Arsene Wenger regrets not leaving Arsenal earlier than he did, turning down the chance to move to a number of other top jobs over the years.
The legendary manager won three Premier League titles including the famous Invincibles season of 2003-04, with that being his last title win, as his club then moved to concentrate on their finances due to the building of their new state-of-the-art stadium.
We can now boast one of the best arenas in world football, but our team has slowly drifted further and further away from challenging for the league in recent seasons, and Wenger now has regrets over his decision to stay in north London for so long.
‘I identified myself completely with the club – that was the mistake I made,’ Wenger admitte das quoted in the Telegraph. ‘My fatal flaw is I love too much where I am… where I was. I regret it. I should have gone somewhere else.’
‘Sometimes I wonder – was something broken after that Invincible season?’ he explained.
‘2007 was a decisive point. It was the first time I could feel there were tensions inside the board. I was torn between being loyal to the club and being loyal to David [Dein].
‘I still today wonder if I did the right thing because life was never exactly the same after. I thought, “I have now to go to the end of this project”.
‘I could have gone to the French national team. The English national team twice or three times even. I could have gone twice to Real Madrid. I could have gone to Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, even Man United.’
While Wenger kept us relevant amidst limited spending, and somehow kept our side regularly qualifying for the Champions League over the years, you can understand his frustrations at not having taken up a new challenge when it presented itself to him.
He was too loyal a servant to us, and sections of our fanbase moved to hound him out in his latter seasons which is the real shame.
His legacy still remains in tact, but our reputation as fans will be talked up as passionate, although many must look back and feel remorse for their actions.
I fear that we would have struggled much worse if he had left us sooner, whilst the owners could also have had to readjust their thinking of the strategy much sooner, but we mustn’t wallow in the what ifs as Wenger is.
Things are all positive in north London at present thanks to a big upturn in fortunes for our season, with the club seemingly having acted extremely well in the previous transfer market, so now is a time to be looking forwards.
Should Wenger have left sooner? Are there still question marks over our business this summer?
Patrick