Yes he did all those things and lots of them pissed me off too. But he still should and will get a statue.
I think Wenger should get a statue, simply for his success in his first few seasons, the way he got us playing great football and his influence on football in Europe.
He was also a class act as a person, while a lot of managers around him, like Ferguson, Allardyce, Pulis, Hughes, Mourinho, etc, would goad and insult him.
Obviously, the last few seasons with us has slightly tarnished his image, but if anyone deserves a statue, Wenger does.
As for Graham, he does too.
Not only was he a great player for us, winning the double, he got us back winning trophies after a long time without any success and he also did it spending less money than almost any other manager.
The team that beat Liverpool to win the League title cost not much more than around 3m, with most of the players being from the youth team.
He built and organised one of the best defences in Europe, which was instrumental for Wengerâs success, and he was here for eight seasons and won two league titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and the European Cup Winners Cup, as well as finalist in the League Cup and Cup Winners Cup.
If that doesnât deserve a statue, then nothing does.
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Thatâs pure speculation on your part. And I quote:
When Unai Emery succeeded Wenger in May, he kept Steve Bould as assistant manager but many others left, including Jens Lehmann, the goalkeeping coach, and Boro Primorac, who worked as first-team coach since 1997.
The accounts state: âExceptional costs are attributable to the changes to the first team management, coaching and support staff.â
âMost of those exceptional costs â ÂŁ16.8 million of the ÂŁ17.1 million â are included within the annual wage bill,â
I canât think of a single example of any football manager not collecting their full contract after being sacked. You may not have and you said it was âa family run businessâ, did it happen to be your family?
Off course it wasnât my family and not my friends either. Theyâre hugely rich Iâm not I just think itâs wrong.
Most managers donât get statues especially if their greedy money grabbers milking the club for all they can
Dunno about a statue. Maybe a DVD.
Clough got one at Forest having brought glory but also setting the club on a backward spiral they havenât really recovered from by getting them relegated. Taking that as a measuring tool Wenger has to have one.
Iâm no Wenger fan as a man but the Highbury years have to be acknowledged as the best in my lifetime football wise.
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Thatâs only for spurs managers after they have âput the pressure on.â
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I think people should remember that, although Graham did take a bung, he was earning probably around a thousand pounds a week when he came here as our manager and the money he took was about what Wenger earns every game.
I know it wasnât right but a lot of people forget that just a few seasons before the PL started, some Arsenal players were earning a few hundred pounds a week.
When Michael Thomas went to Liverpool, he was a top player and an England international, and his wages were about ÂŁ400 a week before bonuses.
So although Graham shouldnât have done it, he wasnât the only manager or player getting money from dodgy agents and clubs.
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Taking the bung wasnât the issue. Getting caught was.
Thatâs probably true but is it any worse than fiddling your tax or tapping up players?
Players and managers didnât earn much more than the average wage when Graham was here so I assume that ex players and managers had to get as much as they could when they had the chance.
Adams has a statue and he spent time inside, so is that worse than getting a bung?
Apart from Wenger, I canât think of anyone else more deserving than Graham because he has given and achieved more at this club, as a player and manager, than anyone else.
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It was embezzling funds essentially⌠stealing. Just b/c that was a different time with different economics, I donât see how anyone is dismissing this⌠this wasnât some poor person stealing a loaf of bread.
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So what Adams did was arguably worse and no ones complaining about his statue, because it was fully deserved.
Players and managers back then earned a few hundred pounds a week.
Look at what they earn now and yet they are even more greedy and self serving.
You would be naive to think that almost all players in that era didnât used to get back handers and sweeteners.
Throughout history, loads of people have got loads of statues, but youâd be hard pushed to find any of them that hadnât done something dodgy during their career.
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Stealing, conspiracy to defraud your club, etc⌠you can paint it any way you want in relation to todayâs economics, but it doesnât change the fact that he committed a crime - against his club.
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FWIW on the topic of âearning our your remaining contractâ when terminated, this is pretty much understood by all parties when they sign the f*ing contract - otherwise you put other terms/clauses in there (e.g., if you dip below 70 points, we can fire you and only pay you 1 million of remaining contract)⌠the problem is then you get into the natural response to that (ie., if you are going to hold me accountable for one bad year, I want to know what you are going to give me to invest) and it creates odd asymetries potentially in interests (long term vs. short-term being the most obvious).
The simplest and most normal structure for senior leadership when it is contractual is expensive termination (ie paying out the contract or negotiating less at that time). Otherwise the manager would negotiate harder on other terms - it is a market.
When Wenger, or any manager, signs a contract, they are arguing over numerous terms, including how much to get paid, termination clauses, etc. - all of these terms are things of value. If a manager signs a contract and then far exceeds results, he isnât legally owed more (unless in clauses of contract). That is the bargain - I am committing for some period to you, and you are to me and if anyone wants to end this relationship sooner, they have to negotiate/pay - typically the company has rights to term, but they are expensive⌠managers donât typically have release clauses like players, but effectively they do (ie if Real comes in and pays AFC 100 million for Emery, we take it).
This is the business - any contract for a manager or player is pretty much something you are going to have to f*ing pay to the end unless something extraordinary (for cause, eg., player gets busted for drugs and goes to prison so canât play) or the player or manager gets released by contract by paying some amount (either pre-agreed or not). This is baked into the entire system from a market perspective.
Wenger brought enough success, trophies and good memories to the club, nobody can deny that.
That alone, enough to get him a statue (and DVD both).
No doubt he left a mess for Emery and the club, BUT, that is the job for the club and Emery to fix, especially Emery and all future managers. They are well paid to fix the issues that Wenger/Gazidis/Kroenke left and to take the club back to high level of competitiveness again. Wenger had his fault, but he should not be blamed for all.
The moment he left the club, that was it. From that moment, the club itself has to take care the rest, and they are well paid for doing that. Canât blame Wenger anymore.
Iâd also point out in Wengerâs favor, he shepherded us through necessary years of austerity to get the stadium built and managed to keep us in the top 4 for a lot longer and more consistently than reasonable in retrospect⌠he faded badly and stayed on 2-4 years too long probably, but to me he is our greatest manager ever and an EPL revolutionary and we played some f*ing sweet, sweet football under him (we also played some dire football later)âŚ
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I agree of most you said, but canât comment if he is really Arsenalâs greatest manager or not.
I have never watched any Arsenal game under George Graham⌠so, I canât comment.
But as I said (you also), Wenger contributed enough, thatâs the point.
We can say the last few seasons might have âtarnishedâ his legacy, but tarnished is not wiped out. Wengerâs contribution and legacy are still there.
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I wonder what moment theyâll use for the Wenger statue
Yeah recency bias is at work and obviously I wasnât around for our glory days of 1940âs (or 30s), but I think the fact that he orchestrated a huge and necessary transformation at a critical period of the evolving EPL is underrated by many.
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Lifting the invincibles season Prem Trophy
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