Firing Wenger is not an option

Firing Arsene Wenger is not an option according to Arsenal’s chief executive officer Ivan Gazidis.

Gazidis’ defence of the Arsenal manager comes after the Gunners’ 4-3 loss away to struggling Blackburn on Saturday, their second successive away defeat after that 8-2 humiliation at the hands of Manchester United at the end of August.

Gazidis was responding to subsequent suggestions that Wenger’s methods no longer suit the modern game

Arsenal have made their worst start to a campaign in over half a century but Gazidis says criticism of the club and the manager is a result of dangerous “short-termism” and that in the long run Arsenal are on course to thrive

Last season Arsenal were in contention for the league crown but stumbled to a fourth place finish.

Overall it has been a tough few months for Arsenal who have now won just three of their 16 Premiership matches and have lost six of their last 10 league outings. The gunners have just one win from their last 10 away games.

But Gazidis was in defiant mood over the Wenger’s future.

“(The criticism of Wenger) is part of this black and white perception: that you're either flying high or a broken failure,” Gazidis said.

“He didn’t suddenly become a bad manager. To have him portrayed as some kind of idiot who is out of touch is profoundly damaging, not simply for Arsenal nor particularly for Arsene, but for football. It’s nonsense based on the need to always create a mini-crisis ... we are incredibly fortunate to have a manager who has a vision of what the game can be.

He added: “To have a manager that thinks about the future is relatively rare. There is genuine unity of purpose at Arsenal. We are fully supportive of each other. I think the lack of division (between the board and the manager) sometimes infuriates people.”

There have been calls for Wenger to open the chequebook in light of of Arsenal’s recent struggles.

However Gazidis said that for Arsenal to attempt to match the spending of teams such as Manchester City and Chelsea would be counterproductive. “Firstly because it would simply drive prices to another level so it wouldn't achieve anything. Secondly it would not be sustainable.”

He said Arsenal should be congratulated for not trying to keep up with the extravagant spending of rivals and that to do so would be to jeopardise the future of the club and of football. He said that in this regard Arsenal are role models because other clubs are striving to become as carefully run as Arsenal. “I don’t think clubs are moving away from Arsenal, I think the opposite is true... we are ahead of the game. We are where other clubs want to be,” he said.

“We have made a tactical adjustment but the strategy remains the same,” he said. “We still strive to develop young players but in the last transfer window we sprinkled the squad with some experience too. However, bearing in mind what we did earlier in the window (with the recruitment of players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Carl Jenkinson) the squad is younger than it was before the window.”