Arsene Wenger is a great man By: Calvin Emeka Onwuka | 12 Dec | 10:13 I was extremely tired, I backed myself into the box and just made a silly tackle. I saw the ref point to the spot, I buried my head into the turf, at that time I felt that the world and life was not worth living. That was former Man United and England defender Phil Neville describing the moment he gave away the penalty during the 1999 FA Cup semi-final replay. Dennis Bergkapm stepped up to take the penalty, Peter Schmeichel in goal for United made the save. The rest is history. Sometime between 2002 and 2003 a Russian billionaire was looking for a club to buy in England. Eventually he settled on one based in south-west London - Chelsea football club. The landscape of English football was changed irrevocably. Last weekend following the defeat at Stoke, the Arsenal manager of 18 years, Arsene Wenger, was subjected to a barrage of abuse as he tried to board the train taking him and his charges back to London. A few weeks earlier some fans had unfurled a banner during the away fixture at the Hawthorns asking him to resign and walk away. How did it come to this for a manager who is viewed as synonymous with the football club he has tried to build in his image? The two very different incidents I pointed out in my opening paragraphs were to show how things could so easily have been different for Wenger and Arsenal. Had Bergkamp scored that penalty with only a minute left of normal time, Arsenal would have won the match, gone on to retain their double they so thrillingly won the previous season. Alex Ferguson and Manchester United could so easily have finished empty handed that season, instead they won the treble and the Scot got knighted. The arrival of Roman Abrahmovics money at Stamford Bridge muddied the Premier League waters considerably destroying the United/ Arsenal duopoly that was starting to grow strong roots. By this time the Arsenal Board - with Wengers prompting - had made plans of moving to a bigger and plushier stadium. This move to the stadium has been said severally as the major reason why the club never spent huge sums on players until the arrival of Mesut Ozil last year. I had started watching English football before Wengers arrival at Arsenal and I remember the very first feud he had with Sir Alex over the fixture list during the end of the 1996/97 season. The fiery Scot saying in a press conference he has just come from Japan, knows little about our football and wants to tell us how to run, frankly he should shut up. I remember watching that interview on Supersport then and flinching at the venom from the United manager. Eventually United won the league that season. The next season, Arsenal did the double over United and did the domestic league double of League and FA Cup. The London press were right to ask Alex Ferguson if he thinks Arsene knows anything about our football now. It is not a simple statement saying Wenger changed English football. It is a fact. At the time he arrived he brought a different approach to training, increased the longevity of players he met at the club like Lee Dixon and Tony Adams. Beyond those, on the pitch his teams played the sort of football that had not been seen in England before his arrival. He forced Manchester United to rise up to meet the challenge. The immediate successes that followed the man are probably the rods being used on him now by disgruntled fans. The situation has split the clubs fans. There are those who seem to want the manager gone/ retired/replaced but just go. There are those who do not mind him going but after seeing the turmoil Man United went through with the retirement of Sir Alex, would rather he stays. There are others who swear by their French manager and would want him to stay for as long as he wants; these believe strongly that qualifying the club steadily for the lucrative Champions League in spite of not spending so much is more than good enough. The biggest credit I have to give Arsene Wenger is that he single handedly rendered cup competitions in England unimportant when he inferred in a press conference that he would rather finish fourth thereby qualifying for the Champions League than win the FA or League cups. That is a great man there. To be able to change peoples perspective on such a grand scale takes greatness. A perspective I completely disagree with by the way but this is not about little me. Arsenal and their managers fixation it seems has become to just qualify for the Champions League - only one final in 16 attempts is very poor in the eyes of most outside the top echelons of the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal last won the league in 2004. The FA Cup triumph in May was the first silverware since the 2005 grand heist of the same cup over Manchester United. In the last ten years when one takes away the CL qualifications it is possible to say that the club had become just also rans. Arsenal last finished 2nd in the league in 2005. And last challenged for the title till the end of the season in 2008. Fans who a decade earlier used to believe in winning things are now being asked to accept Champions League qualifications as their trophies. Some have had enough it seems and are turning on their manager. I do not think any football manager deserves abuse being hurled at him because of his job when he seems to be doing his best. However, football is a passionate sport followed by passionate people therefore when a person in football gets adulation for doing well, the flip side of it is opprobrium. You cant have one without the other. This weekend Arsenal entertain the giant slayers of Newcastle. The visiting manager Alan Pardew - fresh from last weekends win over Chelsea - is in a great position to understand the perils of the managers job. Pardew could so easily have been out of the job had owner Mike Ashley listened to the clubs fans. However, anything less than a home win will increase the pressure on Wenger. Newcastles do not have a great record at Arsenal to be fair so I fully expect a home win. In the North-west of England, Brendan Rodgers will take his bedraggled Liverpool side to eternal rivals Man United who are in 3rd despite not being able to put together a consistent cohesive play over a number of matches. This fixture last season was an absolute nightmare for United fans. The 0-3 scoreline flattered the home side. It was that bad. Do not forget that you can watch these matches across the Supersport channels and follow the live updates on supersport. You can also follow us on twitter @superporttv and myself @ calvinemeka. You can leave your comments here too on anything football related.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 05:22:38 +0000
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