Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
When no action was taken at the end of last season (a season in which ANY manager should have been sacked for presiding over such total collapse), I resolved Wenger would be here for another year at least and I can't see any point getting rid of him given how weak the squad is. Nobody could make anything out of this squad. Bar a few notable exceptions, it's brimming with mediocre, lazy, gutless, complacent, careless and arrogant wasters who wouldn't have got anywhere near the club just a few seasons back. Plus a handful of new recruits who vary from efficient to a complete waste of time.
Whoever is ultimately calling the shots (in the real world this will be the guys at the top, in the anti-Wenger at all costs world this will be Wenger and only Wenger), the lack of investment on the pitch is responsible for the demise of the team. Even if Wenger refused to spend it very obviously fell in nicely with the agenda of the current board. In fact how wonderful for them as they have always been able to hint they are prepared to spend in full knowledge they'll never have to release the funds lifted from the fans' wallets. It's a nice arrangement all round.
That's why I want somebody like Mourinho here. Not because I like the guy but because he'd speak openly about the situation, he wouldn't give a shit. He's the exact opposite of Wenger in many ways - enough so that the board would never even contemplate hiring him. Which is why I suggested the fans putting relentless pressure on the club to bring him in, doing what it takes to make their lives a living hell if necessary. I view the board as a cancer eating away at the club. The club and the board are not the same thing to me at all, even though the fat, bickering shits seem to think that way as they ignore the fans and carry on regardless.
I think Ancelloti would be too professional, too Wenger-like. The same goes for Moyes and just about any other top flight manager you could name. What we don't need is continuity. We need a shake-up. Who's going to do that? Who's going to shake Kroenke out of his long term plan, which must surely be to increase the asset value (bricks, mortar, sponsorship deals but nothing related to what happens on the pitch) and then flog to the highest bidder. He's done nothing in the hour of crisis, hasn't even uttered a word apart from his brief visit to ensure the sale of Nasri went through. He was connected to Arsenal for several years before he took control, to think he's green and waiting to learn the ropes is naive. Who spends that amount of money without having a plan that ensures an even greater return? His lack of activity in all matters related to the team and the ongoing stories of our bids being thrown out because we were attempting to get bargain basement prices tells me all I need to know about this guy. He's the number one enemy. Make no mistake, he has the final say. To think otherwise is to pretend he's a hapless fool who has no notion of how to control his money. This certainly isn't his track record in the States.
So who can be brought in to embarrass and harass these bastards? Who can show them up and make them uncomfortable to such a degree they'll be forced to change track and start paying some attention to the team instead of their real estate deals? For me, unless that person can be found then what's the point in replacing Wenger? Even if a new guy came in and extracted the maximum out of each player it would only last for a season because the board would then go on another selling spree.
There's nobody right now, the season is already under way, we are in total survival mode, with our weakest squad in living memory and no prospect of things improving. That's a pessimistic take but I'm looking at things in the cold light. Can anyone really (really) see a revival under the current circumstances? Honestly?
Wenger has to stay until the end of the season, BUT - the fans need to start agitating now and laying down a marker. They need to make it clear to the board that if the whole direction of the club is not reversed come next summer there will be hell to pay. Can that be achieved or will the board continue to successfully deflect all the responsibility onto Wenger? There's no sign of a board member in the cross-hair right now so I'd say the answer is nothing will emerge to pressurise the vampires who are sucking the life out of our club.
I hear Song will have to partner Mertesacker at the back tonight because we are so short of fit players. What a joke. On the one hand the message goes out we will compete at all levels, the other hand is clenched around the wallet ensuring we don't have enough to even compete in one competition let alone four. It's easy to see what's going on even when we don't know the specific details. A lot harder to fix it though, or even envisage a fix.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote