Did Wenger jump or did the Arsenal Board push him?

However you look at it, this season has been Arsenal’s worst ever in the 22 years of Arsene Wenger’s reign as manager, but there were very few people that would have thought that Stan Kroenke and the Board would have disrespected Le Prof by not letting him run out his contract until the end of next season.

Wenger himself has always maintained that he would never walk away from a contract, so that would make it appear that the Frenchman has really been forced out by the Arsenal hierarchy despite the glowing tributes from Gazidis and Kroenke. Ian Wright certainly thinks so. “Arsene Wenger is a man of principle, honesty and integrity – that is why I am convinced he has been sacked and not resigned,” Wright told The Sun.

“For all the vitriol and abuse thrown at him, Arsene has never been a man to walk out before the end of a contract.

“It is a sad situation that it’s come to this and I don’t suppose we will ever find out who is responsible, because they will hide behind each other.

“One day he is doing a news conference with no hint of this, the next he’s gone. It doesn’t add up.

“But Arsene can go with his head high. That’s why, whatever the results, it is imperative he gets the send-off a true Arsenal and football legend deserves. We all owe him so much.”

What I personally think is that Wenger persuaded the Board to give him one more year to prove that he could get the Gunners back into the Top Four, but was given a two year contract publicly to stop the endless protests that he endured last season, but with the proviso that he stood down if he didn’t make that goal.

So I don’t believe he was sacked, but the agreement was reached last summer with certain goals.

What do you think?

Admin

37 Comments

  1. He resigned just before he was about to be sacked.

  2. Brendan Rodgers will be a good choice,we hated him when he was not on our side,but you can’t deny that he is a quality manager.He finished unbeaten in Scotland and he has built a strong team with good players some who can walk straight in the arsenal starting 11.Read that Guzidis wants brenda

    1. So maybe Brendan Rodgers has found his mojo back?

      I can’t imagine him facing Guardiola, Mourinho, Pochettino and Klopp

      Building an Invincible team in Scotland is great, but I’m not sure his system can be applied in Premier League

      1. No!!! to Rogers and Tuchel.
        Allegri – Simeone – Sarri – Zidane, in that order for me. But those are the best options unless we can pull another Arsene Wenger out from a hat.

        1. Please God no Simone. I respect him, but I don’t think I could watch defensive football like AM

    2. Are you having a laugh? the SPL bears no similarity to EPL as there is no real competition inthat league.We deserve better than Brendan Rogers someone who has a winning mentality and who has a habit of winning the big important trophies not the SPL which is not an important trophy.
      Bring on Tuchel.

    3. Oh come on Celtic always win the league…. I don’t think Brenda has done anything special….. and I will be absolutely gutted if he becomes our next manager

    4. The day that self-absorbed @rsewipe Rogers gets hired as the Arsenal Manager is the day my 48 years as an Arsenal fan stops.

  3. That makes sense, @Admin. The manager plays a big role in a football club’s success and failures

    Tuchel only wins a DFB Pokal in his entire career, but he is better than nothing. Wanna see Arsenal take higher risk by hiring the experimental Enrique or the old Pellegrini

  4. Not sure what people have against Enrique ? He made barca b and celta much better teams … Had one bad season with Roma but gave him experience of another league … And 2 brilliant years with barca … Still young and hungry …. Way better than ancellotti or low … Forget Rogers … Allegri might be better but don’t like the juve style personally .. The German off to psg … So he should be up there as a top pick for me … Would need resources though to play barca style which could be issue

    1. He could instill Barcelona philosophy into Arsenal and has definitely learned a lot at Barcelona. But he likes to do weird experiments (with various results) and he purchased several flops (Andre Gomes, Paco Alcacer, Denis Suarez, Arda Turan, etc)

      Like Wenger’s stubbornness with Xhaka, Enrique also insisted on using Andre Gomes as a starter, despite the player does not have enough abilities to keep up with Messi, Iniesta and Busquets. Having said that, I would like to see him at Arsenal, because his team played with a very entertaining football style

      1. Personally, I’d like to see Arsenal give up on being “Barcelona Lite”. Idk if he can make our defense any better either. He wants a lot of money and I think there are better managers available besides for him.

  5. It’s a nice sacking shall we say. He definitely knew he was getting the sack in the summer, and has actually made a great decision by announcing it now, because it will hopefully unite the fan-base, and galvanise the players for the rest of the EL campaign. I do not like Wenger anymore, but I would love to see him win the EL, and go out on a high!

  6. Sacked of course. He’d never walk on his own. Shocked the board finally pulled the plug because I had them pegged as spineless, which they still are for not doing it way earlier. Now I hope we get Allegri in.

  7. Admin I agree that your summation makes sense. We don’t know what the terms of Arsene Wenger’s current two year contract are. As you surmise there may have been performance goals to be met in the first season, in order to trigger an option for completion of the second year.
    Arsene Wenger may have announced his resignation, knowing that the CEO was not going to activate the option for the second year.

  8. I just wish to say this: What does it matter now, HOW the decision was reached. I have my own views but do not propose to give them publicly as that is now irrelevant and backward looking. We ALL should look forward and think ahead. By all means learn from past mistakes; only fools do NOT try to do that. But recriminations are for small minded folk. We are bigger and better than that! Let us look ahead, not back. PLEASE!

    1. I hope we don’t forget about history and end up making the same mistakes, I would say it matters for our hope in the future.

      IF it was Wenger stepping down then would you trust Gazidis to sack the next manager if they was doing poorly in the EPL but making fat stacks of cash?

      IF it was Gazidis then we can have faith the next manager will have to be ambitious and not an accountant.

      Not saying we shouldn’t look forward, the reasoning why if forward thinking 🙂

      Just saying we can learn from our past and hopefully not make the same mistakes again, I am so glad Wenger announced he is leaving for not only sporting reasons but as you highlighted in another post, for the supporters to heal and unite again. I feel that was a mistake and we can learn from it. We should learn from it for the sake of AFC.

      Not saying we should focus on the past either 🙂 It is balance.

  9. What’s the point of looking for new managers ? The A.K.B.’s have always insisted that there is no-one else who could do a better job for Arsenal than Wenger. So I guess that’s it then. Arsenal is finished. We’re doomed to frustration mediocrity and decline. Oh wait…that’s exactly what we’ve been going through for the last decade.

    I’ve ordered a crate of Dom Perignon. Pop the corks, it’s time to celebrate. At last the decision that should have been made eight years ago has happened. Those who have preferred stagnation and opposed much needed change will now have to face it – it had to happen one day. A new manager brings hope and optimism for better things.

    The club needs a good shake up. We don’t need stability or “a steadying of the ship”, we need rejuvenation, a revolution of ideas. There are plenty of managers out there who can do that for us.

    The Arsenal I love is back, and I can support it with pride and enthusiasm once again. It feels really good to be able to say that.

  10. I am so envious of other clubs atmosphere, I hope the next manager will bring out the best out of Emirates Stadium, I think we should bring in professional song writers to come up with one or two new songs ( expl= you’ll never walk alone, I’m for ever blowing bubbles) where everyone can join in to try and bring the dead back from beyond

    1. Was talking about that with a buddy this morning. Our place even at the best of times comes up short. He reckons that the championship have thirty something thou seaters that have a better atmosphere on a weekly basis than ours does usually. I couldn’t really argue the point, I wanted to but he was right.

      Liv’s is something to envy.
      Hate admitting this, but Tott’s is vibrant enough place too.
      And am starting to worry that when they move
      we will look pathetic compared with it.
      Celtic’s is like that too but they don’t have the money for it to make a difference in Europe. If the PL did allow Celtic and Rangers to join in, that would be very bad news for us. That’s why Scottish teams aren’t getting the same treatment as the Welsh got, because the top clubs in England know that they’ll (Rangers/Celtic) will almost immediately start rivaling the top teams in UK because of the fan base they bring.
      If the protesters cared half as much about this stuff as they do about Arsenal competing, am sure they could come up with some improvements. I’d like to see them tackle this problem, if they did, even only the effort of trying, properly, I would give them massive respect and I might even change a few of my views on some of those AFTV guys. The gauntlet is down -Are they gonna pick it up???

      1. Break-on-through. The main problem at Emirates is that we have a lot of tickets sold to tourists who come to London and to experience PL game like going to the theatre, they mainly come to our stadium because of Arsenals great history we are also almost center of town and we have a great modern stedium, that’s why I was suggesting that we have new songs that everyone can sing even the tourists to get the atmosphere going

        lol lets use some of ABBA,s songs like Money Money Money

        Auba Auba Auba in the best team in the world aha haha ha in the best team in the world

        Sory I have a soar throught today ???

        1. Tas, I agree about the tourists. Also the the ticket prices now have made regular attendance by many of the old traditional supporters cost prohibitive. I have also heard that the stewards at Emirates tend to dampen voracious noisy support.

  11. I hope he was eho decides to leave, just because he is a men of principles, honesty and and integrity. Otherwise he is just the hero turn to the villian because of avaricity.
    If he really love the club, so he was who decides to quit (without money because of it).

  12. I have to say after months of slating the guy I do feel a bit bad for him. However, he earns £10M a year so I doubt he is losing any sleep himself. I hope the new manager whoever it is will finally sort that joke of a defence we have and make us a really hard team to breakdown! I want Man utd vs Arsenal at Old Trafford and Emirated to be 50/50 and not the 80/20 it has become these days. #COYG #MAGA

  13. And now, the end is near
    And so I face the final curtain
    My friend, Ill say it clear
    Ill state my case, of which I’m certain

    I’ve lived a life that’s full
    I’ve traveled each and every highway
    But more, much more than this
    I did it my way

    Regrets I’ve had a few
    But then again, too few to mention
    I did what I had to do
    And saw it through without exemption

    I planned each chartered course
    Each careful step, along the byway
    And more, much more than this
    I did it my way

    Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
    When I bit off more than I could chew
    But through it all, when there was doubt
    I ate it up and spit it out
    I faced it all and I stood tall
    And did it my way

    I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
    I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
    And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
    To think, I did all that
    And may I say, not in a shy way
    Oh, no, oh, no, not me
    I did it myyyyyyy waaaaaaaaaaay.

    1. Much prefer the version by s** pistols ^.^

      “I’ve loved and been a snide
      I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
      ….”

      Let’s face it, he has been a snide… XD

  14. “What I personally think is that Wenger persuaded the Board to give him one more year to prove that he could get the Gunners back into the Top Four,”

    So… Wenger having to go above Gazidis to get a 2 year contract from Silent Stan was part of the boards idea to give Wenger 12 months?

    Math doesn’t add up, if only 1 year then why the 2 year contract?

  15. Does it matter whether he was pushed, shoved, persuaded or he just jumped? We know the major things he has done wrong and the few things (recently) he has done right. Let’s all look forward to the future rather than bang on about the past. Same with ex-players, We don’t need to mention, Walcott, Debuchy, Alexis, Giroud etc either, they’ve gone and good luck to them, Wish them well, all of them and Wenger.
    Let’s all look forward to arguments and insults, sorry, debate, about who’s best to take over and then of course the same debate after the boss has been announced. If it’s Rodgers, I’ll say it now: Rodgers Out. #MAGA.

    1. Completely agree. If Rodgers come or anybody else. I am giving them one season to show me potential and fighting spirit or I am signing to your group. If we are sacking Wenger better to choose someone with vision I don’t want arsenal to turn in to MU 2.0 or saving money club and promoting youngsters project like Tottenham (it takes to long and still no trophies)

  16. Dont care. Im only happy it has happened and that we will get a new manager

    Exciting months ahead

  17. Just give us Leonardo Jardim with Henry as assistant.
    Luiz Enrique isnt good enough for the modern game, Brendan Rodgers, no , viera won’t be tough on the players, Joachim Low doesn’t have league experience, Sean dyche, no, Eddie Howe good for a small team, ancelotti too old,
    Or we could wait on jurgen klopp, I would have loved Henry, he could do a zidane, but he hasn’t handled a team, or we could get benitez to sort out our weaknesses next year, then Jardim and Henry as another 10year era

  18. Now it’s time the Arsenal Board to be Replaced. Then a few of the players need to go. Nothing like a good clean out a fresh start.

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