Elliot Segal
It's sad to see the stadium as it is, with fans fighting each other, divided over the future of a manager who gave us fantastic times between 1996 and 2006 and then nearly eleven years of mediocrity. From a team that had strong, powerful and skilful players to a bunch of pretty boys who are too nice to succeed.
I fear that Wenger will sign the two-year contract that is on offer, for the sole reason that he genuinely believes he is the only man who can manage Arsenal and that nobody else could do a better job, a view shared by the board.
I was at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, not far from the guy with the banner who Gary Neville described as an idiot, and heard the “Wenger out” chants. I'm one of those who's wanted him to leave for many years but I couldn't bring myself to join in the chanting. As much as this contradicts my viewpoint on him, I don't want to see him sacked but rather to leave with the dignity he deserves.
The seeds were sown back in 2008 when we spectacularly blew our chance of winning the league, and we've barely come close since then. There was the pathetic shambles of the summer 2011 transfer-window which ended with a mad trolley-dash after conceding EIGHT at Manchester United, a result which should have seen him dismissed. But it carried on and, since then, he's rewritten Arsenal history to preach that finishing fourth is a trophy. I've never heard such a ridiculous statement from a football manager and what that has done is to brainwash people into believing it was success.
In 2004, Liverpool finished fourth, which Gerard Houllier described as a "magnificent achievement". He was promptly sacked a week later with the club describing it as a "minimum standard and not a goal". The AKBs will argue that Liverpool would love to be where we have been for the last few years, but that's not the point.
There's the regular stuffings we take in the big away games, to the point where they no longer become a surprise. Last Wednesday night was a result I expected and couldn't even bring myself to be angry about, such was my lethargy and lack of expectation. That is the biggest shame of all.
Towards the end of last season, Wenger took the extraordinary step of blaming the fans for his failure. In the next game, at home to Norwich, the fans sung his name. You genuinely could not have made it up.
One of the reasons Sir Alex Ferguson was so successful in his last ten years at Old Trafford was because he kept adapting to changing tactics and moving players on when he needed to. Wenger rewards average players with lucrative contracts. How else do you explain Almunia drawing a salary from the club for eight years?
This myth that there's been money until recently is exactly that, a myth. There was, but it was wasted on contracts for rubbish like Denilson, Diaby and Eboué.
There is no reason for the board to keep Wenger other than sentiment. He will not improve Arsenal. He has taken us as far as he can. He will not challenge for the title again. No team has a divine right to win the Premier League, but I expect Arsenal to challenge for it. That's all I want, but it's the same failures, same tactical ineptitude again.
Wenger was a great manager; he did fantastic things and deserves to be remembered for that - the Invincibles and the two doubles, not celebrating finishing fourth on the pitch like we'd won the Champions League.
I invite any AKB to respond to this with a coherent argument as to why Wenger should stay and not use the "who would replace him?" reply which is the default, ostrich position.
