Lay off Wenger, the Arsenal boss is the best in Europe - take that from a Manchester United fan!

Finally a balanced and sensible piece of writing on this otherwise tatty website. People seem to forget that Ferguson was an FA Cup replay from the sack before he went on to achieve massive success. Those clamouring for Wenger's head are nothing more than glory hunting youngsters who don't have the vision to see where Wenger is taking us, and just want instant success so that they can gloat about it on their mostly worthless blogs. Well done!

Agree with Harry Barracuda - nice bit of commonsense writing. Those under 20 take note - you're spoilt brats.

I am happy taht someone has finally agreed with me on this. You should not be judged on results alone, but the lives you have affected. The number of no-bodies turned into stars by Arsene Wenger is unchallengeable. Whatever happens from now on, he has built a culture that the whole world recognise and admire. Carry on Arsene Wenger! !! !!! !!!! !!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!

As another utd fan, i will also add without hesitation that the criticism of wenger is absurd nonsense, he's up there already with the greats like and in no obvious order before anyone starts...fergie, busby, stein, clough, paisley, shankly, and chapman, although obviously saying someone is the best is open to all sorts of debate, tbf wenger has also bought his share of duds, jeffers, wreh anybody, but overall i despair at the idiotic instant jcl success instantly tits, who go blabbing their drivel to any moan in on the radio and tv.

Great article. Spot on. Arsene is in my opinion also the best manager in the EPL.

the key point was that he has done everything on a tight budget. Arsenal's net spending on transfers in the past 5 years alone has been 11th highest in the premier league. If he had what fergie had to spend he would have been able to bring in the world's best players. time and again you read about young talented players wanting to play for Arsene but its very very rare that they will join if they have already made it elsewhere and have a sizeable price tag. Wenger just cannot spend that soort of money, so he buys unknowns and turns them into stars.

the best managers tend to win things..the odd PL title every 10yrs and zero success in europe doenst..In my opinion ..make him the greatest... the image of wenger coaching young lads to winners is a myth 1) they arent the product of his youth system ..he buys them from someone elses..unlike SAF 2) they arent winners..they havent won anything

pancho, id u even read the article???

Well, no matter which angle you are looking at it, virtues deserves virtues but unfortunately its not always all the time given hence the stick AW is getting. Like it or not, Wenger is right up among the best and i mean the very best.. One thing i have got to realise is that,even some people who says otherwise secretely knows that. Even though a real mix is very important, any real Arsenal fans should understand the Arsene's way, building team over some considerable period of time and making them as formidable as those "bought" While most fans sees the last few years(4) as unfortunate, i will only pick 2 in the last 5 and that will be 2003..when ManU "stole" the title on us and 2008..when ManU repeated the "theft".. If u are blaming the most recent on Wenger's youth policy what with the 2003 when Arsenal had about the best legs in the trade..If you answer that correctly, then you need not worry.. No team, no matter how good, no matter how much you spend to build it, will win all of the time. The important thing is that you should always stand to be counted when a list of real big teams are being compiled... so overzealous fans...Easy i will say.

POOR ME..I WAS JUST HITING MY RETURN KEY.. SORRY FOR ALL THE DUPLICATE

Good article! It seems strange that a few years ago this article would probably not have been published, as was the intense rivalry between United and Us. I hated United and found Frgie abhorant. But over he last few seasons (really since the invention of Chel$ki) my hatred of all things United and especially Fergie has diminished (maybe I'm getting old and mellowing, equally maybe Fergie is too???). It does seem to me that most of the people calling for Wenger's head are supporters from other countries. I'm assuming that most of them have only been Gooners for 5 or so years (since the Premiership became properly global) and that's where the demand stems from. Most people who've been Gooners for longer can see what Wenger has done and is doing.

You're right, the best managers DO tend to win things. But name me one who has done it consistently without having wads of cash to spend. Sure, Fergie has won masses of trophies. I just think if Wenger had had the same financial backing over the last 12 years or so, HE'D be the one with the superior record.

that was a reply to Pancho Pancho, by the way

Lets address this myth about funds/buying silverware etc... of course United spen more..we earn more, we have more fans paying more into the club to buy top quality players, and we earn a great deal through CL and PL success...but in the same breath we bring through a lot of players who are sold on at a profit...for every 25m spent on Rooney , we recoup 25m for beckham..for every 28m spent on a Rio we recoup 7m for richardson 7m for pique, 5m for butt, 6m for neville.. and then we have all those players who leave on modest sums ..1m for jones, 3m for chadwick , 3m for healy etc... and AW has spnet a great deal on dross...for every Vieira there is a Luzny..for every Henry there is a Suker..for every Fabregas there is a ... Igor Stepanovs, Nelson Vivas, Kanu, Pascal Cygan, , Gilles Grimandi, David Grondin, Remi Garde, Kaba Diawara, Junichi Inamoto, Jeremie Aliadiere, Oleg Luzhny, Luis Boa Morte, Richard Wright, Stefan Malz, Christopher Wre

Pancho, look at it another way... if Wenger hadn't been at Arsenal how many titles would ManU of had over the last 10 yrs or so... and also how many of those would have been in consecutive seasons. The Prem wouldn't be a 'global market' now as it would have been more like the Scotish league... although it does seem to be heading that way anyway

Your idea that ManU recoup most of the transfer fees is pretty misguided. This was just a quick search so sure how acurrate the figures are but you can see a huge difference straight away Arsenal net spending ~45mil over 10yrs http://gunnerblog.com/?p=416 A quick look at this article shows a much larger amount spent on a fraction of the number of players signed by ManU http://soccerlens.com/why-manchester-uniteds-spe nding-is-not-the-same-as-chelseas/2293/ tbf tho, I don't think Wenger would have spent the money if it were available anyway... which makes this a bit of a moot point. He seems to have his own way of building a team. The money has been used in the past when he's seen something in a player that he can use

shame the layout didnt come out properly

Your idea that ManU recoup most of the transfer fees is pretty misguided. This was just a quick search so sure how acurrate the figures are but you can see a huge difference straight away Arsenal net spending ~45mil over 10yrs http://gunnerblog.com/?p=416 A quick look at this article shows a much larger amount spent on a fraction of the number of players signed by ManU http://soccerlens.com/why-manchester-uniteds-spe nding-is-not-the-same-as-chelseas/2293/ tbf tho, I don't think Wenger would have spent the money if it were available anyway... which makes this a bit of a moot point. He seems to have his own way of building a team. The money has been used in the past when he's seen something in a player that he can use

Pancho, you forget I'm a Man United fan. If you want me to come up with a very long list of dreadful buys Fergie made, I could do it very, very easily. I'm sure you could too (Juan Veron, anyone?), but what would be the point? Does that detract in any way whatsoever from the fact he's a brilliant manager? Of course not. And the same goes for Arsene Wenger. And when it comes to money, I'm not saying Wenger has spent nothing and Fergie has spent billions - I'm saying that whenever Fergie has wanted a big wedge of cash to buy someone (which, let's face it, is pretty much every season), the money has been there. Wenger has not had that luxury. I don't pretend to know the exact figures - if anyone could help, that would be great - but I can guarantee that Fergie's NET outlay has been considerably greater than Wenger's over the last 12 years. Don't get your knickers in a twist. You can admit Wenger is a fantastic manager without disrespecting Fergie. They can BOTH be great, you know!

you mention Veron yet he cost 26 m and we sold him for 16.8m..sos little over 9m fr a plyer that helped us win 2 titles..not bad ..certainly a similar financial loss to Reyes.. SAF spent money last yr..mostly on tick ..but recouped , 7m on smith , 7m on richardson , 7m on heinz, 1.2m on jones, 7m on Rossi..not bad returns.....and lets not forget SAF has made some spectacular buys ..12m for ronaldo, 5m for evra, 7 for vidic, 1m for cantona, 600k for Schmicheal,900k for Irwin etc..

I love to be part of

Well, While most fans sees the last few years(4) as unfortunate, i will only pick 2 in the last 5 and that will be 2003..when ManU 'stole' the title on us and 2008..when ManU repeated the 'theft'.. If u are blaming the most recent on Wenger's youth policy what with the 2003 when Arsenal had about the best legs in the trade..

I'm a chelsea fan and i agree tht wenger is a great manager, right up the with fergie. both seem to be able to get he best from their players, but after years of dislike for wenger, bein a chelsea fan, im slowly comin round to prefer him over most managers-simply because he conducts himself well. all the transfer rumours and sagas illustrate that, especially uniteds chase of berbatov over the last few years, then fergie critisizing real madrid for their ronaldo pursuit. wenger has gone and criticized other managers for that sort of thing, and i agree with him. wenger has never been disrespectful in any way in the transfer market, and for that, as he seems to have principle, id rank him above fergie. over the last few years the outrageous ransfer dealings of most big clubs hav turned me off most managers, except wenger. in fact ive preferred arsenals policies to even my own clubs lately (not hard), as they seem to be the only one who are interested in preserving some principles in football. this is seen in that they are the only one of the top four, or even the top 6 who arent owned by some rich foreigner bankrolling everything.