Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stated “difficult climate” at the Emirates has cost his team the English Premier League this season.
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He also suggested that the mutinous atmosphere is being whipped up by a few egos with a personal agenda against him and actually has “not a lot behind it”.
There are reports that Arsenal supporters groups are set to join forces on Saturday in a bid to protest the continued trophy-less seasons at the club.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has told the team’s fans to stick together in the face of growing negativity towards them from a multitude of sources.
Wenger, whose side are fourth and attempting to hold off Manchester United, has watched a title challenge fizzle out again in anticlimax.
Speaking of these protests, Wenger outlined his thoughts on the mounting pressure fans are putting on him and the club, saying: “It is very frustrating because we were in a position for a very long time where we could compete for the title”.
“We lost the championship at home against the lower teams – we have the best record against the top clubs – but we played at home in a very hard climate”. Consistent top four finishes have aided the Frenchman’s chances of staying with the team, but now scrutiny is really taking shape amongst the Gunners supporters. There’s no success without that. Wenger wouldn’t have a leg to stand on and finally a new era that Arsenal fans are clamouring for more and more would finally be ushered in.
“All this [about] calming people down by buying names, for me that is the wrong calculation”, he said.
We all know how well Wenger changed the club and the game when he arrived, but I don’t think we know in any great detail how much he had to deal with during the transition to the Emirates, and the fact that he managed that as well as he did is every bit as impressive to me as what he did in the late 90’s/early aughts. “But during that time, it was very hard”.
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‘So we are capable, it’s just whether we can go there and deliver on the day, and I’m confident we can. But when a club can not enjoy anything any more, it’s in trouble. We have to stick together. A year ago we called for an independent review of the club’s arrangements for the scouting, negotiating and signing of players; we still believe this would be a valuable exercise. However, Arsenal spent several years crippled by financial restraints after moving into the Emirates in 2006, which forced Wenger to sell several top players while looking for bargains in the transfer market to help ensure continued Champions League football.
