Reality check: Are we better off?

Firstly, Wenger had to go; it was time and the man has openly admitted that he stayed longer than he should have.

We all knew it would be tough after he left, granted I thought we would be a 5th - 7th place contender, but the slump is not a surprise; it is just the decline is much steeper than I thought it would be to get out off.

I was surprised we wanted Arteta as the guy had zero experience, but he has had some bright moments. It has been enough time to make a judgment call and I do not think he will last. And there is problem, he should not last but the club is badly managed.

So to answer your question, yes we are worse off as I think Wenger would have the clout to steady the ship and veto certain decisions (Pepe). But having said that we got Xhaka under Wenger so who knows it may have been just a worse.

Yeah Wenger did sign some proper dross and average players toward the end that we found hard to ship off and have held us back over the years. Silvestre, squilaci, Santos, park, Gervinho, Xhaka, welbeck, Elneny, sanogo, mustafi, Perez, Jenkinson, kolasinac mhiki. You could probably add a fair few to that list as well. So if we carried on that trend, we probably wouldn’t hugely better off

To say no one blames the board is quite simply ludicrous. Pretty much everyone thinks the board were extremely poor since Wenger went. Lots of people blame the board for poor appointment and singings, particularly under Emery who was only head coach so not involved in transfers, appointing Arteta as a first time manager and giving him too long before taking action against him.

I can see Arteta's plan and line of thinking and I'm confident it will reap huge rewards in the end if we are patient. But obviously as fans we want results right now. I will only pass judgment on our direction under Arteta in May but right now I won't join the "Arteta out" chorus. If he doesn't turn things round by then then we can consider bringing on a new man on the rudder.

comment by 5-2 (U10698)
posted 6 hours, 36 minutes ago
Wenger didn't have money to spend like Arteta does. Now when you look at Wenger's time you can see he got maximum out of every team he managed. To finish in top 4 with players like Chamakh, Sanogo and others is success similar to invincibles. There are 2 season I feel we should've done more, 07/08 and 15/16, other seasons we finished maximum we could with team avaliable at the time.
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This is what I am talking about and plus the fact that the board kept selling Wenger's bright players to raise money for club. Remember there was a time when Petr Cech was the only player Wenger bought because there was no money and we still managed to make top 4!

comment by Tyke (U9181)
posted 7 hours, 53 minutes ago
"The likes of Fabregas, Nasr, Robin, Hleb, Song, Adebayor etc " all left because the club under Wenger had zero ambition. Go back and read RVP's statement at the time.Dien leaving was when Wenger took full control and running a club, having a wage structure,rewarding loyal players and making a profit were all far,far more important than winning anything. We became weak and lazy,and we have remained that way ever since. Arsene inherited a backbone,and once they retired we were toast.Rose-coloured specs are fine,but it's now how it was.
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Was it Wenger's fault that the club had no ambition then? Go back and read more about what went on during Wenger's era. The man was practically making money for the club as the board kept on selling his star players. I read RVP statements and watched his interviews afterwards... he had no issues with Wenger as per lack of ambition. He said he had a meeting with the board (Ivan Gazidis to be precise) and that's who told RVP that the club had no ambition so sign big names and RVP subsequently left the club for ManU to win EPL

comment by A Catalyst For Change (U7080)
posted 5 hours, 46 minutes ago
Yeah Wenger did sign some proper dross and average players toward the end that we found hard to ship off and have held us back over the years. Silvestre, squilaci, Santos, park, Gervinho, Xhaka, welbeck, Elneny, sanogo, mustafi, Perez, Jenkinson, kolasinac mhiki. You could probably add a fair few to that list as well. So if we carried on that trend, we probably wouldn’t hugely better off
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And with all these players you called "proper dross", we were still able to get in to top 4 and Europe. And out of the players you mentioned, only Kolasinac, Elneny and Xhaka are still with us. Remind me who recently renewed Xhaka's contract? Was it Wenger too?

comment by The Wonky Kronke (U16927)
posted 15 hours, 41 minutes ago
To say no one blames the board is quite simply ludicrous. Pretty much everyone thinks the board were extremely poor since Wenger went. Lots of people blame the board for poor appointment and singings, particularly under Emery who was only head coach so not involved in transfers, appointing Arteta as a first time manager and giving him too long before taking action against him.
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"Pretty much everyone thinks the board were extremely poor since Wenger went."

The owner/board didn't haven't just been poor since Wenger left, they been feckin TERRIBLE since a good 5 or 6 years before he went failing to do off the pitch things other clubs done to modernize club business. Things that would have helped Wenger as they did the other club managers. As I've said already, despite his mistakes (as all managers make) Arsene Wenger didn't CAUSE the rot that we're now seeing. He simply staved it off five 5 or 6 years longer than a lesser manager would have been able to.

To truly get this you really only need to hear the man himself say that his greatest achievement was 19 years in CL. All he accomplished, the wins, revolutionising the game, the Invincibles and he thinks finishing 4th or better 19 times tops them all. DEAD giveaway as to just how kneecapped he felt by the failure of the board/owner. He saying it thinking about everything they failed to do which would have made his job easier. It's an "If you knew everything I didn't get then mate you'd think it was way better than the invincibles too." kinda thing.

People have gotten too used to assy griper managers like Jose and Brendan, Pep too to an extent. In AW's situation one of them would have been biyatchin at press conferences about what they never had and not being supported by their board. As we've seen Wenger would rather see his own personal legacy greatly tarnished, than spill the beans on just what a sh !t show was occurring above him for YEARS. You only have to hear what's not in his book to know that.

comment by Grand Cannon (U18697)
posted 13 hours, 10 minutes ago
I can see Arteta's plan and line of thinking and I'm confident it will reap huge rewards in the end if we are patient. But obviously as fans we want results right now. I will only pass judgment on our direction under Arteta in May but right now I won't join the "Arteta out" chorus. If he doesn't turn things round by then then we can consider bringing on a new man on the rudder.
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Potentially AKA allowing him to get us relegated before you'd consider firing him.

Your name Josh Kroenke by any chance because I swear that's the same insaneass thinking as him and his Dad. Flippin May, jeez man

For the record all, I also thought it was time for him to go. I just thought fans OWED him the courtesy of doing so when he was damned well good and ready, with the same type of fanfare afford SAF when he left Utd. And think that not happening has been just as damaging as the board and owner, just in a different way. Club's paid and paying a big price for fans lacking the half the class the manager did and still does to this day.