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Originally Posted by S/Side.Red
Kroenke has pretty much been a major influence for ten years now. So that actually does cover a lot of those contractual issues. Arsenal had relented and given Cole a new deal one year before he joined Chelsea. As was the case at the time, Chelsea were offering everyone better wages. Plus his relationship with Arsenal had soured.
Whatever you think of Wenger, it's at best dubious to think he willingly sold his best players to direct rivals.
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I'm sure Kroenke looks at 60,000 fans a week, more match day revenue than anyone else, CL/Prem/tv money, a tight-£#%&! manager and thinks only a mug would change this set up; and why wouldn't he? He lives ten thousand miles away, knows £#%&! all about football and the last thing he wants is a squeaky wheel manager demanding dough to compete, so he lets him get on with it.
He knows he can justify keeping Wenger from a sporting standpoint because he won titles three hundred years ago. However, whether you blame Wenger for his decisions or the board for being happy with his decisions and leaving him in place leads back to the same place in the end. No manager who's been at a club for twenty years can have any excuses whatsoever about a predicament. They hired/bought everyone; it's on them.