Quote Originally Posted by Letters View Post
He didn't create the top 4 trophy, UEFA did that by expanding the CL so that the top 4 qualify and making the prizes for doing so large enough that it becomes every top half of the table team's ambition.
Wenger didn't create that situation but he does benefit from it as it means failure to land the biggest prizes still carries big financial rewards and that keeps his bosses happy.
The failure to mount serious title challenges is not bad luck, he's just not able to properly compete.
In the current climate we will never be able to outspend City, Utd or Chelsea so I don't believe any manager will have us sweeping all before us on a consistent basis but we should be getting a lot closer in the league and our European record under Wenger is indefensible. Change, we need. But I think that change needs to happen at board level as well as management level ideally.
UEFA created the top 4 qualifying spots. Wenger turned qualification into a trophy.

"The first trophy is to finish in the top four, and that's still possible. I believe finishing fourth is vital for us, so let's focus on that."

Of course, if you focus on winning the title then top 4 is a given, rather than a trophy in and of itself. Wenger couldn't be clearer about where his priorities lie. Okay, maybe he does have ambition beyond his own position. His ambition is to be second best, in fact 4th best will do. His ambition is to be a loser. Over the years he's trained the board, the players, the fans to accept and even glorify second best and second rate. That's why players like Sanogo can take to the pitch in our shirt. Second rate in terms of ambition for the club (except the finances where we are always world class), second rate in terms of the team, always short (literally these days), always "nearly" doing shit, always failing when it really matters. Even the FA Cup, sure, that's a trophy. Not THE trophy though. It's the also-rans consolation prize. The pinnacle for the second tier - at least when the genuine contenders don't hoover it up on their way to the main prize.

These are just the facts. We are world class when it comes to raking in the cash. Second rate at everything else. And Wenger is proud of it, he boasts about it. What a loser.