Wenger has to leave Arsenal in the summer for the greater good

Every great warrior has a shelf life. Arsene Wenger’s time is up, though many will remember his name. The top teams in the Premier League are no longer afraid to play the Gunners, who are now joint-fourth 50/1 favourites to win the title this term.

It is always hard to walk away from something you’ve nurtured for nearly 20 years, but Wenger has earned the respect to do just that. Since taking over, he has accomplished what many believed to be unattainable. Manchester United were dominating at the time, and Wenger came in with fresh ideologies, revolutionising the game as everyone knew it.

Footballer’s diets at Highbury, as the stadium was then, became regulated, training more intense with an emphasis on ball retention and a skilful passing game. A year later, the effect that his impact had was clear for all to see.

A domestic double win, which included the FA Cup and the Premier League, had fans fawning in adoration; they had found their messiah, who delivered their first trophy for four years.

Between 2001 and 2003, the Gunners won the FA Cup consecutively, achieving another league and cup double in 2001/02. What followed a season later marked arguably one of the greatest club and managerial achievements in modern day history. Arsenal went undefeated for an entire season in the Premier League, with possibly the best football team to ever grace the planet. A squad of players which became known as the ‘Invincibles’.

While another FA Cup victory followed a season later, their spell of dominance was about to end, as Premier League football entered into an era evolved by billionaire owners, and the Gunners rearmed. Where Chelsea, Manchester City and Man Utd spent big, to compete for silverware, Wenger and the board drew up plans and a long term strategy to stabilise the club long term.

What followed was a state-of-the-art training centre and, incomparably, the best stadium in Europe. A case could be made that Wenger’s biggest achievement was securing Champions League football for the best part of a decade, while utilising his economics degree to balance the books, making effective use of a shoestring budget.

Fans calling for his departure should remember this. There is no doubting his hunger to win the title again, though it was a mammoth effort to lift the FA Cup last season again – their first trophy in nine years. He looks mentally exhausted, but who could really blame him?