Why Is Wenger Hated?

Often when I write these pieces, ones in which I ‘go after’ fellow Arsenal supporters, I am spumescently confronted by those who identify with what I have written and have taken offence with it. I am ironically told I’m a disgrace for digging out fellow fans who will happily tell me I’m everything that is wrong with the club because I accept mediocrity etc etc blah blah blah ad nauseum.

I’ve always found the whole Wenger Out stuff a tad bemusing. Eventually he will leave and we will carry on without him, no one man is bigger than the club, but I don’t see why we should prematurely force the issue. That’s my personal view and I totally get that not everyone shares it and many just cannot see us moving forward at the pace they expect with Arsène in charge. What I find bemusing is that there exists a group of people who want the manager gone no matter what. Nothing seems good enough and they often remain quiet when things are going well only to emerge from their hovels when things go awry.

The most well-used reasons for demanding a change in manager have mostly been dispelled yet instead of bringing people back on side it has intensified the ennui and, in some cases, hate.

Wenger doesn’t spend was one, he spent £77.5 million on Alexis and Özil. He’s also spent £193m since Van Persie left citing transfer policy as one of his motivations for being a massive turncoat. We are level on points with a club who spent over £168m and we still have 9 players to return to the squad and a January transfer window to strengthen. Complaining about the summer when we’re 2nd only on goal difference is insane.

When the transfer window slammed shut very few people would have guessed we would be where we are right now. Ignore the Champions League as well because those who complain about the manager often dismiss his qualification record as they would rather we focused on the league than a competition we can’t win (according to them). Wenger decided to look for starting upgrades only and struggled to find them. Wenger has signed 14 first team players since 2012. Signing only one this summer doesn’t suggest he’s ‘dithering’ and penny-pinching, it suggests he’s not finding the quality he wants. He wants being the operative term.

Another is tactics but he’s shown in a number of games a willingness to adapt and the results have been superb. We are top of the 2015 form table, we’re the in form team in the league and despite our heavy defeat in Germany we are still the only team to beat Bayern this season. Our new/old counter-attacking game is a change from our possession/tiki-taka-lite style of the Fabregas years that we failed to replicate in his absence. To suggest he doesn’t adapt is utter blindness and agenda.

The biggest was trophies and surprise surprise we’ve had people dismissing his FA Cup victories because of the opposition or even calling it a Mickey Mouse cup. Or hilariously claiming it doesn’t count in some way because he devalue and disrespected it in his early years….

1998 – winners 1999 – semi 2001 – final 2002 – winners 2003 – winners 2004 – semi 2005 – winners https://t.co/488MSLXRlv

— Daniel Cowan (@thedanielcowan) October 28, 2015

Everything thrown at Wenger has been answered in some way yet they are dismissed or demeaned as it’s hard to admit you were wrong. I get that.

I don’t think it’s just about being wrong though. There has to be something more. There has to be a reason for why they are so vehemently anti-Wenger even in the face of trophies, world-class signings, flexible tactics and competitive league positioning. I think I’ve found the reason.

Some photos of Wenger looking incredibly dapper emerged today and whilst admiring what an incredibly handsome and sartorially on point guy Wenger is and hoping I look half as good when I’m 66 the reason struck me like a tiny bolt of epiphanous lightning.

It’s jealousy. I previously wrote how I believed Mourinho’s obsession with Wenger stems from his jealousy of the great man. Not of his success but his job stability and the respect he’s earned over the years from combining success with being a thoroughly nice bloke whereas Mourinho is respected for his success but reviled for being a massive prick.

The Wenger Out crowd are jealous of Wenger’s good looks. It has to be that. It can’t be the trophies because he’s won some recently. It can’t be transfers/money because he’s spent £523 million in 19 years at Arsenal, £193m, or 37% if you prefer, of that in the last three years alone. He spent an average of £20m per season for his first 16 years and in the last three that has more than trebled to £64m. It can’t be tactics or big game wins because we’ve beaten City, United, Liverpool, Dortmund, Chelsea and Bayern in the last 18 months or so. It has to be how he rocks a coat and scarf.

You’ve got guys in their 30s, 40s and 50s looking at Wenger with immaculate hair, a youthful glow in his skin; sparkling, bright eyes, a rakish smile, athletic figure rocking the garms and naturally they’re jealous. There they are, rolling up to the Emirates in their tight-fitting XL replica shirts, hair receding, pallid and sallow complexions, sagging skin and milky eyes. These chaps work 8 hour days 5 days a week and they look like they’ve not slept in a month whereas Wenger looks like he’s just come back from holiday despite working 16 hour days, 7 days a week.

Some of these guys go to the football every week and none of them look as good as Wenger does in a scarf. No wonder they hate him. I hate a little bit him myself, the bastarding silver fox.

It has to be the reason. Nothing else makes logical sense. They can look at the evidence and still want a replacement but to cling so desperately to their dastardly vitriol suggests there’s an ulterior motive and unless they take their obsession with him very seriously I doubt it’s penis envy.

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