Do You Feel Sorry For Arsene Wenger?

We all know about the negativity surrounding the club at the moment. You’ve probably seen this video from Arsenal Fan TV which has gone viral, but it sums up the feeling of a section of the Arsenal support:

Please note the video contains strong language.

The main grievances fans have include:

  • The lack of spending in the transfer market, when it’s clear our squad needs strengthening.
  • The seemingly poor negotiating skills of Arsenal’s hierarchy, shown in particular by the Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain transfer sagas.
  • The amount of power Arsene Wenger has at the club.
  • The fact that there is no accountability from Arsene Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and the Arsenal board.
  • Silent Stan.
  • The fact that Arsenal are only interested in making money.
  • Arsene Wenger’s “lack” of tactical knowledge and the fact that his methods are outdated.

And there are more and more Arsenal fans calling for David Dein to make a return, and some even wanting Alisher Usmanov to own the club and take us forward.

After the Aston Villa game, there were reportedly fans fighting amongst themselves in the ground, people hurling abuse at Wenger and some of the crowd chanting “spend some f*cking money!”.

There is no doubt that during Arsene’s 16 year reign at the club, there has never been a bigger frustration amongst the fans and even the AST have said Wenger should not be offered a new contract.

But my question is do you feel sorry for Arsene Wenger?

There is no doubt he has done great things for Arsenal, things which we could never have imagined back in September 1996, but 8 seasons without a trophy is something that is really hurting Arsenal fans.

For me, all I want is to see Arsenal to compete. If I know that Arsenal have done everything they possibly can (within their means of course) to strengthen the team, make sure the team are prepared accordingly and we have the best quality possible then that is more than enough. The problem I have is it is clear we have money to spend, the squad is threadbare and we haven’t spent to make the squad as good as it can be. And for me, that is criminal.

Arsenal fans have been given the promise of competing financially by moving to the new stadium and paying the highest ticket prices in the country. We are apparently similar to Bayern Munich in terms of financial firepower but we haven’t spent a single penny. So what is going on?

As I’ve said, Arsene Wenger is the one who brought success to the club and the one who raised expectation levels. But now, without a trophy in 8 seasons and the fans turning against him at an increasing rate, you feel that this is the beginning of the end.

He had a similar time at Monaco, when he did well for a few years but then lost the plot and got sacked. Arsenal are far more forgiving as he is making the shareholders very wealthy but if the fans keep slating him and booing him at every game then something has got to give. The board would have no choice but to listen to the fans and give Arsene the boot.

And if that happens, would you feel sorry for him? Would that be the kind of end befitting of a man who essentially changed the landscape of the club?

 

43 thoughts on “Do You Feel Sorry For Arsene Wenger?

  1. The sad part is that Wenger has brought this on himself. This year was his chance to change things around. He did everything right in terms of not losing any stars and getting rid of the ‘deadwood’ but the fact that we haven’t made any significant signings is just ridiculous. I don’t think there is much he can do to turn things around with the fans. Even if he makes some signings, it won’t be good enough for some people because they have come so late in the window. So it’s sad that all his hard work has come to this end but he must point the finger at himself.
    Depressing! This is the first year that I have really lost faith in him.

     
    • Spot on brother. I used to be one of Mr. Wenger’s addicts. But for blowing this golden chance of making our beloved club tick again, I could never forgive him. So, no sympathy in the absence of any fresh facts exonerating from this utterly avoidable chaos.

       
  2. All good things must come to an end. Imho,Wenger shd have been axed a few seasons ago.A manager reinvents himself, Things that work in 2004 will not work in 2003. Yet he shows no inclination of changing his philosophy.
    I am afraid he will cause Arsenal to go into decline faster without fixing the defence while going kami kaze on the attack.
    A strong defence is a must for all teams aspiring to win games and trophies. Based on this he appears to neglect and must pay the price.

     
  3. No I don’t feel sorry for Wenger, he has had the whole of the transfer window to purchase players, but no he and his cohort are too busy lining their pockets and making money by this jaunts into the Far East. Yes we won against what would be classed as pub teams but when it comes to the PL we lose players left, right and centre without buying, now he’s panicking and trying to buy players at vastly reduced money just to show he is still shopping, well the sooner the Board open their eyes and see what a disaster the manager has become then perhaps they will get shot of him, sooner rather than later

     
  4. I can neva feel sorry 4 Arsene Wenger because he deserve it,He brought it 2 himself,Arsene is a very selfish and self centered man who doesn’t care about the feelings of the fans as far as he’s making money ,how i so wish Ibramovich of chelsea is de owner of Arsenal,he would have booted him out 4 long.Everybody is fade up,ARSENE should go.

     
  5. If wenger has stopped caring for the fans needs..
    Then why should we care or feel sorry for him?

    He has become more and more stubborn in his old age
    And his excuses are well beyond a joke… Deluded.

     
  6. The most annoying thing is, we think we are good enough for players like Higuain and Suarez, we arent because we have no ambition and a really poor squad. Always happy with 4th, im off to support Spurs i think, they got the right idea.

     
  7. I DON’T FEEL SORRY ONE BIT FOR ARSENE WENGER,I FEEL MORE SORRY FOR THE 60,000 PLUS ARSENAL SUPPORTERS,WHO WEEK AFTER WEEK HAVE TO LISTEN TO A SO CALLED MANAGER’S LIES AND BULLSHIT,A MAN IN MY OPINION THAT JUST HASN’T GOT A CLUE,THE SOONER HE GOES THE BETTER. “UP THE GUNNERS”.

     
  8. I do feel sorry for him and his £7m per annum. It’s not just his fault though. If/when he resigns/gets sacked then the likes of Gazidis and Law should also be resign/get sacked along with our scouting team. We can’t do anything about the owner because he’s never at the ground to face our ire. The events of 2010/11 have not been learned from and the people responsible for that fiasco are still in the club. Our transfer strategy – what strategy? – has been utterly farcical and to go in to a season with a squad as threadbare as our’s smacks of gross incompetence and mismanagement. In any other job, if you mismanage and are grossly incompetent then you lose your job. Still, at least we spent £40m on a load of new lawyers in order to internalise our future event strategy and we can only be grateful for that.

     
  9. Never. The guy thinks everybody is an idiot. He will rant about quality as if nobody else in the EPL has it. Giroud, walcott, Ramsey, Per, Jenkinson = No quality. Quality is RVP, Rooney,Bale, Silva, Nasri,Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Kompany, Vidic, Luiz, Lowton, Rafael, Cole, Baines, Czech- up to 25. If he doesnt have this kind of players , he should never talk quality and should go back to Japan

     
  10. 8 seasons without a trophy is not something that is really hurting Arsenal fans, what hurts Arsenal fans is that Arsenal do not compete, and the reason they don’t compete is that Wenger let all that early success go to his head and began to think he was some untouchable god. He’s become arrogant, deluded, hypocritical and self-serving. The man is now a disgrace to the club and a disgrace to himself. I hope he leaves and I don’t care what he does afterwards as long as it has NOTHING to do with Arsenal. I won’t even thank him for what he achieved as in my eyes he’s ruined it all.

     
  11. I don’t hold with the elements of the fanbase that want to call him names and generally disrespect him and I’ve always had faith in him up until now. However, if he doesn’t buy and buy well in this window, then I think the time has come for the board to act and find a suitable replacement. There is no version of reality in which he can claim that we don’t need to buy – we need it just from a numbers perspective, let alone quality. I do feel sorry for him, because in his time he has done marvellous things for our club, he deserves our respect and his leaving like that would be very sad. He’s always a man who has been proud, stubborn and obsessed with his legacy. I think that he wanted to be remembered as the great developmental manager, who made stars (rather than bought them) and this was both his strength in the early days and is his downfall now. But after the joy of the two doubles and the Invincibles season, I’d hate to see him just sacked. What else do you do, though? Perhaps the easiest thing would be if the board could talk to someone like PSG on the quiet and get them to offer him an escape route that allowed him to exit with dignity.

     
  12. This is the first year that I have said Wenger must go. No more talking crap, you insult us fans and now, enough is enough!! Leave now and take Gazides with you, take Laws with you, take silent stan with you then take the rest of the effing board too. I am fed up with your lies and games, same every bloody season but what happens, we make money every transfer window. Even this year, by the fact we have got rid of players and got one in on a free we are up again. I have spent more money this morning on a cappucino than Wenger has spent. So, in answer to the original question, do i feel sorry for £7.6 mil per year Wenger……bloody no!!

    To sum up, in past seasons I have been disappointed and pissed off but now all I feel is anger, Wenger has done that to me so again…f**k off now!!!!

     
  13. Feel sorry for him? No Fxxxing way and tis will be the same message across all continents. His old age of stubbornness has deliberately destroyed him. When he has no mercy shown to the fans for eight years drought then why must we had feeling for him? Complete bullshit, Wenger out, bring d Fxxxing idiots with I along…the clown Gazidis, the bastard Kronke, the entire scout team members..these bastards is the one who turns AFC to be a money making powerhouse!!! That’s why now we know exactly how RVP must have felt if e were to stay…bastard all money reaping idiots, in Wenger we damned!!!

     
  14. In football you go for results….Abramovich axed mourinho after givin’ the first league title in a long while with collections of other important trophies.Post mourinho chelsea saw chelsea win more trophies(champions league)…wenger can go & arsenal can start winnin’ trophies again,when he came in 96 who would have thought he will be this successful,durin’ the invincible era who believed that we will remained trophyless this long even though we built a stadium..change is the only thing constant.Laudrup with openess of the board can take us to a greater height…..if di matteo could be fired after all did for chelsea.why not stubborn wenger who is only loyal to his employers forgeting that fans have been loyal to him all these years with banner at the emirates like IN ARSENE WE TRUST…fans can’t stomach him again because of his stubborn posture, unfriendly responses towards the fans…his on the field tactics & off the antics is becomin’ predictable…let’s us save our dear club.

     
  15. No. why should i. Wenger do not feel sorry for the gunners fans, at all.
    After 8 good seasons wenger still don’t want to change the idea of selling key players. Look at the poor epl start, records against some epl teams broken last 2 seasons and last. Not even a trophy after 8yrs. As a gunner i feel wenger is not fit for arsenal any longer. Even the board too aren’t after the fans happiness, economics or money doesn’t stop you from at least winning one major silver. No team even fears ARSENAL again, like those days IMMORTAL GUNNERS of 2004/5 epl season.
    Wenger do something about your policy, because its too poor and i don’t feel sorry at all 4 wenger.

     
  16. I was hoping that we would get a really dogmatic manager and hoped it would be David Moyes who has done wonders at Everton with virtually no budget. Well we will see what he can do at a big club now.
    I have loved AW for what he has done for this club, but my respect for him melted away several years ago. Being one of the first to state that a change of manager was essential, I was subjected to much abuse online by the ‘Arsene Knows Best’ brigade. They did this wonderful club a great disservice and are ominously quiet right now. I have been reluctantly predicting the current situation, but hoped something drastic would be done before we actually arrived at it.
    I spoke to many fans at the Aston Villa game, they all said the same as me; we only renewed our membership for this season on the promise of at least £70m being spent on new players and we all feel conned. What a ridiculous statement for Wenger to make that the players are just not out there; even Tottenham have spent £60m ! How much longer will we fill our superb stadium with 60,000 for every match. Just imagine a half-empty Emirates; the whole empire could come tumbling down.

     
    • The emirates had LOTS of empty seats for the first game of the season against Villa! We cant fill our stadium as it is now anyway, even when we have a full stadium i hear more noise at my local library. Tony Adams to be next manager, i reckon hes the special one, i mean look at that forehead, paul merson could snort line after line off of that

       
  17. Why should we feel sorry for him(wenger)?For the past 8 trophyless seasons he don’t care about how the fans feel,he don’t care about the pains and streess the fans go through all he cares about is making money which doesn’t matter to the fans.The fans need trophies and not money we loose big players every now and then,one of the main reasons why some of those players leave is because he(wenger)don’t want to sign quality players trust me guyz if all those big stars we have lost are still in the club we should have boast of being better. “ARSENE WENGER MUST LEAVE” because as long as he is in the club,Arsenal will win nothing.

     
  18. The emirates had LOTS of empty seats for the first game of the season against Villa! We cant fill our stadium as it is now anyway, even when we have a full stadium i hear more noise at my local library. Tony Adams to be next manager, i reckon hes the special one, i mean look at that forehead, paul merson could snort line after line off of that

     
  19. I am saddened by the lack of belief in Arsenal fans because I do believe Wenger is playing his cards right. I expect some superb signings before the end of the window and I believe a lot happens behind the scenes that affects outcomes. We lost one game (after beating City decisively in a friendly!). We lost this game because bad refereeing destabilized the team; caused tension which led to injuries and a nightmare start to the season: BUT IT WAS ONLY ONE GAME! Wait for it – WE WILL BE BACK.

     
    • Lynda Rynne….you believe he will sign before deadline, that is how he made you believe he will sign players for 8 trophyless seasons…that is how he made you believe after our last game against Newcastle he promised to sign,Gazidis promised & so on….why didn’t he sign players early on,when top top players were still available like hugain,mario gomez,cavani,falcao,soldado,negredo,jovetic,navas,bernard,Gustavo,since Gazidis told us we can compete in the transfer market with super rich clubs.Gazidis told us that arsenal can sign rooney & pay his high wages,even wenger durin’ the winter transfer window told us that arsenal can sign cavani,then what is the problem….leavin’ it late of what good,where the few remainin’ top players will have outrageous price tag because no time for the sellin’ club to bring in replacement.why dither in signin’ higuain till madrid hiked the transfer fee,only to put themselve in suarez fix,so suarez will take the whole summer to sign.In jan durin’ the winter transfer window he promise to buy only to buy monreal because of Gibbs injury & made a last ditched attempt to land capoue…even if he signs, he is already panic buyin’ & he may not get the caliber of talents that can challenge for the title,if sellin’ clubs fails to do business because of his derisory bids,he may bring one or two squad players that will no make any difference other than top 4 again, if more ambitious spurs we escaped finishin’ above with a solitary point will allow us with there spendin’ spree & a good coach….wenger will keep recyclin’ his stubborn excuses & top 4 tactics….

       
  20. Do we fans really dersve to be victimized for being arsenal supporters. Without wenger arsenal FC wil still go ahead and even be better, if he dies today will arsenal FC die with him NO. Is time he among the dead woods at the clubs. He has lost his sense of reasoning. After destroying then he will be sacked

     
    • Thats the weird part about the AKB, I mean what if Wenger suddenly has a heart-attack tomorrow and Bould goes on to have an invincible season with the reserves? I’m not saying he would but if suddenly this team starts performing a lot better then what?

      Today it was publicly suggested Wenger needs to hire someone to ease the pressure on him…! Come on! If that is not a vote of no confidence then what is? He is either unfit for duty, or he is fit.
      Hiring an interim manager to help the current one is ludicrous.
      This is a professional football club not a retirement home.

       
  21. I notice that there are no positive comments on here. I notice that plenty of the comments have been rated with a thumbs down. Who are the idiots who are coming on here and disliking the comments that have been made? Wenger and Gazidis? I challenge anyone who dislikes any of the above comments to come on here and tell us why they don’t like these comments.

     
    • You buy season ticket, you do it now or get out. I dislike you and your comment, turn around walk away so i can steal your wallet out your back pocket

       
  22. So negative it’s unbelievable one loss after all…. 111 points to play for… we have a very good squad… Wenger said he’d make some signings so have some faith and get behind the team! Wenger gets pestered constantly by reporters trying to rile him up asking the same questions endlessly… he defends himself rightly… what’s the problem with that? Very fickle… we’ve been close to cups… unlucky some might say…. I mean if we’d beaten Birmingham a couple years ago would that make things alright? Pressure off? I don’t think so… it’s just join the Stewart ‘I’m not bitter’ Robson brigade and slag off Wenger… he’s a decent bloke… don’t believe every newspaper story or ex-Arsenal player who promotes his whole career btching about Wenger… boring..

    Come on you Gooners!

     
  23. Some Gooners are slowly becoming Scoucers living in the past
    The facts are Wenger was great when He first came but His endless attempts to find the next TH14 Vieira etc have failed and left us with a threadbare squad that He wants to keep going with to try and prove the last 10 years have not been a waste – but they have been a waste He has one way of doing things and it is an embarrassment how teams can set up against us and beat us easy while Wenger dosn’t know how to change his one way of playing or have the players to change a game – last season SAF let it be known that He knew from January He was getting RvP yet Wenger kept up the lie that he would not sell him to the last day – all things come to an end and Wenger will not change
    So the question is not Who can replace Him It’s is there anybody mad enough to come in and do the rebuilding we need??

     
  24. No way, i feel no sorry for the idiot Wenger. Wenger continuosly insist that players are too expensive yet he earns 7.6 in a year, i can only conclude that he is a greedy bastard. He has done more harm than good now, he has spent 16 years at the club and during this period he won trophies in the first 8 years and has won nothing in the last 8 years. 8-8 is zero so he has done anything rather than take us back than we expect to be at this stage. He is very sentimental, greedy and has lost his sense of reasoning. Fans will kill him if he was to be in Nigeria. We hate him that much now.

     
  25. funny the question i’ve been asking is who would have the nerve to feel sorry for him?tell me who? He is unbelievably sick in the head. To come out and say there are NO quality footballers is beyond insane. how does he even justify the stuff that comes out his mouth? Even as we speak, all the headlines are filled with “Arsenal weighing up a bid” for so and so or the stupid cheeky bid for Cabaye is unfathomable. Its like there’s only one person in the entire admin, for thats gone wrong you would expect at least one of them i.e stan, wenger, gazidis, the entire board plus chairman to have learnt a lesson from the past. we are not going to be a lauging stock we have been and a grand circus for that matter
    .

     
  26. Not at all, he made his bed, its his fault he has a hundred nails in his back, now lets tie him down to it and fling the f*cker out the window.

     
  27. Ha ha there is one single AKB hard at work voting all our opinions down.

    Fair play Dude! I see you’re not one for strong arguments 😉

     
  28. Wenger dosen’t even have an iota of shame,how can a top manager in this modern era last 8 seasons trophyless & still has the balls to challenge his critics,it can’t happen to any top club without the board kickin’ the manager,is only in arsenal…imagine barcelona,man u,bayern,AC Milan,inter milan,chelsea,juventus,even man city goin’ trophyless for 8 seasons with one man at the helms….what it depicts is that, wenger kroenke & Gazidis have very low ambitious drive for trophies these days because of routine top 4 & high ambitious drive for business windfalls…..if wenger dosen’t deliver this season,he should be booted out…..thankin’ him for the past,afterall he is paid well.

     
  29. Arsenal has lost nearly 50%of its ardent Nigerian fans
    in the la
    st few years expectedly due to prolonged frustration from dashed hopes.A decade ago, it appeared A.Wenger introduced love,beauty,affection and topped it with some record breaking successes in our Arsenal club history.Nobody would like to suffer such v low rating as A.W.is into right now.I therefore believe that the problem of our darling club is beyond A.W.alone.There is need for a wholistick approach to tackle these problems.But fellow fans keep praying for our dear club to get cleaned up of this mess or I might lose interest in the whole EPL…pronto

     
  30. Most of the comments on here are just rants…. Arsenal fans venting frustration at not winning anything for years is one thing but turning that inwards against Wenger and the boy is just self-defeating… Wenger is irritated with reporters constant sniping and repeating stupid wind up questions, they’ve done it for years and take no account of injuries/luck etc Always blame him not buying certain players the media link us with… you really think that Spurs can sell Bale and buy 6 x 20mill signings and they’ll be better of for it? It takes time to gel a new team whether they are Brazilian or not…. Arsenal have a great squad already yeah couple of cherries brought in would be nice but the base of the team is there. Always nowadays building people up into the next Pele and then the next day the next Jimmy Carter… All managers make bad signings… on the whole I’d say easily Wenger has outperformed any manager in any league in Europe for sure during his time at Arsenal… in terms of cash and players… so when he’s taken the piss out of constantly… he gets irritated snaps a sarcy response and you all think he’s telling Arsenal supporters to f. off…. he’s not he would just expect a little but more resilience from you and support of course everyone would like to win all the time but not possible is it… show a bit of loyalty support the team Wenger is going nowhere and you never know where we might end up if we all backed the boys rather than slagging them at the first opportunity or misplaced pass….. I mean sounds like you’ve all mainly had it in for Wenger for years and there are thousands like you and yet still we finish top 4… would we have got better results if the team had been better supported? I reckon so…..
    Great result last night, few signings and no more injuries and we will be up there all season long… great odds on winning league at the moment not that I’m saying put your mortgage on it!

    Up the Gooners!

     
  31. Damn, just sacked Wenger. There’s no more in Arsene we trust. We are a reputable team and look what we got. Napoli and even Wolfsburg beat us to sign our target. This shows that Wenger has not put his effort to sign player just like he stated. Look at Spurs’ squad, who just signed Lamela. They can get the player they want, then why can’t we? If we are not signing any big name, I believe they will step on us in the table league. I thought our loss to Aston Villa will give a knock at Wenger’s stubborn head, but till this very moment I can’t see it right. We are running out of squad depth to compete, especially in the hell group of CL. It’ll be a disastrous season if Wenger doesn’t sign any star, and he’s the responsible one if that happens.

     
  32. Pingback: The Transfer Window Is Finally Over – So How Do You Feel Now It’s Over? | Arsenal 4 Life Blog | Arsenal News, Match Reports, Previews, Opinions, Fans Forum

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