Arsenal: Why Arsene Wenger Needs to Be Shown the Exit

It's almost unthinkable, but this should be the end for Arsene Wenger.

It doesn't have to be immediately, mind you; let the rest of the season play out and give him a chance to qualify for the Champions League with this team. But then that's it.  Arsenal has to move on.

The team has regressed like no other over the past few seasons. Sure, losses of key players like Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy made this almost certain to happen, but the regression has been intense from last year to this.

Just look at yesterday's Champions League match with AC Milan. Arsenal were outplayed so thoroughly that one questioned if one were watching the Champions League or not. Compare that to just last year, when Arsenal were fighting valiantly against eventual champions Barcelona and giving them all they could handle.

Can you get a starker difference?

Now, don't get me wrong: Wenger has done amazing things for the club in the past and present. He should go down in the annals of Arsenal history as one of, if not the, greatest managers.

His past accomplishments have been vast.

Even now, Wenger's ability to keep Arsenal competitive while turning a profit (especially in this day in age) is incredible. But with no trophies in seven years, it has become abundantly clear that a change is needed.

That change is to dip into the bank that Wenger has so nobly built and, like every big other club in Europe, spend it on expensive players.

Arsenal's identity should not be bound up in their miserliness; it's a good excuse (or reason, if you want) for why they have not won anything. However, in saying that that is why they have not won comes an admission that the lack of spending is what is holding them back.

Failing to use your money doesn't only have you miss out on potential signings, but it sees players you already have walk away. One only needs to look back at the losses of the summer to see that more losses, including a potential killer in losing Robin van Persie, loom on the horizon if adequate signings are not brought in.

Loosening up the piggy bank will not be done with the Frenchman in charge.  That alone is why he must go.

Wenger has done amazingly in so many regards that moving on from him seems unfair. It is unfair, but it still must be done.