Arsene Wenger’s future at Arsenal could be decided by the club’s form in the Europa League, according to stories published simultaneously in the Mirror, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail.
Out of the FA Cup and languishing in sixth place in the Premier League table, the Gunners are now hoping to rescue their season with success in the Europa League and League Cup. The former would represent a back-door route to the riches of the Champions League, while the latter a timely boost on the domestic front given it requires a win over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Failure to secure silverware, coupled with a consecutive season finishing outside the top four, would be likely to point a spotlight on Wenger’s struggles, especially as he’d again be entering the final year of a contract this summer.
The articles all hint that the manager’s status will be reviewed at the end of the season but also stress that no decision will be made until then. The underlying vibe is ‘Ivan’s in charge now bitches’ and a reassurance that all the high-profile backroom changes form part of a succession plan. At the same time, we’re obviously a long, long way from Brutus sticking the knife in Caesar’s back just.
There’s nothing particularly unusual about this conference call journalism, Ivan’s ‘not so under the radar’ briefings are becoming something of a tradition when the going gets tough and the fans get grouchy.
It’s over to Arsene now. If he bites back with a couple of trophies and Champions League qualification, it’ll no doubt return Ivan to the box that Kroenke keeps him in. Albeit temporarily. That said, the dynamic at the club certainly appears to be changing after so many years.
Thanks for that Ivan. Please don’t doubt that we have as little, if not less, faith in you than Mr Wenger who you continuously try to dethrone. God I bet Arsene hates him.
Why the hate overflow for good old Gaz. All these years people had a go at him for doing nothing, now finally when he tries to loosen Wenger’s authority at the club so we could finally see the end of Wenger’s once glorious but now very very mediocre reign, people hate him. Just what do you want Gaz to do. Sit by and do nothing or get rid of Wenger. In fact now that the control has been taken from Wenger, this was the 1st good transfer window in a long while that the club had. Wenger having less and… Read more »
Not sure doing this in the public eye is beneficial for the club or the team performance. It kinda seems he is bigging up his own ability.
If gazidis leaves for a large European club in next couple of years then that would royally wind me up.
He tried to do it away from the public eye and Wenger went straight to Stan. If this is what it takes, this is what it takes. The club will get over it.
Sure. And “what is a director of football” was a very subtle, behind-closed-doors power move. I’m sure if the Aubameyang move had gone through, there would’ve been a cultured reserve from the manager, just like his not-at-all public comments regarding wanting a defender this Jan. Nobody is a naif in this.
… if the Aubameyang move had *not* gone through…
Abumeyang in all likelihood wouldn’t have gone through had it not been for Mislinat (or whatever his name is). Arsenal tried without him in the summer and failed, but after he was brought in in Nov., in yet another power move, Abumeyang was bought.
Agree with you except I think it’s too soon to declare this transfer window as a good one in a long time.
Wholesale changes mid season reek of desperation and lack of planning and looking at the players we lost against the ones we gained, i’m genuinely not sure we are better off, time will tell i guess.
Sanchez was going anyway.
If you think Coquelin, Walcott, Giroud Out and Aubameyang, Mkhitariyan In is not an objectively good window then I dont know what is.
This, exactly.
Blogs really really hates Gazidis. And so do many of the fans no matter what he does.
As far as I remember, Wenger himself stated some time back that Gazidis has nothing to do with any footballing decisions at the time. And the club has done pretty good commercially since he came in. So he has been doing the job he was given.
If now the guy is trying to step out of that limited role to set right a club in decline then what is the problem?
The best outcome would be us winning the Europa League but Arsene still leaving. He can end his reign on a high, and we’ll have CL football so it’ll be easier for the new manager to attract new players.
Unfortunately the more realistic outcome is us not winning anything this year, and Arsene still staying on.
For his sake and his legacy Arsene needs to move on, For Arsenal’s sake he, Gazidis and DEFINITELY Kroenke need to move on. Love Wenger and what he achieved, but we’re going no-where with him at the helm. How long can it go on before people actually realize that?!
But like you say we’ll see all three back next year and the same blahzae squad mentality, same unchallenged players, same unambitious owner
We have been living that realism for a decade.
Sorry can’t totally agree with what you say. We have been going somewhere with AW at the helm… It is backwards.
Backwards from the height he achieved? Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not performing up to his own par, and that is a fair reason to demand more from the club, but don’t discredit the fact that he has firmly kept this club at least within the realms of possibly competing. As this standard is slowly not being met now, many fans are entitled to be unhappy. But don’t paint a ridiculous picture about how this club is going to the dogs. We can recover from this either through Wenger or not, and a secure financial platform goes a long way in… Read more »
Over the past 10+ years (perhaps bar one year) we have not been competing for the title. Our league title challenge has been finished pretty much by around Christmas but it seems to be getting earlier with every passing season. “the fact that he has firmly kept this club at least within the realms of possibly competing” I am sure there are many managers out there that could do the bare minimum if you think that’s acceptable for a club like ours. “Losing our shit and throwing the warchest at every season’s top talent would completely destabilize our club.” We… Read more »
We’ve spent money on players and but we’re actually going backwards. Problem was the one season we needed to invest and move forward we bought a GK and no outfield players and Leicester won that season. IMO that was when we lost Alexis. Thus right now it doesn’t seem to matter who we have Arsene is not getting the best out of his players. We have a really talented team, but the biggest problems IMO stem from: 1) Playing the wrong tactics with the wrong personnel: This was so apparent again against Tots. We basically played 4-5-1 and tried to… Read more »
Gazidis is doing his job in sending this latest in a series of messages following the hiring of Mislintat and Sanlkehi. The job that Kroenke has told him to do. About time.
About a year ago it came out that the US Soccer Federation wanted Gazidis to leave Arsenal and help run the MLS and work on the US-Mexico World Cup 2026 bid. I think turning down that offer might have given Gazidis a bit of leverage with Kroenke.
Kroenke wouldn’t touch a hair on Wenger’s head otherwise.
Funny how Ivan has suddenly got all confident and bitchy now he’s finished work on his Robo-Gazidis exosuit. Knows he can just stomp on Wenger if needs be, I guess. Pneumatic knees give him a lot o’stomp.
So the article practally confirms the fans current beliefs;
League results aren’t good enough(duh)
Wengers time is up(within the next 18 months)
Change from the dictatorship to a hierarchy structure is a forethought to wenger going.
Nothing NEW here really, and just placating fans?
Though it’s good to hear ‘change is coming’ it has no bearing on current dilemmas.
Having a faithful manager means a classy club has to have faith in him in return even if it means we’re hurt in the process.
Though if we fluke a milk & egg cup win v City, Wenger will go to his mate Kroenke & bobs your uncle a new contract please! ‘Well err I have nothing else to do with my life & my millions in the bank’
What do you mean fluke ? It’s not like we haven’t beaten them before. You’ve already made your mind up. Whatever we win won’t be good enough for you or the scummy press BAAAAAA !
I don’t think so, I think that only flies once and he did it with the fa Cup wins. Since then Ivan had to take a step back and look at the clubs situation, saw areas where he could improve our reliance on wenger and this time I think he will be in a much stronger position against wenger staying.
what do you mean “change” has no bearing on current dilemmas . what would you rather have keep the the current situation until we are relegated!! faith has to be both ways , in return for the club showing faith to long serving manager(which they have been doing for a decade) the manager in return has to do what he should do best improve the teams performance particularly that leaky defence which have been leaky for a decade but still has not fixed. even if the team is not improving we have to atleast see the effort from the manager… Read more »
Misquoted me mate, missed the keyword ‘coming’.
which is why it doesn’t affect things currently (which means now)….
Good. We need to show that we are ruthless. If you don’t step up your game, you’re out the door.
About time. Same with the players.
Ozil needs to perform and earn his contract now or sell him. Pitiful against spuds in contrast to Ericsson
Ozil is not a center back.
Ospina is not a winger.
My mother is not my auntie’s brother.
ozil isn’t anything
pitiful most of the time
like the support
Ivan does love throwing a Arsene under the bus, doesn’t he?!? Say what you want about Wenger at least he shows a bit of integrity when talking about his staff.
God forbid someone being held accountable in public at Arsenal…what a disgrace eh?!
How about that someone be this bald f*ck instead?
How about all of them and the players…They all need and deserve it. Name one player or manager or coach or CEO or owner or board member you can honestly say has done a great job at Arsenal over the last 5+ years?
Enough of this already. Arsene being put under so much constant pressure by the media and the fans over and over again is just painstaking to see. I think it has become impossible to defend him too. Please Arsene save us from all this pain and a deep down bad feeling about ourselves and leave.
I don’t think the media put wenger under much pressure compared to other managers. He got off lightly while we slept walked through 10 years without a single trophy…
True. Unlike other managers he isn’t asked after every game if he worries about his job
that’s because we all know the answer
Hilarious. Instead of arguing that Arsene is doing a great job, now the move is to try to make this into ‘Arsene should leave cos it’s terrible to see people putting him under pressure’.
Arsene should go because he’s no longer doing a good job & it’s in the club’s best interest for him to go. He deserves huge respect, absolutely, but not this bullshit. i.e. making him a victim & blaming the fans/the media.
Spot on
I know this is fluff but honestly it’s crazy if whether or not Wenger is allowed to stay depends on the Europa league. The past 2 years should have provided all the evidence needed to make a decision on this.
It’s madness honestly. After the Bayern games last season we could have replaced him with someone to steady the ship, in the end we lost out on 4th to Liverpool by a point.
Even this season it was obvious early on that things weren’t improving and we could have done something then.
I don’t mind waiting until the end of the season given there will be a lot more candidates available and I feel like Wenger has earned the right to at least have the pretense of him stepping away rather than being sacked. But there is simply no valid argument from a sporting sense to allowing him to continue past the end of the season.
But that has been the same thing for about the last 4 years…”he should get until the end of the season win a cup then leave, he deserves that”…he deservED that the last three FA cups wins and then guess who is back next year…last year was it. That was the time to go end of contract, FA Cup win, GO, just please go enjoy what you got Arsene…now its just gone WAY too far…we’ll get to the end of the season, world cup distractions, no free managers, oh well lets just give him this next season too… I’m done.… Read more »
It says everything that you need to know about the club’s real ambition. It’s not even the top 4, its just making profits…that has been obvious for a long time, just chalk this up as a little more evidence. At least with the top 4 we could stomach it because the champions league is pretty cool to be a part of…there is nothing cool or interesting about the Europa league. I tried to like it at the start of the season, but its like watching lower division football when you know much better footballers are playing from the top league… Read more »
Not sure why people are lashing out at Gazidis on this. He doesn’t pick the team or decide on the (lack of) tactics. You wanted players? His new operations team nabbed Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan in a winter window. This whole shitshow came about when Wenger won the FA cup and backdoored Gazidis / Kroenke Jr. to set up a direct meeting with the old man, himself. From there, it was a case of old, white men looking after old, white men and thus, Wenger received a new contract ahead of the board meeting. Most supporters would prefer that Wenger to… Read more »
“let alone which football club he manages”
Fixed
Stan doesn’t manage anything.
He probably just sits on his ranch, shooting animals as he earns more $ on the slave wages of the Walmart empire.
Sorry I meant owns…”Let alone which football club he owns”
Yep, they’re Gazidis bought and sold players until laca gets injured and then it’s all “why did Wenger buy Auba and wreck Laca’s confidence?” “Why did Wenger sell Giroud to finance Auba transfer?” I can’t honestly say who was responsible for all the ins and outs in January, but I do know that you can’t have it both ways…… I hope one day that all will be revealed but until then who knows what is actually going on at our club? It’s all guess work and as much as I think Wenger needs to move on, for his own sake… Read more »
Arsene looked a broken man after the Spuds game. He’s a smart guy and surely knows he’s just not got the winning formula anymore. Once he was cutting edge, now his teams are cut open. He looked like a man who knew his time was up. I’d say he knows this is his last season. I hope we are respectful of him till the end.
Let’s just hope, for his sake as well as our own, he manages to add a European trophy to our cabinet before bowing out respectfully.
COYG
I totally agree…the picture of him with his hands in his head when Laca missed that shot will be etched on my mind for a long time. Sometimes Wenger gets a bit angry and terse when things aren’t going well, but that was someone who knew that the reigns of control are being prised from his hands and it showed real anguish.
Arsene should be anguished because his team are going nowhere. If he’s anguished because control is being wrestled away from him then no-one should have any sympathy for him.
I remember people saying the same thing even last season when we had that losing run in Jan-Feb(before he switched to a 3 man defense) and yet here we are
Frankly I think the gaffer is already checked out. He’s been strangely muted with regards January transfers and seemingly deferring to the new arrangement. This would not have been with the old Arsene Wenger. As I have mentioned for many seasons now all these voices wanting him gone need not worry their little heads. He was always going to go. And as I mentioned way back, most likely the departure is set for 2018 post Wcup when there will be a major reshuffling of management. In which case he would be shoed in for the French National job. I don’t… Read more »
Start your own blog santori. You just post the same things over & over (regardless of whether it has relevance to what’s being debated) and when someone tries to debate with you, you never bother to engage. You either don’t understand how comments sections work or you have zero manners.
Santori – 25m doesn’t even buy you Danny drinkwater. we got a player who was bordering on world class at Dortmund in exchange. given how badly Wenger had managed the Sanchez situation that was a huge win. – even prior to us buying Aubameyang Giroud was talking about leaving as Deschamps publically told him to go somewhere else. Aubameyang is a better player than Giroud – practically no one disputes that. Giroud was useful but not if we want to play fast paced attacking football -city had a 60m bid turned down for Mahrez. If his choice was city or… Read more »
You don’t understand Santori negotiations? Since we have options we can force a club who doesn’t want to sell for lower price. Its really simple.
Thats how PSG got Neymar.
Santori, I preferred you when your cliches were “Flamini” last year and “nuances’ earlier this season. You couldn’t have gotten the transfer window negotiations any more wrong than you already have… Sanchez had a handshake deal with Shitty at an agreed wage. ManUre put in a cheeky offer which far exceeded Shitty’s wages, including massive kickbacks for his manager. At that stage we were going to pocket about £25mil. Then Raiola cottoned on that, 2 years ago, his player Mhki had preferred an Arsenal move but, was offered better terms and signed for ManUre. He then poked his head into… Read more »
Ain’t nobody got time for that……
“You’re sacked Arsene”
“non”
“but”
“non”
“We’ve already hired..”
“non”
You do know he can speak English, right?
Eeez a leeetle beet non
Hey Blogs, I’m wondering what do you think about Ivan? It’s a question I’m posting here, because I’d also like that the other fans could answer. Thanks in advance guys, COYG!!
Not overly fond of Ivan, or this public campaign againat wenger.
Very fond of this feeling that *something* is shifting.
Relief at the thought this might be wengers final season, and only europa league glory might puah that back. Win/win.
The way this situation portrayed sound more like a Mexican standoff where every body dies at the end, Ivan, AW, the backroom staff ..etc…however, I believe they both Ivan and AW understand there is more common ground to work together for interest of the club than otherwise.
Ultimately they both work for the same man and should there be standoff he can step in and side with one party and you cannot predict with whom he would side..
They both too smart to let that happen.
Is there any conclusive evidence that Ivan is feeding the papers with this? Or is that Arseblog making an inferrence?
I think there is no evidence to that effect. The blogger is fond of always alluding that there is war between the two. And if there is then I would throw my weight and support for Ivan. Ivan stands for a new image club that wins trophies and Wenger is for retaintion of the old habits that benefits the status quo.
“There is irritation at the perception that such faith has been invested in Wenger for those reasons given that he has delivered some tangible success in all 21 completed seasons.“
Suggests he ain’t leaving any time soon.
Careful what you wish for. Jose. Klopp. Conte and the spurs manager are all considered geniuses. One of them won’t finish in the top four but will still be considered a genius by pundits and the media. All of them were out of the title race by Jan and all now talk about the importance of finishing in the top 4, something that when wenger talked about brought him derision and mockery.
I’m not saying mr Wenger hasn’t made some bonehead moves, or mistakes like refusing to fill Vieiras spot, or get another decent cb.
But….
Power plays and political manoevering. In any corporation there is always layers of management before you can blame anyone higher up.
Shouldn’t we be working together?
Ivan is young and hungry for success that would reflect well on him and his ego. As Kroenke is and will remain silent, Gazi could be the engine demanding and paving success for the club. He is on a leash at the moment and whilst I love Wenger the man and I crave for trophies it is time for change. I would personally love to see the Monaco coach (Leo Jardim) at the helm of our team. He’s been taken his best players for the past 3 years and still maintain a high level of competitiveness, with attractive football and… Read more »
Only London Gooners can save the club. The board is never going to move a finger against AW as long as he returns a profit on the books. London Gooners need to make it difficult for him at the stadium, match day after match day, win or lose.
Can’t link up with to the majority of the comments on this particular story. What does it mean? 😉