Many Arsenal fans have been calling for years for the club to get rid of Arsene Wenger as the man in charge. And maybe if the Frenchman had failed to qualify for the Champions League one year or even if the players had not managed to overturn a 2-0 deficit to beat Hull City and win the FA cup in May, they might have got their wish.
But the end of the trophy drought and perhaps the loosening of the transfer purse strings has led to Wenger being offered and accepting three more years at the Arsenal helm. As Ivan Gazidis admitted recently, the club is worried about who they could get to replace the longest serving manager in English football and the problems that other clubs have had with new managers has certainly not eased their fears.
So it seems as though the club will need to be absolutely convinced they have the right man to take over before Wenger steps aside and the Prof himself is apparently fully involved in this plan, according to a Daily Star report. And the article claims that the right man may have already been identified as Paul Clement.
The 42-year old English coach is currently assisting Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid after following him from PSG. He has also worked at various levels at Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers, Ireland and Fulham after beginning his ciaching career at 23 when he realised he was never going to reach higher than non-league football as a player.
He is, however, one of the most highly regarded coaches in the world, yet is still to take full charge of a club. So if he is being lined up to replace Wenger at Arsenal, it may not be for some time yet and he may have to prove himself as a full manager first.
So it looks like we might as well get behind Wenger as we may not have a lot of choice. And maybe the struggles of David Moyes last season and then the same for Louis van Gaal and Brendan Rodgers this time suggest that this might not be such a bad thing for the Gunners. And we definitely don’t want to become a revolving door club for managers like the spuds.