So the banners, the YouTube videos and the fly-over planes have failed. The “Wenger Out” campaign has been ferocious in recent months, even becoming a global meme, but, alas, the manager has agreed a two-year contract extension at Arsenal.
A new deal seemed improbable between February and April when Arsenal were losing against Watford, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace in the league, and enduring two 5-1 humiliations against Bayern Munich. More and more fans began to demand Arsène Wenger’s head, swathes of empty seats became a feature of home matches, and the man himself seemed on the brink of tears in post-match pressers.
But what a difference a tweak makes. Wenger’s switch to a 3-5-2 formation followed by nine wins in the final 10 matches of the campaign, capped by that magnificent FA Cup triumph at Wembley, sent him into the negotiations on a high, despite finishing fifth in the league.
Few Arsenal supporters are surprised by Wenger’s deal. Fewer still are celebrating it but on balance I welcome it.
To explain why, let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine that in the summer of 2013 Wenger had waved goodbye. Then imagine his successor mirrored Wenger’s record of the past four years. Imagine the new manager immediately ended years of bargain buys with the earthquake acquisition of Mesut Özil and guided the team to victory in the FA Cup final, the first silverware for nine years. The following summer he bought Alexis Sánchez and went on to win the FA Cup for a second successive year. In 2016 he took the club to a second‑place finish, their highest for 11 years.
Although he then endured a dodgy season in the league, he nonetheless grabbed another FA Cup, thanks to a glorious win against the Premier League champions Chelsea – one of the most exciting afternoons in the club’s history. Few, even among the peculiarly entitled Arsenal supporter base, would be calling for his head. Wenger should be judged on the same terms and should stay.
But it cannot be business as usual. The post-Wenger era must start right here, right now, with the Frenchman still in the hot seat. On and off the pitch, the club should start laying the groundwork for the post-Wenger era, avoiding the sort of disorganised slumps that hit Manchester United when Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson left.
It is also time for supporters to up their game. For several years, Arsenal fans have been bitterly divided into two factions: the “Arsène Knows Best” AKBs and the “Wenger Out Brigade” WOBs. This division has seen Gunners fans brawling with one another at matches and squabbling incessantly online. In one particularly unpleasant episode, when a group of “Wenger Out” fans were filmed outside the Emirates Stadium singing anti-Wenger songs, at least one of their number sang he will be “happy” when Wenger “dies”.
Thanks to the spotlight available to armchair pundits on Twitter and YouTube, some supporters have become fans of themselves more than they are fans of the club. For them, a match seems to now be about hoping for attention as much as it is hoping for three points. Although these clowns are small in number, they have made such a racket that it has lowered the tone across the fanbase. People feel compelled to take extreme, noisy positions, which does little to help the confidence of the players on the field.
It is time to put the club ahead of the factions. Let’s consign these reductive AKB/WOB acronyms to the history books, under a heading about the time Arsenal fans went a bit potty for a while. Let’s forget about the AKB and the WOB – and make it once more about the AFC.
Chas Newkey-Burden is a freelance football writer and lifelong Arsenal supporter
