It is bloody cold.

Yesterday on the SheWore Facebook Page I posed a simple question which got an incredible response, more than expected, with everyone giving the same answer. YES.

Would you be happy if Arsene Wenger left now, even if it meant a caretaker coming in ala Stewart Houston 1995? Even if it means we are then less likely to be successful in Europe as in 1995?

The ECWC defeat to Real Zaragoza in 1995 was the first time I cried due to football. I was 10 years old. My football conscious had materialised 2 years earlier in 1993 as an 8 year old with the domestic cup double. My love for Arsenal reinforced with the 1994 final – the first time I had ever been allowed to stay up late to watch football.

Coming from a poor family, we had no SkySports, so the cups were the only thing I took any notice for in the early 90s. I had only ever known success, up until that moment in 1995 when Nayim scored from the half way line.

Whilst Arsenal did not have much of a choice to dismiss George Graham, I still look back at that season 23 years with questions of what if?

Ultimately, If George Graham was still at the club, would we have won that final? You can never say for 100%, but George Graham was superior to Houston, and we certainly would have had a better chance of winning the game.

Fast forward 23 years, and Arsenal have a similar choice to make management.

Should the club move Arsene Wenger aside now, even if it means damaging our chances of winning the Europa League?

First, the elephant in the room. Many to my post declared that letting Wenger leave will not damage our Europa League chances. And that every day Wenger stays at Arsenal, the club dies a little more. And we are not going to beat AC Milan with Wenger in charge.

Valid opinions.

Back in 1995, Stewart Houston came in for George Graham. If something similar happened now, would you trust Steve Bould to step up? Is he not just a “Wenger yes man”?

Back in 1993, we had strong characters, like Tony Adams, Steve Bould himself, Martin Keown, Ian Wright, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn. Do we have such characters now who could lead the club to success even without a proper leader?

Back when Chelsea won the Champions League under Roberto Di Matteo, they had the likesw of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech. We simply do not have that type of characters.

I think Steve Bould would be a failure.

There has also been talk about Thierry Henry coming in. This comes off the back of his comments on Sky Sports that anyone would love to coach Arsenal. This was however not him declaring he wants the job.

Firstly he has his job with Belgium. He is assistant manager to Roberto Martinez. Belgium are amongst the favourites to win the World Cup.

Then he also has his Sky contract. It is easy, sitting in the studio a couple of times a week, picking up a few million quid.

He has no coaching credentials to speak of and would be a big risk, like when Ryan Giggs came in at Manchester United or Alan Shearer at Newcastle. A poor spell could put him out the running for the job when he decides to be a manager full time.

According to Grande Vegas Online Slots, if Arsenal go for the caretaker option, they will probably have to look outside the club.

Carlo Ancelotti is the name which jumps straight out. He has the experience and know-how that he would probably lead us to success. He would possibly see taking the role as an on the job interview for full time Arsenal manager.

Ancelotti seems to have fallen out of favour since his dismissal by Bayern Munich. A strong end of the season as Arsenal caretaker boss and he might become favourite for the role.

Another who might see the caretaker role as a way back into the game is Laurent Blanc.

The Frenchman has been away from football since leaving PSG 18 months ago with 22 million euros in his pocket.

One who can be ruled out is Thomas Tuchel. New Arsenal head of recruitment Sven Mislintat cited a training ground ban under Thomas Tuchel as the main reason he left Borussia Dortmund.

There are 3 men with Premier League experience who would more than happily sign a 4 month contract to manager Arsenal. Marco Silva, Frank de Boer and Slaven Bilic. They would not be long term options for the role (even though the later two were on many peoples short list at some point). But are surely better than Steve Bould?

A final option could be former academy manager Andries Jonker.

The Dutchman left Arsenal to take up the managerial reigns at VfL Wolfsburg. Were he still at the club, you would probably put him ahead of Steve Bould to come in a take the reigns. He did a similar role for Bayern Munich back in 2011.

He is a man who knows the club, knows the players, and would also likely bring Freddie Ljungberg into the fold.

What is for certain is that if Arsenal and Arsene were to part ways today, there are more options out there than just Steve Bould.

Stay warm.

Keenos

Follow @KeenosAFC

I was there with 40,000 odd Arsenal fans there yesterday. I’m always there.

When the fixtures come out I don’t pick and choose.  What I do, like many others is plan my whole life around following us around the country.

But, this week, for the first time ever I’m choosing not to go on Thursday. Not because I expect us to lose, but because you no longer deserve my support.

Did you see 20,000 fans leave with 20 minutes to go? Up until a few weeks ago I would have been very critical of that. Now, I completely understand it. That’s the apathy I keep talking about. That’s your bread and butter making a stand and protesting. They may not all march, they may not all sing Wenger or board out or hold banners,  but even worse, they don’t give a shit anymore.

I didn’t expect a win. We are very average at best and city and very good. What I did expect was to see 11 men wearing our shirt with pride. Sticking their foot in, winning the ball back, defending like trojans because it mattered. But actually I don’t see a winning mentality from anyone on the pay roll in the club. I see a manager who sits down and watches the horror unfolding in silence.  I see professional footballers earning a lot of money and who have had the best training since the age of 10 making school boy errors. I see an assistant manager chewing gum and clock watching because he wants to get home.

In football you win some and lose some. Cup finals there are no favourites, there are those who want it enough to fight for it. Battlers win cup finals, bottlers win nothing.

I’ve seen us lose finals before, but I’ve never seen us lose one in that manner. We will be fed with the  ‘played with the handbrake on’ ‘we were a little slow off the blocks’ crap. Do any of you ask Wenger when the handbrake is going to be turned off once and for all? Do you ever question him or hold him to account.

Gazidis told us he expected a ‘sustained title challenge this year’. That was the brief given to the manager at the beginning of the season. The challenge never started. Maybe someone forgot to take the handbrake off.

You and your manager will gloss over the result, like you always do. But you cannot gloss over the fact that many of us no longer care.

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I stayed until the final whistle because I wanted to be there to sing Wenger Out. Few of us did, most didn’t.  Most won’t turn up to protest about him, but that’s the least of your worries now, as the big travesty in all of this is your fans have stopped caring, even to protest.

You don’t have the balls to sack him because you’ve made him more important than us. You believe the hype, you are more stuck than we are looking back on the great days.

I blame Wenger 100%, but I despise your ineptness to do your job.

You are custodians of OUR club, you are failing in your duty. None of you have put a penny into the club, buying shares makes you rich later down the line and that’s it. You sacrifice nothing, you’ve probably never even paid to watch a football match.

Do your job, sack him today.

*JD*