I agree he's done a fantastic job and is massively under appreciated by their support. However I'm quite happy to see his reign end that way rather than the alternative which is them reeling in trophy after trophy and being a member of the European elite and out of our reach.
Its more about them being successful being bad for us. He's had the Indian sign over us for the entire time he's been there. Him leaving can't come soon enough for me.
Wenger was a great manager for his first 6 or 7 seasons, where he had a distinct advantage in the league (more tactical/progressive, against mostly british managers, good grasp of talent on continent).
As the PL got better, his flaws have shown up, and the biggest are lack of adaptability, inability to see gaps in his team, persistence with players who never make next step or continuously injured (and injury management has to be a big black mark for him as well).
Two views of Wenger
- Very good record for Scum all up, has kept them in CL forever, helps club achieve it's fiscal goals, will probably be their best manager ever
- For last 7 years he has turned them from starting the season as title/cup contenders into a club that finishes 4th. Inability to make any headway in CL despite some 15+ strait years of participation is also a negative. But perhaps the biggest blemish he will walk away with is last season, the failure to win the league when every "legitimate" (money doping) contender out of the running, and lets Leicester win it ...
I no longer rate Wenger, but I do think the Scum will struggle mightily when he goes. The lack of transition planning is going to kill them. He probably should have been promoted into board two years ago (when they won their first trophy in 6 or 7 years), and they should have grabbed a top level manager then. Now the best managers are at clubs that have bigger budgets, better squads ...
