Wenger has full support of Kroenke

Arsene Wenger will receive the personal support of Stan Kroenke, the Arsenal owner, when the club's directors digest the resounding Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich at their monthly board meeting on Thursday.

Tuesday's 3-1 loss has intensified the debate that surrounds Wenger's future but he retains the unequivocal backing of the club's board and that will be reflected when the Frenchman attends today's meeting.

Kroenke was at the Emirates on Tuesday night, as was fellow billionaire shareholder Alisher Usmanov, and he remains sympathetic to the wider context of Arsenal's current -difficulties. Barring a miracle in Munich this will be the club's eighth successive season without a trophy.

Kroenke, though, has owned leading sports teams for almost 20 years and accepts that Arsenal are in a period of transition after the break-up of the team spearheaded by Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie. He also regards Wenger's wider achievement of 16 consecutive top-four -finishes as hugely significant and does not accept that the seasons that have followed the move from Highbury to the Emirates can simply be dismissed as failure.

Wenger's contract expires at the end of next season and there is no plan to make a change this summer, regardless of whether the club overhaul neighbours Tottenham in the race for a top-four finish. How Wenger himself might react to a first failure to qualify for the Champions League remains an unknown and he has always said that he would consider his position if he felt that he was underachieving.

His stock remains high across Europe and, should Jose Mourinho leave Real Madrid, he would be a leading target for the Madrid board. Wenger is still confident that Arsenal will secure a top-four finish and, with a transfer budget of pounds 70?million this summer, believes that he will be able to add the extra quality this summer needed to challenge for the Premier League next season.

His budget, particularly in terms of players' wages, would be more restricted if the club failed to qualify for the Champions League and would probably mean that he could make one less major signing.

Arsenal, though, will be financially stronger than ever this summer before owing to the front-loaded Emirates shirt sponsorship agreement and the new kit deal that is being negotiated. The impact of these contracts on Arsenal's finances will, according to chief executive Ivan Gazidis, be as transformative for their commercial earnings as the move from Highbury to the Emirates was in terms of match-day revenues.

That money will all be available for squad strengthening. The gap to clubs like Bayern is clearly now -considerable and it would be very -difficult to imagine either Wenger or Arsenal wanting to prolong their partnership beyond 2014 if the downward momentum of recent seasons cannot be reversed. For now, the focus is on finishing the season strongly and Wenger's long-term future will not be discussed at board level before the final game.

"You hear clubs being criticised for sacking their manager too quickly," said Peter Hill-Wood, the Arsenal chairman. "Now there are people out there calling for us to sack a manager who has been a huge success for 15 years. He is very diplomatic and calm but deep down he feels very strongly and he is as upset as anyone. It's not just me who is backing Arsene. Stan Kroenke is very supportive too."

Wenger also remains popular with his players and it is clear that he has the support of Arsenal's dressing-room. "We've got the best man in the job to get our heads back to where they should be," said striker Theo Walcott.

Thomas Vermaelen, the captain, said that he was shocked to hear -people questioning whether Wenger was the right man to take the club forward.

"Everyone in football looks too short-term," he said. "They don't look at the long term, and he's done a lot for this club. It doesn't mean that because it's not going well at the moment we don't stand behind him. You have to look at the long term. He is the right man for this club and we are all behind him.

"He still does a lot of hard work with us. He is the right man for the job. We have to show it on the pitch as well. At the moment the results are not good. But we will work hard with him to get the results back.

"We have to look at ourselves and stick together in difficult times. Don't look at each other, don't blame each other, work hard everyday to get the results back."

There was also a message for the supporters, whose frustration has been manifested by booing at the end of the past two home matches.

"They must not forget we need them," said Vermaelen. "They belong to the club. We have to stand behind each other. We have to stick together. We need each other."