@Swales1968 Cowards die many times before their deaths,
The valiant never taste of death but once.
The valiant never taste of death but once.
So where do I start with Wenger and the news he is leaving at the end of the season. I think he as a man and as a manager has been let down
Let down by the :-
The board
They have just let him time and time take the flack for their decision making and not just Stan the previous board as well (including David Dein). Wenger has fronted up at every time to explain decisions the board have made. The press have just had a field day with him over selling of players, how much money there is to spend right down to the cost of season tickets etc. I would put David Dein in here as well, if it wasn’t for his attempt at a grab of the power within Arsenal by going behind the boards back to get a certain Stan K on board the we may not have had the disruption and mess that the years since at board level.
The players
Again not just this bunch of players who seem to lack the fight needed, yes that’s partly down to Wenger but when they cross that white line they are all international players at one level or another they know what to do on the pitch. Players like RVP who threw his toys out of the pram and sold his fitness down the river for one season at Old Toilet, the Barcelona boys who all wanted to leave Arsenal to play in the sunshine of Spain (and yes that includes Henry), PV who spent a summer touting himself around Europe in hope of a better deal and when one didn’t appear he was upset when Wenger told him there was no new contract and he could leave.
The ex players
Where do we start with the players who would climb mountains for Wenger this week but have spent years earning the media’s shilling and towing the media line to find fault no matter how small with Wenger’s reign. Petit, Adams, Robson, Campbell (Kevin), Wright (Ian) and so on, the one constant with most of those who have spent most of their time criticising Wenger is that they have not tried to manage a club. They have just sat in a studio and talked the perfect game, with no pressure telling you, I and Wenger how he should be doing his job.
The media
From the beginning to the end they have been on the back of Wenger, where was the unbiased reporting or views on Wenger. From the day Wenger called to media out on the steps of Highbury when he was accused of unfounded and slanderous rumours, there has been a sly and manipulative attempt to get to Wenger from the media. No backing of Wenger when Man U cheated and kicked Wenger’s team off the pitch in the 50th game, the constant referring back to that’s Arsenal’s 937th red card under Wenger, the pushing of the they don’t like it up them mantra and laughing at Wenger when he fell over and I won’t even start on the twisting of words from his press conferences to suit their big headline agendas. Oh and I nearly forgot Talk bloody sport, with Adrian Dungball, Alan Brazil nut, Jason Cunty, and the rest of the anti Wenger presenters they employ.
The fans
Not all the fans, most, the silent majority have stood by him through thick and thin. It has just been a shame that over the past few seasons that supporting your team has meant you have got abuse because that included the manager. We’ve seen the rise of AFTV, bloggers and vloggers who’s whole life depends on negativity, they had to create the divide they said was down to Wenger. We have heard fans call Wenger a ‘cancer’, wished him dead, abused to his face at train stations and had demos calling for his head. Is that the actions of supporters, they claim that it’s because we are not challenging for titles and cups, then we go and win 3 FA cups but somehow the FA cup is now not that important and it the CL & PL that count, top 4 isn’t good enough for Arsenal, but it’s good enough for every other bloody team in the league.
And finally the FA/PL & officials
Okay I admit I’m paranoid about this but I honestly believe there is a different set of rules for Arsenal. From Petit being sent off for swearing at a linesman from the centre circle in French to PV being given an extra game ban for failing to leave the pitch, to how many broken legs from “not that type of player” to Xhaka being the only player I’ve seen for being sent off for a taking one for the team challenge to the Lacazette “yes his heel was a fraction offside so it’s the correct decision” and finally to the probably hundred not given penalties that Arsenal do not get while Vardy, Alli, Kane, Rooney, Gerrard, Owen etc got or get on a near game by game basis. Then there are the run ins with Wenger & the FA being banned for saying this or that while mangers like Sir Red nose and Jose look-at-me seemed to be allowed immunity.
I could of added more to each section, but you would of been here all day and night reading through, but I believe that Wenger has been let down by each and everyone of these groups, he is without doubt one of the greatest managers English football has seen, if it wasn’t for the money from Russia and the Middle East just as the club were either moving or trying to rebuild he would of won more trophies, but you can’t see the future and Wenger’s stock fell because of it, it’s just a shame that these people could not report fairly, could not support properly, could not officiate and follow the rules of the game fairly and could not stand up to the media and back him as they should.
Also this is not a post to say Wenger was without fault, but I feel that has been covered elsewhere on blogs etc over the past few years or so.
I will miss Wenger as Arsenal manager, but time and tide wait for no man so goodbye Arsene it’s been a pleasure and hello……? Let the rollercoaster ride begin again
Positively Arsenal 
The club were happy to offer more then one year deals to Giroud and Cazorla before circumstances affected their own choices.
So…yeah…I just assumed, based upon the recent evidence, that BK was also offered a decent deal that was beaten by a petro club. End of?
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Poor Bloody Matt Debuchy – injury after injury and within a year Hector was the man. Not sure he would have moved Sagna on.
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Another shambles in Munich from the home side #JuppOut (tuts loudly)
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Munchen caught short of attacking options.
Sold Costa (too early) and won’t have a replacement till next season?
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One minute of mad and appaling defending and some dodgy finishing from the Germans tonight have sunk them Fins – not their usual standard
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As usual I wonder if winning the domestic league with X weeks to go helps them in The CL ever ?
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I imagine AW wanted to move on last season but the right man wasnt then available so he agreed a two year extension that he and the club knew was only ever going to be for.one year. His plan was to sliip quietly away after the last match: the board forced his hand to announce it now so that they could give him an appropriate send off.
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Unfortunately, suspect you are right on FIF Finsbury, he has been remarkably consistent on what our club and manager have been up against, and Mike Dean is a permanent feature
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This footballisfixed person or people just doesn’t convince me at all.
Take the very first thing they hit you with : We, The Arbitrageurs Of The NeoHyperrealities Of Post-Structuralist Football – Exposing Corruption Since 2006.
Eh, so the aim is to shed light on darkness, expose corruption, etc, and they choose that as their introduction.
It could be that they’ve simply made a poor decision there (though it is 100% consistent with the rest of their style), or it could be that they are terribly clever in some esoteric way, and i’m not up to task of deciphering what they’re on about.
Could be their strengths lie in discovering endless strands of corruption and not in reporting it well, or at least effectively for a wide population- which would surely be the aim for them?
I’d love to find some reliable source which explained all that has troubled me with pgmol and beyond, but they just don’t convince me. My mind snags on every other sentence from them. I’m well aware that there are plenty of subjects I’m weak on and struggle to understand the terminology of…but it just doesn’t feel right to me.
——————
‘The Football is Fixed network includes several market professionals.
We have developed an array of neural network-based tools over the last decade and a half to analyse and predict corruptions orchestrated by match officials in the EPL (and other leagues).
We now possess high level artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning algorithmic analytics of corrupt infrastructures.’
——————-
Anyone in same boat as me with ‘arbitrageur’, it means : ‘a person who makes money from arbitrage’ and, ‘someone who buys something, such as shares or currency, in one place and sells them in another where they can get a higher price at the same time’.
I wasn’t even tempted to try put that together with the rest of the sentence.
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Happy Birthday to my old mucker, the mighty Meerkat. We owe the world to George. When the weak and spineless betrayed Arsene Wenger because the going got rough, George proved he was tough and led many of us out of the wilderness by not only creating, but building a blog where we could speak the truth, provide the facts and figures, showing that Arsene was fighting herculean odds to make Arsenal a big “club” that did not have to sell out to oligarchs and oil shekhs. Contrast that today to these hypocrites in the media, in blogs, podcasts and on twitter pretending they love and admire Wenger’s achievements when in fact they wanted the club to overspend and likely go bankrupt, they wanted Usmanov to takeover and turn us another Chelsea, wanted Arsenal to play anti-football, and lusted after Owen Coyle, Eddie Howe, David Moyes, et al to become manager.
But at the end of the day Arsene could not overcome the odds. Swales did a damn good blog but I don’t think the Board let him down. It was the same bloody institutions that are letting down ordinary British people. It is the elite that control the PL that decided to let loose a continuing gusher of non-football money in the league because it is policy of the elites to help oligarchs and sheikhs use England as a place to clean up their ill-gotten loot. Only United generates their huge money legitimately (and spend it foolishly btw) and we all know if they were our only competitors after the Stadium was paid for, Wenger would have wiped the floor. He did it before. From an economic point of view, huge external money simply inflates the league to an unsustainable level and like financial markets once things normalize via a sharp adjustment, it will be bloody and brutal.
Secondary factor to Arsene being defeated is the inability to get the bias and ineptitude out of refereeing. I can’t prove it but it is my impression if you are favored by the refs in that is worth at least 9 points in the bag every season. Because football is such a low-scoring game and because top-top talent at Arsenal is limited to 8 or so 1st team players, the cumulative impact of erroneous referee decisions is a massive handicap over a 38 game season.
Where I agree entirely with Swales is the role of the establishment media, who because Wenger, the Frenchman, challenged and destroyed their narrative about playing attractive football, they in typical tabloid fashion never hesitated to undermine him even when he was winning. Not winning made it easier for them. The media only succeeded because most Arsenal bloggers and podcasters, instead of helping to promote financial fairplay and campaign for VAR are either useful idiots who cannot think for themselves or craven, unprincipled liars who publish to gain clicks and notoriety.
NOTH speaks the hard truth. Struggling at 5th or 6th was bad optics for the corporate types who now run the show at Arsenal. But those of us, who have been following the PL for any decent stretch of time, are very aware that changing managers does not change the underlying dynamic. If you don’t have the best players a club struggles. Changing managers does not automatically provide money to compete with the bigger clubs for talent. Gazidis boasted a new manager will stick to playing attractive football, competing for titles and promoting youth from within but he never advised that a new manager must operate within a budget as the Club must make a profit. Given that the media and the bloggers refuse to discuss these issues, I predict a hard future for Arsenal Football Club.
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Mandy Dodd at @ 8.28 pm, we know that Ornstein is fed information by the club and Dien is still close to Arsene, so I would speculate based on their comments that Arsene seriously considered leaving last season but stayed because Arsenal were not in a position to replace him. I’m sure the 2 year contract was designed to stop another season of questions and disruption. Had this season to date gone better and the WOB’s not had so much ammo to continue to fuel the toxicity around the club, he might have stayed for the second year to work with the new backroom team to get those 2/3 additional players to make the team competitive again. I choose to take him at his word. The unity was not there in the fanbase and it was damaging to the Club. I’m sure he discussed it with the relevant people and both sides agreed that now the infrastructure is in place it was as good a time as any for him to move on. Being the man he is, he is not leaving because he wants to, but because he believes it is the right thing to do for the sake of the Club.
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Rich, if you are not convinced by FIF, have a read through the archives of Untold Arsenal, they produce their evidence mainly along the lines that we get a pretty rough deal with refs, they use reviews by Arsenal, non Arsenal fans and two or three refs that have worked at a high level, they back up in as much as they can what they are saying.
The guy in FIF is more secretive than untold,claims to have been part of a hacking syndicate, and also a trader on football markets, also claims knowledge of dark pool Asian markets, ie illegal betting.
Who knows if he is the truth and all the truth. But I use the word fraction of the truth with him , I am sure there is that much, what he says often fits with what some would see, but of course that is nowhere near proof and leaves claims of selective bias, cherry picking and hindsight. He rarely makes predictions, whereas Untold, in their ref previews involving Arsenal games can be uncannily accurate, though some might say that it is not hard to predict how, say Mike Dean will referee an Arsenal game
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Very well put and plausible Passenal.
It’s of different scenarios can be put forward in ways that make a lot of sense at the moment, but knowing Wengers character, and other things out there, what you have said makes perfect sense.
Just wish he had sorted that defence and related conditions to stay little longer! Ok being simplistic there!
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Wenger on Arsenal job: “You will not be short of candidates. Green outside, nice trees, good grass. Fantastic. No pollution. Until the press conference starts.”
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Shotta, absolutely correct. Remember a big Untold article, changing managers is no guarantee of success, unless you spend a hell of a lot of money when you do so, and even then, it might not work, as Utd have found. Chelsea spend a fortune and it seems to work every two or three years.
I suspect we are entering the realms of Liverpool and the Spuds, from time to time, and pretty rarely in the case of the latter, an absolute blinding manager comes along, but he and his top players will ultimately get picked off by those the super rich.
Keep seeing these names linked with Arsenal, strange, many do not fit what we will become post Wenger, a couple of check book managers, one who has only succeeded with the elite of the elite, inexperienced ex players, impressive it young , or fairly old Germans.
Arsenal are the club of smokescreens, just cannot help but think that Monaco manager could, based on previous , do a really good job with post Wenger Arsenal. Even if he doesn’t have any mates on or close to the board
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Just as I have been tweeting over the past 2 days. The media made fools of us over the past 12 years and won the day.
#Arsenal_Fans_Are_Idiots: That is exactly what journo, Oliver Holt, thinks of us in the tweet below. We allow the Mainstream Media to make idiots of us when we follow their lead and undermined our greatest ever manager and Ollie Holt is all “lolz”. How stupid are we?
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Mandy
Untold much more my cuppa. Like and trust the main guys and think they talk much sense and are undoubtedly correct about, to put it mildly, the raw deal we have received over years
Used to read and post a lot there until I felt I had read and said just about everything i ever could about pgmol * and found myself gravitating here instead.
I hoped to cut way way back on discussing refs but have so far found that impossible for me, so Anicol is just stuck with it (unless he bans me!)
* Apart from highlighting incidents, discussing them; pointing out strange stats, any irregularities; and especially using logic, there’s not much more you can do, as any killer evidence (the kind that could not be ignored and would force a crisis and then change) of serious wrongdoing, if it exists, is so unlikely to emerge.
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Mandy: You are correct to fear Arsenal is “entering the realms of Liverpool and the Spuds”. I would add Newcastle to that list, i.e. traditional big English clubs whose fans allowed themselves to be deluded into the belief that changing manager will make them more competitive with United, City and Chelsea who have the money to buy “success”. Even if the new manager has realistic expectations and his primary goal is to make top-4, the massively deluded fanbase, (just as they did at Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle) will make his life hell because they have unrealistic expectations and have been spoiled by Wenger’s consistency. The worst of the fans will be the big bloggers and podcasters because they are the ones who helped sow these expectations and to retain their legitimacy and retain the clicks that earn them money (a certain blog-podcast springs to mind) they have to demonize the new manger and keep the lemmings in the matrix. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
I am not one to make predictions but this is very likely. Mark my words.
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The main difference between other clubs and us is the Arsene factor. I think he would of made sure transition will not be a trap door for future managers.
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People can make their own trap doors regardless.
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Ian: The biggest challenge to any new manager is the Arsenal fanbase. Our lot produced ArsenalFanTV ffs. I saw Robbie giving it large on the Russian tv channel (RT) as one of Arsenal’s biggest fans. I was gobsmacked to say the least. A failed hustler from London has gained international notoriety by undermining the manager via a youtube channel. Prior to that we had the barely literate LeGrove dominating the competition among bloggers to say the most negative things about the club. If I am to believe Passenal and others, the sense of entitlement among match-going fans is so bad; they spend half their time grumbling rather than supporting. Frankly I am not convinced that Wenger’s appeal to values will work, at least not in the short run. For example, one prominent blogger and hard core fan did his best to pooh-pooh the notion. That is how far down the rabbit hole Arsenal fans have gone. They have swallowed the media narrative (hook, line and sinker) that the club, and Wenger in particular, is underperforming and it should be consistently challenging for titles like City and Chelsea. They won’t be satisfied with the new manager just making top-4. God forbids if he only makes 5th or 6th. We have seen the same b.s. with Moyes at United who barely lasted a season. After firing poor old Moyesie they expended huge resources to buy new players and recruit two big-time managers yet they fell as low as 10th. Don’t fool yourselves, it can get much worse than it currently is. As a fan it is not something I wish for. But someone must raise the hard issues which the fake media and fake bloggers-podcasters refuse to discuss.
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Agree with every point, exactly how I feel about everything. I think Wenger’s biggest problem, and it’s not really HIS problem, is that he’s come from a position of moral superiority in almost every situation I’ve ever seen him in, and for people that are not comfortable in their own skin, it makes them feel inferior and small. That’s it for me. He’s not always right, he’s made a lot of mistakes like we all have, but I think that he’s genuinely a kind and decent man in a football world filled with narcissists, prima-donnas, and egos. that’s why he’s attacked and picked at.
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Shotta – you are right to suggest that it can get much worse, but I sense that it won’t because I suspect that there is more of a long-term plan in place. I think it entirely likely that Arsene has helped put that plan in place (and I don’t think there is too much cognitive dissonance to point out that while approving he might also feel prickly and irritated about the whole business). A set up that has so carefully lived within its means seems unlikely to suddenly abandon those fiscal principles in the hope that magical new signings will deliver the promised land.
Where I do think the hoped-for gains are likely to come from will be a much more ruthless and less-principled approach to the players’ fitness levels. One of the many reasons that I admired Arsene so much was his willingness to give players time to recover naturally from injury and to allow them a style of play that was sustainable for his players as athletes. As I’ve suggested before, the high-energy intensity of a Klopp or Pochettino is barely possible for a player to manage for a whole season, let alone for several seasons in a row. I think it entirely likely that we will see players come in, flame brightly for 18 months, and then disappear from the scene. It reminds me a little bit of the early career of Martin Pipe the National Hunt racehorse trainer who got his quite moderate horses a lot fitter than anyone else: it did him and his patrons and punters very nicely, but was less kind to the dumb animals in his care.
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Jared- good post (can’t use like function but i like it)
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It’s all guesswork but I think it’s possible already to predict areas where things will change and in what direction.
For example, new man will be at least a bit and maybe a lot more cynical.
New man extremely unlikely to protect players as well- whether that be subbing off people earlier, dropping them after poor game, slower to reintroduce after dropped for form.
Likely to be at least a little less harmony in squad.
Thinking and decision-making will surely be a bit more short term. This is natural, as the emphasis on mid-and-long term from Wenger is unusual and in part a product of his extremely long tenure.
Those are areas, like providing a good environment, opportunities and encouragement for young players where I believe Wenger is incredibly strong, and where no improvement is possible and a change in the other direction is inevitable.
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Heady: I am not predicting doom and gloom but as a quasi-analyst it would be remiss of me to not point out that clubs transitioning from the reign of a legendary successful manager have a period of adjustment where results go south for various reasons. I suspect the main thing is the new manager is understandably tentative and the opposition ruthlessly takes advantage. Given our fanbase, especially the media induced stupidity by most of our bloggers and podcasters, it is likely to be a difficult transition. Like everything in nature, time will tell.
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Rich
We can chuck the FIF unpublished data in the bin aloingside the pgMOBs data that they dare not publish. We still have two or three other independant unconnected studies published by credible entitites who have nothing to hide.
AFC the only big club to sack a manager for taking a bung.
The twenty year marriage with the manager who had tapie banged up
The fizman handover story.
Plenty of juicy data just in those stories alone. Ignored by the hack pack. Consistently.
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And thugs had broken BK’s leg twice, the latter being a deliberate stamp by a Nawitch player. I can still picture the long-shot on MOTD where they showed the incident and just lied as to whether it was a stamp. (Well done Gary. I see you’re in with uefa. What does that tell me about you).
Come on, it’s not as though Arsplayers don’t know what’s going on. They’re fkd over every week, but BK, like others, love Arsenal, Arsene and beautiful football.
When it comes to making a choice about your last contract one might not only think about retirement money, but also ones body health. It appears to me that a substantial pay rise, the possibility of getting a couple of trophies & being able to walk in the coming decades – could easily tempt a BK or other player to leave.
Thanks for being at Arsenal, Bacary.
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“I think it entirely likely that we will see players come in, flame brightly for 18 months, and then disappear from the scene. It reminds me a little bit of the early career of Martin Pipe the National Hunt racehorse trainer who got his quite moderate horses a lot fitter than anyone else: it did him and his patrons and punters very nicely, but was less kind to the dumb animals in his care.”
I was sorry to see Sanchez go too Tim.
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shotta
I’m going to have to disagree (a bit) with you.
First, about performances in the future. I do not agree that Arsenal cannot win the way we are going. I do agree that no success will ever be portrayed as good enough because Arsenal bashing is a sub-industry for bloggers and ‘fans’, and those on high do not like a self sustaining model in the EPL. But I think that some of the worst of the refereeing will take a break, at least for most of the season. Wenger was the spokesperson for fair play for decades. His legacy must be tarnished and they’ll do it by allowing the next guy to at least go about unharmed for a bit to make it appear easy.. And I include the Aftv lot in this…They’ll say he must be given time etc because they take their lead from the media. Wenger’s leaving because he’s built a good base for the next guy, so I don’t think we’ll plummet down the table.
Also, I have to disagree with you about the victory or defeat of values. Although I admit Josh Kroenke is a wildcard, but I think the values that Arsene talks about were also the club’s values. Now Papa Kroenke may not care about values (or he might) but one thing is clear. That exhibiting those values also brings value to their company. We haven’t won the league in however many years. We’ve been told for over a decade that we’re crap, terrible, losers, useless, soft, and oddly enough, cheats and dirty. (Same old Arsenal, always cheating) And yet…and yet…. Our fanbase has increased, the global reach is higher, and more and more brands still want to be associated with us and pay us top dollar. We have one of the..if not the..most active online fanbases. who love Arsenal and want to identify with this loser club with its loser manager and miserly board. Why?
Because the world doesn’t care about the British media and their agenda. People around the world care about these values. We don’t need to shout about it while holding selfie sticks and sticking it on youtube, because that too is against the same values. The people vote with their attention (Your attention is the biggest commodity these days) and love and care for the Arsenal. And so I would say, despite the cheating, the fucking blatant hypocrisy, the annoying know it alls in the media and fanbase. Despite all this, those values stand for something, including something tangible, ie money for the club/shareholders. Don’t let them tell you you’re losing. You aren’t.
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I see Passenal, foreverheady, Mandy and others have touched upon the circumstances surrounding Arsene’s resignation.
I’m of the opinion that he wanted to go at the end of last season but Arsenal were not ready. I checked to remind myself that Raul Sanhelli and Sven Mislintat were not secured until November 2017. Perhaps, the two year contract for Arsene was security should those two not have signed.
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Shard:
You may well be right. But I rely on data and history is not very kind to clubs after legendary managers have left.
Since United last won a title in 2012, under Ferguson, they haven’t had a sniff.
Cruyff was fired by Barcelona in 1996; they won the title the next 2 years but went on 5 yr decline. They had to go back to Cruyff’s model after fooling around for years.
Paisley, the Liverpool legend, retired in 1984, they won the title the next 3 years and have since gone on a 28 year drought. At least the supporters still sing great songs.
The one thing I have gleaned from the admittedly small data set is, though clubs may leverage the foundations laid by a great manager, with some success in the short-to-medium term, they are never able to replicate their consistency. This kinda makes sense intuitively.
The future of Arsenal rest in the hands of Gazidis and the new hot shot Josh Kroenke (Isn’t he vice chairman?) I, for one, am dubious about Gazidis, who is not a football man. Neither is Josh. Ivan made his name as CEO of MLS in the US. This is one of the worse professional leagues in the world, with a set-up that produces poor football but guarantees the owners money no matter how poor their teams.
I would suggest that we be guardedly optimistic about the future.
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Gazidis can hardly be blamed for not changing the way sports are structured in North America. But sure, I get what you mean about him not being a football man. He’s the CEO. The GM position (to put it in US sports terms) is split between Mislintat and Sanhelli. Player evaluation and interaction with football staff to be done by Mislintat, and negotiations with other ‘GMs’ to be done by Sanhelli. (Guesswork obviously but seems right to me) and both of them are football men.
It is a new era for Arsenal. We’re now in the corporate model rather than the individualistic growth brought about on the back of an extraordinary man. It has its risk, but risk mitigation would be one of the first things the club (and Wenger) would have focused on. Which is probably why Wenger stayed last season. We did good business in January in terms of shaping the squad (attacking half at least) They should be able to finish the job this summer for the defense. Now the only question is can someone else come in and COACH this team as well as, or better than Wenger could. That remains to be seen, but I don’t see why we should be pessimists. A change had to happen at some point.
The historical data doesn’t have the same context. A legendary manager leaves, and the new guy had to do everything that the previous guy was doing. Not the case at Arsenal now.
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I think we can all agree that the next manager won’t be coming and offering an already retired footballer a £300K p/w contract.
As with Moyes and Rooney after Slurgus had already called out the former no.10 for his poor training.
The same Rooney who was then signed by Usmanov’s partners at Everton. For reasons that have nothing to do with Football, we can all agree on that one too.
Arsenal FC are the only club to have sacked a manager for taking a relatively minor bung even back in the day, for wanting to copy his mates at the other clubs.
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I think it will be different, and that different is good.
Variety the spice of life, life’s rich tapestry etcetera, fighting relegation, 10 point deduction for going into administration, all that stuff that I’ve never experienced before but I finally get to have a go at now.
Bring it on.
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Shard et al
Here’s one: what manager do you think pgmol would be most wary about fucking about with?
Good old Brit seems obvious answer, establishment one even better, Fergie cronie even more so, but there’s an absolute dearth of Brit candidates and no Fergie cronie is remotely realistic, thank goodness.
Of the only plausible Brit, Eddie Howe, I think they’d be on pretty good behaviour, initially at least.
With foreign coaches, huge gravitas could be an issue, so I have Zidane as the no 1 guy they’d be cautious about Dean and Atkinson-ing. Never heard him mentioned as a candidate though, and even Real couldn’t think about parting with him if he lands the CL treble.
A big name with winning pedigree should have them on better behaviour, whereas if it happened to be one of those wunderkind German coaches I’d expect them to be much the same as now.
The foreign coaches who probably do best out of them are the ones who look at the British game and how it’s reffed, look at Ferguson’s teams and ways, and tailor their approach accordingly ; though it’s hard to believe that could work for us.
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Happy belated birthday Meerkat. Hope you had an eventful day. Cheers
Tonight @ the Emirates, Leg 1 UEL, vs Atletico Madrid
Ospina
Bellerin – Mustafi – Koscielny – Monreal
Ramsey – Xhaka – M.Niles
Ozil – Lacazette – Welbeck
S: Macey, Chambers, Mertesacker/Holding, Kolasinac, Wilshere, Iwobi, Nketiah
Should be a cracking game.
COYG!!!
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Rich let’s not forget the FA’s fetish for the cheat Revie over the genius Clough.
It won’t be Howe.
The odds are in favour of the next manager will have the experience of having managed global superstars of the stature of Auba and Ozil.
Just the same as with the ‘unknown’ Vengarrgghhh when he arrived. heh.
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Many have mused upon the possible side effects from any relegation, shaking off some of the vampires from AFTV et al.
Think such thoughts have been expressed here over the years. By me for starters!
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Rich
THat’s an interesting thought but honestly, I don’t care about that. To me that’s not even a consideration. Arsenal changing their decisions to suit them is exactly what they want. Should not happen. There’s no guarantee anyway (unless we appoint a chequebook agency manager)
However, I don’t think we’ll be appointing a big name manager. For one, the transfer budget won’t appeal to most guys who already have jobs at other clubs with similar or greater budgets. But mainly because the club’s messaging is stressing how the new guy has to fit in to a structure. Gazidis said we have to be bold. Per said he’s been told most of the coaches are staying. Does not seem like the club want the backroom overhaul that a big name coach would usually bring along with him. I feel this is right. I think it will be a younger coach. I can see why Luis Enrique is mentioned but I am not convinced he’s the guy we really want.
British coaches. I can’t think of any suitable candidate. Eddie Howe maybe..Hmm..I’m not sure how his teams set up and whether that would suit our squad. (I don’t watch a lot of the PL anymore) But my feeling is he’s not a serious candidate for the Arsenal job.
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I am terrified though that the club will go for Theirry Henry. Because yes, the new manager’s job will need him to have the gravitas to show he’s boss, to the players and the media, and this can only come from a stellar playing career if not from a stellar managerial career. Unless Arteta gets in because of the respect he already holds from his time with us.
I’m still saying it’ll be Tedesco from Schalke.
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The Fulham owner is in talks to buy Wembley.
He’s made an offer of around 800m pounds.
The English national team will still play there except in the autumn when NFL matches will be held (He’s also the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars)
Daniel Levy must be wondering why he never thought of this. Spurs’ stadium to cost the same or more..And they’re planning on revenue from NFL matches and to become the de facto home of the NFL in London.
I know Wembley has significance beyond this but it would be so hilarious for Spurs to Spurs up a stadium move too.
Still early days though.
https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/what-would-it-mean-for-wembley-stadium-if-it-was-sold-to-shahid-khan
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Andy Nic at 2:37 pm:
We could do without the variety and instability of United who had 4 managers in 3 years after Ferguson. Yet they are nowhere closer to a title and despite spending gazillions, which Arsenal can only dream of. As for the two other big spenders: (1) The Abu Dhabians are caught up in a great geopolitical vice in the Middle East forcing them to squirrel more of their wealth in the West so they will spend on their great PR project in Manchester. Pep will have a stronger hand next year. (2) Abramovich has positioned himself as a non-Putin oligarch and has spread his wealth between the Us and the UK to avoid sanctions. He must continue to pay for western protection. Chelsea will reload after they get rid of Conte.
You can take my two predictions to the Bank.
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Re: Your Post-Script. Exactly so.
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To think; Wembley and Ems built around same time. Wembley on existing site, Ems on new site (inc. rehousing previous businesses, building extra housing, paying for tube upgrades even if they didn’t happen).
you-a-fah used to give CL final to those who’d built new stadia. (Liverpool played in a not quite finished stadium in 05, no? Wembley have held 2/3/4? finals.
Ems, not a sniff. Ok, some say Ems don’t get it cos they allowed Brazil to play matches there but I believe Ems don’t get finals cos of the way Ars is run – (the buggers must be made to suffer for living within its means, carefully paying off the mortgage, having a building contract that had penalties for untimely work, etc, and most of all, for succeeding).
How very, very dare Ars. (and we’ve still got the best pitch).
And the best club.
Is promotion to manager/head coach possible/desirable from within?
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corr:
S: Macey, Chambers, Mertesacker/Holding, Kolasinac, Wilshere, Iwobi, Nketiah
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I don’t think so Rantetta. The last CL final held in England not at Wembley was in 2003 in Manchester. Wembley since it opened has held it twice, and Cardiff last season. It seems to me to be more a case of keeping the national associations happy rather than anything to do with clubs directly.
As to promotion from within. Bould was apparently reluctant to even be assistant manager because of the limelight and pressure. I doubt he wants to be manager. Lehmann could, in theory. Not sure he should at this point.
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corr: S: Cech, Chambers, Mertesacker/Holding, Kolasinac, Wilshere, Iwobi, Nketiah
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Assuming Roman isn’t found hanging in his wardrobe I’m sure the bank would accept your deposit.
As for Mansour and Pep Citehs results this season, quite different to the previous two seasons, are not just about cash. They are actually very good. Let’s see if they can keep it up – it has been a long while since any PL club has been near to back to back titles.
On a less bleak note don’t try and tell me that this season if we had not performed so poorly away from home we would not be comfortably in the PL places. We chucked points away at Swansea, Brighton, Newcastle and half a dozen other grounds – I’ve not seen the like since the 80s – at home in total contest we have been good. Total mirror image of form – first job for the new manager is to get us functioning on the road.
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