From Brian Love:
Arsenal and Wenger are in a co-dependent relationship.
Neither party is happy anymore but each is too scared to leave the other. But just because you love someone doesn’t mean you should be together.
Meanwhile a new villain has been named and shamed on the back pages…. The Arsenal Fan.
“They had it pretty good but they never knew it. As Wenger’s era draws to a close, the shame of how they treated him will hang over the club as a new man tries to get close to doing what he did.” scolds Oliver Holt in The Mail On Sunday.
And he’s not alone. Footy journos and ex-players everywhere have been chastising Arsenal fans for their undignified role in Wenger’s downfall.
We don’t appreciate all he has done for us, they say – not just the trophies but the transition to the new stadium, how he kept us in the CL for years with enforced sales and nothing like the kind of funds that our rivals have been spending.
I’m sick of this recurring lecture. While Neville, Carragher, Cross, Holt et al sit in the press box or their nice warm studio, the Arsenal fans PAY THE HIGHEST PRICES IN THE WORLD to watch a team of drifters.
And they listen after each game to the manager, who might actually garner some empathy and support if, just for once, he displayed some HUMILITY and admitted the team’s flaws. I saw an interview with David Moyes yesterday where he came out and said he had just witnessed the worst West Ham performance since his arrival. It wasn’t pretty but it was a relief to hear it. At least the fans know that the manager shares their concerns.
Wenger’s disingenuous excuse-laden post-match analyses are a big part of what divides him from the fans, in my opinion. If you lose a match by a single goal you can MAYBE bring up the fact that the winner was offside. MAYBE. But if your team was lucky to only lose 3-0, then shut up about that middle goal. Because it made absolutely no difference.
This is what the fans are sick of. This is why they no longer trust him. He thinks we’re idiots. Remember when he refused to buy a single outfield player in the close season? And what about all that weird, smug, unsettling nonsense with him trailing an announcement of whether he would or wouldn’t sign a new contract, and then not even making that announcement for aeons. What was all that about? Some desperate display of power?
I love Arsene Wenger. I really do. I feel incredibly lucky that he came to our club to work his magic. I’ll always remember the wonderful football and the success he brought to our club and, frankly, how it enriched our lives.
But look what happened to Forest when they refused to let Clough go. They got relegated and have never been the same club again. Maybe they never will be. As Arsene says, you go down in the lift and come up by the stairs.
Myles says:
Brian Clough’s Derby County were such a great team that they won the First Division after he left. Clough won back-to-back European Cups. The value of his No.2, Peter Taylor, was huge.
Clough & Taylor were a magnificent and hilarious double act.
Arsene Wenger is a one-man show and this article explains why the French elite are so arrogant.
This link explains where I’m coming from.