There has been a lot of unrest recently at Arsenal Football Club. Some of which has been bubbling under the surface for a few seasons. Those behind the unrest are steadily becoming more vocal and aggressive with their protests.
Fans, of course, have a right to air their opinion, but at Arsenal, a small minority aren’t just airing those opinions they’re being downright disrespectful towards our greatest ever manager. The small minority of course have their banners out win, lose or draw calling for Wenger to leave the club.
Now, this is the club’s greatest manager in history. A man that has given up so many years to guide us through our stadium move. A man that has repeatedly rejected the advances of both the biggest and richest clubs on the planet, the likes of PSG and Real Madrid.
If Wenger was in the job for the salary then he would have left Arsenal a very long time ago. He has rejected lucrative contracts with many clubs, even countries. This man, that has been on the receiving end of disgusting abuse, has had his hands tied for many years by an unambitious board.
This is why I feel the protests towards Wenger are misguided. The board have a history of trying to do things in the cheapest possible manner whilst also charging as much as they can feasibly get away with. All whilst picking up nice little bonuses for themselves.
Yes, fans can criticise the team performances and sometimes that blame falls on Wenger. But if he doesn’t have the players he wants at his disposal then how can he reasonably do the job he wants to do for us fans?
Looking back at certain situations like the Ashley Cole contract drama. We lost the clubs greatest ever left-back in recent times due to a few thousand a week. The board deliberately low balled him because they knew of his love for the club. He had every right to be peeved. It showed a lack of respect to arguably one of the best left backs in the world at the time.
Another example that doesn’t fall on Wenger is the Luis Suarez debacle. He wanted a world class striker, found out Suarez was willing to come to us so told the board he wanted him. Do I need to remind you about the embarrassing headlines “that bid” drew? Now nobody is asking for Arsenal to stupidly bid £50m on a player that has a clause for Champions League clubs to leave at £40m+. But £1? Seriously? Surely a bid of £40.1m would have secured the services of the best striker in the league. For those suggesting it’s stupid to bid more than the buy-out clause fee then look at exactly what happened with such a minuscule bid. We lost out and he stayed at Liverpool and almost won the league. He could have pushed us on that year to win the league but the boards embarrassing money saving greed had us lose out again.
Sol Campbell arrived to compete for titles and has admitted he relished the challenge of moving across north London from bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur. One of the most coveted centre backs at the time he also admitted he could have moved elsewhere for a much more lucrative contract. But he liked what Wenger had to say and he knew he would be challenging for titles. Would we have had those two league titles we won without Campbell at the heart of the defence? Would we have had the “Invincibles”? No we probably wouldn’t have. Thankfully he wasn’t driven by the money factor, which so many players are.
Another example more recently is N’Golo Kante. A man Wenger clearly wanted but the player chose Chelsea over us. Now we finished second last season over Chelsea’s tenth. We had Champions League football and Chelsea had no European football. So if money was the reason Kante chose Chelsea over us then whose fault is that? It certainly isn’t Wenger’s fault. We already know players around the world respect and rate Wenger and he is the sole reason Mesut Ozil pulls on an Arsenal shirt. So the fact we can lose out to a rival team with less lucrative football options than us over weekly wages shows where the fault lies. Arsenal’s season could have been extremely different had we landed the combative defensive midfielder. A man Wenger himself wanted desperately at the club.
David Dein (who was pivotal in the signing of many players including Campbell) himself knew years ago that the landscape of football was changing with the influx of billionaires descending on various clubs. He tried to convince the board the way forward was to allow new investment such as the way other clubs were now doing.
The board were clearly hesitant resulting in Dein leaving the club. A man that dedicated his life to the club. A man who was extremely close to Wenger. A man who Wenger himself relied upon and trusted deeply. The board eventually allowed Stan Kroenke on the board once they realised his ambitions were identical to their own, slowly bleed the club with minimum effort and not money put back in.
Alisher Usmanov had been another man Dein convinced to buy Arsenal. Usmanov hasn’t been accepted on to the board, despite being the club’s second largest shareholder. Usmanov distanced himself from Dein thinking he was the reason the board would’t allow Usmanov a seat. But the board still wouldn’t budge. Usmanov is a man that has repeatedly offered large sums for Arsenal and particularly Wenger to go and buy whoever he wished. The board of course rejected this notion. They are happy with the way the club is run. They continually spout our traditions and how we do things a certain way.
The board are holding the club back and all the blame is being taken up by Wenger. Something the board is more than happy with. Ivan Gazidis has stated many times over the years that we can compete with all the big clubs now the stadium debt is no longer tying our hands financially. Yet we still struggle to match wages of rival bidders for players Wenger clearly wants i.e. Kante.
Ozil and Alexis Sanchez could have been tied down to new contracts last year but the board wouldn’t budge to their wage demands. Both players can easily get much larger contracts elsewhere yet they were happy to take slightly less to stay with the Gunners but Arsenal wouldn’t budge on their stance. Now we risk losing them and falling further behind our rivals.
Yes, Wenger is responsible for the team he picks and ultimately the results but he is not responsible for the lack of ambition the club shows.
He can only do so much with the substandard team he ends up with due to other people at the club not actively trying to sign the players he wants and needs to compete for titles.
Yet Wenger is a workman that refuses to blame his tools. He will actively defend his players, which is admirable. The players need to step up and perform more consistently.
Again, if Wenger doesn’t have the players he wants each season then how is he meant to achieve the goals he wants for the club and fans. His hands are unfortunately tied in certain circumstances and he is not the type that will publicly criticise the board or club in any way.
Throughout Wenger’s reign he has continually unearthed gems and turned them into world class players. Arsenal very rarely buy stars, they make them. Something Wenger has had to do due to the board refusing to pay such large transfer fees and wages. If you look back at all our title winning teams they consist of players Wenger inherited or unearthed and bought for meager sums.
Fans protesting and trying to get their mugs on TV for their 15 minutes of fame say they want their club back. Do they mean the club that finished 12th and fifth respectively in the years before Wenger arrived? The club that still refused to pay players the wages they could so easily get elsewhere?
Arsenal don’t need a new manager. Wenger is the greatest manager in the history of the club. Every single Arsenal fan wants to see the club winning titles again.
To do that there needs to be a massive shake-up at board level. Either get with the times financially, since we pay the most out of any match going fans in England, or leave instead of just happily picking up your bonuses for doing nothing.
But not Wenger, he deserves to finally run the club without his hands tied. The man has the clubs and fans best interests at heart. He deserves nothing but respect. Yes, criticism can be aimed at him but the level of disrespect and venom is uncalled for.
