Today the chairman of Arsenal Football Club, Peter Hill-Wood, announced that Arsene Wenger had been relieved of his duties as manager. Wenger had been the manager of the north London side since 1998 and had brought a lot of success to the club. However, it is understood by the media that there are two reasons why Arsene Wenger has been sacked as the manager of Arsenal.

The first being that the club, under the leadership of Wenger, have failed to win a single trophy since 2005 where they got their hands on the FA Cup by beating Manchester United on penalties. Since then the club have been runners up in both the Champions League (2006) and the Capital One Cup (2007). It is felt by the board of directors and the fans that it is time for a change in leadership. Arsene Wenger will go down as one of the great Premier League managers but 7 years of no trophies is too long for a club with an illustrious history like Arsenal. The fans have also shared their disappointment in Wenger who appears to have become happy with just achieving Champions League football. Playing in Europe’s top cup competition is important to the club but it has seemed like Arsenal haven’t wanted to push themselves and challenge for the Premier League which the fans crave to taste success in again. This distinct lack of ambition may have been the decisive factor in the dismissal of Arsene Wenger.


Arsene Wenger has been criticised in recent seasons of not spending the vast amount of money available to him in order to produce a squad that could be challenging for the top honours. This further lack of ambition has been frustrating for the fans who have expressed their desire to get back to the days of The Invincibles and for their club to become a team to be reckoned with once again. The chairman, Peter Hill-Wood has always said that there are funds available to Wenger but it is job to identify transfer targets to the directors to pursue. This has appeared to not have happened as often as the fans would have liked. What has aggravated the fans further is that when the money has been spent that the players have not justified their transfer fee and have failed to perform at a level fitting that of Arsenal. Examples of players who have not made the grade are Sebastien Squillaci (signed for £4 million), Andre Santos (signed for £6.8 million), Park Chu-Young (signed for £3 million) and Marouane Chamakh (signed on a free transfer). These are just a handful of players who have been identified by Arsene Wenger who have then failed to perform on the pitch with the fans calling for them to be sold.

What the board of directors and chairman will be looking for is a manager who has the ambition to drive the club forward and take them back to former glories. The club has gone 7 years without achieving any silverware and for a club with the status of Arsenal Football Club that is too long.

Great start mate! Good Luck! #Papadopolous!

Oh no yoU didn't. You better make my team great or else there will be trouble okay. Good luck tho and make sure you give Eisfeld a few games *nudge nudge wink wink

good luck with this

There's already a few Arsenal stories out there, but I'm especially looking forward to this one seeing how great of a writer you are!

Nathaniel: Thank you for the good wishes. I can see myself sticking with this one much longer than my Real Madrid one. I hope you enjoy it.

Wellsy1498: I do have quite a good track record when I play this game so I can promise I will try my best. I am looking forward to the challenge and I will take on you sly advice

Jasonvilla4ever: Thank you. I hope it becomes a successful story.

Yuttra: I hadn't seen any around for a little while but I do know they are a popular team to be. I hope I manage to get this story to stand out from the crowd!

Good luck and good start

good luck mate! Spurs are better though

2013-07-08 21:18#118818 Inquisition : good luck mate! Spurs are better though

Agreed ;), but good luck with this story, I'm sure you'll do great

lwalter66: Thank you very much.

Inquisition: In real life I would agree that Spurs are better but I plan on changing that fact in-game.

Rablador: See above

Official Club Statement

Peter Hill-Wood

I am delighted to announce that the new manager of Arsenal Football Club is David O’Leary. David is no stranger to the club with him holding the club’s record for the number of appearances, which stands at 558 games. He served the club with distinction and was part of the team which won the old Football League First Division title in 1988/89 and 1990/91. Even though a lot has changed since those achievements David has already demonstrated that he is eager to get started and help build a better Arsenal. David was the outstanding candidate and he has clearly set out his intentions and how he plans on getting this club back to the top of English football and competing in Europe’s elite competition.

I and the board of directors are delighted that David has agreed to take the charge on an initial one year deal and depending on how the club has progressed come the end of the season there will be an option to extend his current contract. A press conference will be arranged for the 19th July where we will officially unveil David O’Leary as the new manager of Arsenal Football Club.

David O'Leary!

Nice to see that legend back and people who think Spurs are better....... Mind the Gap

Louis: I think I, or in fact David O'Leary, will have the last laugh!

wellsy1498: I thought he might be a good choice because of his legendary status.

Club Career

David O’Leary had a successful playing career with him starting off by rising through the ranks of Arsenal with him playing for their reserves at the age of 16. David, despite only being 17 years of age went on to make 30 times for the Arsenal first team and he was touted as a potential future captain of the club. A calm and collected central defender, O’Leary was recognised for this good position and his elegant style of play.

O’Leary received his first major honour in the year of 1979 when Arsenal beat their close rivals, Manchester United, in the FA Cup Final. David was ever present in the Arsenal side with him going on to make appearances in the 1978 and 1980 Cup finals and the 1980 Cup Winner’s Cup but unfortunately he was not on the winning side if any of these finals. Two years after that appearance in the Cup David O’Leary was made the captain of Arsenal, however, 18 months into his stint by relinquished to Graham Rix. David continued to play at a high level with him breaking numerous Arsenal records along the way. In 1993 we saw David leave Arsenal after his contract was not extended and join West Yorkshire based, Leeds United.

David slotted into the Leeds United team with ease with him becoming a big presence during the 1993/94 season. Unfortunately he was ruled out of the whole of the following season as a result of an Achilles injury. It was this injury that would bring an end to his playing career in 1995/96. David O’Leary retired from football at the age of 37.

Managing Career

George Graham became manager of Leeds United in September 1996 and looked to David O’Leary to become his number 2. This was a position that O’Leary held for 2 years when George Graham left for Tottenham Hotspur.

The Leeds board failed in an attempt to persuade Martin O’Neil to join the West Yorkshire club and instead promoted David to the job of manager. O’Leary tasted a lot of success during his time with leads with the club finishing a respectable fourth during the 1998/99 season which saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup. Leeds managed to better this the following season as they finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the prestigious Champions League. The first campaign in this tournament since the 1992/93 season saw them reach the semi-final stage where they lost to the eventual runners up Valencia.

Nobody in the footballing world could have predicted what happened next. Peter Risdale (owner at the time) saw the club becoming a team that would be competing in the Champions League in a regular basis so started to borrow money in order to fund the strengthening of the squad. David O’Leary spent £100 million on players within four years and this did little to improve the squad as they won no honours in this time. O’Leary was later sacked in 2002 and replaced by Terry Venables who couldn’t stop the downward spiral of the club which now lies in the third tier of English football.

David O’Leary moved onto Aston Villa in 2003 where he found the club hovering just above the relegation zone. By the end of the season Villa, under O’Leary’s leadership, finished in sixth, just one place below a European spot. David didn’t have this kind of success again with Villa as in 2006 his contract was mutually terminated after a poor showing in the league with the team finished sixteenth.

David appeared to have disappeared into the football wilderness until he made a shock return to management in 2010 where they took charge of United Arab Emirates based club Al-Ahli Dubai. Unfortunately his stint as manager was unsuccessful and he was involved in a long legal battle with the club in order to gain compensation after being sacked with two years remaining on his contract. In May 2013, David was paid £3.44 million in compensation after FIFA’s governing body became involved in the matter.