65? Arsene Wenger won’t be retiring any time soon!

If you take a quick look at the managers around in English Premier League, you will find that the Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is in a different league of his own. Wenger has managed more matches at Arsenal than the combined total of games of all his Premier League rivals at their current clubs.
It also makes you wonder how long it will be before he bids adieu. There will be all sorts of questions – will this be his last season, does he want to win another Premier League title before bidding goodbye or is he planning for next season too?

Not surprisingly, the 65-year-old is perennially asked about following the path of his old foe Sir Alex Ferguson. Wenger has admitted that the thought of retirement and the idea of walking into the sunset makes him panic. The coming season would be his 20th year in charge of the Gunners.

Most of his initial time was scattered with intriguing duels on-and-off the pitch with Sir Alex Ferguson. And when Fergie retired in 2013 after 27 years at the helm with Manchester United, there was only one question. When will Wenger follow him into a life away from the game?

Wenger said that retirement crosses his mind sometimes but it is for no longer than five seconds. And when Fergie’s choice is discussed, Wenger said that Fergie has time away from the pitch to spend with his horses and also travel around to matches whereas Le Prof has no life outside of Arsenal…

There actually is no dearth of enthusiasm for Wenger to carry on for another season; and may be for more seasons to come. Wenger is correct when he says that football is new every day. There are new clubs that are warming up to the challenge of fighting for trophies. When he started at Arsenal, Wenger had to fight only with United and Fergie.

And in the past five years of so, Wenger has seen the resurgence of Chelsea and Manchester City – albeit assisted with the money bags. He has also seen Liverpool fizzle out and trying its best to come back into contention this season. Wenger will love to add another Premier League trophy to his cabinet and has shown his hunger by adding Petr Cech to his perennial problematic position. Expect him to fine tune the squad further before the season starts.

And yes, do not expect him to walk away before another domestic League title.

Sridhar

Tags Ferguson Wenger

20 Comments

  1. As long god gives him the strength to manage the gunners, dont see why he should walk away anytime soon, unless he makes up his mind to call it a day! Coyg!

    1. God? You don’t really believe that after all the atrocities occurring in the world in the name of religion?

      If he is to be given strength it is most likely from what, he drinks and eats and the financial clout awarded to him by his bosses, not from some old fairy tale that has never existed.

      1. Why do you care if he believes or not? Maybe your trying to look intelligent by criticizing others beliefs, but you are no different than the same people who put down other beliefs or those with out one . I assume we all are Arsenal supporters here, so try to see what we have in common and not our differences.

      2. “If god gives him the strength” is a very common EXPRESSION – not necessarily a declaration of religious beliefs. Lighten Up.

  2. Lacazette couldnt make a note against the gunners, and to rub salt in the wound looked pretty mediocre and overated!

    1. Wouldn’t read too much into it. He barely had a touch all game. We completely dominated the midfield. You can have Lionel Messi up front, but he can’t really do anything if you don’t give him the ball… Not to mention it was a preseason friendly and he wasn’t fit. I’m not a Lacazette fanboy, but it’s a little unfair to judge him on that game.

    2. No striker in the world could look good with that kind of support. Did you see Messi in the world cup knockout games when he was not getting service? He was nothing. This revealed nothing pro or con about Mr. Lacazette.

  3. Wouldn’t read too much Ito Wenger’s comments about signing a striker today. His intent was clear to me. He said we are open to it ‘but we are not desperate’. So basically he’s trying to shake off the £200m shackle Lord Harris put on us. I’m relieved that Lord Harris gave that interview and set the record straight because we were all quite worried, but that doesn’t change the fact that if you tell someone you have a lot of money, they’ll charge you a higher price for whatever you want to buy.

    Wenger is a smart businessman, he knows this. That’s why he always denies that we have a lot of money in the bank. He admits that we are much more stable financially, but he doesn’t say how much we have. Saying ‘we are not desperate’ for a striker is just a part of this. Don’t make any mistake, Arsene Wenger is furious that Lord Harris revealed we’re after a striker. Wenger never reveals what he wants. If you’re selling something that you know someone really wants, you’re going to charge a higher price, because you know they’ll still be willing to pay. Arsene therefore tries to create an image of Arsenal not being too fussed about signing players, that we’re willing to walk away if the price is too high, so that we don’t get ripped off.

    The situation with a centre back in January was a little different, because Wenger had to come out and say we needed a centre back to appease the fans. Don’t forget there was a huge ‘Wenger-out’ backlash from not signing a centre back in the first place. Plus everyone knew we needed a centre back anyways, there was no point lying.

  4. Although yesterday’s performance was great, I still think Wenger needs to buy a striker.
    Glad to see Arteta back on the field. And debouchy looks good on the away kit.

  5. By all means, if Wenger at least delivers the EPL again he should go on for another 5 years. If he delivers the EPL and/or the CL next season…even better, he can go on for 10 years. Hell, until he is 100 if he wants. That’s how Wenger can convert me. Not a critical word about him I will have after that. If he can make us be feared and taken seriously again he has my vote of confidence.

    If by chance (i’m trying to be optimistic that we can win the EPL) he doesn’t win the EPL or CL this coming season, I think it will be good for his legacy that he steps down. At least, he would have left the club in a good financial position like he said he would.

  6. Man U beat Barcelona
    so clearly man U
    are the best team in Europe 🙂
    Barca are a spent force 🙂
    Rooney 2nd best striker
    after Courtois who won the game for Chelsea 🙂
    Preseason jollies 🙂

  7. Let us not get carried away by pre season results. It means jack shit, just good for confidence and is a good preparation. LVG summed it up perfectly after todays match, he said it doesnt matter whether you win or lose , the real challenge starts from AUg 8th. I hope wenger and our boys dont go complacent.

    1. You are sooooooo right. Pre-season in most sports and most leagues means almost nothing. Every manager approaches the game very differently and not necessarily with the idea of winning the game as a top priority. It is a fool’s game for fans and pundits to draw too many overarching conclusions about the team as a whole.

    2. It’s not getting carried away to say we looked damn good. You’re completely right, confidence and preparation. These sorts of thing do not mean jack-shit. How are you supposed to gain confidence through a loss? How well prepared are you if you’re losing to mediocre teams?
      I’m not suggesting you’re one of them, but in a lot of the cases it’s the same fans who say ‘oh, it was just a pre-season game’ if we win, but if it’s a loss would be calling for Wenger’s head and the doomsday parade would be out in a full swing.
      Or say it means nothing, but then openly criticize players they deem not good enough if they miss a chance who will then put it down to a pre-season run-around if they’d banged in a hat-trick.

      1. You are right. Arsenal looked very good. I am very optimistic. However ………

        Sanogo looked very good in his 4 goal performance last year in the Emerites Cup. So….. reserving final judgement is also very wise.

  8. AKB or AOB but we have to give him that he has been really loyal through the years we have been financial restricted if you think the status he has as manager. I think he will extend his contract.

    Which long term manger do you guys think would suit The Arsenal style and philosophy after Wenger?
    I have thought about this before and I think Joachim loew would be a good successor to Wenger.
    Just think about it. Playing attractive football, possession based, switching up to counter attack and developing players. He has it all and only downside is that he has not much club experience.

    I know many people would pick Klopp, but he can be very predictable with his style and the opposite of possession based football. Think about it, we don’t have the high level energy players who suits he style. Only Ramsey, Sanchez and Welbeck? You guys remember when we beat dortmund last time we met? ( I know they didn’t have the best season) but we sat deep they couldn’t counter and he was clueless.

  9. And I would love to have Bergkamp as assistant manger/coaching staff. He already has the experience from Ajax and has stated that he we would like to come to Arsenal in some way. Non flying dutchman but we will find a way for him.

  10. Like it or hate it wenger has the funds to create a winning squad if he does not win either prem or cl before the end of his contract then I think is fair for all the fans who are tired of the same thing season in and season out that wenger retires and let new manager come in. If a new manager brings greater success or worse I will still support arsenal but the truth is this club needs change.

  11. His argument is we are progressing and poised for titles so If we don’t finish in top 2 and reach cl semis he should if he is a decent person admit he can’t take arsenal further and leave … Sadly he says the same thing every year we fall short and he and his delusional fan base say next year will be different … The reaction to ydays result plus the absurdity of making the whippet our highest paid player tells me we are in for a difficult season …. But there is still a month to go in transfer window so talk of reus benzema moutino griezman cavalho and 200m should keep us stringing along til then at least

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