Ivan Gazidis took to the stage yesterday in an odd press conference. He didn’t really give much information away when it came to specifics, but he did give a lot away about the thinking behind moving Wenger on now, rather than at the end of the season.

Here are the topline points he tried to deliver.

1. Arsenal moved Wenger on

There is no doubt that the move to find a new manager was sparked by the club, not the manager. The resignation was the nice way out. Reality is, Wenger could have taken us down two divisions and still not moved on voluntarily. Ivan was keen to impress this without saying anything. When asked about whether it was a mutual decision, he said, ‘I’m not here to talk about any private discussions.’

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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

The best type of ball is one that is rolling, and Matt Law appears to indicate that he’s heard that is what’s happening in the hunt for a new manager. His claim is that no one agrees on who should replace Wenger, a change that is expected to happen this season.

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Oh man, someone re-upped this little beauty from my Twitter feed earlier.

That Tweet DID age well. I feel exactly the same way as I did 2 years ago. Very sad that the club are still bumbling their way around a decisive decision, but there you go.

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‘But can he defend at the near post?’

Arsenal stats geeks, get ready for this one… guess how many goals we’ve scored from counter attacks this season?

ZERO

Some publication I can’t find reckons we’re one of 5 teams that’s failed to score from a counter attack this season. Quite staggering when you think we’ve had Alexis Sanchez, Ozil, Lacazette and Auba in our side.

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Once again, Arsene Wenger finds himself in a situation where he can excuse the rapid decline of the club. His team tanked in blue again, losing 2-1 to a very average Newcastle side, but somehow, the press has brushed this off as a byproduct of searching for Europa League glory.

Partly, that could be seen as true. However, as is everything with Arsene Wenger, you need to have context. If this were off the back of a scintillating season, you could perhaps acknowledge the changing shape of our form. That’s not the case though. Our form is an illness that’s plagued the club for years now.

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I’m lapping up the hottakes on whether Arsenal can win the Europa League. Ballague reckons there are some positives, mostly highlighting that they have a threadbare squad and have had some issues defensively. Dennis Wise reckons we have a good chance, I’m struggling to take him seriously.

I think the biggest worry is Wenger teeing up the press with excuses before we’ve started. His line of attack is focused on player fatigue. If we go to the final, it’ll be 61 odd games this season.

“Fatigue is a little bit of a concern,” said Wenger. “You look at [Manchester] City and they look a bit like that in the second half of games recently. I do rotate much as I can. Unfortunately, some players have to play all the games.

“It is very difficult. Not only are you physically very jaded but also you are under huge pressure each time to win the game. It is mentally maybe tougher than physically.”

I’m struggling to buy this. Arsenal had the luxury of one game a week most of the season. The League Cup wasn’t a priority until the final. The FA Cup failed at the first hurdle. The Europa League has been a second string affair until the knockouts.

Not only that. It’s also worth noting we have a £200m squad propping up this half-baked campaign. We shouldn’t be putting up excuses around fatigue. Wenger shouldn’t be giving the players a pass we know they’re more than capable of taking. The manager should be firing up our chances in the press, not trying to craft a plucky underdog narrative.

I think he knows this is going to be very, very tough. He has to hedge his bets, and hope Josh and Stan are so ignorant about this season, they take his excuses and let him have another go next season. In my humble opinion, I really think the best we’ll land out of this is maybe a one leg victory… or going out on away goals.

Still, it’s hard to gauge what this means for his future. Jeremy Wilson ran an article with a title suggesting his career is on the line, but had no substance in the body copy. It’s telling that the only two journos with skin in the game on his future are Honigstein and Laurens who both say he’s staying.

If Wenger goes out to Atleti, there is no story. There are no excuses. It has to be over.

Unreal that it likely won’t be. If you haven’t seen the Juve doco on Netflix, I implore you to do so. It’s a bit cheesy/American, but damn, it’s good. It shows the absolute gulf between Arsenal and Juve. As a club, we have no culture for winning. There is no pressure. When you watch how seriously the Italians take it, it’s inspiring. All the players talk about the immense levels of pressure placed on them to succeed. The CEO has the players in his garden in preseason and he lays down the law about expectations.

Can you imagine Ivan doing that?

The next manager can’t just be a great thinker, he has to be a change agent. Someone who can create a new culture at the club, stump out the averageness, and regear us for the next 10 years.

Allegri would be perfect. The right age, fantastic experience and a huge presence.

We can but dream…

(written in an iPhone on the red eye)