I warned this might happen.
Wenger has said, “I am very happy with my club, but if I extend my contract and when, I don’t know yet.”
CEO Ivan Gazidis says he’s confident Wenger will extend.
What does all this mean?
It might mean that Wenger has realised the crowd will NOT give him another three years.
The board will. But the crowd won’t.
Is Wenger thinking : How can I get the crowd onside again? I don’t think so.
Should I change my ideas? Not a chance.
Arsenal is going nowhere under Wenger. And he knows it.
That’s why I still think he will stall on signing, give us more of the same next season, then quit in June, 2011.
Did you see the interviews with Roy Hodgson and Wenger on Match of the Day 2 on Sunday?
Hodgson lost 4-0 but he was smiling and laughing.
Wenger, after clinching third place, was depressed. His voice was weak and cracking. I’m told he has been ill recently. But I’ve never seen him like that. He looked devastated. Why? Had he had a big row with somebody?
Was he demoralised by the 10,000 empty seats? By banners like SPEND OUR MONEY!
Wenger was badly shaken by something.
He said, “For me there is two big trophies in England. The first is to win the Premiership and the second domestic trophy is to qualify directly for the Champions League. So that’s what we have done. For me, it is not enough. But it is the minimum requested, that we want to do. And we have done that 13 years on the trot now. So that’s not too bad.”
I was so shocked by the state he was in that I barely noticed what he said. But what he said was yet another example of the ultimate spin-doctor moving the goalposts. He said something he has never dared to say before.
Wenger said : Finished 3rd is a trophy.
Is that where we are?
How many Gooners want three more years of spin like that? Watch that space. I don’t want to watch that space. But I want you to watch that space.