Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
We're watching the slow decline and downfall of the manager who built the best team ever to pull on the red and white jersey. The guy who masterminded exhilarating football the like of which we won't see again in the cynical, "destroyer", "don't like it up 'em", world of moneyball. The chavs couldn't buy it, the gypos can't buy it, even Madrid and Barca can't buy it. We were spoiled rotten back then, ever the opposition fans used to clap us off the pitch FFS! Remember that. We're also seeing the end of a guy who took Arsenal from relative England bound obscurity and made us a name on the world stage. A guy who transformed the English game from piss up and hackathon to a professional arena for athletes. The guy in charge when the Invincibles went 49 games without the opposition laying a glove on us, until a creature from the gutter who is worshipped by the media dragged us back into the slime by means that were the antithesis of the sporting ideal.
Those are Wenger's achievements and they will never be repeated, ever, by anyone no matter how much cash is thrown at it. But now he's burnt out, out of touch, living on past glories, call it what you want. It's time for him to go and most agree on that. Who do you think will suffer most if we wash our hands of our own history and start screaming abuse at the man? Do you think the board will suffer? Do they even give a fuck about the one or two or three decades we've sat through following this club? Were they even there at the highest of high points? Do they understand what achievement beyond the balance sheet is, like a fan naturally does? For Wenger, his name is in the history books no matter how much the screamers want to trash it. Yeah sure, the fans paid the money, they turned up, they cheered (through the good times at least). But it was the manager and the players who had to deliver, and they did. Spectacularly. And we all lapped it up. If Wenger can't repeat the unrepeatable it doesn't mean he has lost what he already achieved. But if the fans try to reduce him to nothing, humiliate him, what can they say about there own legacy? Yes, I was there in the good time and I cheered. Yes, I was there in the bad times too and I doorstepped the manager and screamed abuse in his face. Maybe for some fans they don't really care about self respect. But most will.
Wenger is in his last days, could be a few days, could be as many as a thousand. However long, he'll leave with his dignity and achievements intact. Let's see what state the fans are in and how their own dignity measures up when the announcement finally arrives that the manager is stepping down. Let's see if we, the guys who have sat here for the one, two, three decades have any sort of legacy left or if we've just turned into that guy who wants it today because he knows how much he paid. We hate the club down the road for having that attitude, don't we?