It appears Mr Wenger has a new two year contract. So what response should the anti-Wengerians make?

By Tony Attwood

If the reports are true and Mr Wenger has his two years contract then the issue does arise – what will the anti-Wengerians do, knowing that Mr Wenger will retire after two years and that their protests are unlikely to make him leave sooner.  (After all, one of their complaints is always that he is stubborn – so he is unlikely to resign in the face of some more banner waving).

First, they could show they truly support the team no matter what the results, by accepting the status quo, letting matters proceed and then hoping that the board find the “world class” manager they are looking for.

Indeed in a rational world populated with rational beings, those who believe Mr Wenger is a major cause of what they see as the club’s failings, would now debate the issue from the point of view of their final objectives.  That is, “what is it that we really want?” and “what is the most likely way of getting it?”

If the answer to that question of what they want is “Mr Wenger out now,” then I think most people will acknowledge that the current owner and current board are highly unlikely to bend to pressure from fans.

Indeed there is reason to believe that more of last season’s activity from the aaa will make potential replacement managers think twice before coming to Arsenal.  They know perfectly well that the media will be negative (indeed with the new appointment not yet announced formally the newspapers are already rolling out their anti-Wengerian articles), and with some fans against them, they can be excused for thinking that there must be more pleasant working environments elsewhere within football.

In short if we acknowledge that the sort of action the anti-Arsenal-Arsenal groupings have taken before (placards, chants, aeroplanes, video rants, twitter and seeking stories in the press), are not likely to remove the manager, (given that they have failed in the past) why would any Arsenal fan undertake such action?

The answer in fact is that this is a very basic, primitive human reaction.  More than that for being alert to the fact that something might go wrong at any moment is a primitive emotional response of all life within the animal kingdom.

All animals face danger from natural events and from other animals, and a belief in the world being a negative place where bad stuff happens is built in as part of the survival mechanisms.  Watch a bird feeding in a garden and you’ll see at once it is on the alert for larger birds, cats, humans…  the negative (“I will be hurt”) always over rides the positive (“this bird seed tastes good”) as a basic survival instinct.

So believing in the world as a negative place is a natural animal reaction, and it is clear that some football supporters live in a basic emotional world of this type.

Also in many parts of the animal kingdom where animals live in groups which have a leader there is built in the notion of challenging the leader.  It is an evolutionary development which ensures that weak leaders are replaced as soon as a stronger leader appears on the scene.

Of course a significant part of the development of civilisation has involved overcoming such basic and often highly inappropriate responses to a complex world.  But there are huge numbers of people who still respond to events at this very basic level.

Most clubs each season don’t win anything; it is a reality which most supporters get used to as they grow up.  That shows a certain emotional maturity.  Some have even evolved highly novel ways of coping with this reality of not being winners.  Tottenham supporters for example have found a way around their club’s abject failure to win stuff (as, for example, in winning the league throughout their entire history fewer times than Mr Wenger has won it personally), by celebrating finishing above Arsenal in the league for the first time in 22 years, while ignoring that they have failed to win a trophy for the last 3,385 days.

I’m certainly not saying we should copy anything Tottenham supporters do, but I do think that we should be prepared for a very basic primitive response from the aaa which will be lapped up by the media who adore stories that don’t cost them anything to research.  (Which is of course why the mass media idolises social media as a source – the story can be knocked out in seconds, and seconds later another “twitter is in meltdown” story has replaced it).

There’s no point getting too agitated in response to the next campaign by the aaa and their chums.  The only thing that will calm them is a continuation of the run at the end of this past season:

Played 10, won 9, lost 1.  Scored 20, conceded 7.

And we weren’t playing dodos all the way through.  The 10 games included matches against Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea.

Put another way, we played 10 games, 40% of which were against top four teams.  In the course of a season overall only 21% of games are against those teams.  I think the last quarter of the season went rather well.

But some, I am sure, will want to protest, and in so doing will reduce our chances of getting the very best manager possible, when Mr Wenger finally leaves.

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47 Replies to “It appears Mr Wenger has a new two year contract. So what response should the anti-Wengerians make?”

  1. This would be perfect news. Screw the negativistas, they can go support other clubs where their negativity will be deemed an asset.

  2. In a way, its all part of the game, the ups, the downs, the happiness, being angry, being positive, being negative, we won’t feel alive if it was not so.

    In fact, it was probably the fact that we were at heights that few clubs had achieved, and fans came to expect it, much like RM and Barca fans. They are as vocal and passionate as the Arsenal fans. Maybe this is the sign of a big club.

    My view of Arsenal fans(and fans in general), is that if the team puts in the effort and shows determination, fans will respect them that much more.

    If the manager/coach displays his ability to prepare for games well, out think rivals and find good players, then the fans will support and respect them too.

    After all, fans pay for the performances, thats why they boo at a bad stage play, bad music concert ect. Football is no different.

  3. Yes, so should we say that in retaliation Alexis and Ozil have decided to leave? Alexis to City / BM and Ozil to run down his contract? But knowing AW, Ozil will be sold.

  4. Well said, arsenal fans TV should relinquish their season tickets and take their negativity with them

  5. I want Wenger out but will continue to love and support Arsenal we just have to hope the board applied pressure to sign good players and get Alexis and Ozil to sign on.

    End of the day it’s results that count so we need to get back into the top 4 and hopefully do well in Europa.

    Also not have our annual collapse in Feb and try and mount a serious challenge next year in the league.

  6. Also found it mildly amusing how the pundits were saying why didn’t Arsenal play like they played against Chelsea in the final during the season. But as you point out Tony, in the last 10 games Wenger changed tactics; turned out to be very effective and despite the fact we had the toughest run-in we beat everyone, inc top teams, bar spurs.

    We won games we ‘shouldn’t’ have won; like with 10 men for almost the whole match against Everton, and against the champions in the fa cup final with a depleted defence (with a 21yr old rookie & a 37 yr old who had played only 37mins of football all season in central defence). How could they have not noticed.

  7. “Also found it mildly amusing how the pundits were saying why didn’t Arsenal play like they played against Chelsea in the final during the season. But as you point out Tony, in the last 10 games Wenger changed tactics; turned out to be very effective and despite the fact we had the toughest run-in we beat everyone, inc top teams, bar spurs.”

    AI
    The question is why did it take Wenger 29 games to change tactics? This a team built by Wenger so if it took him 29 games (not counting previous seasons) to find the best tactics for his team then questions need to be asked of what his criteria is when buying players.
    Now lets contrast with Conte, It took Mr Conte 7/8 games to change tactics of a team built by someone else and he ended up winning the league.
    So the question i ask you all who say Wenger is a great Manager how in the world did a “great” manager like Wenger build a team an not know until the 29th game of the season.
    PS: As at the time Wenger signed his last contract, he said his team was close to winning the league, we haven’t even come close in the last 10 years.

  8. Wow! we already have ‘back to the top 4’ from an anti Wenger supporter.

    Gouresh amusing himself with pathetic bad dreams. Lets just get back to reality. No one has been sold nor has anyone asked for a transfer. Very few if any will be moving on from the current squad. Wenger will decide. Just like Wenger every season, I want to win everything, one game at a time. I believe we have the talent & the ability to compete with any other team. All it needs is hunger, belief & focus.

    Good luck Arsenal, stay safe & whatever happens I will support you.

  9. When this afternoon’s announcement is made I hope it also includes the one where we will also be creating the new position for assisting transfers in/out, contract negotiations and generally lightening Wenger work load. He’s not getting any younger!

  10. I see serial hater Lineker is having his usual swipe at Wenger.

    A bitter and twisted old has been, a hypocrite and plain and simply a complete w***er:

    This from the Mirror in 2012:

    Why Gary Lineker should be ashamed …

    May 3, 2012 … His mockery, stupid French accent and derision of Arsene Wenger at the end of Match of the Day last Saturday was bordering on xenophobia.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-column-why-gary-lineker-should-816699

    Did he get done for racism?

    Did he get sacked by the BBC?

    Did he hell.

    Then this from the hypocrite in 2014:

    Gary Lineker …. Must say, I thought Arsene Wenger was arrogant, defensive and patronising to @JacquiOatley in the face of excellent and fair questioning.

    https://twitter.com/garylineker/status/523609674508402688?lang=en

    So he thinks mocking Wenger in a French accent is ok, then has the audacity to call him out for being patronising.

    This is a guy that has never, as far as I know, managed a football team in his entire life.

    That’s what we’re up against with the likes of him, Wright, Adams, Merson, Smith, all of whom are not fit to lick Wengers arse, are given air time simply because they’re prepared to slag him off, and you have guys come on here that try to suggest the abuse we get from ex players and the media is no different to anyone else. Do me a favour.

    And all this after:

    We’ve just won our 3rd FA Cup and our 5th trophy in 4 seasons. We’ve also finished 4th 3rd and 2nd during that period, and this is the shit we get.

    Okay, so we finished 5th this year but WTF, all I’ve read these last 10 years is how a top 4 finish is not a trophy, and all that matters is ‘winning things’. Well that’s exactly what we’ve been doing these last 4 years, but now all of a sudden ‘winning things’ is no longer important. No, of course it’s not, no, now all of a sudden finishing in the top 4 has become essential. But of course because we didn’t make top 4 we get this from another hypocrite whos been taking the piss out of us for god knows how long:

    Carragher: Wenger right…fourth place is a trophy – Football365

    http://www.football365.com/news/carragher-wenger-right-fourth-place-is-a-trophy

    So where’s the apology you twat?

    So now, with no CL football, yet again Arsenal are in crisis, but of course certain others, despite winning sweet FA are doing just great, despite:

    Spurs winning nothing, yet again.

    In fact they’ve just failed to win the title for the 55th year.

    In fact they have won just a solitary League cup in the last 25 years.

    Liverpool aren’t much better than Spurs these last few years, and certainly much less successful than Arsenal in recent years.

    So Lineker, why don’t turn your racist hypocritical jibes at Spurs, or even Liverpool, and leave our successful club.

    So Carragher, why don’t you just shut the f**k up.

    I know this is a bit of a rant for early morning, and I am actually over the moon Wenger is staying, but honestly these hypocritical bunch of w*****s really take the biscuit, and with them starting like this before it’s even officially announced just shows exactly how it’s going to go on, and with it the constant winding up and feeding of the AAA’s who I just know will continuing to create the poisonous attitude around the Club and inside the Stadium.

    Sorry, but they make me f***ing sick.

  11. I have said on a previous thread that Lineker should stick to politics and abandon football.

    His comments on football and Arsenal in particular are stupid and ill-informed. However, I have admired his comments on other matters in recent times and feel that he has been courageous in expressing his views.

    Compare to Piers Morgan, whose comments on everything are just as bad as his comments on Arsenal.

  12. GoonerDNA

    31/05/2017 at 8:48 am

    “Also not have our annual collapse in Feb”

    It’s this kind of ill informed garbage that feeds the negativity. We do not have an annual collapse in February, or at any other part of the back end of the season. In fact over all, if you would care to check the stats, on average, we have an almost identical amount of defeats post New year, as we do pre New year.

    This is our Premier League record in February over the last 5 years, as well as our ratio of defeats comparing pre to post New year, and the amount of defeats we suffer after February.

    SEASON ’16 – ’17

    1 Feb defeat away to Chelsea.

    5 of 9 defeats, post NY.

    3 defeats after February.

    SEASON ’15 – ’16

    1 Feb defeat away to Man Utd

    3 of 7 defeats, post NY

    1 defeat after February.

    SEASON ’14 – ’15

    1 Feb defeat away to Spurs.

    3 of 7 defeats, post NY.

    1 defeat after February.

    SEASON ’13 – ’14

    1 Feb defeat away to Liverpool.

    4 of 7 defeats, post NY.

    3 defeats after February.

    SEASON ’12 – ’13 (3 of 7)

    No Feb defeats.

    3 of 7 defeats, post NY.

    1 defeat after February.

    -So that’s just 4 February defeats, and all away to top teams, in the shape of Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs, who are 4 of our 5 toughest games of the season.

    -So there’s no 2nd half of the season collapse with almost identical pre and post New year figures.

    -And indeed there’s no late season collapse either, with just 9 league defeats out of what would be something like 60 matches, following this so called disastrous February of yours.

    So no collapse in February as you suggest. In fact no second half of the season collapse, or end of season collapse at all really then.

    Can I suggest you stop listening to talkshite or reading the SUN for your information, and instead, try either watching what’s actually happening for yourself, or at least checking if the actual facts support your opinion before you make it.

  13. Many of you are happy that wenger is staying. That’s fair enough, but instead of discussing wenger all the time let’s talk about Arsenal.

    The FA cup win was wonderful but we are out of the CL next season. Once out of it , getting back in is no formality.

    With over £200 million in the bank how does everyone expect the club to react?

  14. Nitram that’s what I’ve been saying to my spurs and Liverpool friends. Manchester United didn’t finish too 4 either and fluked the Europa with a wonder deflection

  15. what ever the reason Arsene Wenger will be staying as Arsenal manager for the next 2 years. to all the Wenger out brigade especially the millennials fickle, know the history and tradition of the club first. Arsenal board will never bow down to pressure of some banner and placard waving fans=fanatics. if u don’t like the board decision be an adult and matured like and don’t go to the stadium and embarrassed yourself and the club. don’t make your disliking with the board decision to extend AW contract become personal matters n hates to start to attack him with unfounded childish insults like certain pundits especially Chris Sutton who act like he knows everything that’s happening in AFC n act like decision maker. when AW call some some of the critics disgraced, they started a round table discussion about AW remark. give me a fuckin’ break, are those guys for real. after the FA cup final he was nowhere to be found when he know AW has the FA cup to shoved down his throat. please behave n thinking like a sane, rational n logical person not fanaticism like behavior. lastly’ please put the support n your loyalty to the team first n foremost, don’t repeat last year toxic behavior for the team to endured. happy football holiday to all

  16. It seems that although Arsene is staying for just two more years he is still showing class by signing a 19 year old striker.
    When Arsene’s contract expires we may have the best 21 year old striker in the world.
    He could blow the budget on his swansong like certain other managers.

  17. Great article Tony.

    It’s something to rejoice that AW has been given a two-year contract.

    Whoever insisted on doing so must have thoroughly watched and analysed the team since Wenger switched to 3-4-3.

    As much as I loved Wenger I gave up on him and his glaring rigidity in guise of stubbornness after that horror show at Crystal Palace. But Le Prof suddenly burnt the stubborn garb, put on a new tactical cap and amazingly became a new wine in an old bottle.

    Whoever claims not have noticed that complete transformation is either not being sincere or doesn’t understand much about this game we claim to love so much.

    For that new-look team the manager certainly deserves some time to express further.

    And personally I’m glad the owner and board are rational people.

  18. Menace,
    didn’t AW say that he will not sell RVP and that he will be asked to run his contract down? What happened? Looks like, this might go down the same route.

  19. Yep we could blow it all in one go, or over 2 years as City and Man Utd have done and see where it gets us.

    Difference is, if we spunk it up the wall in a similar fashion to those 2, because it’s easy done, and after all they did buy a fair few players WE should of bought, then what?

    Can we dip into a bottomless pit of money as those 2 can to just do it all again, and again, and again, and again?

    Because that’s the difference.

    £200 Million or no £200 Million, every penny has to spent with prudence.

    So yes we can spend money but not just ‘WHAT IT TAKES’ because it is not like that for us.

    If Chelsea, City and United want a player they will almost certainly get him before us. Money talks.

    And that’s before we missed out on the now essential CL berth.

    If you have unlimited funds you just spend what you need on just about anyone you fancy and damn the consequences because if it all goes wrong you’ll keep doing it until you do win it.

    I’ll tell you one thing, I believe if Wenger had had that luxury he would of won at least 2 or 3 more titles.

    Now that is just an opinion because it’s conjecture and it cannot be proved, but like when a race horse gets beat a length carrying 10lb more than the winner, you can bet your bottom dollar that next time out, if they are on level waits this time, he will be odds on to win it.

    If they don’t race you cannot prove it but as they say, the bookies don’t get it wrong often.

    In that vein I ask the question, if we get told today that Kronke has dropped the self sustaining model and has told Wenger he has £100 Million NET to spend on transfers every season for at least the next 5 years, what do you think Wengers odds would be of lifting the title in the next 5 years?

    Also if we where told the Mansours had pulled out of City and they would now have to operate on a Zero net spend for at least the next 5 years what would be there odds on winning the title over that period?

    I don’t know, you tell me, but my guess would be Arsenal would be odds on, Wenger or no Wenger, and City would be at least 10, maybe as long as 20-1,Pep or no Pep.

    Unlimited funds eventually wins you titles, guaranteed.

    Big money gives you a chance, no more.

    Very little money makes it almost, I say almost (Leicester City) impossible.

  20. Sad news that Santi out for another 6 months.he will be 33 by the time he is fit again.

  21. azed ,

    Flawed argument; you’re assuming it was all crap up to game 28, which wasn’t the case. He only switched tactics to adjust to the challenges the team was facing then, some of which included injuries in particular areas, to respond to a slump that was threatening to derail our season. Your argument would make sense if the fist 28 games had been an absolute disaster, and the tactical change from game 29 then saved our season. But we all know that isn’t true; at the halfway mark (19 games) we had 40 points, and were only 3 points from 2nd place.. So whatever approach he was using till then was working and there was no need to fix something that wasn’t broken.

  22. As a matter of fact, when I noticed the Gunners game results were going bad and they could be out of the title race sooner that expected, I advised Le Prof on this website to switch the Gunners playing formation from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 with the 3-4-3 my preferred formation among the three. I want Mr Tony Attwood to confirm or debunk my claims by reviewing my past comment postings to ascertain if I am saying the truth or not. I think I made this suggestion to Le Prof on this website of the UA as soon I noticed Chelsea have started winning games after switching over to the 3-4-3 playing formation and Arsenal were winning some and losing some as they continued playing on the 4-2-3-1 formation which I believe Le Prof must have read these my comments since the Untold Arsenal, )the UA) is the staunchest Arsene Wenger support website amongstm other websites that maybe supporting him if at all there are others beside the UA.

    However, it appeared Le Prof did not want to do anything on this issue as he didn’t listen to my advice but kept faith with his 4-2-3-1 playing formation which was making the Gunners to suffer loses in their PL & CL matches as at that period in time during the season campaign. But inevitably, Le Prof switched the Gunners playing formation to 3-4-3 which is said he had used before but I didn’t know he had. The switch over worked 90% magic as the Gunners lost once in their ten outings and won nine times. But it became a tale of too little too late as Arsenal were not only out of the title race but did not qualify for the Ucl for the first time in 21 seasons due to this late change over which Le Prof was initially reluctant to carry out.

    I believe he Le Prof will try all within his powers at Arsenal and within the limitation of Arsenal finances to keep Sanchez who has improved at Arsenal and Ozil at Arsenal beyond next season’s campaign and add some top quality new players to his first team squad and at the same time allows those who go to go while also promote 1 or 2 U23 who have made the top grade to his first team squad.

    My dream for Arsenal next season is to see them win all the four trophies they will compete for. And I’ll like to see the Gunners crush that Chelsea record of 30 PL game wins in a single season which they achieved last season. Arsenal should set a new PL record of 33 wins and 5 draws in 38 games to finish on 104 points in a single season and remain unbeaten throughout next season’s campaign.

  23. @Gouresh

    You have to understand the commercial dynamics of the RVP transfer situation. Wenger was trying to persuade RVP to stay. In public he is not going to share any thoughts along the lines of “I will sell RVP in June”. Once it was clear RVP didn’t want to stay and only wanted to go to Man United then he was sold and Arsenal made it public. That’s how it works.

    Let’s take the Sanchez situation; Wenger clearly wants him to stay and will give messages to that effect, messages that are aimed at the player (“you have a year left to run”, “we’ll extend your contract”), agents (“He isn’t for sale”, “He has a contract”), perspective interested buyers (“He’s not for sale”) and then probably last of all the fans. If things get to the point that it is clear Sanchez wants out no matter what then Arsenal will act and say things accordingly but not until that point. In private they may already be at that point…who knows? Not you or I.

  24. Damned Al, I have written an article about that flawed argument. 😉 shut up will you 😉 Just kidding of course….. You are right. It is a very flawed argument

  25. Gouresh – RVP situation was different. He had been tapped up & his agent had already been roughed up by SAF’s dogs. It didn’t matter what Wenger offered him to get his ‘little boy’ to change his mind. In fact it is my belief that RVP had agreed the move 2 years before & kept putting off talks while his agent recovered.

    Alexis has a little more honesty & will discuss his position prior to accepting anything that has been offered to him illegally (because he has not been available).

  26. Sorry Nitram – You got it wrong. If Wenger had the luxury of Chelsea, City or United he would have won quadruple crowns every year. He is after all working with a fraction of what these other clubs have.

  27. Haha sorry Walter ?? you just gotta love these flawed arguements.. can’t wait to read your article ?

  28. I spoke to many Arsenal fans on Saturday to gauge their feeling on what they thought the manager should do.

    I can honestly say that about 80% of the people i spoke to had enormous respect for Arsene and didn’t agree with the behaviour of some fans but thought it was time for a change.

    The continual talk on this site of the AAA is a misnomer. There are lots of fans who want change but are just not going to abuse Arsene or the club to get it.

    Unless we dominate the league next year i can only see things becoming worse at the club in terms of unity which will make things very difficult next year IMO.

    I can understand people backing Arsene but the backing of the owner seems very strange to me.

  29. Al

    This is why I love this site so much.

    People come on here and trot out some nonsense like ‘Why did it take Wenger 29 games to see what was wrong’, usually because that’s what they’ve heard on Talkshite, and then you, Walter, or whoever just blows them to pieces with facts backed by statistics.

    It’s what I love doing, but unfortunately it can land you in a lot of shit because these people ‘Know what they see with there own eyes’ and wont have it any other way.

    They also get all uppity because they see us doing this as somehow denying them there ‘opinion’, which we are not of course. What we are doing is simply pointing out that there ‘opinion’ is not supported by any evidence at all.

    I’m still waiting for someone to back up the notion that we have an ‘annual collapse in February’.

    Still, what are statistics when you can just have an opinion?

  30. Arsenal Football Club and Arsène Wenger have agreed a two-year extension to his contract as manager.
    Announcing the news, our majority owner Stan Kroenke said: “Our ambition is to win the Premier League and other major trophies in Europe. It’s what the fans, players, staff, manager and board expect and we won’t rest until that is achieved. Arsène is the best person to help us make that happen. He has a fantastic track record and has our full backing.”

    Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170531/club-and-wenger-agree-contract-extension#7c3d7UIy8CbHXT17.99

  31. Thanks Knobby, had been waiting for that news to come out.
    Bring on next season….

  32. Announcements on the website…

    Rejoice. Extension signed.

    Wwwoooohhhhoooooo

  33. Santi Cazorla

    I went looking for specific news on this, on seeing the note above. Yes, he has had yet more surgery. Guessing 5-6 months with no guarantee. And then he has to get his fitness and timing back after being okayed to do so. I wish him well in this, he is a wonderfully skilled footballer.

    Can we go and operate on a few referees that caused him to get into this mess?

  34. If a manager is able to dictate the style of play in every game, it is possible that such a thing as a starting XI can be listed. Otherwise, the best one has is a likely XI for every style of play that is used.

    Only having a single style, makes it easier for opponent managers to prepare for games, as they only need to find week points in one style and work on them in practice.

    Assuming the EPL has changed into a top 6 and a bottom 14, we probably have between 4 and 6 styles of play in the top-6 and maybe 2 or 3 styles of play in the bottom 14. Does Arsenal’s style overlap with some other Top-6 team? I wouldn’t think so. If it doesn’t then Arsenal has to plan for playing against 3-5 Top-6 styles and 2-3 Bottom-14 styles (5-8 styles). This doesn’t necessarily mean Arsenal needs to have 5-8 different styles (and possibly starting XI), but it probably means it needs more than 1.

    From the Bottom-14 style list, we probably always have to contend with:
    _1. Long ball.
    _2. Rugby.

  35. Shocking to read the comments here and see Menace attacking those that don’t agree with him. Trump101, that.

  36. Nitram
    Spot on. Unfortunately no amount of facts/stats will change their opinions. But yes, we just have to keep fighting to counter these falsehoods.

    In other news, Menace being compared with trump.. wow, can’t think of two people who could be more different ?

  37. Good news on AW contract extension.

    It gladdening to hear the Chief Exec saying “I think in football, the judgements are so black and white that often, if you don’t fire your manager, then you’re seen as being unambitious. I think that’s ludicrous. You don’t fire good people, you don’t fire people who are world-class, you don’t fire people who are driven to improve.”

    The haters may decide to support other teams for the next 2 years and return when AW is gone(and if the club and manager decide to extend again so be it).

    COYG

  38. I can’t see any logic in a fan campaigning to remove a manager who has just been awarded a 2 year contract extension. Attacking the ability of the manager, the decision of the board, and the judgment of the owner has close to zero chance of causing the removal of the manager, but could negatively affect recruitment and results. The sensible action is surely to get behind the club. Why would a fan do anything else?

  39. WOO HOO , HOO ! Sanity prevails , as us AKBS knew all along . Well done Stan and the board .
    As for **** , try to think for yourselves for a change and stop listeningvto or reading totally unqualified but certifiable morons .
    And have fun as we AKBs always do . It is the beautiful game that the Arsenal play .
    More , please !

  40. Just when you think……

    A young Naval Officer was in a terrible car accident, but due to the heroics of the hospital staff the only permanent injury was the loss of one ear. Since he wasn’t physically impaired he remained in the military and eventually became an Admiral. However, during his career he was always sensitive about his appearance.

    One day the Admiral was interviewing two Navy Master Chiefs and a Marine Gunnery Sergeant for his personal staff. The first Master Chief was a Surface Navy type and it was a great interview.
    At the end of the interview the Admiral asked him, “Do you notice anything different about me?”
    The Master Chief answered, “Why yes. I couldn’t help but notice you are missing your starboard ear, so I don’t know whether this impacts your hearing on that side.” The Admiral got very angry at this lack of tact and threw him out of his office.

    The next candidate, an Aviation Master Chief, when asked this same question, answered, “Well yes, you seem to be short one ear.”
    The Admiral threw him out also.

    The third interview was with the Marine Gunnery Sergeant . He was articulate, extremely sharp, and seemed to know more than the two Master Chiefs put together. The Admiral wanted this guy, but went ahead with the same question. “Do you notice anything different about me?” To his surprise the Gunnery Sergeant said, “Yes. You wear contact lenses.”

    The Admiral was impressed and thought to himself, what an incredibly tactful Marine. “And how do you know that?” the Admiral asked.

    . The Gunny replied, “Well sir, it’s pretty hard to wear glasses with only one ear.”

  41. What another great victory after his 7th FA Cup! Wenger will retire here andthe club will improve over the next 2 years. We saw what they can do during the Cup run and once they can do this in the EPL, on a consistent basis, we will win lots more silverware with this beautiful Football.

  42. As a SUPPORTER of AFC I’m pleased that AW will be at the club for at least two more years. I’m thrilled with the FA Cup win because, to me, it’s a major trophy and anyone who denigrates a 136 year competition is a fool.
    The club finished out of the UCL places but believe what you will, I like the team. Mr. Wenger strengthened areas that needed shoring up and I believe Xhaka, Mustafi and Holding will come good. On this thread writers are discussing AW’s change in tactics with a back three. What about making Alexis the focal point of the attack? Not mentioned by the media or even on UA often enough. For the season, the result of being made the focal point, he scored 30 goals in all competitions. 24 in the EPL. He’s one of the best in the league. Who saw that in him? Real Madrid? No. Arsene Wenger allowed him to fully utilise his skills. He should be celebrated for this. In any case, I’m just going to enjoy the football the team plays and the values the Club exhibits. If you think that means I don’t want the Club to win the League or the UCL you are mistaken. Cheers to AW and all supporters and Up the Gunners!

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