Redknapp to Arsenal

[V-Pig]

Ah, Coney.

[Ollie the Optimist]

zimm - you said earlier in the thread (a couple of pages ago) that you started to see the problems in 2006. what problems could you see then? this confuses me, we had just made our first ever champions league final, had the best defence in europe! it was a pretty good season really. it was our first trophyless season for what, five years? hardly a season of shit given the acheivements of the others. how could you see problems then? it doesnt make sense, unless you felt entitled to a trophy after 5 years of them

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Yes he was.

Mods should just close this thread its getting embarressing now.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I think it's winding down anyway, plus I won't be on much for the weekend so I'd rather all the silliness was contained to one thread than spread everywhere on the forum.

[LDG]

I think it's winding down anyway, plus I won't be on much for the weekend so I'd rather all the silliness was contained to one thread than spread everywhere on the forum.

Sp*rs match thread then?

[Letters]

Just because he has an opinion that few others share doesn't make him a WUM.

No, it's not that which makes him a WUM.

Im fact I remember Coney being a big Redknapp fan and he wasn't attacked because of it.

I don't know about attacked but I certainly picked him up on it because he used to bend the truth to breaking point - lauding 'Arry's 'achievements', dismissing his failures. Some people on here do the opposite about Wenger which is pretty WUMmish behaviour.

[Letters]

Expect better from GW's mods.

We dealt with all the posts you reported

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Sp*rs match thread then?

I'll have to look through it later regardless of result.

Although we'll win so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Marc Overmars]

I'll have to look through it later regardless of result.

Although we'll win so it shouldn't be a problem.

I am shocked and saddened you won't be providing live updates.

[Letters]

So did you instantly decide he should go 7 years ago? I didn't and can't see why anyone else would? If anything I reckon his first 2-4 years at the Emirates provided him with monumental tasks and he did incredibly well to keep us as good as we were during that period.

Where I have problems is what has happened subsequently - he failed to build on what really was a transition period, so in my mind he has failed only for the past 3 years or so, and it has been obvious for a while now that he is not going to be able to turn it around.

To say he has failed for seven years is not giving any thought to the environment he has been working in - both externally with the introduction of silly money and internally, managing a top team while the Club underwent the largest unassisted capital infrastructure project in the history of Club football anywhere in the world.

It's completely nonsensical to question or dismiss Wenger's achievements during the first half of his time with us.
He took over a club whose name was always prefixed with "boring boring" by opposition fans and, while being a decent cup side, were nowhere near good enough for a sustained title challenge. He changed them into one of the most exciting sides in PL history and, for a while, the best side in the country. His diet and fitness regime and knowledge of the European game were unrivalled and gave us an edge over other clubs. It's worth remembering that he took over in an era when the drinking culture was rife amongst players. Plenty of players from that era have credited Wenger with extending their careers.

A few things have happened since then:

Other clubs have caught up with the fitness regimes so we don't have that edge any more.

Other clubs now have worldwide scouting networks so it's harder to get good players before other clubs even know about them.

Billionaire owners have come in and completely distorted the transfer and wage market to obscene levels.

Arsenal have been hampered by poor commercial deals and an incredibly complex stadium move and building project which has left us less competitive in the short term but will hopefully be of long term benefit.

Despite all this Wenger kept us relatively competitive till a couple of years ago. To say it's 7 years of failure is just plain wrong - the only way you can justify that is if your only measure of success is trophies which is a very simplistic way of assessing things.

Wenger is failing now. Even if we do finish 4th (I still think somehow we will limp in there, everyone else around us is crap too), we're nowhere near the top 3 as a club of our resources should be. But to dismiss his achievements with us and claim it's 7 years of abject failure - right from the moment we last won a trophy - is just irrational.