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Arsene Wenger will be celebrating 20 years with Arsenal, an illustrious career that had its ups and downs over these two decades. While his contract is set to expire in 2017, it is hard to make predictions regarding his future with the club. Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League since 2004, which is a long time for one of the best football clubs in England and the shareholders are growing restless.
To some extent, Wenger’s stay at Arsenal is like a roulette spin, because at the beginning of each season, there are many who forecast his demise. Interestingly enough, the manager has survived many scares of this type, mostly due to the fact that he has managed to extract an astonishing amount from his squads. The London club is famous for its academy of players and its uncanny ability of thriving, using less expensive footballers that they sell for huge amounts.
Arsene is not only an accomplished manager, but also an amazing planner, capable of achieving remarkable things with a relatively small budget. This is also a quality that roulette players, for instance, need to have. The game itself is subject to huge variance and even those who rely on outside bets need to employ perfect bankroll management, to survive downswings and prevent bad beats from crippling their bankrolls.
When betting on numbers, or clusters of numbers, players must accept the fact that the game can stay erratic for a long time and bad luck can outlast their bankroll. Football managers are also pit against similar predicaments, as they try to use the resources they’ve got to achieve the best possible results. Major clubs, such as Arsenal, compete in the FA Cup, League Cup and European competitions in addition to the Premier League, so players’ fitness is always a major concern.
This season, the team was plagued by injuries and still managed to survive the group stage in the Champions League, while making a deep run in the FA Cup. Quite often they had to play with five or six players side lined due to injuries or suspension, which greatly complicated Arsene’s mission in fielding a competitive starting formation. Apparently, the owners should be thrilled with this track record, but they find it hard to accept the fact that Arsenal trails the leader by 12 points.
An Ace in the Sleeve for Wenger
It is not luck that makes some gamblers or casino goers successful, while others fail miserably. Let’s take as an example the game of roulette: knowing your limits and betting sensibly on outcomes that allow you to say solvent long enough for your luck to turn is essential. It is also not coincidence or fortune that despite the numerous threats, Wenger was not replaced and it was given a contract extension.
Replacing him after so many years would pose unique questions, because his successor would need to be equally experienced and well respected among the players. The new coach will also be under tremendous pressure from the very beginning, knowing that he has big boots to fill. Arsene knows the team inside out and has a track record that without being stellar is way above average, so replacing him would be nothing short of taking a coin flip in roulette.
Frightening as it might sound for Arsenal fans, it is quite probable that Wenger made the most of the resources he got and achieved the best possible results. Bringing someone new would mark a new beginning for the team, but there is no guarantee that anyone else could deliver better results. Furthermore it is unlikely for another manager to enjoy such an illustrious career with the London club and have the patience to build a competitive team with limited resources.
Last but definitely not least, football is every bit as much about profits as it is about results, and in this regard Arsene is a financial genius. He acquires inexpensive players, gives them the chance to prove their worth in numerous competitions and then sells them for huge amounts. Unlike other managers that constantly ask for more money or enjoy seemingly limitless bankrolls, Wenger spends only a fraction of what he generates by creating superstars.
The team is unlikely to win the domestic championship, but they are still just about alive in the Champions League and are favourites to advance the next stage. Winning the FA Cup is also an objective within their reach and they’ve done it before on multiple occasions. The future is indeed uncertain for Wenger, but very few managers worldwide enjoy the luxury of job security, especially when they prepare big clubs. Compared to many of them, Arsene has an impressive track record with Arsenal and is a resourceful manager, which makes him a huge asset for the club.
