A sad day – Wengerball was the reason why I support Arsenal

Wenger’s like will never be seen again by Terry Barry

The main reason I decided to support the Arsenal 20 years ago was because of my huge admiration and love for the sort of football he created – Wengerball.

I managed to rationalise my decision to my fellow South London Charlton supporting friends through my familial links with Woolwich and the old Woolwich Arsenal but the real reason was my love for everything Arsene stood for and his view that football was an entertainment and an art form. The likes of Henry, Bergkamp and Pires weaving their magic thrilled me and inspired me to become a fan and to make these players my heroes.

I think the pressures to get points and win trophies in an immensely competitive environment where winning trophies is increasingly shaped by the massive investment in squads in Manchester, Chelsea and even Liverpool- left Wenger and his philosophy in its wake – he tried but with less than half the investment of United and City and hundreds of millions less than Chelsea and Liverpool, it became increasingly difficult for him to play Wengerball.

I know where my preference lies – I much prefer the way a team plays than the result alone. City and now Liverpool are doing it – playing Wengerball and winning – it’s just sad that Arsene wont have one last chance next season.

For now I’m sad but what memories he has given the world of football. His like will not be seen again. Let’s win the Europa League and give him a great send off.

A very sad Terry Barry.

47 Comments

      1. all of a sudden I feel sad.I love Wenger and his personality. he may not have achieved what the funs wanted but he is a Gentleman.
        I also support this idea—-
        Paul Merson: “They should drop the Emirates bit – they don’t need the money – & name it the Arsène Wenger Stadium. That’s his stadium. He built that. He made that stadium. Even if they call it the Emirates Arsène Wenger Stadium. He deserves to be on that.”

        1. Kenyanfan, now you are getting sentimental. Not even Sir Alex Ferguson has a stadium named after him.

  1. I feel like these articles like this should be in comment section.
    However truly sad and happy day for many Arsenal Fans. I also hope we will give him proper send off with Trophy !!!

  2. Only just heard the news about the an hour ago. Still in shock, but very happy, because the fan base can now unite for the rest of the season, and hopefully help us win the EL.

    I don’t respect Wenger anymore as a manager, and probably more damning, as a person, but I’ll always respect what he did in that first decade. Some the best football I have ever seen, thank you for that Mr Wenger.

    Next item of business, Arsenal should NOT appoint an ex-Arsenal player (especially ex-Wenger player) as our next manager. We need a clean break!

  3. I am very happy that Wenger will move on. Respect to him, he has done a lot at Arsenal, but surely his time was up!

    Next up: please, let the fans fill the stadium and give the man a good send-off..especially for the Madrid game, we should bully those visiting fans and players alike. Gove Wenger the Europa Trophy

  4. Although change was required, I always respected and loved you as a human being and as a legendary manager who changed the premier league. Its a sad day for football as the last loyal manager leaves his club, there will probably never againg be a manager who stays at one club over 10 years.. an ERA ends now as after fergie wenger also stops, you had limitations but you had many strenghts which are unparalleled.. I hope you dont retire and hire at another big club again, to show that you still got it.
    All the best for Arsenal & Arsène

    You could’ve left when RM and PSG came for you. You could’ve left when we had the likes of djorou and chamakh and couldn’t compete financially with anyone, but you stayed. You built the club, stayed loyal and gave us 100%. Now you leave us with aubamayang, mhki, ozil and lacca, likes of ramsey. A good financial standing and a beautiful new stadium. That was all done by you. One Arsene Wenger. End of an era, merci Arsene!

    Arsène “Le Prof” knows best

    1. In my honest opinion. The foundation, the footballing infrastructute is there for the incoming manager to progress.

      All the best to the incoming manager.

  5. Things changed at Arsenal and Wenger became part of the issue.
    The issues started when Arsenals old board got greedy and sold our future for short term gains, they made that pact to not sell to a single foreign owner and now look at us, majority owned by a yank and our other largest investor is Uzbekistan?

    One of the old share holders even moaned about how she wouldn’t have sold her shares to Silent Stan because of PROFIT reasons, not the love of Arsenal.

    Arsenal looked for a DoF and we hired Gazidis, gave him Deins old Title of CEO.
    As soon as that bald git came to us then our transfers changed, instead of buying quality, we bought lots of average players.

    To get the best out of someone then you have to play to their strengths, you wouldn’t ask a GK to play CF… Wenger needed Arsenal to spend on the youths to save us millions in transfers but Arsenal refused to pay what was required for a lot of the upcoming talent and they went to other clubs, this was Wengers strength and it was taken away.

    We all read about how we missed out on this talent or that talent by a few million… Didn’t happen prior to Gazidis on such a scale, heck the last real big spend on a potential before the long painful years was Nasri… Wenger bought him while Gazidis wasn’t with us.

    The environment changed and it didn’t suit Wengers style, it was downhill ever since for the partnership of Wenger and Arsenal.

    1. I agree with a lot of what you say Midkemma. At some point Arsene will write a book and all will be told. Should be an interesting read! My fear now is the board will hire a manager who will have to bow them financially.

      1. Midkemma, running a Premier League club like Arsenal, as with most if not all businesses, requires teamwork from owners, management, staff (coaches) and players. Unfortunately Arsene Wenger’s difficulties corresponded to the change in ownership and the forcing out of David Dein; two major components of the winning team were lost. “victoria concordia crescit”.

  6. Thank you for the memories Arsene,but I believed this was not the time to say goodbye.I was the your defense counsel when many were abusing you,you will always be in my heart ‘tears rolling’ Maybe now we will be winning every game with a new manager

    1. of course we wont. It’s very likely we will struggle immensely at first. But the hope is Arsenal will start heading in a direction that is positive for the future. Wenger had his moments of course, but the quality on the pitch was declining, and we were getting further and further from ever winning the league. I don’t think anybody who wanted Wenger out will expect immediate success. What is important is that the club strives to push itself and not rest on its merits, which is what we were doing for a long time. People pay a ton of money to watch Arsenal and follow them around. There needed to be a consistent effort shown that the club was improving. That was simply not happening.

  7. It is a great day to me. thanks for all to mr. Wenger and i hope the fans can start to get behind the team since this weekend and show respect to the old man. He deserved that, aside he should walk out 8 years ago.

    I have my doubts than liverpool have invest more than us, since they have obtained a lot of money from selling player (suarez, coutinho, etc). So, pls, stop with that money nonsense or a last chance to arsene. He had more than 10 years without EPL, more chances than any coach in a big team.

    PS: pls, dont try the likes of brendan rogers or Luis Enrique. Those will only be used to miss arsene and give him credit. Get a proper coach.

    1. If you look at the stats you will see that it cost the clubs the following amounts to create their squads:

      Manchester City £780M
      Manchester United £725M
      Chelsea £590M
      Liverpool £540M
      Arsenal £364M

      Guardiola spent £448M in his first 19 months in charge of City and has been given £200M to spend this summer.

      Is this a level playing field? In 2016/17 season we were more or less level with City – this season they have raced away from everyone. Is this because Pep is that much a better manager than Arsene or is it something to do with him having a squad that has cost more than twice the cost of Arsenal’s. Can you imagine the sort of squad that Arsene could have created with an extra £370M to spend?

      Always follow the money…when seeking an explanation.

      1. If that is the sole reason then why did Arsenal come second to Leicester? Did they spend more in that season?

        Why are Arsenal hovering above Burnley? Did they spend similar amounts?

        1. We are talking about investments in squads. By and large there is a strong correlation between investment and league position. Leicester were an anomaly – a freak event!

          We beat them 5-1 away that season and 2-1 at home. They had very good players who were bought on the cheap like Vardy, Mahrez, Konte, Drinkwater et al – who were collectively worth hundreds of millions if they had to bought at the end of their freak year. In addition they were not involved in the other 3 competitions that Arsenal were involved in that season which worked very well in their favour.

          Credit to Burnley but they are only involved in one competition – competing in 4 is much more demanding and if they had to do so it would have had a negative impact on their League position.

          Arsenal have competed successfully for over 20 years – what have Leicester and Burnley achieved over this period – apart from Leicester’s one freak season and Burnley’s well earned success this season?

          When it comes to determine the top teams in the EPL – follow the money.

          1. So they had lots of good players but they didn’t cost much

            Well yeah……that was kind of my point……

            1. Like I have given you all the reasons in an attempt to explain to you and even their manager acknowledged it – it was a freak event!

              Are you telling me that the amount a club invests in its squad has no bearing in achievement in the EPL? If so – you had better get on the phone and tell City, United, Chelsea and Liverpool that they’ve got it all wrong!

              1. 5th last season and 6th this season. Explaining that away with money does not compute. You are contradicting yourself on the one hand saying money does matter and then ignoring it when an example is given. It’s not a one off. The closest team to Arsenal will be Burnley. Last year, after united, two positions down was a team that spent no where near as much as Arsenal but got close. The only reason Arsenal weren’t 6th last year is because Mourinho decided to go for the EL.

                So yeah you can say it’s money. But I am stating the actual fact that Arsenal is a rich club on the edge of falling firmly into mid table. We have superstars and highly paid players. To try and explain away failure with money is nonsensical.

          2. arsenal is not david in david vs golliat men…we are a big team…look at the salaries of the likes of ozil. We inves more than liverpool and spurs…and? first 10 years of wenger (actually the good ones) we were competing (financially) only with Utd and liverpool (maybe the last).

            So, ok, i get ur point, but is not all about money, wenger could not do it vs younger and hunger coaches with new ideas and thats a fact, ur defense is weak, in my opinion

            maybe we could look some of wenger with moneyen psg…i hope so, but i think he will not want that risk in his reputation

      2. what i tried to say Terry is, ok Liverpool has spend 540, but how much of that comes from being good in the transfers? getting good money from players who they bought cheaper, like suarez, coutinho, sterling…??
        And im ok with citiehs money and pep investments horrible). But today wenger cant compete with pep even with the best players of the world…because of tactics, knowedge, capacity to motivate players, etc. pepe want to spend 200mm more, but he is looking from getting CL, plus EPL, and being competitive in FA cup, and de league cup. Wenger would spende 100mm or more, just tu fight for the 4 spot and maybe FA cup…it is about hunger

        1. The question you should be asking is why didn’t the Arsenal board commit to matching the investment made by the other title contenders?

          Wenger has performed miracles in trying to overcome this investment deficit with our rivals and sadly chickens have come home to roost as despite his and the players best efforts we have slowly slipped down to table. It’s not rocket science…as Karl Marx said…always follow the money!

          1. “despite his and the players best efforts” … wait, seriously? We’ve seen Wenger’s teams throw in the towel so many times once the going gets tough. Best efforts is nonsense. And Arsenal have had more than enough talent during the years to challenge for the title. Yet we haven’t even challenged or come in touching distance of it for years. And you say follow the money yet ignore Arsenal’s wage bill which has consistently been near the top of the pile.

      3. T. Barry, please explain how Liverpool with less money spent beat Man City three times in four encounters. I think Klopp had something to do with it.

  8. wengerball didn’t win european cups..it got close a good number of years ago.
    lets hope for him and his legacy that he manages to do it as a parting gift.

    I’ve wanted this change for a long time now, and I am so happy it has finally been announced that even our board and owner have seen that his time has come [if in fact it was there decision]. My day could only have got better if it had been announced that Stan too had decided to retire to his ranch..

    New blood, and ideas for the modern game are required to move this club forward and to catch up with and surpass the pack. Lets hope the board see this too and don’t go second rate.

    Now lets bag a top manager and move forward.

  9. AOBs moaning lifestyle has come to an end,but I bet negativity will never end with the arsenal fans Now we can fill our stadium and Cheer the team

  10. @counsel u are the one being negative here, arsenal fans will unite to give wenger a good send forth he deserves, all arsenal fans will finally be united and support our next manager, so stop being negative, wenger is leaving and u have to deal with it and stop being petty

  11. Sad day for me. I have lost the source of material for my stories.

  12. I hope the players play their hearts out the rest of the season and win the Europa league for him, that would be a proper send off, and i wish the board would look at the Napoli and Roma managers, the have way more experience the the like of Viera.

  13. Sad but necessary.
    Arsenal will go on and hopefully for the better

    So stage 1 is happening
    Stage 2 will be the board getting the right manager and coaches
    Stage 3 will be selling and signing players

  14. I just want to say good bye to my fellows here. I’m not a Londoner I live in Asia. The reason I saw myself as an Arsenal fan was because of Wenger, Henry, and the invincibles. Now the last one has left and I’m not delusional to think anyone replacing Wenger can help this club get highest title while Kronke is still there. Football is business now and you must have money to succeed. Leicester won’t happen again in our lifetime.

  15. Question: Arsene Wenger – Answer: The greatest thing to ever happen at Arsenal FC.

  16. Change was need without doubt.
    But great thanks needs to be given to a legend of a manager.
    I want to forget about the recent struggles and just remember the good times.
    Now is the time for the players to show some fight.
    And win the Europa League for him.
    What a send off that would be…

  17. I have a big party this week end …thanks God finally he is leaving….. .long live Arsenal Club!!!
    He was fired ……for ever…

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