Arsene Wenger is responsible for revolutionising Arsenal, bringing them into the modern football age ahead of everybody else, snatching a few titles while doing so. It is his holistic rule of Arsenal and his shaping of the club according to his vision.
Wenger still in total control of virtually everything at the club: he even decided the angle at which the seats at the Emirates should be in relation to the pitch.
When Wenger does eventually leave, it may leave Arsenal in a spot of trouble, as they will be facing into a leadership void in the same vein as United found themselves adrift post-Ferguson.
Andrew Mangan, of Arseblog, spoke to Balls.ie last week on who might replace Wenger:
I'm not sure who that person might be, or more importantly, whether Arsenal have the structures in place to deal with a new manager, because Arsene Wenger does so much with the club.
He is a man who is in charge of every aspect of the club, and in the modern game where you have a coach, and structures to support that coach, Arsenal just don't have that anymore. If Wenger leaves - which he probably will at the end of this season - it will be seismic, it will be a huge shake-up for everyone at the club.
Emmanuel Petit has today drawn attention to another element of Wenger's management which may prove to be an issue when he retires.
Petit has criticised his former manager's unwillingness to give coaching jobs at Arsenal to the players who beguiled Wenger's early years. Petit said the following to SFR:
Why didn’t Arsene open the door to Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira or Tony Adams?
Arsene couldn’t imagine that anyone would criticise him openly on television, never mind a former Arsenal player.
It is good to build statues to commemorate history. but at some point you have to open the doors to help them.
When I see Dennis Bergkamp on Ajax’s bench, it doesn’t bother me, but I remember Dennis has a son in Arsenal’s academy.
I was with Patrick two days before he went to the USA. There was an event organised by Manchester City in January, and I was one of four players invited by Patrick.
I spoke with Patrick for two hours and I can say – and maybe he will not be happy that I am saying this in public – he is really disgusted by Arsenal and Arsene’s attitude.
Bayern Munich are the kings of giving coaching jobs to their former players, and Manchester United have done a reasonable job also: Nicky Butt, Ole Gunner Solksjaer, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs have all had coaching roles with the club upon their retirement.
This has not been the case at Arsenal, with Viera at New York City, Bergkamp with Ajax and Tony Adams has done a coaching tour of the world.
This is not all the fault of Wenger: he offered Thierry Henry a coaching role with Arsenal's Under-18s this season, only for his record goalscorer to reject it in favour of staying on with Sky.
