Arsenal chief Stan Kroenke claims it would have been EASY for the club to sack manager Arsene Wenger: 'It's harder not to do something'
- Arsene Wenger was under pressure to leave Arsenal at the end of last season
- But the Gunners stood by the manager and he signed a new contract at the club
- Club chief Stan Kroenke insists it would have been easy for them to sack Wenger
- 'It's easy to change coaches and people do it all the time,' Kroenke claimed
It would have been easy for Arsenal to sack long-serving manager Arsene Wenger, Stan Kroenke, the club's majority shareholder, has claimed.
Wenger came under intense scrutiny as his side last season missed out on the top four of the Premier League for the first time in two decades.
But the club's hierarchy resisted the temptation to change the manager, despite protests from a growing number of supporters.
Arsenal chief Stan Kroenke insists it would have been easy for the club to sack Arsene Wenger
The majority shareholder (right) said: 'It's easy to change coaches and people do it all the time'
And ahead the club's AGM on Thursday, Kroenke has explained the club's decision, insisting it was hard — but right — to stick by the Frenchman.
'When you make decisions like that, you are weighing lots of different factors, but you hope that you weigh them correctly and come out with the right decision. I think we did,' he told the Mirror.
'It's easy to change coaches and people do it all the time. But the hardest thing is to replicate success and remain competitive.
'You have to approach it with clear-headedness, calmness, thinking for the long term rather than the short-term. An easy answer is it's easy to do something. It's harder not to do something.
He added: 'We have dealt with this a lot in different organisations and we just think that Arsene is doing a great job and he's the right guy.'
Wenger faced loud calls from sections of the club's support to leave the club last season
But now, Kroenke claims, the 68-year-old French manager is 'more focused than ever'
Arsenal underlined their faith in the Frenchman by backing him in the summer transfer market as Wenger splashed out a club-record £53million deal for Alexandre Lacazette.
Kroenke believes, however, that Wenger would have thought long and hard before deciding to extend his 21-year stay in North London. Now, though, the Arsenal chief believes his manager is 'more focused than ever'.
'I'm sure he was thinking through if he wants to go on. If I see anything, then I think he is more focused than ever – when I'm around him. Focused on winning. I really think I do see that more than ever. He wants to win these things.
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