underrated by people who should know better. The football by and large has been great; and in the early years especially, the ‘highs’ many and stupendous.

    The “but” is that in more recent years, there is as much chance of a flat performance as there is of a sparkling one, a team capitulation when they think that the going is easy only partially balanced by a spirited display when the chips are down. It’s a pattern that has been repeated over a number of years now. Lost opportunities when they were there for the taking, or a philosophical ‘hand brake’ on mentality that comes from the board down through Wenger and permeates his teams. How many times in last 7-8 years have you not stopped and wondered “if only……”, be it a little more aggressive in transfer market, in running the team the team with a little more focus on what is good for the team rather than what is good for the individual player, in making more tactically astute substitutions, in not running certain players into the ground increasing the risk of injury and so on.
    I just get the feeling that Wenger is now a prisoner of his own ideas which while they were once inspiring and welcome are now rather insipid and out-dated.
    I am not scared of change; either Wenger changes his spots and adjusts (and he has shown that he CAN, but my goodness, how long did it take to come up with that tactical change to set up the team to produce performances and results like Man City away last year – notably the 1st after years of maulings by the other big boys)…. Or, as the banner says….”Thanks (and a BIG THANKS) for the memory, but it really is time for a change” –

15. @Fishpie

    I chose Arsenal as a five year old because my Mothers family are from North London and I was taken to see a few games. I had no idea of how successful or not Arsenal were just that once you picked your team you stuck with it. My dad is a Spurs fan so there was pressure to go the other way as well,pressure my Brother succumbed to. Its only later I realised the history of the club.

16. Its hard to rationalize and explain why we aren’t winning trophies to most young fans because there is this wave of Obsession about bragging right after a trophy is won…i personally feel hurt when arsenal lose but to blame Wenger?…naaa, how many times does the man have to prove that he is good enough and mind you he is the best we have ever had…everyone was short of mentioning the banner which I feel is inappropriate, disrespectful and totally unnecessary…fans in the UK are lucky…you get to see games week in week out…here in Nigeria we watch all the matches live and when we lose,we are bashed till the next game and its understandable that this is where the bragging rights come in …but one thing other fans so is take aim at our players,disrespect our manager and its really really sad to hear arsenal fans do the exact same thing!its like there is no difference..where would the boys get the support they need to finish this season on a high?from fans who have forgotten about the men struggling in the pitch and have pitched themselves in “pro-Wenger and anti-Wenger” squabbles?….from people who hurl hate at the players…we should have a rethink…
    Beautiful article by the way…

17. I walked around Huddersfield the other day thinking I might run into the ghost of Herbert Chapman if I peered hard enough and then it suddenly struck me that, should I indeed run into him, what would I say? which made me laugh, the nonsense of it, what could I say?, and then it hit me and I stood on the pavement and did the numbers – 94 years since Herbert Chapman won the FA Cup at Huddersfield. 92 years since Herbet Chapman first won the Division One title with Huddersfield.

    In six years years it will be a centenary. A centenary of football. 100 years.

    Some fans don’t have a clue how sturdy the shoulders are which support them. They must believe, judging by their comments, judging by how quick they throw their dummies out, football and football success is like toothpaste. Squeeze it out every morning. Buy it off a counter.

    How do you measure Wenger?

18. Each to his own Tony. I heartily accept that you arent overly bothered either way win or lose. Nice day out, good mates, good laugh and all that. For me top class sport is all about the winning. I expect Arsenal as a club to put all their energy and resources into try to win. If it doesnt come off I have no problem with that. But that’s hasnt happened for many a long year. Its a plc now, happy to fleece the fans and keep the accountants happy. Seriously trying to win anything is way down the priority list. How long we will have to stomach this remains to be seen although by all accounts the natives are getting restless

19. Pat
    Re ‘cave in’, you beat me to it.
    I hate this term but the reason the Fishpies and detractors in general use it is because it meets the necessary derogatory connotations required to support their Wenger bashing agenda. It just sounds so much more dramatic than ‘weren’t quite good enough’ or ‘just fell short’ for example.

20. Thank you for the first sane piece I have read on our team for a while. Yes life is too short to be destroyed by football, not even by Arsenal. So I have now learned to take the team’s loss calmly when it comes. It still racks quite alright, but it doesn’t keep me from my meals and sleep anymore. The victories, oh how still sweet! But I’ll love Arsenal for life.

21. Tony, a great write up.

    Afternoon Fishpie.

    I didn’t choose Arsenal, the club chose me. My Granddad, my Dad all Gooners living in London N1. We used to walk through Highbury Fields to the games and stand on a freezing cold concrete terrace. In fact, in my early years my ‘seat’ was sitting on one of the anti-crush bars in the North Bank as that was the only way I could see.

    In other words, I didn’t look at a long list of clubs and try to find the club that wins the most recent trophies. Arsenal was my local team.

    The club I support has given me so much pleasure over the years and it still does. Yes there are lows but that’s the game. However, the highs this club has given me live long in the memory and few things come close.
    ________________________________________________________

    It’s not about trophies. Winning trophies is a bonus.
    ________________________________________________________

    It’s about supporting a great club with which I identify. It’s like family.

    I don’t turn on my family and friends during tough times, I help them through it.

    The pleasure comes from the ‘whole experieince’ membership of a club provides. From attending stadium tours, buyng merchandise, attending games, watching on TV, debating with my friends, contributing to blogs etc. I have yet to walk into the Emirates and not get a chill down my spine.

    I am not in this for the trophies. I am not one of the new breed of glory fans who sing when we’re winning and boo when we lose. Trophies do not drive me, supporting the club I love does. Trophies for me are the bonus, the real reward – not the ‘must have’.

    Unfortunatley, modern demands and the money in the game has created a different type of supporter. A supporter who is unable to support equally; win, lose or draw………………

    ..and that is very sad because I know they will never experience the regular pleasure I have enjoyed for the last 45 odd years man and boy.

22. I really couldn’t say anything better, though I support Arsenal since 1998, I have discovered and liked football because I saw they played, that’s it. This club is my heart, like you, winning the league would be awesome but getting a third FA Cup in a row it’s another bit to ass at club’s history, football history, so something I really want to see in my life.
    Well said tony, bravo

23. thanks Mr tony.we tend to respect a lot here in Nigeria.now back to the topic.I am a very very young supporter of THE ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB.funny enough,I started supporting arsenal when we weren’t winning anything (2006).that memorable match against Madrid in d champions league endeared me to this beauty of a club.I love arsene to d extent dat am still thinking on how to continue supporting AFC evn after he leaves.if the next man can continue the legacy,the charisma,the humbleness, the sweet air of arrogance of coaching the great club,then I might not have to worry much.thanks for the post.I love arsenal cos I love those that upholds what AFC really means as a club.love you PROFESSOR ARSENE WENGER!

24. Well said , Tony . Hit the sweet spot just right . Thank you .

25. Bard, your comment is just a personal view – you make an assertion without any evidence and then generalise outwards to the final sentence. There is no logical validity in this a all.

26. Philip, thank you for your response. But I have one issue with it

    there is as much chance of a flat performance as there is of a sparkling one,

    How come then if that is the case, we keep remaining in the top four. Surely we should be as in most of Mee’s reign, and in Wright’s etc etc, we should be midtable. But we are not. How come?

27. A lovely article Tony. I also didn’t came to win things when I started supporting the Arsenal in 1979. If I would have chosen a team that won I now would be a Wolverhampton Wanderers supporter as they came to Highbury and won 0-1. Not to The Arsenal.
    When you start supporting a losing team, you can’t be described as one that only loves them when we win.

    I love Arsenal win, draw of lose. When we lose I feel down for a few moments as it can hurt and I have had sleepless nights after some losses (Birmingham League cup final….)but for me when the match is finished and we haven’t won I just look forward to the next match… and hope we will win that one and then I am already back from being or feeling down to being upbeat and looking forward to the next match.

    The only match I really hate losing is the final match of the season. Then it can be a long summer… 🙂

28. sorry but I’m going t have to go off thread here, I’ve just been distracted by this side splitting story about the man who more then any other did the most to ensure that we all will be paying for Tottenham’s new stadium (probably the private housing built by the developer more then the stadium) if they manage to find the rest of the Wonga that they need:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35772202

    Oh my giddy gawd. It’s too funny.

29. back on thread:

    is it any surrise that the first minor slump since the 2014 FA Cup final victory has been used by the very people who whiipped themsleves up into a frothing feeding frenzy before that Victory over the pgMOB and their handlers in the Media Scrum (the Scrum is for pgMOB Rules Footy)

30. ‘scuse my typos, back to work!

31. can’t help but reflect on the difference between the two MPs for both N.London clubs.

    It’s a very telling contrast.

32. @Philip

    Actually, Arsene has always been capable of making a tactical change. If you don’t believe me, watch our run-in 2012-13 starting with an away victory over one of the most dominant sides in the European football. It may have been a Pyrrhic one but it was a victory against the best Bayern side I have ever seen.

    And, take a look at the team that won the game. Fabianski-Jenko, Per, Kos, Gibbs-Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey-Walcott, Giroud, Cazorla. If the linesman hadn’t stopped Theo at 0:1 due to non-existent offside… Who knows.

    My point is, Arsene had shown his tactical ability years before the victory at Etihad. Our 2012-13 run-in was at times painful to watch due to ugliness of our football but it worked.

33. Bard

    ‘Seriously trying to win anything is way down the priority list.’

    You cannot be serious!
    Have you forgotten the FA cup wins or don’t you count them.

34. Look guys, I had no choice but to support Arsenal . I loved the shirt, the socks, the way George eastham’s shirt billowed as he ran. I loved the shout of the guys selling peanuts. I loved going with my Dad. I rejected Spurs who were winning everything. Don’t judge me as a glory hunter. Part of my pride in Arsenal is however is the fact that they win trophies. I don’t assume we have a right to win trophies or that we will always compete every season. But I do hope everyone who who owns, directs, manages or plays for the club tries to maximise our chances of winning trophies. Based on the ongoing nature of our league seasons since we had more money, we have struggled to make the hoped for progress in the league or Champions League.

35. It’s the quality of the football I love, the sweet ease of it. Other times, when they labour, I look at their movement, how many are running into space, making themselves available, then I start looking at the PGMO rep on the pitch. How much has he already decided? How are his actions changing what I see? I follow him, try and get a sense of the tempo. What is being allowed? Who swaggers?

    I never look at Mr Wenger. How can he come into it? As a kid I watched a lot of sports, played a lot of sports. There’s always a line. On one side of the line the manager, on the other side of the line the player, the team.
    Watching Clough’s Derby County the first time, 1969, how the team played was like reading Clough’s mind, but it wasn’t Clough who was playing. He sat on the touchline. The team played. The team expressed his idea of football.
    Working with the maintenance fitters at Tuborg Brewery in Copenhagen in 73, 74, there were ex-players, youth team coaches, fans. There was one fitter who loved Cruyff’s Ajax. Every second week he drove down to Amsterdam to watch the team. We spoke for hours about the beauty of football.
    Brian Clough and Mr Wenger are the two managers who have given me great joy. In both cases – Mr Clough & Mr Wenger – it is their teams who play, on a pitch, expressing an idea about how to play football. In both cases the manager is on the touchline.
    Thinking about it, it seems to me the anti-Wenger position is a dialogue between fans which then extends down from the stands to the manager. It then, for some, extends out onto the pitch and pulls in the players as servants.
    The proprietorial sense of certain fans knows no bounds.
    It certainly doesn’t know the touchline separation between the players and the manager. It certainly doesn’t know the separation between the stand and the manager. Some fans appear pissed off because the team has not delivered. In not delivering they have broken the terms of agreement existing between themselves as fans and Mr Wenger.
    Mr Wenger, it appears, has already signed a contract with them as fans making himself beholden to them in the performance of the team. It says that on the ticket.
    Some are now saying that contract should not be renewed.
    Mr Wenger has so failed in what he signed up to deliver to them the team has ”caved in,” as it has ”caved in before again and again,” yet, unbelievably, the reality on the pitch, the pitch on the other side of the touchline, beyond the touchline and on the other side of the agreement the fans have with Mr Wenger, the team that has caved in ”again and again,” is the same team that has been in the top four eighteen times, won the FA cup twice in the last two seasons.

    If a team ”caves in” ”again and again,” and still qualifies for Europe because it finishes in the top four eighteen times, season afer season, and still wins the FA Cup, what is the language existing to describe the teams that finish between 5 and 20, season after season, the hundreds of teams that failed to win the FA Cup?

    Can these teams ever be described?

    Where is the language to describe the teams in the divisions beneath the Premiership? When Arsenal ”cave in again and again?”
    These teams, and their fans – when language such as ”caved in” is used – exist outside of language.

36. “we have struggled to make the hoped for progress in the league or Champions League.”

    This comment does not withstand further scrutiny.
    It is not an accurate reflection upon the last two and half seasons. You all remember what you have seen upon the pitch I hope, therefore there is no need for further comment.

    If AFC retain the FA cup how much should I put down at the bookies that own one or two PL teams that some will be writing that: “this feels like Groundhog Day”? 😉

37. A great article.
    Whether we love Arsene Wenger or not, we will surely hold our breadth when he does make way for a successor. If nothing else, the post Ferguson years shows that a great club, stability, a title winning squad, and all the resources a new manager could dream of, do not guarantee success. Change takes us into the unknown, and who knows what the unknown will bring.
    Let’s assume Arsene is succeeded by the ‘dream choice’. A ‘winner’ with a Champions League or two on his CV. Two things we can be certain of:

    1), to a large extent, everything will be the same for him as for Wenger: ownership,history, business model, culture, resources, expectations. He will have to work within the same framework, possibilities and constraints of his predecessor. In particular, he will have no control over the external world (including referees!), or other clubs and what they do. Most particular of all, he will have to compete with an financially elite group of funds with equally ‘dream managers’, but with enormously greater financial resources at their disposal. No new manager is going to be able to guarantee PL and CL success, and would be foolhardy to promise it.

    2. many things will change. A new broom…new backroom staff, new players, new methods, new youth policy (or no youth policy). Let’s throw in that our ‘new broom’ has demanded and secured certain guarantees as part of the deal. (Apart from a huge parachute payment should things not work out…) Most notable guarantee – a big transfer budget with no requirement to balance the books. On the downside for the new broom we can be sure that once in situ, he will have less power and control within the club than his predecessor, less influence over the Board, and no track record of success at the Emirates, no guarantee that he is in for the long haul, no incentive to build for the long term. He will get his pot of gold and be told to deliver.

    Given the above two considerations, would a wise man wave goodbye to Wenger, warts and all, and leap into the unknown? It’s a hell of a roll of the dice. Just ask the fans at Old Trafford.

    Considering those

38. Hear hear Tony. Thanks.

39. Great article Tony.

    proudkev @ 12.43pm

    You seem to have a knack of saying exactly what I want to say, just better.

    From a wonderful post this is my favourite line:

    “I don’t turn on my family and friends during tough times, I help them through it”.

    Exactly.

    The way the aaa’s and there ilk behave is so alien to me I just cant get my head round where exactly they are coming from. There idea of supporting a club and mine are so far apart, as to be on different Planets.

40. Very well put Tony.

41. Finsbury, my thoughts exactly

42. Two observations amongst many I could make:

    1. Lack of tactical flexibility? Are you serious? Numerous examples over the last 20 years. How about the 2005 FA Cup win when we had very few fit attackers but played for penalties – and won?

    2. New manager will have a transfer budget that will be significantly less than ManC/ManU/Chelsea. So, to “compete” he will have to at least match Wenger’s over-achievement with a similarly under-resourced squad. So either develop players or identify bargains in the transfer market. Hat tip to the Totts and, in particular, Leicester who have delivered more with less than us this season. But can they sustain for 10+ years?

43. Brilliant article

    When you first see your team playing you get the feeling in the pit of your stomach that tell’s you you are watching something special and I fell in love with Arsenal FC. Now we all would love to see them win every game but you know going in that is never going to happen because this is the nature of football. You take the good times and you take the not so good but one hing you never ever do is stop supporting those players and the manager. They know themselves and try their damness to put it right, shouting abuse is only going to result in those players going into a game nervous and uptight because of their own bloody supporters and that is what hurts me more than Arsenal losing a game. Yes I get down but when I started supporting my team I did so knowing all this and I have never regretted my decision to support Arsenal because if I’m honest it has been one of the best decision’s I have made in my life and I would have no other way win lose or draw. It’s a game a beautiful game and I consider myself lucky to support The Arsenal and I always will.

44. Well said, Tony. I don’t support Arsenal for bragging rights over my mates. It’s much deeper than that, some kind of identity thing. Some of us were born thousands of miles away from Highbury (though I have been to the Ems quite a few times now), and that does not make us glory hunters. In my case I chose this team for the type of football they play and the way they do things. I was watching Chelsea last night and I remember thinking there are some elements in this Chelsea side I would never want to see associated with Arsenal, like ivanovic for instance. I’m pretty sure when I chose to follow Arsenal, had they had players like ivanovic I most likely would not be on this thread today.

    I’m happy when we win, and if we lose fairly I’m quite calm. But I’m mad when we get robbed, even if we win despite the robbery, like when we beat Leicester at home. I don’t know what I can do to stay calm in those times.

45. Tony of course its a personal view. this is a site of opinions reading the posts on here. You can do anything you like with the facts that why there is are so many different opinions. If you wants facts we havent won a title for 12 years and havent got farther than the last 16 in the CL for quite a few years. We also have the highest ticket prices in the PL. We are now the 6th or 7th richest club in the world.Currently we are trailing Leicester by 8 points. There are your facts. How you interpret them is a matter of opinion

46. Thanks for that, Tony.

47. The problem is not the presentation of facts, although We also have the highest ticket prices in the PL isnt a fact.

    The problem is taking an opinion and then interpreting it as if it were a fact.

48. Ironically the first match I watched, Arsenal won a trophy:) The CWC in 1994. One year later, they lost to that infamous (albeit incredible) Nayim goal in the final against Zaragoza.

    I guess I was lucky to catch a bit of the pre-Wenger era, even if Arsenal weren’t heavily broadcasted in Romania at that time, I could still keep an eye on EPL. That perspective makes Arsene’s achievements to stand out even more than they normally would.

    But all these years of restraint and misfortune carry a deeper meaning. To me, it’s following your goals against all adversity. Once the priorities are clear, and the means to get there, the rest falls into background as of secondary importance. It doesn’t make one suddenly unbeatable, but it’s a source of strength most can only dream of.

    I don’t think this team is the finished article. There is so much more left to achieve. With all its downs, this season has been anything but disappointing – if anything it highlighted our consistency, and I can’t see how it turn worse than the previous one. The only way is up.

49. I agree fully with your view, Tony and share your sentiments. I have supported since the late 50’s, through bad and good times.

    I would add that I do not think that there is a current manager in the world who can match Arsene for his record, ability and principles. He has never been a cheque-book manager, a three year success then move on type of manager. The only manager in EPL with a comparable record of longevity and success is Alex Ferguson, who, in my opinion, cannot live up to Arsene’s other qualities. (As shown by his sacrifice of his club’s longer term interests following his own retirement.)

50. @AI

    I have this theory that players are mirrors of their manager.

    Compare Tony Adams from George Graham’s era with the one from Arsene Wenger’s to understand my comparison.

    Then again, Arsene Wenger from 1996 and Arsene Wenger from 2016 are different so you could search further for a difference between, say, Sol Campbell and Per Mertesacker. Yes, Campbell was much better player than Per but if you have a son playing sports, which of those two would you pick as a role model for him? Henry or Alexis? Vieira or Ramsey? Wait for this one: Cole or Monreal? My point is, Arsene 1996-2006 was more ruthless and the beauty on the pitch was subordinated to our quest for points while Arsenal 2007-2016 are more of reflection of Arsene’s quest for beauty, for football as art where only desirable contact is the one with the ball, not with the opponents’ shin.

    Ivanović – it seemed to me that way – was Mourinho’s man in the locker room. No wonder he got the armband despite presenting one awful performance after another.

51. I respect your views, even though i don’t agree with your conclusions about the manager. I should explain that I am probably nearly (but not quite) as old as you, having seen my first game on 5 March 1966 – a 0-0 draw against Blackpool, when Don Howe broke his leg. So I’ve seen a few barren periods during my 50 years following Arsenal. But managers have not been allowed to rest on their laurels or dine out on former glories for anything like as long as this one.

    Mee broke up the double team too soon, and had the grace to leave with dignity as soon as standards started to slip. Neill (with Don Howe back on board) achieved a degree of success built on playing attractive football in the late 70s and early 80s. When that team started to under-perform, Neill was held accountable. After a brief spell of stewardship from Howe, George Graham took over and we enjoyed another great era of success, yet when league form dipped, despite continued cup success, he had to go. Wenger was exactly the right man for the club and deserves great credit for the achievements of the late 90s/early 00s. But the game has moved on, and the methods that served us so well in his early years have proved increasingly ineffective over the past decade. We do play some decent football at times, but not consistently and too often with little end product. In my view, he should have gone in 2008 or 2009. While history shows that the first couple of years after that might not have seen an immediate improvement, it also suggests that the right man might well have achieved a new era of success with fresh ideas and a more ambitious approach in the transfer market.

    Better late than never, but whether or not we win another FA Cup this year, like I believe the majority of Arsenal fans now, I am voting for WEXIT in May.

52. josif

    The problem is we cant breath on an opponent without getting a card.

    If Vieira was in the current side he would spend 90% of the time suspended.

    I think Wenger has had to accept this as a matter of fact.

53. @Jambug

    I agree to the certain extent. To put it this way: on-going xenophobia that Proud Kev has been dissecting excellently in a few previous occasions was partially motivated with Wenger’s decision to put the ball to the ground as much as possible, to opt for Fabregases ahead of Vieiras. It was taken as a proverbial finger in the English football gravediggers’ eye and Wenger is a culprit for them. No good deed goes unpunished.

54. The issue Bob B is not only that you think Wenger should go, but who should replace him. The fact that Chelsea can’t find their man, and Man U have had two shots and not done too well, plus the fact that Liverpool have been going through managers like a fork through … well, you know, suggests that this is the problem. Plus managers might well think, hell, they got rid of Wenger because of the fans,… can I do better?

    But I must pick you up on one bit

    Mee broke up the double team too soon, and had the grace to leave with dignity as soon as standards started to slip.

    Just remember we are comparing managers with Wenger whose record is endless 3rds and 4ths – that is the extent of his slippage. Here is the Mee record that you speak of as leaving with dignity.

    1973-4 10th out of 22; 4th round of the FA Cup; League cup knocked out by Tranmere
    1974-5 16th out of 22; 6th round of the FA Cup,
    1976 – 17th out of 22; 3rd round of the FA Cup

    That is three years of suffering, nothing else.

55. Tony

    That is brilliant, and beautifully exposes the different criteria under which Wenger is judged.

    That Mee/Wenger comparison is the sort of argument that is endlessly used to bash Wenger, and it just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, and is frankly ridiculous.

56. Great article Tony. Sums up how I feel too. I love supporting Arsenal and their history but I have other interests as well. It puts things into perspective and although down when not doing so well its’s not the end of the world. There is always the next game, next competition and the next season to look forward to. I am sure a lot of the AAA should broaden their horizons a bit and get back to properly supporting Arsenal and not behave like spoiled children who can’t get their way. Criticism which is fairly offered is welcome but a lot of theirs is downright rude and unjustified. I would not swap the running of our club for Chelski, Man C, Barcelona, Real Madrid or PSG or any other bank rolled clubs at all and I suggest to them if thats what they want go and support them. I used to read the site which Bard posts on and stopped going to it as so disgusted by most of them. With support like that who needs rivals?!

57. @bard

    There is one thing I learned in all those years behind Arsenal. What it’s officially said about transfer kitty and what it’s actually in it are 2 big things since we don’t know exactly what are the budgets and how they are supposed to be used. Kroenke can come out loud and says that kitty is £50m heavy, yet, does this mean, £50m to get the player only or £50m to get a player and his contract which means also the agent fee and all fees that can occurs, at the end of the day, a £25m players cost £35m to the club. Is there a point then to blame wenger for that? Is Wenger backed up by russian millions or qatari’s millions? Now Wenger has to deal with someone who is really close to his money (too close when it comes to BPL nowadays IMO)
    ferguson aside, no one is BPL has done better than the french, so basically wanted his head would mean cutting Arsenal of it’s main asset (and more valuable in BPL) to get him replaced by what’s left. We are lucky that our managers doesn’t want to be an arse and make the wob pays and thus all Arsenal fan pay for idiocy said about him. We are lucky to have a manager who believe in his project, on the club project and on long term investment. As far as I am aware, the wrath on new managers (Man Utd, Chelsea, etc) from supporters is worse now than ever. Wenger will leave, pretty sure within the next 4 years, no point to replace him with a new guy on a project that is not finished.

58. Great article Tony – the truth is always so simple.

    Greg Thomas – man after my heart. What a lovely comment.

    Bard – go down to a trophy shop & buy something to amuse you. You can’t use ‘sporting’ while the game is being run by current encumbents. Sporting is not about winning or losing it is how you play the game.