Arsene Wenger has claimed that Arsenal’s struggles in recent years are because they left their soul at Highbury.
Highbury was Arsenal’s home for over 90 years, but its small capacity and limited facilities meant that the Gunners had to move to a bigger Stadium and they moved to the Emirates in 2006.
However, since they moved to their new home, they have struggled to replicate the success of the early years of Wenger’s reign at their former home.
The Frenchman would eventually struggle to win three FA cups for them before he was forced to resign in 2018, after more than 20 years at the helm.
The two managers that the Gunners have named after the Frenchman have continued to struggle with the Gunners and Wenger has revealed that something happened to them when they moved away from Highbury.
He claimed that they failed to recreate the atmosphere that they enjoyed at Highbury when they moved to the Emirates and that has caused them to struggle.
‘You are always in a position when you are a football club to move forward or stay in the past. To compete with the other clubs, we had to build a new stadium. The rules had changed’, Wenger told beIN SPORTS per the Daily Mail.
‘We wanted to create the same as Highbury but we left our soul at Highbury. We could never recreate exactly. We didn’t find exactly the same atmosphere.’
‘For me, Highbury is linked with love. Love for the period I had, the exceptional attitude of the fans, the exceptional football games I witnessed there. It’s a special place in my heart’, Wenger added.
‘At the time, we were 40 people there, maximum. Today we are 600. We knew everybody. We have moved from a business family to a big company now.
‘You sit on the touchline. The supporters are very close to the touchline. When you kick a corner you can shake the hand of the first supporter. That makes you all together on the pitch.
‘That togetherness, that warm feeling that you get at Liverpool today, or Everton – that’s what you miss.’
Yet another reason Kronke is disconnected from the fans. Has he ever tried to recreate that atmosphere? He’s estatic with the profits our new library rakes in, and atmosphere is inconsequential to him.
Profits over pride, he didn’t get involved for titles. His excommunication of D.D. was a backstabbing with predictable consequences, and I argue we have never recovered.
Kronke is poison to the club and rotting us from the top down. Scoundrel, Rascal, and I hope I one day get to see his exit from our club.
He epitomizes the souless corporate machine that football is now. An agonizing reality crushing the game we played out of love as children.
I honestly think that when we look back in 50, 100 years or more, the Emirates will be a footnote in our history as arguably the biggest mistake the club ever made.
Atmosphere completely ruined, soul gone, and higher revenue ended up attracting someone like Kroenke. The Emirates represents the day Arsenal died, and day the fans then become “customers”.
Wenger lobbied for the move and played a key role in certain design aspects of the stadium. He (and the “AKBs” ) always fell back on the stadium as his “legacy”. Now he admits what most of us knew – it’s a hollow, soulless, corporate bowl.