THE WENGER THREAD

[flash gunner]

How many of the top clubs in Europe would take Wenger this season or at the end of the season?

I know that almost all of the "also-ran" sides (Liverpool) would take him tomorrow, but of the title challengers in each country who would have him?

If top jobs became available tomorrow (for example, if Guardiola had to leave Bayern for person reasons), who'd take him on?

I would imagine he would get any job he wanted on the world. Seriously and it's possible he would do really well with them. Things have gone stale at Arsenal and have been for 5 years or more but hes a decent manager and at another club he could do well IMO

That's comedy gold that...I can imagine Bayern and Real scrambling to boot Carlo and Pep out
You do know his managerial trophy record is no better than Martinez over a 10-year period right? It's almost like you don't actually watch any football. But I forget, we're lucky he's still here Arsene

Who said anything about sacking them for him????? Who said we're lucky to have him???? I said if a top job become available he'd be up there to get it.

Come on Baba try reading the fucking posts the foam from your mouth from all the hatred is getting in your eyes

Right. So just to recap: if the Madrid, Bayern, Barca or PSG jobs became available, you actually think Wenger could walk into any of them. So even though the following managers have achieved far more, with far less money over the past 4/5 years: Klopp, Simeone, Benitez, Emery, Bielsa (and that's just off the top of my head). And factor in the wages he's on. It genuinely beggars belief that anyone claiming to watch Arsenal could look at the abysmal constant results (8-2, 3-3 Anderlecht, 3-0 Everton, 6/3 Citeh, 1-2 ManYoo, Stoke just the other week)... And claim he could get any big European job?! Mental. Scouse-esque!

Like it or not hes a highly rated manager and if any top job came up if he was interested he'd have a good chance of getting it. Your opinion (and mine for that matter) counts for fuck all Baba. Also answer my qustions who said they sack them for him and who said we're lucky to have him?

[clockender1]

the people who say we are lucky to have him are either a) braindead AKB's who don't know anything else or b) don't pay 50 quid every game to watch 9 months of dull sideways passing in between regular humiliations.

thats the fence right there - on the one side , those who don't know any better, and on the other those that do.

[Theoperator]

A manager that lost 6-3, 5-1, 3-0, 6-0 all in the same season, that's let a 4-goal league lead slip (a record), that let a 3-goal CL home lead slip (also a record), that lost a cup final to a relegated team (who last did that?), and picked Sanogo to start a game v the European champions. He'd walk into any other job despite not managing a top 2 league finish in a decade, apparently...

FFS, Wigan v Citeh 2013 Mancini in charge, now a top candidate for us

True. Forgot that. Does this excuse the litany of other records? But sure pick the one point out of about 20

looks like the scorelines you gave resulted in 1 point out of a possible 16

[Ikechukwu1]

Flash man. Due respect, grasp of English seems tenuous. Do you travel? Who on earth told you he's a highly rated manager on the continent? Simply not true. Ask any Real, Barca or even PSG fan whether they'd take him then come back and let's have this chat again. Don't take my word for it. Go on As.com and all the articles on Wenger and see what Madrid fans say about him. If you think I'm critical you'll have your eyes well and truly opened! It's utter hogwash afraid, no factual basis in reality. Strangely enough, I just named several managers who've achieved more over a 4-year period with far less money. When Chav fans chant "we want you to stay" and his future is constantly splashed in the papers, do you think foreign clubs who want trophies don't see this?! Just ignore that bit yeah?
Rafa Benitez would be considered for any big job before Wenger would, as would Klopp or Simeone.
The "we're lucky to have him" was a sarcastic quip. Nothing more. :

[flash gunner]

Flash man. Due respect, grasp of English seems tenuous. Do you travel? Who on earth told you he's a highly rated manager on the continent? Simply not true. Ask any Real, Barca or even PSG fan whether they'd take him then come back and let's have this chat again. Don't take my word for it. Go on As.com and all the articles on Wenger and see what Madrid fans say about him. If you think I'm critical you'll have your eyes well and truly opened! It's utter hogwash afraid, no factual basis in reality. Strangely enough, I just named several managers who've achieved more over a 4-year period with far less money. When Chav fans chant "we want you to stay" and his future is constantly splashed in the papers, do you think foreign clubs who want trophies don't see this?! Just ignore that bit yeah?
Rafa Benitez would be considered for any big job before Wenger would, as would Klopp or Simeone.
The "we're lucky to have him" was a sarcastic quip. Nothing more. :

Fucking hell Baba you dont give up do you!! You cant use As.com and the comments boxs or forums as proof of the general opinions on anything!!!! The fucking nutters and extremists of the world comment on websites and forums (and i count us all in that too ) but especially comments boxes and also supporters opinions count for fuck all as we know or Wenger would have been hung, drawn and quartered if this place had anything to do with it........

In case you hadnt grasped my view on Wenger ill just repeat it..... I think its gone stale, i want him gone, my Arsenal is not there anymore ive been priced out and dont feel part of modern day Arsenal but i dont want to beat the shit out of Wenger or feel the need to call him a *word censored* left right and centre and i love Arsenal more than i hate Wenger and also i dont feel the need to be more extreme than everyone else to show how much i hate everything and everyone connected at the club grrrrrr. Up the Gunners Wenger OUT

[gp543]

Flash man. Due respect, grasp of English seems tenuous. Do you travel? Who on earth told you he's a highly rated manager on the continent? Simply not true. Ask any Real, Barca or even PSG fan whether they'd take him then come back and let's have this chat again. Don't take my word for it. Go on As.com and all the articles on Wenger and see what Madrid fans say about him. If you think I'm critical you'll have your eyes well and truly opened! It's utter hogwash afraid, no factual basis in reality. Strangely enough, I just named several managers who've achieved more over a 4-year period with far less money. When Chav fans chant "we want you to stay" and his future is constantly splashed in the papers, do you think foreign clubs who want trophies don't see this?! Just ignore that bit yeah?
Rafa Benitez would be considered for any big job before Wenger would, as would Klopp or Simeone.
The "we're lucky to have him" was a sarcastic quip. Nothing more. :

This is Wenger's last job in football unless he and Didier Deschamps leave their current posts before the start of next season.

[Ikechukwu1]

Flash man. Due respect, grasp of English seems tenuous. Do you travel? Who on earth told you he's a highly rated manager on the continent? Simply not true. Ask any Real, Barca or even PSG fan whether they'd take him then come back and let's have this chat again. Don't take my word for it. Go on As.com and all the articles on Wenger and see what Madrid fans say about him. If you think I'm critical you'll have your eyes well and truly opened! It's utter hogwash afraid, no factual basis in reality. Strangely enough, I just named several managers who've achieved more over a 4-year period with far less money. When Chav fans chant "we want you to stay" and his future is constantly splashed in the papers, do you think foreign clubs who want trophies don't see this?! Just ignore that bit yeah?
Rafa Benitez would be considered for any big job before Wenger would, as would Klopp or Simeone.
The "we're lucky to have him" was a sarcastic quip. Nothing more. :

This is Wenger's last job in football unless he and Didier Deschamps leave their current posts before the start of next season.

Agree. It's the reason he hasn't left. Ask yourself: why did Wenger sign another contract? If, as Flash claims, he could walk into any other job? Barca were looking to replace Tata after all, the job was there. Did Barca ever approach Wenger? They approached Klopp allegedly. Not a squeak on Wenger. Despite his contract virtually being up? He stays at Arsenal as there's nowhere else for him to go. Anywhere else would be a huge step down for Arsenal. I find it strange that a guy who could walk into any job in football would be so openly criticised by eg Beckenbauer
I do agree, he can get the France job though.

[Theoperator]

He will be commentating/ doing pundit work well into his 80s you mark my words

Was in France fro the first week of the WC and AW popped up all over the place giving interviews reactions opinions. He wont disappear thats for sure. Have to say that his demeanour was surprisingly different, looked a lot more relaxed and cheerful.

As long as his last jobs arent higher up the board at AFC or commentating on British speaking TV channels thats OK by me

[GoonerMuzz]

Simple question who exactly is he still highly rated by?


Lets say you had a few billion in the bank and bought for example Everton and wanted to really challenge the big boys in PL and have a real go at the getting into the CL and you decided you needed to replace Martinez, how high on your list would Wenger actually be?

I reckon off the top of my head i could name 10 managers i'd take over Wenger without even thinking about it. Tbh i can probably think of a few PL managers i'd take the chance on before him these days.

[officepest]

Simple question who exactly is he still highly rated by?


Lets say you had a few billion in the bank and bought for example Everton and wanted to really challenge the big boys in PL and have a real go at the getting into the CL and you decided you needed to replace Martinez, how high on your list would Wenger actually be?

I reckon off the top of my head i could name 10 managers i'd take over Wenger without even thinking about it. Tbh i can probably think of a few PL managers i'd take the chance on before him these days.

55,000 every other week at the Grave.

[GoonerMuzz]

I take your point Officepest but having spoken with a few people and read bits and pieces on different websites and forums it would seem that the chanting wasn't as universal as the media made out.

Certainly it was loud but from what i can gather of it there were parts of the bowl where people weren't singing or where there were only small groups within a larger area , maybe we underestimate the number of people not being led into the OGL's fantasy zone by a couple of wins in nothing games.



At the moment it is proving incredibly difficult to get a true reading on fans feelings as i think many fans are living with a lets wait and see again attitude.

The way the media is handling all this is farcical but not unexpected, there are a lot more anti-Arsenal pundits out there who are happy to see what is currently happening, those who are Pro-Arsenal in the main seem to fall into the Wenger is God group.

I genuinely wish that someone from the media with at least some genuine ability to be non-biased would ask the pertinent questions for those who wish to see a change and have done so for a while, but then i know that is unlikely to happen as it is much less newsworthy and interesting.

[DB10GOONER]

What a lot of you simply fail to understand is that most of the current media pundits (particularly ex-players) are loathe to upset other players and/or managers publicly. There are a few reasons behind this; fear, respect, self-interest.

You have to remember many of these ex-players came out of the game with less money than modern players will, so they rely on their new punditry job for income and they like the money. They are reluctant to be seen as critical of fellow professionals within their industry in case the media companies stop using them.

Then there are of course the new breed like Ratface Neville and Carragher that would have come out wealthy no doubt, but their perspective would be; if I upset or insult so and so, will they fuck up my burgeoning media career further down the road? So they him and haw around the issue.

Then there are the people that genuinely respect Wenger, maybe know him personally, and like the man. They will never publicly insult or humiliate him by saying he's past it.

You will get the odd exeption (usually an attention seeker) but basically anyone that is waiting for pundits to suddenly jump onside and call for Wenger's head is living in fantasy land.

[foxinthebox2001]

The majority I believe are set against Wenger going any further than next summer, unless he somehow pulls off a big trophy, the EPL or CL.
I think most know there is no benefit in Clueless going now with no viable alternative.
The crunch will be in the last couple of home games. With the CL a distant poor memory of getting spanked by a top Spanish club, the run in the FA cup lasting until the QF's and the title being mathematically out of reach since easter.
Wenger will once again expect his arsed to be kissed by the fans for winning the 4th place trophy, that is the moment he should experience real venom from a home crowd.
Don't forget this is man who said at the weekend 99.9% of fans respect him.

[augie]

The most annoying thing is that the media seem to have come to the conclusion that many of the fans singing for him last Saturday would previously been critical of him and are now back on his side - it doesn't seem to have entered into their heads that the pro wenker faction where enjoying their day in the sun last Saturday and were vocal but that the anti wenker faction are still very much alive and have not changed their opinions based on a win against a shit Geordie side. In every clubs fanbase there will always be some (small) divides in opinions but when you look at a club the size of ours, those factions are very high in number base and 10k (for example) singing his name, does not mean that the majority are still believing in him.

Have to say flash that I too disagree with your assessment that any top club would be happy to have le cock in charge - you (and many others) suggest that a lot of people will look at our 15 years of qualifying for knockout stages and view that as a recognition of his talents but I disagree. Any proper knowledgeable football people will be well aware of the size and stature of our club and will question why we have never done much in Europe. Over here people will point to the difficulty in competing with wealth like citeeh and the chavs and use that as vindication of le cock, but in Europe there are few clubs that are wealthier than us even during the initial stadium years - clubs like Dortmund have shown us up and made a mockery of the financial defense, and there have been a lot of clubs that have beaten us in group stages without having a fraction of our resources and without having as talented a squad at their disposal. Despite being top seeds for years, we rarely seem to top the groups anymore and shrewd football people will ask why that is happening. I also believe that clubs will look at how talented players like ozil and podolski and question why they haven't performed at their proper level for us - these are players that are proven at the top level and are either not even getting a chance in a struggling team (podolski) or are not performing at the world class level that they have done for years (ozil), and coaches and clubs will always question if they are being utilised properly by their club manager

There is no doubt that, outside of Arsenal, football people still have the utmost respect for arsene wenger and they probably always will. They will look at him and view him as a pure football man who has not been corrupted by the money in the game (ironic really given his 8.5m per season deal ) and wants to develop players rather than spend vast sums of money on players. What they wont view him as, is a driven manager who wants to succeed more than anything else and who will not allow his moral principles prevent him from bringing success to that club. Clubs like Dortmund would probably take wenker in a heartbeat because he would be viewed as a manager that could keep a club with limited resources at a reasonable competitive level, but being a club always on the fringes would not be good enough for a top level club cos winning trophies is the aim and therein is what sums it up........clubs like Dortmund would take a declining wenker cos success is not expected against the likes of Bayern, but bigger clubs would take klopp cos they would know that he would be leaving Dortmund to strive for trophies and success and is very much on the way up

[BFG4]

The most annoying thing is that the media seem to have come to the conclusion that many of the fans singing for him last Saturday would previously been critical of him and are now back on his side - it doesn't seem to have entered into their heads that the pro wenker faction where enjoying their day in the sun last Saturday and were vocal but that the anti wenker faction are still very much alive and have not changed their opinions based on a win against a shit Geordie side. In every clubs fanbase there will always be some (small) divides in opinions but when you look at a club the size of ours, those factions are very high in number base and 10k (for example) singing his name, does not mean that the majority are still believing in him.

Have to say flash that I too disagree with your assessment that any top club would be happy to have le cock in charge - you (and many others) suggest that a lot of people will look at our 15 years of qualifying for knockout stages and view that as a recognition of his talents but I disagree. Any proper knowledgeable football people will be well aware of the size and stature of our club and will question why we have never done much in Europe. Over here people will point to the difficulty in competing with wealth like citeeh and the chavs and use that as vindication of le cock, but in Europe there are few clubs that are wealthier than us even during the initial stadium years - clubs like Dortmund have shown us up and made a mockery of the financial defense, and there have been a lot of clubs that have beaten us in group stages without having a fraction of our resources and without having as talented a squad at their disposal. Despite being top seeds for years, we rarely seem to top the groups anymore and shrewd football people will ask why that is happening. I also believe that clubs will look at how talented players like ozil and podolski and question why they haven't performed at their proper level for us - these are players that are proven at the top level and are either not even getting a chance in a struggling team (podolski) or are not performing at the world class level that they have done for years (ozil), and coaches and clubs will always question if they are being utilised properly by their club manager

There is no doubt that, outside of Arsenal, football people still have the utmost respect for arsene wenger and they probably always will. They will look at him and view him as a pure football man who has not been corrupted by the money in the game (ironic really given his 8.5m per season deal ) and wants to develop players rather than spend vast sums of money on players. What they wont view him as, is a driven manager who wants to succeed more than anything else and who will not allow his moral principles prevent him from bringing success to that club. Clubs like Dortmund would probably take wenker in a heartbeat because he would be viewed as a manager that could keep a club with limited resources at a reasonable competitive level, but being a club always on the fringes would not be good enough for a top level club cos winning trophies is the aim and therein is what sums it up........clubs like Dortmund would take a declining wenker cos success is not expected against the likes of Bayern, but bigger clubs would take klopp cos they would know that he would be leaving Dortmund to strive for trophies and success and is very much on the way up

The question should be what level of team would Wenger be joining? As he would obviously get a job with an Everton, or team of this level, as their aim would be for a top four finish. He would never get a job at a Madrid, Barca or Bayern. These clubs are successful for a reason, they don't turn a blind eye to 6-0, 8-2 type defeats. They also know that when you only win 1 cup in 9 years, that your not at the level required to manage a top team. Wenger might get a job at PSG, but only because he is respected in France, apart from that, he would be going to a team that isn't as good as Arsenal