So I have just spent literally 10 minutes browsing for some quotes & I came across several quotes from several people at the very very top of football from 2 of the very best players of all time to some of the managers who have achieved exceptional success.
Jupp Heynckes – Feb 2013
“You have to take into consideration Arsenal are competing with Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City. Over the years they have been selling their best players and these other teams get in top world stars, so I don’t think it is fair to blame Arsène Wenger for that,”
“Wenger, is a great coach. You can see his team has a very great dynamic about it”
Pep Guardiola – August 2011
“”We should not forget what Wenger has done for football in general and for Arsenal in particular.”
Pep Guardiola – Febuary 2014
“Arsenal remains a good team and good club. I have a lot of respect for my colleague Arsene: he always likes the good, good players, the good style of football.”
Sir Alex Ferguson – August 2011
“The work he has done in the 15 years he has been at the club is the best in Arsenal’s history.
Sir Alex Ferguson – March 2014
I always enjoy watching Arsène’s sides – Arsenal play the right way.
Jurgen Klopp – Novemeber 2013
‘He is really something. I love him. He is Sir Arsene Wenger.”
Diego Maradona – March 2012
I would love to fulfil my contract and return to renew and be a kind of Arsene Wenger at the Al Wasl.”
Joachim Low – Febuary 2013
“I like Arsene Wenger a lot, because he stays true to his ideas and has been loyal to the same club for such a long time. With him, young players become stars.”
Johan Cruyff – Dec 2012
“Wenger will ALWAYS bring the club back to the top,” “People do not realise the achievement of this manager at Arsenal.
“I find it incredible that Arsenal have stayed at the highest level of European competition and England under his management without ever ending up in debt.
“I cannot remember red figures at Arsenal over the last 15 years. How many clubs in Europe can say they have qualified for the Champions League for 16 consecutive seasons under the same management? Arsene Wenger has put his life and soul into Arsenal.
“In 15 years, I have not seen him make any irresponsible purchases in the transfer market.
“That is why the work of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal is the prime example for every club in Europe.
“I cannot even imagine the board or the fans would ever think for a moment of putting Arsene’s position in doubt.”
Bare in mind I deliberately did not include quotes from any former players for Arsenal, even though people such as Bergkamp and Henry’s opinions are much more valid then anyone on twitter, they would immediately get accused of bias. Again this is all in 10 minutes of searching only.
So not only do these people at the very top of the game who understand football more than anyone have all come out with messages of admiration and support of Arsene Wenger in the last few years. Oh crap, I forgot these guys are all wrong and know nothing about football, just like Arsene, so maybe we should get some quotes from the twitter experts instead.
@TraderChris87
Of coure against them there are such colossus as Le Grove, Durham and Morgan. So if you want to side with them here is what John Cleese has to say on the subject.
Pedantic George (@Blackburngeorge)
Positively Arsenal 
I thought george that due to the title of the article that this was going to be about Wenger, but it can’t be, there is not one “old cunt”, “senile”, “deluded”, “dragging arsenal through the gutter”, “le prat”, “I want my Arsenal back”, in it, and not even a mention of Owen Coyle, Roberto Martinez, Jurgen Klopp, Bit Fat Sam,
without you including these things how can anyone look on the article seriously, you must be an arsene supporter and not an Arsenal supporter, come on george, articles like yours will only upset the bannerwankers.
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Arsene Wenger, perhaps the only member of the staff at Arsenal football club who if he left would immediately get a job at a bigger club !!!!
There is not one single alternative who can with any degree of certainty be sure to equal Wengers performance.
Be careful what the foolish wish for………..
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Not much I can say except that it’s great that you have curated comments from just a few of the great and the good in world football, thanks. This can be a resource for those of us who might tweet a retort to those silly, WOB types.
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rumor that the some of the cult of wenger out are planning to sing “we want Poldolski” tomorrow on 9 minutes
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I would love to have seen Wenger manage my team. I may have grumbled and insulted him as a matter of ‘duty’ over the years but as the seasons pass, so does my passionate distaste for him. He’s come to resemble the irritating know-all at school who was good at everything and despite your best efforts of sabotage, you kind of ended up begrudgingly liking because he was actually a decent sort. Wenger is a sophisticated, erudite man with a keen sense of the sardonic who took a club that was riddled with the toxic fumes of the Players’ Lounge and dragged it into the brave new world of modern, aesthetically brilliant football based on unwavering principles. The less said about the disciplinary record though, the better.How was Wenger to have foreseen the emergence of wealthy narcissists who acquire teams wallowing in relative mediocrity and lavish them with the riches that were once put aside for the roulette wheel or the executive harem? Could Manchester City or Chelsea fans have predicted in 1996 that their teams would be relegating Arsenal in 2015 to the mire in which they once wallowed? Wenger was right to push forward the move away from Highbury’s famous marble halls and I’d be willing to wager that when the day eventually comes when the bloated oil-guzzlers grow weary of their playthings, Arsenal will be better placed than those who have achieved quick and some might say, hollow success. Arsenal are a club that has been built on very solid foundations.Therein might lie the problem. The first part of Wenger’s reign brought unprecedented success to the club but more importantly, and I hate saying this, playing football that surpassed the style that so many of us hold dear in the other half of North London. Arsenal were simply better and more trophy-laden than Spurs.With that though, came a new breed of fan. A fan that had come to see Arsenal as a team that regularly won titles. This was perhaps not the kind of fan who sat through the dross that saw the club only win one trophy between the ’71 Double Side and the League Cup winners of 1987. This fan was perhaps not aware of the functional but boorish variant of football that was played by the George Graham teams with their propensity for raising their arms in unison like parading soldiers and lobbing the ball up to Alan Smith. If this fan had endured all that, that fan would not be calling for Wenger’s retirement after an embarrassing, but nothing other than that, defeat to Bradford in the League Cup. I sincerely hope that this is not the case for Wenger. As a manager, he does not deserve some of the vilification he has received from certain areas. Yes, he could have built another great team had he kept the likes of Fabregas, Nasri and van Persie but is that not more of an indictment of the modern footballer rather than a failure on Wenger’s part? As much as it hurts to admit it, I wish Spurs had invested in a manager with half as much talent and vision as the Frenchman. Maybe to lift spirits, Wenger should gather his young squad in the centre-circle at half-time one of these days and lead them in a hearty rendition of ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It’. If the fans knew what was good for them, they would clap twice after each line and mean it.
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It’s hard to consider, and whilst he’s here he should get full support, but it does require consideration. Can he find the key to unsticking the infamous handbrake permanently? All the other bollocks that gets dredged up is simply ephemeral (the CB thing HAS cost us more than any other decision I can remember though, it still baffles me), that question is central. I hope he can, as he’s a true legend, or maybe it really is something that will be solved by simply improving the squad
At the very least though, it’s always entertaning.
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Priceless Cleese vid, PG. No one quite like him for delivering a punchline.
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Isn’t it colossi in the plural? or colossopotomi?
Colossi with not a pot to pee in, if you ask me.
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Poldolski is gone for the same reason Arshavin was dropped: neither could give Gibbs enough protection on the left flank.
Shame, wonderful talents. Gone.
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what baffles me is why fans think they are in a better position to pick the team than the manager… Poldi, i love heartily, but if he is not fitting into the team, of the manager that bought him, then something had to give. its not like he was inherited and the manager is not sure of him. he really needs to improve on his tracking back!
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Alexis was essentially the replacement for Poldi and I think he was on his way in the final weeks of the summer until Giroud was injured – but then was needed to stay given that Campbell was unproven and Welbeck yet to be signed. It is impossible to say from here whether Poldi was universally popular in the dressing room or how supportive he was of the management once he found himself on the edge of things. It is often the test of things to see how those scenarios play out, which is why the whole depth of squad argument is not as easy as some would make out. I think it is hard to have more than 18 genuine first team players in a squad, and you only need a couple of disaffected senior players to spoil the atmosphere in training. What we do know is that an expensive signing on high wages with a proven goal-scoring record became peripheral – and that being the case it is probably right that he should go elsewhere to start again.
What we also know is that those who seek to undermine the current structure of the club lost no time in seizing on Podolski to use him (erroneously) as an example of the manager’s inability to man-manage, to do tactics and to understand the transfer window. My own position is that sad as I am to see Poldi leave I know that I do not know the whole story and as such am happy to respect the club’s decision, however much I would have liked to have seen him thunder in a couple of goals for us today. What I also suspect is that we may very well see a very different and happier Joel Campbell from now on (cue him to be sold or loaned out immediately, thus proving my uselessness) and I think that could be an exciting development.
And so to Hull, again, and by a curious set of symmetries Poldi is in Milan, where I was working when we last played them, and I recall the frustration of following on Twitter as we were cheated out of a one goal lead, before Welbeck’s top finish at least salvaged a draw. That was Hull’s revenge mission for the FA Cup, and Dawson’s too for years of playing in the shadow, but I think we will see a very different scenario this evening. Hull have injury problems of their own, and although not as extensive as ours, perhaps have fewer resources to draw upon. They have had a busy time of late as well, but will have left a lot of energy behind in their 2-0 defeat of Everton, and face a frighteningly important game next week against West Brom, who will be an increasingly tough proposition under Pulis. Lose that one and they then must then pick themselves up to play Everton away before travelling to Tottenham and then Burnley – four matches that will have a huge bearing on their fight to avoid relegation. I think it is reasonable to suggest that the game this evening is not the most important thing on Bruce’s mind, and should we start incisively and with passion I think their heads are likely to drop soon enough.
The Southampton game was a great disappointment, and there are probably a whole host of reasons why it didn’t work out as it might have done, just as Chelsea’s strange and exciting loss at Tottenham is down to more than one thing. New Year’s Day hangovers come in many forms, and if ever there is a time to play at home then the First of January is probably the one. I think we will see a very different Arsenal today, and I would not be at all surprised if 2015 turns into a really vintage year that sees the club kick on in all sorts of exciting and dynamic ways.
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Top posts from Yido and Foreverheady
Yido may already be aware that Wenger was considered to be manager of Spurs but they chose Terry Venables instead (Arsenal: The Making of a Modern Superclub
by Alex Fynn and Kevin Whitcher). Had he gone to The Lane something like the last 10 years at Arsenal would have been your history.
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Good Googling there George and these are the opinions worth taking note of; from top-level professionals who have been there and actually done it as opposed to those fans who have been there and merely watched it.
For sure, this is a frustrating season, in real danger of being defined by injury rather than anything more positive, though I agree, it’s a long way from being over. I do see a squad in the middle of an upgrade of the kind the likes of Chelsea and Citeh took several seasons to accomplish and whilst I don’t hanker for a raft of signings, I can imagine a programme of continuous improvement is what we are likely to see; if this January’s transfer window is half as productive as previous windows then we are in for an intriguing time.
Aside from Arsenal, the most entertaining aspect of the season so far has been how the bursting of Chelsea’s ludicrous ‘Invincibles’ bubble has seen them squander their earlier league lead – and all this without assistance from the injury fairies. If anything, their own cheating and relentless gamesmanship has simply caught up with them as referees have cottoned on to Mo’s little games. And not a moment too soon.
With regards today’s encounter, I suspect Bruce will have a real good go at us, if only for purposes of understandable revenge. Class should out, however – fingers crossed.
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I felt sorry for Arsene Wenger as his Arsenal side went down to a revitalised Southampton on January 1st. There. I said it. A Spurs fan admitting to an empathetic feeling towards an individual and a team he is meant to hate unquestionably and without reason. Some might take issue to such a ‘radical’ concept (and believe me they have) but there was something of the tragic seeing Wenger, head in hands, Immediately after the game, the social media networks went into overdrive with an assortment of rational and irrational sub-debates about whether his presence at the forefront of Arsenal’s regeneration as a footballing force to be reckoned with, had finally run its course. Apparently a run of sixteen consecutive seasons in the Champions League, eight trophies, two doubles and one unbeaten League season just don’t cut it for some. Never mind the fact that he is credited with revolutionising how players train and manage their diets as well as bringing some of the greatest talents the game has ever seen to these shores. No. Not good enough. Those Arsenal fans that have been quick to call time on Wenger’s reign would do well to remember that for all that he did to build the legacy of the club, Bill Shankly left Liverpool broken-hearted by what he felt was an outright rejection of what he had done. But perhaps in this fickle footballing world we frequent, fans won’t care about Wenger’s potential broken heart, the journeys travelled and the rewards received. Their attentions will be turned to the new man in charge, who better spend big and reap quick or incur wrath accordingly. Never mind that retrospective journey, the happiness experienced in the piecing together and formations founded around 11 men. Perhaps all fans seek is that misery before elation, the lows being as effervescent as the highs.
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Thanks for your contributions, Yido6061. I’ve never really understood why I, as an Arsenal fan, have to hate Tottenham. I did it in my younger days when I was more impressionable and wanted to be one of the lads but as I’ve got older, it’s increasingly struck me as irrelevant – childish even. So it’s good to hear from someone on the other side of the great divide who has similar misgivings. I’ve expressed these views before on other Arsenal blogs and been rudely shot down for it – don’t recall any voice remotely interested in even understanding what I was saying, never mind backing me up. All water off a duck’s back these days.
That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the friendly banter – but let it remain at that.
I have the same stance to those who can’t appreciate Alex Ferguson’s considerable achievements at Man Utd – let’s not forget that a sizeable minority at Old Trafford wanted him out during his third season.
Long may Arsène remain stubborn and go when he feels the time is right and not because of pressure from “the stupids” so amusingly explained to us in the Cleese video PG posted. One thing for sure – he’ll leave an incredible legacy and a strong squad.
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Poldolski would have had a lot more game time except for so many on-field injuries to other players, meaning all tactical subs being used-up early in the 2nd half, in particular the number of targeted players hobbling off meant there was no way was AW able to put an extra attacker on while defending a narrow goal lead with 20 minutes to go, when the last sub would need to be a defender, midfielder or even the 2nd goalie.
Shame for Poldi. There were many chances he missed through no fault of his own or the Boss’s to get a run out in the last year – mainly due to refereeing which allows the continuing hacking down of our players to carry on with impunity.
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That is, Arsène will leave an incredible legacy – not John Cleese (although he has too).
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foreverheady has put his finger on the central issue regarding Poldi’s departure when he says, “I know that I do not know the whole story and as such am happy to respect the club’s decision.” None of us know the whole story and basing an opinion on a player’s ability to use Twitter and Instagram is not the place to start.
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Talking of Twatter and Instagram and stupidity, I see Frimpong has provided further evidence of his stupidity by trying to send up Gerrard, a player whose boots Frimpong isn’t fit to clean.
Thank goodness we got rid of him.
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so it now seems Sky are reporting that the clown who ran up to the Arsenal bench at Southampton, was not as the cult of wenger out claimed an Arsenal fan who had finally had enough of Wenger, but in fact just a stupid Southampton fan. I don’t expect any of the idiots will acknowledge their false claims, as I’ve already seen some of them said regardless of which club the guy supported Wenger got what he deserved, I’m beginning to believe a lot of them have mental problems.
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Really good post George and some excellent comments to follow. To think that a Spurs fan has more perspective and appreciation for our club than some so called Arsenal supporters; they should hang their heads in shame.
When I first started posting about football on the internet, it was just a bit of fun and a way to chat about the team I follow with like minded people. Lately it has become so polarised and poisonous that it is sucking the joy out of it. I’m still glad for this place as a safe haven, but increasingly it is becoming harder and harder to stomach the bleating and bad behaviour on and off the pitch. I think the Gary Cahill incident is close to being the final straw for me – what possible rationale can the FA have for allowing that sort of behaviour to go unpunished?
I’m increasingly feeling that all the money in the game is making it corrupt and leading to unreasonable expectations from the entitlement generation accompanied by the nasty, snarling hyper-critical comments. I’d like to just get back to enjoying the game and accepting the outcome with equanimity, but it is becoming a challenge to just enjoy ‘the game’ in the current context.
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Here’s a thing. I actually feel sorry for Arsene Wenger for the incessant criticism he has received from sections of Arsenal’s support. I also admire Jose Mourinho’s ability to usually outthink his managerial counterparts. As for Liverpool, they were thrilling to watch last season, I really shouldn’t be admitting to those kinds of things, I know. After all, being a Spurs supporter, I should be sneering at all the above statements, shouldn’t I? And if I were to take to social media to make such feelings known, I’d expect to receive a toxic blast of effrontery from fellow Spurs ‘fanz’, dismissing me as a ‘plastic’ whilst threatening bodily harm, football’s equivalent of resorting to the favoured playground taunt of ‘Your Mum’ by the parlance-handicapped bully. Wenger should be credited with the transformation of a club; raising its levels of expectation and sense of itself as an entity. This has obviously contributed to the critiques in latter years when silverware has become scarce but if this season is to be his last, there’s something inside me that would like to see him leave with the Premier League trophy and a big “up yours” to all those within the club that doubted him for so long. But that’s the problem with Arsenal winning the League. Arsenal fans. Piers Morgan and that imbecile whose rant went viral after Arsenal lost to Southampton and all those latte-drinking, chicken satay-eating types who frequent The Emirates and who barely remember Highbury and the (stylistic) misery of Arsenal, pre-Wenger. They’re the ones who’ll benefit from such an outcome. And for a Spurs fan, that’s the most galling aspect of it all, forgive me for my sins and I will surely burn at the Paxton Road stake for saying this, but Arsenal have been phenomenal over the years. The high speed passing that bamboozled team’s, was Wenger personified and a true testament to how football can and should be played.
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Great stuff thanks to all.
The new year has started with some extra-curricular work for me which means I can’t go to the game today, so I’m looking forward to Tim’s match review!
Thanks also to our guest from N17.
I confess that growing up in finsbury park when at a house party as an excitable teenager there were more interesting and beautiful distractions then the inevitable Tottenham-Arsenal debate in some corner of a room.
If I was to hate a club and be against Modern Football there’s an easy target out there as Passenal so well describes above: the PGMO, the Petro-Clubs and the Ken Bates and Risdale clones out there sucking the life out the game – how anyone in that context can attack AW for what he’s being doing, for what he has done, is not as Eddy and others thought an “illness”, it’s simply batshit crazy!
Witness the efforts made by the same people over years to accuse any who support AW of hating GG – which is beyond weird (just grow the footballs required to admit to yourself that you are a bigoted xenophobe!)
Those who have been trolled into repeating the meme that the owners of AFC are the worst in football (a genuine genuine belief a consequent of non-stop malicious propaganda for many bin baggers unfortunately) are beyond help, and if they are adults who can read then they do deserve a slap round the chops with the aid of a mouldy kipper.
Hopefully I’ll be able to follow the game.
Come you Gunners!
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that idiot shewore has put up a photo on his FB of Emirates with the word profit, and a photo of Highbury with the word ambition, it shows the level of stupidity these clowns are at
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non league wrexham have taken the lead at Stoke
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Arsenal team v Hull: Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Coquelin, Rosicky, Cazorla, Walcott, Campbell, Alexis
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Hull: Steve Harper; Paul McShane, Harry Maguire, Curtis Davies, Maynor Figueroa; Stephen Quinn, Tom Huddlestone, Tom Ince, Robbie Brady; Sone Aluko; Yannick Sagbo
Substitutes: Allan McGregor, Alex Bruce, Michael Dawson, Ahmed Elmohamady, Jake Livermore, David Meyler, Abel Hernández
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Arsenal: David Ospina; Héctor Bellerín, Calum Chambers, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal; Francis Coquelin, Tomáš Rosický; Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Joel Campbell; Alexis Sánchez
Substitutes: Emiliano Martínez, Mathieu Debuchy, Laurent Koscielny, Gedion Zelalem, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Chuba Akpom
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well thats that argument sorted top one George,
ed , glen and dan to miss out that wasnt a bad prediction was it. i think i might start claiming im itk
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COYG!
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Campbell very close to opening the scoring, think we should have had a penalty in the follow up
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Huddlestone has “technique and vision”? Listening the to BBC commentators is certainly an educational experience.
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Coquelin very lucky to not be booked for a late tackle
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Joel Campbell is very one footed
Theo almost in on end of long pass from Coquelin
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Alexis amost with a great goal
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Ince got in there far too easily,
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Campbell gives away the ball trying a dummy, Bellerin gets back to make the tackle for a corner
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great cross in by Bellerin, no striker in the middle, but put out for a corner, and Mert opens the scoring with an easy header
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jeezus the commentators on BBC are useless.
Alexis should have scored there, cleared for a corner
Arsenal hit the post from the corner
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If Arsenal get another one here we could run away with the game.
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theo shoots straight at the keeper after another great move
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Who are the BBC commentators?
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Martin Keown is the pundit, don’t know who the commentator is
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Christ the commentators stink.
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A lobotomy would improve their intelligence.
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Coquelin is playing very well in the DM role.
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smooth passing..i love rosicky and cazorla!
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i like walcotts position on the left..
tactically that means less running behind defenders and more dribbling ..also the option to shoot presents itself. this could improve walcotts game and give us more options.
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awful tackle by McShane on Monreal finally sees a Hull player booked
arsenal have wasted several corners and freekicks
1 up but really should be at least 3 ahead
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Why are there commentators? You don’t need one at the stadium? And they very, very rarely add anything positive.
Do like our midfield, though.
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