Wenger Refutes Quit Claims

I think that the shareholders should direct their anger at the board instead of Wenger, it is obvious that they have not come clean on how much money Wenger really has to spend. All we need in the summer IMO is a class central defender and possibly a good DM if one is available at a reasonable price.

Armory, it's interesting that the media has almost universally been arguing the same thing you have in the last few days -- blaming the Board for hanging Arsene out high and dry in front of the shareholders, and the media generally when they come out with statements claiming he has plenty of money to spend if he wants it, thus allowing the fans to blame Arsene wbecause he won't spend it. Lots of interesting commentary from the English media in the last few days on all this — most, if not all, amazingly complimentary toward Wenger. We’re so used to thinking the media is anti-Wenger, we forget a lot of these guys really do have enormous respect for him. Martin Samuel wrote this excellent piece: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1184597/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Even-Simon-Cowell-work-Arsenal-talent.html . Also in the Daily Mail, Hill-Wood and the Board are taken to task in a piece echoing Armory's comments: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1184537/ASH-WEDNESDAY-Its-Arsenal-board-questions-answer.html . And Geoff Shreeves also has a good piece on the skysports website: http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,15196_5333480,00.html // On another subject entirely, did you all notice the way the English media reacted to Jamie Carragher assaulting a teammate and shouting at him in Liverpool’s game against West Brom? Alonso had to come over and calm him down. The media fawned all over Carragher, praising him for his passion and disappointment in his team not winning the league title. Now imagine if that had been Gallas assaulting Kolo and shouting at him in the middle of a game? The xenophobic English media would’ve had a field day.

Anything the Daily Mail write, particularly about the current board, should be ignored. They are very overtly and transparently Usmanov's mouthpiece. To think Wenger is surprised by the amount of money he currently does or does not have available is a little far fetched I think. He was the one who pushed the stadium idea forward and has been in on the ground floor throughout. In fact, I don't doubt there are times when he has been dictating to the board on the stadium matter. To think he suddenly is unpleasantly surprised by an apparent lack of funds does not ring true with me. I think these £13m stories are a plant from Usmanov who is the one that will be absolutely loving this "civil war" the press are whipping up around the club.

Jaelle we dont need to wonder how the media would react if 1 of our players had a Carragher moment, do you not remember how disgraceful Adebayor and Bendnter were or how they never talk to each other again after their little spat in the tin pot cup semi final?

I don't think it was up to the board members to step in on AWs behalf at the Shareholders meeting. Firstly, Arsene is a big boy and perfectly adept at answering for himself. Secondly, it was billed as a Q and A session with the manager, not the board. Gazidis had a Q and A session 48 hours earlier in which, like Wenger, he didn't duck the difficult questions and Wenger didn't chip in for Gazidis when those questions came either. That nobody spoke up for Wenger shows there is a level of trust there. Had one of the board members suddenly piped up in the midst of the session, I might have been suspicious.

Bye bye Wenger, bye bye L'Arse, say goodbye to 4th spot...Hello Chelsea!

Bye Bye Roman bye, bye bye entire club, bye bye fans, Blue square prem if your lucky.

..............or the fifth in 20 months!

Anyone else like the new kit. My first impression of this kit is better than the 2 previous away kits. I find it funny also how people are reporting that Adebayor was missing from the Photo shoot proves he is as good as gone when infact so were Van persie, Sagna, Gallas, Clichy, Bendtner, Denilson, Nasri etc were also not present. I guess they are all gone in the summer too then.

There's tons of transfer funds available for Arsenal - over 300mil..... plus managerial & fan ratings of 10/10. Arsenal has also gone unbeaten for three straight seasons and won the quadruple twice....and I'm their DM.......Ah, video games......

I think all this posturing of the fans and the Manager has been good for us. Certain elements vocalising their dissatisfaction at another season without a trophy and daring to imply that Wenger had got it wrong, countered by Wenger taking “interest” in the position in Madrid and causing mild panic. This clearing of the air has reminded all of us that, as ever, the truth lies somewhere in between. Wenger is undoubtedly disappointed with his team and coupled with the dissent amongst the ranks (he’s not had that before at Arsenal), would almost certainly look to fix the problems. The inertia of last summer’s transfer activity (inbound) is simply not something that can be repeated. The adoration that Wenger commands, whilst understandable, is not healthy. The unveiling of his bust whilst still in tenure does not do much for his sense of perspective. I think he has regained a little of that now. The fans on the other hand vented their frustration and were suddenly brought back down to earth with the possibility that Wenger could walk whenever he chooses. His achievements with Arsenal should not be so quickly forgotten particularly when this current team is bubbling and waiting to burst into life. As in any relationship, the odd spat is not such a bad thing and with the right tweaking the future could be all Arsenal’s.

Of course, I want Weger around. He's still the best person to manage Arsenal.

Before Wenger's comments all the focus was on Pat Rice leaving. So who's next? I think Wenger only made those comments because he felt underappreciated and taken for granted (by the board and the fans) which is understandable because when he does retire, he's gonna leave the next manager with a great foundation to build open but in Arsenal's history it'll say that he won the trophies, not Wenger. But I can understand the fans' frustration as well, because he has made a fair few mistakes in the last few years.

Arshavin talks back to Wenger, shocks everybody By Myles Palmer It happened like this, I gather. The French messiah gathered his disciples around him in a circle and told them how they would play. The conversation was : "Andrej, I want you to do this, this and this." "But that's stupid, boss !" said the Russian ace. There was a gasp from the other players. They were deeply shocked when the new guy talked back to the manager. In a report today, Arshavin reckons Wenger is not as receptive to his input as Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink. He said: "I've never had a lengthy personal conversation with him, the way I did with Dick Advocaat. My conversations with Guus Hiddink were not too long either but we did exchange our views on football. For me, it's important to explain to my manager what I want to do on the pitch. Then he will realise that I make one or another move in a game not because I misinterpreted his instructions but because of my own vision of football." Arshavin speaks his mind. He tells people what he thinks, including the manager. And that's good. That's really good. That is what Wenger needs - more opinions, more challenges, somebody to tell him where he is going wrong. Arshavin says : We need more players like me. Exactly ! We need some men who are not as pampered and precious as the millionaire toddlers at Le Colney Creche. The Russian is a beacon, an exceptional talent who is in his prime. He will be 28 next Friday. He someone to build round, someone with personality. He has enough bottle to ignore a forearm smash in the face and carry on playing as if nothing has happened. He knows he is good enough to star for Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, any team in the world. He could be the European Footballer of the Year in the right team. He wanted to play for Arsenal, and the deal was going to be a last-minute compromise, so he hired a private jet, flew to London, and checked into a hotel in St Albans, so he was available to put his squiggle at the bottom of the page. AA is a leader with the confidence to speak his mind. He knows he was bought by Gazidis, not by Wenger. He realises he has signed a four-year contract that takes him beyond the end of Wenger's contract in 2011. Five years ago I was talking to fellow author Alex Fynn and he said, "There are a lot of precious people at Arsenal." It's true. Since Arsenal do not have a British dressing-room spirit, Wenger has had to create his own unique culture behind the remote-controlled gates of his high-tech French kindergarden . Players who have won nothing give interviews saying : I've improved, I'm a better player this season. Adebayor actually said : I'm scoring with left foot, right foot, headers - I'm a complete player. Bendtner talks in the press about his pink boots ! It took me a while to figure out why Arsenal was the only team in UK who could concede a winning goal to Wayne Rooney at Goodison and then lose the next three games. One goal lost them four games. How could that be possible ? Because Arsenal's French philosophers refused to let the game go, preferring to dwell on the injustice, discussing it in a Hampstead cafe, keeping the trauma alive, so that it crippled them. Arshavin would never do that. That's why he is priceless. He is a diamond. If The Professor tries to build round his Putin's favourite footballer by signing more teenagers from St Etienne, there will be crowd mayhem that makes the booing of Eboue look like a primary school picnic. May 22, 2009