MERCI ARSENE WHO?
As we say goodbye to the man who came to England as an unknown I can’t stop admiring how principled the man Arsene is. Wenger’s introduction to the English game was met with the greatest sceptism of all time in footballing circles. The appointment of Wenger became a headline story as Media Houses coined the “Arsene Who” headline. For a man who had no history of success his appointment was always going to attract a lot of doubts.
Arsene is the best and most successful manager in the history of Arsenal. He is the man who changed how foreign managers were viewed on the English turf. Arsene is the man who sacrificed personal glory when he turned down approaches by bigger clubs like Real Madrid just to see out his vision for Arsenal. Arsene risked his coaching career by sticking to Arsenal during the years of austerity as the club focused on keeping its head above water when they borrowed funds to construct the world class and magnificent Emirates stadium.
It is Arsene’s 2004 team which the whole season unbeaten and earned the “Invincibles” tag. In the process Arsenal were awarded a golden trophy and remains as the only club to have received a Golden trophy in England.The record remains intact to this day and Arsene should be respected for setting a record which Barcelona are about to set in La liga.
As we ponder on who will succeed Wenger it is really hard to imagine how the next manager will kick start his career as an Arsenal Manager. I can’t wait to see how the world will react to the person who will succeed the man who was a virtual unknown but eventually became a club Legend.
I know Wenger’s reluctance to change his tactics exposed him to a lot of stick and criticism but every life has a dark patch. Arsene deserved the criticism because he was in charge of the first team selection and game plans – but he is the same man who transformed the club into a real force. His main weakness was maintaining a philosophy that ironically threatened to rip apart his legacy. Wenger always set up his team to play in line with his clear philosophy which favours beautiful football.
I must admit that Wenger did not leave the club where we all wanted but we must all appreciate the man’s love and committment to the club. Arsenal is not a club known for a hiring and firing policy and I believe the next manager will be given enough time and resources to assemble a squad that will bring back the good old days to the Arsenal.
Arsene might have failed to win bigger club trophies like the Champions league but maybe fate had it that way. He might have failed to win the league one more time before his departure but we must all salute his dedication. As tradition dictates in the human society we must respect Wenger as much as we respect the dead. No matter how much ill we harbour against the dead we have to show them respect. In Wenger’s case the end of his Arsenal role should be appreciated by all normal Arsenal fans.
Let us all salute the man who dedicated twenty years of his life to our beloved Football Club.
Merci Arsene Who! Merci Le Professeur!
Amagore@Zim Arsenal Desk
Sometimes you don’t know how valuable a person is until he leaves you. Having said that, it is useless to keep dwelling in the past, if the person in our sweet remembrance is already gone
Let’s keep moving forward and push the board to pour more investments to the club
There are many good unemployed managers and expiring-contract players available in the market. Let’s see whether our board are serious enough to catch some of them or not
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I think Arsene is responsible for all this treatment right from when he was appointed. He came as an unknown man won the Epl with an Invincible record and did the double. The moment Wenger won that Epl 2004, his joy were only gon bring him problems later on because he raised the bar for himself, the club and the fans.
Winning the League that way raised the bar to a whole different level of expectations, and it’s the reason why winning the FA cup thrice in 4 season seems to be nothing to the fans.
The fans wanted more, Expected more even when he was giving his best, the world expected him to keep rising after 2004 but he didn’t.
so i’ll say clearly, he raised the bar and he couldn’t reach it, he’s indirectly the cause of his downfall
A very rationale post if I can say so.Listen we all make mistakes in life and Wenger has made more than his fair share which nobody can argue.But it was his arrogance that it was his way and his way only that did it for me years ago.Stevie Wonder could see most of the problems we were facing but Wengers reluctance to admit anything wrong was his fault eventually proved his undoing.
@ Phil….regardless of your bitter write ups and comments….Wenger has achieved more than you can EVER achieve in life. You kind of comments and comparison to a gentleman like Stevie Wonder just shows how dark-minded you are. You will never appreciate great thing and we dont need A NOBODY to appreciate WENGER and his GREAT achievements. He is already a LEGEND….yes, A LEGEND. Are legends are celebrating him…even his rivals are celebrating him because to know and appreciate his worth. Besides, Wenger will not be lacking in good and better offers. To make it worse for you…his statute will someday soon be erected in that stadium and you may choose to close your eyes when passing by. He has been publicly acknowledged by the club as the GREATEST MANAGER Arsenal ever had. More accolades, awards, recognition, offers etc are still going to pour in. He changed the face of football in EPL – the whole world knows what his GREAT expect a moron called Phil!
Dude what is wrong with you? He is gone, full stop. You may now remove your head from where the sun dont shine and join the world.
Everyone appreciated what he did when he was successful and if he had left at the top nobody would have turned against him.
Not to see that Arsenal has stagnated for the last decade is pure willful ignorance . The FA cups covered the cracks of a team that slowly got from bad to worse. From 2nd to 3rd to 4th to 5th to 6th.
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@ What is wrong with you? You may think the FA cover the cracks – but you dont win 3 FA cups in 4 years by accident. Non-achievers like you dont appreciate GREAT things. The whole stadium was proud to wear that shirt celebrating AW and we are glad you dont have to be a part of good occasion. You dont move on from recognizing and appreciating GREAT things. HE IS A LEGEND!
If the club can spend half the money that Pep spent on defenders/goalkeeper alone…then we can compete even better. As the EPL gets tougher and other clubs spend bigger…dont expect the new manager to do anything new that Wenger hasnt done before.. (strings of wins, occasional trophies,….good footblall….challenges with progressing far in UCL etc). We have seen that – ansd paerhaps MANY MORE before…we have seen the INVINCIBLES too. No coach can impress us with all of that anymore. You have got to do the invincibles and win UCL with 50M transfer budget per season…dont forger the record FA wins. I will remind you! ONLY ONE ARSENE WENGER!
Memories like the corner of my mind
@Lexynal-if Wenger was so great can you answer me a very simple question.Why was he SACKED?
Why do you persist in comparing Wenger to Phil and questioning Phil’s ability? Seriously, WHY? It is bonkers to do this. Phil is NOT going to be our new manager , though perhaps you have not realsied this truth. It is not whether or not Wenger was a better manager than Phil, You , Me or any other Gooner on this planet. It is whether or not Wenger was the right choice to stay for 22 years. I DO wish this simple truth could find it’s way into your brain!
As we debate whether or not Wenger is the greatest thing since sliced bread, Liverpool are working on a £60M deal to snap up Nabil Fekir.
It said online on Sunday it was a done deal. Do they really need him??
Yes! Imagine him behind the holy trinity…not to mention Keita who is joining soon. They are showing some real ambition…definitely will be challenging for the title next season.
We need sort a manager out first.lets hope it’s not the snake Arteta
“snake Arteta” hahaha. Don’t know why but this had me laughing. Before he even gets appointed, Arteta out.
Arteta in
He’s too busy with his hair to manage Arsenal ?
@ sue there is even a Facebook page created by women by the name Arteta’s hair with so many theories how he mentains his hair.I recommend you join it my dear.Arteta just won the title with pep and he was the main reason why city were successful,as pep said a very innovative young coach
No not for me ‘my dear’ (the facebook page or Arteta for Arsenal) ??
What a complete load of ?????he’s not even the assistant
Pants on fire council give it a rest you wanted wenger to stay
” My dear?”. Oh dear!
It’s because when the players received fined mert collected them. Arteta used the money to but Gazadis a watch, this and the fact he’s apparently arrogant made him unpopular with players. The fact that council wants him says everything about mediocrity
That explains why Ivan wants him as the next manager then
Wow so it’s in the press, so it must be true.
I see, I apologise he’s got no experience as a no 1 or a number 2. He was offered a coaching role at arsenal
Yet refused to go city, let’s appoint him manager what could go wrong “edgits”
Think you’ll find it’s spelt egits ?
@ John just referred to me us as egits which means idiots in Irish and @ admin can’t delete that
Gutted ?
I’m Irish and I say eejits
Admin, you are partially correct as it’s pronounced eejit but spell egit, according to the urban dictionary, I just thought it ironic that someone who was being rude to others and calling them idiots can’t spell it correctly, did make me smile.
Eejits sounds so much better than idiots. My step Dad was from Galway and he had several amusing sayings. Decades ago I lived in an Irish lodging house in Kilburn and was the only English person among a dozen Irish folk. NEVER FELT MORE AT HOME!
Job offers for Wenger so far, PSG,Swansea,Sevilla,Monaco,fiorentina, Blackburn,Everton,CSKA Moscow and red bull
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And none from Arsenal so go and support him there
What? No CL winning squads?
Anything from Barca? Real Madrid? Bayern?
Maybe Juve if we get Allegri?
Just having fun, let it go bro he’s gone. The manager we all loved and cherished was gone several yrs ago.
Last several years was a shadow of the man and football we all loved. This clinging to possession as if its worth points, erratic team performances, and dross displays tainted his great achievements.
Wish he would have left after FA Cup, his 7th (record) 13th for Arsenal (record). Instead of this underachieving squad.
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Respecting Wenger and being happy he is being moved on are not incompatible thoughts. There has been some hypocrisy from fans who called him a cancer (horrible analogy) or Kim Jong (just slightly less offensive) one day and then praising him as a legend the next but that’s to be expected
@ Tredaeu some here called him, the cancer,Gaddafi,Mugabe, Hitler,the fossil, Ostrich,old fool,Mr.Bean etc.And to be honest this were is where I learnt the vulgar language and unprintable insults from the AOBs.I hope Wenger leaving will restore sanity
But your examples only go to show the depth of hostility while he was still our future manager. Fans care pasionately and vicarage typ ;language got us nowhere. Our rhetoric helped kickstart the regular emprty seats which finally did for him. Now he is to go, I (and all non bitter fans, which is almost all) wish him good health , a good future and look forward, not back. But your post saw only one side- your own side actually – of the argument. And if we are ever to get nearer the real truth we must examine all sides of the argument. Surely? Hopefully all fans will have learned several lessons from the farce that went on far too long. The most salient lesson most have learned though, is how much actual power ordinary fans have, if we work together. I mean the regular empty seats. We shall not forget this if a repeat occurs and the club are also acutely aware of this truth. No one actually WANTS nastiness. But, when the arrogance of the powers above forced us, we large majority who craved his departure, acted decisively and we won our battle.