Arsene Wenger has taken his second barrelling in the space of two days after the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST) voted against the Frenchman remaining as manager beyond the end of the current season.
A mere 48 hours after watching their team falter to a fourth consecutive defeat, this time against Brighton, a hefty 88% of fans responded to an AST survey saying that they do not support Wenger continuing in charge for the 2018/19 campaign.
This on the same morning that The Times claimed Wenger has informed his coaching staff that he still believes is “the best man to take Arsenal forward” and is not prepared to break a contract for the first time in his career, therefore will not be stepping down this summer.
As for the AST, the organisation have not stated how many of its 2,500-ish members took the survey, but the percentage of fans wanting Wenger to forgo the final year of his deal has risen a full 10% from this time last season.
The results will be presented to Ivan Gazidis when the Arsenal chief executive hosts one of his regular fans’ forum ahead of the match against Watford on Sunday.
The storm certainly appears to be gathering, but lest we forget Wenger has ridden out this kind of turbulence many times before.