Our presence in the champions league has been given such prominence in the talk of Wenger's success especially over last 9 years. However I looked back over the final tables for the 10 years preceeding his arrival. We finished in top 4 in 6 out of the 10 years and 5th once and 6th once. Indeed the year before he came we finished 5th. All that came during a period with relatively modest spending.
So he didn't come to a club that had been a complete "failure" but in fact came to club that had been a reasonably consistent "success" if we now define success as top 4. Thus although Wenger has indeed perpetuated and cemented our top 4 status he is nevertheless no Shankley or Clough and maybe his 4th place finishes should not be viewed as such greatness by the AKB brigade. His first 9 years were truly remarkable but that has been mirrored by 9 years of lack of success no matter what smoke and mirrors he and his supporters want to put up. His last 10 years have been less successful than the 10 years before his arrival.