Alex Iwobi says that protesting Arsenal fans should have a bit more respect for Arsene Wenger, and that the team are trying their best to work their way out of this run of bad form.
There have been marches on the stadium, banners inside the grounds, and a ludicrous airplane message that was made even more ludicrous by a rival plane flying a banner of support for the embattled manager.
Speaking while away on international duty, Iwobi was asked about the situation, and said of the protesters, “They need to have a bit more respect in my opinion. He’s been at the club for 20 years, he’s achieved a lot.
“Obviously they’re a bit impatient with the results and where they want to finish. We also want to finish there, we want to win the league like anyone else.
“I can guarantee we are trying our hardest.
“Whatever happens we are the players, we affect the result. We don’t really look at the banners or what fans are screaming, we focus on trying to do our jobs on the pitch.”
Now, there will be some people who will take umbrage at those quotes, but before you go off the rails, remember this is a 20 year old lad who has grown up at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, and naturally feels a bit protective of the manager who has given him his break.
At worst the comments are a bit clumsy and a bit naive, worth bearing in mind during this period when it doesn’t take much of a spark to light a fire.
I 100% agree with what Iwobi is saying here. Regardless of your opinion of whether Wenger needs to be replaced or not, the behaviour of the protesting fans would make you think we’re continually battling relegation, a la Sunderland!
true
Our financial structure is at Chelsea’s level than Sunderland. May be that’s one reason. Another reason might be that the same situation is repeating for more than 10 years. Even the most loyal Wenger supporter doesn’t believe Wenger can help the club move forward anymore.
Aren’t you forgetting the 2 FA cup wins, back to back, in that 10 year period?
Makes more sense to acknowledge, like Blogs got it right when he said Iwobi could have chosen his words better. Again, he’s a kid who’s played far more games than he should have because it’s part of his manager’s policy to expose young players to high-level competition. It was a feature of Wenger’s early success but more recently it’s held the team back. There’s a pattern when the club acknowledges fan dissatisfaction. They’re “just the minority” or “the typical impatient modern football fan”. Let’s call these what they are – stereotypes. No-one takes kindly to being stereotyped. Wenger has earned… Read more »
As a loyal Wenger supporter, I believe he can help the club move forward. Cheers.
I don’t understand what Wenger supporter means. Does that means that you think Wenger will win titles for us or does maybe it means Wenger himself will determine when he will leave the club. Both of those choices is detriment to the club. Wenger will never win the league , anyone who understands football can see this. We’ve got world class players , training facility , money . but now of which is being translated to the actual performance. If you can put two and two together you can understand the manager alone is at fault here .until then we… Read more »
It’s Ivan Gazidis and the Board’s job to move the club forwards.
Arsene Wenger’s job is winning football matches and trophies.
Arsene Wenger is failing miserably and the Ivan Gazidis and the board is failing to replace him.
In that case neither are doing their jobs very well at the moment
Yep! Agreed
…and a hearty dislike for you because deep down you know that Wenger couldn’t move his car forward in a one way tunnel. Cheers!
Speak for yourself mate.
Stay strong Arsene.
I feel like we Arsenal fans have been exceptionally patient over the last 13 years
I should clarify that I’m not saying Wenger doesn’t deserve to be treated with respect and dignity!
How many of the people hounding him out now would’ve been calling him a snake had he left us without a transfer budget for 10 years, for Real Madrid or PSG?
Isn’t he one of the most paid manager?
Irrelevant
People always say this as if he would’ve run off into the sunset of Madrid.
This idea that he stayed at Arsenal purely for charitable reasons is absurd. Even during the lean years, we always (and still do) offer a level of control and job security no manager has, least of all any manager at Madrid. You think he would’ve had the influence and control he has here at Madrid? You also think they would’ve tolerated failure at Madrid? There’s every chance his own reputation could’ve been tarnished going to Madrid, failing then getting fired.
“Obviously they’re a bit impatient with the results and where they want to finish. …”
Really? For 13 years? Haha
Just enough talk with all AW did to us, we already knew that and we are so much respect and thankful for that. But, we live for now, we are going backwards. We need big change! No matter if AW still stay, but he needs to prove!!!
13 years no PL title, 20 years in CL without winning it..
exactly. arsenal fans have been the most patient fans i’ve ever seen. you will never see fans at any other similar clubs waiting 13 years . after 2004 everybody knew that we cant compete like other much richer teams and the fans were patient. i never saw a fan protesting at that time . but last three years we’ve spent unprecedented amount of money . and it is clear that with the money spent and players bought we should be doing much better than we are , which is clearly not the case.
I’m sure people would ‘respect’ the manager and the club if only they showed the same respect towards the fans. Let’s just say they’re not really showing paying fans any respect at the moment. Especially by keeping them in the dark.
I agree!! Not only Wenger and the players are responsible. No other person is addressing this issue at the club. Some times people just want to be heard and know the club they support cares. I think the new owners need to understand this and maintain the unique traditions of this club. Some people have also taken out their frustration the wrong way and should just stop it. It’s damaging
is this an indication of how the squad feel or just his personal opinions?
either way the players, manager and support staff really need to pull one out the bag for the rest of the season and back their words up.
why don’t the squad show him a bit of respect and turn up for once instead of talking about it the whole time
Was about to write the same thing. It’s getting boring listening to all players asking from the fans to respect Wenger while they keep on letting him down over and over again…
@blogs: Don’t understand why do you say that the comments are a bit clumsy and a bit naive. I expect such comments from more senior players in the squad.
Yet another player supporting the manager. It’s almost like he’s not entirely to blame.
I have lots of respect for arsene wenger..I’d just rather he didn’t manage the club anymore.
It’s possible to respect the man and his achievements, yet still be of the opinion that it’s time for a change. People want to let their opinions be know. No-one at board level is listening, so obviously people will vent in whatever way then can. Fans are also more likely to ‘scream’ than to write a strongly worded letter to Sir Chips. Respect has nothing to do with it.
Why are they even letting him comment?? We all talk about how Wenger is great at bringing up youth players but look how they are handling Iwobi. They play him in the team till he is out of form and then just keep playing him until he loses all confidence. Then during one of our worst periods they trot him out to make these comments that could potentially put focus and criticism on him. I don’t blame Iwobi for his comments, I blame management putting him in a situation to make them in the first place.
Such a shame that Blogs has to put in a disclaimer at the end of this piece to try and contain the meltdown of anger that will be directed at one of our up-and-coming stars for speaking his mind and asking that people act with dignity and respect. Surely he is asking too much …
Yes but that’s because the club is so bad at P.R. They should be wise enough to “manage” our younger players speaking publicly about the current situation. Many of the fans he’s talking about have supported Arsenal since before Iwobi’s was born. They don’t need to hear “dignity and respect” talk from a 20 year old kid.
If Blogs can see the danger here, there’s no reason why the club shouldn’t.
The fan and the customer are always right. Stupid Iwobi.
I agree with him 100%. The fans have to acknowledge their part in creating a negative atmosphere around the club. Notice the word part – not all – but certainly a part. The idea that all of this isn’t going to affect the players is ludicrous. They are humans, they vibe off things. Just because they are paid well doesn’t mean they are not affected by external factors like atmosphere (not even thinking about something like trying to play whilst 2 planes are flying overhead ffs) The WO culture is just so hateful and toxic. That’s whats has got us… Read more »
THIS
This would be the right way to go if the manager and the club could be trusted to do the right thing. I think most people want to enjoy their weekends rather than be angry and protest, but the club has shown that they aren’t going to bring about change on their own and in doing so have left it up to the supporters, meaning that it seems the only way to effect change is through supporter unrest. That’s the problem. I don’t blame other supporters for it, I blame the club.
Doing the right thing is entirely subjective. I find this entitled point of view from fans (of all clubs) incredibly frustrating – when you are a fan it doesn’t entitle you to get what you want just because you say so. Perhaps they disagree with you? In all aspects of life, just because you want something doesn’t always mean you are going to get it, should get it or deserve to get it. You are free to protest of course, and fair play to that, but I think you also have to take responsibility for the possible negative effect it… Read more »
Alternatively, you could argue the fans have to cause drama in this way to force the Board’s hand. They want him to stay despite all this commotion, what would you rate the chances of him leaving as if everybody sat on their chairs and continued buying merchandise and clapping politely and gave no indication of their views to the club?
sorry i dont understand. force the board’s hand to do what? sack wenger?
you must be utterly mad….
your opinions have been noted. now if you chose to act like intolerable cunts till you get your wish then you become extremists….
plus i doubt the majority is with you….
we have millions of fans all over the world that count a lot more than the 60 or 100 arseholes who are fed up …
plus we have 40k on waiting list for emirates.
the door is open, you wont be missed.
Do you have a ST or even on the waiting list?
DAmn armchair fans criticiscing paying fans on how to be real fans.
If the fans had their way, we would have Michael Laudrup managing Chris Samba as a lone striker.
If I could give you ten thumbs up, I would.
Its hard to stay positive, when we never win away against the big sides
When we always get thrashed in the champs lge and sometimes in the league, and we continue to mess up every single season.
It is hard? Well, okay. Doing the right thing always is.
Eh? Not sure what’s naive or clumsy about those comments. Odd take.
All together now…
I tried to discoverrrrr
A little something to make me sweeter
Oh baby refrain
From breaking my heart
No need for caveats I agree…..Nothing wrong with a player speaking his mind..and the Wenger out camp is all about free speech and the right to be heard and I’m sure they would take it well.
The club including Wenger are not showing any respect for the fans. Even a year ago when Wenger out voices were not that high, Wenger and the board were blaming the fans.
Amazes me that people who call for “respect” continue to overlook this.
West Brom were openly singing “Arsene Wenger we want you to stay”. Many of us who want Wenger to step down just want him to take himself out of this situation before it gets worse.
And it will definitely get worse.
I think he is rightly referring to the disgusting vitriol that accompanies the protesting, the chanting, the banners and in particular the CUNTISHNESS of some of those desperate fame seekers on a certain Arsenal Fan Channel. Arsene may have let us down in some ways but he does not deserve to be called any of the disgusting things our fellow fans have called him. We have become a laughing stock in the football world, more so because of the oft ridiculous fans than our actual footballing form. Fans have the right to protest, the right to have their say but… Read more »
Why hate RVP? The guy was completely right in what he said about why he left. Hee saw the club has no ambition and he was not getting any younger. What was the alternative? If he had stayed at Arsenal, would he have ever won a title?
Respect for the fm?He is very arrogant and thinks his style is the way to go.It has been proven time and again he is a specialist in failure.
Now he has the temerity to say winning aint important.
Its just like a perennial bridesmaid who says marriage is not important.
If winning aint important,then why bother taking part in the epl and cl?
This guy will be along term danger to the good health of Arsenal if he stays on.
You must have been really upset to quote Maureen… There’s this thing called standards man
Personally the sense of betryal is what hurts more than anything else. Most of us have for so long been on Arsene’s side, just ook at the amount of individuals we chose to hate cos they went against him(RVP, Pulis, Allarydyce, Cecs, Nasri, Adebayor,Song, Pardew, Jose etc)!!! For years a lot of people were against Usmanov taking over including blogs cos we stood by Arsene and hes vision. The deluded optimist in me still hopes that he proves us all wrong and wins title next year but ive seen enough to know that aint going to happen. so my question… Read more »
RVP, Pulis, Allarydyce, Cecs, Nasri, Adebayor,Song, Pardew, Jose etc. Jesus. As if we would have loved the above otherwise. I get the whole wanting a change urgently thang. But too much drama this is. You can’t continuously abuse, deride, vilify a man who for all his flaws is a genuine legend. There are very valid reasons for a change – it is up to Wenger to prove himself / win everyone over again – but you don’t have to waddle in nonsense to make your point. All this justification that we have to be really vile and asnine to make… Read more »
Anyone who uses the term specialist in failure ought to be banned on this site. I don’t care which way you lean. There is a limit to being obtuse and mean.
Basically if you use it you’re parroting Mourinho which, regardless of how you like to dress it, makes you a cunt
If its the best you can do, you can leave. We need better than your current best. #Sorry
Sorry, Iwobi.
Professional sports is a results-oriented business. There has to be accountability. A good part of it has to do with the players but certain questions need to be asked about the man who recruits these players, who selects the players, and who decides the tactics they will use.
Right now many people are wondering why other teams are slicing through the defence and why Arsenal are not converting chances.
This is looking like a mid-table club, yet we see no accountability from the board.
Shut op you stupid little boy and concentrate on your own performances. Respect is a two way thing and there has been a total lack of it from the club towards the fans.
As for fans being impatient, the vast majority have show the patience of a saint over the last decade or so, it is only recently that the tide towards Wenger has turned. He was right about one thing though, the players are responsible for performances and results and so far this season both have been unacceptable.
even if you were a 40 year old ‘lad’…you should do well to remember where Wenger has brought us from. The club was financially in similar vein to the likes of Spurs FFS…he built the club up with his early success but also the incredible continuity in CL qualification which allowed us to gain the confidence of the banks and institutions to build the stadium and in turn develop a sustain revenue to compete against the current era big boys. It is rather myopic and deceitful to suggest we were a club of the same stature and following pre-Wenger. We… Read more »
What matter is club performance on the pitch, not on Social medias and Papers.
His comments may be a little clumsy, but I for one can’t argue with them, I’ve been an Arsenal fan for over 30 years, I live in the north east now and know plenty of mags and mackems who would gladly swap places with us! I think changes are needed at the club, but perhaps a little higher up than (just) the manager, also I don’t believe the club has put anything in place to facilitate any change?! Too many angry people in the world and we don’t need them harshing the buzz of the Arsenal, which is what’s been… Read more »
Good lad