Wenger Referendum III - End of Season Poll

[selassie]

I voted Wenger out. I think this is as good as we will get with him in charge, 3rd place finish FA Cup win, job done, we finished behind the dopers so theoretically we have won the league..

It's all been covered on this thread for the reasons to why Wenger should step down and allow someone else to have a go.

[Coney]

Wenger has built us a brand new stadium without us getting into a debt crisis. He was unable to spend big during that period but kept the CL revenue coming in by keeping us in the competition. Now that the money is freed up again, he has spent £40+ and £30+ on two players. It seems clear to me that the reason for him not spending before was to make sure the club finances were in order, unlike other clubs who have gone down the toilet. Now the money is freed up, he is showing that he will spend big if need be.

The squad is now looking a lot better and I am expecting a couple more good buys this summer to beef it up to challenge.

SAF did well as manu manager - there is no doubt about his credentials even if we might not like all of his methods - but he did not have to fund anything. Mourinho got the best part of a billion and surprise won a couple of titles. I would seriously doubt if either of them would have taken the job that Wenger had to do and been as successful as Wenger in keeping the team so high up without the ability to splash out on expensive players.

Now he is showing what he can do, building up a good squad so I think we should back him for at least a couple of seasons. Without the silly amounts of money that Chavs and Citeh have been given, with a couple of players and a fair wind we can challenge for the title next year. Tell me which other managers could have done all of the above and got us to this position - without having the sugar daddy money to spend. I can't think of any.

[Power n Glory]

Wenger has built us a brand new stadium without us getting into a debt crisis. He was unable to spend big during that period but kept the CL revenue coming in by keeping us in the competition. Now that the money is freed up again, he has spent £40+ and £30+ on two players. It seems clear to me that the reason for him not spending before was to make sure the club finances were in order, unlike other clubs who have gone down the toilet. Now the money is freed up, he is showing that he will spend big if need be.

The squad is now looking a lot better and I am expecting a couple more good buys this summer to beef it up to challenge.

SAF did well as manu manager - there is no doubt about his credentials even if we might not like all of his methods - but he did not have to fund anything. Mourinho got the best part of a billion and surprise won a couple of titles. I would seriously doubt if either of them would have taken the job that Wenger had to do and been as successful as Wenger in keeping the team so high up without the ability to splash out on expensive players.

Now he is showing what he can do, building up a good squad so I think we should back him for at least a couple of seasons. Without the silly amounts of money that Chavs and Citeh have been given, with a couple of players and a fair wind we can challenge for the title next year. Tell me which other managers could have done all of the above and got us to this position - without having the sugar daddy money to spend. I can't think of any.

I'm not. Besides a new keeper I think we'll be looking at internal solutions.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger has built us a brand new stadium without us getting into a debt crisis. He was unable to spend big during that period but kept the CL revenue coming in by keeping us in the competition. Now that the money is freed up again, he has spent £40+ and £30+ on two players. It seems clear to me that the reason for him not spending before was to make sure the club finances were in order, unlike other clubs who have gone down the toilet. Now the money is freed up, he is showing that he will spend big if need be.

The squad is now looking a lot better and I am expecting a couple more good buys this summer to beef it up to challenge.

SAF did well as manu manager - there is no doubt about his credentials even if we might not like all of his methods - but he did not have to fund anything. Mourinho got the best part of a billion and surprise won a couple of titles. I would seriously doubt if either of them would have taken the job that Wenger had to do and been as successful as Wenger in keeping the team so high up without the ability to splash out on expensive players.

Now he is showing what he can do, building up a good squad so I think we should back him for at least a couple of seasons. Without the silly amounts of money that Chavs and Citeh have been given, with a couple of players and a fair wind we can challenge for the title next year. Tell me which other managers could have done all of the above and got us to this position - without having the sugar daddy money to spend. I can't think of any.

It seems a fair argument on the surface until you look back at the way we closed out the season, with the £30mill and £40mill players on the pitch. We didn't push all the way to the finish line and that's a true indicator of where we are with Wenger. All of those financial things you mention can't and shouldn't be denied. You are probably right regarding Maureen, he wouldn't have taken on the challenge. Ferguson went out with a title won by probably his weakest squad ever, finishing above both dopers in the process. Wenger has done an excellent job in terms of keeping the finances rolling in. In terms of what has happened on the pitch he's been second best almost every time it has really mattered.

[Letters]

It seems a fair argument on the surface until you look back at the way we closed out the season, with the £30mill and £40mill players on the pitch.

Looked pretty good to me.

[Niall_Quinn]

Looked pretty good to me.

Yes we already know you think the FA Cup is in some way significant.

[Letters]

How many turned up for the parade? Enough that it seems I'm not alone in thinking that

[Niall_Quinn]

How many turned up for the parade? Enough that it seems I'm not alone in thinking that

What does this have to do with anything?

Should Wenger stay or go? Can we win a title or compete in Europe with him in charge? Has he taken us as far as he can take us? Do we need a new manager to take us up a level? These are the questions. But it appears you believe they can be dismissed because fans celebrated winning the FA Cup? Explain please.

[Letters]

I'm not dismissing anything. You feel the end of the season was disappointing. I disagree. The fact is we pushed Chelsea as hard as we could (from afar, they were always, realistically, out of reach after our poor start). The first really poor result we had was Swansea at home - that only happened after the title had gone. Till then we'd pushed hard.
Where I think we differ is you see that slump/taking our eye off the ball as a sign of the same old failings. You see us slipping back below City as significant.
I completely disagree. This sort of thing happens to every team in every sport - Chelsea got spanked by West Brom of all people after they'd won the title. We did enough to show City we were a threat, I don't care about finishing a few points above or below them - unless it's the difference between 1st and 2nd obsessing about finishing above a certain side is Spurs level thinking. When the title was gone the FA Cup should have been a priority. We did enough to finish 3rd thus ensuring automatic CL qualification, I was a little concerned about a lack of momentum but we picked up in the last league game of the season and you cannot argue with our performance in the Cup Final.

I do see the 2 Cups as significant. For years people were saying we'd never win a trophy under Wenger again (after the Birmingham debacle I was one of them). For years people have been saying that this is the season we'll finish outside the top 4. Now people are saying Wenger will win us another title. He has repeatedly proved us wrong before, why not now?

The new financial details have shown a clear change in the callibre of player we're signing - it shows the stuff about Wenger refusing to spend money was nonsense, he may have been a little over-cautious but he is someone who will never put us in long term financial trouble for short term gain. The new level of players we're signing are making a difference, it's already started to bring trophies, we're very close to a side who can seriously challenge for a title. Can Wenger deliver it? He's done it before so sure, why not now he's got the resources to challenge the dopers.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

I do find myself siding with Letters here, at the time I was incredibly disappointed that we failed to finish above city, but looking back from afar (well five weeks) I consider it largely insignificant.

As I've previously said we are in the same boat with Wenger as City and United are in with Pellegrini and Van Gaal....all managers of the same standard/ability who in many respects are dinosaurs. And especially in the case of Wenger and Van Gaal are very stubborn, entrenched figures.

As far as I am concerned we won't win the title with our current squad, but add a holding midfielder and a striker and I believe we can....so really it's up to what Wenger is willing to do in the transfer market.
The fact that we have brought in Cech suggests that he is willing to be more ruthless in pursuit of a major trophy.

And our more pragmatic approach to teams like city, United etc also suggests we won't be so naive when it comes to the big sides, I also think the FA cup final was largely a result of good preparation.....so definite positives.

Put it this way compared with six months ago I am not anxious about him being with us till 2017.