Imagine if the Anti-Wengerians had won in the summer. What then?

Posted on by Tony Attwood

By Tony Attwood

In the equations that describe the world of quantum physics there are infinities.  So many of the buggers in fact that the only conclusion that can be reached is that all possible worlds exist.

Thus in the great yonder there are numerous worlds in which at the end of last season, with all the hatred and abuse poured in on Mr Wenger, finally he said, “to hell with this” and resigned.

And so it is that Untold, with its infinite capacity for taking in every element of the multiverse, we bring the first report on how Alternative Arsenal have done this season – an Arsenal in which Mr Wenger resigned immediately after the last match.

What might have gone differently?

Almost certain the backroom staff that he has accumulated over the years would have walked too, although one or two may have stayed on as caretakers while a new man was brought in.   Worse however because (according to AST) Mr Wenger has taken on far too much, and too much power rests with one man, it is found very hardly for the club to function readily.  Had the hand-over been well planned all would have been possible.  But now… there are worrying signs of gaps in the organisation.

But first the new manager.  Who might we have got?

The problem is that many of the big names would have been spoken for – not least with the fact that there were manager upheavals everywhere last summer.   Maybe Frank de Boer or Neil Lennon might have come along, maybe Luciano Spalletti might have been tempted out of Zenit St. Petersburg, but then it would have been mid-season for him – not a good time to go.   Conte from Juve – but he’s just lifted the title, and more is expected of him there.  Guus Hiddink is in Russia – so the season end problem arises there…  maybe Carlo Ancelotti might feel that some real competition would be a change instead of the false league in France…

And so the list goes on.  What we do know is that the manager would bring in his own backroom team, which would cost a lot in compensation, and then have to deal quickly with the perceived gaps in the Arsenal squad.

Wholesale changes were demanded, so presumably a very big turn around of players too.

But we can guess that Ozil would not have come because he cited Mr Wenger as his reason for arriving, so maybe we might have got Higuain after all or perhaps that fellow from Liverpool.

And then what?

After such a tumultuous turnaround in the summer there is a chance we could well have beaten Villa on the first game, simply because everyone was trying that bit harder and Villa would have no idea what sort of team they would meet.  And the Arsenal team ended last season with eight wins and two draws in the last ten league games so they were in the winning habit.

So match one, a win against Aston Villa.  3 points.

But then Fenerbache away… time for deeper thoughts to settle in, more moving around of the  team, new players arriving still, no one quite knowing where they are.   A draw.

Fulham away – now here in our universe we won on as the rotating midfield began to work.  But if we had not had that, as the new boss unpicked the old systems and imposed his own.  Uncertainty is always possible.  A draw.

27 August the second leg in Europe and horrors of horrors, as the team changes again Arsenal lose – we see one of those defeats where players stand as a goal has gone in, looking at each other, hand on hips, wondering who should have been where.  No Champions League this season.

1 September – Tottenham’s new team were not scoring goals but they were not letting them in much either.  With Giroud displaced as the anti-Wengerians wanted, the new man is there, but takes a while to adjust.  0-0

14 September.  With the season hardly started the international break is upon us and players leave to tell each other about their new clubs.  Not much positive talk about Arsenal, and the 1-1 draw against Sunderland after the break is more a relief than anything else as Arsenal try to get their new shape and style.  The Sunderland manager keeps his job.

20 September.  The honeymoon is over as the press dig up something innocuous from the new manager’s past and turn it into a nightmare.  He’s on the front and back pages, the hounds are slavering at the door.  Lacking Mr Wenger’s ability to face the press down, and not speaking excellent English he backs away from interviews.  The stories spread.  The Arsenal manager is a serial philanderer!!!  No one talks football.

22 September.  Having “spent some fucking money” on lots of players the manager feels the need to play them.  The team is changed around, and to the dismay of the world of Arsenal, Stoke eek out a 0-0 draw.

28 September.  Convinced that Ramsey might feel the heat too much playing against Swansea, and with his new man ready to show his stuff, Ramsey is on the bench.  But the ploy fails as Arsenal lose 2-1.

Arsenal sit on eight points, and are out of the Champions League and 11th in the Premier League.  Still above Man U, and of course there is a long way to go.  But there is discontent in the crowd, and the shouting is of “Kronke Out”.  Gnabry is loaned to Orient.

Stories in the press about the new man continue, and he speaks of how the press in the UK are making it hard for him to think about football.   One journalist in a moment of honesty says, “But you are manager of Arsenal.  We always do this to managers at Arsenal.”

The manager looks surprised.  No one had warned him.

The season continues.

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47 Replies to “Imagine if the Anti-Wengerians had won in the summer. What then?”

  1. what if we got the out going bayerm munich coach. with dennis bergkamp as assistant coach.

    we signed gustavo instead of flamini.
    we signed denver Ba from chelsea.

    we could have won the aston villa match , then cruised through the champions league qualifiers…

    and the press said , this team could be the next invincibles.

    what if , what if , what if…….

  3. Tony, I like science fiction as a medium for good storytelling but I much prefer the universe where Arsene is still manager of the Arsenal who are top of the premier league by two points. I would prefer even more the alternative reality where we had honest referees and were top of the league by give points and unbeaten but I really don’t want to think about life without Arsene at the helm of our fantastic club. COYG

  4. What a load of tosh !! Nice try but no cigar. Our improvements are down to Wenger changing his approach and doing what he should’ve been doing in the first place. Playing a proper DM (Flamini), playing Ramsey in his proper position (CM), playing our best 2 CBs (Merts & Kos),playing Rosicky more and finally buying a top player rather than a bargain basement player. It took him long enough to do what people had been screaming for him to do all along. As for Giroud, he just needed time but Wenger’s stubbornness and alienation of the fans meant they were not prepared to give him that time, which was a shame cos it wasnt Giroud’s fault.

    Had the fans not put pressure on Wenger by making their feelings known he would still be looking at 17 year old unknown french kids !!! Plus Diaby being like a new signing, d’oh !!!

  5. Ah, thanks to thehothead we have bought Özil. So how did you convince Wenger to do it? When standing next to him at the loo in the pub?

  6. Haha what a nightmare!!!
    I suppose we might have got a win or a loss in those games but the fact is that the team we have now will not be the same team with a new manager and I would not like it. Wenger needs to go when he wants and is ready, not before!
    Also in the works of quantum physics, all Possibilities are possible, not worlds. There are multi universes but that is just theory. Proof is that sub atomic particles are everywhere until you observe them, so your story can’t happen thank god!!!

  7. Nice try and you get a cigar tony!
    Hothead: I remember ppl like u saying Flamini was a silly buy but now you say he should have done it ages ago?
    And that you mob were ‘screaming out’ is what changed his mind? That reminds me if Milhouse getting told by Lisa Simpson that he has a 1in a milion chance if being with her, he says ‘I like those odds’.
    I call him and you deluded.

  8. ive been seeing this view that hotair is putting forward, that recent turn around is down to the fans and not the manager. it really is true, the www not only has given everyone an opinion but made everyone an expert with no experience and limited insight. hell its like me claiming credit for the economical recovery cause I lost my job.

  9. I would have thought such boasting article was better timed at the end of the season when we have achieved something. Let’s not get carried away just yet, and let’s just enjoy this beautiful moment. And for the sake of the team, let’s all get united and stand in support of Gunners.

  10. Tony, great story post and you just got me wondering…. What if the Anti-Wengerians had really won…. Gosh…. It really would have been an eyesore….! Even with this good times around and everybody affiliated with Arsenal having a broad smile on their faces(including me), some anti-Wengerian are still out there waiting and hoping for the good form to snap and out they come…. Well, words for them…. In ARSENE We Trust…. Enough said…. C.O.Y.G.

  11. thehothead wrote:

    ” As for Giroud, he just needed time but Wenger’s stubbornness and alienation of the fans meant they were not prepared to give him that time, which was a shame cos it wasnt Giroud’s fault.”

    I have nothing to say about this. I just want to highlight it for all to see. This is from a commenter who started is post with: “What a load of tosh !!”

    There is a load of tosh alright, but it wasn’t written by Tony.

  13. Most anti Wenger supporters wanted him to see out his last year of contract and THEN go. Not to move immediately. In answer to other points … Wenger has finally abandoned ALL the nonsense obsessions which cost us dear over the past 7 – 8 years : He broke up the 2nd great team and went totally for youth and inexperience / all out attack and never mind the defence / beautiful passing goals and never mind set pieces / walking the ball in and not shooting / no real dmf / no top flight keeper. Also too many of his cheap buys were dross. And … Steve Bould (when permitted to coach) kept us in 4th place last season.

  14. Sammy The Snake,

    I have to disagree with you. Supporting Arsenal is a life-long marathon and not a year long sprint. We are all here for the long haul at Untold Arsenal. I think your call for caution is based on the thinking that the end of the season is when anyone can feel vindicated. It is not. At Untold, we support team and the manager at all times and we get hell for it when things are not going well. The negative nellies did not wait till the end of the season to crucify Wenger after the referee inspired Villa debacle. Why should we wait any longer to rub their noses in how wrong they are after 10 straight victories?

    Despite our current great form, no one can say how the season will pan out for us. The good news is that apart from Bayern Munich, no one can say about any other team in Europe right now. Well, at least ALL the teams in the EPL. We’ll see how the season ends but the negativists have been proven wrong so far. We have the right to let them know that.

  15. OMG Chris, if I read all that went wrong we surely must be a conference team right now? Are we?

  16. Chris,

    Absolutely, it’s all down to Steve Bould.

    By the way, every one of those things you accused Arsene of breaking up or abandoning, do you know who set them up in the first place?

    I think I’ll rather go with Mesut Ozil, a phenomenal player who came to Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger and not some clueless rambler on the Internet.

  17. @thehothead
    ” playing Ramsey in his proper position” but if people like you had your way he would have been sold over a year ago.

  18. It seems your parallel universe may be encroaching already, Tony – but not in your dystopian vision…

    “It is a case of look out, because they are afraid of no-one. Of all the teams who I think can win the league, they certainly look the best at the moment.” The words of one Mark Lawrenson on the BBC website today – regarding Arsenal!

    On the same site, view Robbie Savage’s weekly video, in which he may caution against Arsenal winning the CL, but avows they can certainly win the EPL and/or one of the cups – and asserts for the second week running that we have the best current player, Aaron Ramsey.

    Add to that one Kneel Warlock purring about Arsenal’s quality on this morning’s Talkstrop breakfast show, and suggesting they could score goals if OG were injured by employing a false No. 9!

    A degree of normality was restored by the Great Brazil (nut?) resorting to a non-syllabic grunt, having nothing negative to grasp onto.

    Finally, I’m amused by another site (is it called “only just” or “almost arsenal” or similar?), which spewed negative article after negative article throughout the summer, while calling for the purchase of every available “not quite” in Europe and South America (I mean, Marouane Felony for goodness’ sake). The articles still spew forth, at the rate of five or six a day, but predictably now contain eulogy after eulogy.

    Ah, Brave New World…

  19. @Chris: you wrote: ‘”And … Steve Bould (when permitted to coach) kept us in 4th place last season.”

    So what else did you spy at the training ground with your little webcam eye?

    PPlease, pplease, tell us. We like to be well inform at Untold Arsenal.

  23. @rantetta,

    hilarious…..specially the negotiation part when out of the blue Poldi steps in with Ahha…

  24. we would probably have Owen Coyle as manager, as some of them have suggested in the past, with Scott Dann, Chris Samba and Scott Parker as the mainstays of the team

  25. Tony’s article is fun to read but the comments are idiotic.I dont think Tony’s article was meant to start a mud slinging match between grown ups (I use the phrase loosely) with obviously too much time on their hands.

  26. Max: I think this is more “1984” than Brave New World. Indeed when I went back and re-read the masterpiece a little while ago, I was astonished at how close we had got to the nightmare.

  27. Spartan, the black coat Labrador,

    Some of the comments are wrong or hilariously wrong but the only idiotic comment is yours. You may think it makes you sound smarter to insult everybody on a comment thread but your inability to take a stand on the topic of discussion or differentiate the ‘idiotic’ comments from the smart ones makes you the idiotic grown up (phrase also used loosely) with too much time on his hands.

  28. Actually i think you are wrong. All the other multiverses would be exactly the same as this one. Why? because some people are exactly the same in all of them and as we know Arsenal is one of these (peoples) that will be exactly the same in every multiverse.
    Forward gunners, across the whole multiverses.

  29. Wenger’s policy has always been to bring in players ONLY IF they offer a significant step-up in calibre.

    Otherwise he prefers to nurture quality.

    I don’t think the squealing of disgruntled fanlets has had any impact on this policy

    The term ‘fanlet’ is open source, feel free to use and distribute liberally

  31. @Walter – no, it was the loo at the Emirates, an irate Gooner smashed one of the cubicles after the Villa game, it was at that point I told Mr Wenger what to do and he listened.

    @ Elkieno – if you are going to attribute things to me get it right old man ! Find me ANY comment made by me that are anti Flamini and I will run around Highbury naked ! I have ALWAYS been a massive Arsenal fan. Me 1 dummies 0.

    @ Gee – my view is no different to the dozens of experts and pundits out there who have all highlighted Arsenal’s deficiencies in recent years, playing players out of position, a lack of squad depth, no leadership on the pitch, a lack of quality players and no DM. they also said our pace of play was too slow and predictable. Funny how when we play with pace and address our defensive issues and buy proper quality we manage a performance like we did v Napoli. But Wenger is the only person who knows football ….. Me 2, dummies 0.

    @ Bootoome – do you lack the intellect to digest my comment regarding Giroud ? Let me explain it …. had Wenger not upset the vast majority of Arsenal fans by not investing properly in the team and pursuing his stupid vanity project with kids, they would have not been so edgy and easily annoyed and may very well have afforded Giroud the time he needed to adapt. Also, has it not occurred to you that Wenger’s vilification AFTER the Villa game by the fans drove him to splash the cash ? Use your brain ! Me 3, dummies 0.

    @ Chris – finally someone who has their eyes open.

    @ Micko – I am actually pro-Ramsey and always have been … I suggest stop attributing opinions to me that are false ! Me 4, dummies 0.

    @ Ben L – I suppose irony is lost on you. Me 5 – dummies 0.

    @ Spartan – It is impossible to have any kind of rational discussion or debate with most of the people on this board, unless you follow their dogma (or don’t have a brain … same thing in many ways) you are an idiot. Bootoome just proved that point so well. Thats the only reason they are here, they cannot debate or discuss with people who’s views differ to their’s.

    @ Marcus – Would you say Monreal, Santos, Gervinho and Squillaci represented “a significant step up in cal ire ?

    The defence rests his case m’lud.

  32. Excuse the typos. It should read I have always been a massive Flamini fan. also, my last comment should say “a significant step up in calibre”.

    Apologies.

  33. @thh

    Yes, No, Yes, No

    Monreal a good quality second left back. Gervinho a high quality winger.

    Santos was a desperate stop gap, and Squillaci was a mistake.

    Wenger aims to buy quality, especially when spending significant sums THH. But sometimes quality is not available and you just have to buy a player to plug a gap.

  34. The title and article present an interesting scenario. However, my belief is that should the Anti-Wengerians gained control of the club the outlook would be much worse than the picture portrayed in the article. We would start to lose the carefully built up core, the incoming manager would probably not have the confidence of the dressing room, the youth development program would stifle, the way would be paved for a change of owner & the new owner would start to take out dividends – reducing funds for transfer, (the AAA rats have accused Stan of this, but he has not) and as for morale and team spirit – kiss them goodbye.

    Someone would be happy for a time – the AAA sewer rats & the new owner lining his pockets – but ultimately the club would be wrecked – with poor prospects of recovery.

  35. @thehothead

    You make a couple of marginal points in your second post, although still generally disagree, but your statement… “had Wenger not upset the vast majority of Arsenal fans” I think is utterly wrong.

    Yes, a small number of voluble keyboard warriors and instant-gratification merchants perhaps. The large majority I think have generally been supportive of Wenger and the club while probably disagreeing with some decisions – as is always the case – no one is perfect!

  36. @bjtgooner

    I think you are 100% correct.

    If the next manager is carefully chosen and succeeds AW in the right way, then the team can progress as Liverpool did from Paisley to Shankly.

    If the management starts caving in to the whims of the minority, then it would set a bad precedent in the club. What next? Walcott is transferred because he hasn’t scored for 4 games?

    It would be mob rule, and sure as night follows day, Arsenal would go through a succession of managers like Rod Stewart going through wives

  37. I knew that this would happen if we started winning and things looked abit brighter. The pundits and AAA are all the same, the either take credit for it or try to make up stories about that now that Arsene Wenger finally have done what they have said all along Arsenal is finally gonna win things. But rest asured, if we dont win anything this season they will still have their old arguments ready….

    But Arsene have not changed a thing!!!!
    1. We have not spent 100 million in a transfer window (like the thugs down the road)… özil cost abit yes, but Cazorla last year would have cost almost the same this year if we didnt buy him from a bancrupt club. Arsene have never been afraid to spend big on good talent, 13 mill for an 18 year old Chamberlain and almost 16 mill for a 20 year old Nasri comes to mind.
    2. Arsene is still buying young good players! özil is still only 24 and Sanogo is 18.
    3. The youth project is not scrapped, its still very much alive, where did Gnabry and Eisfeld come from ?

    It would make me so very happy and so damned proud if we won something this year, mostly because it would be the most deserved tryphy in the history of football, but also to silence those idiots that scream about 8-9 years without a trophy. But even if we dont win something this year I really do think that this team has a great future if it can blossom under AW’s guidance 2-3 more years, THEN you would truly see a new great Arseanl team. Build on hard work, sweat, and not too few tears!

  38. thehothead,

    Your logic is irrefutable. You are a genius. Congratulations on your victory over the dummies.

    That’s sarcasm by the way, you moronic imbecile.

  40. Bootoomee, I know it is hard to ignore some of what these so called Arsenal supporters write. You shouldn’t engage in a discussion with mentally challenged idiots. Hothead is a sanctimonious little asshole. His name should be shit for brains. Now all these pompous morons are taking credit for our team’s success. Wenger has finally taken their expert advice and splashed the cash. Do they really believe what they say is gospel. What motherfucking gall some dickheads have. Megalomaniacs every single one of them. I for one are not gonna drink their Koolaid.

  41. For goodness sake, as soon as Arsenal fans are starting to unite and believe, we get this absolutely ridiculous article. I must admit I admire the imagination, but seriously Tony you really have lost the plot here.

    There are many Arsenal fans who were very unhappy with the last few years and many, like myself, are excited that perhaps we have now turned the corner. I say perhaps because it is still early days. Wenger himself recognises this.

    Frankly, I think the article is a predictable load of crap written purely for self gratification. It does not matter what we do this year, the last 8 years stands in the record. We won nothing and our squad weakened.

    It is fantastic that the team has made this great start and I am quite sure that many disgruntled fans will get back onside if Wenger turns it around. In fact most of the disgruntled fans WANT DESPERATELY for him to do it. Those that don’t can not be described as real fans. In fact those people are very similar to the author – they care more about being right than anything else and have let themselves become entrenched in their views.

    It is really quite simple. It is perfectly FINE to say when something is wrong and also to suggest we need a new manager. It is also perfectly fine to change your mind on that if you are proven wrong. Wenger could well prove a lot of people wrong – me included. I hope he does. If Arsenal are successful I don’t care about being right or wrong. I’ll just be happy. I won’t however change my view that over the 8 year spell the club and manager made some serious errors that deserved criticism.

    Finally, as there is no basis for anything written in this article let me say that if we had got a new manager at the start of last season we would probably have won the league by 20 points and won the Champions League at a canter. Of course that last sentence is complete bollocks, but no more so than this article.

  43. Mr hothead there is no need to tell everyone how stupid you are with that point system.

  44. Walter
    In one of the other infinite number of universes he already is.
    doing well in the Calor Gas south league, no doubt.

  45. Marcus oct 4 @ 3:17pm
    Isn’t talk sport a satire, I never notice otherwise?

  46. Got to agree with jamrayfootball on this post. I had definitively lost faith with Mr Wenger, not because we weren’t winning anything but mainly because he didn’t seem willing or able to resolve ongoing and repeating weaknesses in the way the team played. BUT I am undeniably impressed by the gradual shift towards better defending, discipline and team spirit his current squad of players are sustaining from the end of last season and I hope something even more substantial is emerging. So were the Wenger Loyalists right to support their man or were those who called for change right? It seems to me both camps can derive a certain amount of satisfaction in that perhaps those who stuck by him helped him realise in his darkest hours he was still loved and those that criticised him helped him realise in his more rational moments that something different was wanted. I don’t know. Probably neither. But, here’s the important bit, as Arsenal fans, we can all sense there is something better happening and if ever there was a time to drop the past squabbles, it’s now. Now is the time to join together and encourage, encourage, encourage, not because its perfect and not because we are winning, but because the club hasn’t let down those who continued to trust it and it has responded to those who questioned it. It doesn’t need you Tony, my fellow Arsenal supporter, to keep on about the AAA and riling those of us who wanted change. And it doesn’t need me to rile back. It needs both of us to let bygones be bygones. Your site can return to its original mission. You don’t need to fight the critics here. You can let the team do the fighting for you. And you just write about what makes Arsenal great. People like me who have wobbly moments need you to do that.

  47. @ Jayramfootball

    ‘It does not matter what we do this year’

    I noticed that on another forum you went as far to say that it wouldn’t prove anything even if we won the league this year ?

    Are you seriously asserting that if we won the league this year it would count for nothing ???

    I would suggest that is a case of a heavily entrenched view point regarding Wenger that has lead you into to a massive blind spot in your critical thinking.

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