What has Arsène Wenger ever done for Us?

 

In today’s world, and never more so than in today’s footballing world it is hard to see beyond the immediate situation, the here and now. If things aren’t going our way we demand change. If we don’t like something, we get something else, something newer and shinier until we get bored of that and search for something different once again.

The ability to do this is still fairly new to us. We have grown up in a world where firstly change happened slowly, over years, even decades. Secondly, it was also a world where the voice of the common man was lost under the overwhelming noise of the media. Suddenly everyone has the ability to make themselves heard via the medium of sites like this, Twitter and a whole host of other social media platforms. As a people we are loathed not to exercise our sudden right to do it, just in case there comes a time when we will no longer be able.

It is good however to step back, take a break from the million-miles-an-hour and million-pound life that surrounds us all, take a breath, and reflect. That is never truer than with the Arsène Wenger situation.

The frustration and clamour for change has been steadily growing – though maybe not to the extent some will have you believe – with the lack of (or perceived lack of) success over recent seasons. People want something different, a change. They point to other clubs, clubs that are currently doing all the things and ticking all the boxes that they think Arsenal should.

Of course, there are two things wrong with this argument. Firstly, the clubs they point to tend to change on a season by season, or even month by month basis, as temporary and short-lived success is achieved and lost. The second reason is far more important, in my mind at least. We should not act like other clubs, because we are not like other clubs, and nor do we want to be. That is what makes us Arsenal.

In the two decades that have passed since Arsène took over, a hell of a lot has changed – at the club and in English football, and he can take almost as much credit for the latter as he can for the former. The way players train, what they eat, what they drink (or don’t drink), the players they buy, the managers who coach those players – and how they play, has all changed radically in those 20 years, to such an extent that for all intents and purposes it is a different sport.

Each and every one of those changes were brought in by the Frenchman. Yes there was resistance at first, among his own team especially. But when they bought into these new-fangled concepts: the training schedules that concentrated on skill, not merely stamina, diets that would not only improve a player’s fitness but lengthen their career, and the fact that maybe there were players beyond our shores that could do a job in our hallowed league – once they had bought into these and adopted them, the results were remarkable and may well never be repeated. Such was their success, that everyone eventually followed suit, jumped on the Arsène, and indeed the Arsenal bandwagon and the gap inevitably closed.

Yes it would be fantastic to still be in the Champions League, but only Leicester – currently 33/1 outsiders to win the famous trophy – are representing the Premier League. Success is something that is measured over a longer term than just a game, a season or even a few seasons.

Don’t get me wrong, change can be good. No one has shown that more than Arsène Wenger, but change for change’s sake is not good. Surely it is better to change to be different from everyone else, than simply to change to become like them?

Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons

42 Replies to “What has Arsène Wenger ever done for Us?”

  1. Yes he has been our best manager for us but you can’t keep hiding under these past glories to excuse these failures.

    I think by now it is obvious that there is something fundamentally wrong with this team that cannot be solved by a couple of transfers. In January, there was very little clamour amongst Arsenal fans for new signings. I think the majority of us felt it might even compound Arsene’s issues, as he struggles to work out how to use the players that he has.

  2. I have advocated the removal of wenger for years on the Online Gooner Forum, but now is not the time for any of us to start pointing fingers at those who disagreed with us over the years – focus on what is important right now, and that is that we show unity and fight together to remove the cancer (wenger) that is killing our club. Alienating those who now want the same thing as you makes no sense at a time where we need, more than ever, to show exactly how big the movement to remove wenker is within the Gooner community.
    There are a number of very dedicated and selfless guys on the Gooner forum, who are working hard to organize protests against wenger, and I’m sure they would appreciate every wob whether they be new to the fold or not, to show their demand for change by attending the protests in large numbers

  3. Great article, it’s unfortunate big thoughts cannot fit into small minds (see 6:48 and 7 PM comments).

    Arsenal FC is a club that stands for class, loyalty, and unity (Victoria Concordia Crescit). The cancer is the minority of vocal fans staging these protests and trying to ruin the harmony of this club. It makes no sense to say you support the club and at the same time talk bad those affiliated with it.

    People should work hard to support the team, not tear it apart.

  4. A really nice piece on umaxit. I have not copied the whole article but just some bits that I thought had relevance to this article.

    It wasn’t aimed at any one individual – and certainly not just full-back Hector Bellerin who stood bemused waiting to get the game going again – but at all eleven on the pitch. The Gunners were three goals down to a side who have just pulled themselves clear of the relegation zone, and Wenger’s men looked a long, long way from being a team that were supposed to challenging for the top four.
    It was the sixth time since January that they had conceded three or more goals in an away game, and while it might be seen as the straw that broke the camel’s back, the reality is that the club’s continued mismanagement during this difficult period left them little choice.
    There was nothing to like about Arsenal’s performance, these players are far more talented and capable than recent form has suggested, but despite demonstrations against Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal board have remained silent bar one vague statement from chairman Sir Chips Keswick.
    The manager refuses to answer questions about his future; the Chief Executive has not spoken, on camera or via any other public medium, about Wenger since October 2016; while there has, unsurprisingly, been nothing at all from Stan Kroenke. Silent Stan living up fully to his nickname, paying scant attention from afar.
    For fans it’s like screaming into a void, pissing in the wind. No matter what they do or say, nobody will do them the ‘honour’ of replying in any meaningful way, so what’s left? The players are right there in front of them, they’re yards away, not stuck in some ivory tower of a boardroom, and after a terrible performance they became the target because that’s the last option fans have open to them.
    It’s also the last relationship that should break down at any football club. Owners, investors, other ‘suits’ – and most especially managers – are the target because fans know that one underperforming group of players can be re-energised by a new boss. New coaching, new methods, new motivation can spark them back into life.
    But when you see the fans turn on the players en masse, it’s particularly worrying, because whatever happens this summer the vast majority of this squad will be same next season. There will be comings and goings, of course, but this isn’t like the crowd losing faith in one under-performing player who has to move on because the relationship is unfixable.
    This was aimed at the whole team, the whole squad, and whoever’s in charge at the Emirates at the start of the new campaign will have a big job to rebuild trust and faith in these players

  5. ”remove the cancer (wenger)”

    That’s a class analysis.

    Why should any player play for a fan like you?

  6. Yesterday a dictator, today a cancer.
    It’s to be expected for supporters of other clubs to throw insults at rivals but you don’t expect them to come from your own.
    Absolutely unbelievable.

  7. The current situation is more of a reaction to Wenger and what the club genuinely stands for-we dont love Arsenal for Arsenal’s sake, for what it represents but in an ever increasing measure, we want to love it for what it could represent – a ‘modern’ club with ‘wild ambitions’ and ‘creative forward thinking’ managers, a club which is not afraid to flex its muscle in anything football(wages,transfer spend, managerial transitions…)

    so mostly, we are constantly comparing it to an ideal that we’ve created in our own minds, as thoroughly a flawed an ideal as anything that can be built using plundits’ expery opinions and the media’s conception of what ‘modern’ or ‘winner’ or ‘big club’ is.

    Cheered on by the echoes of our misguided clamor that gets amplified every hour in an ever increasing measure by a sick media/bloggetas, we just keep on and on. A pack of headless chicken would be a more apt description of the situation.

    What many fail to realize is how the media keep on goading us, then sit back and gleefully watch as we tear each other down and try to destroy a great club, and a remarkable man whk has given the most productive years of his life to ensure we are on a strong footing financially and on the pitch, and even much more IMPORTANTLY the club does not lose its soul.

    We have completely forgotten the constraints the club had to endure and the successes they have had over the lean years, however little. This lack of perspective has made us have a completely grandiose sense of importance that’s turning to be very destructive. Our certainty about anything and everything is astounding considering that the one thing this world keeps on ramming into our psyches is the uncertainty of life and we call progress, especially when we know very little. We strive to decipher problems using soundbites and popular opinion instead of taking a measured approach. Are we that incapable of actually thinking clearly for ouselves?

    Its easy to cheer when everything is rosy, very easy. But the true measure of a supporter is what he does when the object of his support is down and trodden and in that sense we have failed. We’ve been mere hangers on, riding on the high of the club’s past successes and just when that high is waning, we revert to our truer selves-moaning, bitching,accusing, blaming,cursing and complaining. And like drug addicts suffering from withdrawal symptoms, we’re ready to do anything to ‘fix’ ourselves to get back to that high.

    One thing is for sure, our lives wont be any richer just because we got what we wanted. In an ironic twist of fate, those who always demand for more better shinier things will always feel less adequate because nothing will ever be enough- talk of the ‘Keeping up with Joneses’ syndrome.

    But if we could just adopt a cult mentality and support these players and. their manager with just a modicum of the devotion and fervor we display when attacking them, we may be pleasantly surprised. One thing we ought to have learnt out of these desperate attempts to cheapen, weaken and belittle the club is just how powerful and persitent the media can be in shaping perception(which is frightening) and also how fragile the human spirit can be! In a sense the club is just as human (maybe the most humane) and all it takes to quench its spirit is a media campaign and a bunch of myopic and very willing fans.

  8. Hmmm. Big problem is currently reigning at Arsenal. But how can Arsenal overcome this big problem that has befallen them this season which is making them to have taken their annual Ucl qualification for the 21 year running for granted but now seriously in doubt? And this has happened against the backdrop of revamping their first team with 1 world class CB, 1 top quality central midfielder and a supposedly versatile top quality forward during the last summer window.

    Hmmm. What is actually the matter that has caused the on the field dismal performance by the Gunners in their recent games which has seen Arsenal been ousted from the PL title race this season and a humiliating 10-2 aggregate scoreline defeat handed to them by Bayern Munich at the Ucl round of sixteen this season ? And not to mention their early exit from this season’s League Cup competition.

    This somewhat would become a colossal season’s failure if Arsenal did not qualify for the Ucl next season and win the FA cup this season is what I want Le prof and his football experts at Arsenal to sit down and seriously analyzed what and what would have caused this failure if Arsenal fails. And start addressing it in advance of time, at Middleborough on Monday and at Webmley against Man City to stop the damage from continuing. And of course the already huge season’s PL and Ucl title charge failures should have been addressed before next season kickoff with a proffered adequate solution that will solve the big problem currently reigning at Arsenal unfailingly. So that with God’s help, this big problem will not reign again at Arsenal next season.

    Meanwhile, in the word of Ozil, Arsenal still have something tangible to look forward to and play for it in terms of a top four table finish and an FA Cup win this season. And achieving these two feasts will be marvelous as Arsenal season will not be said to be a fail season, but a season of average success. I’ll take that with happiness over a failed season.

  9. It’s the idea that this would be change for the sake of making a change that I most disagree with here, as that’s grossly misinterpreting most peoples’ feelings. Most want change for a very clear reason…we believe that things have become stagnant at Arsenal, and that a lack of a change would be harmful.

    For years, I was honestly hoping that the change I’m looking for would come with Arsene at the helm, but every year it’s the same problems and the same balance and depth issues that undo this team at some point. I want change because I feel that it has become painfully obvious that a lack of change isn’t going to see thing get better at this club.

  10. This is not about being ungrateful, arrogant or anti Arsenal. This is about wanting change, a different direction and new emphasis. Wengers position is simply untenable. It is not just because the team has given up in since Christmas, it is about 50 or 60 terrible performances over the last years.

    The club needs sorting out and soon.

    I want the club:

    To not have an owner who owns 2/3rds of the club but makes 100 pc of decisions. There is no challenge or strategy.

    To have a captain that actually plays. It is bizzare that the club capatain has hardly been on the pitch for 3 years now (vermaelen, arteta and mertesacker). It does not works.

    To actually be preapared and ready for games. Each year we get turned over in our first game because we are not ready. It beggars belief that walcott said from the first minute they knew palace wanted it more. So our team could not raise their desire. Shambles.

    To play wing backs but with 3 centre backs so that we are not always caught out by balls in behind the full backs. Bellerin was always too far up field meaning that mustafi had to try and be covering right back leaving gabriel with an impossible job to fill the space in the middle.

    To have an assistant manager that actually does something other than staring at his feet.

    To have a manager that actually tries to affect the game from the dugout rather than watching stoney faced or berating the forth offical.

    To make substitutions when they are needed rather than always wait until the 70th minute.

    To practice set pieces.

    To not come out with fake leeks of massive warchests for signing players just before the renewals start to come out.

    To announce something because the silence is deafening, cowardly and is really alienating the fanbase. This is damaging, really damaging.

    I could go on. I’m sorry to say it but Wenger has to go. At the moment it seems that only United Airlines can get him out!!!!!

  11. Simon posts

    ”It beggars belief that walcott said from the first minute they knew palace wanted it more. So our team could not raise their desire. Shambles.”

    What, precisely, are Arsenal playing for? Palace know exactly what they are playing for.

    Palace are playing to stay up. The fans want this, the team wants this. The team can play for the fans because they know the fans are 100% behind them. To stay up.

    The fans at Arsenal have placed the Arsenal team in an impossible situation. What do the team play for?

    A top 4 finish is GroundHog Day, the FA Cup is a non-trophy.

    If Arsenal win a game it keeps Mr Wenger in, which the fans don’t want. If Arsenal lose a game, it confirms what the fans think about Mr Wenger.

  12. Scuba posts

    ”we believe that things have become stagnant at Arsenal, and that a lack of a change would be harmful.”

    You’ve been in the top 4 for twenty consecutive years, sit in a delightful stadium.

    For twenty years you’ve been in the top 4 and there’s been the fans of 88 clubs below you.

    You do accept, don’t you, that change can just as easily mean you go down as easily as it means you go up?

  13. So the writer suggests that wanting change is a bad thing because it is only pursuing short-lived success and also because it will make us more like everybody else and diminish what makes Arsenal different or better. This begs 2 questions at the very least: 1) what do we mean by “short-lived” success? and 2) what is this unique special Arsenalness that is at threat if we pursue change? I guess the “short-lived” thing here is the idea that yes we could throw all of the money we don’t have at our sporting ambitions, achieve the glory we recklessly crave and then within a short season or two see the club struggle with unbearable debt and sink to the fallen status of Leeds or Rangers. But this is not what those who want change are suggesting. I don’t deny it would be nice to have a generous and deeply devoted Sugar-Daddy to buy us instant success but we don’t have one. We have a Steady-Eddie kind of owner who wants us to be financially self-sustainable which is fine by me. I don’t want Arsenal to go bust in pursuit of glory. But I do want us to pursue glory. Oh yes. And, as it happens, we are a pretty big club that, with the right building and playing strategy, can realistically hope to compete for those honours. Based on my lifetime as an Arsenal fan, I’ve experienced 4 successful trophy-winning managers; Bertie Mee, Terry Neill, George Graham and Arsene. Each manager had an arch of time comprising a building phase, a trophy attainment phase and a rebuild/decline phase. Each of these archs were between 8 to 10 years. The building phase for these managers was between 1 to 3 years before trophy success started. (It is true that Bertie, Terry and George each benefitted in their building phase by a stream of talented home-grown Arsenal youth players that the club had nurtured for many seasons before so it could be argued the building phases were ongoing and longer). But what our history says to me is that Arsenal can set up trophy attainment projects every 8 to 10 years and expect to see success within 3 years. There is nothing “short-lived” about our history over this period and it involved change, regular change. And as for Arsenalness. Well, Arsene did not create it. It has been there since the 1930’s. And the club saw plenty of change over the decades that followed. Arsenalness whatever that is to each of us has been sustained despite the changes. But its always involved for most of its history pursuing glory in a sensible and sustainable way. And its always involved changing managers and taking the risk that they won’t work out. And if they didn’t (e.g. in my lifetime: George Swinden and Billy Wright) after 3 to 4 years, they get replaced until we find one that does work. Of course I realise that Arsene, while not creating teams that seriously compete for the top trophies over the last 10/11 years, has nonetheless kept us consistently in the top four which these days has its own rewards and which, given our financial strategy of self sustainability, is not to be given up lightly or risked easily. But Arsenal risk losing the most important aspect of Arsenalness if it settles for safety and second best consistency: the pursuit of glory is a fundamental and defining value of Arsenal FC. And when the pursuit of glory is not working over a sustained period, to be true to its history and its values it needs to change and, once again, as its done before, find a different way.

  14. There’s any number of Leeds fans who you can sit on the other side of the table and they’ll come out with exactly the same – trophies won over a few years, their Leedsness which makes them Leeds, the pursuit of glory. Still Leeds crashed headlong.

    Where reality has changed – reality as opposed to being a football fan – is in the volume of money, in the gambling, in the TV transmsission around the planet 24/7, in the merchandising, in the videoing and the use of videos in coaching, in the improvement in quality country by country, in the increased number of coaches country by country, in the changes of football club ownership. There’s much more but the consequence – going for glory is on a different planet from what it was in 1996.

    In 1996 you could look at Mr Wenger arriving with a stint in Japan under his belt and you could get off the train in Huddersfield and go looking for Herbert Chapman’s ghost, and even with the period in Japan under his belt, there wasn’t that much difference on the glory fields from Chapman to Mr Wenger.

    Now it’s a completely different ballgame. The pursuit of glory itself has to be analysed.

  15. Football is a risky business.

    Perhaps Arsenal are wondering what the hell is going on with the fans?

    I used to(would still like to) think that Arsenal was following a plan, but as things go on it starts to look bad.

    Disregarding all the media talk, any fan/supporter can see that things are not right.

    This “sickness” has worked it’s way through the club, starting with “selling players” to the “team losing it’s quick passing abilities” and becoming a mundane Arsenal team.

    So are Arsenal going to be big enough to make the change? Or are they happy to dwell in Mundane City.

  16. ARE YOU HEARING THIS ?

    Joe was a house-keeper who had this habit of drinking from his boss’s wine bottle and replacing it with water.

    The boss, Sam, did suspect him but tolerated it for a while.

    But when this became a daily routine, Sam decided to do something to trap Joe.

    So he shouted: “Joe?”

    Joe answered from the kitchen: “Yes boss?”

    Sam: “Who drank my wine and added water in the bottle?”

    There was no answer from the kitchen.

    The boss repeated the question, still no answer.

    The angry boss marched to the kitchen and threatened Joe.

    “What the hell is going on? When I call your name you respond with ‘Yes Boss’ but when I ask you a question, you remain silent. What is this!!”

    Joe said: “It is like this. In the kitchen, you can hear only your name being called.

    You don’t hear anything else that is said, I swear.”

    Sam: “How is that possible? All right, I will prove you wrong.”

    You stay right here in the hall with Madam, I will go to the kitchen and you ask me a question”

    So the boss went to the kitchen.

    Joe shouted: “Boss?”

    Boss: “Yes Joe?”

    Joe: “Who got the maid pregnant?”

    No reply.

    Joe, yet again: “And who arranged for her abortion?”

    Once again silence….

    Sam came running from the kitchen and said:

    “You are right Joe. When one is in kitchen, one can’t hear anything but one’s name. That’s bloody strange!!”

  17. Here is a story of how change was made by a simple man , using the right channels .

    A letter which created history.
    Date: 02 – 07 – 1909
    Divisional Railway Officer,
    Sahibgunj,

    Respected Sirs,
    I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow or train to go off and I am running with lotaah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers.(ORIGINAL LETTER)

    Your faithful Servant,
    Okhil Chandra Sen

    Okhil Babu wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway officer in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption Travellers Tales in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

    Any guesses why this letter is of Historic Value?

    It led to the introduction of TOILETS in trains in India…!!!!

    So no idea is stupid and
    Always speak up..
    (Howsoever bad or good you may be at any language)…

    https://www.quora.com/Who-was-responsible-for-the-introduction-of-toilets-in-Indian-Railways

  18. The topic of the preacher’s sermon was The Perfect Man. During the talk he repeatedly ask, rhetorically, “Have you ever heard of a perfect man?” Reading Bible verses, quoting from books and magazines to make his point, he would interject the interrogative, “Have you ever heard of a perfect man?”
    About halfway through the sermon, a little man in a pew near the back of the auditorium stood and raised his hand. The preacher, stopped his sermon, looking quizzically, said, “Yes? You have a question?”

    “Oh, no, sir.” The gentleman said, “I just wanted to say that I have heard of a perfect man.” He paused and added, “My wife’s first husband!”

  19. Brickfields Gunners
    14/04/2017 at 7:20 am
    The joke here reminds me of something that happened.

    The speaker – preacher was standing in the centre of the church with attenders on both sides of him and in front of him and behind him.

    It seems that there had been a letter in the local paper in which the writer had claimed that the preacher of this church dictated to members of the church on every aspect of life including how many children each family should have.
    He said ‘This claim his ridiculous’, and to make his point he said:

    ‘Put your hand up if I have ever told you how many children I think you have?’

    At first no hand went up.

    People looked around and then began to laugh. Behind the preacher and in the backline could be seen one hand in the air – his wife’s!

  20. This kind of “lagacy” article (everything is OK because we used to be great at another past time) could have worked in 2010. Not now when we are relegation level in 2017. Wenger is the ultimate manager but every good thing must come to an end.
    In fact this kind of blind support is responsible for the sorry state of affairs at Arsenal.

  21. “Una Salus Victis Nullam Sperare Salutem – (Latin – written 19 BC)
    The only hope for the doomed, is no hope at all…”
    ― Virgil, The Aeneid .

  22. @ colario 14/04/2017 at 8:03 am -Churches seem to be a rather fun place ! Whatever happened to those rabid ‘Fire and brimstone’ and the ‘End is nigh’ types ?
    Oh , I forgot , they all became ‘new’ Arsenal fans !

    And it was at the church that this happened…
    The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers.

    Suzie Smith stood and walked to the podium. She said, “I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Tom, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him.”

    You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagine the pain that poor Tom must have experienced. “Tom was unable to hold me or the children,” she went on, “and every move caused him terrible pain.”

    We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Tom’s scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place.”

    Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Tom. “Now,” she announced in a quivering voice, “thank the Lord, Tom is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.”

    All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.

    A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium.

    He said, “I’m Tom Smith.” The entire congregation held its breath. “I just want to tell my wife the word is sternum, not scrotum .”

  23. Zedsaunt

    That was one example i gave of a persistent situation. We are never ready or up for it. You know this. Of course we could go up or down, but it is a risk that i would say most of the fan base would accept for change.

    Wenger out.

  24. A drunken man walks out of a bar and sees two priests .
    “I’m Jesus Christ.”, he says to one of them .
    “No son,” the priest replies,” you’re not.”
    He turns to the other one and says: “I’m Jesus Christ.”
    ” No son,” the other priest says, “you’re not.”
    ” Watch me.” the drunkard says.

    He walks back into the bar and the barman says: ” Jesus Christ! You’re back here again ?”

  25. ARSENE OF ARSENAL!!!
    maybe arsene love arsenal because the name sound his!
    maybe arsene loves arsenal because he is in his comfort zone!
    maybe arsene loves arsenal because he pocketed £8m yearly doing nothing!
    maybe arsene loves arsenal because he is contebted with 4th position and last 16 at ucl!
    all and many more maybes!!!
    oh my beloved arsenal is down not because wenger don’t want to leave or because untold wants him to stay forever!
    But arsenal is down simply because arsene brought a bunch of fans who can’t think for themselves with his success!
    when arsenal was robbed at the unbeaten 50th game, had our angry fans of today reacted then, the way they are doing now against the manager and the players, to the officials maybe arsenal they claim to love will not be in this sorry state!
    the match was when arsenal resolve to fight against bias was tested and the stage was set for onslaught which is now the club’s woes!
    when the stadium was built, arsenal fc was forced into using young players, these players were talented and could achieved greater things but they were labelled boys and the fans agreed, all assault on the team by the thugs on the pitch in collaboration with the corrupt officials were allowed because we blamed our manager for believing in youths instead for us to force officials to do their job rightly!
    when we struggled to always be in top four to rescue the club from going down, we cursed the manager for keeping us competutive despite the constraints!
    when we break the trophiless years with FA cup with luck despite the referees intention to screw us in the final. They told us FA cup is no more a trophy! Instead for us to use the success to bring back confidence and belief, we followed the enmy and blasted the manager for just 0ne trophy in many years!
    community shield victories against chelsea and man city wrere chances to make our players strong but we destroyed them with it claiming they shouldn’t be celebrating WHAT OTHER TEAMS CELEBRATED WHEN WON!
    We beat the great barcelonal at the emirate they robbed us at camp nou! We blame rvp and the corrupt official!
    barcelona beat psg with help, we fought to 4-3 with ac millan with no help! Had we enjoy help and hun…,maybe we would have make the greatest comeback in history! WHAT A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER IT WOULD HAVE BEEN!
    GIROUD SCORED EQUALIZER 3-3 AT BOURNEMOUTH, WE BLAST HIM FOR CELEBRATING AND WE COULDNOT COME BACK AGAINST CRYSTAL PALACE3-0 DESPITE PENALTIES DENIED, HELL WAS LET LOOSE!
    WHAT DO WE WANT!
    ANYTIME ANY OF OUR PLAYERS FORM DROPPED WE CALL THEM NAMES, ABUSED THEM AND CALL FOR THEIR HEADS AND HELBENT ON DESTROYING THEM, HENCE, ANY OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM, THEY ELOPE TO OTHER CLUBS!
    ARSENAL FANS ENCOURAGED OTHER TEAMS TO BEAT US BEFORE WE WANT OUR MANAGER SACKED!
    HAVE WE EVER REALISED NO BIG PLAYER, HAPPY AT HIS CURRENT CLUB WOULD WANT TO JOIN US?
    OH SANCHEZ! HIS CAREER WAS SAVED BY ARSENAL BECAUSE BACA DON’T NEED HIM AGAIN!
    OZIL? WELL MAYBEWENGER’S MAGIC!
    LEICESTER CITY WAS ENCOURAGED,ASSISTED AND STAGEMANAGED TO MAKE A STATEMENT BY TGE POWER THAT RULES EPL AND TODAY WE SEE RESULT OF BOOSTED EGO! ARE THERE PLAYERS BETTER THAN OURS? NO! IT IS THE POWER OF CONFIDENCE AT WORK!
    SPURS PLAYERS ARE BEING ENCOURAGED TO TRY HARDER AND IF ANYTHING DRIVES THEM BETTER AT PRESENT, IT IS FINISHING ABOVE ARSENAL WE NEVER APPRECIATED IN RIVALRY!
    A TEAM MUST BE IN TOP4 TO SAVE THEIR CONTRACT!!! HOW GREAT TOP4. NOW BECOMES!
    ALL OUR PLAYERS ARE SHIT TO US BECAUSE THEY TELL US THEY DON’T COST MUCH!
    XHAKA SPIRIT IS SHOT DEAD ON ARRIVAL, AND WE CLAMOUR FOR VIERA LIKE WHILE OTHER PLAYERS. ARE BEING ENCOURAGED TO STUCK IN THERE!
    WE DESTROY GIROUD, A FIGHTER WHO HAD REFEREES DO THEIR JOB RIGHTS, IF NOTSCORING OPEN PLAY WOULD BEEN GETTING US PENALTIES!
    AR
    ARSENE MAY HAVE BEEN THE CHCULPRIT FOR STAYING TOO LONG, SACRIFICING HIS PRODUTUVE YEARS FOR ARSENAL AND TRYING TO PROTECTING THE GAME HE LIVES, but the brainwashed media loving, ex-player worshipped and pundit bootlickers are the true cancer helbenting on seeing the club they claim to support GO DOWN TO THE SATISFACTION OF THEIR FRIENDS WHO OPENLY SHOW THEIR HATRED FOR THE CLUB!!!
    ARE YOU A SUPPORTER WIN LOSE OR DRAW!
    NO PHASE LAST FOREVER!

    LONG, SACRIFICING HIS PROTECTING

  26. ‘I have advocated the removal of Wenger for years.’

    Yes exactly – that is a major part of the problem.

    Even while Wenger was being starved of money by the club’s owners, confronted by consistently biased refereeing, and negative coverage in the press – and still kept us year after year in the Champions League, and then got us two FA Cups and a runner up finish in the league – this so-called fan was advocating his removal.

    I truly despair of people sometimes.

  27. I do not think we need to change the manager, but it is possible that some in high positions want him to change if he stays.
    Personally, I do not think a new DOF , perhaps one with history at the club, and maybe a freshening up of the backroom staff is unreasonable, if it will help us in the transition when Wenger does leave, 2017 has shown we certainly need more help, and can do a lot better in managing the transition when it does.
    The question is, does Mr Wenger want, agree with, or accept proposed changes…..or at least those REPORTEDLY stated by our CEO at a fan group meeting. Does Mr Wengers history with the club put him in a position of strength with those who …may….want him to change…..or does this years form weaken his hand.
    Dangerous times for the club but still things to play for, and that’s all that really counts at the moment, the future can take care of itself. And whatever that future is, I think 2017 has shown, things need to improve…..perhaps being less accepting of the PGMOL would be a start

  28. ‘online gooner ‘should be renamed ‘online judas’. Selling their support for 30 pieces of silver.

  29. ‘I’m sure they would appreciate every wob whether they be new to the fold or not, to show their demand for change by attending the protests in large numbers’.
    You know you’re in the minority camp when you start begging people to join a cause you believe you have a majority.

    I believe the majority don’t really care whether AW stay or go, they just want to watch an entertaining game of football. They might have an opinion but it’s not enough to really care.

    Change. I think most regulars on here who support AW are not silly or naive that a change of manager won’t occur, it’s inevitable. However, I can’t speak for others, but myself personally, the reason for my support of AW are:
    1. He is still the Arsenal manager.
    2. He is one of Arsenal greatest manager and he deserve respect.
    3. He still have the passion and love for Arsenal FC, he’s not a mercenary.
    4. He still has the hunger and ambition to win. Look at his face after a lost.
    5. His philosophy and the way he conduct himself exude what Arsenal FC is about. Class, dignity, and play football in the right way.

    If tomorrow AW left the club and a new manager comes in, I will provide my full support for the new manager on condition that person don’t take the club to relegation. Until then, ‘In Arsene I Trust’.

  30. This is why I cannot completely take you seriously Tony.

    Its good to give an alternative view to what is out there, I applaud you and your associates for that. But to completely ignore the exact issues that are contributing to this narrative, more now than ever is tantamount to conjecture.

    Nobody is disputing what you have stated in this article, but that is not the argument right now. We need to know why our seasons are repeating themselves over and over. Whether or not our recent seasons have been successful is another debate, and not relevant to this discussion I feel.

    Its about us losing games in a similar manner, over and over. Not just this season, but in recent ones gone by as well. I’m sure we would all agree that losing games and the meaning of that for the club, is not a point which we disagree on.

    Please, lets look at the here and now. Be brave enough to put up your hand if you cannot address that in a favourable light for the manager.

  31. Change is needed.
    The current state of affairs at Arsenal is just not right.

    Why do we lose the first game in every season? Is it because we don’t care to prepare properly for the beginning of a season because our target is “merely” Top 4 and not to be champions (so losing the first game doesn’t really matter because we know we have enough talent to beat 17 other teams in the RACE FOR TOP 4)?

    Maybe we now buy players of the cheap because we are only interested in making a profit and not winning the league?
    Instead of buying players like Eden Hazard we buy players like Welbeck.
    Instead of buying top clinical strikers like Jesus or Diego Costa, we buy cheap one like Sanogo or Perez and hope they will deliver.
    Instead of buying top midfield players like Kante we buy the cheap ones like Elneny.

    Yes, change is needed at Arsenal.
    We need to remove that artificial wage structure that is holding us back. We need our shareholders to also dig deep into their pockets just as the fans are doing. Arsenal fans pay the most expensive prices for season tickets in the world yet our shareholders pay nothing.
    This so-called self-sustaining model simply means that the fans are ripped off but the shareholders pay nothing. Instead the shareholders simply take out from Arsenal bank account the occasional £2m or £3m per year to buy themselves beautiful houses, cars or to spend on an exotic and expensive lifestyle.

  32. Zed,

    Obviously, change can be for the better, or for the worse. This club has been stagnant for nearly a decade now, though, good enough to remain in the Champions League, but not good enough to really challenge for ether the Champions League or Premier League. There’s risk to change, but as we’re seeing this season, there’s risk to not making a change as well.

  33. And Leicester winning the league last season is a different ball game? Be realistic here if the board know that we cannot compete then let them say it I will have allegri over arsene now and I think majority of fans will want that.
    To Tony the fans here have been calling for an article in which you will tell us something new about what’s wrong with the club other than the fans and how to set things right, I hope to see it soon cos you can’t actually tell me that the only thing wrong with the club are the fans cos if you remember it was this same fans that sat in the 8:2 to manure. So what has gone wrong and please don’t use the media as an excuse cos we all know the points and the position

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