Last season plus what has been going on since pre-season til now for Arsenal got me thinking - As a fan of UTD, it is easy for me to just say "#WengerIN LOL", but if I'm being totally honest, I've come to realized that I still want Wenger In, EVEN when considering what's best for the club. And that thinking actually baffled myself at first.
Seeing the kind of owner Arsenal got, I think it is clear that the club is doomed under them. Arsenal won't win the league or the UCL as long as that pathetic board of theirs stay the same. So if you put yourself in the shoes of Wenger, when you contemplate whether it really is time for you to leave, seeing how you've finally failed to get top 4, or should you sign that 2 year contract? I would have signed it, for the sake of the club. Because who on earth right now would be able to keep Arsenal competitive, at least for top 4 race? No manager would come to Arsenal right now, see the strict limits on transfers and wages, then turn around and see the ambitions of the fans and think Arsenal is a worthy project to get themselves invested into. None of them would love Arsenal as much as Wenger, I mean he's probably the only manager who would suffer and struggle with the club, fight for it for as long as he could. Other managers? They would have jump ship within 2 years, lose all motivation to elevate the players, rebuild the coaching teams, the scouting network, etc. Just get themselves sacked or leave at the end of the contract and find a new club. Causing instability, lack of continuity in the club, and things are just going get worst.
I think it is because how much power and how much history Wenger has with the club that Arsenal managed to stay top 4 for so long. Because I think now it is clear that it wasn't all Wenger who wouldn't want to spend, but the board are the ones who refused to spend.
So maybe I'm insane to think this, and trust me I'm still questioning himself as I type this, but Wenger staying might actually be the only thing keeping Arsenal from falling further down the pecking order. That is not to say he's done a wonderful job ever since the Invincibles, I'm just saying no one else could come in right now and do a better job over a few years span.