From Kevin Whitcher:
Myles ,
You have been banging the drum about the need for Arsenal to get shot of Arsene Wenger for longer than most, but eventually, the majority of the club’s fanbase have caught up.
At home matches, there feels very much an atmosphere of marking time, waiting for something to change.
People won’t give up their season tickets, knowing that eventually, they have a chance of seeing something other than Wengerball, but for now, simply decide not to attend much of the time, or give their tickets to mates. Marking time indeed.
I think the situation has slowly evolved from one where the majority wanted him to continue, to the one we have now where the majority want him to go, but most do not want to see him hounded out.
Previous organized protests against the club have been either aimed at the board (in 2012) or more general without identifying a target (Time for Change at the conclusion of last season, which the press decided to label an anti-Wenger demonstration).
Although the best thing for the club would be for Stan Kroenke to sell up to someone with an interest in football rather than hoovering up business assets, in the short term, the most immediate way of changing the culture of complacency at the club would be to have a manager who does not regard 4th place as a successful season. Then we would see how ambitious the board of directors really are.
One thing people need to realize is that Arsene Wenger, as a de facto board member, is very much part of the problem at the club.
So by knocking away a cornerstone, we would see if the message the regime pumps out about their plan to match the European giants by spending big holds up.
A bit of me wonders if the reason N’Golo Kante wasn’t signed is that he wanted higher wages than the manager, and Wenger wasn’t having that.
Fans thinking that anything is going to change unless pressure is used to force the board into acting are as deluded as the current manager is in his belief that he can bring the glory days of league titles back to the club.
And it should be remembered that even with his great teams he conspicuously failed in Europe.
Finally, a group of individuals, formed on the onlinegooner forum, have managed to do something that people didn’t dare to do in the past, by organizing protests against Arsene Wenger’s continuing which are both numerous, vociferous and when organizing stunts like the plane over West Brom, media-friendly and imaginative. It was a bold thing to do, as so many, for some reason, find the idea of publicly calling out the manager something they can only do on social media.
Certainly, at home games, the crowd has remained remarkably loyal in their refusal to start a chant against the manager.
The only one I can remember being a few refrains of “You don’t know what you’re doing!” when he removed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from a game against Manchester United back in January 2012 Arsenal were level at the time with the Ox posing plenty of problems. They lost the game 2-1 after his removal, with Van Persie visibly wondering what Wenger was doing.
The manager’s inability to make the right substitutions isn’t anything new.
So the protest group having the courage to test the resolution of supporters to do the previously unthinkable and march for the removal of Wenger is akin to the moment in the Emperor’s New Clothes fable when the small boy points out that the Emperor is stark naked.
One by one, the rest of the crowd agree and join in the pointing. The numbers on the protest march started with about 200 before the Bayern game and doubled the following weekend against Lincoln. People realize that they do not need to be afraid of questioning the idol.
I am writing this piece for two reasons – to make your readership aware that for further information they should follow the group’s twitter account and critically, that should they wish the group to come up with more varied mass media effective ways of putting the message to the directors that they need to grow a pair and get shot of the manager this summer, more funds will be needed.
People can contribute on the group’s JustGiving page to do their bit.
There are concrete plans for the Manchester City and West Ham matches, but for the protests to continue to gain column inches, people need to put their money where their opinions are and equally as critically, join in when offered the opportunity, such as the march this Sunday for which people will need to gather from 2.50 opposite the Arsenal Box Office on the Arsenal tube side of the stadium in Drayton Park.
Having had contact with these guys, I can say that they are putting a lot of effort into the campaign and are an imaginative bunch.
They have decided, after the club (through friends of the chairman’s family in Hong Kong) imitated their plane banner protest by hiring one of their own, to keep their powder dry on future plans by announcing what’s in store too close to matches for the club to counter them.
The power of social media should get the message out and the press will pick up on anything, as there is a media frenzy for Arsenal’s troubles right now.
This two-pronged attack is excellent for putting pressure on the board. The group also have suggestions for ways fans abroad, and anyone that can’t get to Highbury to protest, can help out. And I am loving the photos of ‘Wenger Out’ banners being displayed in all four corners of the globe.
I wouldn’t fancy club head of PR Mark Gonella’s job if the club are waiting to announce that Wenger is going to stick around like a piece of fish that’s gone off.
And word has it that the club are seriously worried about the potential for the protests to grow.
So they should be, because things should never have reached this stage. The three clubs that have won the Premier League since Arsenal’s last title in 2004 all dispensed with their managers as a consequence of their inability to overcome Leicester last season, and Arsenal should have done the same. Sentiment wins nothing in football.
The protests will continue, even if the club decide to confirm Wenger is extending his stay. I suspect that if he is in charge at the beginning of next season, things will become so untenable that he won’t see the completion of his next deal.
His decision to remain will be a tipping point, and once the stadium turns with the first bad home result next season, the board will be forced to do what they didn’t have the gumption to do now and say “Thanks for the memories Arsene, but it’s time to say goodbye”.
I wonder if the stories of a one-year deal are a tacit admission by the board that they know this is not going to end well… in which case, get on with it and do what’s required now by announcing that “Arsene has decided to call it a day at the conclusion of his current contract”.
The sooner we can all move on, the better.