Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you’ll know that Sunday’s match with Burnley is Arsene Wenger’s last home game in charge of Arsenal.
It’s sure to be an emotional day for all Gunners fans and the club are keen to ensure the Frenchman gets the send-off he deserves for 22-years of service.
According to the Telegraph, supporters at the Emirates will each receive a t-shirt with ‘Merci Arsene’ to commemorate the day. It’s also reported that there will be a guard of honour from both sets of players before the 4.30 kick-off. Given Burnley are just behind us in the table, the pre-game stuff is set to be low key. Once we’ve won (*shakes fist at players*), it sounds as though things will really kick off.
In addition to the traditional lap of appreciation that takes place after the final home game of every season, there will be on-pitch presentations.
Naturally, the boss will be centre stage, but by the sounds of things, kit man Vic Akers, captain Per Mertesacker and Women’s star Alex Scott, all three of whom are retiring from their respective roles, will also be given a chance to say their goodbyes.
Members of Arsenal’s 100 Club – players who’ve featured 100 times or more for the Gunners – have been invited to take part in the celebrations.
Wenger will conclude his tenure with away games against Leicester and Huddersfield. It’s not quite as poetic as winning a first European trophy on home turf, but a trip to the club where Herbert Chapman made his name has a smidgen of romance about it. Sort of.
Anyway, here’s to a great day on Sunday. If you have a ticket, be sure to turn up early!
As if it’s a 4.30pm kick off but not being televised at all! What a shambles. Would’ve been great to watch.
They are showing an hour long Merci Arsene programme, presumably after the Chelsea game. It will show the tributes. Hopefully the team can manage a win.
Seems like a petty point to make, (and I’m not saying they were his strongest years) but I really hope that in that programme they acknowledge the work Wenger did from about 2006-2012 to keep us relatively competitive and playing fantastic football while managing the Emirates transition on a small budget. Getting a little tired of the same lazy Jamie Redknapp style ‘first decade great, second decade not so much’ assessment from most sections of the media.
Agree with Sean. Wenger himself said back in 2013 the second 6 years were more of an achievement for him than the first 8 years (or something like this).
Sad that people don’t look at the context.
What is annoying is that Chelsea match is being shown on 2 Sky channels at the same. time. Couldn’t they have put our match on as well
Hope that the fans can put behind the disappointment of Atleti and turn up on Sunday. That’s nothing less than Wenger has earned.
A weird feeling this to be a gooner right now. Sadness, regret, and hope.
It’s football, you know. But oh, I’m going to miss the gaffer. My dream of watching him manage arsenal at the emirates will now forever be a dream. But forever, I’ve learned a lot about dealing with hard knocks from this man. Life rarely goes your way, but you rarely have the grace of Arsene to deal with it.
I’m losing someone here. I’m sorry. I’m losing my god for the last good fifteen years of my life. Sorry, for all this burst of emotion, but fuck it, Arsene, I love you man.
Miss him..? I can’t wait to see Arsenal FC after him. Though I say that with a sense of trepidation and unease because of the current board’s past decision making records.Having said that, I believe that Hope is more inspiring, so let’s be more hopeful for the future.
Well said and I feel the same way. Arsene has been more than just a manager for our football team. He’s taught me about life, values and humility and just to listen to him in a post match interview would pick me back up if we lost a game. I’m going to miss him terribly. We’ll never have his like again. The greatest of all time.
Spot on with your comments.
Hope he gets the send off from the home fans he truly deserves.
Certainly a weird time being an Arsenal fan. There’s a definite feeling of sadness, a sense of loss yet there’s also hope for a brighter future.
Vic Akers is retiring?! 🙁
Just hope we offer a 6 month deal to Cazorla until December and then see where we go from there. He needs time to work his way back into competition. It’ll be a huge lift to watch him play football at the Emirates again.
Surely, we are not going to let Cazorla leave just like that??
For me, Santi Cazorla has been the player of the decade at Arsenal. Big Legend.
unfortunately the odds of him returning to play a crucial role are very slim. it’s likely his top level career is over – Achilles injuries are really difficult to come back from. that said I love Santi and would love to see him still around the club even if not in a playing role. If he’s up for it I would love to see either the new manager offer him a coaching role or possibly working with Per and the academy
He never relied on pace to begin with. Watched a footage of him training at the Emirates the other day. Class is permanent. He started running which means he should be back soon. I believe he can offer us a lot going forward but not against all oppositions. It’s about managing him well. He has 2 good seasons in him. Just that he can’t play once in 3 days. Cazorla came in at a time when we needed someone like him. He changed the destiny of this club like Bergkamp did. He deserves a contract extension. The least we can… Read more »
Like I said I would like to see him around the club regardless. Santi clearly is more of a technical player and he won’t lose that. But those little bursts of speed you need to get out of a tight space can be – that’s really what Jack has lost IMO. Santi is much more technically gifted than Jack so hopefully like you said he can compensate for any lost speed, but generally speaking these types of injuries in your 30’s are more difficult to overcome.
We’ve already given him 18 months to work on his fitness haven’t we? I love Santi but the club isn’t a charity and as much as he’s brought to us, we’ve also given him the most successful and financially beneficial years of his career. Arsenal don’t owe him, or anyone really, except for the fans. If we want to compete with the Manchester clubs, we have to be efficient with our spending. By all means invite him to use our facilities and staff, with a view to a contract if he can prove his fitness. But there is no good… Read more »
@Public Elneny
What you say is reasonable but that’s why i suggest the 6 month option. It’s not exactly charity. It’s about how we treat these top level professionals.
Knowing Cazorla is a top top top lad. Loyalty goes much beyond the pitch. If we give him a deal now his loyalty might pay off in someother form.
Who knows Cazorla might be the key to us signing a young prodigy from Spain in the near future.
That’s why it’s very important to treat these guys well. Well, not everybody but Santi sure as hell deserves it.
@ramgooner Yeah you might have a point. Would Mertesacker be in line to take over as Head of Academy if he wasn’t offered a contract for this year, even though he was clearly finished as a footballer? And maybe the additional two years we gave Arteta after his legs went will work in our favour if he becomes a highly sought after manager? Maybe, maybe not – we might have signed proper replacements for them sooner if their wages were freed up earlier. Overall though I think it’s more important to focus wages on players that we’re confident can contribute… Read more »
Contract or No contract we need to show this guy a lot of respect. I just hope we have people from the club communicating with him on a daily basis and that we are doing everything we can to get this guy to play football again.
Koscielny and Santi are amazing players for us. BUT you need to set aside your sentimentality. Both are in waning years and carrying injury issues. As I mentioned to those all too eager to get rid of Mustafi, it is Koscielny that we must sell (or at least allow to take a retiring role) Younger Cbacks like Holding and Mavropanos have promise but one swallow does not a summer make. It is a Massive mistake to rely on them without proof of consistency. Meanwhile we can’t construct the entire team from scratch, the resources are needed in many areas and… Read more »
We were top of the table after beating Chelsea 3-0. Santi got injured and our downfall was witnessed, Arsenal hasn’t been the same since. These depressing times for us fans need Santi’s smile and his magic feet on the pitch even if one last time
Is it possible to get a pair of “F*ck off, board” trousers to match?
Uhm, why exactly? I understand it´s somehow popular to hate on the board (and there surely is a lot to blame them for over the last couple of years), but as things stand they finally did what had to be done. The structure is there for us to take the step forward – we have a Director of Football from Barcelona, Head of Recruitment from Dortmund and they seem to be great aquisitions – make no mistake, Gazidis & Co. are responsible for that. All we can ask for now is that they make the last, yet most important aqusition… Read more »
This could be an illusion.
We may now see management by committee.
If the board appoints a manager who is young and brave (or from left field) rather than someone with sufficient gravitas, we will have issues recruiting without CL and with a restricted budget.
More so it would appear again that the board/DOF will attempt to control the new chap. Purchases will then be made at expediency to contacts rather than for squad balance and overall strategic value…as in the case of January.
I wonder if you can get one of those t-shirts if you can’t get to the game? Anybody know? Don’t judge, I like to collect stuff…..
Hope we don’t forget to win the game in all this. Finishing below Burnley is just not acceptable. It’s bad enough being 6th as it is. Just can’t wait for this season to end now.
I was more of a Thierry Henry fan than an Arsenal one initially (circa 2005). But the football played by the Gunners post Titi’s departure to Barca and the incredible – philosophical – values that had been stamped on this FC by Le Prof ensured that I will be a life-long/eternal fan of Arsenal FC. Ofcourse, sensationally passionate and heart on the sleeve bloggers like Mr. Andrew, James, Goonerholic, Goodplaya, the Man from East Lower and the blogger of “the-cannon” played a part in my addiction to Woolwich FC too. 😀 Anyway, I hope that like Titi, Le Prof takes… Read more »
The man Arsene Wenger deserves all the accolades he gets. We – the fans in Nigeria – will forever remember him fondly. He brought our beloved Kanu “back from the dead” in circa ’97. He made us wear the shirt proudly and the Arsenal fanbase grew exponentially in seven years. Now, we have arguably the largest fanbase of any EPL club in Nigeria. Although our number has whittled down a bit (understanably), we are still a force. Our only hope and prayer is that the Board don’t do a Moyes! We want our voices back. But we join the fans… Read more »
Honestly thankyou for everything you have done for this club Arsene. But you are simply out of touch with the modern game. You deserve the best send off but I just cannot help myself but think that if we had Olivier Giroud we could have easily scored more in the first leg and possibly one in the away leg. It killed our chances of winning a European trophy with a transfer that just simply didn’t need to happen in a January window knowing full well we had a crack at a European trophy.
All the same, again thankyou Arsene.
The players have got to put in an effort at the least and win this one. Show them all the door if they don’t.
I for one am going to be extremely emotionally charged.
Please.
They talk the talk but they have not delivered.
Arsene looks spent. Watching him against Atheltico second leg, he looks like a man bereft of ideas and frankly just tired from both his own failure and the criticism. I think deep down he knows the inadequacies of the squad. It hasn’t been helped by the January transfer window which has been an exercise in fixing what isn’t broken with a cup tied player coming in and an aging player in Mhkitaryan who replicates what we already have with Ozil and Ramsey. I feel this departure will do Wenger good. I’ve said it for several seasons now that I felt… Read more »
Went on the Stadium tour today – the whole stadium was kitted out with red shirts sitting on the seats for Sunday.
What size are the t shirts?