Arsene Wenger will determine his fate this spring

Arsene Wenger is probably in the toughest spot he’s been in since his managerial tenure began. Arsenal are out of the CL again, at the same stage for the seventh year running, in the most humiliating way possible; their league title challenge is essentially gone for another season, and there’s only the salve of a still-extant FA Cup run to look forward to at this point.*

With all the conversations around what the club should do as far as a replacement, from both a timing and personnel perspective, one thing has been, if not overlooked, then at least minimized: Arsene Wenger alone, seemingly, gets to decide the timing of his exit.

Sure, the board is nominally in control, but given how much control Arsene exerts over the entire Arsenal operation, from top to bottom, it’s highly unlikely, on current evidence, that they will act unilaterally, even if that might be the best thing for the club at this point.

So that means Wenger is probably in charge of his destiny as well as everything else - and today we got a small clue of where this all goes next. In an interview with German TV that, it’s important to note, took place before the Bayern game yesterday, Wenger was asked about his future, and when he’d decide whether to take up a new contract, to which he said

“March, April probably.”

That’s it. That’s the entirety of the statement. So, whatever happens, unless the board wakes up tomorrow and realizes they actually do have the power to act here, we won’t know anything for at least six weeks. Hooray?

*And, Arsenal’s current issues aside, c’mon - who wouldn’t be at least a little happy to see Sutton conduct a giant-killing, just because that’d be kinda great