COLLYMORE It’s time to go, Wenger
ARSENAL fans were all over social media on Saturday after their victory against Chelsea.
“The club’s 13th FA Cup triumph,” this, or “FA Cup No.7 for Arsene Wenger,” that. Well, maybe so. But as I have said so many times before in this column, it only takes six games to win the famous old trophy.
And two or three of them, as the Gunners showed this season, can be against non-league or lower league opposition.
It just isn’t the major competition that it was 20 or 30 years ago, and winning it three times in the last four years has merely kept the wolf from Arsene Wenger’s door.
But today at the Emirates, the wolf needs to find a way to burst through the sturdy piece of oak which stands between itself and the boardroom, and once in there it needs to make sure Wenger is relieved of his duties.
The Frenchman should be promised a statue and President Emeritus status, and a send-off none of us will forget.
Then the board must turn their attentions to bringing in a younger, fresher manager such as a Diego Simeone.
Because, if they don’t, their club will continue to stand still or slip backwards. I don’t say any of this lightly. When you are looking at the pantheon of foreigners who have come into English football – whether it’s managers or players – and you’re thinking of one person who has been synonymous with the Premier League and added so much to our game, it’s Wenger. His record, his longevity and the way he has conducted himself speak volumes of the man. But, even so, it cannot be accepted that a club of Arsenal’s stature and resources has not mounted a serious title challenge for as long as it has now been.
Even if in two years’ time they have somehow got themselves back into third or fourth place, and with maybe another FA Cup under their belt, that still isn’t going to be enough for punters, some of whom pay as much as £3,000 a season.
Unless the club invests significant resources to keep the big names, then they are going to be looking at missing out on the Champions League for at least the next couple of seasons.
They have shown this time out that they haven’t got a squad to qualify for Europe’s major cup competition and if they are minus Alexis Sanchez then I can see it getting really messy next term.
They should be trying to gazump Manchester United to get Antoine Griezmann, but can you really see them doing that? I certainly can’t. And if they are falling behind their Premier League rivals then it is even worse in the Champions League, where the Gunners are miles off Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid. While Wenger is there, though, I’m afraid that will not change. Which is why today is the day to say, ‘Thank you, Arsene’, to give him the bells and the whistles, and all the love he deserves. Then it’s time for one of our great clubs to wave him on his way, so it can start moving forward again.
They should be trying to gazump United for Antoine Griezmann but can you see that?