For nearly two decades now, Arsene Wenger has been the face of Arsenal Football Club.
There’s not much more to say about how the Frenchman revolutionised the English game when he arrived in 1996, introducing new standards for fitness as well as finesse among his foreign recruits.
Wenger’s record of three league titles and six FA Cup-winners’ medals – an all-time record – puts him comfortably ahead of the great Herbert Chapman in the trophy stakes. If it were not for a certain Manchester-based Scot, Wenger would be considered the greatest manager of the Premier League era.
After nine barren years, Gunners fans were delighted to see Wenger once again lift the FA Cup in 2014 and repeat the feat last season. But the Frenchman’s late career revival may actually do more harm to the club in the long-term than good as he appears to have outlasted all of his viable replacements.
Before this season began, there seemed to be two clear options that any reasonably-minded Arsenal fan would want running the club who might be interested in the role.
Jurgen Klopp was unemployed having just stepped down at Borussia Dortmund, where he had overseen astonishing success considering the vastly superior resources of the team coached by the other potential Arsenal coach, Pep Guardiola.
In the space of just a few months, Arsenal fans watched helplessly as Klopp took charge at Anfield while Manchester City confirmed that Guardiola would be taking up a role at the Etihad in the summer.
Both men expressed their admiration for Wenger in the past, and you can’t help but feel that Arsenal occupy a middle ground somewhere between Liverpool’s rich history and Man City’s financial resources. But both will be lining up against Wenger next season.
Next yr when AW's contract is up: 'yeah but there is no one to replace him with' like we haven't just missed out on Pep, Ancelotti & Klopp.
— Tom (@tcw_arsenal) February 2, 2016
We’ve spoken before about how Wenger adapted his principles earlier this season to prioritise results over performance, with a focus on defensive stability that had been a mainstay of his time at Highbury. But since the move to the Emirates, Arsenal’s struggles to win big games have been well-documented.
That’s not to say that Wenger should step down. For all the talk of a crisis, the Gunners are still in a strong position to win their first league title since the unbeaten season of 2003/04. It’s true that a catastrophic opening two games to the Champions League have left them awaiting yet another second-round exit at the hands of Barcelona, but Wenger’s men still haven’t lost an FA Cup game since 2013.
Arsenal fans are frustrated at their team’s inability to take control of the most open title race in recent memory, and Wenger certainly has questions to answer on this front. But before the #WengerOut brigade begin sharpening their knives once more, you need to ask who would be able to step into the role.
A year ago, Klopp and Guardiola would have been the first two names bandied out, regardless of how unlikely those options were. Throughout Wenger’s tenure he has seen everyone from Phil Brown to Ian Holloway declared as his heir apparent. It is a credit to his resolve that he has outlasted them all.
https://twitter.com/KevinColl3/status/628642394817339393
The most recent Premier League youngster to be compared to the Frenchman has been Roberto Martinez. While the Spaniard’s teams have shown flashes of brilliance, that’s not enough. If you think Arsenal are inconsistent now, just wait until Martinez gets his hands on them.
While Wenger has been at Arsenal so long that he has seen fans born during his reign grow old enough to call for him to be sacked on Twitter, the sad truth is that the perfect replacement for Wenger is so close to home as to be insulting. Just four miles north of the Emirates, Mauricio Pochettino is working wonders with Tottenham.
Rather than the many Spurs managers to come and go over the last 20 years, Pochettino’s long-term vision is clear for all to see. A core of young English players like Harry Kane (22), Eric Dier (22) and Dele Alli (19) is being assisted by the likes of Christian Eriksen (23) and Hugo Lloris who, at 29, is still relatively young for a goalkeeper.
Spurs have flown under the radar all year, but they find themselves level on points with their North London rivals. They have scored more and conceded fewer goals than Arsene Wenger’s side. Both teams are the only ones to inflict a league defeat on leaders Leicester City.
The nature of the rivalry makes it highly unlikely that Pochettino will make the move to Islington, which leaves Arsenal with a serious lack of options for a replacement. It is too soon for someone like Eddie Howe to be anywhere near such a huge job and Alan Pardew is just a David Moyes sequel waiting to happen.
Further afield, club legend Dennis Bergkamp has yet to be given the keys to the Ajax car, while Patrick Vieira is firmly in the midst of a Manchester City-run training programme. Diego Simeone’s style looks unsuited to the Gunners, and Jose Mourinho is about a likely an option as Alex Ferguson.
This all adds up to one thing. Arsenal must persevere with the man they know until a suitable heir proves himself worthy, or Wenger decides he has had enough and steps down. But one thing is for sure, by not leaving at the end of last season, Wenger has sentenced Arsenal fans to more than just one more year of his reign.
For better or worse, he’s all they have for now.
