Wenger Out?

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think there tends to be less to discuss when things are going reasonably well, i can't imagine what the Bayern Munich forums were like last season


"So we are all agreed, we are pretty f**king awesome?"
"Ja!"

I tend to think if AW is awarded a new contract that this one should contain a clause to say that the offer of an extension will only be forthcoming in the event of winning a trophy.....i don't think he should be allowed to sign on to contract extension after contract extension without winning anything and i tend to think he'd be the first person to agree with that. I wonder if he will see what he is able to win this season before committing to a new contract and if he does win something (even the league or fa cup) than i'd be more than happy for him to stay.

As much as some of his interviews make him seem oblivious to fan opinion i think he knows exactly what the majority of fans think and feel, he is too smart not to....the Ozil signing as well as being a player he liked (what's not to like?) he knew it was something he had to do to keep us onside.
So for the moment at least he has bought himself time, and take away the Villa game which is looking more and more like a statistical anomaly (and i hope that doesn't come back to bite me) considering our injury woes our start to the season has been pretty good and i think he does deserve praise for that.
Starting tonight we have some pretty tricky fixtures leading up to the next lot of internationals and if we remain unbeaten to that point i think that can be seen as a definite plus.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Back to the original theme of the thread, I'm happy enough to keep Wenger on for a bit longer - the man may have his flaws as a tactician, but if he can sell off his best players every summer, and start each season with a bunch of bargain-basement misfits and youth players, and still manage to finish 4th (behind 3 of the richest clubs on the planet), then I have no problem with seeing what he can do each year with a settled squad and serious money to strengthen it with (even if it turns out someone else is forcing him to do the spending). I also think that a lot of the little things we've been grumbling about for years have started to be quietly addressed, so I'm prepared to give him a bit of credit for that too - the coaching team has been refreshed, we seem to be giving a bit more thought to the defensive side of our game now, the attitude of the players looks better, contracts renewals are getting sorted out earlier, the dead wood is steadily being cleared, and big money is starting to be spent on top players. We've even started getting more British players in the squad (for anyone who ever gave much of a toss about that to begin with)! All positive little signs that things are maybe starting to change for the better.

That being said, I'm nowhere near as worried about losing him as I have been over the last 8 years, when everything's been so tight. As a club, we're now in a pretty good position - the academy takes care of itself, we have a new team of executives and suits to take care of the business side of things (although they could still do with another couple of windows to practice transfer negotiations!), and there's large sums of sustainable money coming in each year - so whoever eventually takes over from him really shouldn't have anything to worry about other than training the first team. That really does open up the pool of candidates we can at, and the new revenues give us a bit of a safety net if we make the wrong appointment (we should be able to survive without CL football for a bit if the worst happens now)...

That's about the size of it for me too. I think Wenger would concur with the idea that we can see how he gets on for a little while at least before shoving a new contract in his grill.

[Xhaka Can’t]

United have spent far less than Chelsea & City & still won the league last year. If we hadn't been paying of Stadium debt how much money would we have had less?, can you follow that Logic?

There is a 'correlation' between money and success - that differs from an absolute linkage between the two.

United got the balance right better than us, but that is hardly surprising given they had the best Manager in the history of the English game and weren't side tracked by the biggest capital infrastructure project ever taken on by a football club. Sure things could have - should have gone better with many of the decisions on the playing front - both in terms of tactics and purchases.

With hindsight however, I can't think of another top Manager who would have seen us through this move. But that is not to say he hasn't made some glaring mistakes - mistakes many here feel he should have been held accountable for. Lets be honest here - we were taken to the brink by this parsimonious strategy over the years. That is why our Suarez bid was laughed off. Now that we've signed Ozil - we have demonstrated our intent -no one will be laughing when (if) the next big bid is made. But we need to build on it fast. If we don't, then it is all for nothing other than having a world clas stadium hosting mediocre to good football.

We'll see soon what the true story is, and then it will be time to make an informed judgement. For the first time in many years, I'm hopeful that we have built a solid foundation that otherwise would have been impossible at Highbury.

[I am invisible]

That's about the size of it for me too. I think Wenger would concur with the idea that we can see how he gets on for a little while at least before shoving a new contract in his grill.

In some ways, there's probably a lot less pressure on him now than there has been over the last 8 years, even though he has been more or less untouchable? Sure his neck's on the block now, and he could lose his job if he doesn't perform, but what does that really matter to a multi-millionaire who's close to retirement anyway (and would likely have his pick of any number of other jobs or commentary positions)? I think he'll be feeling that that weight of responsibility [of thinking that the club's future rides on your careful management] has been lifted from his shoulders now, and that all he has to do is play around with the first team, and "spend some f--king money". If it all goes wrong, then so what? One man loses his job, and the club roll on. No serious harm done. It must pale into insignificance compared to what he'd have been fearing could have gone wrong if he'd/we'd (tee hee hee - "he'd weed") f--ked up that period when the stadium build was still under way...

[The Emirates Gallactico]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24295263

"The good thing with me is you don't need a lot of talks to extend the contract I have," he said.

Seems to me that he wants to stay.



Edit - More from his press conference this morning reflecting on Kroenke's interview yesterday

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-arc...roenke-tribute

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-arc...l-an-adventure

Some interesting bits I thought,

"Honestly, I would love to be here forever because that would mean I would be immortal! I'm not naive enough to believe that. What I would like to do as long as I am here is give my best for this club because I love this club of course."

"I don't know [when I will sign a new contract]. When we find time. I don't think that's the most important problem at the moment. It's straightforward and I don't think there's anything more to add to that."

[Marc Overmars]

Happy 17th anniversary to Wenget.

[LDG]

Arsene Wenger

Despite his infuriating tendancies....

There is only one Arsene Wenger.



I would dearly love him to win us the league again. Fuck the cups and everything else. Win the fucking league. Go on. For us, for the players and for him.

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

February 1st.

If he's signed a top class striker then he can happily sign on the dotted line.

Not now. We need to see if he's serious about winning trophies.

[Özim]

What's changed since last month, we won a few games and we made one very good signing. Doesn't deserve a new contract based on that, let's see where we are at the end of the season when the prizes are handed out.

[LDG]

Agreed. I think everybody thinks the same.

Doesn't mean I don't want him to win us something though