But the real question is this – has he really understood the feelings of the fans?
The club has been stagnant since the last trophy was won and has never really made strong improvements or wholesale changes. The manager himself is known to be a figure of stubbornness and persistence and many voices have confirmed the same. One of his statements in the meeting yesterday went like this:
‘I hope as well that in many years, people will look at this period and think that we have put the club on the right track and defended the right values and think that together we were not too stupid.’
The above statement signals optimism and pride, but it is also mixed with stubbornness and refusal to change when required. Wenger is keen to continue his battle against big-shots without even slightly altering his policies, let alone changing them.
‘We can compete by trying to be intelligent and to be united, because football is very difficult to be consistent and we have been more consistent than anybody in the world in the last 15 years. To stay at the top, top level we have to stay united.’
Wenger has gone to the extent where by he is pleading for the fans to trust in him and had to say this about the self-sustainable model:
‘We defend values as well that at the time are questioned – the self-sufficient model. Do we want to change that or not? I believe, and I take full responsibility for this, that we can be competitive the way we run the club.’
Neither the AST nor the other fans are expecting the manager and the board to do what they tell; they also know that the board know more than them, as they spend all their life in that. But what the fans actually want the board to do is avoid repeating the same mistakes (e.g. contract situations) and make slight alterations to avoid falling too far behind. Will the board take cue? Will they change? The answer remains a mystery.
The manager capped off the meeting with a statement which is true to his character:
‘That does not mean not I am not to be criticised, or the board – we accept that, but we have to show to the outside we are united. If you are not, then you have no chance.’
From what I’ve gathered from the meeting yesterday, it’s pretty clear that Wenger has single-handedly carried the club for the past 7-8 years. This was also the first time in many AGMs where Wenger did not take questions from the floor. Maybe Wenger knew it wasn’t the right time to do it.
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again wenger speaks the truth, it all ok fans calling for mega big signing,but why should we buy over priced over rated players like hazard(who continues to fail to attract a top european club)
already this season we seen some very good talent come through in frimpong,chamberlain,jenkinson,miguel,to go along with ramsey ,swyzyeny(still can’t spell or say his name dispite polish people trying to teach me)song,wilshere,gibbs. the team is being forced to rebuild,again because off greedy money grabbing players like nasri, adeybour, helb,flamini,and off caurse the biggest traitor fabrigas all going in search off glory,else where, lol(nothing to do with the big signing on fees,or the doubled wages they all got)if some off these players stayed at arsenal instead of fleeing for bigger money and believe me nomatter what they said it all comes down to money. arsenal could been winning trophies by now, but they go and every time a player leaves ,we have to re start our team building,building a winning team is not easy , took us 18 years to build a league champions team, its taking liverpool over 20 years and still counting,to build thie team.
time and patience is all you can do,you’ll always get players who will go soon they get to big for thier boots and think a club owes them.
the only bad thing to come out off this agm,is kronke and hill wood?
kronke still don’t talk like he wants success and is willing to spend money,and hill wood though a great servant to arsenal over the years like his father was, but he’s in his 80s and really needs to step down, we need a younger chairman with more modern ideas , i like most fans want to see Dein as chairman, and though i still don’t know much about him i think it time usmanov was put on the board,it time for this stupid boardroom war to finish, its time kronke and usmanov put down thier weapons and got round the table and work out what is best for arsenal.
if that happens then you know they care about arsenal, if not then its purley just financal
People are getting angry at the club because of a perceived inability to change. I would argue that we’re doing as well as any team can when put against teams with limitless resources. We shouldn’t be pissed with Arsenal or the board, we should be angry at the FA for letting these fantasy football teams buy whoever they want, tap-up players and inflate the market and make it almost impossible to compete. I’m sure every Arsenal fan wants us to play for the top titles, but when the odds are so stacked against us, why get angry when all Wenger and co are trying to do is remain competitive and retain our integrity. For what it’s worth, I’m proud to be a Gooner – we’re the only ones with a real chance to win silverware who haven’t sold our souls in the process.