Arsène Wenger to Step Down at End of the Season

[HK85]

27 minutes ago, The Palace Fan said:

I admire optimism in football fans but linking Simeone and Ancelotti to Everton is just pure delusion.

He contacted us. 

[The Artful Dodger]

13 minutes ago, HK85 said:

He contacted us. 

Where you get that from?

I'm all for ambition, and Everton should have it but you've just plumped for one of the most regressive coaches in world football in Sam Allardyce, he will ruin you further. The next manager will be a young man you see something in to build you long term.

[Cicero]

Yeah. I wouldn't touch Simeone. Getting so fed up of appointing defensive managers. 

[bozziovai]

2 hours ago, SirBalon said:

The paying back the stadium story is one of the biggest hoaxes in football of the modern era. The fact they used that (not the only psychological masterpieces mind you) to hold back any ambition from the fans is a sin. I even believed it for quite some time back then. 

oh yeah, i remember this one.   that's their reason why they need to sell their star players.    to pay off the debt for the new stadium.

[LFCMadLad]

35 minutes ago, HK85 said:

He contacted us. 

So I take it he had no interest in Everton’s ‘project’ then when it was explained to him? 

Cant see how you’d get interest from one of the best managers in Spain yet plump for Alladyce instead to be honest? 

I’m thinking this story might be a bit far fetched in my honest and humble opinion mate. 

[RandoEFC+]

It was widely reported that Simeone's representatives contacted us when Koeman was sacked with a view to possibly being interested in the job in the summer. Google it, but don't let it get in the way of you labelling Everton fans that routinely predict us to lose, say that we deserve to be bottom half and hate Allardyce as 'deluded'.

It didn't go anywhere with Simeone and I can't see why he'd be interested now either but don't go making out that Everton fans are expecting to get him when it was reported in most newspapers across the country that his representatives had come to us. Funny though when people just read what they want to read in order to fuel their agenda.

Anyway, this link to Wenger is absolutely baffling. It's been sad watching him cling onto his career at Arsenal where he's actually been successful, let alone seeing him come to Everton just for a few more years of what? A massive rebuilding project and next to no chance of winning anything?

It would be a horrendous move on our part too. Spending a massive salary on a has been manager who has spent the last decade presiding over a club who have slowly decayed from being one of the most exciting footballing teams with great characters in the squad to now a predictable and shit team to watch completely bereft of a backbone. Really sounds like the type of personality we need to come in and disinfect the deep lying attitude, mentality and technical problems at Everton.

Thought this was a joke when it was mentioned last night, can't believe it's actually made news.

[RandoEFC+]

2 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

So I take it he had no interest in Everton’s ‘project’ then when it was explained to him? 

Cant see how you’d get interest from one of the best managers in Spain yet plump for Alladyce instead to be honest? 

I’m thinking this story might be a bit far fetched in my honest and humble opinion mate. 

See above. Google it, it was widely reported that they made contact but there was no interest until at least the end of the season then I think he came out and committed his medium term future to Atletico. Obviously none of us were there but when it's reported in most national newspapers there's probably something in it.

Not necessarily linked to Simeone and us but I don't find it that weird that someone would want to take a step down in order to take on a new challenge. If I was an elite football manager I'd get bored of fuck jumping between Bayern, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City spending infinite money and pissing a league title before leaving or getting sacked the next season. At some point after winning a few trophies I'd probably prefer to take over a Valencia or a Lazio or Everton or Montpellier and see what I could achieve with them but maybe I'm just a fucking massive freak for not being motivated by how many zeroes are on the cheque.

[bozziovai]

4 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

It was widely reported that Simeone's representatives contacted us when Koeman was sacked with a view to possibly being interested in the job in the summer. Google it, but don't let it get in the way of you labelling Everton fans that routinely predict us to lose, say that we deserve to be bottom half and hate Allardyce as 'deluded'.

It didn't go anywhere with Simeone and I can't see why he'd be interested now either but don't go making out that Everton fans are expecting to get him when it was reported in most newspapers across the country that his representatives had come to us. Funny though when people just read what they want to read in order to fuel their agenda.

Anyway, this link to Wenger is absolutely baffling. It's been sad watching him cling onto his career at Arsenal where he's actually been successful, let alone seeing him come to Everton just for a few more years of what? A massive rebuilding project and next to no chance of winning anything?

It would be a horrendous move on our part too. Spending a massive salary on a has been manager who has spent the last decade presiding over a club who have slowly decayed from being one of the most exciting footballing teams with great characters in the squad to now a predictable and shit team to watch completely bereft of a backbone. Really sounds like the type of personality we need to come in and disinfect the deep lying attitude, mentality and technical problems at Everton.

Thought this was a joke when it was mentioned last night, can't believe it's actually made news.

don't forget -- he's 68 now.   yikes.   both old figuratively and literally. 

[HK85]

10 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

So I take it he had no interest in Everton’s ‘project’ then when it was explained to him? 

Cant see how you’d get interest from one of the best managers in Spain yet plump for Alladyce instead to be honest? 

I’m thinking this story might be a bit far fetched in my honest and humble opinion mate. 

It was nothing more than forward thinking from a team of people who realise their client isn't going to stay in Madrid all his career. 

[Cicero]

If Everton give him the funds, control and support, why would Simeone turn them down? He could probably turn them into a great side just as Poch has with Spurs?

Not like he doesn't have a history of managing a club where they aren't as big as their rivals. 

[LFCMadLad]

34 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

It was widely reported that Simeone's representatives contacted us when Koeman was sacked with a view to possibly being interested in the job in the summer. Google it, but don't let it get in the way of you labelling Everton fans that routinely predict us to lose, say that we deserve to be bottom half and hate Allardyce as 'deluded'.

It didn't go anywhere with Simeone and I can't see why he'd be interested now either but don't go making out that Everton fans are expecting to get him when it was reported in most newspapers across the country that his representatives had come to us. Funny though when people just read what they want to read in order to fuel their agenda.

Anyway, this link to Wenger is absolutely baffling. It's been sad watching him cling onto his career at Arsenal where he's actually been successful, let alone seeing him come to Everton just for a few more years of what? A massive rebuilding project and next to no chance of winning anything?

It would be a horrendous move on our part too. Spending a massive salary on a has been manager who has spent the last decade presiding over a club who have slowly decayed from being one of the most exciting footballing teams with great characters in the squad to now a predictable and shit team to watch completely bereft of a backbone. Really sounds like the type of personality we need to come in and disinfect the deep lying attitude, mentality and technical problems at Everton.

Thought this was a joke when it was mentioned last night, can't believe it's actually made news.

I googled it and all I could find was everyone reporting that he was Everton’s top target but that he’d told you he was only interested in staying at Atletico for at least another 2 seasons. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11671/11130749/diego-simeone-dismisses-everton-speculation-saying-he-is-staying-at-atletico-madrid

29 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

See above. Google it, it was widely reported that they made contact but there was no interest until at least the end of the season then I think he came out and committed his medium term future to Atletico. Obviously none of us were there but when it's reported in most national newspapers there's probably something in it.

Not necessarily linked to Simeone and us but I don't find it that weird that someone would want to take a step down in order to take on a new challenge. If I was an elite football manager I'd get bored of fuck jumping between Bayern, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City spending infinite money and pissing a league title before leaving or getting sacked the next season. At some point after winning a few trophies I'd probably prefer to take over a Valencia or a Lazio or Everton or Montpellier and see what I could achieve with them but maybe I'm just a fucking massive freak for not being motivated by how many zeroes are on the cheque.

Now that I can agree with. Too many top managers have it far too easy. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

European giants pay more money so the best managers go to them... sure there's wanting a challenge for sure. But if I'm going to give myself a harder job... I'd probably want to get either paid more or have guarantees in place regarding my future because when you're in a rebuilding process, there's a hell of a lot more risk.

You've got to remember, their careers are mostly judged by the results they're getting in the present. Planning the future is something you always want to see your club do and it's necessary for a rebuild, but it can be difficult is pressure on immediately. Can't fault good managers for working with the top clubs, having the best resources available, and getting more money. Pretty natural tbh.

[Dan+]

5 hours ago, Marc said:

I just don’t understand why wenger wants to work. He’s 68 and has money to burn. Why would you want to stay in a high pressure job and get called a cunt? Let alone possibly taking another job after Arsenal. Just weird. Retire and go live on a beach somewhere 

I think it's a genuine passion and I admire that. The problem is it just isn't working and I don't think he can truly accept that. He could easily stick around at Arsenal 'upstairs' but wants to bring the glory as manager.

If he hasn't realised it now I'm not sure he ever will. I actually don't know how much further from the top Arsenal have to get before the penny drops.

I'll be absolutely amazed if he goes to Everton too.

[Dan+]

4 hours ago, 6666 said:

I think most are of the opinion that he should leave. The issue is the level of stupidity you're using when talking about the situation. "Why not just be like Man City" or "Leicester achieved an unlikely miracle, why can't everyone just do that?".

Also the point about not doing anything for 15 years shows a severe lack of ignorance about Arsenal's situation for most of that time. The fact he even got into the top 4 while spending very little and having to sell big players without ready replacements because of the stadium is something he should get credit for. It's easy to pretend that Arsenal were expected to win the league during that time but in reality we were expected to fall out of the top 4 during that whole time and only recently we've done that.

And regardless of the FA Cup now not meaning much, I guarantee that if Liverpool or Tottenham finally win the FA Cup or even the League Cup there would be endless praise for them bringing glory to the club and a sign of them being great managers. 

I agree with that to be fair.

[RandoEFC+]

53 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

European giants pay more money so the best managers go to them... sure there's wanting a challenge for sure. But if I'm going to give myself a harder job... I'd probably want to get either paid more or have guarantees in place regarding my future because when you're in a rebuilding process, there's a hell of a lot more risk.

You've got to remember, their careers are mostly judged by the results they're getting in the present. Planning the future is something you always want to see your club do and it's necessary for a rebuild, but it can be difficult is pressure on immediately. Can't fault good managers for working with the top clubs, having the best resources available, and getting more money. Pretty natural tbh.

Only if you're a little bitch who wants an easy life . If Klopp could make Liverpool title winners again that would be a bigger achievement than anything Guardiola has done and anything Mourinho has done since winning the Champions League with Porto. Only people lazy enough to look purely at numbers with no context wouldn't at least accept that as an argument. It just surprises me that these managers who are already senselessly rich and football people don't value the actual achievement of moving a club forwards and achieving more than they should be able to over the inevitability of going to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, buying the best players in the world and pissing the league.

1 hour ago, LFCMadLad said:

I googled it and all I could find was everyone reporting that he was Everton’s top target but that he’d told you he was only interested in staying at Atletico for at least another 2 seasons. 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11671/11130749/diego-simeone-dismisses-everton-speculation-saying-he-is-staying-at-atletico-madrid

Now that I can agree with. Too many top managers have it far too easy. 

Mate I googled "Simeone approach Everton" at the time of my last post and it returned a full page of reports about his guys coming to us alongside that link you've posted ruling it out. Look harder .

[Burning Gold]

5 hours ago, 6666 said:

And regardless of the FA Cup now not meaning much, I guarantee that if Liverpool or Tottenham finally win the FA Cup or even the League Cup there would be endless praise for them bringing glory to the club and a sign of them being great managers. 

It's a little different for those two clubs as they've both progressed a lot under their current managers, but not won anything yet. For us and Spurs, winning the cup would be a significant step in overall progress while for Arsenal it's a distraction as the club is going backwards overall.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

Only if you're a little bitch who wants an easy life . If Klopp could make Liverpool title winners again that would be a bigger achievement than anything Guardiola has done and anything Mourinho has done since winning the Champions League with Porto. Only people lazy enough to look purely at numbers with no context wouldn't at least accept that as an argument. It just surprises me that these managers who are already senselessly rich and football people don't value the actual achievement of moving a club forwards and achieving more than they should be able to over the inevitability of going to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, buying the best players in the world and pissing the league.

It would absolutely be a bigger achievement. And he'd probably get paid ridiculously by us (and it's not like we're cheap with our managers either lol). It's a job, they do it for money.

[Harry]

3 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

Only if you're a little bitch who wants an easy life . If Klopp could make Liverpool title winners again that would be a bigger achievement than anything Guardiola has done and anything Mourinho has done since winning the Champions League with Porto. Only people lazy enough to look purely at numbers with no context wouldn't at least accept that as an argument. It just surprises me that these managers who are already senselessly rich and football people don't value the actual achievement of moving a club forwards and achieving more than they should be able to over the inevitability of going to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, buying the best players in the world and pissing the league.

Well said. There is a bigger challenge in that but it seems most managers are just aiming to have the longest career possible (knowing that on average that is shorter than most professions) so they are often pretty risk averse. If there is so much money on the table that it makes it worthwhile. 

[Storts]

How great would it be if Wenger took another job and was really successful. I think it's possible.

Problems at Arsenal run a lot deeper than Arsene Wenger 

[Storts]

9 hours ago, 6666 said:

I think most are of the opinion that he should leave. The issue is the level of stupidity you're using when talking about the situation. "Why not just be like Man City" or "Leicester achieved an unlikely miracle, why can't everyone just do that?".

Also the point about not doing anything for 15 years shows a severe lack of ignorance about Arsenal's situation for most of that time. The fact he even got into the top 4 while spending very little and having to sell big players without ready replacements because of the stadium is something he should get credit for. It's easy to pretend that Arsenal were expected to win the league during that time but in reality we were expected to fall out of the top 4 during that whole time and only recently we've done that.

And regardless of the FA Cup now not meaning much, I guarantee that if Liverpool or Tottenham finally win the FA Cup or even the League Cup there would be endless praise for them bringing glory to the club and a sign of them being great managers. 

This is just wrong imo. I can't speak for Liverpool, because their lack of trophies recently seems to be completely ignored by the media, but in terms of us, if we win the FA Cup or the League Cup as you say it would just change things as it always does. The narrative would switch from, they have to win something to they have to win the league or CL. It's why Poch disrespects the cups as he does, and whilst I disagree with that because I'd love for us to win anything, I get his point. The only things that ultimately really matter to clubs and worldwide respect are league titles and Champions Leagues. For fans it's a bit different but I think for clubs, winning those two, and even just maintaining qualification for the CL as you did for so many years, is more important than domestic cups. 

[SirBalon]

29 minutes ago, Storts said:

This is just wrong imo. I can't speak for Liverpool, because their lack of trophies recently seems to be completely ignored by the media, but in terms of us, if we win the FA Cup or the League Cup as you say it would just change things as it always does. The narrative would switch from, they have to win something to they have to win the league or CL. It's why Poch disrespects the cups as he does, and whilst I disagree with that because I'd love for us to win anything, I get his point. The only things that ultimately really matter to clubs and worldwide respect are league titles and Champions Leagues. For fans it's a bit different but I think for clubs, winning those two, and even just maintaining qualification for the CL as you did for so many years, is more important than domestic cups. 

That's a very very good post because I capture the ideal behind your words and whilst I think it's very sad that something like the FA CUP has lost its meaning and its value, the league title and the Champions League are the only thing that matters and is what sells.  Gone are also the days of things like the UEFA CUP or the European Cup Winner's Cup which were wonderful football nights growing up, nights that meant something special also...  But then again when I was a teenager the FA CUP took the schedule ofboth BBC1 and ITV practically all day where you'd even see how the players arrived at Wembley live.

Another thing I want to add to what you've written and that is the very overvalued appreciation that qualifying for the Champions League actually has like what Wenger has had for god knows how many years...  What's the point in qualifying for something which you aren't really opting to compete in realistically unless a bloody miracle occurs.  I'll tell you the reason, that reason is money and that money only counts for the shareholders at PLC clubs and not all the money is pumped back into the football system... That's why fan owned clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are so special because all the money they make is to try and maintain their status and then you have artificial clubs like PSG and Man City who also pump money into competing at a maximum level but they're just a fabrication by the owning parties trying to legitimise themselves and things they want to become mainstream in the Western World but are stigmatised because of their society.

The PLC world feeds nonsense and most fans fall for it because all of their walks of life these days revolve in similar circles and isn't alien to them. They haven't experienced FOOTBALL CLUBS!

[Danny]

5 hours ago, SirBalon said:

That's a very very good post because I capture the ideal behind your words and whilst I think it's very sad that something like the FA CUP has lost its meaning and its value, the league title and the Champions League are the only thing that matters and is what sells.  Gone are also the days of things like the UEFA CUP or the European Cup Winner's Cup which were wonderful football nights growing up, nights that meant something special also...  But then again when I was a teenager the FA CUP took the schedule ofboth BBC1 and ITV practically all day where you'd even see how the players arrived at Wembley live.

Another thing I want to add to what you've written and that is the very overvalued appreciation that qualifying for the Champions League actually has like what Wenger has had for god knows how many years...  What's the point in qualifying for something which you aren't really opting to compete in realistically unless a bloody miracle occurs.  I'll tell you the reason, that reason is money and that money only counts for the shareholders at PLC clubs and not all the money is pumped back into the football system... That's why fan owned clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are so special because all the money they make is to try and maintain their status and then you have artificial clubs like PSG and Man City who also pump money into competing at a maximum level but they're just a fabrication by the owning parties trying to legitimise themselves and things they want to become mainstream in the Western World but are stigmatised because of their society.

The PLC world feeds nonsense and most fans fall for it because all of their walks of life these days revolve in similar circles and isn't alien to them. They haven't experienced FOOTBALL CLUBS!

Do you still watch the FA Cup final when it's not Arsenal mate? I love it personally, such a great competition and great day. Deserves more respect than it gets but would ultimately need a cash injection via prize money for it to get that.

Last FA Cup final, Arsenal vs Chelsea I spent in a small little pub in Richmond. Brentford nowhere to be seen yet between kick off and the first half being finished I'd finished my third pint, money can't give you that excitement but unfortunately the lack of it can take it away for certain clubs/professionals.

Even lower the down the ranks, tinpot Brentford put out a weakened team in it as not to distract from the potential cashcow that is the Premier League.

[SirBalon]

I try to watch the FA CUP Final even if Arsenal aren't in it mate, but everyone knows it doesn't feel the same anymore and everyone involved in English football is to blame for that.  The day ending up anywhere between 2nd to 4th in the table became a trophy, was the day the FA CUP had its final nail driven through its heart.  Unless winning the FA CUP gets a Champions League spot, I doubt any money pumped into it will change too much.

Put it this way... I'm as upset where Arsenal are finishing this season or last, to where we were finishing no before.  You see the difference in how some view football?

Infact it's better to finish outside the top 4 for Arsenal in terms of the board actually getting up off their arses to do something about being mediocre,

[RandoEFC+]

Time to retire and put your feet up then Arsene?

[Inverted]

Honestly don't get why he's clinging on so hard. 

If I only had another decade or two of active life left, and probably more than £10 million in the bank, I'd be travelling the world. I wouldn't be forcing myself to struggle with a job everyday and lie through sleepless nights. 

Wenger's a cultured guy, I'm sure he loves football but he must have other things that could keep him going.