Wenger calls on fans to 'trust us' at fiery Arsenal AGM

Arsene Wenger has called for unity after civil war broke out at Arsenal’s Annual General Meeting.

'Trust us - this team will fight' - Read the full transcript of Arsene Wenger's rousing AGM speech

Fed-up shareholders were in open revolt during the most feisty meeting of Wenger’s 15-year reign as manager.

Majority shareholder Stan Kroenke finally broke his silence, but it was not enough to appease fans.

In contrast, Wenger’s strong rallying cry earned the Arsenal manager a standing ovation.

But upset shareholders still let rip from the floor with aggressive attacks and demands including:

* The resignation of chairman Peter Hill-Wood amid his eccentric performance,

* Scrapping Arsenal’s “self-sustaining model” of a football club,

* Returning former vice-chairman David Dein to the board,

* Cutting season-ticket prices if Arsenal do not reach next season's Champions League,

* Giving Uzbekistan tycoon Alisher Usmanov a place on the board.

The hard-hitting questions were applauded by the majority of the 300-strong audience, to give the board an uncomfortable ride.

But Wenger stood up to give a strong defence of his players and the club, and insisted they can still compete with the biggest-spending clubs in the Premier League.

“I can see a lot of fear and discontent among you and I can understand that, because we live in a world where we fight with people who have extremely high resources," said the Frenchman.

“The way we can compete is to try to be intelligent but as well to be united because it is very difficult to be consistent in football. We have been more consistent than anybody else in the world in the last 15 years.

“To stay at the top, top level, we have to be united.

"That doesn’t mean I am not to be criticised. I accept that is part of my job, and that the board has been criticised, but to the outside we have to show we are united because that is the only way to survive at the top.

"It is difficult enough if you are united. If you are not united, you have no chance.

“We defend values as well that at the time are questioned - the self-sufficient model.

"Do we want to change that or not? I believe, and I take full responsibility for this, that we can be competitive the way we run the club.

“The players that we bought - I heard we lost two world class [players], I agree with you and we lost even more - but do not judge the players we brought too quickly because I think they are top, top level.

“And I would remind that some world class players arrived in August and were not played before September or November, some of them, and became world class players after that.

“We had a very difficult start and a very difficult environment at the start of the season and we were under tremendous pressure.

“But the team is on the right way, it has a fantastic attitude and spirit. We are capable of competing again and we will.

“Where we will finish at the end of the season? Frankly, I don’t know. I know just one thing: That these players we have at the moment are ready for a fight, because I see them every day and they are ready to have a go.

“Not many people at the moment are behind us, but I believe we can be a positive surprise.”

Wenger even defended the club’s decision to put up prices by 6.5 per cent last summer, admitting that Arsenal needed to do that to compete with big-spending clubs who pay more in wages.

“I am personally convinced that we have a chance to qualify (for the Champions League) again and I know as well that in the modern world the ticket pricing is a problem,” he said.

“But just to keep the players, we have to put our wages up so high that the financial situation becomes more and more difficult for us. That’s why I can understand that you feel punished by that.

“It is not a decision made for us (to our benefit) but just a decision that gives us a chance to keep our players and unfortunately it is the real situation we face at the moment.”

Wenger received a standing ovation from shareholders after his speech, which helped calm them down after difficult questions and US tycoon Kroenke’s very brief address.

The man nicknamed Silent Stan spoke for just over two minutes and did not go into any specific details about his plans but promised fans “you will be seeing a lot more of us.”

Instead, it was Old Etonian Hill-Wood who fielded many of the tougher questions - including about his own future, the return of Dein and why the club did not make more marquee signings.

Hill-Wood even forgot the fifth and final resolution and had to be reminded to ratify Kroenke as a director of the club.

Shareholder Des Merrill, a season ticket holder for 40 years, asked the question about Dein coming back.

Hill-Wood batted it away, as well as a similar one about Usmanov, saying they were “comfortable” with the board make-up.

Merrill said: “We all know that Wenger is under pressure, the club needs to win things and yet we can’t see it happening.

“Wenger needs support and David Dein would provide that support. If you look at the questions that Hill-Wood was asked, he wouldn’t give a straight answer. He was a bit like an MP.

“Another guy asked if they could have a reduction in season ticket prices if they don’t qualify for the Champions League.

"I wish they’d bring Usmanov in, he could offer something and Hill-Wood is past his sell-by date.”

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