Speaking on the ESPN FC podcast, Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger has said that he isn’t a believer in giving a manager time to bed in at a football club and turn things around, and these comments don’t bode well for Mikel Arteta.
This is rather surprising to hear from a gaffer who spent over 20 years in the same job, and his comments certainly don’t bode well for the man who now occupies the hot seat at the Emirates.
“Overall, I must say when you arrive at a club you have three months to create a culture of performance, If you’ve not managed to do it in three months forget it,” Wenger said.
“Yes, that’s why when I see people say today ‘give them time, they need one, two, three years.’ Excuse me, but that is not true.”
Three months is apparently the amount of time a manager should have to show his mettle at a new club, and here we are one year on from Arteta’s appointment at Arsenal, and the Gunners are in 15th.
Luckily for Arteta, Wenger doesn’t hold any sway on whether or not he stays in the job, and if David Ornstein is to be believed, the Spaniard’s job is very secure.
However, Wenger’s comments are still very concerning from an Arsenal point of view.
This is one of the greatest footballing minds in history saying that a manager needs to implement a winning culture within three months or else they’re a lost cause, and it’s fair to say that Arteta hasn’t quite managed to do that.
One year on from his arrival, Arsenal are closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League places, and Wenger’s three-month litmus test has certainly been failed.
Usually, you would write off a comment like this and say that Arteta must be given more time to get things right, but when something like this is coming out of the mouth of someone as knowledgeable as Wenger, you have to sit up and take notice.
Unfortunately for Arteta, Wenger’s comments here don’t bode well for him.
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