Have Arsenal fan protests been undone by last night’s cheers?

Arsene Wenger has come under strong pressure from sections of Arsenal’s fanbase in recent months, following their fall out of the title race.

The protestations have been snowballing as their run of form has continued to frustrate, and a plane was even flown over the Emirates Stadium against West Brom to call for him to leave.

Yesterday’s game appeared to be going the same route, with chants heard at the start of the game to urge him to quit the club, but after the 90 minutes, a number of fans remained to chant Arsene Wenger’s name, which may have outshined the protests.

Wenger recalled the signing, and admitted how happy he was to be hearing the happy fans after a tough few months in charge.

“I’m happy when people are happy,” Wenger said.

“And when you’re at the club for such a long time and you really care about people who care about the club, you know how sad they are when it doesn’t go well.

“So I can take care of myself because I am used to dealing with difficult periods but you want people who love the club to be happy, so I’m happy.”

Last night’s win was very important to our campaign, with it boosting us up back into fifth place in the division, as well as gaining points on both Manchester City and Liverpool who failed to win their games.

The Citizens were unable to take any points from their trip to league leaders Chelsea, while the Reds failed to beat a resolute Bournemouth side at Anfield.

Our club certainly needs to rally around and get behind the team in order to help our side battle their way into the top four, and Crystal Palace on Monday needs to be the start of that.

I know a large number of fans still want the Frenchman to give up his role, but the team is supposed to be the most important thing right now, and it remains clear that we are divided on the subject.

Last night’s chants may have outstaged the protests of late, but he may still decide to step down this summer, and our club will need to qualify for the Champions League whether he does stay on next term or not.

Did last night’s positivity outweigh the protests? Are the protests hurting our season?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Wenger

11 Comments

  1. Wenger will stay, Champions league will be gone, premiership will never be seen again under his reign and Fans who support average should take some of the blame. my money will stay in my pocket fools will be fools

  2. No – event to the most ardent AW lovers, they must realise that he needs to take a back seat in the near future, and having him in total control of the club, and a key man dependency is not the right way forward for a large footballing organization. Even with Alex Ferguson, who in no way controlled everything at Man Utd like AW does at Arsenal, it was a massive hit with his departure, so we need to start the smooth transition of power starting with new coaches and a sporting director this summer. Of course it would be nice to just go in for an Allegri etc, but even if we did that , we would need other sporting staff, and AW has to be managed out in a fitting way, so I guess bringing in a technical director and new coaches is the right way, although I guess there will be some resistance from AW on this.

  3. Truth is, Like us (WOBs) or not, We are the only source of pressure at the club right now. And a pressure to perform is really needed especially when Arsenal just constantly under performs. But it is! It is disheartening to see our efforts under looked, jeered and even literally spat upon and it is for that reason I’m bowing out. I’m still an Arsenal fan but honestly I couldn’t be bothered anymore. If Arsene wants to sign an additional 10 yr contract. Let him! If he views a top 4 finish as a season success? Yeah sure, why not! If repeated big team humiliations point nothing to mediocrity in his tactics/players? Welp, Minor setbacks anyway. If he views the FA trophy as major trophy? Okay. If he goes ahead and doesn’t win the league and or the CL in those 10 years? Cool, we have the FA cup anyway.

    I mean it’s one thing if the board overlooks these underachievements. They get richer each year plus some of them don’t even give a sod about football. But once fans start celebrating the underachievements? I really don’t get it!

    1. @Visibles
      I couldn’t agree more with your comments. Conflating beating West Ham with a boost/kick starting our season when in reality it has already been a disaster (e.g. Bayern 2-10) is an exercise by some fans in celebrating underachievement (worse still, an embarrassing season). When you say “I really don’t get” such behaviour, I agree with you wholeheartedly. The club needs more fans like you, so stick with it!!!

  4. I think it’s a little unfair that we have to play our game on Monday night. We already have games in hand which need to be won and now the other teams get a crack at piling the pressure on further.

    As for the protest debate.

    I think the protest that backfired at the end of last season should have been a learning curve for them. They need to get smarter and more organised. The idiots in the Alexis and Wenger masks along with the dogs, this doesn’t bode well. The tools that think it’s clever to say Wexit after adopting it from the Brexit, again very foolish. The ones who cause unrest within the stadium at a time when there is still plenty to play for, come on how smart do you need to be. The airplane fiasco, better left forgotten. The only protest that looked good, for me anyhow, was when they marched in the street while singing, but again there was an odd Wexit fool, but that demo came off well enough at least. I heard there was supposed to be some protesting around the thirteenth minute of last nights game, not that I noticed. Nor did I witness 10.000 empty seats like said in a previous article. I just think they need to up there game, but the thing is, they don’t seem to have the proper numbers yet, despite what it might look like on AFTV.

    1. @Break-on-through
      “…still plenty to play for…” What would that be? To see if we come ahead of Everton to claim 6th place? Or perhaps to see if we can hold on to 5th position?
      What is really at stake is whether Arsenal can reclaim their position of respect in the football world and be again considered as real challengers for top honours. The fans who bother to protest are the only ones really standing up for Arsenal’s legacy and they deserve better than the snide remarks often directed at them for taking the trouble to do so.

  5. Haha Shame shame. Sometimes i laugh about it. Sometimes i cry.what is wrong with us arsenal fans? Does one result overshadow all the bad? Football means alot to my life and my football goes hand in hand with arsenal. I really hate it when fans think in a one dimension i feel like stop watching us play,i feel like quitting supporting arsenal but am in love with arsenal. Itss too deep in my heart when i think of football its arsenal that comes in my head,my heart first. I cant do it and if i do it ill be missing something. Its gonna be real hard but this nonsense has to stop how can fans be more ambitious than the club seriously

  6. Granit Xhaka is getting better and better. I’m particularly impressed he’s using his right foot more. Next he needs to work on his speed and tackling.

  7. Mediocre results produce mediocre fans. I don’t think his supporters cheering him on was going to change anything because I believe that the arrogant failure was always going to stay no matter what. Wenger will stay as long as he wants because the board are too scared of change and taking the club to the next level.

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