Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed that he was treated rather unfairly during the final few years in charge of the North London club. In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the Frenchman spoke about his “very lonely, very painful” exit and his final few years at the club when things started to go wrong.
Wenger was in charge of Arsenal for 22 long years before leaving the club in 2018. In total, he helped the club win three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, make a Champions League final appearance as well as build a new stadium.
However, as Arsenal began to fall away from challenging for a league title since their move to the Emirates from Highbury in 2006, many Gooners called for the manager to leave his post. There were constant calls for Wenger to exit and in 2018, he finally passed on the baton to Unai Emery.
Wenger’s two final seasons in charge of Arsenal saw them finish 5th and 6th respectively. However, Arsenal haven’t appeared to move forward since Wenger’s departure as they had to settle for Europa League football and finished eighth last season under Mikel Arteta. It was also their worst league campaign for 25 years.
As the struggles for Arsenal continue, Wenger has now lifted the lid on how he was ”unfairly treated” towards the end of his Arsenal career. Nevertheless, the 71-year-old also explained that the decision to leave was in the best interest of the club.
He spoke about the final few years of his Arsenal tenure and said, “I think people are quite harsh about the last years. In 2016 we had finished second in the league. Leicester won the title but other teams were behind Leicester as well, and Leicester only lost three games. In 2017 we did not qualify for the top four for the first time in 20 years but we got 75 points.”
Wenger then went on to explain that Arsenal still won trophies and challenged for them despite their poor performances in the league. In fact, Arsenal won the FA Cup three times in Wenger’s final five seasons at the club, showing that he could still compete at the top level.
“People don’t realise. We won the [FA] cup against Chelsea who had just won the championship and had the chance of winning the double. And after that, in 2018, we lost the League Cup final against (Manchester) City, we lost in the semi-final of the Europa League against Atletico Madrid but by just one goal.” he added.
Wenger, currently chief of global football development at FIFA, then concluded by saying, “At the end of the day, above all, we won and what I am most proud about is putting the club in that position.”
