Change has become the forbidden word at Arsenal

Arsene devalued winning and now he devalues the excitement of the game. by Konstantin Mitov

You see, comments like “I don’t understand that debate. Our job is to perform as long as we are here. I do not understand this kind of anxiety, it is absolutely denying what a professional guy is about.”, highlight exactly what’s wrong with having Arsene here. Sanchez has ambition. He tried to install it here, but he hit himself in the Wenger wall and stopped caring, because Chelsea, PSG and Juve would be just a few in line to snap him up.

The sorry excuse for a “manager” dismisses the Alexis situation, just like he dismissed the fans by saying “It’s good they can waste their day like that”. I would rather say that this is actually caring about the club, unlike Wenger and the board who care only about money. Fans protest before every game, they hire planes and they go to the training ground. It should be a signal that something is not right and if we had anybody with any sort of ambition running this FC, this would’ve been sorted out.

The season is not over, but every bad result from now on will erase our pretty thin top 4 chances and Wenger will dismiss it like it’s nothing again. The more criticism he gets, the more Arsene locks up in his own world of madness and it seems like the more he’s questioned, the more he believes what he does is right.

For me the protests are 3 years behind, because he should’ve left in 2014, but nevertheless, fan opinion is doing a good job. The issue is being addressed and finally people are pointing the finger at the person responsible for this. Even if he gets the deal, we should keep protesting, because things will not get better. Admit it. There were a lot of people telling me, judge him in May and that was every season, not just this one and back then Wenger had all the tools to build a good squad.

Now he’s a thing of the past. The fossil at the history museum. He’s a dead man walking. Something with no real purpose, just existing there and nobody cares to put it back in it’s place. Change has become the forbidden word at Arsenal. We’ve not seen it since we moved to the Emirates.

Change doesn’t equal success and I don’t expect someone to walk in on a team likely to finish 6th or 7th and transform us into a title winning squad. If we had given 100 million to a capable man last year though I would’ve been more optimistic, but nevertheless, let’s put the man out of his misery.

The club is ultimately the fans and we are divided. But if we unite against him, he’ll be gone. Give him what Pardew got at Newcastle. Every fan holding a Wenger out banner. He is finished! His legacy is finished, his pride is finished, hopefully we’ll help his contract get finished and then we can start fresh.

Konstantin

23 Comments

  1. Change is so forbidden that they are talking about a sporting director?
    Maybe change isn’t so forbidden? It just isn’t the change YOU want.

    1. Watching the slow motion car crash that is Wenger in charge of Arsenal over the past 10 years has has spread to the fans who have become institutionalised into thinking that the sop of a ‘football/technical director’ is change when it is simply a tactic to delay the one thing Arsenal critically needs which is a new manager.

      1. I see it as the board listening to the fans and coming to their own answer.

        When Arsenal had Dein getting transfers done then we was winning the title or coming 2nd, we was competing at the top and not just making up the numbers.

        Dein was a shareholder, he was spending his money into Arsenal and he dedicated his life to football. He was the man who got Wenger in at Arsenal. He was not a yes man.

        So Wenger can work with people who are not yes men.
        Wenger is a yes man. He done what Dein wanted and said yes to him… He has said yes to the old board after they forced Dein out, instead of resigning there and then to show us supporters the cracks he hid them from us and said yes while the board bumped up the share prices before selling them to Silent Stan… Who Wenger has been saying yes to.

        The only time Wenger seems to stand up to the board is when his contract is up for renewal and he knows the board haven’t got a plan B.

        If the board can get in people to replace what Wenger is doing outside of tactics and coaching then the result is… Wenger is not in charge of transfers and he has less power within the club.

        The Arsenal board have not shown to be quick in taking action, I do not have trust that they can build the infrastructure required with the best people they can find within 12 months…

        If I am right about that then they would have to give Wenger a contract that was more than a single year so they have time to get it done. Rumored 2 years doesn’t go against this perspective.

        Another area the board can remove Wengers powers is coaching staff, shake that up and put in some people who are club 1st and not Wenger 1st.

        Have you read the rumors about some Arsenal coaches could be replaced? It doesn’t go against the idea of replacing Wenger by tasks and not by the human being.

        I have been saying for years now that the board needed to replace Dein, now that the rumors are popping up about that role having thought put into it… I will be hopeful and SUPPORT ARSENAL FC.

        I may defend Wenger a lot in some aspects but I have been calling for this change for years, how much of a Wenger fan am I when I have been calling for his responsibility to be cut down for YEARS? I have been banging the drum of Wenger not being the god some made him out to be and was pointing towards Dein as the real power.

        I admit it could be just words being said how-ever what if it is not?
        What if we can encourage the board to make these changes by supporting the idea?

        Is that not worth considering?
        I believe as a supporter is HAS to be considered.

        1. If you are suggesting putting a 1st team coaching staff in charge that are not approved by Wenger but do report to him you are suggesting something very unpractical. I believe a manager should be allowed to chose his own coaching staff.
          I can see a manager blaming the coaching staff when results go south. This is not a good solution.

          But the problem is not the coaching staff or Wenger being too thinly spread. The problem is that the game has passed Wenger by. He doesn’t know the problems of his own team and if he does know them, he does not know how to fix them. This has been going on for years.

          2 years ago Wenger didn’t buy a single outfield player whilst there was no longer a financial restraint on the club. He simply believed he had a squad the would win the PL. The game has passed him by.

          Sure a David Dein could have, and Gazidas should have prevented players contracts to run down below 2 years before extending those contracts but that only hurts value. Sanchez will leave but what has Wenger done with him whilst he was here? Did we win a major trophy? No. The game has passed him by and that is not going to change by taking responsibilities away from him.

          Should the manager not be in charge of what players he thinks he needs to strengthen his squad and what players to sell? It would be strange to exclude the manager from that process. Wenger chose Perez, Wenger chose Xhaka, Wenger has not bought a badly needed central strike since RVP left (Giroud was not bought as a replacement for RVP) Wenger was OK with buying no one the year before. Wenger simply doesn’t know what type of team it takes to win.

          It was quite symbolic to me that Wenger was not even aware he sent his team out against City without a Captain (apparently an FA rule violation). This team to all who have followed it, fan or foe, has lacked leaders for a while, Wenger has appointed captains who don’t make it into the starting 11 (Arteta, Mert). A captain symbolizes leadership and Wenger doesn’t really want one on the pitch. How symbolic is that?

          1. I am not saying Wenger should stay till he dies.

            I am saying we need to rebuild as a CLUB.
            There is no magic wand that can be waived and have it all fixed overnight.

            So things need to be prioritized.

            If we had a better infrastructure then maybe we could get a much better manager compared to what we could get now, we could also look to keep the next good manager we get and not worry about RM or Barca wanting him for a season or 2…

            I do not disagree that the manager should have an imput on training however I do not believe the manager should have total say regarding training. Experts can be hired and they should be listened too, the manager should be made to work with them for the best outcome for the player and club. The coaching needs enough in there that puts the club ahead of manager so they can stand up and say “NO!” because it is too much for the player and causing injury… Wilshere?

            If Arsenal can show the world that we can compete in the transfer market by rebuilding the squad for Wenger then we are also showing other managers that we will support them on transfers if they was to manage Arsenal.

            As for why not rebuild it for a new manager now, I believe there is the infrastructure that needs to be done 1st so we can look at better managers than we can currently, if a new manager comes in and is expected to do too much then he might not be able to excel at what they are good at.

            Before you build a house you do the foundations… So do the foundation.

            1. Lol director of football. I love you guys thinking it is a change but wenger will select a yes man just like how he was involved in selecting gazidis. I dont know why its a must wenger to rebuild? I dont know why fans want him to keep staying why? Is a manager not judged on the result and quality of football on the pitch? How does what we hve seen for past 3 years do to justify him rebuilding. Why does the board not want to part ways with him? So many fishy things going on behind the scenes. The most heart breaking and sad thing i heard this week was wengers press conference. He said he doesn’t set himself targets and he is not set targets. Seriously? In life if you hve no goal then what can you achieve? This is a slap to my face and its enough to show wenger cares more about the 8m he is pocketing than arsenal fc

    2. I knew you’d be the 1st to comment, negatively. people talking about change, but directed to Wenger, what have the director of football get to do with replacing the fossil?

      1. Replace the ‘fossil’ by getting in people to take some tasks from him.
        Break down the legends role.
        No longer become dependant on a single manager ever again by building the infrastructure for it.

        Or are you so short sighted that you want us in the same situation in 12 months time? 24 months time?
        5 years?
        10 years?
        20 years?

        Building a good infrastructure can allow Arsenal FC to adapt to changes and better chance to compete at the very top for longer than the a period before a team with all that pinch them or we are stuck with Wenger Version 2.

        1. Don’t know why you got thumbs down for that. I agree that we as a club need to continue to develop the right infra structure. Clubs like, Barca, Bayern, Real must have stable infrastructures to support their managers. They change managers every 3 years or more but the organizations seem to remain successful and stable.

          Do they have a different model than we do with respect to staffing, board involvement, qualifications of board members, director of football? etc?

          1. Thank you 🙂
            Someone who got it.

            I do look at RM and Barca and get envious that they always seem to compete in transfers and how they also seem to get damned good prices for their cast offs, no matter what manager seems to be in charge.

            If this is the boards plan then I will try to support the idea, it is progression after what feels like regression, it isn’t overnight but rushing it could lead to it failing all together.

            Having a bunch of fools manage us instead of a fossil doesn’t sound any better to me so I would prefer to see the job done right, even if it takes a couple years.

      2. Sorry for double reply but you did bug me.
        I never mentioned Wenger in my initial post, I focused on the word change and instead of being pessimistic and negative by saying things will never change and it will only get worse (which is a change!)… I looked for a positive and highlighted that there is rumor of change, even if it may not be what K wanted.

        I never said what K wanted in my initial post to be wrong or right, just that this potential change can be a CHANGE in how things are done.

        Just another bandwagon hopper who only ever visits echo chambers.

  2. Wenger only makes me angry these days. Makes me laugh when some of our fans, and outsiders say we should respect him, whilst he clearly doesn’t respect the fans. In all walks of life, respect should go both ways. One has to accept that people can change over time, sometimes for the worse, as with Wenger. Stop cherry picking people! Wenger has done some great things for Arsenal, and has done some not so great things for Arsenal. Look at the WHOLE picture!

    What I find strange, is that if you look at Wenger over the last 11 years, it’s like two completely different people. He’s taken everything that worked so well for him, torn it up, and has since stuck with a different way of doing things, which consistently fails. There’s nothing wrong with change, but when possession based football, with small weak players didn’t work, I wonder why he didn’t go back to the same system, and type of players he used in that first decade? I guess he’s so stubborn, that he’s actually stuck within his own failed philosophy.

    I watched some old Arsenal highlights with the likes of Kanu, Henry, Bergkamp, etc, and I cannot believe it’s the same manager we still have now. It’s almost as if he’s had a brain transplant.

  3. I just can’t take any more of this whiny non-sense. Pardew? Newcastle fans were ungrateful b!tch@s, and got what they deserved in the end – relegation. “Dead man walking”? Do you even know the meaning of the phrase, Konstantin, which you repeatedly put in almost all of your posts? It means that someone is walking a thin line. It means that if he does one wrong move, he’s “dead” so to speak. Well, guess what? Wenger has been with Arsenal for 20 years, and he has done EXACTLY what’s asked of him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here, and he wouldn’t have another 2-year contract ready for him to sign. So stop with this hateful garbage, and concentrate on something else. How about our games, players, transfer rumors FFS?! Oh, I forgot, you don’t watch the games anymore (said so yourself). And as far as I remember you don’t listen to any of Arsene’s pre and post games interviews. I’m not sure WHAT you are, but an Arsenal fan you are NOT.

    1. Nice post Vlad 🙂
      If Wenger wasn’t doing what was required from him then would he still be here? If he got us relegated then I think the board would have acted…

      I do think the protests have been listened too and the board have been thinking about the issue, instead of listening to fans who blindly wants Wenger to be sacked as that isn’t exactly tackling the issues… Just supporters pointing at their scape goat.

      Supporters moaned about us always getting last minute deals and Xhaka happened fast.
      Supporters have moaned about lack of ambition in transfer market and last season we paid over £30mil for 2 players and rumors are that we are looking at getting extra staff in to take over this area.
      Supporters moaned about players constantly being offered new contracts when they hadn’t earned it and look at the volume of players in the last 18 months of contract with rumors of a rebuild which would mean they could be for sale rather than new contracts.

      Supporters could concentrate and stuff like that but as you said, not sure what K is, it is hard to call him a fan though.

      1. I think the abuse of Konstantin is unmerited and should be directed instead at the people who are undermining the once great Arsenal FC. Starting with 10million-a-year-Arsene, Gazidis, Sir Chips, Kroenke who is hobbling the club and is unfit to have charge of a cultural icon like the great Arsenal FC……..

      2. The main thing to concentrate on is surely the results, and performances. The results are the be all, and end all, and they’ve been very poor for a very long time. Not good enough! Then we have the performances, which can be looked at in two sections: are we being entertained? Arsenal fans pay more than any other fan on Earth, are we getting an exciting brand of football? No we a not, and for about five years now, Arsenal have been poor to watch. Secondly, performances can be a sign of progression or regression, where are we heading? What they’re telling me, is that we’re clearly regressing.

        Arsenal had a net spend of £88 million this season, compared to Bayern Munich, who had a net spend of £15 million. Arsenal also have a higher wage bill than Bayern. Despite this, Bayern scored a whopping 10 goals in just two games against us, knocking us out of Europe with consummate ease. Again with case, do you not think that the result and performance are the most important thing here? Also the finances play a part, because shouldn’t we be winning considering so many in the past said that winning was only down to finances? Wenger has better finances than Ancelloti.

        1. Money has been better spent.
          I am not sure why we bought Welbeck when a loan would have shown us his injury potential… And a loan was all that was wanted for Welbeck.
          Then there is Chambers, seems to be part of a buy some british talent moment… Now on loan and a cheaper Holdings in the team. Seems Arsenal was spending for the sake of spending that year, Alexis was the main man from that window and that was only 30 something million out of nearly 100mil.
          Gabriel was bought after missing out on targets in the summer window and was later replaced by Mustafi.
          Perez doesn’t seem to have Wengers trust and got to question why he was bought.
          ElNeny was bought 6 months after Wenger had wanted Xhaka and later we bought Xhaka. I like ElNeny but still got to think about it and not be biased.

          I think everyone can agree that Arsenal have not spent as wise as they could have.

          1. I agree, a lot of signings have been very poor, but what’s actually worse, is the players going out. We all thought Wenger would ditch the deadwood once he had money to bring in quality, but that hasn’t been the case. In fact, it’s been the exact opposite. Players are getting new contracts for consistently under performing, and in some extreme cases, when they don’t even play for us anymore! Why was Mertesacker given a new contract? Why is there talk for a new deal for Wilshere? What’s also frustrating, is that a lot of them are out of contract in 2018, so may be sold this summer, but their valuations have hugely decreased because they’ve been allowed to run their contracts down.

            Over the last four years I think Wenger has brought in around £45 million from player sales, which is an incredibly low amount, especially in comparison to the other big clubs. Mourinho has already brought in more money in just six months for Man Utd, than Wenger has in years.

            The fact Wenger hangs on to deadwood proves he cannot tell the difference between rubbish, and quality anymore.

            1. Some people blame Wenger for all the transfer issues including not selling the driftwood.

              I do not blame Wenger as much as I blame the board, Wenger has made it obvious that Jenkinson has no future with us but the board will not cancel his contract or force him out… He has already been frozen out the team.

              I do not want Wenger focused on selling Jenks, I want him focused on who he has and getting them to perform which is in question right now.

              The club can only hold so many players and if the board are not selling the deadwood then it makes bringing in the required volume of quality harder… Add to that the board buying players that Wenger only wanted on loan to add to the driftwood…

              Wengers contract is up and ages ago the board offered a 2 year contract which Wenger didn’t sign.
              Now he is being told to rebuild and 2 years to do it.

              Maybe Wenger is trying to get rid of the driftwood?
              Wilshere was loaned out, Jenks frozen out, Perez not trusted, Welbeck should have only been a loan and I also question who wanted Chambers as Wenger didn’t stop his hunt and got Holding along with Chambers playing in multiple pos to see if he can fit in.

              If the board want him then the board has to do this rebuild for him?
              No point in getting some of that driftwood to sign new deals as they should be sold…

              Add to this the fact Alexis is saying he wants to stay in London but be winning and the pressure on the board becomes greater, oh and Ozil still hasn’t sign a new deal.

              The clubs 2 biggest assets along with manager requesting ambition or lose them…

              Maybe it has forced them into acting by getting in the right infrastructure so they never have to be in this situation again? Well at least less likely 😛

    2. you had to look at Newcastle, what about Chelsea? since they started changing managers in 2004, Wenger had won us 3 EPL titles. Chelsea have won 3 going on 4 since then, with their same style of changing managers, even lifted the UCL one in which we have been forever participants and nothing in the end, still stagnant with our 3 EPL Wenger won us a decade ago. we need CHANGE

  4. Wenger must be special. Who else could bring such loyalty even now after all this time. You weigh everything up, even though allot of bad decisions along with finishes, but he has never come lower than fourth position in all that time. Arsenal FC is a business as we all seem to be aware of, think like a business man, is you’re interest in safe hands?.

      1. Keeping Arsene W as manager is clearly not in the best interests of Arsenal FC so why prolong the agony?

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