Some Gooners Deserve This by Dan Smith
A lot of us Arsenal fans are worried right now. Worried about our future. Worried just how far we will continue to fall. Worried who will leave. Worried what our financial situation is…
Just a few years ago our frustration was ‘only’ finishing 4th. That now would be celebrated. If I said to you that next season Arteta will get Arsenal to qualify for the Champions League, you would bite my hand off and hail his work.
Have we forgotten how we ended up in this situation?
We took the greatest manager in our history, a man who loved us and cared and a section of our fanbase disrespected him. I’m not talking about those who felt he was getting too old or things were stagnating, etc. I’m talking about those who verbally abused him, who hired planes, who took out banners, who refused to stay behind after his final home game to make a stance.
Those gooners ….
I have zero sympathy.
You got what you wanted.
This is what every week you screamed for, and when you saw it got you a few YouTube views you showed the man nothing but disrespect.
If you don’t believe me, listen to the man himself. The week of the Chelsea FA Cup Final he talked about ‘his hurt’ of a section of supporters who had acted in a way he would ‘never forget’. He warned we were in danger of losing out values, our reputation of doing things the ‘Arsenal way’.
He wasn’t listened too.
A generation of fans have now been brought up to think that if Arsenal lose, it’s okay to shout and swear and find a scapegoat. This campaign alone, 3 of our squad have spoken about how actions of their own ‘supporters’ has led to them struggling mentally.
That’s okay though, because those same people have become celebrities on social media yet now seem hurt that they realise just how much we have fallen.
Well you can’t have everything. It is like you dumping your long-term partner, calling them names, mocking them, celebrating the day they leave and claiming that you’re going to find someone better. Then expecting everyone to feel sorry for you when you’re not happy years later. To those fans, this is what you wanted and somewhere Mr Wenger is sitting with a smile on his face.
You see, no one person knew this club inside and out more than him. Pundits, media even us fans, we think we know, but deep down, very few know what’s going on behind the scenes. Wenger would know the true scale of the Kroenke ambition.
He’s the one who every season had to somehow qualify for Europe, while his rivals spent more than him (and got mocked for doing it). He had to get used to selling his best players (with people laughing in his face) yet kept us competitive. He did this out of loyalty. If it were about purely how many medals you end up with, in 2006 he could have just gone to a Bayern or PSG.
He’s an intelligent man. He would have known, no one is winning the title under this employer. He never has to worry about someone bettering his record because the Kroenke family don’t care enough. The moment his time was up, they viewed it as further money off the wage bill.
It’s hard to admit your wrong. Those with their own agenda now try to still blame the old regime (not sure how many years that washes?). Wouldn’t be great for AFTV’s reputation if they admitted their reputation is based on a campaign which has seen Arsenal go backwards?
Wenger didn’t hire Emery or Arteta.
Auba’s contract situation is not his fault.
Ramsey would still be here.
Wenger always played Ozil and didn’t fall out with him.
Wenger didn’t have 5 captains.
Wenger has a distinct style of play.
Did he leave things perfect? No. Most managers who are asked to leave tend not to. But it was still a group of players though who were better than 10th place.
The club wasn’t perfect when he moved to England. There was a drinking culture, we were known as boring, we were not competing for titles.
He didn’t blame the previous set up.
He introduced his own methods.
Taught new ideas.
Found hidden gems for value.
In 22 years, he got to an incredible 13 finals and won 3 titles. In other words, we were always relevant.
I clearly haven’t forgot.
Some have.
Some did.
We are 10th with 7 games to go.
We are bleeding.
Only when Mr Wenger left would we realise how good a job he’s done under these owners.
Be careful what you ask for (the likes of AFTV) now you’re going to get it. At least be big enough to admit the grass hasn’t been proven greener.
Dan Smith
Don’t give me that old rubbish, the demise of arsenal started with Wenger, his inability to keep up with the times, how football was changing it was him who signed many players who were not good enough ie mustafi, bellerin, he gave ozil £350 a week, he took all the fight out of the club and the attitude of if you lose a game no one is held accountable just move onto the next one ,signing mediocre players, shall I go on
True. Many othe rthings could be added, but the main thing is, Wenger did well for a period, and after that we fell behind, and ended up with a constant slide.
Really.
What evidence do you have that Ozil is being paid £350k a week?
Did you read the article that you are commenting on?
I suspect not.
For my part, I agree with what he says in the article.
Having been a supporter from nearly 60 years, I have seen all of the ups and downs in that time.
We all need to get used to the idea that now is time a for a”down”, and the last person who can be blamed for that is Wenger.
The administration and management of the club since he left has been a shambles and has led us to where we are, not him.
there is no way he was going to stay for life, so having him around for more years will be same as delaying the inevitable, so it’s good as all its happening now, so the rebuilding will happen now and not later.
He overstayed his welcome, had it been he left us those years that we were still in UCL it would have been better, as we would have more funds. But here we are, so let’s not dwell much on the past.
His stay wouldn’t have change anything but rather delay the inevitable, am just angry he didn’t leave us in a strong position, the team, UCL, some contracts, and all sort, he could have done better
OT: bayern bid 36million for Sane, why do our scout fold arm, it’s not as if we are waiting for UCL qualification, the should start in transfer market earlier. Put up the unwanted players for sale, get contract rebels signed or put them up for sale
While we’re pondering over a move for 33 year old Joe Hart 😳
So if you have the talent of Sane, you’d be thinking of playing for arsenal at this moment! Wake bro. The best talent you should be hoping on now is Fraser, no disrespect to Fraser.
Wenger also had his own issues. He had to leave at some point considering his age. Wenger missed out on signings like Juan Mata, Hazard, Gary Cahill, Kante, Jamie Vardy, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and so on. He also contributed in some way to the problem with this club. Why didnt Wenger sign Cahill from Bolton wanderers? Because he was unwilling to match his wage demands.
Why didnt Wenger bring back Fabregas from Barca? Having Fabregas and Ozil in the same team would have pushed us further. Fabregas went to chelsea and won the league.
Wenger contributed to yhe present situation
Also, we apppinted the wrong guy in Unai. Unai should have been sacked after the Europa league defeat to chelsea.
The major problem is our board is always slow in making swift decisions. They were slow in getting Wenger out. Made the wrong choice of Emery, Slow in Sacking Emery, slow in bringing in his replacement.
They can correct this by buying the players we desperately need
Asensio, Fekir, Thomas Partey, Dunk,
Wenger is gone. We should move on
U one of those fans for sure. Wenger was fired too late? Emery not good enough and not repaced fast enough!
Whoa, nothing to say against that! How do you fix all that with Kroenke who you probably work for?
Read the article, several times, it might bring sense to you and back in reality! Or keep thinking and stay mad because we won’t finish 10th but between 11th and 15th spot.
Keep on looking for CL football!
sorry @skills1000 but except for Cahill the rest cannot be blamed on Wenger,you seem to forget he also had financial restrictions,Vardy never wanted to come to Arsenal,before any PL clubs had heard of Hazard Wenger tried to buy him but Lille wanted to keep him a bit longer by the time he was put on the market we couldn’t compete financially with Chelsea,Ibra refused to train with us “Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”Fabregas wanted to leave and was ready to pay few millions of his money and the timing left us with no time to find a replacement and when he wanted to come back it didn’t make sense financially especially with Ozil performing and other areas of the team needing improvements,kante and Marhez he wasn’t backed up by the club ,I could go on so you see your arguments don’t stand up,you seem to forget Wenger also had the same financial restrictions if not worse the stadium….the difference is that it was balanced by 20 years of CL football and having to sell his best players year in year out,not his fault but he never blamed anyone else when he had every right to do so he could even had left,he wasn’t perfect but he left us with a team finishing 5th(one season 1 pt from 5th)and cash in the bank!money wasted on bad signings ,hiring and sacking UE and his staff then on MA and his staff,a lot has been spend from top to bottom on the so called “restructuring” of the club,still blaming Wenger is ludicrous,if he had been the problem the club has had plenty of time and spent enough money to rectify his mistakes instead we are in a much worse situation actually the worst since Wenger came in (never heard of talks of relegation when he was in charge did you?)not only on a sporting level but also financially to the point it is embarrassing.
There is always an excuse. That is why we are where we are.
Arguably worst article this site has had, how you can have the temerity to bring up Wenger someone who is partly responsible for where are we now is beyond me.
Agree with that, the architect of where we are today.
No. Kroenke is why you there blind and incapable to read and accept the truth. What can you deny from this article?
I will say that he missed a point ; we would be champions several times if Kroenke didn’t jerked and embarrassed Wenger and all of us ruining Suarez and Kante deals back to back, Wenger had convinced both players!!!
I’m still fuming as much as this was awful, price flying up a year later making it impossible to compete!
Stadium payment was done and we were promised to get funds to make proper addition!
That’s the turning point my friend! We would have been champions for years in our new stadium! That’s was Wenger plan after paying for it while keepingnus in top 4 mocked with a bunch of kids!
You tell me, wouldn’t we be winning with Suarez Kante, Ozil in top form and Sanchez brought in?
That’s what Wenger had all set but Kroenke ruined it! Til this very day we wish we had Kante!
You could offer a counter argument but I suppose it is easier to just attack the article while adding nothing to the debate.
Don’t remember being 10th under Wenger?
But you must remember him buying crap players who couldn’t compete, your argument is weakand nonsensical
apart from not being 10th , thats quite crucial wouldnt you say?
Nope – Chelsea didn’t give a toss about being that low before winning the league the next season. The difference here is that we ain’t winning sh*t next year..
99% of the fan base—most not old enough to know life before AW—refuse to acknowledge that we are mid-table team now. This is what will prove to be the biggest disease we have at the club. Any possiblity at having any chance to rebuild with a modicum of patience and stability is probably a thing of the past for us know – its only taken 2 games for the first calls of Arteta out..🙄
Always notice that the pro Wenger fans can give facts
The Wenger out fans have to be angry and attack ?
The point of the article is have we gone backwards
Yes or no ?
Seems some don’t want to admit to it as it won’t suit their agenda
I am one of the people who think Wenger should have been fired a couple of years earlier.
Your statement about facts is actually false. Wenger fans have with some success put forward the argument, he didn’t have money to spend. But the facts are, Arsenal have in the last 5 years spent third most in the PL on new players, and we have spent loads on wages, but we have slided backwards constantly. This is because of spending on the wrong players/positions and players getting worse, not better, after joining Arsenal.
Wenger must take most of the blame for it.
The decline was started by Wenger and has carried on. He wasted transfer money on weak players and brought in players with an awful attitude that is still influencing the squad today. The architect has gone but his work is still in progress. Dont forget his last two years we failed to qualify for CL. He went because he was in decline and became he stayed too long in the job, he started something that is a car wreck now. Im afraid that i blame him more now than i did at the time because he allowed us to get in this position and it is one of the reasons we are so bad today. I dont miss wenger, i dont miss Emery and Arteta is not the answer. The set up of the club is a shambles and has been since and before Kronk came in, he also has made this club worse but unlike wenger, he is still here, making poor decisions.
Interesting points there Reggie and its horrible having to agree with you, as I hate to see our great club in this state.
I knew that the club had repayments for the Emirates, but eventually we were being told that there was money there to spend, and look what we ended up with?
The trouble is although you think Arteta is not the answer, it was always going to be difficult to appoint a proven manager if the skinflint owner shows no ambition. It is a real mess.
Reggie, Wenger’s greatest failure was losing track of what had made his Arsenal teams so good; a solid no nonsense defense, a defensive midfielder (Gilberto Silva), physically strong quick midfielders who could progress the ball by running with it or make one touch passes and a one for, all for one mentality within the team with leaders across the pitch, like Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Ray Parlour, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Emanuel Petit and Patrick Viera. His teams could play you off the park or get down in the gutter and play hard – your choice.
Inexplicitly he went away from this model; quality defenders CB’s and FB’s were not replaced with like, the defensive midfielder disappeared, and tall fast physically strong midfielders were replaced with smaller yet technical players. Arsenal started to be bullied in midfield and got the reputation of “not liking it up them”. The mentality of the team changed where losing became acceptable, because there is always the next game and we get paid anyway.
With the departure of David Dein, the successful Wenger/Dein partnership was broken and Arsenal lost the Midas touch of identifying and signing great talent.
The executives brought in by Kroenke such Gazidis, combined with a geriatric Board mismanaged Arsenal financials and player scouting, recruitment and contracts to bring Arsenal to its current state.
Ur so full of crap. The guy overstayed his welcome. Gosh the guy tried to convince us sanago was the second coming of Anelka and these where examples of players he was buying in his latter years. Granted there where few good ones but my God, wenger started sucking eggs. Overstayed his welcome. Glad he got fired.
You are new on here so I will give you some breathing space but starting your comment off with Ur so full of crap is rude and adds nothing to the debate. Either comment in a constructive manner or dont bother, your choice.
That’s my.point
You got what you wanted
Yeah Dan I remember you slagging off Wenger and saying he should go so don’t come out with aload of old pony saying you got what you wished for that doesn’t wash
mate unless you got me mixed up for another Dan , your simply making that up
i been a contributor to this site for years and admin might back me up, have always been pro Wenger – to the point I have been in the minority
I’m referring to dan Smith who wrote this article
I am Dan Smith
always been pro wenger
can show you articles where I wrote him leaving will be our biggest mistake
dug this out for you
cant stand liars mate
https://www.justarsenal.com/wenger-did-not-deserve-the-abuse-from-arsenal-fans-we-will-never-again-see-the-like/105250
This article is absolute crap. Wenger is the architect of the struggles we are experiencing on the field of play right now.
We have always had a weak defensive set up- how did he solve that?
Our defensive midfield was never same following the departures of Vieira and Gilberto- how did he solve that?
Who brought such a weak mentality on the players?
Who brought misfits like Mustafi?
Who indulged Ozil yo this point where he’s now like a spoilt brat?
You talk about him not having five captains, look around the team he left behind and point out one leader in there.
We are still reeling from the decisions and indecisions of the French man so don’t come here painting him like the Messiah
You are new on here so I will give you some breathing space but starting your comment off with this article is absolute crap is rude and adds nothing to the debate. Either comment in a constructive manner or dont bother, your choice.
Blaming luck of money from the board is an excuse of Wenger and his apologists, he used to be a master of spotting gems and turning them into world class players.Then came the likes of Chamakh, Bendtner,Denilson,Kalstrom,Sanogo,SSquilachi,Monreal,Bellerin,Mustafi,Xhaka,Kolasinac,Chambers, Elneny etc were all signed under his watch while failing to develop any one from the youth setup.Meanwhile in 2016 Leicester after one year up from the championship win the league with their major signings from the French 2nd division.That was the year Wenger should have thrown in the towel and resigned but he decided to hang on defiantly turning the club into a joke.Add to this his inabilty to fix the defence, have a different approach tactically and never make the players take responsiblity for their performances.
To be honest, I knew the beginning of the end of Arsenal was when Ox, Schzney and the rest celebrated 4th spot as a cup victory many seasons back when we “clinched” the 4th spot on the penultimate game. Arsene gave us some good memories but at some time he would have to move, earlier the better. And with regards to his last 10 years with us,
Did he leave on a high? No.
Did he land us a title or UCL /EL trophy in his last 10 years. No
Did he leave a good squad in terms of quality. No
Did he cultivate a winning mentality in the players. No
Did he evolve with time? No
Did he hire winners? No, the likes of Xhaka, Mustafi, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck, were his masterclass.
The club did make two correct decisions
1. Hiring him
2. Firing him
He achieved things when the EPL was a two horse race, when he faced competition, he faded into oblivion. Even Claudio Reineri managed to win the EPL with modest hardworking players.
He inculcated this callous and careless attitude with the players.And we see this today in the attitudes of Xhaka, Mustafi, Ozil today and these are the role models for our rising players.
So thank him for the good times, remembering that he is the architect for our bad times.
Agree.
👍 👍
Wenger out and he is gone….. hallelujah……he left a mess… now arsenal is rebuilding…..let’s have patience……
Thumbs up Pat.
Ignorant soiled fans, unfortunately incapable to see what we dealing with til this very day.
We have a monster name Kroenke who ruins this club and hides while cashing up all the money for himself.
No one else is responsible. He tricked us & Wenger using stadium payment as an excuse to not put a dime in this club, stack nioney up.
In 2013, Wenger managed to keep us in CL and stadium paid for; promised money to strength team to compete for title.
Humiliating us with Suarez we saw in AFC shirt already, Kroenke ruining Wenger plans and effort to convince Suarez! Same BS with Kante year later, price went up after that. No way to compete even with payment plans!
We would have been winning EPL several times and CL, Kroenke destroyed Wenger from that ooint, trying his best but aware it was no way to compete with market flying if we couldn’t pay. 45M for Kante and Luiz then !
Fans are spoiled by what Wenger got us used to, CL at least. Mad we landed in Europa, 5th place!
Look at us now! We had the best, Kroenke ruined this new run Wenger had perfectly planned. Win and right a new page in our new stadium! 2013/_2014 2014/2015 was that transition period and Kroenke ruined twice. No way to compete since, price flew after that.
The ignorant soiled wenger is our messiah fans are the ones that helped him stay on too long to do his damage. If he was that good he would be still here, if he was that good he would have realised he couldn’t cut it anymore,if he was that good he would have a job in football now. The man stayed out his welcome far too long and we are paying for it. He made a magnificent empire with his stubbornness and selfishness and then ruined it with stubbornness and selfishness.
You right there, wenger didn’t put forward the bid. 45million was enough at the time, but remember it was not kreoke that put the bid forward too.
I so much agree with criticism of kreoke from ozziegunner view than yours.
I think the incompetence of Kreoke was those clown he hired, we would have been doing fine without kreoke investments if the guys at the top buy smart and not mismanage, the like of Gazidis and even Raul are useless to begin with. There are lots of club run self sufficiently by pros and does well without owners personal funds injected.
Hopefully someone can give us an article on self sufficient models with good management (like Utd) and the effect of owner fund buying directly (like Abrahamovic buying shevchenko in cfc) with regards to today’s UEFA fair play rule
Wenger pocketed £100 million in wages during his time at Arsenal, with bonuses for saving Stan Kroenke money by balancing the books. Don’t forget Wenger has a degree in Economics.
Sorry to burst your pathetic bubble, but Wenger left us in serious decline instilling the current mentality on full display today.
Had he been sacked earlier when Guardiola was available and interested in taking over but Wenger wasn’t ready for the gravy train to end we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Wenger never won the Champion’s League, meaning he was a second-tier Manager. Stop letting your emotions cloud the facts. He was once a good, domestic manager, but even that was a long time ago.
We missed out on klopp because wenger stayed too long, we sounded him out 4 years ago but le prof stayed.
Not true what so ever ,Klopp always wanted the Liverpool Job ,so he would t have come here anyway ,before writing check on your facts .
Fans will write anything to paint Wenger in a bad light .
This site was full of Wenger out fans and still is. You all swapped 4th for 10th. Arsenal need a fan swap. I heard the spurs still have openings.
Not true, check your facts, klopp was lined up for Arsenal and wenger stayed. Liverpool went for klopp a year later the Liverpool job wasn’t available when we were interested. Get your fact straight.
Klopp was lined up by who ?we the fans ?
Klopp as said he would be only interested in coaching Liverpool when he left Dortmund .
Don’t believe me everything you read in the daily mail mate .
Guardiola…. look what might have been, and weep
100 million well spent though -only manager to achieve the invincibles .
Can’t put a price on being able to witness greatness .
I’m not knocking his achievements Dan kit. I do believe he stayed too long and only wish that he had called it a day after the FA Cup win.
My response was to tony and reggie Sue .
I wanted him to leave aswell it’s that I can’t see why he’s blamed so often for things that was out of his hands.
The only thing that could save Gunners now is A Second Wave. And I think it will come. Asn’l is falling free after the brutal restart of the season 2019/20. Half of the team was on the way out, and those players don’t give a damn if they hurt the club by playing lousy. Why should they care? F*ck Asn’l! But this stupid opening up movement will fix it for us. A second wave is coming, about round 35-36, if not sooner, when the corona cases become so many in most teams that it is impossible to get a starting XI. Then the Plague season is over.
Wenger was fully responsible for Arsenal’s demise! He monopolised the club’s management, like he was Napoleon.
He brought dross like Mustafi,, Elneny, Xhaka etc that is 90 million pounds wasted. Even a loan player like Kalstrom arrived with a fractured back, played 4 games.
Then Wenger let Sanchez, Özil, Ramsey run down their contracts, that is 120 million pounds wasted!!
He spent the last two years fighting with Gazides, politics, another waste of space.
Wenger loved Arsenal, of course he did 120 million pounds over 20 years! He still negotiated his 14 million pound pay off.
I don’t buy this greatest manager stuff, George Graham was, he won 2 titles to Wenger’s 3 in a much shorter time.
He gave our best ever defence to Wenger: Seamen, Dixon, Adams, Keown, Bould and Winterburn.
Wenger tries to rewrite history. Wenger stayed 10 years too long!!
Dan, a great article spoiled by your references to aftv in my opinion.
The greatest ever defence we had must be the Invincibles surely?
As for being in continual decline, facts speak for themselves.
In his last five years, we had CL football for three of them and europa for the other two – we finished 4th 3rd 2nd in the league (improving each season) – we then won the fa Cup and missed CL qualification for the 21st time by one point, before the final year of his time at our club when we finished 6th.
How much money he bought in to the club via transfer dealings, CL qualification, fa cup final wins and top four prize money goes into the billions of pounds and, as an example, just qualifying each year for the CL paid the current salary he was earning each season.
Straight forward facts that can be verified by searching on the Internet – each team that qualified for last year’s CL were given £10 million as starters.
Well written Dan and of course Wenger made some awful mistakes and should have gone after the magnificent win against the champions Chelsea at Wembley.
His achievements under someone like kronkie are now being understood and recognised… his resignation was bound to backfire on the club, as some of us already knew.
He is the greatest manager in our history – that’s a fact
Could give you longer list of great players he brought
Can I ask when he went invincible which defender was he ‘ given’?
censurfittor!
It’s not necessarily censoring, but we do have a rule that comments must be in understandable Englidh, as if I dont know what you are saying then i dont know if you are being insulting or not.
You may not think it fair, but I do!
Why Wenger? Wenger is yesteryears. Now is Arteta and the Relegation threat. And the only thing that could save Gunners is a second Wave. And I think it will come. Asn’l is falling free after the brutal restart of season 2019/20, because half of the team members know that they are on the way out and they don’t give a damn if they hurt the club by playing lousy. Why should they? But the stupid Open up society movement will fix it for us. About round 35-36, if not sooner, when most teams have so many corona cases that they hardly can get a starting XI – then the season is over. Null and void, Lady Brady.
My first try was censored. So I tried again.
I was calling for klopp a year before he went to liverpool had the board shown some balls and made this happen we would not be in the position we are today we were well in decline under Wenger by then and was the perfect opportunity to make the change just knew klopp would be a huge success and what he is doing for the scousers just proves it!!
It was wenger who decided to stay, otherwise we would have got klopp, a year later Liverpool profited.
Thank you your opinion. Nothing but just agree with you. We miss Wenger so much…..
No we don’t, He stopped fighting after the 2006 champions league final .He was never the same after that .
If Wenger was gone earlier, we would be in championship. We were very lucky last year, Emery making all he could. We could have been 9th without all team messing up! Reached final lost against best team we played!
This season it showed clearly to sceptics that Wenger leaving club took us in midtable, bellow 10 spot we will finish at.
Wenger plan was not to overstay, but pay for stadium, expecting money from owner as promised, to compete for title after keeping us years in CL&attractive, a top club!
Suarez & Kante were on their way and Wenger ending in a highest note ever. We would be still fighting for titles with these 2 players! Winning several titles and CL!
Instead he had to try to keep us above in a market where he did not have enough to compete. He took a lot from that and made his best to not have us sink as he done a decade with no money to compete.
Emery was fine, but obviously but a bit short, missing both targets. But all f you were happy looking forward to do it this season. So did Emery thinking he earned credit to bring him players to add up what missed.
Partey, Zaha, Maguire or Koulibaly Kos asked in order to stay. He was hurt missing it so short in EL final
Leno
Bellerin Koulibaly Kos Tierny
Torreira Partey
Ozil
Zaha. Laca. Auba
That was team Emery had in mind. Ozil back in form, subs: Saka, Martinelli, Xhaka, Niles, Willock….
We would be fighting for EPL and win EL this year with these 3 additions!
But of course, without a top CB and Top DM at least, we can’t be a stronger team than last year but instead to take it on Kroenke hiding, Emery was a bad coach!
Wake da heck up! This is not about Wenger, nor Emery, nor Arteta but a greedy owner who doesn’t give a crap beside saving money for himself.
Got us an assistant coach, you were all happy! What happen now? Arteta is not good enough?
Of course we be fighting for title with these 3 additions! Instead lost our Captain and best CB and got Luiz and ceballos in middle to get Ozil to leave instead to look at freaking hole we gave in center huge as an asshole!
Emery had to accept, no word on transfer what so ever. Brought him pepe in payment plan and actually left a talented CB defender in France!
That’s Kroenke and board following his instructions!!!
Same as Suarez & Kante insane blows, you can’t blame on manager but Kroenke greedy billionaire!
A most interesting article that was always going to divide fans as It certainly has. On thr defence gfor Wenger side ouy have the usual ones such as Ken and Mogunna -though those two are poles apart in how they react in general, if you take my drift – andon theother a number of posts, notably Loose Cannon who, broadly, echoes my personal view of the Wenger years.
But to my thinking mind, the overrididing factor that dwarfs everything else is the fact that Kroenke took control of our club shortly after David Dein was stupidly ousted and from that dreadful day the rot set in and we now see the consequences of an absent, uncaring and uninterewted owner all too clearly.
I saw good and bad in Emery but without owner support no manager van hope to turn round a sinking ship without money available. Some of his buys were clearly foisted on himand wer not his own choice. On Arteta my real fear is that fan fury from the”unthinking reactionaries” will force him out too . They have not the collective wit to see that while Kroenke remains as owner NO manager has a hope to make this sinking ship actually challenge at thrtop.
It should bepobvious to all but so many would rather and falsely blame the managers than the manager/coach even though it is obvious that we have a large percent of players here who are just rank bad buys, mostly bought because there was not money available to buy better quality.
If you are financially forced to shop at Primark you cannot expect to compete onequal trms with those who buy top designer clothes and that is where we arerigt now.
To effect ANY REAL CHANGE, we badly need Kroenke out and that is the core of the matter. All other arguments are to aviod the crux of the problem. And that my friends is my long held point that I have been saying on here for many years past.
I SAY IT BECAUSE IT IS PROFOUNDLY TRUE AND OBVIOUS, AT LEAST TO ME!
” WOULD RATHER BLAME THE MANAGERS RATHER THAN THE OWNER” is what I meant to write!
Jon, I am with you when it comes to first picking the ownership, next the board and then the coach/players. But, it is the coach who benches some and plays the others.It is the coach who makes substitutions and I regret that Arteta has failed on both occasions. As i mentioned somewhere, Carlo’s boys stood up to Pool, yet our start studded line up fell flat to Brighton?! Why cannot the coach drill some serious training sessions? Why does he keep benching enthusiastic players like Gabriel and AMN on the bench when they have pace and talent? If and when Arteta plays the right players in the right positions (and not follow Wenger’s style of playing players out of position for the sake of playing), I will stop calling him out, even if we lose. No shame in losing, but losing without a fight makes me sick to the core. And this makes me negative.
I’m with you on this Loose cannon. You just always speak my mind
jon, Kroenke is an American businessman, who knows nothing about football. What I can’t understand is how he has allowed the Arsenal Board and senior management to be populated by people, so obviously not up to the task of managing this Club, financially and football wise. I need to keep a closer eye on his other enterprises to see if they are similarly mismanaged.
Not sure why I’m named, but we do agree, it is not about managers but a greedy owner. Emery with 3 additions requested to strength team he had, would be fighting for title.
Same for Wenger, Suarez and Kante on their way, would have had us champions… If Kroenke always comes at last minute and ruins it all each time we just miss a bit more, it is no way to compete!
Can’t blame Arteta for not being a coach, Kroenke hired an assistant, cheapest option!
What we need is a new owner and bring Wenger as boss he was meant to become, Henry as director of football he is to me more than a coach wich should be Viera who has coaching experience and a winner
We would attract great young and top players, have great image we always had, and winning mentality. A club well managed and happy fans!
It can’t happen under Kroenke, nothing but fall out. Wenger was not just a coach and precisely what we miss!
Jon, wise words regarding kronkie, something that we have always agreed on 100%.
As Dan’s fine article was about AW specifically, I didn’t comment on kronkie and your words have, once again, taken me back to the decline of our club.
If we were to be perfectly honest with ourselves, both sides of the Wenger debate have valid and important points, but it is kronkie we should be looking at in detail.
From the second our old bastion of a board turned tail and feathered their nests by selling the soul of our club, the rot set in.
This man has no interest in our club, apart from making a buck, as the decline in style of play, the type of player and results from before his takeover are there for all to see.
It has been said that AW was the architect of our demise… completely missing the point that the builder can only work from the architects plans and, as the undisputed owner of our club, kronkie designed and paid for whatever he alone, decided was the plan.
For years Wenger was able to hold our club together under this owner and he performed miracles while making mistakes as well.
I would love to see Dan giving his views on the Kronkie years and how our club has declined under this invisible and mercenary owner.
The debate on Arsene Wenger will divide our fanbase for ever, while the real source of our present day demise continues to hide behind him, UE and now MA.
Ken how good to see an article of real interest on here, written as ever by Dan, who else! And look how many posts it has attracted, unlike some other articles which are totally ignored but who never learn why!
Jon, it is nice to see you back however less of the snide remarks, they are not welcome and I will not allow them any more.
Yes sir, I will obey you!
Jon, it’s articles like this, that we can debate with feeling and sensibility and Dan draws me back with every article he writes, whether I agree with him or not and whether I want to or not!!!!
I just noticed a reply from Reggie, that says it was Wenger who decided to stay – Reggie, if kronkie didn’t want him to stay, he wouldn’t have offered him a new contract… the point of Wenger accepting the offer is only possible if the owner makes it so, as he wouldn’t have been able to stay if it hadn’t been offered in the first place – bringing us back to the point that Jon and I are making – everything begins and ends with kronkie.
The different views on AW (the ones this article is all about) must surely be linked to this statement?
Yes Ken obviously the non sporting, non football minded Kronk, did want Wenger to stay. And yes, it does all start and finish with Kronk in that respect.
Reggie, I agree that kronkie is a non football minded owner, so that was why he employed gazidis to run the club.
Kronkie may be the worst kind of owner we could have possibly had, but he isn’t a fool…so if we take this forward another step, then we get to the worst CEO in the history of the club (only my opinion) who was entrusted to run the financial side of the operation – he took full control of contracts, salaries etc from AW and the rest is history.
That’s how I see it and to say AW was the architect let’s kronkie and gazidis off the hook, enabling our owner to hide behind AW, UE and MA.
Jon, You speak very well when you are interested in a post, but why do you have to constantly malign the stories you don’t?
Stick to the ones you like and everyone will be happy…
Yes sir, I will obey you!!
An emotive article Dan ,written from the heart at a time when we have suffered major setbacks and injuries.Would you have penned the article had we beaten City and Brighton?In factual terms Mr Wenger was a wonderful Manager for a decade after which he declined steadily and left the Club with a wonderful stadium but with an unbalanced squad of players which was far from wonderful.The last straw for me was the incredible signing of Mustafi.I have visited the beautiful city of Valencia on a number of occasions and as an Arsenal fan I am welcomed with smiles and open arms.The fans of Valencia Dan celebrated into the night on the sale of “the carthorse”, their words, not mine, for a staggering 35m.They considered Mustafi to be a liability and as he proved at the second Brighton goal,he lived up to that billing.I appreciate Manager’s make good and bad signings, but Wenger made far too many to the extent that I began to doubt his clarity of mind in terms of the number of rank defenders acquired during the past ten years of his stewardship. I admire your passion Dan, but we are where we are, and resurrecting AW is not a constructive way of solving our current problems.
Grandad, left me ask you if you think our current holders of the contracts, salaries, buying and selling of players have improved the situation as you see it?
Have the signings of luiz, sokratis, lichstenier, ceballos, suares improved our squad?
Don’t you think that the chelsea fans must be reacting in the same way as the valencia fans did?
I have no argument with your point regarding rank defensive signings, but where is the improvement that kronkie, gazidis and his new regime promised us?
I would also add, that even with those awful signings, we were still competitive, won trophies, finished in the top four eight out of the ten years you quote and were never viewed or talked about as relegation candidates.
After watching city demolish the 11 men of Burnley tonight and seeing Burnley unhindered by two serious injuries and the introduction of luiz, the idea that the club might be thinking of giving him a new contract puts the signing of mustafi on a par with this never ending nightmare.
It is over two and a half years since AW signed anyone, so let’s put pressure on those who took over that responsibility – not forgetting that mustafi was a AW signing of course.
While fans are still blaming him, articles like this, from pro Wenger supporters, will always argue the other side of the coin and it is undeniable that our club was never in the situation we find ourselves in today under Arsene Wenger, no matter how many bad signings he made…so the point Dan is making about having a wish granted and then finding out that we are worse off, stands up to scrutiny.
How I loved those beautiful football, even when we lose matches. I miss Wenger’s Arsenal.
The man is only a human far from impeccable, but definitely of the highest qualities around. He took all the blames for things that were not his fault and still reluctant to expose everything (this is class). He would have won lots more had it not been for all the conspiracies and sports politics against him for the values he stood for.
Now we have neither the games nor the wins. I weep for Arsenal. When is this nightmare going to end?
Buying early is what makes a club get value for their money but waiting till final minute is panick buying why aren’t we active already, Liverpool already bid for koulibally, we accept it will be difficult to get such players right now but lol at westharm, Everton, Newcastle, shefied etc, tell me we can’t get just one quality cb with moderate price and age, that can improve us. Why waiting to pick left over?
An excellent article, regardless of whether I agree with it or not
Deleted for a derogatory comment
You should know better Third Man. Please offer constructive comments and not just attack the writer.
Some people are so blind with hate and looking for a scapegoat that they cannot see that they have probably witnessed Arsenals Golden age from 1997-2016.
Keep blaming Wenger for those awful times, I had a blast.
Thanks Arsene as the comments show, you were not appreciated.
AW is the greatest manager that Arsenal have ever had if you go by statistics alone. Invincibles and double winners, domestic trophies and years of top4 finishes – those stats don’t lie.
What stats don’t show is how long ago we won the last PL title and how little else we won apart from success in the FA Cup
I was extremely supportive of him especially during the move to the Emirates and having to cut our cloth to reduce the debt.
When we heard that there was real money to spend again penny pinching still carried on and some poor acquisitions made.
I’m grateful for what he brought to our club but he couldn’t reinvent himself in the way that Ferguson did and ultimately lost his way and lost a lot of the supporters too.
He should have gone earlier but he must have believed he was Mr Arsenal and infallible
His inability to realise he wasn’t able to do what the new managers were doing led to his downfall and I am sorry for that
Sorry! You mean what the new managers are doing now? Shuffling between 9th and 10th? I think I’ll pass!
Like someone with hindsight as pointed out, based on current trend, if Arsene has left earlier, we would be in the Championship!
No I don’t actually, so there was not need to be so smart.
I was referring to the likes of Mourinho (earlier years) and Guardiola and Klopp. There are plenty in Germany who have moved with the times and Wenger didn’t unfortunately. But on JA we are all entitled to our opinions as you have shown.
I would also like to add my opinion on the article and subsequent comments. I don’t like Kroenke, we have regressed under his ownership and I also wanted Wenger out and am very happy that he finally left though it was already too late.
I am not sure where our transfer funds come from but I sort of don’t buy into the argument that Kroenke is stingy when you consider that we refused to meet Kante’s quoted price but spent about 4m pounds more to get Xhaka. Wenger spent very good money on getting Mustafi and spent just over a 100m pounds in his final season to get two player’s (Laca and Auba) he didn’t need and created the monster that is Ozil. We refused a reported 60m pounds offer for Sanchez in his last summer with us only to end up with Mkhi. We continually overpay our players from the days of Wilshere and Walcott to the Kolasinacs and Xhaka’s that we can’t get rid of because no other same club would pay these what they earn at Arsenal.
Is Kroenke stingy? I don’t know, what I do know is that we have steadily regressed under his ownership and we seem to always hire people that are killing the club ie Gazidis and now Raul. Those people are milking our coffers dry by the day with ridiculous financial ramifications.
Wenger never deserved the abuse he got but he didnt help himself by overstating his welcome, some felt so desperate for change that acted poorly
I think for some time now weve relied on players that arent good enough for top 4 competing
Xhaka being my main example.
Wenger, (restricted hugely by Kroenkes) started this and its proven hard to snap our of it.
What worries me is we seem to be a club that just mentally doesny believe in itself or have any confidence.
I think back to Laca and Pepe when they played in Ligue 1 and they were quality, pepe was a beast but at arsenal players just look so poor.
I do truly have belief in Artetas methods and could see him starting to change the ethos of the team and the dynamic
I blame covid 19 for this as it came at the worst time
Other strange things that have happened to mess with us are:
Ozil and kola being stopped at knife point, ozil getting a large contract and not playing well Ramsey, welbeck and cech all leaving at the same time was also huge.
It’s great to see an article actually speaking the truth behind the demise. I fully blame the kroenkes, they have always been the problem and will be until they leave.
Every word you have written is true, I particularly feel that if Ramsey alone was still here he’d be giving the midfield exactly what we are missing.
Wenger wasn’t perfect, but he was clever he was loyal and he trustworthy. We new we were safe with Wenger, we even had the chances of possibly winning.
Now, Now we have nothing, and we won’t have unTIL the Kroenke go.
For those who insisted that Wenger is THE reason of our current pathetic state, please think.
If Wenger is really the reason, the why, after 3 years and s spending quite sizable sums, none of his so-called mistakes was rectified. Yes, you can argue that you need time to reverse that “many” mistakes, but at least solve one problem per year, and we should have 3 of Wenger’s mistakes rectified.
Can you tell me which of his mistakes has been targeted and worked on?
Sadly, one of his mistakes refuses to be worked on. The club may have sanctioned his last mega contract, but you can’t tell me that Wenger had no influence on it.
The millions and millions that mistake has cost Arsenal is outrageous and to a player reaching the latter stages of his career. For what he has been earning, there could have been signings made in areas where they were most needed.
Ozil again? One high pay player and we run out of resources. LOL. if we are going to be championship material, we should have many high pay players in the team! One Ozil can give the excuse to cover everything, then his salary is well worth it to the Management, though not for sporting reasons.
How about any other Wenger “mistakes” being worked on?
DiDi, the way things are going we may very soon “be Championship material”. But my Championship is in a lower division than yours!
We are struggling to get rid of his mistakes such as Mustafi for starters
Regarding Ozil his deal set a precedent and it will be almost impossible to change the wage structure until he leaves. I expect he has tied up his image rights
If wrong recruitments were his only mistakes, you don’t need to 5 transfer windows to rectify them.
Mustafi is sellable at market price (not Arsenal price) – free up the wage and a foreign player quota.
Take care of the Ozil case like Man U tackling their Sanchez issue. Subsidise his wages and he will gladly take off to Turnkey.
As we dwell on his people mistakes, may be we should also recognise Ramsey, Auba, Chambers, Bellerin (when uninjured) and the youngsters Saka, Nelson, etc… to name a few of his recruits praised in the post-Wenger team.
If player recruitment is the only mistake that people can raise, then we have to admit that the current demise is not so much a Wenger issue.
i am not arguing for argument’s sake. But only when we are willing to look at the real root cause, then we can arrest the downfall.
I’m done
Believe me
Wenger was not the only cause at all
Kroenke is numero uno
Along with the numpties he employed to look after the shop
DiDi, since that new obscene contract that was offered and accepted, I believe we have signed over seventeen new players, including a club record of £72 million…. and the signature of Aubamayang was one of them.
It’s our overall wage bill that is the problem for the club, when the likes of luiz is reportedly on £150k a week.
But if we don’t offer the likes of Saka the salary that is being banded about, there will be plenty of clubs who will be willing to do just that and without that top four spot, we just can’t carry on doing it – that’s why CL is regarded as the first criteria for any manager at a top club and why AW was worth every penny he received.
I have just referred to your original post
only to remember that he has been gone for 2 years so any mistakes before that had his name on them
Agreed. so any merits before that had his name on them as well.
We are enjoying his merits as much as suffering from his mistakes, so let’s be fair – stop using him as the excuse and the scapegoat. Let’s man up and correct his mistakes while upholding his merits.
Sadly for the last 3 years, we have wiped out his merits while continuing his mistakes.
What a waste of time!
well now sue, it has been brought to my attention that joe hart is being courted by us , management want him as luizs centre half partner !.one clown is not giving the faithful enough laughs , so they want hart in the middle of defense, dare i say, in the heart of defense. sorry , times are hard,i see hart as a hands on kinda guy, maybe even a leader of men.if this transfer does happen, and i doubt it veryy much, then i know that the arsenal are totally finished. we are bad enough as it stands, but to have hart in our team, please. i can confidently say, that, i would make a better keeper than mr.hart, and as you guys know i am almost totally blind. mr.foxs famous cat would be better than hart.oh dear, i am an atheist, but i think i need to get a few prayers in.i also think that the article writer knew exACtly what he was doing by posting this blatantly contentious piece. let mr.wenger retire in peace. he has gone, lets build that bridge and get over it.
Are we even surprised, Gerry?! He’s just about ready for the knacker’s yard!! 😆
Remind me again who bought Xhaka when Kante was available, who bought Mustafi, Mkhi and who gave Ozil a huge contract?
Why people still talking about invincible’s like a trophy
I was worried under Wenger!!
Defensive training,Wenger became too powerful at Arsenal he ran the show once People like Dein left , from scouting ,recruitment of players too the new way we would now play Wenger controlled it all .The new Clueless board just wanted the money that would keep them happy , not success .Wenger gave them the money , so like a scientist we became his experiment ,he had toped the league with the invincibles .But now he wanted to win by playing a different way to show his genius. The Barcelona of England great idea if you play in Spain-with the best players and a certain World class Messi. But in England you come up short when you have 4 top teams that beat you and humiliate you in the process and now beating you by playing an adapted version of football that you bought to the league .Pray tell me that Man City play is similar to the Arsenal of ole ,may be not with the style we had but fast and ruthless.Wenger lost the idea that success was trophies ,it instead became an ideology of trying play wonderful Wengerball and develop players into his new system, rather than seeking players that fitted together to win games in different ways. Arsenal became lopsided when we had good players in one area we had poor in other positions ,but Wenger pursed with these poor players telling us they would come good.How many false dawns of young players can name who never fulfilled his words .The good ones left when they realised Wenger had given them the platform, but it was not to be at our club, Cesc , Van Persie, Nasri ,Adebayor . Not having big money for the players was one way ,but he did not go on and get the 5th or 6th best player for that position that we needed instead he experimented for example Alex Song defensive midfielder ha ha .Its not being heartless if Wenger had started his career like he ended it he would of been sacked after a few seasons , the early success gave him credit in the bank plus the change of board management was like the perfect storm for him. The club is still entrenched with his ideology, it’s a scandal that our invincibles or ex championship players were not dragged screaming into this club to give inspiration to the young players ,
.Are me you telling that with their experience that you could not buy it would of not embedded itself into the young players and club for the better of it..We have gone from a Shark to a jelly fish no backbone, players who see the club as a stepping stone or easy cash ,no pressure to win .And players who actually believe they are better than they are. Do you think Wenger if he were 24 years younger ,could you now take this club to anywhere near the level did when did he first joined . Before you answer enquire if George G can drops in with a few of the ole lads to run the defensive training session.They say sometimes it not what you gave some it’s what you left us all with.
I suppose you think GG could do the same thing 2 years later then?
It took AW three years to rebuild an Invincible team and he didn’t screw the club while doing it.
As much and I loved chanting 1-0 to The Arsenal and the 89 wonder year, the greed and dishonesty taints what he left behind and lest we forget, in his last season as manager, we finished 12th in the league – Arsene’s last season finish? 6th.
thanks for the laugh, Dan!
Lol.
Sometimes i just don’t know if we all live in the same universe.
People going on about how we miss wenger blah blah.
I was one of wengers biggest fans myself until that summer transfer window ( i think it was 2014 or 2015) where we were the only club in Europe that failed to sign any outfield player. We only signed declining Petr Cech.
A few seasons back he had said something that unnerved me. He went in national TV and said “How 4th place was like a trophy”. I could not believe it. I think we had just had a very bad game that night and he came up with that rubbish,
I used to have uncomfortable spats with my father about wenger. He had had enough of him for years but I used to defend Wenger.
“But but he has his hands tied behind his back with paying off the stadium.”
“He is competing with Billionaire toy clubs like City and Chelsea”
“He is competing with a commercial monster like Man United”.
“But he is keeping us in the Top 4”. Blah blah..
I realised that i had to be honest with myself and stop making excuses for him. He was so powerful at Arsenal. He was even told to interview and be part of the group to recruit his own Chief Executive (Garzidis). That is the power and influence he had.
Kroenke not being a football guy trusted wenger. But they are both economists so they started feeding off each othee with their stinginess.
Wenger was being paid about £8 million per year just to keep us in 4th and he was more than comfortable and happy with that. No pressure to win the EPL or CL while getting paid that much. No wonder he was not willing to call it a say. He must sympathise with Ozil. Can’t believe his lack. Get paid £350,000 a week to just sit about and not have a care.
The later Wenger and Ozil the epitome of what went wrong for our club. Overstayed their welcome and clouding some of their memorable look-backs.
I was happy to see Wenger go. But I still have so much love and respect for him as our greatest manager.
His overstayed. Lets now just move on. He was the one that started the decline.
His last 2 season we finished 5th and 6th. So i just don’t know how people are trying to rewrite FACTS. Wenger was finished hence why we finished outside of the Top 4 in his last two seasons.
And don’t forget he turned us into a joke that were consistently being spanked by big margins 6-3, 6-1, 5-1, 5-2, being smashed 10-2 on aggregate etc.
He was well washes up.
The subject of Arsene Wenger will continue to divide opinion in Arsenal for some time to come. I, for one, cautioned several times that removing Wenger was no brain teaser but replacing him was the biggest challenge. Of course sometimes my views were rubbished by some of our fans but how I wish I was wrong in my assessment. There is one thing that is often sad and annoying and that is mob psychology.
Some people mistakenly believed that Wenger was the source of all Arsenal’s problems and that his removal would solve all our problems. They criticised him for always being 4th in EPL and even nicknamed it “the Wenger trophy! I wonder how they like it now! The old adage says that be careful what you wish for.
Wenger’s shoes were going to be too big for his immediate successor and perhaps the subsequent one because of the following factors: his skilled management of the team; his stature and reputation; his experience; his intellect; his unflinching loyalty to the club. Thus it was always going to be difficult to find someone with all those attributes. We have to brace ourselves for hard times until we reach a stage where it will start to get better. That might come next season if we get good players who are committed to the club. As fans we need to support our team in this trying time and give our players the confidence to continue performing at their best.
The downfall of Arsenal started in 2006 and as I remember Wenger was the man in charge!