Quote Originally Posted by Kano View Post
That last paragraph is key to the problem. Financially the club is on the up, which is really the where the crux of the matter remains. Wenger keeps doing the minimum, the board are happy and so it all remains in place. On the other side of the fence you have the Glazers, who are taking far more out of the club, spending a lot more on the team, yet the club remains close to half a billion in debt.

So there's a middle ground in between those two that is the ideal place to exist. But we have to ask, is that possible when we are essentially nothing more than a commercial asset to our owners? Bayern and Barca may look like good models from the outside but they are run in completely different ways, leaving the alternatives of Chelsea, City and PSG who have owners writing off their debts, turning the club into their personal play things.

Fergie was the exception to the rule when it comes to long term managers. The only comparable quality between the Scot and Wenger is their length of period at the club. Everything else, Fergie was head and shoulders above him. There hasn't been and won't be another manager that can stay at a club so long and remain successful. Now it is about 'projects' for both the player and manager. 2-4 years maximum, a slightly extended version of the traditional Spanish and Italian methods we used to laugh at in the 80/90's. It should come as no surprise really given the globalisation of business and sport over the past 15 years.

Will our owners want to sell up once Wenger leaves, as they come to conclusion that their safe house has been blown apart? When they realise a new manager could well mean missing out on CL money/status or spending more to achieve higher goals? Wenger is the perfect face of mediocrity for a big club like ourselves, enabling those upstairs to retain the current model. We all have hope once Wenger leaves that we may get our football team back but the larger and more troubling issues are going to be determined in the boardroom.
I agree but the irony is in your last few words " more troubling issues are going to be determined in the boardroom" - a boardroom so weak, pathetic & unscrupulous that they sit at AGM's & confirm the clubs new financial wealth, committing their efforts to make us a top team again whilst allowing Wenger to ruin any chance of moving upwards from last year with the clubs most pathetic efforts to acquire quality in the transfer window. All this why they ask for more money to watch than any other club in Europe. How can we trust these tossers in the boardroom to make any footballing decisions. One of the reasons Wengers holds so much power is that our main owner couldn't tell you a football from a rugby ball.