With the red side of Liverpool currently floundering in the Premiership relegation zone, a certain Frenchman in North London is smiling. Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal, must be enjoying feelings of vindication as he sees one of his major rivals slip out of contention and seemingly, out of top flight football altogether. Long derided for being stingy in the transfer market, as he endures five years without a trophy, Wenger has long preached ideals of long term stability on a sound financial footing. Moreover, aware as he is of his potential (albeit unlikely) sacking, on the back of continued failure, Wenger will no doubt point to Liverpool's decline as proof that good stable managers, no matter how eccentric, and at times frustrating, need to be retained over the long term.
Put simply, after watching the Anfield side's tribulations this term, chairmen will think twice before firing their managers. Especially teams close to the top and just shy of winning trophies.
Of course, having a winning legacy helps. As is Wenger's continued ability to play an entertaining brand of football while turning over an annual profit. With Arsenal's debt now down to 135 million pounds, Wenger's worth as manager is higher than ever. And in truth, despite the lack of trophies, Wenger's Arsenal has come preciously close to winning the big ones. A Champions' League final loss to Barcelona, despite Arsenal taking the lead; a winning Carling Cup final lead squandered; as well as a potentially winning Premiership campaign that saw Arsenal lead the league by eight points in March, before losing players to injury and thereby getting overhauled by United and Chelsea.
Although he may inspire and frustrate in equal measure, Wenger's ability to run a competitive club on a tight budget is unrivalled. Wenger has managed to polarize one of football's most patient and loyal fan bases, as his teams retain familiar failings and lack basic directness. However, looking at Liverpool, they can now see the results of removing a formerly successful manager, who is struggling to compete with financial behemoths, but able to bring a level of stability that most clubs can only dream about.
Chelsea is an anomaly in that their team seems to keep competing and winning despite an almost annual change of managers, post Mourinho. But they have the ability to pay infinite sums of money for players and managers. Tottenham removed a manager that saw them make consecutive fifth places finishes and then witnessed an alarming plummet down the table. Both Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona, went through relative lean periods after parting ways with managers deemed not fit to lead them any longer; despite the managers not being terribly unsuccessful, or in some cases Champions' League winners.
Liverpool will recover and finish in the top half, perhaps even top eight, but their present trials are a stark warning to other clubs who seek to replace stable near success for the sake of attempting to win trophies. Sacking Wenger may not get Arsenal nearer the summit, but it will undo all his hard work while potentially weakening their hold at the top of European football. Arsenal have never won the Champions' League and to be fair, have rarely looked like winning it either, but they have never missed out on progression from the group stage either. They haven't won the Premiership since 2004 but in the last six years have not finished out of the top four. And all that is despite spending far less than most teams in the top 10.
The grass may always seem greener, but as Liverpool has shown, it rarely is.
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