When managers leave Arsenal: what it was like as Mr Wenger’s 5 predecessors were shown the door?

27 Replies to “When managers leave Arsenal: what it was like as Mr Wenger’s 5 predecessors were shown the door?”

1. I never did hear why Rioch left. Was there some issue with the board, because performance wise we were doing OK?
   Wenger has the opportunity to defy precedence and step down with dignity now or in a couple of years time. I think he should take it.

2. He stays and some will be relieved others will walk away but he should let supporters know , so that they can assess one way or the other whether to invest yet again . All this uncertainty is doing neither the club , the supporters or the players any favours.

   Come clean tell everyone what is happening , all the smoke and mirrors is no good for anyone. Even if we don’t pick up any more points this season we won’t go down so lets take the punches , wipe our mouths , head off to whichever direction and move on.

3. How can Mr Wenger step down with dignity? He has been called a ‘dictator’ – therefore he must stand up against his detractors, he has been called a ‘cancer.’

   There’s no dignity here.

4. Zedsaunt
   As far as I’m aware he’s only been called that on UA. So in the grand scheme of things that’s hardly relevant is it?

5. I think Wenger is the last of the Mohicans.Can you believe 21 years at a top club and the last 10 years unable to challenge or finish as champs.
   Not many top class managers can last 3 years let alone 5 years at a top team.
   The problem is the fm thinks he will get things right if he were given extra time.Most fans have lost faith in him being able to get the gunners challenging instead of fizzling out when the going gets tough.

6. Leon, I don’t know if you are on twitter or Facebook he has been called all that years ago already. And worse. By our own fans…

7. Sticks and stones I am afraid , not worth getting all twisted about a few insults . The bigger picture is the important bit. Staying or going ? Just let us all know so that we can plan.

8. Walter
   I didn’t know that, but what difference does it make to how he departs?
   My point was it’s better to resign than be sacked, but whatever, let the bleeding hearts have their say.

9. In UA he’s been called a ‘cancer’ twice, more times a ‘dictator.’ What he has been called elsewhere neither you nor I can say. His future a matter of great discussion it becomes very relevant what he gets called.

10. Leon posts

    ”but what difference does it make to how he departs?”

    You’re the one who wrote he should ‘step down with dignity now.’

11. Zedsaunt
    I don’t want to make a long debate out of this , but I thought it was quite obvious from my reply to Walter that what he was called made no difference to how he departed.
    And it doesn’t
    Leaving on his own terms is more dignified than getting sacked no matter what he’s called

12. I was at Terry’s first home game and there was excitement among the fans that Terry ‘had come home’ and all would be well.

    I wasn’t too sure as his managerial results until then were not that exciting. Like all Arsenal fans I wanted him to succeed.

    There were a number of problems that seem to dog Terry initially. It seems to me that the club was a lot calmer when Don Howe arrived.

    I thought Don’s leaving was to do with David Dein arranging a match against Luton without first reference to Don.

    Perhaps the reason you give here for is leaving is the more important one.

    Sad to see him go.

    I met Don Howe when our paths crossed. I was able to give him my personal thanks for all he did for the club.

    I wanted to ask him questions that a reporter might ask about the past.

    I wanted to say ‘If only you had stayed after the 71 double.’

    But I didn’t. In the context of our conversation it didn’t seem right to do this.

    He told me how he was with the England team on the night of our 1989 match against Loserpool. (Arsenal 2 loserpool nil). He said that all the England players wanted Arsenal to win.

    So did Don. Always.

13. I was told that Don Howe left because the news that we had approached Terry Venables had leaked out.. Might be another rumour but it came from a reliable source.

14. Pointless looking at the past. Football has moved on, Arsenal have not. Things have got to change and scaremongering supporters into believing the world is going to end is just a bunch nonsense. Come on Arsenal, make the changes and move onward and upward.

15. porter
    I think you’re right about TV. Howe did have some success later with Bobby Gould at Wimbledon, but never really made it as a manager. I was there when he broke his leg. You could actually hear the bone snap.

16. Perhaps it was the acoustics at Highbury , I was on the clock end when Ian Selley’s leg was snapped by Iwan Roberts . That was loud too.

17. My view is that Arsene Wenger’s departure will be governed by the pace of season ticket renewals, that is to say that the club are well aware of the take up rate for season tickets and if the indications are that supporters are not renewing in numbers I think he will go. The club cannot ignore the commercial aspects of the support for the club.

18. Couldn’t read through the article frankly, so many unsubstantiated assumptions in the introduction alone. But i think this is the best of the lot “this is why some famous managers back away from any engagement with arsenal. They know what it means in terms of treatments from the media”
    Wow!!! Omniscient Tony, would you care to enlighten us who these managers are and other than clairvoyance, how u got this info

19. “Pointless looking at the past” is an interesting point of view. How else do we understand where we are?

20. Atta, I am sorry you could not read the article, but I know (because I have earned my living for much of my life as a writer, that while some find some things I write, to be of interest, many others don’t like my stuff. Fair enough. But what puzzles me is that you write in with a comment on an article that by your own admission you haven’t read all the way through.

21. @Tony, do I have to Read through the article to find out how you became aware of the managers not wanting to come to arsenal because of the press? Ok, I’m sorry now I’ve read the article, can you point out the part where this evidence is?

22. Wenger’s stats show that he’s still miles ahead of the rest in the way his team attacks and the style in which they play.I always look to
    the stats of the amount of through balls a team plays to show it’s attacking intent and the amount of time a team reverts to playing long balls.Arsenal have made 109 through balls this season with only Man City on 101 anywhere near,Spurs sit a sorry tenth behind the like of Stoke and Hull with 36.As far as having to use the long ball again Arsenal come out top with the least use with City again second,Spurs have reverted to long balls on more occasions than Watford,Stoke and Sunderland and sit 11th on the list..

23. There is no evidence presented as such evidence as I have comes from private conversations supplied on a non-attributable basis. But as I am sure you can see, that was not my point. My point is that you felt it suitable to comment on an article without reading it. I find that interesting.

24. Through balls , long balls are both legitimate and there is no problem with either. It’s horses for courses and it’s about juggling your style to meet requirements. I would be interested in where Chelsea sit in those listings because you state that Spurs are about halfway in both lists and that suggests that mixing things up may well be the way to go.

25. @ Andy,

    ‘Arsene Wenger’s departure will be governed by the pace of season ticket renewals’ maybe but I suspect it is the propose structural change to Arsenal FC with the new Director of Football role. The Club and AW is probably negotiating on the terms for this change such as AW role and the controls he have for player recruitments. Once a compromise is attain, then an announcement probably be made hence why I think the chairman talked about a mutual agreement between the club and AW on extending his contract. No evidence just a suspicion.

26. There are reports that Arsenal had signed Shalke’s left back Kolasinac, if this is true, then one of the major problem for our poor season had been dealt with.

    Since the chance of not making top four in very likely and the first teamers seem to be playing poorly, I would like to see AW start some of the kids in some of the remaining matches to see if they are ready to play in the first team next season. Maybe another Bellerin or Iwobi could be uncovered – Eddie Nketiah.

    For the next match either as starters or subs: Holding, Maitlan-Niles, Renne Adelaide, Eddie Nketiah, Alex Iwobi.

27. Living in the past, and using it for doom & gloom…. UA is (or should be) better than that.