Match Reaction vs Stoke (away).

[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?

[Niall_Quinn]

Try remembering that the next time the ref makes a decision your unhappy with. Or the next time Sanogo steps on to the pitch. Or when Diaby signs a new contract.

Nobody screams abuse at Sanogo do they? Hopefully not.

Refs are cunts of course.

[Niall_Quinn]

But if the fans try to reduce him to nothing, humiliate him, what can they say about there own legacy?

You said "there"

[fakeyank]

What does his salary have to do with anything though? It doesn't matter if he's earning 8 million or £100 a year, people deserve to be treated with a minimum amount of respect no matter who they are. Nor does spending more money, entitle you to act like a colossal dickhead. Imagine if some thug tried to use that logic stream as a defence in a court case......... "I'm sorry I assaulted that guy but because he's earning 8 million a year and I spent £200 to see him, it should be fine"

I'm with H_C_Z here. I would have understood (though been slightly uncomfortable) with general booing of him & the team at the station but that level of personal abuse and vitriol is bang out of order. He's not child murderer FFS, just a guy who's not performing at his job. I'm sure Wenger's big and experienced to not let it affect him but it makes some of the fans looks like completely morons, not to mention gives the media another excuse to bash our club and we've already given them plenty of reasons to do so this season with our shit performances.

Some people take football way too seriously at times.

I dont know why you and HCZ are focusing on the salary part so much. I never said that his 8 million quid pay entitles him to abuse, what I said was that 8 million quid check should soothe his thick skin. Heck, you give me that money to me and call me a cunt all day long... I'll be just fine!
And I dont get why he cant be booed or called a cunt... we call the refs, opposition players, our own players, teachers, bosses etc cunts everyday. Just because Wenger did something back in the middle ages doesnt mean he cannot even be booed. He is no God (not that there is a God) and to me, he is just another failed manager who needs to fuck off. His past glories has bought him a LOT of time.. and he is way past his welcome now, so if booing and calling him a cunt makes him rethink his ability as a manager, then I am all for it.

And let's not pretend that video was some sort of war crime. It was a video of an unsuccessful manager getting booed while boarding a train. That is normal in football. If you are looking more into it, then its your fault!

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Try remembering that the next time the ref makes a decision your unhappy with. Or the next time Sanogo steps on to the pitch. Or when Diaby signs a new contract.

But I would never in a million years say anything like that towards Diaby or Sanogo. I think both of them like Wenger, have no future at the club however I would never scream similar abuse right in their faces if I saw them across the street. That's just yobbish behaviour.

I didn't like what happened to Eboue and I don't like this now.

You're right in your previous post about mob mentality/tribalism being inherent in football, however I think we should certainly have standards on how we treat one of our own.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Cant agree more. He was booed and told to piss off, so what? You get 8 million quid a year to shield your thick self with that. When we were successful, he got the plaudits outside the stadium... so when he flops so badly, he needs to know the sentiments outside football as well. Some of the people are making this 'abuse' seem like Wenger was kicked in the nuts and shoveled with shit!

This pansy attitude is what got us here in the first place. People need to man the fuck up tbh..

You seriously think those bellends were manning the fuck up?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I'm not sure how treating him in that way is a good thing, the only way I can see it being so for those that desperately want him out are that he make think it's just not worth the abuse but I would deem that particularly unlikely.

However more likely is that this paints the people that think Wenger should go and go now in a particular bad light. It strikes me that the media interpretation of all this is only going to be that wanting Wenger out is unreasonable, irrational and just from those that really can't control themselves. All this does is shows those people as the ones to be ignored and I can't understand how those with legitimate grievances and reasonings for Wenger to go (and there are quite a few of those!) would think this is good.

[Letters]

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?

[Letters]

I see where the disconnect is... you think that many thought that we were NOT crap last year. Despite the fact that we were top of the table, there were a fair few who said we were crap

I don't recall many saying that at this stage last year.
If they had said that it would have been a pretty weird thing to say, we had 35 points at this stage last year. Only one fewer than Chelsea have now, I don't see many people calling them crap.

The slide that Wenger started many years ago was going to go down this path but the quickness of the slide has me surprised.

I don't know what you mean by slide. There really hasn't been one. Had there been a consistent slide we'd have long since been in mid-table or worse.
In fact last season was the culmination of 5 years of incremental improvements (in terms of points at least), it's the sharp decline this year which has baffled me (although not PnG who saw it coming but just didn't tell anyone till now, well done him for definitely predicting it secretly though).
You and HCZ are right about the defence though, that's been a perennial problem which for once seemed to be sorted last year but has now gone back to crap again.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I dont know why you and HCZ are focusing on the salary part so much. I never said that his 8 million quid pay entitles him to abuse, what I said was that 8 million quid check should soothe his thick skin. Heck, you give me that money to me and call me a cunt all day long... I'll be just fine!
And I dont get why he cant be booed or called a cunt... we call the refs, opposition players, our own players, teachers, bosses etc cunts everyday. Just because Wenger did something back in the middle ages doesnt mean he cannot even be booed. He is no God (not that there is a God) and to me, he is just another failed manager who needs tko fuck off. His past glories has bought him a LOT of time.. and he is way past his welcome now, so if booing and calling him a cunt makes him rethink his ability as a manager, then I am all for it.

And let's not pretend that video was some sort of war crime. It was a video of an unsuccessful manager getting booed while boarding a train. That is normal in football. If you are looking more into it, then its your fault!

I don't understand what your failing to come to terms with here, I don't want to question your upbringing because I don't know you but what in the world is acceptable about screaming swear words at someone in public?. It's the behaviour of the oath, It's also the behaviour of the coward because had it been a different or younger manager they'd screamed at that individual might not have been so quick to turn the other cheek....it's easy to shout and swear at someone who is not going to respond.