At the end of last season Stubborn Old Wenger’s stock was at it’s nadir. In all of his time in charge of Arsenal, he had never been more unpopular.
His team had been hammered in the Champion’s League by Bayern Münich. Not once, which would almost have been acceptable, particularly in the away game. No, they managed to get hammered in the home game as well and exited the competition yet again without threatening to go anywhere near the closing stages.
In his twenty odd years in charge, despite qualifying for the Champion’s League virtually every year, they never won it and, to add insult to injury, they only ever reached ONE final.
Winning the FA Cup was massively overshadowed by failing to finish in the top four which meant that Arsenal failed to qualify for this year’s Champion’s League.
This was the time, or so we thought, for the Stubborn Old Man to say “thanks for the memories, the money and the experience, but now it’s time to hand over to one of these younger managers to take this club forward again, as it seems to have lost a little direction recently.”
But Arséne had different ideas. He decided that he was the man to lead the team for the next two years. Either that, or he was talked into it by bosses who have always been thankful to him for being thrifty and not complaining too much when told that money wasn’t available for signings.
In the recent past he had gotten into the habit of selling better players than he was buying. Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy all moved to Manchester to play for direct rivals. Cesc Fabregas was sold to Barcelona.
Incoming players included Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez which, for a short time, appeased the fans but now it seems as though these two will also leave, probably at the end of this season.
So Arsenal find themselves in the unenviable position of being out of the Champion’s League, having a manager who will probably stand down at the end of next season and whose star players look likely to leave.
How is any of this this going to attract the top names to The Emirates? We have already seen an example of a player being reluctant to join them when Arsenal made a desperate attempt to sign Thomas Lemar from Monaco so that they could sell Alexis Sánchez to Manchester City.
Lemar, whatever excuse he chooses to issue, didn’t want the move. He says it was all too quick and that he needed time to think about it! What’s the bet that if it had been United, City or Chelsea he wouldn’t have needed any time to think?
No, when potential signings don’t know who the manager is going to be two years down the line and the club isn’t offering Champion’s League football, they will remain potential signings rather than actual ones.
Robin van Persie was a perfect example of that fact when he wanted to know how long Fergie would be staying at Old Trafford before he would sign.
If Arséne Wenger really loves Arsenal, as he says he does, then why didn’t he retire at the end of last season? That would have been the decent thing to do. Now he is in danger of overstaying his welcome by some distance and is doing the club absolutely no favours. In fact, if they lose at Burnley on Sunday they will slip out of the top six, never mind the top four!
How is going backwards helping the club he had served so well for all those years?
Read more from the author at WhySayAnything.com