Money men hiding behind Wenger will start to feel the heat now
ARSENE WENGER has been showered with praise during the past 48 hours.
And rightly so. Twenty-two years managing a football club of Arsenal’s size, to such success, deserves celebration.
A statue in his honour, erected outside the stadium his managerial talents helped to pay for, should be a minimum. The club forever grateful for his immense and outstanding contribution.
But there will be one group of people who have woken up this morning with a sickly feeling in the pit of their stomachs.
For all the plaudits, tributes and glorious meandering down memory lane that has greeted the surprise news that Wenger has been forced out of the Emirates, one realisation will hit several of his colleagues like a good, old-fashioned dig in the solar plexus.
And that is this: Arsenal is now a normal football club – and now all those people who have sheltered and prospered under his benevolent dictatorship will have to fend for themselves.
Since 1996, Wenger has acted as a shield, taken all the responsibility, the flak and the pressure of delivering on every front you can think of.
He has ruled Arsenal FC with a rod of iron, protecting his board of directors, the owner, the players, his staff and, crucially, the bank balance. It has been some juggling act. No fairy godfather has been standing in the wings with a blank cheque book, ready to bail him out.
On the same day Wenger’s exit was confirmed, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino talked about how chief executive Daniel Levy was losing sleep over how to pay for the rebuilt White Hart Lane.
Back in the day, all that was on Wenger’s shoulders. He himself occasionally referenced how the spectre of the Emirates hovered over his team-building plans.
But it was never offered up as an excuse, more a fact of life.
And the truly remarkable fact is that he delivered Champions League football. It was almost a given that £30million-plus would land in the coffers each season. No wonder he was proud of that. It eventually became a stick for supporters to beat him with. How could you be satisfied with fourth? Well, his employers were.
Interestingly now, with crowds dwindling, season tickets no longer in hot demand and Champions League football out of reach, how far was that patience extended by owner Stan Kroenke? Not very. While the money kept rolling in, Wenger reigned – and others profited.
However, those people around him, who sat snugly wrapped in a comfort blanket provided by Wenger’s managerial ability are, this morning, a touch colder.
You can look at his coaching staff, his scouts, players.. but, crucially, Arsenal’s hierarchy, too.
Chief executive Ivan Gazidis is now under the spotlight. Deservedly so. Trousering a comfortable seven-figure salary while Wenger was in charge has to have been one of the best gigs in English football.
Kroenke, his son Josh, Gazidis along with new head of recruitment Sven Mislintat and football relations guru (whatever that is) Raul Sanllehi are now under pressure.
Those fans who called for Wenger’s removal will be just as excited. Maybe with a tinge of trepidation, too.
“In Arsene we trust” was the mantra of those supporters when the Gunners’ glory days were at their zenith. Well, no longer. Without Wenger, Arsenal are now subject to the same scrutiny, pressure and uncertainty as every other club.
At the moment, the Gunners may feel like a yoke has been lifted.
They now have the problem of finding a replacement and digging deep for the glut of players that will inevitably be demanded by the new man.
Not all of them will be as understanding as Wenger. Far from it.
A large portion of the club now has what it wanted. The pressure is theirs. All of it.
And for the first time in a generation we will actually discover what everyone else at Arsenal FC is truly made of.
THE LAST WORD...MUCH has been made of Everton asking their supporters what they think of boss Sam Allardyce in a questionnaire. If the Toffees really wanted him out, they could just publish their results...