The managers in the running for Arsenal know a big restoration job is required

An end of an era, but according to many down Holloway Road not before time. Those iconic Arsene Knows banners packed away long ago, currently gathering dust and being chewed to pieces by moths in lofts across north London.

He changed the course of English football forever, but innovative and stylish Arsene Wenger seemingly went out of fashion a few years ago. We’re living in an era when the FA Cup just isn’t enough.

There wouldn’t, however, have been fist-bumbs and loud cheers at this morning’s still shocking development. It’s a respect thing. Wenger was that touch of class, even under such trying circumstances.

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For some it’s all come a few years too late, but those who craved a change of course must be careful what they wish for and hope they were right. The proof is in the pudding and it is about to be eaten.

Arsenal have never been one of those clubs, their fans mock the likes of Chelsea whose patience with managers sees those in the corridors of power snapping at the first sign of trouble.

They can’t now become a club without a plan, one without patience and losing sight of the principles which have been woven into their fabric. Principles from Wenger himself.

Although the time-spans are similar this is not a Sir Alex Ferguson situation.

Lessons must be learned from Old Trafford mistakes but the two announcements aren’t comparable.

Racing obsessed Ferguson knew the going was good to cut his losses and that United side wasn’t worth hanging around for. The youth well had run dry and the legs of icons were going. The rebuild was too big and the Scot who rarely got things wrong was once again spot on to trust his gut instinct.

Manchester United, five years later, haven’t properly recovered. Still second best, considerably, they are paying the price for getting things so drastically wrong with David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal.

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Arsenal fans will get behind anyone with the club running through their veins.

If they see a roadmap, they will follow it. A short-term fix is not what the club needs, although things surely can’t get much worse than they currently are.

A popular appointment may be in everyone’s best interests, rather than an aging outsider or a club-hopper like the bookmaker’s early favourite Carlo Ancelotti.

There’s weight put behind Patrick Vieira and a return of Dennis Bergkamp, formerly the Ajax assistant, learning his trade in his native Holland.

Arsenal’s hierarchy will look at Liverpool and wonder if they missed a trick allowing them to lure in Jurgen Klopp when they did. Thomas Tuchel, the impressive young former Borussia Dortmund coach who replaced Klopp there, may therefore be given serious consideration.

Or could it be Massimiliano Allegri, the 50-year-old highly-regarded Juventus coach. Ticking all the right boxes and with a recent history of stylish football helping to bring success back to Turin after years in decline another restoration job could be on the agenda.