Where to start?
I am astonished that things have got this bad. But I think it is misleading to 'blame' Wenger. What has led to this mess is the result of many factors, but principally the fact that the club came to rely on one man for all aspects of the football club; coaching, management; vision; recruitment...hell even financial affairs. Kroenke bought into this regime, having no experience of football, and bought a club effectively on automatic pilot.
Wenger's abilities declined over his last couple of years, but football also moved on. For some years it has not been possible have a successful EPL club without an accomplished combined team - coaching; director of football; recruitment; finances - all working to a clear vision. Even Wenger had David Dein sharing the load in his successful years. Gazidis was supposed to provide this oversight as Wenger retreated, but he bottled it and then pissed off at the very time that we needed him most.
Wenger's departure in fact laid bare the lack of any proper foundations at AFC, because his abilities over and above his coaching role were masking fundamental problems. The reality is that in these circumstances, Arsenal has been a potential disaster waiting to happen. Without proper executive club management in place, any subsequent football managers were never going to succeed. What has happened in the past 3 years however is nothing short of a perfect storm. Disruption; wholly unsuitable executive level appointments; management civil wars; no direction; no teamwork. And now we are left with a rookie manager who (to my surprise) appears not to have even the basics required; a rookie chief exectutive; and a technical director who also has no EPL experience and is clearly not up to the job. Arteta has shocked me over the last few weeks, but as Letters says, I fear for any manager in these circumstances.
So given that we have a owner with sole control of our club, yes the buck ultimately stops with Kroenke who is responsible for the running of the club, but if we are to blame him, for me its his naivity that is to blame rather than any suggestion that he has run the club down. But he has also been badly let down by those who he should have been able to rely on.
I try (usually), to maintain a degree of equanimity, but the extent and depth of the fundamental problems facing our club at all levels, if unaddressed, mean that we cannot rule out relegation. It has happened to other big clubs, and Arsenal has no God-given right to EPL status. I still don't think it will come to this, but I have come to realise that we should be under no illusions as to the seriousness of where we are. Happy days...