Frank Lee
June 2011. Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis is asked by a supporter at a Q&A event who the manager is accountable to. He responds, “Arsene is ultimately accountable to the fans - they ultimately make judgment. If you are seeing the relationship between the fans and the manager break down over time that is unsustainable. But I don't think we are anywhere near that.”
Things have changed somewhat with a further six seasons without a title challenge lasting beyond the first appearance of daffodils and a habitual failure to make it past the last 16 in Europe. The majority of Arsenal fans now want to see another manager see if he can do better as opposed to witnessing the same repeated weaknesses and mistakes in Wenger’s teams. Never before has the manager been a leading runner in the next manager to be sacked betting, and in truth, he will not technically be sacked if he does not get a contract renewal, although with his stated choice to remain at the club, if he does go, it will be as good as a dismissal.
However, the briefings to the media being given by the club indicate that the board are content for him to continue, in spite of supporter feelings, making a nonsense of the CEO’s words. He has made a habit of making bold pronouncements that are not backed up by reality, such as claiming the club were in position to move to the same level as Bayern Munich in the summer of 2013. They have been beaten 5-1 by the German club three times in the last eighteen months.
A report by David Hytner in The Guardian two days after the defeat at West Brom stated the club’s position:
"The view from behind the scenes has been consistent – that the seemingly vast swathe of fans across social media that would like to see Wenger go is not representative of the whole support. At West Brom there was one aeroplane that flew over the stadium trailing a banner that called for Wenger to go and another that said he should stay.”
Granted the banner flown in support of Wenger did represent the minority of Arsenal supporters, even if it was organised by the club (through contacts of the chairman’s family in Hong Kong), but for the directors to believe that the majority of the fans wish Wenger to be in charge next season demonstrate they might be as far removed from reality as the manager, who believes he can return the glory days to the club in the face of insurmountable repeated evidence that this is not going to happen. It should be remembered what hard work his players made of winning the FA Cups in 2014 and 2015, with four matches at Wembley against weaker opposition seeing three of them going to at least extra time before the Gunners could win. Had Wigan won the penalty shoot-out in the 2014 semi-final, we might not even be having the debate we are going through now.
The reality of the situation is that while the stadium has not turned on Wenger at home matches (unlike the away support recently), the only reason for this is that many of those attending would feel uncomfortable directly chanting against Wenger as an individual. For them, he has a lot of credit in the bank. That does not mean they wish him to continue past the summer, just that he exits with some dignity.
Sadly, the recent series of defeats have put paid to that. Even if the club do recover their ability to win matches in the Premier League, finish in the top four, and somehow manage to win the FA Cup, it won't change people’s minds about the club’s prospects next season if Arsene remains. Because even if the season did end on a high, we have been here before. The 2014 FA Cup win broke the nine year drought of trophies. Mesut Ozil had been at the club for a season and was joined in the summer by Alexis Sanchez. Arsenal were spending big and it was hoped the cup win would become a springboard to greater success, by changing the mentality of the squad to that of one that knows how to win trophies.
In the three seasons since then, Arsenal have mounted two credible title challenges, only to fall away in either February or March, ultimately finishing several points behind the champions (12 in 2015, 10 in 2016 and probably more this year). Now Ozil and Sanchez look set to depart in the summer and the manager will have to start building a new team to make a fist of the Premier League. Having failed to do that several times since the stadium move, why should another attempt prove any different? It should also be remembered that, in terms of competition, the amount of money in the English game means that the best continental managers are getting jobs at the competing clubs. So proven winners are more numerous and the opposition even harder to overcome. Last season was a unique opportunity in which Arsenal’s traditional rivals all fell away, leaving only Leicester and Spurs in the way of a title. The Gunners could not even manage to win it then, laid on a plate as it was, so what chance in the future?
The board are probably afraid of having to adapt to the demands placed on the directors of a major club in the 21st century. In the same way Manchester United’s board overtook them in terms of commercial acumen in the 1990s, so now, Manchester City and Chelsea have overtaken them in terms of a footballing structure in place above the first team coach, one that provides continuity as managers come and go. If, as Gazidis has claimed, the club could be Bayern Munich, where is the evidence in terms of appointments that have football expertise at executive level? Where is Arsenal’s equivalent of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge? The board need to bite the bullet and seek expert help in bringing the club into the 21st century. Arsenal may be a sound business, but it’s in slow decline on the field, and that will have repercussions for the bottom line eventually. The club will never match Manchester United’s commercial operation in the lifetime of many of its current fans, due to its lack of trophies in recent seasons and a paucity of top quality commercial minds at the club.
Anyway, I digress. The reason behind this piece is to inform the directors that they should not take lack of ill will at home matches towards Arsene Wenger as a sign that supporters want more of the same. They are currently simply too polite to join in with the protestors. But faced with another season or two of the same let downs, the atmosphere both home and away will become untenable, the vitriol shown towards Wenger even greater. The board need to do the decent thing and acknowledge that the social media demanding change is not so much unrepresentative, but more like the tip of the iceberg.
This summer is an opportunity to rejuvenate the club. It should not be delayed or the recovery process will, once it finally is allowed to begin, take even longer than it needs to.
