The old gun in the Arsenal: Arsene Wenger
3–0 at the final whistle and Arsenal bowed out meekly out of the Carabao Cup this season. This certainly wasn’t the first game where Arsenal neither showed the grit nor the skill, something Arsenal under Arsene has been associated with, to compete. The 8–2 at Old Trafford, 6–0 at Stamford Bridge, 10–2 on aggregate against Bayern Munich have epitomized how catastrophic, spineless Arsenal can be when they so choose to. As an Arsenal fan, it really does feel like groundhog day of utter mediocrity on such days. And, of course not to mention how Arsenal fans feel during Transfer windows.
Well, an optimist might argue about the 3 FA Cups in 4 years, but even they know that it is simply paper over the cracks. But where does the blame lie? Arsene surely gets all the stick as he is the only face from the club who has to face 3–4 press conferences every week. Stan Kroenke, the majority shareholder of Arsenal, and Ivan Gazidis, the CEO, simply don’t do anything to garner trust from the fans. In my opinion, a sack-able offense.
But is the stick given to Wenger justified? The widening schism between Wenger In and Wenger Out has in fact now narrowed. Even his most ardent supporters want him gone.
Standing sixth in the league table, slacking 33 points behind the leaders, lower than Tottenham in the league, knocked out of the FA Cup by a Championship team and meagre hopes of winning the Europa League, given the likes of Athletico Madrid are still in it, so to say Arsenal have hit a rough patch will be understating an understatement. And, given the modern day management in football, the guns have now been pointed towards Arsene Wenger, again and perhaps for his own good.
The last decade and a half haven’t been kind to ‘Le Professeur’ professionally and the unenviable nadir of his managerial career he is currently going through has probably signaled an inglorious end to an illustrious career. But time and again Arsene has defied odds to hold on to his position at the gunners and the board members (at least the one who matter) at the Emirates too appears to share that unwavering faith in him.
And, perhaps, that faith isn’t unfounded. When he was first chosen to be appointed the manager at Arsenal over Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff, there was the loudest public outcry. A relatively unknown, small-time French manager over Johan Cruyff?! It was a move two steps beyond crazy. Arsene too felt the heat considerably during his initial days. In his own words-
“When I started as a manager at Arsenal, I sometimes felt I wouldn’t survive. Physically, I was sick. Getting relegated to my first club Nancy-Lorraine-probably didn’t help matters.”
To judge Arsene’s managerial tenure by just going through the last season, when he didn’t finish in the champions league for the first time in 21 years, and this season, when he won’t finish in the top 4 for a second consecutive time, would be as naïve and unjustified as was Arsenal’s performance against Man City at home or Liverpool away this season.
His tenure is best analyzed in three parts -
1995–2005 — An epoch of unparalleled success
In the first 9 years at North London, he won 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups of which twice were doubles (1998 FA Cup and Premier League titles and repeated the feat again in 2002). He recruited a team which was labeled ‘The Invincibles’ as it went unbeaten in the 2003–04 season, a streak of 49 wins, done for the first time since Preston North End did it 115 years ago. His focus on youth and skills more than big names in building his team drew ire of fans and critics alike but Wenger stuck to his principles with a steely determination which gave rise to players like Thierry Henry. If someone called for Wenger’s head at that time, he would have been presented with his own. Arsene was worshiped and the marriage between Arsene and Arsenal could not have been any better.
2006–2013 — Murmurs of Wenger Out
2006 onwards, saw Arsene’s Invincibles finally bite the dust as the Gunners went without a silverware for the first time since 2002 season. The fact that Wenger shifted the team’s base to Emirates stadium also didn’t help his cause as this move to better Arsenal’s finances to attract the best players backfired when the club started prioritizing the stadium over the team. Also, the introduction of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, and later Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Man City made sure that money became an integral part of success, something Arsene didn’t adapt too. Perhaps, he would say that he couldn’t.
Arsenal was struggling to keep its footing as was Arsene in keeping his cool when he infamously squared up against opposition managers Alex Pardew and Martin Jol. Even the Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said, ‘’He has joined the nutters, you know. In fact, he is one of the key nutters. It just shows you what happens in football.’’ In 2007, Thierry Henry left but astonishingly Arsenal flourished in his absence when they finished the season with 22 unbeaten league matches streak, though they stood at a disappointing 3rd in the league standings. The 2008–09 season too went without a silverware and the dissenting voices became louder than ever.
2014–2018 — Murmurs of Wenger In
As Arsene strove to regain his club’s former glory, his hurdles only intensified when Fabregas left in 2011 and a string of injuries and player suspension led to the team suffering its worst defeat in 115 years when Manchester United routed a young and understrength Arsenal 8–2. His woes continued as Arsenal went 9 seasons without a trophy and his off-field rivalry with managers like Jose Mourinho became increasingly scathing. In 2014, Arsene was asked to comment on why Arsenal’s fellow title hopefuls were downplaying their objectives to which he said, ‘It is fear to fail’. Mourinho hit back saying, “am I afraid of failure? He is a specialist in failure. I am not. So, if one supposes he’s right and I am afraid of failure it is because I don’t fail many times. So maybe he is right. I am not used to failing. But the reality is he is a specialist because eight years without a piece of silverware, that’s failure.” As expected from the classy Wenger, he didn’t scoop low to Mourinho’s words and just expressed his sorry for Chelsea as a club. A reaction every Arsenal, and football fan was proud of.
Post 2014, Arsene had the funds and Arsenal had the pull to attract any player in the world, yet Arsenal could add only 2 world-class players and that too in areas of considerable strength — offense. While the signings of Ozil and Alexis gave some fans false hope that Arsenal were gunning for glory, Arsenal’s failure to not build a strong defense and add a strong CDM year after year caused their own demise. If there was something common between the invincible and the double winning team, it was the presence of a strong defense and a brutal CDM. Unfortunately, Arsene chose to rely on the likes of Coquelin, Andre Santos, and Kim Kallstrom, who was infact signed injured. Arsene in all his press conferences laid strong emphasis on cohesion, and placed trust in players he had raised such as Gibbs, Ox, Walcott, Jenkinson, and Szczesny only for them to be sold/loanded out in the span of 3 windows. Arsene wanted to build a strong English core, but failed miserably. Perhaps, the last standing soldier of the core group that he thought would achieve the heights of class of 92 is Jack Wilshere. And even he hasn’t put pen to paper on the new contract that has been offered to him. And to add salt to Arsenal’s deep wound, their arch rivals slowly former the spine of the English national team with Dier, Alli, and Kane almost irreplaceable in the national team.
Perhaps, Arsene had one excuse for not competing for the league and that too got quashed when Leicester did the unthinkable and won the league in 2016. Either he became increasingly stubborn or he saw something in players such as Sanogo, Giroud, and Arteta that us fans or pundits never could.
After his most recent defeat at the hands of Manchester City in the Carabao Cup finals, outspoken sports journalist Piers Morgan wrote, “Last season was Wenger’s worst at the club. This season is shaping up to be even poorer. Yet he clings on, dragging the club he once so gloriously revolutionized into further dismal mediocrity with every day he refuses to quit.”
However, Wenger is the longest and the most successful serving Arsenal manager with 15 trophies, a brand-new stadium, and most importantly, he has kept the club classy and financially stable. He is arguably the most successful foreign manager the League has ever known.
If today Wenger decides to throw in the towel what will be the legacy left behind by him? To some, he’d be known as the one who revolutionized the English club football whereas to others his legacy will be defined by the 12 seasons he went without a title.
For me, he’d be the last of his kind. A man who is driven by class more than cash, and for whom loyalty matters more than punishing bad performances on the pitch. His unique sense of humor, and most professional and articulate answers at conferences, and his charming and classy demeanor does make him stand apart from the rest. Everyone can debate about his decline as a Manager, but few can on how pertinent he’s been to Arsenal and English football, and how classy he has been in his outlook. Arsenal, despite the recent trolls and mockery, is a very well respected club globally, whose values and ethics are engrained in Wenger’s vein.
Well, perhaps some who believe in fairytale endings would wonder whether we’d see a resurgent Arsenal under a resilient Arsene, again. Who knows?
