There continues to be plenty of talk on the Arsene Wenger situation at Arsenal, with a clear divide between those thinking he will leave and those thinking he will stay at the club for another season. Whatever the decision is, it seems that we won’t find out the truth until the end of the season, with Arsene Wenger remaining coy on the situation every time he is asked by the media.
It is a pressing subject that is beginning to grow rather tiresome for many. The fans just want to know whether there will be change at the club for the first time since 1996 and if so, what options there are to look for in the future. Barcelona boss, Luis Enrique recently stated he’d be leaving the club at the end of the season and it has allowed for speculation to move from being about his future, to instead looking for who can take the Spanish club forward next season. I understand that it’s a similar feeling at Arsenal, because at the moment it’s all that seems to be the topic of interest in the media.
One Arsenal legend is calling for the board to just make a decision, instead of leaving the fans, the media and the players, in the dark. David Seaman said: “He was my coach for six, seven years and we had some great, great times there so I’ll leave it to Arsene, he does that superbly! But at the moment it’s the same old, same old and I just want the club to come out and say what’s happening. Is Arsene going to stay or is he going to leave, but just come out and say it because all of the unrest that is happening is just building and building while nobody knows what’s going on.”
Now I’m not to sure if the players, the board or even Wenger himself knows where the manager’s future lies and I genuinely do believe that his decision will be made at the end of the season. However you can’t kid the fans into believing that he hasn’t thought about his future. Wenger may not have made up his mind yet, but there’s a few reasons as to why he may not want to talk about the subject, until the season is done and dusted.
An official announcement could take media attention away from Arsenal as a whole and make it the Arsene Wenger show instead, much like it was when he was celebrating 20 years at the club. It takes away the notion that this is Arsenal FC, not Arsene Wenger FC and with the club in a sticky situation both domestically and in the Champions League, the last thing we need is unwanted mass media attention.
Secondly and probably the more pressing issue is the potential to cause unrest amongst the players. Knowing mid-season that there could be a change of manager could have a bad effect on the squad, causing unrest between the players that perhaps would prefer him to stay, over those that want change. Some fans may think that they are the only ones that are divided on the issue, but I’m sure there are a few players in the squad who have their opinions yet obviously remain unspoken on the subject. Causing unrest in the squad is not a smart move, especially given that we aren’t in the strongest of positions right now.
Of course an official announcement may put the minds of some fans and players at rest, particularly for the likes of Alexis and Ozil, whose contract situations seem to determine largely on Wenger’s future. However I believe that the two reasons above outweigh this and so I can completely understand why the management at Arsenal are remaining silent on what the future holds.
AH