Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger gave an emotional speech following his final outing at the Emirates as manager, before taking a swipe at fans by claiming he will be looking forward to being in the stands and shout at the new boss.
The Frenchman is stepping down after 22 years in charge, and was awarded a golden Premier League trophy for his unbeaten campaign back in 2005, and thanked the fans for putting up with him for so long.
“Thank you for having me such a long time,” he said. “Above all, like you, I am an Arsenal fan. It is a way of life, it is caring about the beautiful game and the values to cherish.”
“In my job, you learn to disconnect from yourself. For 20 years, I just felt, ‘OK, forget about me, and just care about the problems you have to sort out’. I don’t know how I feel. I have to learn how to reconnect with myself now.”
“It is as well a very sad day for me,” he said. “I have worked on every single part of this stadium. It’s part of myself, but as well, it’s a day where the next people can work in good conditions, and I’m happy for that.
“Not many guys manage 22 years at a club of this stature. So I can only say, ‘My friend, you have been very lucky’. I will cherish every moment I was here, but as well it’s a new start for me. The fans know my commitment was genuine and total with complete integrity. I wanted to make people happy. My ambition was to win with style, That was always my target.”
The manager has come under pressure from fans to quit the club in previous years, and the slogan ‘Wenger Out’ has become an internet sensation with placards being spotted around the globe, and the 67 year-old has taken a sly jab at those who opposed his stay, claiming that the best thing about being out of the job and in the stands is that he will get to join in with the shouts at the man in charge.
“The positive of that is I can shout at the next manager.” Who that might be, he was unwilling to speculate. “I think it is better I don’t speak publicly about the next manager because I’m not involved in the story,” he said.
“I do not want to put any pressure on the club to choose this guy or this guy and give already a handicap to the guy who comes in because he has been chosen or it wasn’t my decision – I am nothing to do with that.
“I just think he inherits a team that is much better than people think it is.”
Did Wenger deserve all the disrespect over the years? How long will a new manager be given to improve on our league position?
Pat J
New chapter for ARSENAL. I think weather you were wenger in or wenger out you would agree he did splendid job in the 90s and early 2000s. But now a new chapter is needed arsenal need a change and jt is happening. I said earlier in the year that change is happening with the new head scout and other new back room staff coming in and gazidas doing more than sitting on his ass. Let us hope this change is for the best.
Won’t happen. Arsenal is not going too far up.
The best players cost too much. One Salah does not make the EPL, though he might make on CL trophy due to the nature of a tournament… where the best teams might be taken out, as with Barca.
Remember that City was built over time with Pep coming to a team that was already winning. Then Pep spend more… any idea what he has spent at each club?
Next season I think Chelsea and Spuds will have it worst then us because Chelsea will have a few changes in the team plus a new manager and the word is with spuds is that they will sell two or three of their top players not forgetting playing in two stadiums as home, I’m hoping with a good GK and from what I saw yesterday one CD we should make top 4 but if we are to chalangers for the cup it’s a diferent story and it will depend on who will be our next manager
Ridiculous headline. It was a throw away comment you are trying to use when his whole speech was magnanimous !
Damn good Squad. It’s just a shame like Skysports team said, that we have a whole team of number 10s
we have a very good squad but inconsistent and our defense is very weak…
John, sorry somebody’s got to tell you, you’re contradicting yourself again, how can you say we have a very good squad and then go on to say but it’s inconsistent and the defence is weak. We do not have a good squad, we have some good players but we need probably at least another 4 or 5 good players to make up a good squad. Hopefully they’ll arrive in the summer.
Very good squad compare to Liverpool,City,Madrid and Barcelona really??? I might have to go back on drawing board!
Come again? We are good , you say and then you say we are bad(in effect). Which is it? It cannot be BOTH!
Wenger deserves lifelong respect! Only a person who started supporting Arsenal in the last 5 to 10 years would not have respect for Wenger. He kept Arsenal in top flight position when the club had financial difficulties. Thank you for making the club what it is today Mr. Wenger, sir! Good luck with your future plans.
Yeah sadly even if we go downhill from here, wenger out brigade will blame wenger either way. He can’t win if we do well (we’re not finishing 2nd or winning 3 fa cups in the next 5 years not happening, hope it does but lol) its because we got rid of wenger and if we do bad it will be the squad he left. Joke fans.
Did not go downhill…
City, United and Chelsea spent a lot more over the past 10 years.
No manager can guarantee top level football without top level spending. Arsenal will spend or fall behind further.
The great thing is that the next manager needs a world class back four and DMF and they can make the top four again.
don’t have to spend huge if we got a good scout or head of recruitment to recommend talents and Head of contracts/negotiator to close the deals….
Really so how did Leichester win the league.
from cladio’s line, “It may happen in every 20 years and so”
We have a lot of holes to fill in our starting lineup if we want to challenge for the Top
I would argue at least 6 out of 11
GK
RB
CB
CB
CM
CM
7 if we get another Attacking midfielder
Im confused with Ozil.
Do we replace him with a more consistent CAM or will he improve significantly with the addition of Top central midfielders
we need at least 3 signings to challenge for top 4 …CB, GK and DM
If we sign 5…….CB, GK, DM plus winger and RB….we have chance for top 2….
lets be realistic we are not gonna sign 6 first team players and replaced them in the first 11
Pep may have signed 20 players in 2 season…but he replaced 2 to 3 players in the first team each season and the rest of the core remained the same….
John, I agree with your assessment; however as well the new manager has to get performances out of the existing players as demonstrated against Burnley more consistently. Why haven’t these players delivered for Arsene Wenger in other matches, particularly away from home, as they did in his final game at the Emirates?
Coz, they are not the best players in the world or what money could buy.
Coz, Arsenal is not a top three club in the EPL in terms of spending.
don’t have to spend big if we got a good scout or head of recruitment to recommend talents and Head of contracts/negotiator to close the deals….
Since 2008, we have not been signing top talents or been having talented players stolen from our hands….
The signing of Mislintat was a good start to unearth top talents for the manager
JJ having a new coach who pays more emphasis on defense to reduce the number of stupid goals Arsenal concede will be a start. Steve Bould great player, lousy coach. Spending is not everything; Mustafi £35M cf Holding £2M.
Ozil good days are gone we need to replace him with Nabil Fekir I will be gutted if he ends up at Liverpool we need those explosive attacking play makers ie Rosicky,Hleb and Mkhitaryan type
Ozil needs a youthful coach to make him run.carzola and Eniesta can coach him
I realize Wenger is one of the few managers who I never heard of taking leave of abscence or go on a break. If you think about that, its pretty crazy. For 22 straigt years that is. Even in his holiday hes doing football related activities, no wonder the man get so much respect.
I don’t mind how he has stagnate in the past few years, but his work ethic is something we should all learn from
Yes I’m sure getting paid 10 million a year for watching football matches must be so tiring compared to ,say me who as to graft all day just to pay the bills and maybe go on 1 holiday a year if I’m lilucky
Suprisingly Giroud is the number 1 striker for Chelsea…..
very strong in the air indeed…..
I never thought he would be!! Fair play to him ?
That’s ok, I prefer Lacazette, and Aubameyang…because it’s goals we need!
Thats more to morata struggling in his first season.
Klopp has been managing Liverpool for three years and he has not brought them any major trophy yet, but his team shows entertaining football
Therefore the new Arsenal manager should be given at least two years to change things around and should be supported to continue if the team can give us entertaining football shows consistently
hes has won champions league this season ….(very highly likely just like in 2005)
you can say hes lucky or he has got it right but without Sallah goals… Liverfool will be in 10th position and confidence build up when you are winning….
must say Liverfool’ Head of Recruitment did a good job in recommending Sallah and Firmino……and their Head of contracts/negotiator for closing the deals…..
Additionally, they had a better owner who is more willingly to release the funds
I don’t see what the headline has to do with the story, as usual. Nowhere did Wenger ridicule the fans! In fact, considering the treatment he has received from us fans, me included, I think he was quite magnanimous in his words before and after the game. The King is dead, long live the King! Or Queen even, who knows?
For shore we have a lot of princesses in the team where the F is Ozil yesterday? Another flu no doubt
Had a bad back. We also have two of those playing.
Correct..
People still trying to demand Wenger.
I have to say it was quite sad yesterday when Arsene spoke on the pitch… 22 years is a long time. But all things come to an end… and I am very excited about the future ? COYG
Yes it was sad to watch I wish I was there to cheer him on but it was time for him to leave few years back
When a person does not accept responsibility for his work and insists on making a mistake (such as not buying a high-quality player and investing too much on young players), this will make the person’s respect go away.
Agree and sad thing those kids are not ready for 1st football and that’s the main reason why we’re failing behind – you won’t see those kind of projects to Barcelona,Madrid and Liverpool and City now
As much as I appreciate and respect Arsene Wenger’s work for Arsenal Football Club, his comments and attitude lately have greatly reduced my respect for him. This is because he keeps on making comments suggesting he is still the best man for the job, and nobody could possibly do any better as a replacement, and his departure is all the fault of ungrateful fans, and so on.
That’s incredibly arrogant. It wasn’t that long ago when Arsenal won 2 league titles, FA Cup Double, and a European Trophy in just 5 years under George Graham. You could argue that’s better than Wenger’s time at AFC when relative time-scales are taken into account. Also Wenger won his major trophies when Man U were the only other super-team in the league. Making the progress that guys like Klopp and Pochettino are doing in today’s environment, despite being with poorer clubs than Arsenal, isn’t easy. Wenger’s arrogance is unjustified and very disrespectful to younger up-and-coming managers of the future, as well as lifelong fans of AFC that want better things for the club than what we’ve had in recent times.
Furthermore, Wenger keeps trying to make himself sound like some kind of Matyr, where he’s given up his life for us purely out of good-will, and we’ve somehow unfairly hounded him out despite his benevolence and greater knowledge of what’s best for us and our football club. That really annoys me. He’s been cruising on £9m-a-year doing his dream job, delivering results and performances that would be completely unacceptable at any top-level football club, but is still arrogant enough to claim the moral high ground and tell us that we’re wrong and everything is our fault. That takes the p*ss.
Thanks for the good times Arsene, but they were a long time ago, and it’s time for change now. You’re out-of-touch with the modern game and with most of your fans. Bye bye, and not a moment too soon.
Very well said, and pretty much what I thought about his arrogance as well. It was only a few weeks he got angry at journalist who dared to mention something about our performances, and Wenger went on saying things like he shouldn’t even be criticised, and how do you even measure success/performance? Then Wenger banged on about how hard he works, which is great attribute I admit, but Wenger doesn’t seem to realise there’s no correlation between hard work, and level of performance. Very arrogant!
Keep on ranting but he’s left already mate.
Arsene made Arsenal a global football club which the fans took for granted. The premier league will be more competitive next season. Arsenal will need restructuring to prevent it from descending to the championship.
Structure is done Sanllehi, Sven and Huss in and Wenger out so what structure are you talking about?
I much agree. The re-structuring that has already taken place bodes well for our future. Without it, Wenger might well have remained manager.
Gazidis was interview by Wenger for the CEO position and he gave him a lot of respect and chances every season and there was no body around was able to tell Wenger anything he was like #2 on running Arsenal on daily basis and #1 on football matters. So who’s is to blame for the current situation we are in??
Wenger gotta Keith Edelman fired and was heavly envolved with the construction of Emirates Stadium, if that’s the case why not him – Zidane won 2 European championship within 3 years but will probably go end of season
I think Wenger is right to say he has left a good squad, it may not win you the league but most of these players have lacked guidance to the point of them stagnating or regressing, look at players like the Ox and Giroud and compare to the progress of the likes of Bellerin, kola. What Arsenal needs now is first of all a manager who understands how to manage players individually, motivating them and using the right tactics for each game.
After which, we can then get the 5 players we need to be champs. For instance, I believe Niles can reach the levels of Kante with the right coaching
Hez, we need Cech replacement CB keep Mavropanos,Chambers Holding and Saed and we need 3 more CB
New 3 quality mid replace Ozil and Welbeck
Giroud gone wasn’t down to Wenger I am pretty sure was Sven recommendation also the money was good to turn down based on his age great business was done also on Walcott and Chamberlain who wanted to play in #8 position which I don’t thing he has a right skill set to do that same as previously when Walcott was claiming to be better on #9
Let’s speak the truth, if arsenal fans had left Wenger going the way he was, without any reactions would he have contemplated of leaving? Wouldn’t he have renewed his current contract at its expiration? Would arsenal not continue to fumble and wobble as we have done in the past 10 yrs or so. Pls let’s not put up fans now as sacrificial lambs. We are all agreed on the fact that arsenal needed a change of management to halt the downward trend and bring them back to where they belong. We all appreciate what Wenger has done for the club but every good thing comes to end when it will. So it is with Arsene Wenger and his relationship with arsenal f c.
Well said bro
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Sorry, Pat J, BUT I must point out that Wenger did NOT ridicule our fans at all. He might be quite within his rights to have done so, those like me , very much included. But he did not. He showed the class we all know he had always shown to the whole world as a deeply impressive human being. This , to put things in context, is FAR more important than being a merely impressive football manager He made a humourous, rather touching jest , against HIMSELF actually, about being “now able to sit in the stand and shout at the next manager” and he further added that he is now like us, ie an Arsenal fan. Your headline is cheap , unworthy of you (and your abilities) and dishonest too. Most of us in both so called Wenger stay or out camps thought the whole farewell was classily handled by the club , ex-players, fans and most of all by the great man himself. Personally, I sat watching TV with tears streaming down my face, slightly to my surprise, even embarrassment! You and I Pat, have often clashed over his managerial abilities. It was , therefore something of a shock to find that you of all people had unfairly insulted his behaviour as a man. All for a cheap headline. Sigh!
You steady on Jon… people will start to think you actually care ??
Gosh Sue. You noticed!
There is a heart there after all!! Yay!!
I’m only kidding Jon…. I actually cried yesterday… not sure why, as i wanted a new manager!! It was very emotional… 22 years is a long time…. onwards & upwards hey?!
I applaud you Jon.
Standing ovation ^.^
I do want Wenger replaced but I don’t want to forget what he has done or to tarnish his recent failings as worse than they really are, it could always be worse and I actually think we are in good shape as a club.
The send off was fantastic, the whole thing was beautiful, it kinda felt like a happy funeral though.
I’ll never forget it and even now feeling pride swell up in my chest.
Big thank you to all the fans who went to the match and helped make it such a beautiful occasion, even the Burnley fans, they was fantastic during the game.
DAMN!
Got a tear in my eye just thinking about the whole thing XD
Don’t! You’ll start me off again!! Even some of the Burnley fans stayed after the final whistle ?
As Kevin Campbell once said “sometimes there is nothing better in life than being a gooner” and I felt like that yesterday ???
Sorry Sue, I’ll make sure I got some tissues next time 😛
I hope we can get that good vibe in the stadium more next season, new manager and new hope, keeping my fingers crossed.
I hope so too Midkemma… onwards & upwards hey?! COYG
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Anyone else miss Ozil yesterday?
No – me neither
Ozil is fast becoming -or dependent on your point of view, already has been for years – an expensive misfit. No one denies his raw talent but almost everyone now questions his heart, his character. Even his backbone!
Keown said he wouldn’t play again this season and he’s not. It’s a shame he wasn’t there yesterday, I do like him… but sometimes he drives me mad!
The plus side is….
Well…
Hmmm….
If we get rid of him we could afford 2 top players wages?
C’mon China, where is the offers? I don’t think we could con a EU team into paying his wages while showing such poor form.
I’m not sure I want him to go!!
I rate him, I really do… When he plays well.
I know he needs players in the team who will do the leg work and if we can play to his strengths then we have one of the best assist kings in the world which is a dream for CF like Auba and Laca who have deadly accuracy 🙂
The AM game was one of the final straws for me, we needed to win that game and he looked like the incredible sulk, where was his fight for the wages he takes home?
I would be more than happy for Ozil to be thrown out the door and for AFC to replace him with a hungry player… Like Fekir who will cost around £50 million and already knows Laca… Proven to work well with Laca… Scores more than Ozil and can also play as a winger and actually play as a winger and not a AM out wide like Ozil.
For such a talented player I do feel Ozil lets himself and us down too often.
His header against Everton ? loved It! But yes needs to step up