He did not admit at the time, of course, but the pressure from the legions of frustrated Arsenal fans who had grown thoroughly sick and tired of the barren years since moving from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium in 2005 was finally getting under the skin of Arsene Wenger.
After the disaster in the League Cup final against Birmingham City in 2011 the pressure was really on the prof and the vast proportion of Arsenal fans along with almost every member of the football media did not want to listen to any excuses about the lack of money available to the the Frenchman.
So along came the 2013-24 season and the end of it would mark nine years without a trophy. It started with a loss at home to Aston Villa but soon got better and the signing of Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid, along with the scoring and all round form of Aaron Ramsey had us believing again.
But after we slipped from the top of the table at new year into another fight for fourth, the knives were out for the boss once more. The solitary signing of an already injured Kim Kallstrom when we already had massive injury problems sent a lot of fans into meltdown and once we were put out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage yet again, the only thing left was the FA cup and the Wenger trophy.
The Frenchman has this week admitted for the first time that he may well have stepped down had we not won the FA cup that May, as reported by The Mirror, and after we raced into a 2-0 deficit against Hull at Wembley he was probably composing his resignation letter. Wenger said, "If we had lost it, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know. "Usually I respect my contracts and I fight for everything. I think as well to say to you that 17 years at a club depend on one cup final… so it’s better you don’t go to the final then. You don’t have that problem. “But it would have been a problem had we not won, because it would have been a massive disappointment for everybody. "It would have been difficult. But we won." The comeback with goals from Cazorla, Koscielny and then Rambo in extra time definitely gave us all a massive lift and took a huge weight off the manager. But would it do the same again this time? We all know that the priority for Arsenal is the Premier League title and the struggles of the usual suspects Man City, Chelsea and Man United seem to have given us a great chance. But there is a very real chance that either Leicester or, god forbid, Tottenham, could beat the Gunners to the punch. How would that affect the Frenchman and his stability at the club? Winning the FA cup this year would set a post war record of three wins in a row and that would be pretty amazing. But would it be enough?
while we are actually Looking to break the FA cup historical record, The FA cup is no saving grace…… We are as well hungry for major titLes!
The FA cup is great and to return and win it again was just the best. That cup is not easy to win but I would give that up for the EPL. I was lucky to go to both finals but the fans were happy but still wanted a new manager with new ideas. We won’t win on Tuesday and I think AW will play the new lad with FQ to try and stop the 3 masters. It’s a shame but they are the best in the world and have been for some time. Yes I want a new manager but I think it should be done like this. AW needs to get a number 2 in place to take over in 3 years.
Of course Arsenal fans desperately want the LEAGUE TITLE far more than another FA Cup.
But we must also be realistic. Any one of 4 clubs could win the league title. So many factors will impact the final result. Let us just enjoy the ride and do our part in the effort.