{"id":323730,"date":"2017-05-30T13:02:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-30T13:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=323730"},"modified":"2017-05-30T13:02:38","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T13:02:38","slug":"wenger-agrees-new-two-year-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/wenger-agrees-new-two-year-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Wenger agrees new two-year contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has agreed a new two-year contract, extending his 21-year reign at the club.<\/p>\n
Wenger and club owner Stan Kroenke met on Monday to determine the Frenchman’s future, with the decision relayed to directors at a Tuesday board meeting.<\/p>\n
Arsenal are planning to make an official announcement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Gunners were fifth in the Premier League this season, the first time they have finished outside the top four since the Frenchman joined in 1996.<\/p>\n
They finished 18 points behind champions Chelsea, but beat the Blues 2-1 to win the FA Cup at Wembley on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Wenger’s contract was set to finish at the end of the current campaign.<\/p>\n
Feast and then famine<\/strong><\/p>\n Wenger led the Gunners to three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in his first nine seasons in charge.<\/p>\n In 2003-04, he became the first manager since 1888-89 to lead a team through an entire top-flight season unbeaten.<\/p>\n But after winning the 2005 FA Cup, they had to wait another nine years – or 3,283 days – for their next silverware. It came as they beat Hull City to win the 2014 FA Cup, before winning the trophy again the following year.<\/p>\n Some Gunners fans turned on the 67-year-old Frenchman as a result of their league performances and they lost 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in the Champions League last 16 in March.<\/p>\n They finished the league season with five successive victories, but it was not enough to carry them above Liverpool to take the fourth and final Champions League spot.<\/p>\n Wenger told BBC’s Football Focus on Saturday the criticism he has faced this season is “a disgrace” he will “never forget”.<\/p>\n Anti-Wenger banners were held aloft by Gunners fans in the closing stages of a 3-1 defeat at West Brom on 18 March, while in the first half two planes towed banners over the ground – one criticising the manager and the other supporting him.<\/p>\n After that loss, Wenger said he had made a decision on his future which he would announce “very soon”.<\/p>\n He faced significant criticism around that time, with former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton telling BBC Radio 5 live on 20 March that Wenger was “an uncle who doesn’t want to leave the party” and was running a “dictatorship”.<\/p>\n Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, meanwhile, described Wenger as “one of the best managers in history”.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has agreed a new two-year contract, extending his 21-year reign at the club. Wenger and club owner Stan Kroenke met on Monday to determine the Frenchman’s future, with the decision relayed to directors at a Tuesday board meeting. Arsenal are planning to make an official announcement on Wednesday. The Gunners were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[145,1653],"yoast_head":"\n