Opinion: Why Arsene Wenger deserves a farewell that matches his feat at Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger, one of the most successful managers in Premier League history, recently called it a day to his 22-year long trophy-laden managerial career at the English football club Arsenal.

On April 20, Wenger released a statement annoucing his departure from the club which he held dear for more than two decades. "After careful consideration and following discussions with the club, I feel it is the right time for me to step down at the end of the season," the Frenchman said in the statement.

Wenger has been with the North London club since October 1996 and oversaw over 1228 games, an achievement unmatched in the Premier League history.

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Under Wenger's guidance, Arsenal won three Premier League trophies and seven FA Cups. He was awarded Premier League Manager of the Year in 1998, 2002 and 2004.

In the 2015-16 season, Arsenal was in the Premier League title race but lost crucial matches and an embarrassing defeat to Premier League title winner Leicester City, which was promoted from Championship, resulted in trophy once again evading the North London club. The loss to the eventual title winner triggered a worldwide campaign, #WengerOut. The campaign unraveled like a viral fever and Arsene Wenger was at the receiving end as he could not repeat the successes he brought to the club in his glorious initial days.

While the fans expectations hit sky high the club's performance descended to such a disastrous low that the #WengerOut slogans got louder and louder. Besides a top-four finish, fans wanted a league title which was never in sight, resulting in frustration among the fans.

Wenger was expected to go or sacked at the end of 2017 season but instead the club, despite his run of poor performance, offered him two- year contract extension.

A legend like Arsene would never want to go through the phase of sacking and that may have pushed him to call it a day. He quit on his own or was asked to, is altogether a different case but Arsenal without Arsene seems an end of an era. Even there were media reports that few of the Arsenal players were supporting the #WengerOut campaign.

Was this campaign necessary at all?

Arsene Wenger took Arsenal into the Champions League for 20 years in a row. Arsenal won seven FA Cups under his guidance. Although the problem appeared as if Wenger's philosophy was not syncing with the Gunners, after Wenger's announcement of retirement, the #WengerOut campaign transformed to #MerciArsene. Good luck, miss you messages are surfacing on the social networking sites but it looks 'fake.'

Even Gary Neville, English football coach and also a pundit, who has slammed Wenger on various occasions, is now sending warms wishes.

Neville said, "The biggest compliment is that he played football that made us change the way we played against them. He now deserves the most incredible send-off from all in the coming weeks."

No farewell would ever compensate the damage that Wengerout campaign has done to value and ethics of Arsenal Football Club.

Wenger urged the fans to take care of the of core values of the club, he said, "To all the Arsenal lovers take care of the values of the club."

My love and support forever — Arsene Wenger

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)