Before Arsenal played host to Chelsea last weekend in a match that none of us want to remember for long, the interim boss of the blues Guus Hiddink suggested that Arsene Wenger and his very long spell as the manager of a top flight club like the Gunners could soon be looked on as a piece of history, because bosses just do not seem to get anything like that sort of time anymore.
It used to be a lot more common but the modern game just does not allow manager’s any leeway, no matter how well they have done for a club in the past. Wenger is not the longest serving manager in English football and even if he does see out his current contract which lasts until the end of next season he will be some way behind the length of time Sir Alex Ferguson spent in charge of Manchester United.
And it appears that he will not be challenging the record of old purple nose either, as the Frenchman declared that he is not intending to extend his stay any longer than is currently planned, when asked in a press conference this week, as reported by Arsenal.com.
Asked if he wanted to extend his stay Wenger replied, “Not at the moment. I am completely focused on doing well and I want to give absolutely everything until the end of the season. Then I want to go through the next season.”
So it seems as though the prof is already thinking about stepping down and even though he says he will do next season as well, I wonder. Remember when Fergie retired and everyone was surprised? Wenger said he was not and thought that the United boss had been thinking about it and that winning the Premier League was the spur for him to call it a day.
Could Wenger be thinking the same way? If Arsenal get the title this year, will that be the end of the Wenger era do you think?