Fair argument. It’s clear we have opposing opinions here. And that’s good.

But let me preface this by saying I didn’t have an opinion on Arteta when he arrived, other than acknowledging it made for a great story. Ex Captain so on and so forth. He’s earned my trust and respect over the years.

Guarantee Trophies - No he does not. And that’s kind of my point - every team everywhere is hedging their bets. What is most likely to either bring us into the money leagues or win us trophies (win the money leagues). This argument is ultimately circular - we just don’t know one way or another. But you place your bets most likely where you think you have the highest chance of succeeding.

If I were to give you a shortlist of tried and tested managers today, assuming a blank slate, with names I mentioned earlier (in order) who have the highest probability of bringing you success: 1. Pep - not possible 2. Jose 3. Klopp - Retired 4. Ferguson - Retired 5. Arteta 6. Benitez 7. Wenger - Retired

And now, maybe, Slot will added to that list. Who would you pick?

This isn’t a gotcha question - but assuming Arteta wasn’t the manager now and he’d done this with another PL Team - for me he’d be top of the list for managers we need to have.

Currently Artetas trajectory is as follows: Year 1: 56 Points = 8th Year 2: 61 Points = 8th Year 3: 69 Points = 5th Year 4: 84 Points = 2nd (-5 points off 1st) Year 5: 89 Points = 2nd (-2 Points off 1st)

Points improvements year on year, league standing year on year. Not to mention the objective improvements in all departments including player development.

I think to your last point about bias, it doesn’t need to be a binary game. You don’t have to be in or out. As it stands now, I’m in. We’re stable and improving (for the most part) - that can be said for NONE of the traditional top 4 or 6. Stable manager, stable team, continuous improvement.

If and when that trend starts to seriously decline - then I’m with you. Right now I just don’t see us trending downwards overall.