WENGER IS LEAVING!!!

Fans are always emotional about something, that goes with the territory. One thing they should never be though is apathetic, that usually suggests there is a serious and deep rooted problem within the club and the board eventually came to realise this.

btw not to be a cunt and triple post but for all those interested there's a Tuesday Club Podcast just released to discuss the departure.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Fans are always emotional about something, that goes with the territory. One thing they should never be though is apathetic, that usually suggests there is a serious and deep rooted problem within the club and the board eventually came to realise this.

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Kroenke, Gazidis and the rest have been traditionally viewed as the non-football guys who were under Wenger's spell (or bullshit), and that might be true. But they can all read a set of financial figures I'm sure. And I can imagine what empty seats means to a guy like Stan Kroenke. He might not be a football guy but he still has eyes. If football wants to be this big billion quid consumer industry rather than what it used to be then those are the new rules. Wenger sounds like he wants to ignore this new reality and instead base his excuses on the old game that has died away, the "loyalty" of the fans. Yet he was behind every ticket price increase. He was the guy who wanted 60K seats rather than 38K. He's the guy who paid kids way more than they were worth. And he's the guy who banked a hundred million quid in the process. So that makes him the man who has embraced the modern game wholeheartedly. Where was his "loyalty" as he was turning Arsenal into the highest priced consumer show in town?

Wenger lived by the rules he created, now - as we languish in 6th place and the stadium empties out - he's dying by those same rules. No point blaming the fans for what he's done himself.

Pep said it well. Wenger was instrumental in making the PL what it is today. To my mind, that's nothing to be proud of.

Be interesting to see if Ozil knew as he said he only signed his new contract due to his brilliant relationship with Wenger (Not the reported £350k a week incidentally)

Also, David Moyes contract is up in the summer....#justsaying

Wenger comes across as quite bitter, I think he's still in disbelief he's actually been given the boot. Especially spearheaded by someone that he interviewed. He genuinely thought he was in a comfy zone where Stan would accept his excuses. It reminds me of a bitter ex that can't get over the fact they've been dumped.

I do agree though the press have blown this way out of proportion. It's headline news :lol: I would get worked up about it but what's the point, he's leaving :patrice:

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Originally Posted by Cripps

Wenger comes across as quite bitter, I think he's still in disbelief he's actually been given the boot. Especially spearheaded by someone that he interviewed. He genuinely thought he was in a comfy zone where Stan would accept his excuses. It reminds me of a bitter ex that can't get over the fact they've been dumped.

I do agree though the press have blown this way out of proportion. It's headline news :lol: I would get worked up about it but what's the point, he's leaving :patrice:

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I doubt he was comfortable after last year's goings on. He ran to Kroenke but it's doubtful Stan just said, sure Arsene, have the job for life. There will have been conditions, expectations. Wenger has failed to meet even a minimum standard this year and whatever excuses he makes he's an intelligent guy. He knows the score. A big club like Arsenal, fighting with Burnley for 6th? Over 30 points off the pace? He probably thought he'd have a chance to see out his contract, but he must have known his performance this season was unacceptable.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Wenger makes me sick tbf. He's been blaming everyone bar himself for years, so no surprise there. But this new martyr complex he's developing, that's hard to take. People keep saying he's leaving. Well yes, that's true. But he's not leaving willingly, he was forced out. This is fairly obvious. So him spinning it that he's leaving because the club is bigger than himself - well fuck off mate, because you didn't think that last season when you circumvented the board that wanted shot of you then.

I really wish the board had had the balls to sack him on the spot. We'd be in much better shape going into two important EL ties if we didn't have to carry Wenger too.

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Good point.

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Originally Posted by Power n Glory

Personality?

The media are whipping this up a little, but Wenger doesn’t help himself. Before he goes, he has to clear this up. Him saying his personality was in the way suggest fans had a personal issue with him and not the performances. It’s quite simple. The results weren’t good enough. If he had said the club as a whole weren’t happy with the results and felt it was time for a change, that would have side stepped all the bullshit. He knows how to duck these sort of questions and this really doesn’t help change the image of the fans or help bring unity. It strengthens the division and he knows that what he says will create headlines which is why he should have been more careful with what he says. If people can argue that Wenger has been shielding the Board (Ollie Holt) from criticism and taking all the bullets, why can’t he do the same with the fans at this moment?

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:gp:

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Wenger makes me sick tbf. He's been blaming everyone bar himself for years, so no surprise there. But this new martyr complex he's developing, that's hard to take. People keep saying he's leaving. Well yes, that's true. But he's not leaving willingly, he was forced out. This is fairly obvious. So him spinning it that he's leaving because the club is bigger than himself - well fuck off mate, because you didn't think that last season when you circumvented the board that wanted shot of you then.

I really wish the board had had the balls to sack him on the spot. We'd be in much better shape going into two important EL ties if we didn't have to carry Wenger too.

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Yeah I agree, this was a thinly veiled criticism of the fans (not the first time he's done it), the fact is the guy wasn't performing well enough, that's not the fans fault, that his and his alone, he made some very poor decisions and never learnt from his mistakes, he was always on a one man crusade to prove the world and his dog wrong.

There was no need to say any of this, had he kept quiet and just thanked the fans and club he would have got a great send-off, this despite over a decade of relative failure, but no he has to stick his oar in and have a dig, you know what the guy has go away with underperforming for far too long, he's lived on past successes for years and go more support than any other major could have dreamed of having, from everyone including the fans.

Even after car crash seasons he still maintained much support from fans and it's only really a bit last season and this season that's dropped off, no other manager would have been given this amount of time and patience, yet still he's not happy.

I'd have happily put that aside and been happy to see him getting a good send off after his years with us if he'd just for once just accepted the situation with some grace.

I've not hidden my feelings in the past, I don't rate the guy, but the thing that bothered me most was his holier than thou attitude, thinking he was better than everyone else when the results said otherwise, he had a very good spell at the start but since 2005-2006 it's been downhill, on that basis his career with us it's nothing spectacular, he's been hailed as the greatest manager, well for me that's debatable because to go so long with such mediocre success doesn't really fit into the "great manager" mould for me, great manager don't spend 14 years chasing 4th place and being given a pasting but other top clubs in the CL with no answer.

Great news that he's going as we can now move on from this nightmare he's created in the last decade+.