Samir Nasri

[JoeMercer'sWay]

regardless of the fact that Wenger has defined himself as a kiss-arse to the corporates, a man with no morals, a complete corporate suck-up, as well as a manager with a poor eye for a bargain, who rarely finds Arsenal value for money and has one of the poorest attitudes and is a pretty unprofessional and sore loser. Beyond all that his record in Europe is still not good enough even when Arsenal were really good and he's gone over 200 european games without winning a major trophy, far outseeing the top names in European management.

He's not a top class manager and should never be considered for our job.

Is this a WUM, JMW?

You’re normally a good poster when it comes to this, but some of that post is complete drivel.

Henry (Bought for 6m)
Vieira (Bought for 3.5m, sold for 18m)
Anelka (Bought for 500k, sold for 22m)
Petit (Bought for 2.5m, sold for 7m)
Overmars (Bought for 5.5m, sold for 25m)
Ljungberg (Bought for 3m, released)
Campbell (Free transfer)
Kolo Toure (Bought for 16k, sold for 16m)
Gilberto Silva (Bought for 4.5m, sold for 1m)
Fabregas (Free transfer, sold for 30m)
RVP (Bought for 3m, sold for 20m)
Adebayor (Bought for 7m, sold for 25m)

That list above tells me that he’s always had an eye for a bargain. When you take into account the fees these players were sold for and the fact that a lot of them were past their peaks when he did sell them tells me he knows what he can get from a player and when they’ve given what they could and can’t offer much more.

It’s a lot harder these days to grab yourselves a bargain. You’ll get the odd exception of a Kompany and a Nastasic but the fact is, it was his transfer policy and eye for a player that won Arsenal the trophies they did and was the main reason for them having the finances to spearhead a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Yes, he’s not won anything for a fairly long time, but when you’re hampered by a board with such a lack of immediate ambition, it’s quite difficult.

Wenger is a top class manager, IMO. I genuinely believe that if he had the squads of City, Madrid or Bayern, even Chelsea, along with their respective finances and the boards that are willing to back him, he’d win plenty of trophies with the lot.

Only a few years ago, whilst he was potless for 4 years and just before Mourinho took the Madrid job, Wenger was in the running for that job. Nobody is coveted for such a job if they’re not classed as a top class manager.

As for examples of being unprofessional and a sore loser. Stick Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini in those categories too.

The most credible stick to beat Wenger with is the fact that he hasn't won the CL. It's only because of Barcelona that him or indeed Ferguson hasn't wone more CL medals.

fair enough for 10 years ago, but how many of those were in the last 6/7 years?

He's lost his touch, lost his marbles a bit and has lost his ability to win trophies and spot bargains in the market.

And to be honest, other teams have gone on and won trophies with far less at their disposal than Arsenal and it's not like he's not had chances, fuck-ups are the Arsenal way and it's now ingrained in his psyche and the team's.

He was top class 10 years ago but ever since he's lost it, I'm sorry but until he proves otherwise he is not top class.

 

[Danamy]

regardless of the fact that Wenger has defined himself as a kiss-arse to the corporates, a man with no morals, a complete corporate suck-up, as well as a manager with a poor eye for a bargain, who rarely finds Arsenal value for money and has one of the poorest attitudes and is a pretty unprofessional and sore loser. Beyond all that his record in Europe is still not good enough even when Arsenal were really good and he's gone over 200 european games without winning a major trophy, far outseeing the top names in European management.

He's not a top class manager and should never be considered for our job.

Is this a WUM, JMW?

You’re normally a good poster when it comes to this, but some of that post is complete drivel.

Henry (Bought for 6m)
Vieira (Bought for 3.5m, sold for 18m)
Anelka (Bought for 500k, sold for 22m)
Petit (Bought for 2.5m, sold for 7m)
Overmars (Bought for 5.5m, sold for 25m)
Ljungberg (Bought for 3m, released)
Campbell (Free transfer)
Kolo Toure (Bought for 16k, sold for 16m)
Gilberto Silva (Bought for 4.5m, sold for 1m)
Fabregas (Free transfer, sold for 30m)
RVP (Bought for 3m, sold for 20m)
Adebayor (Bought for 7m, sold for 25m)

That list above tells me that he’s always had an eye for a bargain. When you take into account the fees these players were sold for and the fact that a lot of them were past their peaks when he did sell them tells me he knows what he can get from a player and when they’ve given what they could and can’t offer much more.

It’s a lot harder these days to grab yourselves a bargain. You’ll get the odd exception of a Kompany and a Nastasic but the fact is, it was his transfer policy and eye for a player that won Arsenal the trophies they did and was the main reason for them having the finances to spearhead a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Yes, he’s not won anything for a fairly long time, but when you’re hampered by a board with such a lack of immediate ambition, it’s quite difficult.

Wenger is a top class manager, IMO. I genuinely believe that if he had the squads of City, Madrid or Bayern, even Chelsea, along with their respective finances and the boards that are willing to back him, he’d win plenty of trophies with the lot.

Only a few years ago, whilst he was potless for 4 years and just before Mourinho took the Madrid job, Wenger was in the running for that job. Nobody is coveted for such a job if they’re not classed as a top class manager.

As for examples of being unprofessional and a sore loser. Stick Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini in those categories too.

The most credible stick to beat Wenger with is the fact that he hasn't won the CL. It's only because of Barcelona that him or indeed Ferguson hasn't wone more CL medals.

Good summary sjk2008 and exactly what i was getting at with my post.

The thing that caught me out was JMW being serious about it?

 

[George Hannah]

The press are manipulating a situation yet again ! seriously, don't fall for it

Sorry bobster, I have no problem with what he has said but the press are manipulating nothing. he actually said this stuff

It means quite simply that one, or both, of them are off in the summer.

or neither of course ;-)

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

regardless of the fact that Wenger has defined himself as a kiss-arse to the corporates, a man with no morals, a complete corporate suck-up, as well as a manager with a poor eye for a bargain, who rarely finds Arsenal value for money and has one of the poorest attitudes and is a pretty unprofessional and sore loser. Beyond all that his record in Europe is still not good enough even when Arsenal were really good and he's gone over 200 european games without winning a major trophy, far outseeing the top names in European management.

He's not a top class manager and should never be considered for our job.

Is this a WUM, JMW?

You’re normally a good poster when it comes to this, but some of that post is complete drivel.

Henry (Bought for 6m)
Vieira (Bought for 3.5m, sold for 18m)
Anelka (Bought for 500k, sold for 22m)
Petit (Bought for 2.5m, sold for 7m)
Overmars (Bought for 5.5m, sold for 25m)
Ljungberg (Bought for 3m, released)
Campbell (Free transfer)
Kolo Toure (Bought for 16k, sold for 16m)
Gilberto Silva (Bought for 4.5m, sold for 1m)
Fabregas (Free transfer, sold for 30m)
RVP (Bought for 3m, sold for 20m)
Adebayor (Bought for 7m, sold for 25m)

That list above tells me that he’s always had an eye for a bargain. When you take into account the fees these players were sold for and the fact that a lot of them were past their peaks when he did sell them tells me he knows what he can get from a player and when they’ve given what they could and can’t offer much more.

It’s a lot harder these days to grab yourselves a bargain. You’ll get the odd exception of a Kompany and a Nastasic but the fact is, it was his transfer policy and eye for a player that won Arsenal the trophies they did and was the main reason for them having the finances to spearhead a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Yes, he’s not won anything for a fairly long time, but when you’re hampered by a board with such a lack of immediate ambition, it’s quite difficult.

Wenger is a top class manager, IMO. I genuinely believe that if he had the squads of City, Madrid or Bayern, even Chelsea, along with their respective finances and the boards that are willing to back him, he’d win plenty of trophies with the lot.

Only a few years ago, whilst he was potless for 4 years and just before Mourinho took the Madrid job, Wenger was in the running for that job. Nobody is coveted for such a job if they’re not classed as a top class manager.

As for examples of being unprofessional and a sore loser. Stick Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini in those categories too.

The most credible stick to beat Wenger with is the fact that he hasn't won the CL. It's only because of Barcelona that him or indeed Ferguson hasn't wone more CL medals.

fair enough for 10 years ago, but how many of those were in the last 6/7 years?

He's lost his touch, lost his marbles a bit and has lost his ability to win trophies and spot bargains in the market.

And to be honest, other teams have gone on and won trophies with far less at their disposal than Arsenal and it's not like he's not had chances, fuck-ups are the Arsenal way and it's now ingrained in his psyche and the team's.

He was top class 10 years ago but ever since he's lost it, I'm sorry but until he proves otherwise he is not top class.

You can say he's lost his touch but as I've said, other people will revert you to the situation he has to deal with from above. Nowadays, you can't go out and buy a Vieira, Overmars or Henry for less than £15m on total. It'd cost you that for one of them in today's market. Unfortunately for him, he's not given the finances to either fund such transfers or when he does, he isnt able to hand out the wages which will attract the more stella names and, as such, ends up with Arteta, Mertersacker or Gervinho, aka panic buys.

Do you think if he was in charge of either City, Real, Barca, Bayern or Chelsea, with the backing of each of those respective boards, he'd win absolutely nothing? If not, then you're comparing apples with oranges.

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Is this a WUM, JMW?

You’re normally a good poster when it comes to this, but some of that post is complete drivel.

Henry (Bought for 6m)
Vieira (Bought for 3.5m, sold for 18m)
Anelka (Bought for 500k, sold for 22m)
Petit (Bought for 2.5m, sold for 7m)
Overmars (Bought for 5.5m, sold for 25m)
Ljungberg (Bought for 3m, released)
Campbell (Free transfer)
Kolo Toure (Bought for 16k, sold for 16m)
Gilberto Silva (Bought for 4.5m, sold for 1m)
Fabregas (Free transfer, sold for 30m)
RVP (Bought for 3m, sold for 20m)
Adebayor (Bought for 7m, sold for 25m)

That list above tells me that he’s always had an eye for a bargain. When you take into account the fees these players were sold for and the fact that a lot of them were past their peaks when he did sell them tells me he knows what he can get from a player and when they’ve given what they could and can’t offer much more.

It’s a lot harder these days to grab yourselves a bargain. You’ll get the odd exception of a Kompany and a Nastasic but the fact is, it was his transfer policy and eye for a player that won Arsenal the trophies they did and was the main reason for them having the finances to spearhead a move to the Emirates Stadium.

Yes, he’s not won anything for a fairly long time, but when you’re hampered by a board with such a lack of immediate ambition, it’s quite difficult.

Wenger is a top class manager, IMO. I genuinely believe that if he had the squads of City, Madrid or Bayern, even Chelsea, along with their respective finances and the boards that are willing to back him, he’d win plenty of trophies with the lot.

Only a few years ago, whilst he was potless for 4 years and just before Mourinho took the Madrid job, Wenger was in the running for that job. Nobody is coveted for such a job if they’re not classed as a top class manager.

As for examples of being unprofessional and a sore loser. Stick Ferguson, Mourinho, Benitez and Mancini in those categories too.

The most credible stick to beat Wenger with is the fact that he hasn't won the CL. It's only because of Barcelona that him or indeed Ferguson hasn't wone more CL medals.

fair enough for 10 years ago, but how many of those were in the last 6/7 years?

He's lost his touch, lost his marbles a bit and has lost his ability to win trophies and spot bargains in the market.

And to be honest, other teams have gone on and won trophies with far less at their disposal than Arsenal and it's not like he's not had chances, fuck-ups are the Arsenal way and it's now ingrained in his psyche and the team's.

He was top class 10 years ago but ever since he's lost it, I'm sorry but until he proves otherwise he is not top class.

You can say he's lost his touch but as I've said, other people will revert you to the situation he has to deal with from above. Nowadays, you can't go out and buy a Vieira, Overmars or Henry for less than £15m on total. It'd cost you that for one of them in today's market. Unfortunately for him, he's not given the finances to either fund such transfers or when he does, he isnt able to hand out the wages which will attract the more stella names and, as such, ends up with Arteta, Mertersacker or Gervinho, aka panic buys.

Do you think if he was in charge of either City, Real, Barca, Bayern or Chelsea, with the backing of each of those respective boards, he'd win absolutely nothing? If not, then you're comparing apples with oranges.

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

I don't agree, I think as Newcastle prove if you scout well enough there is value in the market, especially in territories where Wenger used to have the advantage.

Panic buys are like we proved last season the result of a poorly thought out transfer policy and whilst the board have a huge influence by now Wenger would know who he's inevitably going to lose and should have a contingency, he doesn't. He buys poorly or averagely on the whole.

Mancini won cups on tight budgets in Italy so I think he'd do a fair job, you have to question the mentality of Wenger and his modern Arsenal when they bottle Carling Cup finals to Birmingham and the like, there's a genuine issue there.

Whether he'd win trophies or not elsewhere is a different matter and one that cannot be proven without him doing so obviously. The fact remains that once the backline previous managers had built for him retired and his failure to replace the spine of his team properly in the early mid noughties started to take place we then see a whole host of flaws seeping through.

What we see is a manager who had a top class run but has slowly let his good work slip into mediocrity. That tells me that he's either been there too long, has lost his way and needs a fresh start and motivation to prove how good he is or he;s sold himself up the creek without a paddle in order to have a comfortable time of it. To me it's more the latter than the former and that's the wrong mentality for a top class manager and therefore I wouldn't consider replacing Mancini with him. If he had ambition he'd have done what many of his star players did and walked out of Arsenal or shown some backbone and stood up to the board, the fact he didn't sends alarm bells and along with everything I mentioned he to me is a massive gamble and a manager you would have picked 6/7 years ago, not now, he's let it ebb too long and there's other managers who set about challenging themselves everyday and are ambitious and are proving themselves. They have the right attitude and that is why they succeed whilst Wenger's legacy gets gradually turned to mush.

 

[NipHolmes]

fair enough for 10 years ago, but how many of those were in the last 6/7 years?

He's lost his touch, lost his marbles a bit and has lost his ability to win trophies and spot bargains in the market.

And to be honest, other teams have gone on and won trophies with far less at their disposal than Arsenal and it's not like he's not had chances, fuck-ups are the Arsenal way and it's now ingrained in his psyche and the team's.

He was top class 10 years ago but ever since he's lost it, I'm sorry but until he proves otherwise he is not top class.

You can say he's lost his touch but as I've said, other people will revert you to the situation he has to deal with from above. Nowadays, you can't go out and buy a Vieira, Overmars or Henry for less than £15m on total. It'd cost you that for one of them in today's market. Unfortunately for him, he's not given the finances to either fund such transfers or when he does, he isnt able to hand out the wages which will attract the more stella names and, as such, ends up with Arteta, Mertersacker or Gervinho, aka panic buys.

Do you think if he was in charge of either City, Real, Barca, Bayern or Chelsea, with the backing of each of those respective boards, he'd win absolutely nothing? If not, then you're comparing apples with oranges.

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

I don't agree, I think as Newcastle prove if you scout well enough there is value in the market, especially in territories where Wenger used to have the advantage.

Panic buys are like we proved last season the result of a poorly thought out transfer policy and whilst the board have a huge influence by now Wenger would know who he's inevitably going to lose and should have a contingency, he doesn't. He buys poorly or averagely on the whole.

Mancini won cups on tight budgets in Italy so I think he'd do a fair job, you have to question the mentality of Wenger and his modern Arsenal when they bottle Carling Cup finals to Birmingham and the like, there's a genuine issue there.

Whether he'd win trophies or not elsewhere is a different matter and one that cannot be proven without him doing so obviously. The fact remains that once the backline previous managers had built for him retired and his failure to replace the spine of his team properly in the early mid noughties started to take place we then see a whole host of flaws seeping through.

What we see is a manager who had a top class run but has slowly let his good work slip into mediocrity. That tells me that he's either been there too long, has lost his way and needs a fresh start and motivation to prove how good he is or he;s sold himself up the creek without a paddle in order to have a comfortable time of it. To me it's more the latter than the former and that's the wrong mentality for a top class manager and therefore I wouldn't consider replacing Mancini with him. If he had ambition he'd have done what many of his star players did and walked out of Arsenal or shown some backbone and stood up to the board, the fact he didn't sends alarm bells and along with everything I mentioned he to me is a massive gamble and a manager you would have picked 6/7 years ago, not now, he's let it ebb too long and there's other managers who set about challenging themselves everyday and are ambitious and are proving themselves. They have the right attitude and that is why they succeed whilst Wenger's legacy gets gradually turned to mush.

I disagree because even though there's value in the French league, no sooner as he buys a player and they look a gem i.e Nasri then they'll be snapped up by another club because that's what Kroenke is about, profit first.

Arsenal have bought Walcott and AOC, both are very good players and both will be sold down the line. Jenkinson was a snip at £1million too. Wenger is now looking at young English players due to quota.

Mancini may have won the leagues in Italy but it's the equivalent of us winning them with United and Chelsea not in race for them. Rather hollow achievements in that context. That's not being harsh on Bobby but actually reality. Juventus went from giant of Europe with great squad to a championship team.

Arsenal are reaping what they've sewn, years of little investment has reduced them to consistent also rans.

 

[BobKowalski]

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

Mancini's early record with cash strapped teams

"Mancini's first managerial role was at a cash stricken Fiorentina at only 35 years old and managed to win a Coppa Italia, but left with Fiorentina facing bankruptcy. Months later, he took over as manager at Lazio, where again he inherited financial constraints and was forced to lose a number of key players. With limited resources during his two season tenure, he still managed to win another Coppa Italia, reach a UEFA Cup semi-final, and secure a lucrative Champions League place"

League titles take money. Of that there is little doubt. But cups are doable and Arsenal should have bagged a couple at least

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

You can say he's lost his touch but as I've said, other people will revert you to the situation he has to deal with from above. Nowadays, you can't go out and buy a Vieira, Overmars or Henry for less than £15m on total. It'd cost you that for one of them in today's market. Unfortunately for him, he's not given the finances to either fund such transfers or when he does, he isnt able to hand out the wages which will attract the more stella names and, as such, ends up with Arteta, Mertersacker or Gervinho, aka panic buys.

Do you think if he was in charge of either City, Real, Barca, Bayern or Chelsea, with the backing of each of those respective boards, he'd win absolutely nothing? If not, then you're comparing apples with oranges.

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

I don't agree, I think as Newcastle prove if you scout well enough there is value in the market, especially in territories where Wenger used to have the advantage.

Panic buys are like we proved last season the result of a poorly thought out transfer policy and whilst the board have a huge influence by now Wenger would know who he's inevitably going to lose and should have a contingency, he doesn't. He buys poorly or averagely on the whole.

Mancini won cups on tight budgets in Italy so I think he'd do a fair job, you have to question the mentality of Wenger and his modern Arsenal when they bottle Carling Cup finals to Birmingham and the like, there's a genuine issue there.

Whether he'd win trophies or not elsewhere is a different matter and one that cannot be proven without him doing so obviously. The fact remains that once the backline previous managers had built for him retired and his failure to replace the spine of his team properly in the early mid noughties started to take place we then see a whole host of flaws seeping through.

What we see is a manager who had a top class run but has slowly let his good work slip into mediocrity. That tells me that he's either been there too long, has lost his way and needs a fresh start and motivation to prove how good he is or he;s sold himself up the creek without a paddle in order to have a comfortable time of it. To me it's more the latter than the former and that's the wrong mentality for a top class manager and therefore I wouldn't consider replacing Mancini with him. If he had ambition he'd have done what many of his star players did and walked out of Arsenal or shown some backbone and stood up to the board, the fact he didn't sends alarm bells and along with everything I mentioned he to me is a massive gamble and a manager you would have picked 6/7 years ago, not now, he's let it ebb too long and there's other managers who set about challenging themselves everyday and are ambitious and are proving themselves. They have the right attitude and that is why they succeed whilst Wenger's legacy gets gradually turned to mush.

I disagree because even though there's value in the French league, no sooner as he buys a player and they look a gem i.e Nasri then they'll be snapped up by another club because that's what Kroenke is about, profit first.

Arsenal have bought Walcott and AOC, both are very good players and both will be sold down the line. Jenkinson was a snip at £1million too. Wenger is now looking at young English players due to quota.

Mancini may have won the leagues in Italy but it's the equivalent of us winning them with United and Chelsea not in race for them. Rather hollow achievements in that context. That's not being harsh on Bobby but actually reality. Juventus went from giant of Europe with great squad to a championship team.

Arsenal are reaping what they've sewn, years of little investment has reduced them to consistent also rans.

I was talking about Mancini's Fiorentina and Lazio days where he performed well and won trophies with no money and having to sell his best players like Crespo.

Very similar situation to Wenger though Wenger is a lot better off with resources. Regardless of whether his players then get snapped up he still has them for a period of time and even in the time of having Nasri, Fabregas, Song etc. he still failed to win anything with them together. He spends money on the wrong players nowadays and we criticise our recent transfer activity, Wenger you're picking the good ones out of the stack oof average/poor ones and not the other way round like it should be.

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

fair enough for 10 years ago, but how many of those were in the last 6/7 years?

He's lost his touch, lost his marbles a bit and has lost his ability to win trophies and spot bargains in the market.

And to be honest, other teams have gone on and won trophies with far less at their disposal than Arsenal and it's not like he's not had chances, fuck-ups are the Arsenal way and it's now ingrained in his psyche and the team's.

He was top class 10 years ago but ever since he's lost it, I'm sorry but until he proves otherwise he is not top class.

You can say he's lost his touch but as I've said, other people will revert you to the situation he has to deal with from above. Nowadays, you can't go out and buy a Vieira, Overmars or Henry for less than £15m on total. It'd cost you that for one of them in today's market. Unfortunately for him, he's not given the finances to either fund such transfers or when he does, he isnt able to hand out the wages which will attract the more stella names and, as such, ends up with Arteta, Mertersacker or Gervinho, aka panic buys.

Do you think if he was in charge of either City, Real, Barca, Bayern or Chelsea, with the backing of each of those respective boards, he'd win absolutely nothing? If not, then you're comparing apples with oranges.

On the flipside, if Mancini was at Arsenal, and had to work within the situation created by Kroenke and his men, do you believe Mancini would win league titles and FA cups? I'm not so sure.

I don't agree, I think as Newcastle prove if you scout well enough there is value in the market, especially in territories where Wenger used to have the advantage.

Panic buys are like we proved last season the result of a poorly thought out transfer policy and whilst the board have a huge influence by now Wenger would know who he's inevitably going to lose and should have a contingency, he doesn't. He buys poorly or averagely on the whole.

Mancini won cups on tight budgets in Italy so I think he'd do a fair job, you have to question the mentality of Wenger and his modern Arsenal when they bottle Carling Cup finals to Birmingham and the like, there's a genuine issue there.

Whether he'd win trophies or not elsewhere is a different matter and one that cannot be proven without him doing so obviously. The fact remains that once the backline previous managers had built for him retired and his failure to replace the spine of his team properly in the early mid noughties started to take place we then see a whole host of flaws seeping through.

What we see is a manager who had a top class run but has slowly let his good work slip into mediocrity. That tells me that he's either been there too long, has lost his way and needs a fresh start and motivation to prove how good he is or he;s sold himself up the creek without a paddle in order to have a comfortable time of it. To me it's more the latter than the former and that's the wrong mentality for a top class manager and therefore I wouldn't consider replacing Mancini with him. If he had ambition he'd have done what many of his star players did and walked out of Arsenal or shown some backbone and stood up to the board, the fact he didn't sends alarm bells and along with everything I mentioned he to me is a massive gamble and a manager you would have picked 6/7 years ago, not now, he's let it ebb too long and there's other managers who set about challenging themselves everyday and are ambitious and are proving themselves. They have the right attitude and that is why they succeed whilst Wenger's legacy gets gradually turned to mush.

Or Wenger is just showing a breed of loyalty rarely seen these days and is biding his time for when a potential warchest becomes available?

He's the highest paid manager in the PL. 4 years ago, Madrid would have improved on that salary to bring him to the Bernabeu. You say that could be down to him preferring to take the easy ride with Arsenal and I say he could be an extremely patient man. As it happens, with the amount of shit he's received from some corners of Arsenal's fanbase, I wouldn't class the ride he's having at the moment as an "easy" one. Perhaps there's something in the offing within Arsenal that's keeping him there, other than his lucrative salary.

Let's face it - there will be teams in MLS, China, Qatar etc that will more than match the salary he currently gets.

As for building on the backbone of previous regimes, the general starting Xi for that Invincibles season was:

Lehmann
Lauren-Campbell-Kolo-Cole
Vieira-Gilberto
Ljungberg-Bergkamp-Pires
Henry

Only Bergkamp wasn't a Wenger signing, so that tells me that he built a side, rather than failed to build on past regimes.

I can see your point a little, in that he's failed to continually build. However, I again refer to the current regime he's had to work under, incidentally once David Dein had left. It's completely different, especially when it comes to finances. As the market value of players and their wages has changed dramatically, Arsenal haven't been able to follow suit accordingly. Whilst they pay average players like Gervinho & Mertersacker 60-70k p/w, the likes of RVP were only getting 90k p/w. Laughable in the extreme.

It can't be put down to pure chance than their regression (or failure to progress) began when they moved from Highbury to their expensive new stadium. I refuse to believe that should a new manager come into Arsenal tomorrow, that he'd have £100m to spend simply because Wenger has been too stubborn to spend it himself. I don't believe that kind of money has been available to him for some time, perhaps never.

You point me in the direction of Newcastle. Yes, they've bought some good players but how are they doing. Cabaye is decent, I'll give you that. The likes of Cisse, Sissoko & Debauchy are good but not world beaters either. Maybe Wenger thought the same. You'd think so considering his history of acquiring French players for little cost and turning them into World Class players.

When past players such as Fabregas, Henry, Vieira & Nasri state their admiration for Wenger and his abilities, it should not be ignored. He's a top class manager who's not had the resources to continually build year upon year. You only have to presume such an opportunity will finally arise soon enough.

 

[moomba]

Wenger has spoken many times about "the Arsenal way" being the right way to run football clubs.

I just don't believe that he is operating with a gun to his head. I'm sure in cases like Nasri the board will have stepped in, but that would happen at any club (maybe even ours with Balotelli).

If he had a problem with the board he should be doing something about it. At the moment he is complicit with an approach that is letting down Arsenal supporters.

Which is quite funny really.

FWIW I have a lot of time for Wenger, and think he was once one of the very best.