Kelvin Tan thinks that Arsenal fans need to get real if they believe sacking Arsene Wenger will do any good for their club.

By Kelvin Tan

There have been a growing number of Arsenal fans who have been calling for the head of the Gunners' manager, especially after their recent slip up in the Carling Cup Final where the London side crashed to a 2-1 loss to unheralded Birmingham City.

While I will be the first to agree that the Frenchman has made his fair share of mistakes, the truth is that his achievements have far outweighed any errors, and if Arsenal fans think that giving him the sack will propel them to greater glory, they'll be in for a rude shock at the end of the day!

It feels like a lifetime ago when the Evening Standard splashed "Arsene Who?" on their front page to welcome the Frenchman to the London club, and what a difference he has made to the club since being poached from Nagoya Grampus by then-vice chairman David Dein in October 1996.

While the Gunners were certainly a force in English football before the man from Alsace arrived, the truth is that Arsenal had been in decline since 1995 after the departure of George Graham, suffering from both a lack of quality in the ranks as well as Tony Adams' well publicised troubles with alcoholism.

With one crucial managerial signing, Dein changed all that.

Wenger brought a fresh impetus to a worn-looking Arsenal side that had become overly dependent on Ian Wright's goals, rejuvenating the famous Arsenal defence by cutting out the booze and the snacks, as well as reinvigorating the offence by bringing in Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira.

More importantly, the Frenchman changed the very self-image that English football had of itself- that their game was about hard running and aerial power, and introduced triangle passing and speedy central defenders who could carry the ball from box to box, bringing the game to their opponents.

15 years on, what has the Arsenal manager achieved?

It is safe to say that this current crop of Arsenal youngsters have been hand-picked by the Frenchman himself, and the fact is that this squad of players, currently second on the Barclays Premier League table, have been assembled at a fraction of the cost compared to most of the other squads in the competition!

To find a manager who can do so much, with so little, is really better than finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, and any Arsenal fans who think that their club can afford to splash the cash brazenly only need to remember Leeds United, who were run to the ground under the charge of ex-Gunner alumni David O'Leary.

The Yorkshire club wanted bigger, better, faster, but ended up crashing and burning in the process!

What fans in the stands fail to realize when they badger their club to make big signings is that these marquee players also come with huge wages!

A signing of a star striker with wages of £100,000 a week means that the club will pay the player £5.2 million a year, which amounts to £26 million (before taxes, mind) for a five year contract!

Add that together with a theoretical £30 million transfer fee paid for the marquee signing, and the club would have spent over £50 million on a single player!

The fact is Wenger has done his sums, and is aware that there is certainly no value in chasing stars who could very well turn out to be underwhelming (remember Andriy Shevchenko, Chelsea fans?), which is why the Frenchman has decided to try to build a squad from the best he can find around the world.

It certainly hasn't helped Wenger that he has had to ensure that the club's long-term security remains intact, which is why the shrewd tactician has constantly let stars in their prime like Thierry Henry and Vieira leave before decline really set in, while raking in useful millions in transfer funds that helped him bring in starlets like Cesc Fabregas and Aaron Ramsey.

The trouble with televised football in this day and age is the rise of the armchair critic, and if fans at the Emirates allow themselves to be led by mass hysteria and force out a manager as fine as Wenger, I won't be surprised if the club begins a steady descent that could end up as tragic as Leeds!