Arsenal fans should feel lucky to still walk in Wenger wonderland
In another predictably topsy-turvy week in the English Premier League only one thing was noticeable by its absence: the calls for Arsene Wenger to leave Arsenal. The man once dubbed as Le Professeur celebrated his 800th Premier League game in charge of the Gunners with a 2-1 comeback home victory against Swansea City and it seemed a fitting way to mark the achievement.
Wenger has spent 21 years in charge at Arsenal, and a week ago the man who took over when he was 47 years old celebrated his 68th birthday with another comeback win, running out 5-2 winners away to Everton on October 22. Two decades in the same job in the current era is a remarkable thing in any walk of life, let alone soccer, but Wenger pervades.
This last week saw the Arsenal AGM and as one might expect, Wenger was given something of a hard time by the fans and shareholders that maintain a stake in the club. The Gunners are held as a model of good business off the pitch but in on-field accomplishments they have not won the Premier League since 2004 – a fact that many hold against the manager.
To his credit, they have won the FA Cup – a trophy that still matters to many, at least those born before his reign began – a ridiculous three times in the last four years and Arsenal are pretty much assured of Champions League soccer year in, year out, with this year a notable exception that many have used as a stick to beat him with. Maybe that’s the issue?
Arsenal have a huge stadium, they are a success in many ways but real silverware – the league title and the Champions League – continues to elude them. Aside from 13 years not being the champions of England, Arsenal have never come closer to being crowned the best on the continent since their 2-1 loss to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final in Paris.
For all of the expectations of the current fanbase that has grown up with the Wenger In-Wenger Out debate, Twitter’s 24/7 punditry and the wannabe stars offering their hot takes on Arsenal Fan TV, Arsenal fans need to consider what the alternative is. Manchester United have been largely abject since Alex Ferguson left and, despite two trophies last season, the jury is still out on their rebuilding process; Liverpool, the team that George Graham’s Arsenal side pipped to the 1989-90 title, have never recovered.
Yes, Arsenal are unlikely to win the Champions League or perhaps even the Premier League any time soon, but they have a manager who has their best interests at heart. As Wenger himself told the AGM earlier last week, “I dedicate 99 percent of my lifetime to try to make you happy.” And they should be – he has proved he can still win matches three times this last week alone and his side are a point off Spurs in third in the league table.
Most tellingly, in the Carabao Cup in midweek Arsenal’s match-winner Edward Nketiah became the first player to score who was born after Wenger took his seat in the Highbury dugout. Wenger in? Wenger out? Only one man should decide and that’s the man himself. This is a dynasty – perhaps the last in the English game – and there would be an irony if, much like Wenger with on-field incidents, the fans “did not see it.”