Friends, Romans, Arsenal men, lend me your ears I come to praise Arsene, not to butcher him.  There is feeding frenzy involving second rate hacks, Billy big bollocks bloggers, podcasters and hate filled attention seeking halfwit fans, all picking over the not yet dead corpse of our greatest ever manager. A man that is a legend in the game, a visionary and easily the most intelligent, classy man I’ve ever know in football.

They say he must go! Nay, he must be driven out, ridiculed and his greatest moments disparaged and downgraded.

After 22 years at the helm his work is done, we need him no more, off with him, drive him into the wilderness, once we have tarred and feathered him of course!

But here is the thing, it’s with a heavy heart that I accept the end is near, and that a tipping point has been reached. I don’t think he has the time, or the backing from the board, fans and players that he would need to turn the ship again.  Perhaps after 22 years a new voice is needed. Maybe it is all stale. But what I don’t accept, and will never accept, is that Arsene Wenger is not a great manager, let alone that he never was one. I’m simply calling bullshit on that much used soundbite.

How many times has José Mourinho gone stale at clubs? I can think of three occasions where he has been sacked, where his tactics have failed, and he has been cast aside. But what happened next? Another massive job.  People claiming he was one of the world’s best managers, and yet he couldn’t survive beyond 3 years.

Were people claiming he was not the manager he once was when he won the CL in 2004 with Porto?

No, they were not. They were using this 14 year-old achievement as evidence of his greatness.

Jürgen Klopp lasted almost 7 years at Borussia Dortment before flirting with relegation and being sent on his way.  Did people say he used to be great and now he isn’t? No, they didn’t, and it doesn’t look much like it either, now does it?

Carlo Ancelotti, currently unemployed after being sacked for the umpteenth time. Yet many people are suggesting he could replace Arsene. Why, if not keeping success going is evidence of a decline in managerial abilities?

Even Pep Guardiola ran out of steam at Barca and needed a year out, and felt 3 years at Bayern was enough before he got stale.

So if we accept that Arsene’s race at Arsenal is run, it does not follow that it’s because he is no longer a great manager, visionary and football intellectual. In fact I suggest the very opposite, that he has taken 22 years to reach the point that these so called great mangers reach in a fraction of the time, means he has most likely proved he is greater than them, rather than their inferior.

Oh and by the way, there is only one ARSENE WENGER.