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Football

04th May 2018

After arguing with fans for 7 years, Piers Morgan has one final Arsene Wenger meltdown

Conan Doherty

You know what they say, the hottest love has the coldest end.

Or is that just Socrates who says that?

For the last seven years, Piers Morgan has been blue in the face, firstly calling for any kind of critical analysis of Arsene Wenger’s performance, and then just relentlessly calling for his head.

In the beginning, he was ostracised by the ostriches, the herds of of loyal followers he was urging to come out from the sand and see what the hell was happening to the club. That was 2012. Since, he has become just a number of the Wenger Out movement but a pretty prevalent number and, despite being ignored for so long, a persistent one.

The rabid Arsenal fan began to ask questions – publicly at least, or on social media anyway – around the 2011 mark and, even though Wenger would go on to clinch three FA Cup titles and three more Community Shield trophies in that time, Piers Morgan wasn’t conned.

He wasn’t thrown by nostalgia or the slaying of Hull or Villa in FA Cup deciders. He could see Arsenal were in decline but perhaps none of us thought they’d end up here. However anyone raising eyebrows was also getting more restless just looking around the continent and seeing the job that other managers were doing and the possibilities that were there for one of the biggest clubs in England.

In fact, Piers Morgan, in fairness to him, had been saying Arsenal should hire Jurgen Klopp since 2012. Three years before he left Dortmund.

Jurgen Klopp

And it wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to the annoying sight of Wenger’s long coat either.

This has nearly been as persistent as Wenger Out.

All the way back to nearly three full years before Liverpool hired him.

It wasn’t always like this though.

2011

Piers Morgan hasn’t been afraid to praise Wenger on the rare occasions he felt the manager deserved it. In October 2015, Arsenal beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the Champions League group stage and the Englishman was full of adoration for how the team was set up and how they approached the tie. Of course, two weeks later, they lost 5-1 out in Bavaria but, hey, it was a fun two weeks.

You see, Arsenal fans have grown weary. They don’t trust the good times anymore because they know reality is just around the corner.

There used to be a different way though, a different time, and it seems that we can trace Piers Morgan’s blissful happiness and peak Twitter support of Arsene Wenger back to February 2011.

But even that didn’t make it past two months.

And, by the end of that year, he was starting to simmer and calling for arms – if not to execute the French native, but at least put him on trial.

Then, it just spiralled.

2012

2013

2013 was probably the last real time that a burst of Arsenal form really fooled everyone. They’ve had ‘next year could be the year’ columns since, of course they have, but the start of the 2013/14 season had even Piers Morgan believing.

April

November

Proving himself…

Cheerful wordplay (enjoy it while it lasts).

Naturally, it didn’t last.

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Alas, Piers Morgan got his wish. Wenger decided to part ways with the club and issue a few parting shots at the fans on the way but, even after all those years of falling way short of expectation, there was still time for one final Europa League letdown.

And, perhaps for the last time, the chief of the Wenger Out brigade, Piers Morgan, provided another pissed off assessment.

An old football foe of Piers Morgan’s down through the years, Spurs man Alan Sugar, has always jumped to the defence of the Arsenal manager – you might call it the most extreme and cunning form of trolling.

The pair will have more spats in seasons to come but they gave their Wenger back-and-forths a last hurrah on Thursday night too.

That wasn’t doing anything to appease Morgan though who saw the reception at Old Trafford as the final insult.

And, just like that, Wenger really is out. Seven years later. Rest easy, Piers.

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Piers Morgan