Former Arsenal player Stewart Robson has told Newstalk that Arsene Wenger has “brainwashed the Arsenal public” for years and the manager effectively “runs the club”. Robson believes people at the club “are frightened of [Wenger]”.

Robson, a former player with the club and analyst with Arsenal TV, criticised Wenger’s coaching and attitude, saying the Arsenal team have “no structure, no disciple, they’re petulant”- factors which Robson blames on Wenger, as “[the players] take their lead from their manager”.

Robson also criticised Wenger’s abilities as a coach, saying he “doesn’t coach [the players] and doesn’t allow anybody else to coach.” This follows previous criticism from Robson that Wenger is dictatorial in his attitude towards coaches at the club, including assistant manager Steve Bould.

Robson strongly believes Wenger needs to leave Arsenal but holds little hope for a successor being able to turn the side around: “the next manager will fail because everyone will keep talking about Arsene Wenger” and a new coach won’t be able to put his own stamp on the squad as “Arsene Wenger has put too many players on such big money that they won’t be able to get rid of the players they don’t want.”