The chapters of the Emery era...
1) He's appointed. It's clear he's the wrong man to unite a fractured club (reputation for bad man management, pathetic record on the road, poor communication skills). But the fans who hounded Wenger out of the club pretend to be pleased.

2. He begins to be overpraised like he's a child who stumbles downstairs during a dinner party. "He strung a few words of English together in a press conference! He makes subs at half time! He stands up by the touchline! Oh well done you!"

3. He embarks on a 22-match unbeaten run. Many of the results mask poor performances but the run obviously helps bolster the atmosphere of denial. Fans who opposed Wenger begin to hugely overpraise Emery. Chants of "We've got our Arsenal back..."

4. The home match v Spurs is perhaps Emery’s finest hour. The atmosphere at the Emirates is electric. A really happy day for the fans.

5. The unbeaten run comes to an end away to Southampton, the first of a series of pathetic performances away from home by the manager who once went a season without an away win. No shit.

6. The further Emery gets his feet under the table, the worse it gets. Bad man management of Ozil and Ramsey, endless tinkering, poor motivational skills, mass confusion over tactics.

7. Despite those problems, at the end of the season he needs just one win from matches against Everton, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Leicester City, Brighton and Chelsea to bring Champions League football back to AFC. Remarkably, he fluffs it.

8. After a busy summer, the denial returns as Arsenal fans boast that they have “won the transfer window” and fourth place is now the very least they can expect. How quickly people forget...

9. Then, things start to happen quickly. Very quickly.

10. After a reasonable start, Arsenal go seven games without a win & the wall of denial around Emery collapses fast. Xhaka tells the fans to fuck off, Ozil trolls the boss, Saka says he can't understand what Unai says, vocal #TeamEmery fans pretend they were never that into him.

11. Ultimately, the Wenger divide loomed large over Emery's reign. Anti-Wenger fans massively overpraised the new boss as overcompensation for their past treachery ( @LeGrove an admirable exception). Wenger loyalists were able to evaluate Emery more clearly.

12. And if the last 18 months have shown us anything, it's that the #WengerOut brigade were the Brexiteers of AFC. They scapegoated one man for all the problems at the club & promised a bright new future the moment he left. Watching them adjust to reality has been darkly comical.

13. As Emery teeters on the absolute brink this morning, Arsenal fans call for Freddie to replace him. A man who has never been manager or head coach and who was part of a coaching team sacked by Wolfsburg for, the club explained, “stagnated development”.