Arsène Wenger: Same Old Class

[carlito'sway]

Hi everyone. I have been reading Arsenal talk for years and years, and i finally updated my login so that I could say a few words.

I am a foreign fan, from India, who with the advent of cable tv, started to watch british football on television in the 90's while i worked in a call centre job late at night. After finishing my shift around midnight, I would get home, and would have no social life, but just the television, and it was about 8pm UK time, so I would have some amazing football to watch. I saw Thierry Henry run one night on a small 14 inch tv and I was hooked. Arsenal became my club.

I came here to say, that Arséne Wenger gave us fans something to be proud of. For the past decade, rival club supporters and then some of our supporters, started to taunt us in earnest. On the field we were being kicked off and the referees and moneymen were bullying us. Off the field, we were bullied by those who did so, just because they could.

I have watched every press conference of Arséne for over 10 yrs and seen every match if not live on tv, then a recording.It became something that reminded me of those days, when I was struggling to make a career, alone in a big city, living in a crummy little room and working insane hours. Arsenal was a living presence in my life, something to look forward to, a tribe to belong to, values to adhere to.

I do not doubt for a minute, that Arséne deviated from those values. A lot of the magic came from his behind the scenes work, and brick by brick, a value system, style and ethos was built up. Of course there were foundations, and a glorious past, not denying that.

However, from head to toe, from the laces on the boots to the light on top of the stadium, Arséne transformed the club. He made it future ready and fully equipped for the current age. This was one of the most amazing sustained professional jobs executed by any professional. Even the Taj Mahal was built in 20 yrs.

Please do not abuse him. Please do not taunt him. Please do not mock him. If we do that, we lose our values, and the whole edifice will come crumbling down.

Sorry. I am very emotional. I really liked hearing him talk intelligently and he was a big role model. I will post a few things on and off till I remain emotional. Please bear with me. Probably when Arséne leaves, I will shut up too. Its a little too painful seeing the gloating in Le Grove and elsewhere.

Preach Bro!
I know for some it is a lot to ask since haters only know to hate, lol, but you said it so well, perhaps, it will have an impact!
can always hope.

 

[Makingtrax]

Hi everyone. I have been reading Arsenal talk for years and years, and i finally updated my login so that I could say a few words.

I am a foreign fan, from India, who with the advent of cable tv, started to watch british football on television in the 90's while i worked in a call centre job late at night. After finishing my shift around midnight, I would get home, and would have no social life, but just the television, and it was about 8pm UK time, so I would have some amazing football to watch. I saw Thierry Henry run one night on a small 14 inch tv and I was hooked. Arsenal became my club.

I came here to say, that Arséne Wenger gave us fans something to be proud of. For the past decade, rival club supporters and then some of our supporters, started to taunt us in earnest. On the field we were being kicked off and the referees and moneymen were bullying us. Off the field, we were bullied by those who did so, just because they could.

I have watched every press conference of Arséne for over 10 yrs and seen every match if not live on tv, then a recording.It became something that reminded me of those days, when I was struggling to make a career, alone in a big city, living in a crummy little room and working insane hours. Arsenal was a living presence in my life, something to look forward to, a tribe to belong to, values to adhere to.

I do not doubt for a minute, that Arséne deviated from those values. A lot of the magic came from his behind the scenes work, and brick by brick, a value system, style and ethos was built up. Of course there were foundations, and a glorious past, not denying that.

However, from head to toe, from the laces on the boots to the light on top of the stadium, Arséne transformed the club. He made it future ready and fully equipped for the current age. This was one of the most amazing sustained professional jobs executed by any professional. Even the Taj Mahal was built in 20 yrs.

Please do not abuse him. Please do not taunt him. Please do not mock him. If we do that, we lose our values, and the whole edifice will come crumbling down.

Sorry. I am very emotional. I really liked hearing him talk intelligently and he was a big role model. I will post a few things on and off till I remain emotional. Please bear with me. Probably when Arséne leaves, I will shut up too. Its a little too painful seeing the gloating in Le Grove and elsewhere.

What a superb post. The love for Arsenal that Wenger spread around the world, is a wonder to behold.

 

[say yes]

Mutual always reminds me of this

Skip to 1:15 or watch the whole thing. Absolute gold.

Man I miss that show so much.

 

[Furious]

Yeah, Wenger made his announcement and then they communicated with their various sources to get the full story. That's kind of how journalism works.

Well excuse me for not believing a bunch of ****s notorious for making **** up regularly and ridiculing Wenger whenever possible.

Will make sure to ask you next time so you can pathetically use something I've ages ago against me completely out of context and you can get a few likes.

 

[say yes]

Ornstein is the only one who was claiming that Wenger chose to walk away. Every other major source such as the Times, Telegraph, Guardian and Standard said he was forced out/sacked/whatever you want to call it.

If you reject every other source and follow the narrative that Ornstein put out, the inference is that you take his word over the others.

Where did Orstein even say that? The article he posted at the time just said it was unclear / he didn’t know the details.

 

[Furious]

Where did Orstein even say that? The article he posted at the time just said it was unclear / he didn’t know the details.

Lmao.. tears.

If he didn't even say that, surely it means @American_Gooner is making **** up?

Well done mate.

 

[A_G]

Where did Orstein even say that? The article he posted at the time just said it was unclear / he didn’t know the details.

It's not clear who made the first move, but this has been an ongoing discussion for some time and ultimately Wenger confirmed his decision to the Arsenal board. It had become inevitable.

There was a feeling on Wenger's side that it would be best to do it now, in conjunction with the club hierarchy, to enable him to have a fitting send-off.

If they were to suffer a heavy defeat in the Europa League, there was a chance he would have to leave in unceremonious fashion. Nobody wanted that. And if they were to win it, Arsenal could end up in the same situation in a year's time.

The overwhelming feeling is this is the right decision and my understanding is that it was mutual.

Without being privy to the dialogue, we do not know how mutual and there are reports Wenger jumped before he was pushed.

Suggests it was his decision, no? Otherwise the board would be making the final decision for him.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

Well excuse me for not believing a bunch of ****s notorious for making **** up regularly and ridiculing Wenger whenever possible.

Will make sure to ask you next time so you can pathetically use something I've ages ago against me completely out of context and you can get a few likes.

LOL

 

[A_G]

@Furious usually only gets this triggered when he has to come on here and defend a 2/10 disasterclass from Xhaka.

 

[Furious]

@Furious usually only gets this triggered when he has to come on here and defend a 2/10 disasterclass from Xhaka.

So you made **** up and now you go on to make a bit more to get them likes. Sad state of you

 

[rich 1990]

@Furious usually only gets this triggered when he has to come on here and defend a 2/10 disasterclass from Xhaka.

Which is every week, hence his username.

 

[A_G]

So you made **** up and now you go on to make a bit more to get them likes. Sad state of you

Nothing's made up, Ornstein said as much in his article above.

 

[say yes]

Suggests it was his decision, no?

Not to me. The general story is that:
- (a) the board told Wenger they would sack him at the end of the season so he should resign now and get a send-off;
- (b) Wenger decided to resign and informed the board.

Ornstein says (b) but doesn't say anything to dismiss / contradict (a). On the contrary in the first paragraph ('It's not clear who made the first move') and the last ('we do not know how mutual and there are reports Wenger jumped before he was pushed') Ornstein clearly acknowledges the possibility that (a) happened.

Certainly not evidence for the proposition that Wenger resigned of his own accord which is what seems to have been suggested.

 

[say yes]

Lmao.. tears.

If he didn't even say that, surely it means @American_Gooner is making **** up?

Well done mate.

Calm down buddy! Think you've taken this a little too personally.

Mr Bootcut hasn't made anything up, he's just got the impression (mistaken in my view) that Ornstein's article is supportive of the proposition that Wenger resigned of his own accord. On the contrary, I think Ornstein is deliberately neutral on that matter.

 

[progman07]

He was working on a budget, keeping the likes of van Persie and Fabregas meant making do elsewhere. You think he could have had Nesta but chose Sebastien Squillaci just to have a laugh?

There were quite a lot of better players available for a similar price. There are quite a lot of players between Squilacci and Nesta, so I don't know what your point is. Do you either buy Gervinho or Ronaldo? Nope.

 

[rich 1990]

If only it ended at Squallici. Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Silvestre, Song, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski. People can act like Wenger was perfect up to 2013, doesn't make it true. He got away with some appalling stuff from 2009 onwards.

 

[progman07]

If only it ended at Squallici. Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Silvestre, Song, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski. People can act like Wenger was perfect up to 2013, doesn't make it true. He got away with some appalling stuff from 2009 onwards.

Exactly, not solving our lack of defensive awareness issue, playing Eboue at left wing, keeping players like Almunia and Diaby for too long, etc are not related to the spending power.

 

[IslingtonBornandbred]

If only it ended at Squallici. Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Silvestre, Song, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski. People can act like Wenger was perfect up to 2013, doesn't make it true. He got away with some appalling stuff from 2009 onwards.

Andre Santos, Carlos Jenkinson, Kim Kallstrom, Sanogo, Chamakh would also like to be added to your list Richard @rich 1990

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

If only it ended at Squallici. Almunia, Djourou, Senderos, Silvestre, Song, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski. People can act like Wenger was perfect up to 2013, doesn't make it true. He got away with some appalling stuff from 2009 onwards.

He was brilliant up until 2013. Constant top4 with profit in the transfer market which was needed for the owners to pay off most of the stadium.

After that he did even better, won us 3 FA Cups in 4 years. That is not bad for a manager who has to work in 3rd tier team environment set by the owners. Could add EL trophy to that too!

 

[A_G]

Not to me. The general story is that:
- (a) the board told Wenger they would sack him at the end of the season so he should resign now and get a send-off;
- (b) Wenger decided to resign and informed the board.

Ornstein says (b) but doesn't say anything to dismiss / contradict (a). On the contrary in the first paragraph ('It's not clear who made the first move') and the last ('we do not know how mutual and there are reports Wenger jumped before he was pushed') Ornstein clearly acknowledges the possibility that (a) happened.
Certainly not evidence for the proposition that Wenger resigned of his own accord which is what seems to have been suggested
.

When I say "Ornstein said he chose to walk away", I mean that the final decision was ultimately left to him based on this article. Even in option a, he could have just refused to resign and forced them to sack him. Whether he resigned under coercion or not, Ornstein's report is different in that he has Wenger holding all the cards whereas the other media outlets claim it was out of his hands.

Done with this discussion btw.