EMIRATES, LONDON – Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger is reported to be “very surprised indeed” to see Robert Mugabe willingly resign from his role as dictator.
Mugabe initially stunned Zimbabwe by refusing to step down during a televised press conference Sunday night. He later resigned Tuesday, facing impending impeachment, Wenger questioned whether it was the right time to give up power.
Wenger believed the dictator could have extended his reign for “at least” another two years.
‘Mugabe Out’
During the press conference, Mugabe appeared ignorant of the reality around him, implying he would remain in power for the foreseeable future. Wenger said he understood exactly where the 93-year-old was coming from.
“Why should leave now, or ever for that matter?” Questioned the Frenchman, who has refused to relinquish his own grip on the North London football club.
Both embattled leaders have spent recent years facing down intense pressure to step down amid constant crises, surviving multiple efforts unseat them from power.
“The situation was not so desperate. He could have stayed and improved Zimbabwe, at least got them to fourth in the table.”
Wenger rode into power in 1996 when he liberated the Premier League club from years of stubborn and uncreative football. He won international plaudits for seizing the majority local white-owned midfield role, replacing them with foreign flair players.
By the time his team went an entire season undefeated in 2004, he had taken total control of the club. Wenger has since clung to power despite not mounting a serious title challenge and an insistence on spending club money like it was his own.
Gone too soon
Mugabe’s own contract is thought to have expired last week when the military placed him under house arrest. He was removed as party leader of his own Zanu PF party following a series of questionable decisions stretching back over a decade.
Wenger insisted Mugabe should have “been given more time to keep doing exactly the same thing he’s been doing for the last 10 years.”
After witnessing jubilant scenes in Harare, Arsenal fans are reportedly studying the situation in the southern African country to learn how best to remove a long-standing dictator from power without the involvement of higher regional powers.
Football pundits had fearful that the Zimbabwe leader would follow the Wenger model to remain in power for years to come.
“If Wenger got to him there would have been no chance of Mugabe standing down,” said former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson. “He could rule till he’s 101 years old…and Mugabe could’ve too.”
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