‘Hard to see’: Theo Walcott says Arsenal fans did something he really didn’t like when he was at the club

Theo Walcott has always had a great relationship with Arsenal and the Gunners’ fanbase.

Indeed, Walcott was always a fan favourite at the Emirates, he’d often pop up with important goals for Arsenal, while he was never afraid to openly mock Tottenham when given an opportunity too.

However, speaking to Off The Ball, Walcott has now admitted that Arsenal fans did something he didn’t quite like when he was at the club.

Cast your mind back to the mid-2010s, and Arsenal fans were beginning to turn on Arsene Wenger as they called for him to leave the club, despite two decades of great service.

Wenger is an Arsenal legend, but some fans seemed to forget that at times.

Walcott says it was hard to see Wenger treated in this way by his fans.

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Theo Walcott didn’t like how Arsene Wenger was treated

Walcott was asked about the treatment Wenger received towards the end of his time at the club.

Walcott says it was hard to see Wenger treated in this way, claiming that the gaffer had done a brilliant job and that many clubs would love to be in the position he had Arsenal in for so long.

“How did you feel then, you were away from Arsenal when he left, but that was the final couple of years, certainly the final few months at Arsenal, where I remember being at the Emirates for games and it was almost quite toxic between the fans, some who felt because all he had achieved, they needed to stick with him, some who felt that the time was long since up, that almost disrespect creeping into him around the game,” Walcott was asked.

“Yeah, it was quite hard to see because our main goal was essentially was being top four. Like a lot of clubs now, bite your hand off to have, I think it was Arsene’s whole, pretty much whole Arsenal career. I think he only had like one or two seasons tops in Europa,” Walcott said.

But 16, 17, 18 seasons he was in Champions League. Yeah. I played Champions League for 15, 15 years, I think 15, 16 years for, sorry, for pretty much 10 years for Arsenal, that’s not too bad, look at United right now.”

Arsenal record before and after Arsene Wenger left

Arsene Wenger would ultimately leave Arsenal in 2018 after years of certain fans calling for his head.

Many expected Arsenal to improve massively once Wenger left the club, but it didn’t quite work out like that for the Gunners.

Indeed, it would take Arsenal a long time to return to playing Champions League football, and since Wenger left, the north London club have only won one trophy.

Mikel Arteta has earned a lot of praise for the job he’s done at Arsenal, and while Arteta has done well, he’s been backed with huge signings in a way Wenger really wasn’t towards the end of his time at Arsenal.

Arsenal fans would regret Wenger’s departure at one point when things were looking bad under Mikel Arteta.

Life after Wenger hasn’t been the smoothest of roads for Arsenal, that’s for sure.

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