Alan Smith has claimed that Arsene Wenger was wrong to stay at Arsenal this summer.
The French boss ended last season without having made a decision on his future, and eventually decided to stay in North London on a new two-year contract.
That decision was taken with many mixed emotions, with a number of fans strongly keen on his exit, while a large number of supporters also remain behind Wenger.
Former Arsenal midfielder Alan Smith has now insisted that Wenger made the wrong decision, and the club remains in a ‘funny’ place due to the ongoing sagas.
“It was a huge decision for him, it has been his life for 20-odd years,” Smith told the London Evening Standard.
“With an offer of a two-year contract he was thinking shall I or shan’t I?
“Obviously he signed it but as I said at the time, it would have been better if he had walked away to rapturous applause.
“As it is, we’re in a state of limbo where not many supporters expect Arsenal to be pulling up trees in the next two years – hopefully they will – and the atmosphere is funny.”
Smith goes on to insist that the longest-serving Premier League manager isn’t the only issue with the club at present however, and blames Silent Stan for his lack of involvement in the day-to-day of the club.
“There’s a lack of strong leadership at the top of Arsenal,” Smith continued.
“Stan Kroenke isn’t that engaged, not conversant with English football.
“He’s not passionate about the sport, as much as he might try to make you think he is. That’s creating instability around the club.
“[The AGM] was unfortunate to say the least. I was surprised at the way Sir Chips Keswick behaved.
“Those fans deserve to be treated with respect and their questions listened to and answered. It didn’t do the club any favours.”
Has Wenger done enough this term to warrant his place in charge? Do you think a change would have us stood in a better league position at present?
Pat J
This article loses any shred of credibility when you refer to Alan Smith as “former Arsenal midfielder”! He was a striker ffs. Not the first time you’ve got your facts wrong so did he even say this stuff?
Exactly. Alan shearer was an arsenal legend and stayed loyal to his club until the end. He was one of our best strikers of all time.
We will be signing Wilfried Zaha as he fits our long term strategy i.e a stable europa league side with an outside chance of a top 4 with the potential to sell other valuable assets. Zaha with his english nationality can command a premium in the market. He will replace alexis sanchez. Post that mark noble will replace mesut ozil. We will be signing Richarlison in case Zaha falls through.
-Stan
Are you just totally annoying on purpose????
Admin, I will answer your pertinent qustion about Remember Resource. The answer is YES , HE IS. Sad , isn’t it! He thinks he is humourous. About as humourous as stepping in dog poo!
So you are back again?
JUST IN:Arsenal have bid £62m for Nabil Fekir and not £60m.I’ve had it confirmed that Arsenal are trying to seal the deal for a January move.Alexis will be sold in January to either PSG or Man City and Fekir is his replacement.
Alexis leaves for free at the end of the season, he aren’t going to PSG cos he has made it known that is man city.aguero would b sold to real Madrid or his home club. Sanchez is his replacement .trust guardiola. Sanchez is the one dictating now not arsenal . get your facts right. then ozil too free to man u, and we will see the best of ozil wen he is under a new manager. Wenger out
Sarcasm aside, I just don’t know if we would have been in a better position without Wenger. That would depend on who took his place and is therefore hypothetical. However I do know that under him we will never regain the PL let alone finish in the top 4. Time to move on and hand the reins over to somone with new ideas, the experiment is over it doesn’t work!!
Personally I would forget about the big name mercenary managers who don’t look at the long term, get an Arsenal man, get Patrick Vierra before MC tie him up forever. But first Arsene has to swallow his pride and step aside for the club he says he loves.
Arsene is a waste of space now
Arsene is wack
Just look at the facts again folks for the answer to the question. 12pts off the top as early as the 5th November, haven’t won a single tough game this season, 4 defeats already in the league, top players leaving for free, poor performances in most of our games, players constantly out of position, and all because of the genius of Wenger on around £10 million a year! Stick to the facts people!!!
Now we all understand the importance of a striking headline for authors who want their articles widely read, so I do not totally blame the author for this strapline (He should however know that Alan Smith was a striker , NOT midfielder, but less that pass for now). But after I had finally stopped giggling helplessly at the question posed by the title, I began to think of similar quandaries. I came up with these, in order of incredulous hilarity. 1. Would Arsenal be in a better position WITH Arsene Wenger for another ten years. 2. Would you ever consider supporting Spurs, instead? 3. Would you like to be bitten by a rabid dog? 4. Would you like to have a broken leg? 5. Why am I wasting my time posting on such a ludicrous subject? 6. Do younger fans actually know that Arsenal were successfully world famous 15 years before Wenger was born? 7.If I was mad enough to say I wanted Wenger to remain manager for ever, would anyone please shoot me! I will answer question 7 myself. The answer is, I would shoot myself first. Finally, and to be serious, if this is the best this author can think of for a subject to write about he must have too much time on his hands. As I clearly must also have, for wasting my time posting on such a topic!
True, I’m almost done with this site. I’m literally only here for the comments these days and 90% with a brain on here all know Arsene is way past his sell-by-date. It’s boring now.
Depressed thinking about it as the only thing we can do is boycott games and that doesn’t happen. Lost cause.
COYG.
I really feel and of course share your pain. Speaking as a man in my late sixties I am still looking, though, to starting attending again once all the cancerous people from Wenger to Kroenke have gone. I STILL LIVE IN some hope that I will outlast them. Until last year, when I only went once, I had been a reghular since 1958 as a small boy. I used to go regularly to away games, a while back now. Like you, I went through years of total frustration and bewilderment at how a once so honourable club, could now behave in this morally corrupt, though legal, fashion, disrespecting us fans, with extreme arrogance both by manager, board and Owner( I point out the recent AGM and Sir Chips KESWICK’S disgusting behaviour towards the share holders, which sadly, is no longer even surprising) I have pledged not to give another penny of my honestly earned money to this cancerous club, which however I still love with all my heart. I DESPISE THOSE IN CHARGE BUT LOVE THE CLUB FOR THE CLASS AND HONOUR, VISION AND DECENCY IT HISTORICALLY HAD, TIL THE LAST DECADE. I am pledged to help heap whatever scorn and pressure to leave upon these “people” who have infected and are ruining our club. I still have hope. Stay with it, friend, as we need all those who truly love our club to cleanse it of this filth.
I do not believe that Gazidis would hire a manager who would turn us into EPL winners, he would hire a manager who said yes to everything he wanted and he would buy so many ElNenys and WelBrokes that we would be facing relegation before too long.
While I scream at the TV over tactics and subs and I can admit there are better managers than Wenger out there, I first believe AFC need to resolve the structure of the club before getting a new manager.
Remove Gazidis from CEO or restructure the CEO role so it is less sporting and more business, let Gazidis focus 100% on getting sponsorship deals and as many of them as we can get! Bring in the money!
The reason for this is because last time we looked for a DoF we hired Gazidis and called him the CEO, WTF is a DoF going to do while the CEO does that role as well? Twiddle their thumbs? AFC need to make space for a DoF.
If Gazidis was removed from transfer dealings and Dick Law leaving… It would leave a gap for a DoF/SD or whatever label AFC put on it.
I doubt Wenger would then mock the role. Never mocked DoF talk in 07 (I think) when even the AFC website mentioned that title! We got Gazidis and named him CEO. A title is a title, what their job consists of is important.
Change at Arsenal is desperately needed top to bottom.
1) If we had a choice Kroenke out and in with an owner that cares about winning.
2) Gadzidis has had ten years and aside from milking fans has not struck particularly good deals. Contracts have been allowed to expire which will cost the club £100 mil plus so he needs to be gone.
3) In terms of the league we are in the 3rd worst period in our history and getting worse. The manager bears responsibility so Wenger out.
There’s a great candidate for next Arsenal manager that nobody is talking about.
He won two League Cup finals while managing Leicester in the late 90s.
He set a record of 25 consecutive wins and 7 consecutive Old Firm derby wins while managing Celtic in the early years of this century, and also got them to a UEFA Cup final beating Liverpool on the way.
He got Aston Villa three consecutive 6th place finishes in the Premier League on a shoestring budget before quitting due to lack of funds.
He’s gotten a terrible Ireland team (I’m from Ireland, I can say that) to a European Championship and is on the brink of getting them to a World Cup which they’ve no business playing in.
He’s smart. He was studying law at Queens University before quitting for a career in football.
He has won a European Cup final as a player.
He’s a great man motivator. He far cleverer than the one we cal Le Prof. Why aren’t we talking about this guy????????
Ur not the dj Bryan.G r ya mate lol ?!?! 🙂
YES
Arsenal would be in much better position. One less cancer to deal with.
Where can someone start to describe the lack of vision to recruit the right players and the
sickness of mismanaging the rest like they subordinates or children.
He needs to go asap. The Tottenham match will be another painful reminder of the directional
trajectory our rivals have taken vs Arsenal. I may not be able to watch.
My wife is asking me to think about reducing stress and looking at this moron on the sideline rubbing his hands in disbelief makes me boil.
By far the most obnoxious soccer personality in years.