Still feel really sad about all this.

Is a mix of driving out a wholly committed and genuinely classy and nice guy coupled with nostalgia and change that comes with the end of an era

But alas it brings a massive opportunity. I’ll be buzzing during the summer transfer window and pre season

y va marquer wrote:
Gazza M wrote:

I know you weren't in favor of the whole 'fitting send off' idea, and you raised some salient points to that end. Does this still feel off to you now that it's a reality?

Now that it's a reality I'll just deal with it.
Our discussions revolved around the club making the decision to essentially sack him before the end of the season , now it seems that it was Wenger who made the leap to avoid the inevitable sacking in May.

If he's ok with the "send-off" scenario and playing out the rest of our games to fans buoyed up by his certain departure then good luck to him.

In light of his comments today it would appear that he's anything but ok with the scenario but  will keep a lid on things until the season is over - just about.

This is exactly why I'd have preferred that he not be managing once his departure had been announced.

Badly need to win the Europa to justify this way of managing his departure.

Arsene, for crying loud out just leave gracefully. The fans have backed you for 95% of your tenure. Stop blaming them for your own failures.

The thing about Arsene that was always very frustrating is that his failures were never straight-up failures, and felt to a great extent self-inflicted.

Over the years he has shown himself to be incredibly competent, but also has a tendency to handicap his teams in the most puzzling of ways.

This year has been no different. At home we are basically the best team in England. Away we are in danger of relegation. What the actual fuck?! This is not normal.

Only two years ago we finished above Man City, Tottenham, manU, Chelsea, and everyone else, but below Leicester(!).

The year we finally fell out of the top 4 we also won the FA Cup against the Champions.

The saddest thing about the late Wenger years won't be the lack of trophies, our league position, etc. but that the club as a whole were unable to let him work his magic while steering him away from making the same mistakes over and over.

Perhaps it was not possible, perhaps his strong stubborn personality would not allow it, but it would have been wonderful to see and it's sad to know for certain that it will never happen.

@[deleted] For so many years he's refused to go "all in" to win the title, always holding back something in reserve for the next transfer window, or making sure younger players get every last chance and more than they deserve.

That's why even during his peak years we never went back to back.

The loss to Leicester was just one galling shortfall among so many over the past decade.

When you get an email that reads like this at work, you know what you're dealing with.

“I’m happy when the fans are happy and I’m even ready to suffer to make them happy. If sometimes they make me happy as well [by singing his name], I will take it. Every single decision I made during my 22 years was for the good of Arsenal and every single decision was with the priority of doing well for the club. I tried to influence the club on structure, development of players and style of play. To combine the three is not always easy and I believe I leave a club that is in a very good position."

He is trying to lead the narrative as usual. Fact remains he was asked to leave because he was under performing. After all wasn't that what the 'fan unrest' all about? Not to mention the club were no longer able to justify his tenure. He was given enough opportunities to lead AFC to PL title or even a respectable CL campaign however he repeatedly failed. Arsene can believe what he wants but AFC does not exist in vaccum and rules that apply to other football clubs around the world also apply to this club. He just ran out of excuses and the rules caught up.

lame comments from him. just really drives home the point that he needs to go

Burnwinter wrote:

@[deleted] For so many years he's refused to go "all in" to win the title, always holding back something in reserve for the next transfer window, or making sure younger players get every last chance and more than they deserve.

That's why even during his peak years we never went back to back.

The loss to Leicester was just one galling shortfall among so many over the past decade.

When you get an email that reads like this at work, you know what you're dealing with.

“I’m happy when the fans are happy and I’m even ready to suffer to make them happy. If sometimes they make me happy as well [by singing his name], I will take it. Every single decision I made during my 22 years was for the good of Arsenal and every single decision was with the priority of doing well for the club. I tried to influence the club on structure, development of players and style of play. To combine the three is not always easy and I believe I leave a club that is in a very good position."

Agreed completely. Even during Wenger's very best years he imposed ridiculous constraints on us that stopped his Arsenal team from being as great as it could have been.

Now, regarding the work email scenario... if I got an email like that from someone who is demonstrably a genius in some ways, the obvious thing to do would be not to dismiss the genius but to make other people responsible for managing him.

We've seen hints that Arsenal began to do this over the past year or two, but they should have done it a decade ago (and not just by appointing a new CEO). The institutional lack of accountability of the past 10 years is very hard to justify, it's been really awful management.

Sure, and it's not about throwing out the genius talent, but just recognising that in his view of things, everything is down to him, and no success can come unless it is through him.

In the end that arrogance does a minor disservice to all the greats who played under Wenger when he was winning major trophies.

All that remains of his 'legacy' are individual accolades accorded to him rather than the club.

Souness is just keeping it real.

Burnwinter wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/22/arsene-wenger-arsenal-hurtful-supporters

Wow, this piece is absolutely full of the contradictions that have been so infuriating over the past many seasons. The lack of real accountability, or rather, nearly total accountability alongside the lack of it. I wish him well but I'm glad he's leaving, his mentality has gotten twisted over the years.

Which makes the reaction of some fans just ridiculous. Fans shouldn't be sad this delusional old man is leaving the club. They should be relieved and happy as fuck. 

Kel Varnsen wrote:
Burnwinter wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/22/arsene-wenger-arsenal-hurtful-supporters

Wow, this piece is absolutely full of the contradictions that have been so infuriating over the past many seasons. The lack of real accountability, or rather, nearly total accountability alongside the lack of it. I wish him well but I'm glad he's leaving, his mentality has gotten twisted over the years.

Which makes the reaction of some fans just ridiculous. Fans shouldn't be sad this delusional old man is leaving the club. They should be relieved and happy as fuck. 

Which is why I have shed no tears and can't wipe the shit eating grin off my face.

Man I feel pumped and ain't it great to be alive to witness the second rebirth of this great club within our life times.
I say rebirth because that is what it will need to be if we are to become a genuine force in either the EPL or CL.

Burnwinter wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/apr/22/arsene-wenger-arsenal-hurtful-supporters

Wow, this piece is absolutely full of the contradictions that have been so infuriating over the past many seasons. The lack of real accountability, or rather, nearly total accountability alongside the lack of it. I wish him well but I'm glad he's leaving, his mentality has gotten twisted over the years.

Amen brother. I was just starting to feel a scrap of nostalgic sympathy for the old geezer, but his comments have given me a timely reminder of just how deluded, bitter and past it he has become. 

Of course he's going to be bitter. Imagine being forced out of your dream job, which is essentially your life, at a company you feel like you've played a huge part in growing, having turned down bigger opportunities. He was never going to skip off into the sunset.

He'll get over it eventually.

Yeah not sure what people expected, he's not exactly going to publicly admit that he's past it.

I can't recall many managers ever admitting they were to blame for the clubs problems. Keegan may be the exception, though I'm pretty sure he had some sort of complex.