Arsene Wenger has signed a new two-year contract at Arsenal to end speculation surrounding his future. After another season of failure in the Premier League and Champions League, did the club make the right choice?
We asked our Arsenal experts Andrew Mangan, Tom Adams and James McNicholas, for their opinions.
Is keeping Arsene Wenger the right decision for Arsenal?
AM: In the circumstances, yes. Arsenal are simply not set up for change at the moment. The club is as unstable as it has ever been, and Wenger leaving now would leave them with too much to do in a short space of time. Not just from a managerial point of view, but also when it comes to players coming and going, as well as preparation for next season.
TA: Yes and no. Arsenal do need change to sweep through the club and the best thing for the future would be if they parted ways with Wenger. That said, the fact there was no evidence of a succession plan, coupled with the euphoria of beating Chelsea so well in the FA Cup final, means the timing was all wrong to take such a huge decision. They essentially just kicked the can down the road, and in the circumstances it makes sense.
JM: Personally, I believe that Arsenal would benefit from a new manager. However, the club is in no real position to make a change. The uncertainty over Wenger's contract has dragged on for far too long, and it appears as if no real contingency plan has been put in place. The FA Cup triumph has inevitably changed the atmosphere around the club and made the idea of Wenger staying more palatable. However, his poor performance in the Premier League and Champions League mean his time with Arsenal ought to have been up.
Why did Arsenal choose to stick with Wenger?
AM: The lack of suitable candidates, for one. The fact that this might also allow them to properly plan the transition from a legacy manager to a new man by putting in place structures which the modern day coach needs to work under. There's also the fact Arsenal are very risk averse anyway, and probably see the risk of change as outweighing the risks of staying with a manager who, at the very least, produces consistency season after season.
TA: For the simple reason that the alternative course of action would have plunged the club into chaos. Arsenal were completely unprepared to remove their manager of 20 years. There were a lack of candidates to target, no structure in place to mitigate the fallout, and not enough football expertise in the boardroom to make a successful managerial change. They took the safe option, and winning the FA Cup made the whole thing much more palatable.
AM: I'm not sure they did. Ultimately it was Wenger's call -- he has continually retained the support of Stan Kroenke and it's been the manager's desire to stay on that has resulted in this outcome. Arsenal don't seem capable of properly holding their manager to account.
What needs to change now?
AM: Over the next two years Arsenal have to make substantive changes. The academy needs a new boss; some kind of director of football appointment needs to be made -- even if it's one that, for now, doesn't have the authority it has at other clubs. Recruitment and scouting are areas that require significant improvement too, and part of Wenger's remit over the next two years must be to help implement those things.
TA: Arsenal need to ensure they don't just go through this whole process again in two years. It appears unlikely there will be a director of football -- Wenger has basically ruled that out -- but they need to start the long transition to a new manager in two years. Arsenal need to develop a structure that could survive Wenger's exit, revamping departments like coaching and scouting and bringing in a senior figure who can provide some continuity, allowing Wenger to be gradually phased out over the course of his new deal.
JM: Wenger needs to embrace the 3-4-2-1 system that has rescued Arsenal's system from disaster. The Gunners look significantly more solid, and it's a real concern with the security of a new contract behind him Wenger will return to his cavalier ways and his dysfunctional formation.
Prediction for next season?
AM: So much depends on what they do for the rest of the summer. If they can keep Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, add one or two more players of similar quality, and clear out some of the deadwood, then they could have a chance of competing for the Premier League title. They have a lot of work to do to ensure all of those things happen though, and whether they're capable of that will become clear soon enough.
TA: A decent start which will cause a groundswell of optimism followed by a crash in the spring. Nothing new really. Seriously, the pattern is very well established under Wenger now. It would take a huge outlay on world-class players to really make them title contenders. And that won't happen.
JM: If Arsenal lose Sanchez, it's going to be very difficult for them to force their way back into an increasingly competitive top four. Arsenal's best chance of returning to the Champions League may come via the same route Jose Mourinho's Manchester United took this season: the Europa League.
