Arsène Wenger: Same Old Class

[DesiGooner]

It's a good day for most Arsenal fans. The toxic Wenger haters seem like a majority because of their loud presence on the internet and on things such as Arsenal TV, but most fans are reasonable and intelligent enough to know that sacking one of the greatest managers in history just days after he won a third FA Cup in four years and with no successor or succession plan in place would have been a disaster for the club. But often fans let the negative emotions that have built up inside them overtake any common sense they may have.

Arséne Wenger is the manager of this club. He will be the manager of this club for at least the next two seasons. He isn't getting sacked. He wouldn't have been sacked by either Usmanov or anybody else who bought the club (Piers Morgan doesn't have that kind of money). So the proper and sensible thing to do is to let it go. Stop acting like Piers Morgan and get behind the manager, the squad and the club. Hell, even Piers claims he's going to shut up about it (not that I believe him).

To quote Rodney King: "People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along? ... I don't see how you can grow as a world without being able to get along with people. So many people is hating out there and it's not making a difference."

It wouldn't have been a sacking. That's the beauty of it. All the board had to do was thank him for his years of service and not offer him a new contract. Wenger could have left the club on a high but now that opportunity is gone and I can only see things getting worse at the club over the next two years.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

No offence but what are you expecting in here?

Power.

 

[Slartibartfast]

It wouldn't have been a sacking. That's the beauty of it. All the board had to do was thank him for his years of service and not offer him a new contract. Wenger could have left the club on a high but now that opportunity is gone and I can only see things getting worse at the club over the next two years.

A matter of semantics. And it would still have left the club with no manager and no plan. Who would they have gotten to replace him? Who could they possibly have hired at this late date who might have brought stability? What top manager do you know for a fact could have been hired and gotten everything up and running in June? Or do you think a caretaker manager would have been a good idea?

Oh, plus there's the fact that they had already offered him a new contract last autumn and it was on the table. They would have had to pull it, which would have been a sacking even with semantic games.

 

[Toast]

Not what I said. You might want to read it again or make a better effort to understand what I said. Not everyone who wanted Wenger to move on was responsible for creating a toxic atmosphere.

Oh, come on. You implied that people who wanted Wenger to go don't understand the situation it would've created, because they are unreasonable and unintelligent. Then you go on to suggest that this is because their emotions have overtaken whatever common sense they may have.

If you're going to be a sanctimonious prick and insult people, at least stand by what you said.

 

[DesiGooner]

A matter of semantics. And it would still have left the club with no manager and no plan. Who would they have gotten to replace him? Who could they possibly have hired at this late date who might have brought stability? What top manager do you know for a fact could have been hired and gotten everything up and running in June? Or do you think a caretaker manager would have been a good idea?

Well, Tuchel is available for one. It was the incompetence of the board to leave the decision until this late to begin with. At the very least, I had hoped for some restructuring around Wenger to plan for eventual departure but even that has seemingly fallen by the wayside. Does anyone honestly see us competing for the EPL and UCL under Wenger any more? That should be the club's ambition.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Oh, come on. You implied that people who wanted Wenger to go don't understand the situation it would've created, because they are unreasonable and unintelligent. Then you go on to suggest that this is because their emotions have overtaken whatever common sense they may have.

If you're going to be a sanctimonious prick and insult people, at least stand by what you said.

I specifically referred to "the toxic Wenger haters on the internet and on Arsenal Fan TV." So are you saying that every person who favored a change hates Wenger and created a toxic atmosphere by their words and actions? I do stand by what I said. You just don't seem to be able to comprehend it. But if the shoe fits...

 

[Jasard]

it could of course be that it was known Özil and Sanchez would extend only if Wenger did too

a lot of things would make sense if that is true

we can but hope

Or we've lost both and the board don't want to transition manager at the same time as losing 2 best players.

 

[GoonerJay24]

I'm Glad!

Get in Wenger, hopefully he stays for another 5 years!

Arsenal Forever!

 

[Slartibartfast]

Well, Tuchel is available for one. It was the incompetence of the board to leave the decision until this late to begin with. At the very least, I had hoped for some restructuring around Wenger to plan for eventual departure but even that has seemingly fallen by the wayside. Does anyone honestly see us competing for the EPL and UCL under Wenger any more? That should be the club's ambition.

You realize that Tuchel was subject to the same complaints during his two seasons at Dortmund as Wenger because they didn't really challenge for the title, right? In fact, the two managers won exactly the same number of games (63) over the past two seasons (Wenger just did it in a far more competitive league). So your solution is a guy whose biggest job resulted in two mediocre seasons at Dortmund? And did you see what the Dortmund CEO said about him?

BVB had two successful years with Thomas Tuchel, in which the sporting objectives were met. However, we – Michael Zorc as sporting director and myself – and the coaching staff had also worn each other down during this time. In fulfilling our managerial responsibility — and Dortmund are in this way no different than any other club or business — it’s not only about results. It’s also always about basic values like trust, respect, ability to work in a team and communicate, authenticity and identification. It’s about reliability and loyalty.

Doesn't sound like a guy I'd want to take a chance on. Sounds more like a guy who would take Arsenal to mid-table.

 

[Don D]

Why does everyone keep saying last minute, who said the board never had a plan?

 

[Hunta]

You realize that Tuchel was subject to the same complaints during his two seasons at Dortmund as Wenger because they didn't really challenge for the title, right? In fact, the two managers won exactly the same number of games (63) over the past two seasons (Wenger just did it in a far more competitive league). So your solution is a guy whose biggest job resulted in two mediocre seasons at Dortmund? And did you see what the Dortmund CEO said about him?



Doesn't sound like a guy I'd want to take a chance on. Sounds more like a guy who would take Arsenal to mid-table.

What struck me about Tuchel in his time at Dortmund is that he changed his side WAY too much, like four or five changes every game. He looks like a cocky bastard as well.

 

[Toast]

I specifically referred to "the toxic Wenger haters on the internet and on Arsenal Fan TV." So are you saying that every person who favored a change hates Wenger and created a toxic atmosphere by their words and actions? I do stand by what I said. You just don't seem to be able to comprehend it. But if the shoe fits...

Look, it's very simple. You juxtaposed two groups:

1. 'The majority of fans' - reasonable and intelligent. Can fully comprehend the situation and the new contract announcement therefore makes this a good day for them.

2. 'Wenger haters' - can't fully comprehend the situation. Can't see the new contract is the only sensible outcome. Unreasonable. Unintelligent. Toxic. Let their emotions overrrule whatever common sense they may have.

It's a clever way of insulting people by implication. But let's all stop hating and just get along, eh?

 

[{reed}]

You realize that Tuchel was subject to the same complaints during his two seasons at Dortmund as Wenger because they didn't really challenge for the title, right? In fact, the two managers won exactly the same number of games (63) over the past two seasons (Wenger just did it in a far more competitive league). So your solution is a guy whose biggest job resulted in two mediocre seasons at Dortmund? And did you see what the Dortmund CEO said about him?
Doesn't sound like a guy I'd want to take a chance on. Sounds more like a guy who would take Arsenal to mid-table.

Tuchel didn't have 2 mediocre seasons, in the first season they were the best-runners up in Bundesliga history, in his second season he lost 3 key players, but topped the CL group with Real Madric and went further than Arsenal, won the Cup and qualified for CL.

 

[bingobob]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/may/31/arsenal-Arsène-wenger-emirates-stadium

 

[Slartibartfast]

Look, it's very simple. You juxtaposed two groups:

1. 'The majority of fans' - reasonable and intelligent. Can fully comprehend the situation and the new contract announcement therefore makes this a good day for them.

2. 'Wenger haters' - can't fully comprehend the situation. Can't see the new contract is the only sensible outcome. Unreasonable. Unintelligent. Toxic. Let their emotions overrrule whatever common sense they may have.

It's a clever way of insulting people by implication. But let's all stop hating and just get along, eh?

I would hope that even most people who would have been in favor of Wenger leaving would have been reasonable and intelligent enough to understand the perils of just pushing him aside at this particular point. But continue to read into it what you're determined to read into it. I know what I said (I would imagine most reasonable and intelligent people could separate "toxic Wenger haters" from those who simply believed Wenger should move on as well).

 

[Tir Na Nog]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/may/31/arsenal-Arséne-wenger-emirates-stadium

Love Chas, very underrated journalist. And he's right too, now's the time to be united... for once. First game of next season we need to be fully focused on supporting the team and nothing else to give them the best shot of making a good start.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Tuchel didn't have 2 mediocre seasons, in the first season they were the best-runners up in Bundesliga history, in his second season he lost 3 key players, but topped the CL group with Real Madric and went further than Arsenal, won the Cup and qualified for CL.

I could make a similar cherry-picked case for Wenger (second the previous season, lost key players to long-term injury, topped the CL group, won the FA Cup, etc.). I mean, Dortmund finished 18 points behind the champions in a less competitive league and chances are that Arsenal would have gotten past Benfica and Dortmund would have lost to Bayern had the knockout state draw resulted in those match ups.

 

[Slartibartfast]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/may/31/arsenal-Arséne-wenger-emirates-stadium

That's fantastic. I especially like this bit:

Thanks to the spotlight available to armchair pundits on Twitter and YouTube, some supporters have become fans of themselves more than they are fans of the club. For them, a match seems to now be about hoping for attention as much as it is hoping for three points. Although these clowns are small in number, they have made such a racket that it has lowered the tone across the fanbase. People feel compelled to take extreme, noisy positions, which does little to help the confidence of the players on the field.

It is time to put the club ahead of the factions. Let’s consign these reductive AKB/WOB acronyms to the history books, under a heading about the time Arsenal fans went a bit potty for a while. Let’s forget about the AKB and the WOB – and make it once more about the AFC.

 

[bingobob]

Love Chas, very underrated journalist. And he's right too, now's the time to be united... for once. First game of next season we need to be fully focused on supporting the team and nothing else to give them the best shot of making a good start.

I don't think we've much choice on this one. The club has once again stood by him after protests, empty seats, fly overs and most importantly an expiring contract. Our window to influence the decision, if we had any influence at all, has came on gone.

 

[Jury]

So Usmanov would have kept Wenger on as well.

A lot of people knew that. They just wanted an owner who was prepared to spend so much that it could possibly take the incompetence of the manager out of the equation. It's happened before.