Arsenal Need To Learn The Lessons From Past Mistakes

Last season will be remembered for the consequences of the indecision regarding Wenger staying or going and the impact that had on performances.

This season will be remembered for the contract fiasco that saw players   on the verge of being able to leave for free and the impact it had on the team. The main chapter of this sorry tale was the on/off transfer speculation regarding Alexis Sanchez which left an appallingly bad taste in the mouth.

Next season is Wenger’s last or so we assume. With the past two seasons dominated by uncertainty and overshadowed by speculation , one would think that the Arsenal hierarchy would act swiftly to stabilise proceedings by declaring that Arsene Wenger is extending his current short term tenure with a longer contract or that he will be leaving at the end of his existing one.

Unfortunately , Arsenal are not very transparent in their dealings with the manager or their players and although common sense dictates that they should lean from past mistakes, it’s unlikely.

Someone , somewhere within the club , such as absentee landlord Stan Kroenke , his heir apparent , son Josh or even Ivan Gazidis , the prince of darkness , should address this situation before it becomes another unwanted distraction before a single ball is kicked.

( Arsenal players celebrating,)

Arsene Wenger will see out his contract despite speculation to the contrary but it’s said that the board are losing faith in the man that has done so much for the club because of the ensuing storm and tide of opinion.

I’ve written constantly about Wenger for the last 12 months and have been advocating change, mainly because it seems like the situation can not be rectified by money and new personnel alone.

20 years in a post must lead to some form of complacency , either on the managers behalf or more likely the players. Repetition can kill motivation and if a coach can not embrace new ways of stimulating the players appetite it doesn’t matter how much money is available , it won’t halt the decline or promote excellence. It appears that their is still an ambivalent attitude at the heart of the squad.

( Arsenal players)

All this upheaval could have all been avoided in the past two years but it seems the board are content to let the money roll in without tinkering too much in crucial areas of concern.

Who would have thought that a club of this statute ,could be so disorganised in the way it conducts it’s affairs. 
That contracts are allowed to virtually expire on key assets and that no one would consider the consequences of such disruption. 

Kroenke has as much knowledge about top flight football as I do about popcorn and is wholeheartedly part of the reason for the discord and indecisiveness. He needs to be more involved or sell out , fans will probably prefer the latter