Even though I had for years been on the AKB side of the Arsenal fence and thought that the WOBs calling for Arsene Wenger to be replaced were wrong and had underestimated what a good job the Frenchman had been doing to keep us in the Champions League on a lot less money than all of the teams around us, last season was a watershed which convinced me that it really was time for a change at the top.
A lot of us agreed, for once, but as usual the club’s owners and board did things their own way and gave the man a new two year deal. At the time I was dismayed but since then there have been growing signs that the boss, if not the people in charge of our club, is determined to change and bring back the glory days to Arsenal.
Forget about the salary, it must have taken real steel and determination for Wenger to carry on when he knew that he had lost the backing of many fans and perhaps this is why he seems to be doing things differently. Well I say differently but actually it is more of a return to the tough and combative manager and team we saw in the early years of his reign.
Wenger would clash with opposing benches and the officials while his players were fighting their cause on the pitch and one of the biggest criticisms of the recent years is that we seem to have moved too far away from this into pretty but often soft football and with Wenger too easily letting EPL rivals and the likes of Barcelona cherry pick our best players.
Has Wenger gone back to his old ways? And will it make Arsenal great again?
Bob.