The most important announcement of Le Grove’s entire history.
Arsene Wenger has left the club.
The greatest manager in our history will leave at the end of the season.
I’m speechless.
We knew things were going to get tough for the big man this summer, with the imaginary reviews. But it looks like our theory about Josh K being the grim reaper were true. He was sent over by Stan to takeover the club, and the PR team probably told him the best way to start a new era is with decisive action.
Wenger is going, but the side story for me is this announces Josh Kroenke is now going to be a more solid part of the club setup moving forward.
Ivan Gazidis finally pulled through. After being near-fatally wounded last summer by a horrible back alley deal between Wenger and Stan K, Ivan worked some behind the scenes magic. He hired Raul Sahnelli, Sven Mislintat and attacked Wenger’s power grip on the club. I was told he actually tried to take things further, but a furor was caused by some of the proposed additions to the team.
Those moves made it very difficult for Wenger to work his political magic this summer. The new guys came in, ripped out the deadwood of the squad in January, they added new blood and high-quality names, and the rot continued.
At the heart of it, Wenger had no fail-safe.
He was damaging the club financially. We lost a huge amount on Alexis Sanchez, not only in cash, but in pride. Losing your best player for under half price is a terrible look. Not just that, because contracts were so badly organised, Mesut Ozil was allowed to hold the club over the barrel.
Going beyond just those two names, Wenger has been hoarding average players for years. He’s been fattening them up on a hideous socialist wage structure which has left the club nursing a £200m wage bill, whilst Spurs are above us competing on £60m less. Wenger was no longer offering value.
Not just that, he was destroying the careers of young talents. Project British core was an out and out failure. Kieran Gibbs went to shit, Jenkinson shouldn’t have been in it, Jack Wilshere lost interest in the game, Theo Walcott never fulfilled his great potential, Chambo went to Liverpool and made a semi-final of the CL, and Aaron Ramsey was always injured.
The club stopped being a sporting entity. The objective wasn’t about greatness, it was about an old mans ego and his rampant desire to hold onto power. The club didn’t exist for trophies and elite glory, it was a vessel for a long retirement. When you stop operating on a sporting values level, it makes it dull for fans who’ve been paying huge amounts of money to see their heroes compete at the highest level.
When fans don’t show up, don’t expect sponsors to. The empty stadiums started in February this year. That’s not because of bad fans, it’s because they’re seeing the same old dross week after week. The ultimate protest is not going to a game, the ultimate show of how Arsenal had fallen is fans couldn’t give their Arsenal tickets away.
The time had come. The Champions League Top 4 trophy didn’t arrive, Wenger wasn’t developing players, the fans were bored and not showing, and the football was drab.
I think ultimately, the success of The LA Rams helped push this move. Stan is enjoying the great press around his LA team, and I’m sure he wants some of that over here.
Wenger is gone.
It’s the right move for the club.
The next two years will be tough, but at least we’ll be watching an exciting project.
I’ll write more on Wenger at a later date, but damn, I’m going to enjoy this moment.
A new Arsenal will rise, and we’ll look back on the banter years and wonder why we didn’t do this sooner.
Have a great day. x
In time most bad moments will be forgotten. What will stay forever in people’s minds and I mean not only in Arsenal’s fans minds but in the eyes of the everyday viewer is our style of play in Wenger’s first decade.
And of course the main feat he achieved and someone might even but never better, is The Invincibles season. No matter how many years pass long after Wenger people will still talk about it, just like they still talk about that Preston North End team in the 1980s.
Tbf, where’s Jonty. used to love his rants. his “I told you so” ism was the best.
Hitman
Confidentgooner
Arse&Nose
KwikFit
Just to name a few.
Samesong
I am back for good.
I literally stopped bothering because of the predictability of it all. I havent been to a game since Milan (4-0), and have barely even watched games this season.
I absolutely cant wait til next season now, let alone next Thursday.
Any chance we see Keyser back now?
Gambon
Probably missed it, but who would be your preference.
Top 5 list. Who you’d avoid etc etc
All the old fuckers in…
KEYSER IN now that gambon is back.
@carts we miss all those DJ nights dont we?
Keyser – I miss that muggy guy.
Haha Johnty was a character, had a lot of man-love for one Christopher Samba IIRC?
Keyser back would be too good.
@Pedro
Any chance of The Bear posting tonight after press meet?
Tbf, to Jhonty, his raging hard-on for VVD and Wanyama was mental. I can’t lie but he beat the shit out of that drum!!
we sure do @Kay!!
I’m pretty sure Alexis rejected pool because of Rodgers. Between Wenger and Rodgers, he chose Wenger. If a player has to choose between him and say a klopp or pochettino, more often than not they wouldn’t choose Rodgers. We manage to sign the likes of Auba, Ozil et al because Wenger up until this season still had a serious pull. Allegri undoubtedly does and I think jardim does too. Rodgers couldn’t sign Alexis despite offering more money and I doubt that perception has changed since. Also remember he said Alexis rejected them because of location but Alexis usually stayed at… Read more »
Ancellotti or Benitez for me. We need a manager of stature and premiership savviness for a couple of years, to reset the course of the club. They are both this and winners to boot. The last thing we want is an untried guy like Howe or the Liverpool cast off, Rodgers.
Interested to see people’s list of potential summer recruits?
Carts,
Like i say, i dont think you can pick a manager without defining the model we’re gonna follow.
Are we going to up our commercial game, spend lots and go toe to toe with the Manchester clubs? Then its Allegri for me.
Are we going to bring in an experienced head to steady the ship for 2 years? Ancelotti for me.
Are we gonna use Svens experience to sign and develop top class kids? Jardim for me.
Overall I think Allegri would have the biggest immediate impact.
Akilan
I read that Sanchez was told that Liverpool only experience autumn and winter, so he told the pilot to fly down to Luton..
Welcome back Mid and Gambon. Le Grove missed you. Now we want Cesc appeal, Nasri’s mouth, N5, ROP, Keyser et al. Truly a historic day at Le Grove.
Revised top 5 (if reality not a factor) –
1 – Guardiola
2 – Klopp
3 – Pochettino
4 – Tuchel
5 – Conte
Number 3 would be 🙂
Gambon
I think that’s reasonable, the way you’ve segmented and caveated. I suppose using that model, you could also drop in a few manager beneath Allegri, Ancelotti and Jardim.
Benitez for me would fall into the same category as Ancelloti, the same way some like Rodgers might be categorised beneath Jardim.
Tuchel ahead of Allegri is mental.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Arteta gets the nod, possibly with Vieira assisting ?
Such a hipster choice.
WengerEagle
In terms of what I think we need:
Goalkeeper
2 x CBs
2 x CMs (one DM, one number 8)
Wide AM
Lots of options for these positions. My ideals would be
Oblak
Manolas
De Ligt
Fabinho
NDombele
Martial
Now all of that wont happen, but if we could get at least 2 of them, we would be off to a good start.
I would sell:
Ospina
Martinez
Jenkinson
Mustafi
Chambers
Xhaka
Wilshere
Cazorla
Perez
Welbeck
Campbell
Akpom
Which should raise £110m-£120m
Lol Wallace is a sucker for pretty football. No wonder I don’t see Simeone and Allegri on that list.
Pocchettino though…I thought you hated physical beasts in midfield Wallace? That’s one of the first things Pocchetino would do, buy those types. Then there’s the fouling, the diving, the cheating
Well, it’s not that surprising. No CL, empty seats and the sanchez fiasco did for wenger at last.
We can now relax and wait and see how things pan out.
Ironically, despite our shit season, this summer will be all about arsenal.
I quite. like that
Gambon,
Nicely categorized. I would take Rafa over Don Carlo though. Don has a laissez-faire attitude and is kinda similar to a certain Frenchman. Rafa drills his team very well and boy do I want this team to get drilled.
Spot on Pedro! I have been waiting for this day for 10 years and man does it feel good!
Personally do not care too much about who the successor is but jubilant that I will no longer have to listen to Wenger soundbites and watch predictable football played by pampered and overpaid yes men.
I am getting thoroughly wasted tonight to celebrate.
Up the Arsenal.
I’m actually excited for a summer now.
New manager in a World Cup year. Hopefully, whoever it is can have the time to analyze the squad and do some business clearing out and bringing in.
You could add Ozil to that list,
He should fetch enough for a peroni but that’s about all !
BillikenGooner
We will not be hiring a new manager but rather a first team coach therefore the “refining” of the squad will be done by Sanllehi and Mislintat and should be well underway already.
gambon Nice list, agree with every player on the sale list. As for the purchases, I actually think that GK is a crucial position. Cech has been terrible for years now and Ospina is shite too, it’s really set us back when you look at how valuable DDG is to United for example. Allison is probably pie in the sky given his reputation but I’d like to think that we at least chuck our hat in the ring for him. Also would be very interested in Keylor Navas who’s criminally underrated if RM move for DDG or Allison as they… Read more »
Can’t believe this day has finally happened, when I saw headline I thought it was just speculation and I am stunned.
Was Wenger pushed out or did he finally realize his methods don’t work?
Carts,
Lol. In all honesty,Rodgers would be pretty underwhelming.
One of the important factors in choosing a new manager could be what kind of players and backroom staff they bring with them. Arteta, Viera, Tuchel etc have little to no drawing power.
13.46.48.
Leedsgunner.
Nicely put.
Fair enough. Hopefully, they have the coach in mind so they are refining it to his coaching style.
I wonder how can people like Klopp. They keep talking about charisma and pashun and all I see is his mental breakouts that don’t really look all that pretty.
People kinda like Klopp ahead of the rest for his personality, and I really don’t like him at all for the exact same reason. Why am I different?!
TR7
Allegri would have serious pulling power, can you imagine him bringing Dybala, Douglas Costa, Alex Sandro or Pjanic over with him?
and we finally don’t hate wenger anymore… what a turn about this day has been… I’m sad and happy at the same time…
Jwl
Who knows.
I think he was persuaded.
If that persuasion had failed initially, he probably would have been sacked
Boy howdy has this day been a long time coming! Yee Haw!!!! Congratulations lads
TR7
Tuchel is a no go as he and Mislintat had a huge falling out at Dortmund.
WengerEagle
I actually like the look of Pavlenka as a keeper, should be affordable as well.
In terms of Martial, we would have to really be tough.
If we get to the player early enough, we could make it happen. At the end of the day Mourinho cant say he rates him if he is leaving him on the bench, so he cant think he’s strengthening is that much.
The player has the power. We brought Sanllehi in to get these kinds of deals done.
Our current team, with Martial on the left, would certainly be a title winning attack.
Now let’s hope Josh will want to make his mark and win the big cups
Leeds
100% with you on your earlier comment.
WE,
Throw them HB, they might listen. My dream is swapping Bellerin for Martial with some money. And then we can swap Lacazette + money for Gimenez or Oblak.
Manolas’ RC should’ve been activated already. 30m in this current market for him is a steal.
WE
My exit list would mirror Gambons, though that wasn’t hard to guess. Still laugh that we’re paying Campbell via BACS. Could’ve got £10-£15m for him. Nice one Wenger.
I, too would say:
GK – Navas
CB x2 – Manolas/Koulibally & some slightly cheaper and younger
DM – Diawara
CM – Frankie De Jong
I’d make a beeline for Navas. Perez is forever masturbating over another GK, which I find outrageously distrustful. I’d go for Frankie De Jong from Ajax. Manolas/Koulibaklly as CBs. Diawara from Napoli.
Welcome back Gambon and Midwest.
N5 were are though?
What happens to the Le-grove 4th place trophy?
I fully expect some leftfield signings that are a little bit “we’ve signed who from where?”. No problem with this if they’re good players and it keeps some cash spare for a “name” signing or 2.
WE
Yes Allegri is easily the best we could get. I can’t think of any other realsitic option who ticks as many boxes as he does.
1.Tactically suave
2.European pedigree
3.Serial winner
4.Good balance between defense and attack
5.Experience of handling big players at big clubs
6.Isn’t abrasive, comes across as a calm head
7.Can work on a relatively tight budget if needed
8.Picks good value buys in transfer market
Wilshere and Ramsay can follow Wenger out the club. Good bye British core crap players.
Akilan
I can see why some would be devo’ at Rodgers. However, he’s not in my top 5 BUT if we, for some bizarre reason, couldn’t secure a top manager THEN I’d accept Rodgers.
Interesting…
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/20/arsene-wenger-to-leave-arsenal-at-the-end-of-the-season
Looks like it was the ST renewals, or lack of them, that might have swung it.
Midwest back wow.
Wenger Eagle – Fabinho looks to be heading to PSG – N’Dombele and Kovacic both can beat pressure thru dribbling – No to Martial. Even though he has good raw numbers, he’s too much of a ball to feet to player. I had the same issue with Alexis, but he’s far more creative. Don’t think he complements Aubameyang either. – Manolas has been up for grabs ever sincw he joined Roma. Any defender or midfielder we recruit needs mobility & recovery pace. We have so many slow players in our back 6/7 that can’t defend 1v1 Not familiar with the… Read more »
Vieira joint favourite for the job apparently !
Alexanderhenry
Mate I really wouldn’t believe anything from the Guardian based on that piece. The club hasn’t started season ticket renewals yet, they start after the season has finish and usual have a cut off date in early June if my memory serves me correctly.
It’s possible they started canvassing Red members asking if they’d be interested but that’s about as far as it could go.
Interesting question…
Who will be new club captain.
Wenger has had utter disrespect for the captaincy over the years. Will be interesting to see what a proper manager does.
Finally I can breath the fresh air.
At the moment that Wenger said he is stepping down, the pressure moved from him to the owner, the DoF, the chief scout. Our success or failure from now on will depend so, so much more on the backroom team and the club’s chiefs. The important decisions they will have to take from now on just tripled overnight. No more hiding behind Wenger. Now we will see if the have the bottle or if LeGrove is going to transform from a WOB to a KOB.
“The club hasn’t started season ticket renewals yet, they start after the season has finish and usual have a cut off date in early June if my memory serves me correctly.”
Club level renewals went out 2 weeks ago.
Raptora
We may see a few season of one season managers until we get the right one. The future is uncertain.
My list:
GK- Allison, Oblak, Navas, Handanovic, Leno.
LB- Alex Telles, Alex Sandro, Oczipka, Ghoulam.
CB- Manolas, Lucas Hernandez, Skriniar, Murillo, Jonathan Tah.
LF- Martial, Leon Bailey, Malcolm, Goncalo Guedes, Brahimi, Douglas Costa, Felipe Anderson, Diego Perotti. (All penetrating dribblers which we desperately need)
CM- Banega, Fabinho, Kovacic, Milinkovic-Savic, Nainggolan, Allan, Dani Parejo.
The next manager has to hit the ground running.
Ancelotti and Viera as the second hand to me and to get Viera ready to take over after 2 years.
Marc
Probably right, but the club has always been petrified by the prospect of not selling out its ST allocation.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to this summer. I expect the changes at arsenal to be seismic. Whoever the new manager is, the squad itself needs a massive overhaul.
Arsenal fc is going from’ no change’ to ‘new era’ in one jump.
What kind of era- who knows?
Vieira has managed 74 games now, I really dont see him stepping down into a number 2 role, even for Arsenal.
We have to either take a risk and make him manager, or wait a few years IMO
Could see Henry as number 2 though.
Gambon
As I wrote yesterday season ticket holders receive applications/reminder at end
of season. The closing date to renew is usually 1st June.
gambon
Wouldn’t know on Club Level but I have a ST and haven’t heard a word and don’t expect to until after the end of the season.
Rafa Benítez, with Arteta as number two, for me after we tempt Allegri.
Rambo Ramsey
“Lol Wallace is a sucker for pretty football. No wonder I don’t see Simeone and Allegri on that list.”
I’ve been following Arsenal since 78/79. already seen enough defensive football to last me a lifetime 🙂
Pochettino though…I thought you hated physical beasts in midfield Wallace? That’s one of the first things Pocchetino would do, buy those types.”
true, a Dier or a Wanyama and I’d be frowning, but a Dembele…I could definitely live with a Dembele.
Dream10, we do need a ball to feet player. We have enough runners in Auba, Ramsey and Ozil. What we do need is a winger that can leave the fb for dead. Martial does this effortlessly and he doesn’t lose the ball as often as Alexis. He also showed he can run in behind the defence in his 1st season, scored a few Henry esque goals. He also allows us to sell Lacazette. I actually rate him and I think his struggles are exaggerated by Wenger’s tactics. But it is what it is. We can’t keep a 50m player on… Read more »
alexanderhenry
Agree on the bright outlook. In an ideal world I’d like to see the new coach announced ASAP but if he’s managing another club they might not want their end of season to be disrupted.
Just in case I’d like to start #rogersout and #rafaout.
Charlie
I don’t see Arteta leaving Pep to become any other managers’ deputy. Why work for someone else when you are working with the best in the game
gambon
It will probably be Cech as the club captain even though he’ll be a backup.
Monreal or Ramsey will be wearing the armband often as they’ll be regulars.. Koscielny will leave.
TBH if we sign Martial, we would sell Lacazette, because Martial would play left, but also be the CF replacement if Auba is injured or rested.
So it wouldnt cost a huge amount net. £60m for Martial, £45m from Atletico for Lacazette.
Enrique on sabbatical at the moment ?
Dream10
Unfortunately youve been Wengerized.
No other manager will make a benched player club captain, its only Wenger that detests the captaincy.
Samesong,
hopefully it won’t be the case. As much as I was sick of all of the “values” talk, Arsenal was one of the clubs that were not part of the changing managerial every year madness. Hopefully it keeps being the case and we get to nail a long serving manager very soon. It would mean that he has done a good and successful job.
My thoughts are that since Ivan is likely leading the decision on who will manage, i would have to believe its going to be someone unexpected. I could be wrong but i have a feeling its not going to be someone who can make an immediate impact. Likely whomever is coning is going to be a caretaker, if you will, who may stabilize the club in the interim whilst they reinforce the talent.
Regardless, whomever comes in has a serious job on their hands – Wenger did not leave the club in as good a shape to which he inherited.
WE,
I don’t see Gimenez in your list mate. If atletico are selling a CB, I’m sure Gimenez would be preferred to Lucas? The former has a RC and his contract expires in ’20.
Bergkamp63
He’s actually out of work / between roles. You also have the history with Sanllehi.
Whoever comes in as Manager is going to have a real job on his hands for a couple of seasons,
There isn’t anyone I would keep and you can’t change 25 players in one go !
Dream Yeah valid concern re Martial, think that he’s far more clever than Sanchez is though, nowhere near as brash and very composed. I would love an explosive wideman that thrives in 1 vs 1’s, we haven’t had one since Overmars/Reyes for a spell, Nasri and Hleb were both very good in 1 vs 1’s but they weren’t explosive dribblers, more clever in how they negotiated openings and space through being on the front foot, especially Hleb who was the master at unpicking locks. Felipe Anderson is great at taking people on and he’s become a much better passer in… Read more »
What’s wrong with PEA?
I know a lot of you celebrate the first 7 years but I mourn the last 15.
Steve bould needs to be sacked immediately. The defence has gone from bad to worse since bould was made assainst.
Akilan
Love Gimenez, actually rate Lucas H higher though due to his versatility (excellent at CB and LB) though.
Gimenez will be Godin’s long-term repacement at Atelti, they’ll tie him down is my guess.
WE
Solid list there, g.
Raul and Sven will have their work cut out. New manager will have a solid list, and I’m not sure they’d be open to a wide range of alternatives.
Although, their target would have to be with in reason, of course. And I’m sure they’d be instructed, in the first instance, to ship out who they don’t want.
That’s the other good thing about him finally going all these old posters returning and being excited about the future. Midwest and gambon back. Two new posters for Bamford to argue with. My targets this summer would be Leno. DeVrij and Manolas/Gimenez. Kondogbia and our number one target should absolutely be Fabinho straight off go hard for him. And only after other areas are strengthened I’d think about an attacker like Guedes or Fekir. All pie in the sky stuff in the past but now a new manager will want to come in and get the fans excited again so… Read more »
PEA is fine, wouldn’t put him in top 10 world strikers though ?
alexanderhenry Yes, it sounds like there were record number of people not renewing their season tickets, another season out of champs league, less money from next round of sponsorship deals … Wenger was starting to cost Arsenal a lot of money. I think Kroenke and Wenger had a deal that he could stay as manager as long as Arsenal were top four and collecting champs league money, Wenger obviously no longer has energy or ideas to improve squad and he holding club back. I hope club have already lined up new manager and Arsenal execs working hard getting in new… Read more »
Red who would you go for? Whose your choice for manager?
Project British core is over
Forgot about Fekir, good shout.
Carts
Cheers, enjoyed yours too.
Always wondered why you rate Diawara so highly though? You sure you’re not confusing him with Allan? 😉
I don’t think any manager coming in would change a lot in the first season. May be get in a good CM and one defence. maybe spend about 100m and get on with the season.
what I don’t understand is, why is wenger pushing to get santi a new deal when he isn’t going to be manager next season ??
What will be very interesting over the next few weeks is our level of transfer activity both incoming and outgoing. I think that with Wenger’s departure Cazorla’s contract is unlikely to be renewed and my guess is that Arsenal will also clear the decks with Wilshere. He has shown absolutely nothing this season to justify a new contract with terms more favourable than those already offered. Personally I don’t think that there will be any major changes to offensive side of squad. We recruited this season Aubameyang, Lacazette, Mkitharyan and I suspect that Nkietah and Nelson will be found places… Read more »
jwl
Normal ST renewals don’t start to after our last match – how many fucking times does it have to be said.