Wenger Reprieve?

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

Interesting take...

I suppose the only question to ask is why SAF decided to call it a day. By all accounts, just a week ago he gave the impression that he was staying on for at least a bit. Was it something in the boardroom that changed things? By contrast, its difficult to see anything at boardroom level inducing AW to go.

I wonder whether Wenger will spend big (by his standards) and give it one last go - leaving at the end of his contract if things don't workout. like I say, I'm not sure I want him to do so, but the new commercial deals may induce him to.

good question. i think the challenge was always to regain the title from city and end on a high. i think deep down he knew this was his last season, hence why the statue went up last summer, they named the stand after him last summer etc. and hence why he went fucking mental after losing to madrid because of that ridiculous red card for nani. he would have loved the european cup this season, he knew this was going to be the last hurrah. also reveals why he wanted the record points total so much, what best way than to leave out on top? also his health has deteriorated.

people say the timing of the announcement was bizarre but it wasnt. he called it before their last home game of the season, that way he gets to say a proper goodbye to the crowd at old trafford instead of some crappy testimonial he would have had to manage over the summer to say bye. if their last game of the season was at home he would have probably announced it a week later to coincide with that.

i also wonder how much moyes knew of this. he was always calm when asked about his future and im sure if the united board knew last summer/xmas time that fergie planned on retiring, they would have had a word in the upcoming manager's ear. what surprises me is that pep would have probably known about this but still went to bayern. didnt fergie and pep have dinner together in new york a few months back? im sure fergie would have let him known about his plans but pep still chose germany. weird.

dont underestimate the diverging path united may go on. they could kickstart a new era or with scholes and giggs (?) retiring, fergie gone, and wazza out the door, they could go downhill. that squad will be bang average. major upheaval too.

all these years of success.. after the feast comes the famine

[Japan Shaking All Over]

Regardless of whether we think Arsene should be given a "reprieve" he is going to get one anyway, he is here until 2014 no matter what happens.
My feelings regarding this is that i believe that in Steve Bould we have someone who has made us defensively strong....and couple that with the possible acquisition of a defensive jmidfield and some creative players and a reliable goal scorer that should give us at least a solid footing on which to be competitive.
I find Wenger very frustrating but i still like and respect the man and it would take a lot to change that, and i think there is a general lack of respect shown towards him by members of this board and that is their choice but despite sometimes feeling that i could cheerfully throttle him i think if we finish in the top four coupled with finishing third last season it is an amazing achievement with a very average group of players and one that the Arsenal hating media will never for a second acknowledge.
My fondest hope is that Wenger wins silverware before he does go, because i think he deserves it....i question his decision making a lot but i would never question his desire or his passion for this club

I think by reprieve I meant a little less hate. Wenger needs an excellent summer transfer window. Although we havent replaced RvPs quality, we have seen goals and they have been spread around

[Niall_Quinn]

We won't get an excellent summer transfer window. There is zero chance of it happening, no chance whatsoever, it is impossible. The agenda of the current owners is not to win trophies or compete on the pitch, it is to compete at the very top of the financial game. They are doing this very well and are winning year after year. If Wenger delivers for them yet again by securing another CL pay day then they will be on track and there will be no need to overachieve. Where's the profit in over-achievement? It is not financially prudent or efficient and will push an exit strategy (which all good investment plans should have) further away. So forget about excellent summer transfer windows from your perspective as a fan. The transfer window will be excellent by a different standard and if Wenger manages to make a profit again he really needs to be acknowledged as a miracle worker. Anyone who needs reassurance on these realities should look back over the past 8 years and examine the late surges, the pre-window speculation, the dead zone that follows and finally (when the window closes) the promises that next year will be the year.

Step in front of a bus, get run over. Step in front of a bus, get run over. Step in front of a bus, get run over. Question. What happens when you step in front of a bus? Answer. We have a £70million war chest, woo-hoo!

So Wenger needs no reprieve. He's the undisputed master of what he has been asked to do. Reprieve from what? What are the fans going to do about any of this? Nothing. The game has moved on from needing the solid core of fans that held football at the heart of their communities. football is a consumer item now. If you don't pick it off the shelf somebody else will. How much do you affect Nike by boycotting their trainers? This is the power of marketing and what has been the stated aim of the current gang at Arsenal? An aim they do not hide but in fact boast about every year?

The problem with Wenger is he thinks he knows much more about the modern game than you. A further problem is he is undoubtedly correct. It's just we don't like the modern game much but that's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

The same applies to Utd. I doubt their marketing potential will be affected at all by the departure of Ferguson. Half the reports yesterday concerned a stock exchange in the USA. Are you getting that? Their fans will be gutted if they have a period where success on the pitch goes into decline. But they'll be ignoring the big picture, success will still flow where it really counts. The dollars will continue to tumble in. David Fucking Moyes? Why not? He'll do what he's told. He's been auditioning for this role for a long time. Loyalty, experience of how the domestic game works, no trophies required. Could they make it any more obvious. Finally Utd are catching up with Arsenal. Well done. The fans won't like it but what are they going to do? Set up another Manchester Utd? Wear black? As Bill Hicks used to observe, hey, the angry anti-marketing segment, strong growth, good opportunities for top dollar earnings. Bill Hicks also used to encourage all marketers to do the world a huge favour and kill themselves. He's dead now, smoked too many of their cigarettes I think.

[fakeyank]

AW needs to be shown the door

Need a new manager in. I wont trust him to do anything even half decent with the squad!

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I think by reprieve I meant a little less hate. Wenger needs an excellent summer transfer window. Although we havent replaced RvPs quality, we have seen goals and they have been spread around

Spread about in what sense?....on one hand we have four or five different players scoring our goals as opposed to just one but on the other hand we are not spreading our goal scoring about on a consistent basis. We have played 36 league games this season and in only 15 of those games have we managed to score more than one goal.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

We won't get an excellent summer transfer window. There is zero chance of it happening, no chance whatsoever, it is impossible. The agenda of the current owners is not to win trophies or compete on the pitch, it is to compete at the very top of the financial game. They are doing this very well and are winning year after year. If Wenger delivers for them yet again by securing another CL pay day then they will be on track and there will be no need to overachieve. Where's the profit in over-achievement? It is not financially prudent or efficient and will push an exit strategy (which all good investment plans should have) further away. So forget about excellent summer transfer windows from your perspective as a fan. The transfer window will be excellent by a different standard and if Wenger manages to make a profit again he really needs to be acknowledged as a miracle worker. Anyone who needs reassurance on these realities should look back over the past 8 years and examine the late surges, the pre-window speculation, the dead zone that follows and finally (when the window closes) the promises that next year will be the year.

Step in front of a bus, get run over. Step in front of a bus, get run over. Step in front of a bus, get run over. Question. What happens when you step in front of a bus? Answer. We have a £70million war chest, woo-hoo!

So Wenger needs no reprieve. He's the undisputed master of what he has been asked to do. Reprieve from what? What are the fans going to do about any of this? Nothing. The game has moved on from needing the solid core of fans that held football at the heart of their communities. football is a consumer item now. If you don't pick it off the shelf somebody else will. How much do you affect Nike by boycotting their trainers? This is the power of marketing and what has been the stated aim of the current gang at Arsenal? An aim they do not hide but in fact boast about every year?

The problem with Wenger is he thinks he knows much more about the modern game than you. A further problem is he is undoubtedly correct. It's just we don't like the modern game much but that's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

The same applies to Utd. I doubt their marketing potential will be affected at all by the departure of Ferguson. Half the reports yesterday concerned a stock exchange in the USA. Are you getting that? Their fans will be gutted if they have a period where success on the pitch goes into decline. But they'll be ignoring the big picture, success will still flow where it really counts. The dollars will continue to tumble in. David Fucking Moyes? Why not? He'll do what he's told. He's been auditioning for this role for a long time. Loyalty, experience of how the domestic game works, no trophies required. Could they make it any more obvious. Finally Utd are catching up with Arsenal. Well done. The fans won't like it but what are they going to do? Set up another Manchester Utd? Wear black? As Bill Hicks used to observe, hey, the angry anti-marketing segment, strong growth, good opportunities for top dollar earnings. Bill Hicks also used to encourage all marketers to do the world a huge favour and kill themselves. He's dead now, smoked too many of their cigarettes I think.

To be fair if they were interested in marketing us to our full potential they'd not have waited long before now to cut big commercial deals. I think your mistaking incompetence with malign intent, these lot were so much in Wenger's thrall that it's only in the last two years they have insisted on pre-season games in the Far East because Wengy chops insisted on a more small scale affair.
And in Gazidis you have the Artie Pescano of chief executives a man who could and probably has managed to fuck up a cup of coffee, and only has his job because it makes Wenger unsackable.

[selassie]

And in Gazidis you have the Artie Pescano of chief executives a man who could and probably has managed to fuck up a cup of coffee, and only has his job because it makes Wenger unsackable.

Yep, mind you didn't Wenger appoint Gazidis? You really couldn't make this shit up, he actually hired his own boss.

[Dicks and chicks]

It's a really difficult one. One again it looks like we'll limp over the line into the top 4 and to be fair to Wenger he sold RvP, bought two players who are OK but nowhere near in the same league and yet we're still on course for a higher points tally than last year. I don't know how he does it.

same, it really baffles me how he does it, on paper we don't look like a top 4 side when you look at our defence and especially our strike force, players like giroud are genuinely awful but even he manages 10 plus goals in his first year in the EPL. Either the premier league is overrated or wenger is a genius. i genuinely want him to stay for as long as possible, I don't think there is anyone who can do what he does on such a profit. I don't really care about trophies, what we are doing atm is good in the long term, look at a club like liverpool who have splashed millions for an 8th place finish whilst being a one man team, surely they must have big debts now as a result.

[IBK]

Spread about in what sense?....on one hand we have four or five different players scoring our goals as opposed to just one but on the other hand we are not spreading our goal scoring about on a consistent basis. We have played 36 league games this season and in only 15 of those games have we managed to score more than one goal.

I dunno. haven't Giroud, Podolski and Carzola scored the goals that RVP did. Ans none of them were here last season? Having said that, we have suffered from not having someone who can win games on his own, as RVP did.

[IBK]

same, it really baffles me how he does it, on paper we don't look like a top 4 side when you look at our defence and especially our strike force, players like giroud are genuinely awful but even he manages 10 plus goals in his first year in the EPL. Either the premier league is overrated or wenger is a genius. i genuinely want him to stay for as long as possible, I don't think there is anyone who can do what he does on such a profit. I don't really care about trophies, what we are doing atm is good in the long term, look at a club like liverpool who have splashed millions for an 8th place finish whilst being a one man team, surely they must have big debts now as a result.

Reckon that if we finish top 4, we are a top 4 side. Albeit in a season where the competition have all lacked quality.