You have to hand it to the Arsenal board. Just like the team on the pitch, the people behind the scenes have just had a golden chance to make their mark, but by giving manager Arsene Wenger a new two-year contract, they blew it in the same way as those players who have developed a habit of falling short.

Two more years. Say it quickly and it does not seem so long, but in a football sense it could feel like an eternity for everybody at Arsenal, from majority shareholder Stan Kroenke through to the club's exasperated supporters, if the next two years follow the pattern of the last 13 at the Emirates.

But whichever way the road twists and turns from here, May 31, 2017 -- the day that Wenger's new contract was confirmed -- will go down as one of the most significant dates in the club's history.

It will either mark the moment that Wenger put the club back on course for a return to the top, justifying the decision to extend his stay as manager beyond 21 years, or it will be remembered as the day that Arsenal lowered the red flag flying above the Emirates and replaced it with a white one.

After a season that ended with a 13th FA Cup (a record seventh for Wenger) and a place in next season's Europa League after finishing fifth in the league, Arsenal look like a club in need of renewal and a jolt.

The time has come for change, for revolution, but the comfort zone at the Emirates now stretches all the way to the boardroom. Wenger has survived because a fear of the unknown has proved more powerful than the risk of a bold step forward.

There are clearly sound business reasons on Arsenal's part for sanctioning the contract that will keep Wenger at the club until the end of the 2018-19 season. The 67-year-old brings stability, certainty and a proven track record of keeping Arsenal in and around their domestic rivals at the top end of the Premier League.

Kroenke values Wenger's contribution and approach to management because it is fairly low on risk and, until the club missed out on Champions League qualification this season for the first time in 19 years, it had been high on reward, from a business point of view.

Under Wenger, the bottom line has always been healthy, and that, largely, is all that really matters to a businessman like Kroenke.

Trophies have become an optional extra during the American's reign as owner, with three FA Cups in four years adding silverware, even if all three have been greeted with a shrug by those supporters who believe Arsenal should be competing for, and winning, much more significant honours.

But Arsenal are a football club first and foremost, and there are precious few football reasons to extend Wenger's stay in charge.

His glory days as manager are now more than a decade ago, and the man who was once a visionary has been overtaken by a new breed of coaches such as Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino.

All of the above either play more attractive football or win trophies.

In contrast, Wenger has allowed his Arsenal team to flounder. They have been close to success in the Premier League in recent years, but the flaws in the squad continually scupper title ambitions, and as the man who identifies players, signs and selects them, Wenger cannot escape culpability.

He has developed a team that is too fragile psychologically, one lacking leadership on the pitch. While their form at the end of the season probably saved Wenger's job -- seven wins out of their last eight, including the FA Cup final -- it came after a midseason collapse that typified the recurring failings of the manager and his team.

The 10-2 aggregate Champions League loss against Bayern Munich was a humiliation, as were the four successive Premier League defeats -- with three goals conceded each time at Chelsea, Liverpool, West Brom and Crystal Palace.

Those supporters who turned on Wenger did so not out of personal malice but because of a determination to see one of English football's biggest clubs -- only Manchester United and Liverpool have won more major honours -- once again compete for, and win, the top prizes.

They no longer see Wenger being able to deliver that, but the board are different and believe that Wenger remains the right man for the job.

Time will tell if they are right, but they really did have the opportunity to make a change this summer. The chance was there but they allowed it to slip from their grasp, which, sadly for Arsenal, has become typical of the club, on and off the pitch.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by MARK OGDEN, SENIOR FOOTBALL WRITER

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