Arsene v angry shareholders. Who's right?

Following the shareholders meeting last week, Arsene Wenger has been suddenly flooded with support from all quarters. The written press now are rushing to his defence proclaiming his greatness and chastising those supporters who have criticised him so vehemently. Gone are those certain ex-players insisting that he needs to radically change his transfer policy, to be replaced by apparently different ex-players amazed at the attacks he has received and reminding us what he has achieved. Is this hypocrisy? Did the critical shareholders get it so wrong? Let's weigh up both sides.

In the blue corner, we have the critics. They make the case that the team is no nearer to challenging the title, that Arsene Wenger has misplaced his faith in some of his young players, and that he didn't replace the players that moved on. Some even argue that Wenger has outlived his managership, and the club needs a fresh direction under new stewardship.

In the red corner, we have the Wengerphiles. They argue that he has achieved miracles with a limited budget, has produced a top four team consistently with a young group of players assembled with a minimal net outlay. He has been strangled by boardroom instability and lack of funds and Arsenal would be where Tottenham are if it weren't for Wenger. This voice has been the strongest recently once a flirtation with Real Madrid was brought to light.

The problem with all this is that they are both right. Wenger, has, according to the board, had money to spend. He has had the opportunity to replace players, and add to the squad, and he has historically bought players with potential, with a few exceptions. That is his philosophy. It has previously worked brilliantly, but some would argue that perhaps it needs revision. He has also kept faith and defended players that most would regard as not good enough, and seems to view the team's overall performance differently to the rest of us. For example he refers to Arsenal as being in the top four in Europe. He doesn't mention that Arsenal met not team of note on the way to that semifinal. The board has also not done Wenger any favours. They were unbelievably slow to replaced David Dein, they have said that money is available should Wenger want it, which is actually not the same as handing him a transfer fund to do with it as he pleases. Wenger is a victim of his own success. He achieved the almost impossible by playing heavenly football, winning titles, all on a relative shoestring budget. Unfortunately, in doing this, he cranked up Arsenal supporters expectations and is now seeing the downside of that.

Having said that, some of the critics have been frankly shameful. Myles Palmer is a case in point. I won't quote him directly because I don't want to dignify his remarks and his website is widely read and easily found. These so-called Arsenal fans have remarkable amnesia, equalled only by their lack of loyalty. They conveniently forget that Wenger has been instrumental in transforming the image, the profile, the infrastructure and the stadium in which the club plays its football. Incidentally, he won't leave this summer, but eventually he will either through the end of his contract or through retirement and then the board will face their biggest challenge yet.

On balance, and I'm sure the board and Wenger acknowledge this, changes need to be made, particularly in terms of recruitment of players. All clubs with a track record of youth development do it within an environment of experienced players, and I think that has been recognised. As for Arsene Wenger's critics, if you call yourselves Arsenal supporters, you don't know what that means, I don't care about the rest of them.