Wenger says that UK Arsenal fans hurt him but will the next manager lose even more?

Arsene Wenger came away from seeing his team win convincingly at home yet again, but he admitted that it was the attitude of the fans in England that made him finally decide to step down. There have been many empty seats in recent home games and that was the fact today as well, and he is hoping that his departure will bring the fans back together again.

When asked if he was relieved to be finally getting away from the pressure of being Arsenal manager, but he said that was not his reason for leaving. “I was not tired.” he said.

“I believe that this club is respected all over the world, much more than in England. Our fans didn’t give the image of unity I want at the club. That was hurtful.”

“I feel the club is respected. The image we gave from our club is not what it is and not what I like.”

“Nothing more to say. I feel that this club has a fantastic image and for me that is absolutely vital.

“We can speak and speak and speak. Sport is about winning and losing and you have to accept that you will lose games when I am not here anymore.

“[Sport] is as well about something bigger than just winning and losing. For me that was always a worry, how the club was perceived worldwide. For kids who play in Africa, in China, America. The dream that it can create for young children who want to play football.

“All our clubs have a responsibility in that.”

“I’m not resentful and I do not want to make stupid headlines. I am not resentful with the fans. I just feel if my personality is in the way of what I think our club for me that is more important than me. That is all I want to say. It is nothing to do with the fans.

“The fans were not happy and I can understand that. It’s my job. I have to live with that. I can accept that.”

He was then asked if the atmosphere at the Emirates as damaging to the club, and he replied: “I don’t know. It was not corresponding to what I really feel our club is perceived and has to be perceived [as] all over the world.

“If you travel with us this club is respected all over the world. That’s down to work and as well to the way we play football, the way we behave and the way we treat people. I want that to go on and to be respected, to give the image I think is right.

“There’s a lot of money in the game. Above that is more than the money, more than the results. It’s the way a club is perceived and the example the club gives all over the world.”

So he feels that he was damaging the club’s reputation by staying on, but he makes the point that whoever comes in to replace him will also lose games, maybe even more than him. Will the new manager get even more hatred if he loses more than Wenger? Or will the fans give him a chance?

Sam P

62 Comments

  1. As always newspeak and blame shifting from Wenger. The club is miles behind other Premier League clubs because he was not concerned with winning and losing but being loyalty to players and a system that were not good enough.

    1. I don’t know why he can’t just say the truth that he isn’t good enough anymore to lead the team judging by our performances. These fans love to see their team win or at least not get embarrassed every season, they pay a lot of money to to watch their team, paying your salary. I don’t think its fair to blame the fans when apathy is a natural human response to constant disappointment and your lack of care. These fans were patient enough, no epl in 14 years, no european trophy and on top of that we are sliding down the table. What did you expect from the fans?Take it, bring your money and just shut up because your opinion doesn’t matter? Goodbye Wenger.

      1. “I believe that this club is respected all over the world, much more than in England. Our fans didn’t give the image of unity I want at the club. That was hurtful.”

        That is the truth. Everyone else knows it too, from former professional to any international teen.

      2. I agree with you 100%, he is blaming Uk surporter bcoz there the one pay a lot money to watch the game and stil we loose every year, they have payed again and again. Abroad funs we alway asked our selves How does Uk funs accepted that to happen each year? I have had plan to come and watch some games But every time I was planing we start loosing again. So he should accept that he is tired now. Empty tactics in his head. Thank u Wenger for ever thing. It was time for u to go

    2. He is the only one to blame for his downfall, keep and player like Walcott for 10 years on lucrative contract and captain armbard was not acceptable and keep lying to Arsenal fans for the last 10 years about transfer improvements and end up bring none all wait till the last hour despiate having more than 2 month after the season was over was not a good thing at all – cant pay 55mln pound to buy Lemar but on last day of transfer window he submitted 92mln enough is enough man!

    3. Can you be more specific. Do you realise there are other clubs other than manc, manu and Chelsea in EPL. Those are clubs who had won something lately and those are the clubs we should consider better.

  2. Besides not winning anything. Arsenal lost their attractive style of football for the past 2-3 years. There was nothing left…At least before that we were playing beautiful and always in the top 4. That much is appreciated. Always ‘almost’ got tru the last 16. But for the last 3 years again, it had been a massive downhill in all expects. I can’t name a single positive.

    1. We won two FA Cups in the last two years. That’s not exactly “not winning anything”. Just saying.

  3. This will be an end of an era & I’m sorry he feels that way, but it’s just not working anymore. Who knows what the future holds, we may struggle even more once he’s gone, but we have to that risk!
    Thanks for the memories Arsene ( & for Petit & Podolski ❤ )

  4. No ex players right now are capable of commanding the ship the way it needs to be done. Their names should not even be mentioned. They were definitely good players in their day, but it ends there.
    Simeone
    Ancelotti
    Allegri
    Enrique
    Conte

  5. What does he expect?We were going nowhere fast with him in charge and as far as I’m concerned he was sacked because the majority of the fanbase lost respect for what he was doing.Is he really surprised?The football was getting worse we lost our Champions League place and the fans let him know what they thought of him.He is out because of his own failings not ours.

    1. The fan base is bigger than those in London. Without Wenger there is no global Arsenal brand and now global income. Wenger leaves the club financially intact. Who else has done that in any league any where? Few.

      1. Our “GLOBAL BRAND” is affected by what we do on the pitch surely?Wenger was taking us backwards.The League position does not lie.He can bleat as much as he likes about being respected more abroad than in this country but it doesn’t get over the fact that he oversaw a dramatic decline in our performances and subsequently our position in the Premiere League.This is also reflected in our participation in the Europa League and not the Champions League.He can bitch about the fans reaction but ultimately if we were better and more competitive than we have been for the last two seasons he would most likely have kept the fan base onside and he would not be receiving his P45 in a few weeks time.

        1. Fair enough he should have gone 5 years ago, but since then he has won us 3 FA Cups, got us to a League Cup Final, and a Europa League semi final. surely that deserves a little respect? What have Liverpool or Sp*ds won in that time?

          1. Admin please stop comparing us to spurs, we are a far bigger club than them, liverpool i can understand. I prefer not to compare clubs, every club is different, we should be focused only on our performances not others. As bad as liverpool has been, if all of those years were under the same manager, what do you think would have happened. Even their king kenny was sacked.

            1. Admin-so that’s your ambition for the Club is it?FA Cup glory and Europa League?Fight out with Burnley and co for 6/7th place in the Premiere League?Do you not believe our ambitions should be higher than that?There is NO disputing Wenger failed in his job.I refuse to join the list of posters who now wish him well since his sacking.

  6. Bye Wenger. But fans should act in a way that it doesn’t affect the team. Skating players is one of our hurtful attitudes. The lamp post is now shinning elsewhere to the extent that Chelsea fans are grateful to Wenger.

  7. Bure. Who dint expect him slating the fans. England has given him home for ages. In anycase. He ran out of excuses

    1. Simione, and Griezmann with him, along with a new back four.

      Arsenal will not be able to beat City or United without proper money for the best DMF in the game.

    1. Yes i agree But need to correct you…

      Let’s move on
      No one is bigger than the club
      Helped win us 3 PL and 7 FA trophies and managed the invincibles
      Arsène also made a lot of mistakes and that is it
      End of

      Yep that’s more accurate

  8. I doubt you will find another group of fans that would pay the highest prices in Europe to watch a game of football, and despite embarrassing defeats still fill the ground for over a decade. The Arsenal faithful are saints and if Wenger manages another big team he will realise it. Enough is enough

  9. pay Simone 3rd of AW wage he will collect and Klopp, Guadiola, Mou , Pochettino and Conte will be sitting at the edges of there seats.

    wenger = £8.3 (annual)
    simone= £5.1 (annual@AM)

    1. So by your suggestion Simeone should be offered under 3mn .. less than he is earning at AM? Madness.

  10. wont be missed. Majority of fans were behind him for the decade he achieved nothing. It’s not all his fault, but club has been below the standards that AW himself set for a long time. It’s more than the fact Wenger wasn’t winning but the hierarchy was complacent for a long time and satisfied with 4th place trophies. No more. Can’t wait until this season is over and we don’t have to ramble on about Wenger anymore.

  11. I’m not sad that his reign is over. This selfish man has made millions of fans worldwide suffer for too long. Glad it’s over.

  12. There are no other fans in the world who are as patience as Arsenal fan. No other fans in the world i tell you. So some players and the manager should be thankful and not feel entitled and hurt. Those have earned millions at the back of the English fans. Without fans there is no club.

    See what happens when fans started to miss on the games. No its xmas fault. No its Santa. No its the easterbunny. Noooo. Its the always the results.

    Fergi i admire the most bec thats what he always used to say. I am the main guy here, and things happen bec of me.

    It is bec of him that we did so bad, and Arsenal is not a retirement place where one can see out his life out of boredom. You win or you lose. Now he can enjoy his millions and go back to commentating the fifa games he always used to did. ( while being the manager, sleeping not addressing the problems).

  13. wow, i just happened to read what Arsene said and then looked at the comments. You seem to have a lot of Arsene haters with you. Too bad. The commenters seem to understand that losing is not acceptable and i would bet that many know nothing about management. Without Arsene, The Arsenal would not be as powerful as it is today. Many forget that the very old Arsenal was once close to being bankrupt and out of business. Part of their philosophy from that time on is to be financially prudent. Many of your commenters would have Arsenal spend its way into bankruptcy like Leeds did previously. Arsene Wenger is a graduated economist who understands the clubs philosophy. I highly doubt that many of the commenters care much about such things. The stadium begun the downfall of Arsene. But you have to admit, it is a beautiful stadium and Arsenal did play fantastic football. Then the clearout happened of the older players and in order to contain costs, the youth players were brought on faster than Arsene would have liked but it helped contain the costs while reaching Champions league competition. Your commenters have forgotten a lot. I am a proud Arsene fan and an even stronger Arsenal fan. I would have love to have seen him next year with the new squad. Where i would fault him recently was with Alexis Sanchez. However, I can understand his hesitation to get rid of Alexis, when you have thousand of fans clawing at the door to behead you. I will follow him because he is a very very loyal Arsenal fan and an even better human being. Winning has its rewards but also its pitfalls. All the best Mr Wenger, Thank you for all the great football.

  14. Just respect him guyss..most of you guyss fell in love with this club because of him and how his team played..!! Give him the respect he deserves..he has said he is gonna leave..y r u guyss still bitching about him..

  15. spud fans must be very patient, not winning anything for a very long time and certainly not winning the league during most posters here have been alive.
    #bottlers

  16. I’m excited we will be making a fresh start come this summer.

    He’s moving on, obviously a difficult time for him. He’s given us alot of great memories – just let the man be.

  17. I got an idea. Let’s crucify him or stone him to death

    Come on, he made the right decision that we’ve been begging for. Hes going. Its not like we didn’t win any trophies during his management. Some arsenal fans can be atrocious.

    Im not going to insult or criticise him anymore
    Ive called for his retirement or sacking for years
    But I am not vindictive or a bully
    Wenger will always be a GUNNER!

    He is leaving in May
    That’s it.
    Thanks for the 3 PL trophies, 7 FA Cups and invincibles and keeping us in both the black and Champions League for over two decades especially when we had a new stadium built

    I hope he finds happiness elsewhere and I hope we find happiness with a new manager

    1. Exactly this for me. Thank you.

      Regardless of how we’ve arrived at him leaving, he is fortunately going. I say at this point I will choose now simply to appreciate him and his overall accomplishments for what they are and what he did for us, and celebrate him on the way out.

  18. If Arsenal fans think they are the most patient let them ask Liverpool and Tottenham which last won trophies some years back and yet their fans continue to support their teams with passion. Every supporter of a team owes it to himself/herself to support the team regardless of the results. You can’t be a fair weather supporter only. You should be a full time supporter. Who says FA trophy is nothing? See how Man U and Chelsea are battling for it.

      1. You just a fool , problem about Arsenal fans are stupid , you abusenent of wenger who sacrificed his personal to this club . Now you will feel how it’s without him , look at man united & Chelsea are wishing to get FA cup while shit fans are taking rubbish about what wenger won ( 7 FA cups and 3 PL and 7 community cups . It hurts when fans for shit while other teams for 50 years never win a single trophy , wenger is gone Arsenal will suffer like man united after Furguson left

  19. 14 years without a league title, and barely even a challenge. 8 years since we’ve been in a CL QF. 9 years straight without a trophy. There were always issues with the finances, I’ll give Wenger that, but every single player was his signing, and he’s had more power behind the scenes than any manager in recent history of club football, maybe ever! You’ll never see such long period of sustained failure from a top manager like that ever again! So of course the fans were not happy, and wanted change.

    Wenger’s done amazing things at Arsenal, and for the English game and I’ll forever be grateful, but he’s also cost us so many years of potential success, and so many top players have left because of him. Arsenal were lucky to have Wenger, and Wenger was lucky to have Arsenal, is probably the best way of summing things up. I do hope gets a good send off, and I think a statue of him should be put up outside the Emirates, when he retires from the game.

  20. merci for the past, but you should have left before, as you had said that you love the club so much. come may for a new start and new mentality. gooner = for ever

  21. The old man should just shut up and bugger off. 10 pressure free years at Arsenal earning £8M each year he really has nothing to complain about. Where else would they tolerate him for the past 10 years? Barca? Bayern? Juveh? Real? Chelsea? Man utd? PSG?

  22. With all due respect to Arsene, this just shows how out of touch he is.

    As a season ticket holder, I have for many years had to put up with the nonsense from international fans that I am complicit in Wenger’s pointless drivel because I go to the Emirates. The Wenger out stuff never started in North London. I went today, and we were all sad. We were sad because we wanted to see him succeed.

    Yes we did not turn up. We didn’t because there was nothing left to turn up for. If he takes offence to that then so be it. Empty s ars happened because you kept on saying top 4 is the be all and end all but couldn’t even achieve that anymore.

    As for seeing football in other parts of the world and how London affects that – come on mate, we for African and Indian boomers on here mocking you way before the Emirates crowd turned. Even Drogna said we love Arsenal in Africa but see them as softies. That was years and years ago he said that – seems you still haven’t caught up.

    1. Lucky he doesn’t how to use the internet or he would have known how non-english fans felt about him a long time ago!

      1. Or he would have known how websites use Arsenal fans comments and then misquotes Wenger for some click bait?

  23. And in scouting, the infrastructure was very poor we didnt have someone with ability like Sven and wenger was doing scouting himself with the help of grimandi. Germany, france and spain have a lot of good players on cheap prices

  24. I still respect Wenger as a once great manager.
    Unfortunately he did not treat the fans in recent years with the same level of respect appears to prize so highly.

  25. I still respect Wenger as a once great manager.
    Unfortunately he did not treat the fans in recent years with the same level of respect he appears to prize so highly.

  26. What I will never understand is why Arsene Wenger deviated from what had brought him and Arsenal the success in his first 8 years as manager; a great goalkeeper and back four, tall physically strong players, who intimidated the opposition in the tunnel let alone on the pitch, and a fast direct style of play, particularly on the counter attack. Look what Wenger replaced Viera, Petit, Parlour and Gilberto Silva with, let alone Adams, Bould, Keown, Winterburn, Cole, Campbell and Lauren. Also the self motivated leaders were eliminated in later signings.

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