Well this may come as either a shock or a piece of great new depending on where you stand with the management of Arsene Wenger.
As we all know the Frenchman has just over two years left to run on his existing contract with the club, and it is highly likely that he will honour his current deal before he even thinks about his long-term future.
However, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood is already looking into the possibility of tying Wenger down to a new long-term contract.
Hill-Wood was quoted in the Daily Mirror last night saying:
‘For him to stay longer than that would be perfect. I can’t think of anybody better to run the team.
‘And he has shown how much rubbish people were talking earlier this season. We had a terrible run of injuries and that obviously had an effect.
‘But a few mindless people were saying that he had to go, that Arsene was past his sell-by date. He has shown that is nonsense.’
He added:
‘He has a young squad, with some excellent young players. He is building a young team with a great future and I am sure he would love to see them develop.
‘I would want him to stay as long as he is happy here. He has been with us 14 years and has done a magnificent job.
‘I want him to stay for the long-term and I see no reason at all why he should want to go.’
Now I personally don’t know what to make of this, and I’m sure many of you will feel the same.
While I think Wenger has done an absolutely fantastic job for the club since his arrival back in 1996, in recent seasons it seems he has lowered his expectations, which have angered and frustrated a number of fans, including myself.
On the flipside, he has balanced the books and we are in a minority of clubs that are actually making a profit and not in major debt. For this I applaud him, and is a reason why I would like to see Wenger continue his reign beyond his existing deal.
However, the Frenchman must answer the fans’ call for silverware. Seven years without any is a severe concern, especially for a club like The Arsenal.
Although this next statement has been said year in, year out, next season IS a crucial one for Wenger, one in which he MUST clinch a trophy.
The fans’ patience is wearing thin and there will be huge pressure on Wenger’s shoulders to deliver the goods next season.
If he continues to do what he does, which is make profits for the money-hungry board and not really focus on capturing any form of silverware, then perhaps, and this may come as a shock, it is time for him to move on.
However, if he stakes a real claim for the trophies next season, preferably the Premier League title, whilst making profits and balancing the books as well, which is possible, then I would love to see him remain for the long-term.
I currently remain on the fence on this one, but would love to know what other Gooners out there think about it.
Leave us your thoughts and comments below
Like what you read? Then follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/Gunnersphere
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so.
Gunnersphere is currently looking for new writers to join the squad. Contact via twitter or at Gunnersphere@snack-media.com for further details.
think its easy to say “next season IS a crucial one for Wenger, one in which he MUST clinch a trophy.”
so if we won say the league cup yet finish 5th would that be a good season? how about if we won the FA Cup too and finished where liverpool look to finish now? 7th. is that a good season? personally i dont think so.
win them trophies and get CL football then you can say its a good season.
i would say in the past 7 seasons wenger obviously looked to do better in the league and CL but we’ve always had a big injury crisis crop up.
against barcelona (twice) and ac milan in the past 3 years of the CL we’ve had injuries that have meant we couldnt compete with them. next season if /when we meet a top side in the CL if they have their 1st team fit i think we will need our first team fit too.
We need a breath of fresh air someone who is ot afraid of signing 30 somethings with solmething to prove nd who have actually won things before! I am afraid but Wenger will not sign anyone but young players again and he will win nothing with us which I forecasted back in mid 2007…
campbell yossi henry suker ..off the top of my head.how old is arteta?
pires wasnt a young-un nor was rosicky
i cant stand people who state ‘the case’ yet have no basis for it.
wenger has had a young-un policy but that has not always been the case.
get your facts right before you moan and undermine.
No! He has taken us this far
We need young ambitious manager
Make him the youth coach
Plenty of young boys for him
yes he can Forever as far as i am concerned, a Great manager.
In Arsene we trust!!!!
Yeah yeah injury blah blah blah
Every team have injury problems! Fact
That’s the beauty of January Transfer Window
Truthfully that Dinosaur Hill-Wood all about the money Wenger made for them
We’ve spent a lot less than manure and manshite and are behind them i the table. Fair enough. But we’re above teams which has outspent us as well such as totts, pool an chelskj. And that’s a big achievment in my eyes.
My answer is a resounding YES. The trophies and glory will come again under Arsene.
It staggers me how some fans cannot get their heads around the FACT that Wenger won trophies because he grafted excellent changes onto an existing top rate defence – which he inherited.
It is since he has rebuilt the whole team (some 7 years ago) along his own obsessive purist principles that we have won ….. FUCK ALL.
Are you kidding me Hillwood. What an utter upper class fool.7 years and counting!
of course!! yes i want him to stay.
when he decides to stop; i hope he goes upstairs with a new manager that has helped to choose..
it is foolish to think that money to compete will given to another manager.
some of you dont know what it was like pre wenger.
No we need to start moving forward. He will always be remembered in Arsenals history as a great manager and I feel Hill-Wood only wants Wenger there to serve his purposes. It’s about time the board got of there asses and started putting some serious plans in place to find Wengers successor.
DeadWood plus the others only want Wenger because they would have no clue who else to bring in. What they should do is to keep their options open for as long as possible.
AW introduced numerous excllent changes 15 years ago and unearthed players who, these days, would go elsewhere. Above all AW would have won a lot less without inheriting a defence (plus Wright and Bergkamp). Since he has built completly his own team and own style of play … we have won NOTHING.
Clueless, utterly clueless. No manager has managed to win the premier league without a massive budget (except Wenger), yet you believe we should keep our options open in case a manager like that crops up? JM or Ferguson would not be able to win the title with our resources, and yet we want to change manager? I’m guessing you were secretly envious of Spuds with Rednapp not long ago….
In truth even the board are getting too much stick. Apparently the same people that complain about the excess in the banking sector can also slam the Arsenal board for being prudent add keeping 60m back for a rainy day. Do people not see the hypocrisy? How many people were jealous when Liverpool spent all their cash last summer, are you so jealous now?
The cash is not being taken out of the club, it can be used when its really needed (and 60m spent on super stars does not equal premier league success, ask City, Chelsea, Liverpool etc).
There was a time when we didn’t always come near the top of the table, and I never recall this level of dissent. Why are your expectations so unrealistic? Ok, a cup would have been nice, but come on, we’ve got a young improving team and are above Chelsea, Liverpool and the Spuds (2 of which have pushed the boat out and are going to struggle to make any further investments into their teams, the other has spent enough Russian petro dollar to cover the debt of a small developing country).