Arsène Wenger and the dictator insult. This is no way to conduct a debate.

By Walter Broeckx

Over the years we have seen many names being given to our manager. Abusive words, insults, swearing and shouting. What people say on the streets or in the stadium is their prerogative. We live in a (kind of) free world and can say what we want as long as it isn’t something that can be seen as unlawful.

Needless to say, we usually don’t publish such comments on Untold. If you really feel better if you can insult Wenger we can only advise you to go to websites that allow such things and enjoy the moment. It certainly isn’t my cup of tea. But each his own.

However there is that one word that sometimes does get used on this site by commentators: that Wenger is a dictator.

When such a comment goes on line I must say that it gives me a rather creepy feeling. As far as I know Wenger isn’t a person who locks up people who have a different opinion. As far as I know Wenger doesn’t put his opponents in front of the judge and gets them jailed for their opinions. As far as I know Wenger isn’t ordering his army to bomb civilians. Or use gas against them. Or makes them walk in lines with then thousands in military parades. All things we can see from dictators.

So using that word is in fact highly insulting.

The word “dictator” is used without any evidence being given to back up the claim (as there is none of course) and the use of the word tends to make the correspondent look rather childish – which is why we sometimes don’t mind letting such a comment through, even though it is insulting.

Those who use the comment generally appear a bit like children who have no argument anymore and then just uses the first insult that springs to mind. Of course I know from time to time we all can get carried away in a heated discussion and can call other people names but when this insult is used without that heated discussion it doesn’t bring anything to the website.

Yes I am sure that Wenger has a strong character and a strong willpower. But that is something completely different from being a dictator. If all people with strong characters were dictators then the world would be full of theem.

If we look at the world outside football we see a lot of dictators. Too many countries are suffering from such people. And to compare our misery (in a way of speaking) with the people who genuinely in their daily lives are suffering under real dictators makes my blood boil.

In today’s world where we see all the killing that is going on against those who have the wrong political or religious views, the wrong colour of skin, the wrong colour of eyes, wrong shape of nose, for being disabled, for being sick, …. I think we should be careful when we use words.

Not because I want political correctness to rule but because I find it completely wrong to minimize the suffering of people in today’s world.

Now I have seen people say, “but we don’t really mean the word in that way”. Then, in return, I would say, “why on earth did you say it?”  Surely there are other words that can be used when you think that Wenger doesn’t listen to anyone.  Use the English language then to really say what you mean.

And it would even be better if you could give some evidence that he doesn’t listen to anyone. You could give evidence in showing you know him in person and that you can give examples of this. I don’t know Wenger in person so I don’t know if he does listen to other people or not.

Or give evidence that he is such a hard man. But as we have seen other people saying that Wenger is too soft on his players I suspect he surely doesn’t really fit the bill for the average real world dictator – some of whom are famous for even killing family members who don’t agree with every word they say.

Dictators are dictators for political reasons. And we have all sorts of them (and of course) far too many of them in the world. So how can we get rid of those political dictators who actually kill people or make sure they get killed if we take away the real meaning of the word by using it for a manager of a football club?

If you google “dictatorships” you will find a very long list of countries where people really are suffering under dictators. The only way I suffer because of Arsenal (and indeed Wenger if you want to see Arsenal and Wenger as the same) is when we lose a football match. Okay, I don’t like it. I hate it. But if that is all I have to feel bad about, how lucky is that?  If that is the worst that happens how lucky most of us are!

Today’s world is a bad place to be. Attacks on civilians, people killing each other for no reasons (there is never a reason for me)……now even a bomb attack against the bus of the Borussia Dortmund team…. What has this world become?

And in such a world we feel the need to insult Wenger by calling him a dictator? What’s next? Sue him in Nuremberg?

If you don’t like Wenger, fine that is your choice. If you hate Wenger? Your choice. But please keep some respect and dignity. And if you can’t do that it says more about you than it says anything about Wenger.

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47 Replies to “Arsène Wenger and the dictator insult. This is no way to conduct a debate.”

  1. I have only had dealings with Mr Wenger once, and that with the publication of Danny Karbassiyoon’s autobiography, “The Arsenal Yankee”.

    Arsene Wenger was approached and asked if he would write a Foreword for the book. There was no need for him to do it, and he most certainly wasn’t paid for doing it and I suspect he gets requests like this all the time.

    But he agreed to do it and not only that, he wrote a personal, kind and generous Foreword that really knocked out both Danny and myself.

    That was one incident only, of course, but as far as one incident tells us anything about a man’s personality, I think that spoke volumes. He’s a busy man, there was nothing in it for him, but he took the time to think of what to say, and get it sorted.

    Quite often it is through small issues like that, that one can judge what the real man is like.

  2. Could you believe that one of the first comments (that will not be published unless Tony beats me to it) is calling Wenger a dictator and more insults….

  3. Like all dictators he will bite the dust.As the gunners were conceding goals by the bucket full,the subject of defence coach was broached.He condescendingly dismissed it saying he had 30 years of coaching.
    Well. Well.This is the way dictators behave. I hope reports of a 200 miilion pound war chest remain just a rumour.
    If Arsenal want to join the elite football teams,they have to get a new guy with proven track record of winning trophies.
    There are many of them who are far better than the fm
    who has lost the trust of most goner fans.

  4. wolfgang stop talking shit.

    i think this guy said it better than you , me or arsene

    Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.”

    ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

    i did not hear youor any other silly man or woman moaning about defence when our atatck had henry scoring 30 and assisting 20 and pires scoring 15 and assisting 15

    and no…you will not have henry and pires all the time…maybe once in a lifetime..two if your club is soem giant like real madrid.

    arsenal ? elite? since when? oh because wenger made us look like it….

    well looking liek it and acting it are two different things.

    ball in owners court…not employees and managers

  5. Wolfgang, The only thing that is correct in your comment is that Wenger has 30 years of coaching.

  6. and wolfganag if arsenal really wants to become elite they must make their hands dirty…agents refs and media must belong to arsenal fc pockets….

    arsenal has no idea how to do that….many sharks lurking whove been there and done it way before arsenal and hold control.

  7. As much as I agree with your sentiments, however i have to ask, don’t you feel it’s a bit rich, this sentiments coming from you? A site which gives denigrating names to so many people and institutions? From aaa to state aid fc, to septic bladder, to child molesters (barca) etc. It might be wrong to call wenger names, but allow those with clean lips do the complaining

  8. Wolfgang,

    Do you know why Mr Wenger has achieved so much in career and Big Fat Sam has nothing. Because, he doesnt talk tactics in pre or post game interviews.

  9. You can tell that Wenger and Arsenal are doing it the right way by the amount of stick they get from the media compared to other clubs.Talk Sport for instance sullies the name of AFC daily especially through Durham Gough and Cundy and their WOB muppett following who are more than happy to swallow all the crap they dish out.It’s easy to fool the foolish just make up stories about someone or an institution you don’t like which in today’s climate appears to be AFC,get a load of base characters,ie the Wenger out morons plus plenty of fake news, spin and ‘hey presto’..

  10. Lighten up, Walter. With respect, English is not your first language so it’s really not your place to lecture anyone – let alone native speakers – on the nuances of English vernacular.

    Sure, in the right context, “dictator” can refer specifically to the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Saddam or Assad. But in English, it also has a common, more general and less pejorative meaning. For instance, “the headmaster ran the school with an iron fist – like a dictator”; or “my wife wears the trousers at home – she’s a right little dictator”.

    In other words, you’re being far too literal and that is entirely attributable to you not being intimately familiar with common English usage.

    Wenger has been called far worse (as a consequence of wholly unfounded, highly slanderous rumours that circulated soon after he joined Arsenal) – and unlike “dictator”, the one particular word to which I refer has no other meaning in English that I know of. Its use is therefore entirely unjustifiable and unforgivable. Save your ire for use of that word.

  11. I also think that people that call him a dictator thoroughly misunderstand the nature of any football club. Football clubs are not democracies, some elect their club Presidents and some are fan owned but the majority of decisions are still made by a select few “unelected” people. Football clubs are social enterprises, sports teams and businesses rolled into one but I highly doubt that there are any that are run by constantly looking for majority approval from their fans.

    This comment isn’t even meant to defend Wenger (I think he should leave but still hold him in high regard) it is just to agree with the article and point out the flawed logic in the insult itself. I mean, can anyone really call Chelsea with Abramovich a democracy; no, but they still see lots of success.

  12. all wenger is, is a victim of his own success,we have been spoilt for 20 years now we are having an average season judged by our past high standards alot of people are up in arms,the majority of which only know wenger as manager,ive been going since 1967 and there has been many lean years

  13. This is one of a number of emails we have had today which does not appear to come from a valid email address, and so is not published.

  14. JimB

    Correct. I chided Walter over this the other day when he took issue with somebody (obviously not British) who made the “dictator” comment, and here he is again getting precious over it.
    I’d say that Wenger is curmudgeonly at the very worst. An actual real life Victor Meldrew.

  15. @JimB,
    Re your 3.13, I sympathise with Walter and indeed all folk from mainland Europe who recall or have been told how their country suffered during WW2. To them “dictator” will always touch a nerve. 😉

  16. I read the point concerning the use of unreal names on this site (State Aid United etc) for clubs, and then comparing this with the use of “dictator”.

    First point on that is that I am the one who mostly uses the silly names. I don’t know if Walter has ever done it, and so to blame him in that regard is unfair. Although those of us who write regularly on the site tend to be friends and have similar views on Arsenal and football, there is no set of guidelines issued on how one writes. Thus I do not think it reasonable to take Walter to task for this.

    Second, as the perpetrator of the silly names approach, I think there are two issues within that. One is that this is done mostly in relation to organisations and I think being rude about an organisation is different from being rude about a person.

    In terms of people yes I do call Sam Allerdyce The Large One and things of that nature, but I would personally find a difference between calling someone a dictator and poking fun at someone because of their misdeeds of the type Allerdyce has become involved in.

    I do think there is a difference between different types of abuse, put downs and so on. Dictator has a different status in European languages I find from in English, undoubtedly (as noted above) because of the history of our different nations.

    But equally it is undoubtedly true that many people who run organisations do sometimes make themselves central to the club and build it to their liking. Chelsea does this with Abramovich, Arsenal with Wenger. But in such cases it is only by their actions that we can judge if they are dictatorial or not.

  17. I got up Tuesday morning and thought about what to wear. On the top of the pile was my one of my Arsenal sweaters…the day after that performance against Palace…and then I put it on. I believe it is precisely after a poor performance that I have to support my club. The end of the season may see us out of the Champions League positions and possibly without an FA Cup but it will still see me wearing a red and white shirt.

  18. Violent is getting too many and too much in the world and it’s been occurring at alarming rate with the frequency of it’s happening on the all-time high. Just imagine how the dare devil islamist attacked the Dortmund’s FC club bus yesterday for the sole aim to kill, murder, assassinate, mamm, injure and destroy all purportedly done for God. But is the hand of God week to fight for Himsef? Or is the End Time revelation gradually manifesting?

    I’ve heard the word stubborn or stubbornness being used in the media by some Arsenal fans accusing Le Prof of not willing to loose the purse string to spend big to buy world class and top quality players from the transfer market so as to drastically upgrade his Gunners team to titles winning team. And I also heard Arsenal fans saying in the media that Le Prof is too stubborn in keeping faith with a Gunner and keeps starting him – Welbeck centrally who can’t make an impact in terms of scoring goals for Arsenal at the expense of Arsenal collecting points in their games. If true, Is that a gamble or what, when Sanchez and Giroud who can efficiently play centrally are available to start?

    In conclusion, can the alleged stubbornness by Le Prof amounted to being a dictator?

    I hope the £200m Arsenal war chest plan in the summer is truly true and not just a rumour mongering by the media. It has been reported in the media that £100m of that envisaged war chest is already on ground but Arsenal will have to sell some Gunners in the summer window to make up the balance.

    The bottom line is, Arsenal MUST revamp their first team squad with at least 3 world class players and 3 top quality players in the summer. Notwithstanding this, they must try by all means to keep Ozil, Sanchez and Mustafi who I am rating as world class. And the emerging top quality young Gunners CBs of: Chambers and Holding should on no account be sold by Arsenal. In the present Arsenal central midfielders of Cazorla, Ramsey, Coquelin, Elneny and Xhaka. Only Coquelin and Xhaka I can see Arsenal retaining out of the 5 next season in addition to buying new top grades DM, deep lying and a central attacking midfielder CAMF. While a midfielder from our League II team who has cut the top quality grade could be promoted to to the first team central midfield to bring the numbers to 6 in our central midfield area instead of the 5 we have there this season. And I think the Ox can even bring the nymbers to 7 there since Le Prof now sees him as CAMF. In our forward line, hmmn, there is serious problem there. Who and who among the 4 forwards of: Perez, Walcott, Giroud and Welbeck will Arsenal sell in addition to selling the injury prone midfielders: Cazorla, Ramsey and the lackluster average quality Elneny in the summer to raise that balance of £100m to complete the £200m plan summer war chest?

  19. JimB,

    Veering into petty territory comparing words for validity; as if it makes a shred of difference to Wenger’s ability as a manager or his decision to continue at Arsenal, or not. Brian Clough was undeniably an insufferable egomaniac and loose-cannon, yet his approach yielded barnstorming success at Forest and embarrassing failure at Leeds United. The difference in that context was undeniably the attitude of the footballers under his command. At Forest, he and Peter Taylor crafted a tight-knit unit of tough, skilful players who all worked for each other and knew their roles inside out. The prima-donnas at Leeds were the blueprint for this current Leicester team: a bunch of big-heads who thought they were better than the man who was put in charge of them and downed tools like spoilt children when they didn’t get their way. I suspect we’re seeing a little of this creeping in at The Emirates Comfort Zone. A season out of the Champions League might wake a few drowsy millionaires up a bit.

  20. There are lots of times where the ‘foreigner’ label comes up. Xenophobia if you want to call it that. Most of these ‘phobias’ are not phobias, but what they hell. It gets attention.

    There are entirely too many people who don’t their from they’re.

    It has little to do with whether you are born in England, Britain, the United Kingdom, somewhere in what was the British Commonwealth or have English as a mother tongue. It can have something to do with such ‘locale’ issues. Having the trunk of the car called a ‘boot’ is mostly a locale issue. In Canada there is a word ‘eh’, but not in most other ‘English’ countries.

    Locale need not be the only consideration. A lot of the time, it is stupidity. Sure, some people will describe it differently. But a failure to learn simple concepts in language after being in school for how many years can certainly be labelled stupid.

    I think most people would default to thinking an English teacher is best at speaking or writing English. I’ve had the pleasure of reading a number of things written by lawyers, not always on the topic of law. To me, they are by far, better practitioners of English than English teachers are.

    Another argument thrown up with respect to locale, is culture. If you aren’t local to a region, you cannot know anything about local culture. Gee, I guess reading can’t convey culture. Authors obviously spend no time at all, correctly portraying culture in things they write about. And as all people live their entire life within 10 miles of where they were born, nobody else in the world could have learned of a remote culture because their neighbour is from there. Of course, nobody travels. Who would think that someone would want to travel to a foreign place and live there for many months? Mind you, as it isn’t possible to actually learn of culture different from where you are born, these people temporarily in the area, if they did exist, would always stick out in public.

  21. Dictator suppress and ban journalists. They control the media.
    Only one manager banned journalists and wouldn’t talk to a major broadcaster.
    Only one manager controlled referees and the FA.
    That manager is certainly not Wenger.
    That manager is now retired after having been helped by Clatternberg et al to win many trophies and league titles.

  22. Flares (and perhaps Gord too, though it’s hard to tell exactly who his post is aimed at):

    Just to be clear, I didn’t turn this into a discussion on semantics. Nor was I bullying Walter for his failure, as a non native English speaker, to understand the different nuances of the English vernacular. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was Walter himself who made this discussion about the meaning of a word and it was Walter who was attempting to attribute a far worse intention to those who had labelled Wenger a dictator – and that, in my opinion, is akin to bullying on his part.

    If Walter had merely written an article outlining why he felt that those labelling Wenger a dictator were wrong, he would have been entirely within his rights to do so – regardless of whether or not you agreed with him. But that’s not what he did. His article was about how the word “dictator” is an unforgivable insult and he proceeded to make all sorts of wholly irrelevant references to atrocities committed by political dictators around the world. It was an essay that missed the point spectacularly. And all because he simply didn’t understand the usage of the word “dictator” in different contexts in everyday English.

    So he had no right to claim the moral high ground in this specific respect. And it is only right that this was pointed out to him.

  23. The difference for me is the use of the word dictator is against one of our own… The other silly names are towards the ‘enemy’

  24. I think a lot of native English speakers would, like Nicky, take the use of the word dictator quite seriously. So I do not believe Walter’s objections are anything to do with the fact that English is not his first language. In fact he is a very sophisticated user of the English language. I envy him his ability in a language not his own, and admire it.

    In general, I believe the word dictator is very over used and often used inaccurately as well. People fall into using it about the same people our esteemed mass media has decided to call dictators – people like President Assad, for example, elected and very largely supported by the Syrian people. This means they support people like the also elected President Trump of the USA when they decide to send 59 cruise missiles to bomb Syria on an unproven assertion which looks very similar to the lie that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. And we all know what the results of that were.

    Anyway, after that diversion – I think the Arsene Wenger Tony describes in his example rings far more true to those of us who have listened to him and read what he has said than any description of him as a dictator. Having a philosophy and sticking to it does not make a person a dictator.

  25. Arsene Wenger is making only one mistake in the modern game……..respecting the purity of the game.
    Enjoy it while you can, his successors might achieve more, they might defend better, foul better, play act better, but if you love the best aspects of the game , it will be at a cost.
    Pure football is dying, and being replaced by ” tactically astute” automatons who will achieve a measure of success, but will kill the game as it is meant to be enjoyed. Wenger is clearly not succeeding in the current climate, but the day will come when they long for his values when the game becomes a tactical borefest that Chelsea, Spurs and Leicester give us, viewers switch off and view something more interesting instead.

  26. There are four reasons why the word ‘dictator’ is completely unacceptable.

    1) The world is filled with people whose own lives, the lives of their families, children, communities and countries, have been devastated by the actions of dictators. Millioms have been murdered by dictators. Hundreds of thousands have been tortured by dictators. To use the word without recognising the human consequence is disrespectual to those who have suffered, disrespectul to those who had to fight to overcome dictators, disrespectful to those they have lost, disrespectful to their lives and struggle.

    2) To use the word ‘dictator’ in the ‘everyday,’ to use the word describing someone who dictates to people and life around him or her, the person using this word to describe Mr Wenger has to know, before the word is used as the description of Mr Wenger, what is happening inside Arsenal football club. There has to be a reason existing in concrete reality why this word ‘dictator’ can be used, why this word ‘dictator’ should be used as a description of Mr Wenger, and the person using that word has to know the reason. Clearly this knowledge does not belong to anyone in the public otherwise it would have been printed in the press already.

    3)Mr Wenger as a ‘dictator’ in Arsenal football club cannot even ”dictate” to his team a method of making certain they win football matches.

    4) To use the word ‘dictator’ to describe a football manager who cannot even ”dictate” a winning mentality in the football squad he ”dictates” only tells us that the person using this word ”dictator,” cannot even describe the reality of what is happening on the football pitch.

  27. Arsene Wenger is making only one mistake in the modern game……..respecting the purity of the game.

    spot on. i think i know you, the mandydod name rings a bell but cant place it. and thats exactly the situation. wenger is ultra principled and stands for football, just happenign to do it via arsenal. is football ready to change an dbecome ethical? doubt it… so ball in owners court imo. wenger has acarried arsenal for 20 years……what are the owners doing?

  28. th ebiggets fear has materialised…the nedless trolling of media and rival fans have turned arsenal fans against their own club acting the highest form of hubris in sporting history.. for me this shows lack of big fan club culture but anyway……baby steps.

  29. For those who do not know what “dictator” means:
    a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force.
    synonyms: autocrat, monocrat, absolute ruler;
    More
    tyrant, despot, oppressor, absolutist, totalitarian, authoritarian;
    informalsupremo, Big Brother;
    rareautarch
    “the country was ruled by a right-wing dictator”
    a person who behaves in an autocratic way.
    (in ancient Rome) a chief magistrate with absolute power, appointed in an emergency.

    a leader who has complete power in a country and has not been elected by the people

    a person who gives orders and behaves as if they have complete power:

  30. To tell the truth, AW appears to be more a “yes man” than a “dictator” if you can see what i mean.

    Note i said APPEARS people!

  31. If the word,”Dictator” is so revolting for obvious reasons, ie massacre, oppression etc, then similarly the use of the word “Pundit” should also be revolting because non of the commentators are not worth even wiping a true Pundits arse. But both are used very loosely.

  32. Which of these following virtues do you hate or resent ?

    http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/seven_virtues.htm

    -Faith is belief in the right things (including the virtues!).
    -Hope is taking a positive future view, that good will prevail.
    -Charity is concern for, and active helping of, others.
    -Fortitude is never giving up.
    -Justice is being fair and equitable with others.
    -Prudence is care of and moderation with money.
    -Temperance is moderation of needed things and abstinence from things which are not needed.

    And adding to the above –
    -Loyalty
    -Truthfulness
    -Goodness
    -virtuousness
    -Righteousness
    -morality
    -Integrity
    -dignity
    -Rectitude
    -Honour
    -Decency
    -Respectability
    -Nobility
    -Worthiness
    -Purity
    -Principles
    -Ethics

    Ask yourselves , which of these virtues do YOU possess ?
    And which of these does AW not represent or practice ?

  33. Dear United Airlines ,

    Please come to ………..(fill in name of club or country)
    There’s someone who does not want to vacate his seat .

  34. This message is for those who appreciate the finer points of the English language…

    His Lordship was in the study when the butler approached and coughed discreetly.

    “May I ask you a question, My Lord?”

    “Go ahead, Carson ,” said His Lordship.

    “I am doing the crossword in The Times and found a word the exact meaning of which I am not too certain.”

    “What word is that?” asked His Lordship.

    “Aplomb,” My Lord.

    “Now that’s a difficult one to explain. I would say it is self-assurance or complete composure.”

    “Thank you, My Lord, but I’m still a little confused about it.”

    “Let me give you an example to make it clearer. Do you remember a few months ago when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived to spend a weekend with us?”

    “I remember the occasion very well, My Lord. It gave the staff and myself much pleasure to look after them.”

    “Also,” continued the Earl of Grantham, “do you remember when Wills plucked a rose for Kate in the rose garden?”

    “I was present on that occasion, My Lord, ministering to their needs.

    “While Will was plucking the rose, a thorn embedded itself in his thumb very deeply.”

    “I witnessed the incident, My Lord, and saw the Duchess herself remove the thorn and bandage his thumb with her own dainty handkerchief.”

    “That evening the hole the rose made in his thumb was very sore. Kate had to cut his venison for him, even though it was extremely tender.”

    “Yes, My Lord, I did see everything that transpired that evening.”

    “And do you remember the next morning while you were pouring coffee for Her Ladyship, Kate inquired of Will in a loud voice, ‘Darling, does your prick still throb?’
    ….and you, Carson, did not spill one drop of coffee ?

    That, Carson is complete composure, or aplomb.”

  35. Remember that old saying , “If you can’t beat ‘ them ‘, dis-joint ‘them’? No ? It may have lost something in the translation.

    Well be real afraid if other American owned companies (hint !) decide to follow in United Airlines’ mantra ! I would advice against carrying banners or protesting too much !

    After Sunday’s incident …
    Best tag lines for United Airlines.

    Not enough seating, prepare for a beating…

    We offer free drag and drop service.

    If we can’t beat our competitors…we beat our customers.

    Arrive at your destination in one or two pieces

    United puts the hospital in hospitality

    And ….

    We offer both red eye and black eye flights?

  36. Zuruvi
    12/04/2017 at 7:26 pm
    True comment. Only that dictator chose his replacement & screwed up big time.
    That dictator was led by the nose & ridden to upset by a good poker player.
    That dictator was owned by a caravan site owning greedy bastard.
    That dictator was implicated in several illegal dealings in the game.
    That dictator got away with it all because ‘he’s one of their own’ (network of sin).

  37. A few weeks ago an Arsenal fan compare AW to Robert Mugabe in an interview and that interview went viral and it made it in the news. So I believe the comment about AW as a dictator is taken in that context by the poster. Those that lambasted Walter should reconsider their comments.

  38. Anyone calling Arsene Wenger a Dictator is doing nothing more than parroting the nonsense spouted by some of the (so called) football analysts of the media, many of whom wouldn’t know what roles and responsibilities are required to run a business.

  39. I used the word DICTATOR toward Le Prof.

    Am i allowed to use it to reflect what i read sense and believe at the club as a fan ?

    Certailnly yes !!
    Because is just an opinion.Opinion that irritate someone to the point is writing a full article.
    Relax,chill out a bit man……

    The irony those who want to defend Le Prof by your own admitance never met him.

    Never ever had a chat of an hour with him.

    To defy someone carachter as a dictator one has to have a prolonged stay with entity in order to labell him like that.

    But this is football world.
    Here in this site there are self appointed solicitors so make sense.

    You opine all this ruler you mention are dictators.I beg to differ because if is not in the national so called interest that entity is labelled as ….all sort of names.Sound politics is not your forte stick to your fav ref report i say.

    Get out of politics and stay on football.

    While le prof was giving us the jnvincible season would you and i really care if he really acted as a Dictator or labeled as one ?

    Get life ! Do not try to politicise things.The man is finished as an elite manager.At 67 is not going to reinvent himself.But you do not want to see the reality.The man cannot motivate the team.
    He took out the unger/fight from each player and instilled mediocrity.

    My evidence is what i see in the pitch.
    How he did it ?
    In a dictatorial way
    In undictatorial way
    In a democratic way

    We are where we are thanks to Le Prof.
    Le prof just let it go.

  40. Sorry Walter, I think yours is an overreaction to the use of the word dictator. I remember a colleague of mine once describing another colleague we both knew as being ” a bit of a dictator”. She didn’t mean a political dictator. She didn’t mean he was having people shot or sent to jail without trial. She wasn’t trying to say that this executive was evil just like Adolf Hitler. She merely meant this guy tended to be dictatorial in the way he did things, he tended to dictate to others how things would be done, without seeking their opinion or perhaps by just ignoring their ideas and thoughts. She was being critical of him, she wasn’t insulting him. And, as you full well know, that is what people mean when they use the word in relation to Mr Wenger; they suspect, based on very little changing in the last 10 years in terms of the overall approach the team pursues, that nobody seems to have been able to persuade Mr Wenger to change his approach to the defensive, off-the-ball or physical aspects of our game. He stands accused with the use of the word “dictator” of wanting to run everything at Arsenal his way. And even when it doesn’t work well enough to achieve what might otherwise be achieved, he just carries on ignoring the calls for change that grow and grow and grow. Now there is nothing in any FA or EUFA rule-book about running football clubs that says a football club must be democratic. Each football club can choose how it runs itself, how it should be structured, who is in charge and how much power any one individual can have. Personally I like the idea that fans, supporters should have some kind of say or representation within the structure of the club. I also like the idea that if running a football team requires different kinds of inputs from different people, the guy in charge uses the talent and ideas surrounding him. None of us know of course if Mr Wenger is dictatorial or not. For all we know he might be using everybody’s ideas all the time. Maybe Arsenal, over the last 10 years, is a team conceived from the input of many coaches with different and contrasting ideas…but it doesn’t look like it does it? The style of our game, its strengths and weaknesses, the good results we achieve, the bad ones we suffer…the outcomes if you like, are all remarkably similar, season after season after season. They don’t have the variety of outcomes that you might expect from different voices, different ideas, different inputs. Instead, they all have the consistent and persistant scent of one mind, one creator, one signature. If Sherlock Holmes were a football pundit, he would have sussed the guilty one long ago.

  41. fishpie posts

    ” None of us know of course if Mr Wenger is dictatorial or not.”

    You said it.

  42. Would she be considered a dictator ?

    A newlywed couple had only been married for two weeks. The husband, although very much in love, couldn’t wait to go out on the town and party with his old buddies.
    So, he said to his new wife, “Honey, I’ll be right back.”

    “Where are you going, coochy cooh?” asked the wife.

    “I’m going to the bar, pretty face. I’m going to have a beer.”

    The wife said, “You want a beer, my love?” She opened the door to the refrigerator and showed him 25 different kinds of beer brands from 12 different countries.

    The husband didn’t know what to do, and the only thing that he could think of saying was, “Yes, lolly pop… but at the bar… you know… they have frozen glasses.”

    He didn’t get to finish the sentence because the wife interrupted him by saying, “You want a frozen glass, puppy face?” She took a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so frozen that she was getting chills just holding it.

    The husband, looking a bit pale, said, “Yes, tootsie roll, but at the bar they have those hors d’oeuvres that are really delicious. I won’t be long. I’ll be right back. I promise. OK?”

    You want hors d’oeuvres, poochi pooh?” She opened the oven and took out 5 dishes of different hors d’oeuvres: chicken wings, pigs in blankets, mushroom caps, pork strips, etc.

    “But my sweet honey… at the bar… you know… there’s swearing, dirty words and all that.”

    “You want dirty words, Dickhead? Drink your fucking beer in your goddamn frozen mug and eat your motherfucking snacks because you are married now, and you aren’t fucking going anywhere! Got it, asshole?”

    And they lived happily ever after.

    Now, isn’t that a sweet story !!!

  43. dictator
    noun
    a ruler with total power, typically one who has obtained control by force.

    All a dictator needs is total power. Not gas or courts of any of the other stuff Walter has suggested. Just the total power that he has, even the obtained by force but is preceeded with usually.

  44. How can Mr Wenger have total power when he can’t even get his team playing for him?

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