From Greg in Miami : Wenger’s self-evaluation
Long time fan, first time commenter – keep up the good work, even if I don’t always agree with your views, they are interesting to read.
As someone who is closer to the club than me, what is your take about how Wenger is evaluating this season?
The club had a major opportunity to take the league with Man City, Chelsea and United all in weak positions, but will cede the title to a small Leicester club that was nearly relegated last season and operates on a tiny budget.
Now they will likely finish behind Spurs as well, and it is mostly a result of bad personnel decisions and lack of team preparation on match day.
In most careers and cultures, this would be a seen as a failure and a humiliation, and honour / personal pride would prompt the accountable leader of the sunk ship to leave on his own accord.
Failing that, the owners would give the opportunity to leader to leave with dignity, then chuck them out if the leader didn’t take that opportunity.
What is your take from your inside sources on how Wenger is evaluating this failure of a season? Is Wenger in denial and readying the excuses, or is he in sync with everyone else’s evaluation?
I think I know the answer, but I’m open to surprises.
Myles says:
No surprises, Greg.
Lord Wenger thinks that we should all kiss the hem of his garment and be healed.
He’s placed himself far above mere mortals like you and me.
His trophies, his stamina and his strategic intelligence have made the club bigger, a more appropriate vehicle for his colossal ego.
Only he can speak for the club and HE THINKS HE IS THE CLUB and recently claimed to have built the club alone.
That was his evaluation of the season.
He will never scout a player himself because he’s scared of a coup d’etat at Colney. If he goes away for one day he might come back and find that a groundsman has nicked his whistle and stopwatch and started managing the squad.
70% of the Arsenal fanbase is demoralised. Most fans loathe him now.
Wenger has no class, no modesty, no objectivity, only a king-sized ego that wouldn’t let him recruit Pochettino or Klopp or Guardiola. Any of those younger coaches could have galvanised the players and supporters. That is how small this great man is, how selfish he is, how needy he is.
Instead, the dictator decided to let the club stagnate because he remains blind to the bigger picture.
Was it that other French egotist Charles De Gaulle who said, “L’etat, c’est moi.” ?
Also: It’s vital that (1) Wenger doesn’t “move upstairs” and (2) is not allowed to choose his successor.
Wenger has a BSc in Economics & a PhD in Denial and cannot see that regime change is needed.
The most tragic scenario is that he becomes Chairman of the board and chooses his successor.