Originally Posted by
I am invisible
Totally agree.
If we're going to have this conversation, then I think it's important to make the distinction between manager and head coach: Wenger, for me, is a manager (and maybe one of the last genuine managers left in the game at a top club), and the reason he's paid so much is because his list of responsibilities for the past two decades has extended a lot further than simply handling first team matters (also, when you've been at a single employer that long, the yearly incremental pay increases tend to add up); guys like Jose Mourinho are head coaches - very good at what he does, yes, but he has no other responsibilities beyond putting the first team together and getting them ready for matches (incidentally, Jose, this is why you are judged solely on the success you achieve on the pitch and Arsene Wenger is not - because that's the only criteria by which anyone can judge you).
Personally speaking, I don't think Arsene Wenger has anything to apologize for - the Jose Mourinhos of this world may well point to the recent trophiless years, but winning trophies isn't quite as unique and special as the special one would like everyone to think. Sure, it's what the fans want to see, but you'll find hundreds of other coaches and managers who have won trophies in their time (Wenger included). What Wenger has achieved from a management POV though, during his time at the club, is almost unique, and I'm really struggling to think of anyone else who could have done the same job? To have emerged from nearly a decade of being financially hamstrung, whilst your rivals have been more powerful (and more numerous) than ever, with one of the best new stadiums in the world, state of the art training facilities, hundreds of millions of pounds of new sponsorship money coming in, the largest cash reserves of any club in the world, and a team that has managed to consistently stay in the CL spots and is only really behind clubs that are being bankrolled by reckless billionaires, is quite frankly remarkable. Sure, this has all come at a cost - as a head coach, it looks like Arsene has fallen behind the times a bit, and the first team certainly hasn't been as successful as it could have been if we'd been fully focussed on it - but make no mistake; we've needed a top manager to steer us through this period far more than we've needed top coach to chuck money around and win the odd cup.
Now that doesn't mean that question marks about Wenger's future, and where we go from here aren't completely valid: whilst I think the man's achievements as a manager are extraordinary, I've also said that I think he's slipped a little bit behind the times on the coaching front, and the massive irony here is that, through his work, we now have a modern day super-club, where most things take care of themselves, and where it's perfectly reasonable to ask whether we actually still need a manager who runs everything any more, or whether we'd now be better off with a specialist head coach, with more up-to-date methods and fresh ideas, who's only responsibility is the success of the first team? If that's the case then I don't think Arsene should feel any shame about stepping down - even if we bottle the FA Cup, he can hold his head high, knowing that he's been the most successful manager in our history, has given us the best teams and the best footballing moments we've ever had (and may ever have) as Arsenal fans, and has left us this remarkable legacy, where all future Arsenal coaches / managers will have nothing very much to worry about.
What I think is utterly out of order and completely unnecessary, though, is the ridicule and abuse that Wenger is constantly subjected to - no, we haven't won anything for a few years, and , yes, we've slipped behind our main rivals, but look at the league table and how we're doing in other competitions: we're still better than 99% of the clubs out there across the world, even if we keep falling short, and we probably have more potential than anyone else right now. Show the man the respect he deserves, because a large part of our remarkable potential is down to his vision and careful management...
