Wenger says he needs 4 more years just to match Alex Ferguson!

As usual at this time of year the long-suffering Arsenal supporters start protesting about Arsene Wenger’s lack of trophies over the last decade, and just like every other season, Wenger and the Board just shrug it off as a “tiny minority” of real Arsenal fans.

Wenger seems to get questioned every week about whether he is thinking of standing down or retiring, but Le Prof seems to have made it unequivocally clear that he is not tired of his job, and has no intention of standing down in the near future. He was asked if he thought that he could carry on managing long enough to match Sir Alex Ferguson, who was the Man Utd boss for an incredible 26 years. “Ferguson has some other interests in life and he was older than I am today. He was four years older, he retired at 71 and I’m 67.” Wenger said.

So is he intending to keep going until he is 71? “Maybe more, maybe less, I don’t know,” he said.

“Everybody is different on that front and I do not want to take anything away from Ferguson, he was an absolutely unbelievable manager but he had enough, he had enough, and I’m not at that stage.”

To be fair, Wenger is more than used to listening to all this criticism at this time of every season, so it is probably just water off a duck’s back. If he continues to keep the Gunners in the Champions League every single season I can’t see him retiring until he is 80!

Maybe this is the season where it is the most difficult target to meet, but if anyone is used to the pressure, it’s Arsene!

Sam P

12 Comments

    1. All he has earned is the right to choose when to retire. Whether he retires from AFC is not (should not be) up to him. He had earned the right to lead AFC post self imposed financial constraints and he has done that for 3.5 going on 4 years. He can’t deny the club haven’t been generous both in salary and transfer funds.

      The problem is AW sees the club as being one marquee signing away from being complete. He will never overhaul the dead weight he continues to misplace faith in and only a new manager can do that.

      FYI Sanogo is still earning wages at the club, just saying

  1. Well, it’s up to Arsenal fans to show if they really have a winning mentality or r OK with mediocrity. Wenger is much too comfortable at Arsenal to leave without a push. The board loves him cos he meets their ambition – to make as much money as possible for themselves by qualifying for lucrative competitions in Europe and maintaining the status as an ‘elite’ premiership club so as to attract juicy endorsements and partnerships while maximally milking the fans. Its no news that Arsenal fans pay the most for tickets. I personally don’t know how I can possibly pay so much to watch the recent abysmal performances on the field. The fans that pay so much must decide if they pay the highest prices in the league to watch such lacklustre performances week in, week out and recently year in, year out. If they fork out such amounts and r OK with what they go to the stadium to watch, their cup of tea.
    If not, then they need to effect a change by making their displeasure clear, I believe empty seats in the stadium is one of the many ways to achieve this. Make no mistake, Wenger will not leave of his own volition, he is making good money for the owners and himself and is handling the club the way he wants without any pressure from the board. Its a sweet deal and he will not go. Its up the fans…especially the longsuffering paying fans to do something. As for me, the most effort I need is to change the channel.

  2. i cant blame wenger wanting to stay on for another 4 years, the board will always back him and he loves the club

    no matter what fans say or do the board will back wenger and it shows a complete lack of respect by the board to watch arsenal see the arsenal fans up in arms about wenger and then come out and want him to sign another 2 year deal – the board dont care about the fans and wenger aint even going to say no to another deal – i believe he still thinks that he has alot more to give even if fans dont.

    1. I am surprised that Wenger still wants to manage Arsenal with so many backbiting disrespectful idiots giving him “nasty jabs” while he is doing the job to the best of his ability.
      He has earned the respect of everyone in the footballing world and has had an amazing career, but there is always some nobody sitting at a keyboard giving him grief!

      1. “He has earned the respect of everyone in the footballing world and has had an amazing career” even the most loyal deluded st***d fans of him know that he HAD an amazing career, means he no longer has the passion, hunger, tactics and mentality of a champion to keep on as a manager, I wonder why you still insulting people here?

        he still wants to manage Arsenal coz that fat paycheck, no one will ever wanna part ways with it, considering the job has no pressure, he’ll wanna die as the manager. ambitious teams sack managers even though they won them UCL and so many trophies, but the old man wins nothing and still hates being criticized..

      2. Wenger:

        “Even if I go, Arsenal will not win every single game in the future. It is not like before I arrived Arsenal had won the Champions League 5 times.”
        This to me is insults towards us fans and towards our club. How can he say that??? He sounds like the fans mean nothing to him

  3. It might well be that Wenger could also benefit of a parting of the ways with Arsenal. Perhaps a new club will force him into making adjustments. Perhaps a new owner who expects trophies right away (almost any top club including PSG) will force Wenger out of his comfort zone and reduce his patience with players not living up to their potential.

    Either way, 20+ years at Arsenal has been long enough. Both club and manager need some fresh ideas and challenges. The situation has gone stale and that is not only Wenger’s fault but also the owner’s and the director’s fault.

    After 20 years near the top of football and the PL, perhaps Wenger should offer his services to a Stoke or Swansea and attempt to emulate Ranieri? What greater way to give back to the PL after 20 years than to lift a bottom half of the table organization to a new level in the next 4 years? Does he need to money? Not any longer. It would make him a real icon IMO.

    Staying at Arsenal would dilute from his legacy.

    1. Arsene is gagging to stay on as manager of Arsenal…you would imagine after 10+ years of failure that he would be willing to take a seat on the board in the interests of the club but the ego is too strong….he has no loyalty to the club, unlike SAF at ManU, only to his own ego.

  4. So he decided to burn down the house he built and to burn it down to the ground. Fair enough.
    He can’t motivate, he can’t select the right team, he can’t setup a proper tactical approach to games. It’s blatantly obvious, so there’s no way in the world he’ll finish in the top four this season. I’ve never been this sure of Arsenal falling out of the top four than I am now. And fair enough, the way the team plays, champions league isn’t something they deserve. They’ve played only three amazing games in the season, Chelsea in EPL, Soton in FA cup and Basel in UCL. That isn’t UCL material, that’s Europa Leauge at best. And if nothing, that will finally signal the end of an era, an era of tolerated semi-failure and maybe finally land us a decent manager, who can propel a decent squad we have to it’s best.

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