Arsène Wenger, already the longest-serving and most successful manager in Arsenal’s history, could, in six months’ time, celebrate 20 years at the club.
However, if Arsenal do not win the Premier League this season, then the question has to be asked: will they ever do so with Wenger in charge. If they do fail, then it is time for him finally to step down.
Wenger will be just a month short of his 67th birthday when the Sept 16 anniversary comes around and will also be in the final year of a contract that he is expected to see out. Whether he signs a new deal is already in doubt.
The natural step for him is to take on a different role at Arsenal at the end of this campaign – and few managers appear as suited to become a director of football as Wenger. The club should not simply wave him goodbye and watch him leave the building – a building he built – this summer or next or whenever he goes.
The argument against Wenger going has always been that people should be careful what they wish for and his status as one of the greatest managers Europe has ever seen would be untainted even if he did not win another league title. No one should question his importance and the effect his brilliant football has had. But, sometimes, it is right to change.
If you apply Wenger’s own logic, then that would appear to be the case. Recently, he confirmed what was suspected and written about at the time – if he had not won the FA Cup in 2014 then it would have been “difficult” for him to carry on.
His reasoning was “because it would have been a massive disappointment for everybody” had Hull City not been defeated and a drought of nine years without a trophy not been ended.
There is another way of looking at it: even if Arsenal do win the title, then maybe it is still time for Wenger to step down. How could he top that? He will be well aware that Sir Alex Ferguson quit as United manager once he had regained the title and not before. And did not hang around.
Wenger will also be well aware of what has happened at United since Ferguson retired. Much of that was inevitable; much of it could have been avoided with a better succession plan.
Then there is the big question: who should replace Wenger? A structure of Wenger as director of football alongside a younger head coach would appear ideal if he can bring himself to accept that.
Big candidates have gone – Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Jürgen Klopp. They would all have quite fancied the Arsenal job. But there are always others – if the right amount of planning is done, if the right man is identified and the right amount of due diligence is completed. Arsenal need that head coach, a younger coach, not a manager to overhaul or rebuild their club. That work is already complete. What is needed now is a change in mentality. And that may require a new manager.
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