cameron326 wrote:We have finished 3rd or 4th under Wenger every one of the past six seasons, coinciding with the move to the Emirates. Moreover, in the same period we've achieved at least a place in the last 16 of the Champions League every season - among those also a quarter and two semifinals.
The official UEFA coefficient, which takes account of performances in Europe over the past five seasons, has us in 6th place. For comparison, Liverpool are 18th, Milan are 13th and Inter are 9th. Only the super giants of world football ie: Barca, Man Utd, Bayern, Madrid . . . and Chelsea are above us. Of course we all want trophies and us fans would be delighted at the FA Cup or Carling Cup - but sadly these are viewed as lesser prizes in this day and age as winning them has a neglible impact on the size of a clubs fan base, marketability and finances etc compared to doing well in the Premier League and Europe. As fans of course we dont like this, but thats how it is.
While Wenger's teams have failed to really shine like they did in the first half of his rein, it would be a real push to look at the cold hard facts outlined above, to look at them in relation to the size of club, fanbase, wage bill (4th in the country), the financing of a new stadium, and the spending power of domestic rivals over this period, and to say that the club has been underperfoming.
. . . treading water, perhaps, but is being the sixth best team in EUROPE over the past half decade grounds for a sacking? Maybe it would be for those teams placed 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th in that UEFA table, but not at Arsenal and especially not in context of a move to a new stadium. It would have to get a lot worse than one or two dodgy signings each season, and the occasional on-pitch collapse, to be able to objectively say that Wenger was severely underperforming as manager.
Cameron, I’m not having a pop at you personally here, mate. But that post is the most dispiriting, depressing thing I’ve read in a long long time. If your post is representative of the Wenger supports’ justification of why Wenger is a “success” and why he should stay then I despair, I really do.
Why should we accept qualifying for the CL as success? Who said that is success? Wenger? The Wenger-love in that is the media led by the uber-smug Patrick Barclay?
Is this a generational thing? When did winning become a dirty word? When did accepting mediocrity become the norm? I’m 45. I was raised at a time when you played sport to win. Not to participate and be nice and give everyone a little medal and a pat on the back. You played to win. End of.
As for the mindless stat-fest that is The official UEFA coefficient? Let’s look at actual trophy winning success, shall we? The real cold facts are we have not won a trophy since 2005. We are a money rich club that squanders huge wages on average and poor players and then extends the contracts of those same failed players – all at the behest of our manager, Arsene Wenger. That is fact in anyone’s book.
Since we last won that trophy? The following teams have all won trophies; Liverpool, Chavs, Portsmouth, Man Citeh, Manure, Scum and Birmingham. I wonder where the Scum, Portsmouth and Birmingham figure on that official UEFA coefficient.
