An urgent plea to Arsene supporters..

[Steve_I]

My first point

I am genuinely interested in hearing why he is still the man for you, why 1996-2005 is enough to justify giving him more time,

If I could promise that Arsenal would win 3 premiership titles and 4 FA cups in the next 9 years with 'insert name of favourite alternative manager here' but said manager would only come for a 16 year contract or nothing - would folk take the deal? I suggest most would answer in the affirmative. No manager comes with the promise of definite returns and Arsene - were he not at Arsenal but elsewhere, would be a name many anti-Arsene folk would be suggesting as a replacement for himself.

We know he has the ability to manage successfully in terms of trophies and an average of one major trophy every 2 and a bit seasons is not to be sniffed at.

(On an aside - the FA cup IS a major trophy despite recent suggestions to the contrary - it's the FA CUP FFS! and on that I will not be budged)

[highburyJD]

hi steve
fricking rosetinter
only joking
*does secret AKB handshake*

[g88ner]

hi steve
Yes! a rosetinter!
unzips flies..
*does secret AKB handshake*
then lights a cigarette...

fixed it for you, JD

[highburyJD]

Oi!! disgusting accusation...
















I gave up smoking in '99

[Steve_I]

hi steve
fricking rosetinter
only joking
*does secret AKB handshake*

fixed it for you, JD

Cheers gents

[DB10GOONER]

My first point

I am genuinely interested in hearing why he is still the man for you, why 1996-2005 is enough to justify giving him more time,

If I could promise that Arsenal would win 3 premiership titles and 4 FA cups in the next 9 years with 'insert name of favourite alternative manager here' but said manager would only come for a 16 year contract or nothing - would folk take the deal? I suggest most would answer in the affirmative. No manager comes with the promise of definite returns and Arsene - were he not at Arsenal but elsewhere, would be a name many anti-Arsene folk would be suggesting as a replacement for himself.

We know he has the ability to manage successfully in terms of trophies and an average of one major trophy every 2 and a bit seasons is not to be sniffed at.

(On an aside - the FA cup IS a major trophy despite recent suggestions to the contrary - it's the FA CUP FFS! and on that I will not be budged)

Welcome on board, Steve. You will probably get a few OTT responses but take it on the chin (as the Bishop said to the actress!), mate.

Personally, I disagree with your summation of a trophy every two and a bit seasons, because you are fudging the stats a bit there! If Wenger actually was delivering a trophy every two and a bit seasons then I'd be over the moon - if he was even delivering a trophy every three seasons I'd be delighted. I don't mind trophyless seasons if the manager improves the squad and then delivers silverware from that improvement within a couple of years. Regular trophies would be fantastic. But he delivered trophies only in his first 9 years. He hasn't delivered anything but repeating the same mistakes for the last 7 years. The game has changed and moved on and left Arsene behind. THIS (and his failure to admit it and try something different) is one of my personal bugbears with him.

[Eboue-Why?]

My first point

I am genuinely interested in hearing why he is still the man for you, why 1996-2005 is enough to justify giving him more time,

If I could promise that Arsenal would win 3 premiership titles and 4 FA cups in the next 9 years with 'insert name of favourite alternative manager here' but said manager would only come for a 16 year contract or nothing - would folk take the deal? I suggest most would answer in the affirmative. No manager comes with the promise of definite returns and Arsene - were he not at Arsenal but elsewhere, would be a name many anti-Arsene folk would be suggesting as a replacement for himself.

We know he has the ability to manage successfully in terms of trophies and an average of one major trophy every 2 and a bit seasons is not to be sniffed at.

(On an aside - the FA cup IS a major trophy despite recent suggestions to the contrary - it's the FA CUP FFS! and on that I will not be budged)

Welcome Steve and thanks for being the first to respond to my plea!!!
I have to say that I also feel you've been very sneaky with your stats! You can't equate 96-05 with the last 7 seasons in terms of trophies being spread out over his 16 year reign. For me he has too much power at the club. He isn't accountable to anybody and to be quite frank is living off the first 9 wonderful years. But how long are you prepared to give him? How long before you maybe admit that he used to be brilliant in the transfer market but isn't anymore? Everybody in life loses something over time so why isn't it possible that this has happened to him?
All of this has to be addressed but above all I feel that he stands in front of the camera most weeks claiming this and that when clearly the reality isn't what he says it is and therefore he's treating us with contempt.
Just because he used to be great shouldn't mean that HE can decide how long he's allowed to go on for in my opinion.

[donaldo]

(On an aside - the FA cup IS a major trophy despite recent suggestions to the contrary - it's the FA CUP FFS! and on that I will not be budged)

Tell that to Mr £7m a year

You are being a bit cheeky about a trophy every two and a bit seasons.In fact in 16 seasons at the club Wenger has been trophyless in 11 seasons.And since 2004 we have only once been under 10 points behind the champions.Wenger has taken us from contenders to also rans

And another stat since Roman took over the Chavs the trophy count is 10-2

[DB10GOONER]

(On an aside - the FA cup IS a major trophy despite recent suggestions to the contrary - it's the FA CUP FFS! and on that I will not be budged)

Tell that to Mr £7m a year

You are being a bit cheeky about a trophy every two and a bit seasons.In fact in 16 seasons at the club Wenger has been trophyless in 11 seasons.And since 2004 we have only once been under 10 points behind the champions.Wenger has taken us from contenders to also rans

And another stat since Roman took over the Chavs the trophy count is 10-2

That is soooooooo depressing, don. And it includes the CL.

I always assumed we'd be the first London team to win it. Still gutted.

[augie]

Question for you Steve_I..........if a new manager was appointed in the morning and he hadnt won a trophy in the next 5 years would you support the idea of keeping him in the job ? If that new manager took over the team and 5 years later had a poorer squad than the one he inherited then would you want to keep him in the job ?

[bradpiff]

one more for steve J say ffp comes in and works the way it is suposed to, but we stil continue to linger around 4th and
quarter finals of tournaments would you still want Wenger in charge or would this still be acceptable

[highburyJD]

And another stat since Roman took over the Chavs the trophy count is 10-2

genuine question, what would be an acceptable trophy count v a team with unlimited resources?

That is soooooooo depressing, don. And it includes the CL.

I always assumed we'd be the first London team to win it. Still gutted.

I'm still gutted too, billionaires won it like a pauper underdog
bit lucky in the groups,
battered by Napoli but scraped through
every man behind the ball v Benfica - just get by
thrashed by Barca who hit woodwork, miss penalty and various chances, shots off the line - miracle
Bayern absolutely dick them in the final but somehow lose on pens

literally the luckiest, most undeserved trophy I can remember any team winning. ever
(yes I'm also still gutted...)

[flash gunner]

And another stat since Roman took over the Chavs the trophy count is 10-2

genuine question, what would be an acceptable trophy count v a team with unlimited resources?

That is soooooooo depressing, don. And it includes the CL.

I always assumed we'd be the first London team to win it. Still gutted.

I'm still gutted too, billionaires won it like a pauper underdog
bit lucky in the groups,
battered by Napoli but scraped through
every man behind the ball v Benfica - just get by
thrashed by Barca who hit woodwork, miss penalty and various chances, shots off the line - miracle
Bayern absolutely dick them in the final but somehow lose on pens

literally the luckiest, most undeserved trophy I can remember any team winning. ever
(yes I'm also still gutted...)

You make your own luck. They defended very well in the big games last season on the way to winning the European Cup. If you can defend you stand a chance of winning whatever competition you go into. FFS they went 1-0 down and had Terry sent off in the first half against barca last season and still managed to get a result

[highburyJD]

literally the luckiest, most undeserved trophy I can remember any team winning. ever
(yes I'm also still gutted...)

You make your own luck. They defended very well in the big games last season on the way to winning the European Cup. If you can defend you stand a chance of winning whatever competition you go into. FFS they went 1-0 down and had Terry sent off in the first half against barca last season and still managed to get a result

to some extent I agree 'you make your own luck'
but Napoli, Barca and Bayern's players don't miss chance after chance they'd normally score because of Chelski
they were spectacularly flukey
- as I said I can't remember any team, winning any trophy, after being dominated by the opposition so many times

[bradpiff]

Greece

but they also defended well