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Defiant Arsene Wenger confident Arsenal's FA Cup triumph has silenced the doubters
Arsène Wenger has delivered a defiant message to the Arsenal board, insisting that if they harbour any doubt over whether he should continue as manager, they should simply watch a rerun of the FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea.
Wenger’s future will top the agenda at the club’s board meeting on Tuesday, with the Frenchman conceding that he should have “sorted out” his future sooner because of the uncertainty and effect it has had on the club, the players and the media “debate” it provoked. Tellingly, he added that he was “committed to giving everything to stay”.
Despite winning the FA Cup, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in two decades in a season infected with a toxic atmosphere.
Prior to Saturday’s final, Wenger said the behaviour of some Arsenal fans was a “disgrace” that he will “never forget”, and talked like a man who was unsure of his future. After the final, however, there was a far more positive message.
Wenger, whose contract expires on June 30, will attend the board meeting, with a formal announcement on his future due to be made on Wednesday. He will want to be backed and there is no doubt that he has also been hurt by the apparent wavering of some board members in recent months over whether he should stay.
Asked whether he would deliver a presentation to the board to make his case for staying as manager, Wenger replied: “The best presentation – watch the game and there can be no doubt.”
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke was at Wembley and will also be at the board meeting, along with his son, Josh, the club’s chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, Ken Friar, Lord Harris of Peckham and the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis.
“I don’t change my commitment,” Wenger insisted. “I worked until the last day of my contract. That is today, basically. I think I have shown you that I have exactly the same commitment. So, for me, the contract does not have a special meaning. But, because of the debate, I should have sorted that out earlier.”
The delay led to further doubts as to whether Wenger (right) could agree a deal with the Arsenal board, who have been pushing for significant changes in staff and the way the club is organised. It remains to be seen how much ground Wenger has ceded on this, although Kroenke has been unwavering in his support for his manager and that is expected to be a crucial factor.
Wenger wants to retain the key decision-making say on his staff and player recruitment and would regard interference as unacceptable. Following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea, which meant that Arsenal have now won the FA Cup a record 13 times and, extraordinarily, seven times under Wenger alone, the 67-year-old also offered a revealing insight into what drives him.
“I have desire. I love my job. I love to win, I love to build, I love to get people going and I love what I do,” Wenger said. “I invite you one day to live with me and one thing you cannot question is my commitment.”
Just how special this win was to Wenger was also evident in his reaction. “It’s absolutely fantastic,” he said. "I’ve won a few [league and cup] Doubles and I know that when a team is on a high [like Chelsea], to break that takes something special.”
Wenger went over to the Arsenal fans at the end and was later asked whether there was some reluctance to do so given the hostility he has faced. “No, no, no, no – never,” he said. “I meet many Arsenal fans who are absolutely fantastic. I just said there was maybe one per cent, but the 99 per cent of our fans are absolutely fantastic.”
Saturday’s victory was a far cry from when Arsenal lost 3-1 away to West Bromwich Albion in March, a fourth defeat in five league games, when a banner urging him to go was flown over the Hawthorns.
“You know, we cannot say, ‘Oh fantastic, I enjoy that’,” Wenger said. “So, there’s a kind of violence in our society now where everybody has opinions and we have to live with it. If people want me out, they want me out; I can accept that. But in the game, you support the team.
“We live in a society that wants always change, but at the end of the day football is about making the right decision and every company is about making the right decision – that’s why I say it’s not about popularity, it’s about competence.
“It’s the board who has to decide who will lead the club in the future and if they want me, I then have to decide if I say yes or no.”
Wenger’s future is not the only thing that needs to be sorted out by Arsenal. Alexis Sánchez – who scored their opening goal at Wembley and waved to the supporters as he was later substituted – has just one year left on his contract and is wanted by some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Mesut Özil also has only one year left, as does Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who denied that the players had been affected by the uncertainty over their manager’s future.
“I’m not going to stand here as a player and say that’s been an excuse for our lack of form,” he stated. “That’s up to him, the club, it’s nothing to do with us as players.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain conceded that Saturday’s win was “frustrating” given that it showed of what Arsenal were capable.
“We think we can do it for the whole season but we need to improve, and we know that,” he added. “Performances like today, after the semi-final [against City], in a big game against Chelsea, show what we can do. “It has given a bit of momentum and I hope we can have a better year next year.”