Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger avoids answering questions about his future TEN times
Gunners boss is the only man who can answer what happens at the end of the season... but he's not telling
TEN times he was asked about his future, and ten times he refused to be drawn on the subject.
So the question tearing Arsenal apart remains unanswered, as Arsene Wenger continues to play games with the media, the supporters, the board of directors and his own players.
Only one man can definitively say what will happen at the Emirates when the manager’s contract expires at the end of the season... and he is not telling anyone.
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We all know that a new two-year contract is on the table and everyone is pretty much convinced he is going to stay.
Tony Pulis said so a fortnight ago after his West Brom had beaten the Gunners 3-1.
But until Wenger sees fit to confirm his intentions, the club is condemned to going round in circles until it disappears up its own backside.
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Ludicrous. No matter how many ways we tried to tease a glimmer of information from football’s man of mystery at yesterday's press briefing, his lips remained well and truly sealed.
It is a good job the French do not play cricket because Wenger plays with such a straight bat he would never get caught out.
Every line of attack was fended off with consummate ease at the club’s London Colney training ground.
By the end of his grand inquisition, Wenger was positively enjoying himself as he sensed the growing frustration of the assembled press corps.
It is now 13 days since he declared after the West Brom defeat: “I know what I will do in my future. Don’t worry, you will know very soon.”
But maybe a man who has spent more than 20 years in the same job has a different concept of time to the news-hungry modern world.
So, just like those famous mushrooms, we are still being kept in the dark and fed bulls***. And so it proved once again, with Wenger leading us all a merry dance after being asked about his promise to make his decision known ‘very soon’.
He said: “I accept that I said the first part of your sentence but I didn’t say the second part.”
But will we find out soon? “Not today, but I am very clear in my mind. I will remain like that.”
Why are you keeping us in suspense? “It's a subject that at the moment is not completely sorted out.”
What has not been sorted? “I have nothing more to add.”
When you say you are clear in your mind. . . ?
“I would not like to answer that debate again. There have been press conferences about that and at the moment it’s not the most important subject at the club.”
Are the delays causing uncertainty and instability?
“No. The priority in life is always to focus on what is important, not to look for excuses.”
So will it be days, weeks or months before you reveal your decision? “I spoke a lot about that and it’s exactly the same. I have to focus on what is important.”
You say you have spoken a lot about your future, but. . .
“No, you force me to talk about it. I don’t talk a lot about my future.”
So what are you waiting for? “Look, I have nothing more to say. You want to force me to talk about something I don’t want to speak about.”
So what needs to change to make you talk? “Not a lot. Just continue to ask the same question. One day I will answer.” Bemused club officials now claim any announcements about the manager’s contract will come from them and not the man himself.
But that is a desperate attempt to make it look as though the directors are having an input in the decision.
And we all know that is not really the case.
Wenger’s comment about the uncertainty having no effect on his team certainly bears closer scrutiny, particularly as record signing Mesut Ozil has made it clear he wants to know who will be in charge next term before committing himself to a new deal.
Jack Wilshere, who was spotted at London Colney yesterday, is also waiting to clarify his long-term future. We thought that, maybe, the England midfielder, currently on loan at Bournemouth, was back at his parent club to finally open negotiations with Wenger.
It turns out he was just picking up some signed Arsenal shirts.
And he still has not heard a word from Wenger — more than six months after the manager promised his contract would be sorted ‘very soon’. Those two words again. Yet football’s 21-year longest-serving manager will not have it that his silence is now almost deafening.
He said: “At the moment our results are not going the way we want, so it is important for the players to perform on the pitch and not look to escape their responsibilities with excuses.
“I cannot sit here and say, ‘We have no flaws or weaknesses’ because our results are there for everyone to see.
“The team needs to be strengthened and our season now will be decided by our mental qualities over the next two months. We had a deficit on that front in our last game against West Brom, when we had blind possession of 70 per cent going nowhere.
“We did not create enough goal chances and we had only two shots on target, and that’s not good enough.
“Now the games are coming thick and fast and we need to show together that we can fight and come back in a very convincing way.
“We have a very important game against Manchester City this weekend and in this difficult period I need to see the quality of those players who can focus on what really matters and stand up for the values of this club.”
Wenger, then, clearly knows what he wants. The rest of us will just have to keep guessing.