Originally Posted by
Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie
I agree, the 2 year contract is already sitting there waiting. Why is it 2 years? Why not 3? I think it represents the full extent of the concession the board is prepared to make to the fans. See! We listen. We know you want this guy gone so we've listened and given him a 2 year contract instead of 3. And we'd like him to stay here forever, btw. Arsene will decide for himself. They have said this.
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No i think it's a realisation that Wenger is 67, a two year extension would take him up to 5 months before his 70th birthday. I think Wenger has probably made it clear to them that he wants to retire by the time he is 70 so if they offered him a three year extension he might not be inclined to take it.
It's still very much a case of kicking problems into the long grass (for them problems is when Wenger goes because they will be reminded all too profoundly that they have a football club to run). Gazidis may or may not have spoken to other managers to plan for the eventuality of Wenger deciding he's had enough, i think there probably is an element of truth in the fact that Wenger is affected by the fact that he's not feeling the love from the fans and it's been leaked to the media as if to say "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO OUR GOLDEN GOOSE YOU UNGRATEFUL FREAKS!"
Gazidis knows that he has no control over Wenger and is in no position not to offer him a new contract and say we want to go in a new direction, but i suspect he'd like Wenger gone in some ways as much as the fans if only because at that point he is the generalissimo in more than just name.
If you're Gazidis and you know that you actually get power over the club as soon as Wenger goes, it's worth playing the long game