Arsene Wenger has dropped a big hint that he will quit as Arsenal manager in 2017.
It came amid one of the angriest Annual General Meetings of Wenger's 19 year reign as
Arsenal shareholders voiced their frustrations about a lack of summer
spending and the club's "embarrassing" results in Europe.
Gunners
boss Wenger's current £8m-a-deal expires at the end of next season and
he talked as if he was preparing to leave as he said he wants to leave a
legacy for the next manager.
Wenger said: "I am resolute to
commit absolutely until the last day of my contract to bring back big
success to this club, and leave as well one day in a position where it
can do even better when I leave.
"That is for me very important that I leave the club in the shape that the guy who comes after me can do better.
"The
responsibility on my shoulders is much bigger. I know what it means for
people. I know how sad people are when we don't do well, I know how sad
people are when we lose a game."
One angry fan stood up and
shouted his question as he challenged Arsenal on what he branded the
"embarrassing" results in the Champions League after the lost to Monaco
last season and also against Olympiakos two weeks ago.
Another shareholder questioned why Wenger was still in charge after
19 years while there were several questions about why the club had only
spent £10m on Petr Cech in the summer despite having huge cash reserves.
Wenger
added: "I agree with you that the performances were not good enough.
But we have played over 150 games in Europe. You have picked three
performances that were not good enough.
"But if you look at the percentages of games won in Europe you will
see Arsenal are in the top five. You speak about Monaco, but they lost
against Juventus who went onto the final but they never deserved to lose
to Juventus. They deserved to beat Juventus.
"I accept you have
to be over-critical when the performances are not good, but look at
number of games Arsenal played in Champions League before I arrived and
look after, and come back to me.
"We are not scared to spend the
money - I know I have that reputation. We have shown in the last three
years if the player has the quality, we spend the money."