It is something that never gets a moments rest, journalists thrive upon the ups and downs of the man who built so much at this Arsenal side. But now, 18 years on from when he took charge, Arsene Wenger looks to be in the spotlight more than ever.
After failure to capture the confidence of many Arsenal fans up and down the country on more than one occasion, Wenger has not made it easy for us has he?
He’s done all he can for this team and it still isn’t good enough. That’s the nature of the business, we all get greedy and forget about what happened last week, last year, or especially in Wenger’s case, last decade.
Strange isn’t it, you have 8 years of every tabloid paper in the country mentioning the gap it’s been since Arsenal last made room in the trophy cabinet. Not once did they fail to remind us of the drought we suffered, and the struggle Mr Wenger had to go through whilst settling for fourth place in the league as a positive.
But all that changed the moment a football left Aaron Ramsey’s right shoe to win the FA Cup back in May. A turning point you might think. However, winning that trophy came at a cost for the boss, who has proved what he can really do to get Arsenal back to their best.
Before we get carried away with ourselves, let’s track back a bit. Wenger was the man who put together possibly the best football team that has graced English turf. The Invincibles of 2004 consisted of players like Thierry Henry, Patrick Viera and Robert Pires, who made history going through the season completely unbeaten in the League. Not bad really.
In more recent years Wenger has struggled with laying down success on the pitch, but off it is a completely different story. Wenger is the man we have to thank for putting together one of the greatest stadiums in the world, The Emirates. Funding from long-term sponsorships in Fly Emirates and Puma have been the focal point for our transfer budget, which struggled in the last five or six years to capture any big name players.
Throughout the years Wenger was powerless to letting some of our star players walk out of the side, with the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie making the switch to our big-time rivals where they have already gone on to great successes.
Some Arsenal fans out there say this is the reason Wenger has to go, that he wasn’t good enough to hold onto them. I completely disagree. It was out of his hands whether they stayed or left, simply due to the little known concern of building a new 60,000 seater, state of the art football stadium, The Emirates. A project that set us back over £470million really put a dent in the back pocket of Mr Gazidis.
So sorry if Wenger was too busy working on how he would pay off this mountain of debt, rather than bringing in the next Cristiano Ronaldo. Instead he was the man who made sure we didn’t fall into trouble financially, by securing deals with a number of different companies and a full kit manufacturer deal worth nearly £150million.
But things have changed drastically, and I now see Arsenal football club in a great position. Wenger has adopted a British core to the side, who are all young players and yet are playing week in, week out for both club and country. Six Arsenal players have featured in both international breaks for England, higher than any other Premier League club. Callum Chambers is our latest addition, and has already been tipped to lead Arsenal in the near future as he begins to adapt to a mature role in defence.
So you’re probably wondering about the question at the top of the page, and whether Arsene really can take this side to the next level?
Honestly, it looks like Wenger has done all he can with this Arsenal side, and the main target is now making sure he leaves them in capable hands when his contract inevitably runs out in 3 years time. One thing is for sure, he will want to go out on a high, and a trophy in the Champions League would do just that. He has led his side to Champions League qualification in every year he’s been with the squad, but never been able to get his hands on the trophy.
I think this season we have just started too slowly, and Chelsea have already run away with it in my eyes. Success will have to come in the FA Cup or Champions League. But don’t forget about the changes to the seeding system for the Champions League next year, with teams being placed in each pot as to which place they finish in the League, meaning fourth place just won’t cut it for the Gunners this season.
It’s not just new players that will take this Arsenal team forward, its change. Too many games now Wenger has forgotten about mixing it up and has simply waited for players to find their form again. He has to change his philosophy if he wants to get the best out of the players. Players that know what it means to be in that starting line up, who will work from the first whistle to the last.
Whether it works out for the boss or not, I don’t see him getting sacked by the club. It would be disgraceful for this board to do that to him. Offers from the likes of Bayern, Real Madrid and the French national team were all on the cards for him but he stayed loyal to what he calls the unfinished project.
One way or another, this club is on the up and whether Wenger does lead us to glory or not, I couldn’t care less. Because the best thing he can do is leave this team in the strongest position possible. Just look at United, they are now looking at 2-3 seasons more of hurt and frustration in a rebuild that should never have happened.
All I can say is Wenger has done the best for the club that he possibly could with the resources he had. Don’t put it down to the wrong transfers or the stuff that happens out on the pitch. Look back at the bigger picture people.