afc Wenger - "Deep down I wish it was us not Manchester Utd"

[Turkish]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_5328120,00.html

Arsene Wenger has challenged Arsenal to eclipse Manchester United as Premier League champions next season. United wrapped up a third consecutive top-flight crown with a 0-0 draw at home to the Gunners on Saturday afternoon.Arsenal will finish the domestic season in fourth place, having also been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by United at the semi-final stage.Wenger paid tribute to United's success, but hopes his youthful Gunners team can match the newly-crowned champions next term.Learned"Deep down I wish it was us not Manchester United," said Wenger of the title party going on within earshot."But that is sport. They were the better team this year, so congratulations to them."We have to make sure that it is on our side next year."Things can change quickly, but what we have seen today shows we have the quality to be up there. We have to keep believing in these players and work hard."They have learned a lot this year."So committed to the Arsenal cause is Wenger that he is believed to have turned down the chance to coach Bayern Munich before Louis van Gaal was appointed at the Allianz Arena this week.Wenger refused to answer directly when asked about the issue, preferring instead to focus on Arsenal's exploits in a season he does not feel was quite the disaster many made it out to be."We were not that far off," he said."Since November we have lost one game and that was after the disappointment of losing to Manchester United in the Champions League."We were close in the Champions League and close in the FA Cup and have been remarkably consistent since November."At the moment the team is not getting the credit it deserves, but it is down to us to come back next year and show the same consistency."

This time of the season again and Wenger starts chatting sh*t about our players learning alot and showing quality.And what manager says he wishes it was us, dont f*ck*ng wish make it us u muppet.

[Captain Planet]

But the thing is whenever I hear these things it puts some (maybe false) hope into me.Because real talk we did soldier well since November and tbh we did put in a good attacking performance against Man Utd.I guess as long as the two key areas are improved by next season we will challenge.

[will h]

What did u expect Wenger to say? I don't think we are that far off Utd, if we strengthen the areas we need we'll be right up there. Think Wenger has a point, only 1 team can win it and this year once again it is probably the best team in Europe.

[Turkish]

I expect Wenger not to hide from the truth every year. Its long though if you still dont see what im on about then your worse than he is.

[Roy Batty]

Arsenal will not win the League again in the next 10 years unless someone buys them out. Not happening. Never challenging for the title in this decade or the next.

[Guest iShoCase89]

What did u expect Wenger to say? I don't think we are that far off Utd, if we strengthen the areas we need we'll be right up there. Think Wenger has a point, only 1 team can win it and this year once again it is probably the best team in Europe.

In terms of what it takes to win the league, I think we are.Agreed, but you can say that for Liverpool and Chelsea too..

[will h]

My point is the top 4 start the season and all they can say is 'we're gonna challenge', nobody can say we'll win it cos the quality is too high. If we sign the right players in the right area we will start saying we're gonna challenge, which is exactly what man utd/chelsea/liverpool will be saying. From there it is just about consistency.

I expect Wenger not to hide from the truth every year. Its long though if you still dont see what im on about then your worse than he is.

He's takes the positive from everything, cos the media and fans like u are so negative. After all the grief he has been given this season u expect our manger to turn round and say 'we didn't win it cos the players have been sh*t'. Cos don't expect too many of our players to hang around after that frank assessment. If u can't understand the reasoning why wenger says the stuff he says then lord help u.

[n/a]

mohammed I cant take your crticisms seriously considering after last summer you was calling wenger a d*ckhead for not signing david villaIntresting article particularly the bit about usmanov,http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...et-1687249.html

Arsene Wenger is not considering seriously a job proposal from Real Madrid presidential candidate Florentino Perez, but the Arsenal manager is understood to be disillusioned at the prospect of another cut-price summer transfer budget. Despite claims by senior figures at the club in the past that Wenger could spend "£30m" on a single player, that is not understood to reflect the current situation.Comments made by Wenger in an interview on French television that appeared on Sunday in which he said that Perez's new Real Madrid project was "interesting" renewed doubts over his future at Arsenal. However, Wenger has no intention of walking out on his contract at Arsenal that lasts until 2011, but that does not mean that he is entirely content with the situation at the club.In August last year, Danny Fiszman, historically the most influential figure at the club and now an ally of the club's biggest shareholder Stan Kroenke, said Wenger would be permitted to spend £30m on a player if he saw fit. Despite that, it would appear Wenger, as he has said in the past, is still obliged to sell players before they can embark on a spending spree this summer.In the previous two seasons, Wenger has said that the club must sell a player every year to help service the annual £24m payments on the Emirates Stadium. He has sold Thierry Henry and Alexander Hleb both to Barcelona over the last two seasons and the evidence suggests that a further sale will be in order this year if he is to continue financing the club.That should be relatively simple with Emmanuel Adebayor's departure more than likely after his growing disenchantment and poor performances. However, it seems that Wenger, who spent £15m on Andrei Arshavin in January, will once again have to come up with a cut-price alternative to the Togo striker. The slightly cryptic interview given in France over the weekend may just have been the Arsenal manager hinting at his unhappiness.Wenger also had to endure a rough ride from Arsenal supporters at last week's shareholders' forum. It is understood the Arsenal board has always sought to keep to the line that there is money available to spend on players because it is concerned that disillusionment among fans would strengthen the hand of Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbek billionaire who owns 25 per cent of the club and has promised large investment in the past.Kroenke, who owns sport franchises in America including the NBA's Denver Nuggets, owns 28.3 per cent of the club having bought shares from Fiszman and the Carr family, the latter last month. He endorses Fiszman's view that the club can survive without a major benefactor and Wenger himself has rallied against what he perceives as "financial doping".However, the Arsenal manager is now facing his most severe financial restraints. The midfielder Samir Nasri, signed last summer by Wenger, said yesterday that there was "no question" of his manager leaving. Nasri said: "I know that he still has a project for two years and he is counting on allowing Arsenal to rediscover its glorious past."Those among Wenger's targets for next season are understood to include Ajax's Belgium international Thomas Vermaelen who would not fall into the category of Europe's most-expensive players.

[n/a]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...d-want-him.htmlas this suggests if wenger was to fuk off to madrid would u blame himno wonder he got pissed when the supporters grilled him, the board have hung him out to dry

The invitation to shareholders for a question and answer session with Arsene Wenger at the Emirates last Thursday promised anyone who could not attend that a full version would soon be screened on Arsenal TV. What supporters will see on the club's in-house television station at 7.30pm tonight is a heavily edited, one-hour package bearing little relation to the events inside the Royal Oak Restaurant when 40 prickly shareholders made Wenger consider the Real Madrid Option for the first time. The flak was flying, with the Arsenal manager fending off questions from disgruntled supporters while chief executive Ivan Gazidis, chairman Peter Hill-Wood, director Ken Friar and club secretary David Miles slipped further back into their seats in silenceThey left Wenger to it, a sitting duck for the shareholders. They saw him slaughtered for selling five midfielders, they squirmed when one supporter was given a round of applause for demanding the sale of Emmanuel Adebayor and then saw him snap back at 'all your negativity'. All of that landed on the cutting room floor at ATV. After 13 years in the job, the manager expected better from his board. He expected their backing during a fiery clash with supporters, for one of them to stand up unannounced and remind people that he is the most successful manager in the club's 123-year history. Three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, a Champions League final defeat (with 10 men) against the might of Barcelona in 2006, as well as the privilege of watching Thierry Henry - the best player in the history of the Premier League - for eight years. That would have put them in their place. Instead, Wenger, weary after a 61-game season in which his team reached the FA Cup semi-final and the last four of the Champions League, was brutally exposed by the board as fans took out their frustrations on the vexed manager. Wenger is wobbling - and not for the first time this season. After their fifth successive draw in the league against Fulham at the Emirates, one supporter yelled 'Sack the manager' towards the end of the game, a scathing comment which even spooked Wenger. One has to go: Wenger (L) revealed last year that he has to sell a key player each summer to help the club pay interest repayments on the debt at the Emirates - and in-demand striker Emmanuel Adebayor could be the next big name to departAlthough the club cannot afford to lose this man, which is why he is paid £6.5million a year to do the job, Arsenal's increasingly disjointed board is hiding behind his smooth public relations skills. When a director does speak, it is usually Danny Fiszman, the third largest shareholder, dusting off his annual quotes about the manager having significant funds to spend in the transfer market, something that is always guaranteed to irritate Wenger. He responded last year by revealing that he has to sell a key player each summer (Henry 2007, Alexander Hleb 2008, maybe Adebayor 2009) for the club to pay the interest repayments on the debt at the Emirates. The manager has become increasingly detached from the board since his ally, vice-chairman David Dein, was fired in April 2007 and his relationship with Gazidis, Hill-Wood and 'Silent' Stan Kroenke, the club's largest shareholder, who uses video-conferencing technology to attend virtual board meetings, is fragile. Wenger's dalliance with Real Madrid is being interpreted at director level as a shot across the bows, a reminder that they have a top-class manager who could leave at a moment's notice for one of world football's elite clubs. One of his fears, in much the same way as Carlo Ancelotti is fretting about taking the Chelsea job, is whether he would be given time to restore Real Madrid. He claimed over the weekend that the project under Florentino Perez, should he be re-elected as the club's president, is 'strongly interesting'. It was the first time in 13 years that he has lifted his skirt to one of football's superpowers. Since Wenger was appointed Arsenal manager, the world's richest football club - with an annual turnover in excess of £350m - have been through eight managers, with varying A quick scan of Real's squad suggests that they are in need of a radical overhaul this summer after they failed to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga and were beaten convincingly by Liverpool in the second round of the Champions League. They are good, but not good enough to compete at the highest level. The story is the same at Arsenal. There is little for Wenger to spend again this summer, with most of his budget swallowed up in the purchase of Andrey Arshavin, signed from Zenit St Petersburg in the January transfer window for £17m. In the aftermath of their defeat by United in the Champions League, Wenger pledged to see the job through at least until his contract expires in 2011. A week

[Natty]

Cheez the board are spineless cunts tbh

[mp*]

Arsene finally slyly saying it now.. beg if hes gonna leave he just comfirms wats been going on

[Hernandez Balcazar]

Arsenal will not win the League again in the next 10 years unless someone buys them out. Not happening. Never challenging for the title in this decade or the next.