The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust have urged the Arsenal board to make a firm decision on Arsène Wenger’s future long before his current contract expires.

According to the Evening Standard, 90 percent of the members of the group answering a survey on the issue believe that the board should make a decision and announce the manager’s intentions ahead of time.

That would be the exact opposite of what took place last season, where Wenger’s future wasn’t announced, or even seemingly decided, until after every game of the season had been played.

Many fans and the manager himself believed the team’s performances suffered as a result, and that Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil’s contract situations were worsened by the uncertainty.

If Wenger is going to leave, then it makes sense to me that the board should announce it ahead of time. That would give the team some certainty over the future of the club, and it would allow the fans to rally behind the boss one last time.

More importantly, it would make it clear that the job would be available soon, to any interested managers. If he’s going to stay, then announcing as much would be tantamount to just handing him a new contract.

So perhaps, rather than making that decision and announcing it early, the board should just hand Wenger an extension at the end of the current season, in the same way as they’d do with players.

You don’t generally run down a player’s contract to expiry before extending, and I can’t see the argument for doing so with a manager. Clearly, neither can the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust.