Liam Brady says that the lack of clarity over Arsene Wenger’s future is having an effect on the team, and says that an announcement about whether he is staying or going should be made before the next game – against Man City on April 2nd.
Speaking on The Stand podcast with Eamon Dunphy, the Arsenal legend backed the Frenchman to continue if he decided to sign a new deal, but insisted it was important that the club showed some decisiveness as the team goes through a difficult period.
“What I would say, and this from an Arsenal supporter point of view, I want the team to do well, is that the uncertainty surrounding Arsene has not been good for the team,” he said.
“I think it’s come to a point now, we’ve got the international break, we’ve got no game next week because of the international matches, I think the club, by the time we play Manchester City, could do with a statement saying whether Arsene’s going to stay or going to go.
“I don’t it’s helping the team. Really, Arsene and the owner and Chief Executive have to make that decision to tell the fans what’s going to happen at the end of the season.
“If it’s Wenger to stay, I have no problem with that. A lot of fans would, but I think he’s been a terrific manager over his tenure.
“Ok, his first ten years were better than his second ten years, but I think he’s done a very good job.
“He took them to the cup in 2014, he took them to the cup in 2015 he’s had 20 years of qualifying for the Champions League.
“But we could do with a bit of clarity about his future before we play Manchester City in ten days time. We need to know what his decision is, I think that’s the key point to how the team is performing at the moment.
“Arsene must know that and the board must know that, so I’m hoping that by the time we play Man City on April 2nd that we’ll know what’s going to happen.”
First it was a lack of a plan B and now it’s a lack of clarity…. we’re all doomed i tell yee………. DOOMED!
“He took them to the cup in 2014, he took them to the cup in 2015 he’s had 20 years of qualifying for the Champions League.” – Brady The FA Cups, that too back to back, were great and well done on that. Hopefully, the club will add another this season. However the club needs to realise that decades of making up the numbers in UCL is not an achievement. If that is an achievement then may as well start giving Wenger credit for ensuring two decades of EPL football and avoiding relegation. Since when has merely participating in a… Read more »
Right, because being constantly present in the Champions League is a given that all the other top 6 clubs in England achieve.
Wenger has done well getting our boys to qualify Year in and year out, and while I agree we should be pushing on past the group stage I think that’s a weak critique against Le Boss.
Agreed. There are 16 other clubs who would love to have his record on their books over the last 20 years, so while we could have won more in the last ten years, league cup and 2 EPL which we were close to, qualifying in Europe has been important. Like everyone, I’m disappointed that for 7 years we’ve not gone beyond the group stage. But equally, it’s not like we’ve never made the final (why Jens? Why) I do think the boss can still deliver the EPL, and of course I’d love us to really challenge for the UCL. I… Read more »
It is an interesting perspective about CL to say the least, and I am inclined to agree with you after having given it a thought. CL just to make up the numbers in itself doesn’t matter all that much. Players want to play for clubs in the CL, but even they know the difference between clubs who can win the Champions’ League and those who are making up just the numbers. They would rather sign for a club that is not in the CL but which is likely to be there in a season or two, and be there as… Read more »
Listen lads – Wenger’s time is up. I used to be a huge Arsene fan up until about last season. There just aren’t any arguments for him to stay anymore. He’s spent close to £100M on players over the summer window and there has been no difference at all in our performances domestically or in Europe. He is now getting the same results with squads made up of genuine top drawer players like Ozil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Cech; as he did when we had the ‘banter era’ squad made up of players like Eboue, Denilson, Chamakh, Almunia – there is no… Read more »
“I don’t agree with the lack of disrespect shown towards Arsene from sections of the fan base” –
Lack of disrespect. You mean there should be more disrespect.
‘Lack of respect – apologies I wake up at 5:30am every morning, it gets to me sometimes..
And Liam is right. Ever since contract issue started with Sanchez and Ozil back in November, the team form has gone down, first gradually and in the last month or so more dramatically. The contract issues with Sanchez, Ozil and Wenger have very big impact on the other players. Every day we hear they go, then they stay, then other speculations etc. This must stop now. We were not spectacular in the last few years as well but this year is a complete meltdown.
True, but I think it is more a case of Arsenal standing still and other teams improving. Look at teams like West Brom, Everton and Spurs for example. They have all improved while we have not. On paper the squad is stronger/deeper than recent seasons, but the results have been dismal lately. Agree with you that contract issues have played a big part. Sanchez is a wonderful player, but sometimes it seems that he is a team of one. Ozil is class, but a bit one dimensional and clearly not a leader. What would it take to for Arsenal to… Read more »
Arghhhhhhhh, how much has been invested over the last few years. Then how much was invested by Leicester? By Spurs?
Even by Bayern?
The mistake is believing that money is our problem. How many clubs in Europe can spend 100 million like we did in last transfer window. And even with all that talented squad Wenger managed to make Ramsey ox mustafi etc look mediocre. Ramsey and mustafi were two of the best players in last Euro. In the hand of any other manager they will be world class players. Pochettino and klopp managed to transform mediocre looking squad to title challengers and Wenger never managed to do despite having one of the most talented squad in Europe. Its clear where our fault… Read more »
This idea that Wenger has made these players look mediocre is an absolute fallacy. Start of the campaign these players were performing week in week out and everyone was citing what a massive coup it was that we brought in Mustafi, how well the team was set up and how exciting we looked. We had our best group stage in the UCL for years, in a pretty tough group. The win over chelsea, the strong start and position! So what’s different? We’ve had contract issues, doubt over Sanchez and Ozil and now Wenger which had bred into uncertainty into the… Read more »
What you don’t understand is these are the same players that played well in international tournaments and clubs before arsenal . what changed when they are playing for arsenal . You say about arsenal defeating Chelsea at the start of the season . but after that their manager realized that his tactics are all wrong and changed his team around to get the best out of his team , and that’s how they became such a good team. The players remained the same throughout the season. Never have I ever seen Wenger do something like that . guardiola changes formation… Read more »
All this talk of millions to get “6-7 world class players” is such a red herring. Messi, Suarez as Neymar wouldn’t have improved our zonal marking against West Brom over the weekend. Kos IS world class, but on many occasions doesn’t look it due to the team’s structure being such a mess. In Europe, both Atletico and Dortmund are regular last 8s of the CL. They spend less than us, sell their top players like we did (and seems will start doing again), yet perform better than us. Heck we could argue squad wise we’re better than them both man… Read more »
Liam knows.
But unfortunately they wont sack him, oh no Liam. They don’t have the bottle it takes.
However they’ll regret it, Liam. If Venga ain’t sacked by end of season, the sky will fall – under the weight of the planes that we’ll fly in it. That’ll teach them Liam.
What a weird comment.
Heh.
Though not sure what’s weirder; my comment, or that you can still be impressed by the weirdness of a comment in your comments section.
I like a heady mix, keeps me on my toes
Number 7 is Liam Brady.
thats what we need right now, 10 clones of Perry Groves
Friend of mine went to the Palace (that Giroud goal) game, and brought me back a programme signed by Perry. Love that guy.
His left foot’s reason I became a gunner.
Obviously he’s right. We need some kind of stability, espeically with so many player contracts up in the air.
The man was truly a joy to watch and his left foot, the reason for my name.
THAT goal at the lane…aaahhhh the memories. What chance we beat em 5 nil there again?
Thanks for that, was trying to work out your name.
When the king of highbury speaks we listen, but will the board or the man himself?
His right! All the suspense is doing no one any good.
When the king of Highbury speaks, we listen but will the board or wenger??
Sorry for the near repeat but when i saw the article i got a bit excited, nostalgic then posted and for the first time in ages, even after all the shit on saturday, was awaiting moderation. But i couldnt.
If they aren’t going to announce it publicly, at least tell the team what’s going to happen as the contract situation and media speculation on Alexis, Ozil and Arsene is clearly affecting them.
Yes. Agreed. While I’d prefer everyone knowing, I still think it’s far more important for the players to know. It’s very clearly affecting them at this point.
I agree with the posters before me: I think he’s right. All this uncertainty is affecting the club, the players and the fans. It’s a very unhealthy situation. Imagine what it’s like to be a player in all of this? Can’t be easy. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if this sort of thing affects their performance. And yes, I know that football is their job and whatever else, but I can’t honestly say that my own performance at my own job is not affected when shit hits the fan around me. Of course it affects me. We’re all humans, we’re… Read more »
Liam has the point.
Even after I listened to the podcast and heard his opinions on other issues with modern football.
Sometimes little stuff like this get blown out of proportion. Regardless of whether the manager is staying or not, bloody give 100% whenever you are on the pitch. You are wearing the Arsenal shirt ffs. It’s funny if contracts of players like Ozil and Alexis are blamed for the shambles we are experiencing presently. Crap. Just give 100% whenever you wear the shirt, push psychology aside and f*ckin win games
It’s not that simple though. Humans are not robots. We’re affected by stuff. We all have good and bad days at work.
And no, being paid a lot doesn’t mean jack unless it’s a recent pay rise – once you’ve grown accustomed to a certain salary level, it stops being a motivating factor. Paying footballers a lot is simply something clubs do to keep them, not because it in any way improves their performance.
Dropping them to bench, them knowing the coach may sell them at end of season is a motivation. Keeping them in starting XI is not.
Dropping them could work, if Wenger actually dropped them.
But as he made clear after the first Bayern mauling, he always wants to give those same players another chance.
Meanwhile guys like Perez, or previously Campbell, regardless of how well they performed, would still get benched.
Liam, You put it so well. The dilema is seriously harming the team. Seriously what’s happening at Arsenal.It’s so easy to renew Oliviers Contract but when it comes key players (Ozil & Sanchez) the directors/ Board can’t convince them enough. It’s not always about what you pay a player but what kind of Players we buy. Arsenal needs to get into the market n get us more Quality players. We need production.
Arsenal is not a tv series where after every season we sing the same song “Waiting for next season”.
The quality of signings has been so poor in recent years.
We missed out on Kante twice and surely not going for Fabregas has to look like a mistake too.
I know this doesn’t help as it’s all perceived as hindsight but the fact is that we’ve just not brought in enough quality. Sanchez and Ozil would be squad players at Arsenal 10 years ago and now we perceive them as the best, which drums home how poor the rest of the squad is vs those other clubs who are improving.
what i dont get is its clear that Ozil and Sanchez are more than likely leaving, so why dont we compromise(agree a deal) with them giving them a bumper pay rise and a release clause of at least £50M and if a foreign club meets that valuation in the summer they can go.
Its a win win situation for both parties, right? give them what they want, extend their deals and sell them in the summer.
And you know this how ? Because the media are reporting every day that both of them are leaving ? And they bombarded us with the news in the past 2 days that ozil didn’t had and injury he was refusing to sing and told the club he is leaving and he is not injured and weger decided to drop him and made up that he is injure, you believe that shit media ? Low had official statement today that ozils is injured and will miss the international games so is it still made up ? I personally believe that… Read more »
so you disagree with my idea of extending their contracts now, bcos you believe they will extend their contracts later on!!!
And why woud they agree to extend and insert a 50mil clause that maybe someone will not agrre to pay and they will be forced to stay unwillingly, i’m sure the the profesional people and weger know best regarding their contracts is not that simple if that was the case we all now wenger will be first to agree on that to make as much money as he can from them he sold RVP because he didn’t want to lose him for free. Any way 100% we will have clarity and statement on contract or no new contract for wenger… Read more »
So do you think my idea is something the club has or should have tried? i dont care about the players, im thinking of the club. And lets be honest £50M is cheap for both players so why would they be hesitant? Its actually more risky for the club, cos we could give them a bumper new contract and they could both play crap and then we are forced to sell them for peanuts.
If they get sold for a lower amount then they can ask for more salary and bonuses from their new clubs. Signing those deals only makes sense early in the year from a players perspective (see Suarez). Now they have all the leverage as they can sign a precontract in 6 months. They would be nuts to sign a new contract with this little left in the year if they want to leave
I agree….sign that thing.
I don’t think it is a lack of clarity. It is a combination of a lack of toughness from the players mixed in with the presence of Kroenke and Wenger.
Leave. Just leave.
The paper already started the war chest story. “We will spend big time this summer, Wenger will reinvent himself, yada yada” and when the summer almost over we end up by signing only 1 or 2 good but mediocre players, and the boards will tell us “No one(worldclass player) is available”, sounds like Arsenal, classic bullshit(needless to say probably we’ll losing Sanchez and Ozil, what a nightmare). I mean if we want to sign more players make sure at first we can keep Ozil and Sanchez first, build the team around those two, so we don’t have to revert to… Read more »
Don’t think people are grasping that we won’t get champions league football next season
plus we don’t have the same pull as Chelsea,man u and city in terms of ambition.
Unfortunately Wenger himself is the only draw we have when getting theses
so called world class players LOL
Bad times our coming…
What we will confirm if Wenger signs this deal is that he’s truly selfish and does not care about the fans and how we feel.
One day, and I understand it’s not that obvious given the circumstances at the moment, we will all be back talking about football. I look forward to that.
The weird fans who want Wenger sacked at all cost. They won’t be happy otherwise because they need a quick fix to make them feel better. No attention to nuance or future or practicality. We have to have ex United players like Neville remind them how foolish and ungrateful they sound. As much as he has flattered to deceive in his second part of reign, this is no ordinary manager for the club. He has built this club up from humble finances, re-branded the sort of boring footy we used to play and kept an incredibly high consistency in finishing… Read more »
I can’t see him bring Arsenal further anymore, after all this years we made no progression(we are stale) and this year is the year when we are going backward, to make it worse, we are going backward after spent £90m. He seems lost, the players look unmotivated, toxic atmosphere around the fans, and there’s a big possibility we out from top 4. Rumors said he want to reinvent himself, why? Why does he want to reinvent himself now? Why not a year ago, 2 years ago, or 7 years ago? Doesn’t it just show us all this time he satisfies… Read more »
david ornstein of bbc said “new deal offered still on table but will be mutual decision in the summer”
can someone tell me what that means. deals are always mutually agreed. he tweeted this a month ago. the contract is probably signed by now. if so someone needs to have the balls to announce it asap.