@GoonerReverend ponders the hereafter this morning and the Great Leap Forward
Football waits for no man and as recent events at Arsenal have shown the show always goes on no matter what is happening or who is leaving the game that is the English Premier League. Arsene Wenger & Arsenal have parted company after 22 successful years and the club is much stronger & much better positioned than when this partnership started back in 1996. The King is dead “Long Live the King” but now we have to prepare for the next chapter in the history of The Arsenal Football Club. Replacing a manager is never easy replacing a long serving manger is nigh on impossible and you only have to look at Manchester Utd to truly understand the scale of the task facing the powers that be in the Arsenal board room. Everyone has a view on who should be Arsenal’s next manager but at the end of the day the only opinion that matters is that of the Arsenal board members designated to choose Wenger’s successor.
The future is both exciting and frightening at the same time because nobody really knows what is going to happen when the new man takes over. Arsenal supporters all have their ideas on who should be the next manager with many demanding the appointment of a high profile manager like Max Allegri or Luis Enrique but the reality is that Arsenal have never been a club that appoints this type of manager in their entire history & are more likely to appoint a young manager with ties to the club as they feel that appointing a manager that fully understands and believes in the Arsenal values & principles will be of far greater benefit to the club’s stability than employing a short term fix that may or may not bring instant success. Fans have always been good at spending money that is not theirs because they don’t need to worry where this money is coming from and it is no different with the forthcoming appointment of the new manager.One of the fan favoutites & Juventus current manager. Max Allegri reportedly wants to know how much the Arsenal board will give him to spend on new signings & has supposedly said he would need to bring in up to 5 new players to make the team competitive. Now this is all media speculation as Arsenal never publicly divulge any discussions they are having or may have with candidates they have identified, The other alleged issue is that he is unsure if he can work within the new management structure implemented by Arsenal. Ivan Gazidis has now taken a hands-on role with the football club and moved his office to the training ground to be closer to the action along with Raul Sanllehi Head of Football Relations and Sven Mislintat Head of Player Recruitment.
This new structure is not going to suit everyone and Gazidis stated that he is looking for a manager that will be similar in his philosophy to Wenger’s along with the clubs philosophy of developing young players while working within the club’s self sustainability model. In this current climate of spend spend spend the Arsenal manager position may not be as attractive to some big name coaches as many Arsenal fans would like to believe it is. Luis Enrique has reportedly priced himself out of the position which is very believable when you look at Arsenal’s spending policy. Joachim Low has just extended his contract with the German National Team & despite the numerous rumours and many Arsenal fans insistence that he is coming Allegri is still contracted to Juventus and they will be very reluctant to let him go. If you believe the British press former Arsenal mid-fielder and current Manchester City No.2 Mikel Arteta is the red hot favourite to be the next manager of Arsenal. Sure there are a number of reasons why Arteta is not seen by many fans as the ideal replacement for Wenger as they believe his lack of managerial experience counts against his ability to transform the current squad into a title contending squad.
Some Arsenal fans had convinced themselves that the board would plump for a big name coach no matter what the cost but if you look at Arsenals history there is nothing to indicate that they were ever going to do that. Bertie Mee 1966-1976 Terry Neill 1976-1983 Don Howe 1983-1986 George Graham 1986-1995 Bruce Rioch 1995-1996 Arsene Wenger 1996-2018. Arsenal prefer managers with some connection to the club as they feel that if the manager has an intimate connection with the club they are more likely to respect the values of the club. Arsene Wenger was a left field appointment with no connection to the club but over the next 22 years became the focal point for the clubs values that he enthusiastically embraced and championed. Should Arsenal appoint Arteta as many are predicting it will clearly be a gamble but it will be a calculated gamble because they will be appointing a manager that clearly knows the culture and values of the club as well as many of the key stakeholders and football club staff and players he will be working with. There has been some negative comment about the possible appointment on social media but that is to be expected because everyone has their personal favourite and social media is the focal point for voicing disappointment.
Many fans believe that only a top coach with a history of winning trophies can manage Arsenal and turn them into a championship winning team but if you look at the growing influence of Josh Kronke you will understand where the club is possibly heading. In 2016 the Kronke’s fired Head Coach Jeff Fisher from their Los Angeles Rams football team and replaced him with 30 year old management rookie Sean McVey. This was a calculated gamble which has proven to be a good decision and it has become clear that Josh Kronke was central to this decision. Arsenal have always been a club that do things their own way and Josh Kronke is also a man who is very much his own man who likes to do things his way and is not adverse to taking calculated risks. There is no guarantee that the Arsenal board will appoint Arteta as their next manager but its even more doubtful that they will spend 10-15 million pounds a year on a high profile manager trying to buy success. Whatever happens and whoever they decide to appoint it is exciting times for Arsenal supporters because changing manager is a leap into the great unknown. No one really knows how it will turn out and in todays football world every new managerial appointment is a calculated risk. If Arsenal are going to take a gamble on a young manager with potential and give him the time & support to grow into the role we really are heading off into a brave new world and in the process we could be creating a new era of sustainable success for our grand old club.
Positively Arsenal 
Shotta & a5,
I’ve just watched the first half of the recent match at Leicester, you know, the one where our young CB got sent off. Interesting, Leicester should’ve had 2 players sent off in that first half of play, for dangerous tackles. One was on AMN. The fox player aimed and hit AMN on the calf/knee with a straight leg. The other looked an attempt to injure ?
In between a fox player had tripped Ramsey to stop an attack (even the commentator said he was lucky to escape a card), plus there was another trip on Mustafi which the ref wasn’t far from. 5 Ars players had their hands outstretched so obvious was the foul.
Nowt given. It’ll prolly be another month before I can face watching the 2nd half.
Why might the club’s be given a choice of whether there should be VAR, and why did that choice need a 2/3rd majority to stop it being implemented from the start of next season? Do you remember how the shitkicker teams bounced Arsenal all around the park – whilst turning up at Old toilet and not even making a tackle against Fergies teams? Do you not see any patterns?
Fins, you’re right to keep pointing out how other sports have made VAR a part of their proceedings.
I think you can only have truly independent people giving the call to the ref. Think about the diving panel, with Murphy on it, clearly someone who either hates Arsenal or simply goes along with the narrative. Is it not clear that persons who sit in studios reviewing incidents and telling their audience crap about what is being shown – obviously can’t be making these decisions.
Just because commentators say “Alonso wanted it more” doesn’t mean his forearm smash to knock Bellerin out and then Chelsea score, legitimate. The most bankrupt of plundits (pretty much all) come with their “not much in that” but never say that when Ars players get sent off, do they?
I agree with Shotta’s assessment of pMob, totally.
Completely different rules and standards applied to what Arsenal players do V’s the rest (although many other teams suffer occasionally rather than week in week out).
Imagine being in a stadium watching a match and you can’t see why a player has or hasn’t been booked/sent off. What kind of bolux is that in this day and age?
I don’t get to many matches but EVERY one I’ve been to I’ve seen heavy bias against Arsenal. (Ars 1-3 Villa, Reading 5-7 Ars, Ars 5-2 totty Spring to mind). What about all the phantom fouls awarded against Arsenal?
It has taken over 20 years to make damn sure Arsenal get so fkd up that they could barely scrape a point away from home. (@ Stoke, offside, yeah right. ManC, offside goals, Brighton, smash our goaly. Do you want the full list? I know, ‘you didn’t see it’, wryly smiley).
The full matches that were uber blatantly fkd up, Newcy4-4Ars, Barca v Ars 2011, you can’t even see them.
I thank Mr Wenger for his magnificent work at AFC, esp. as he clearly knows what’s going on, stopped his players from retaliating towards the thugs and arguing with the refs and kept going despite the clear, perennial attempts to destabilise both him and the club. “Living within your means, WE’RE NOT FKNG HAVING THAT”.
Taxi…
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Yeah, and if you talk against Arsenal you’ll be richly rewarded. The latest I know of is the **** from AFTV has a show on channel 4. Bravo. Voice of the peeps. Salt of the earth…
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Can anybody point out which clubs voted against VAR?
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Hear, Hear, Ranty. You rarely speak and when you do it is very brief. But today you outdid yourself.
I am aware that my view is a minority position on this blog and among Arsenal fans, especially that of the usual suspects, who will never take a controversial but factually accurate position, since it may affect the clicks and eyeballs they crave so much. But I am of the view that until the corrupt and thoroughly compromised PGMO is reformed, VAR is simply putting lipstick on a pig. Until the PGMO rids itself of that odious, corrupt leadership, the one that blatantly stole Game 5o in front of a worldwide audience, until there is public transparency and accountability for its decisions, VAR as Eddy so eloquently described is simply an “eye-wash”. Even with a 4th official, pitch-side, who is PGMO member, I struggle to see how and why he would override his brethren especially when the policy of the organization is to screw a certain club.
The PGMO is a creature of the PL which is devoted to allowing the biggest spenders to succeed in the League, not to allowing progressive, attractive football to thrive and grow in England. It is no surprise that despite being the wealthiest league, by far, of all in the world, English football is devoid of technically equivalent players to their peers in Germany, Spain and France. Who is willing to bet against my forecast that England will be dumped out of the world cup by the quarter final, if not before?
Of all the proposals being offered on this blog for a functioning VAR, until the PGMO is reformed from top-to-bottom, we are simply tilting against the windmill as the great Cervantes said in his book, Don Quixote.
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PS: I want to do a blog on how Wenger was “kicked-out” of the English game but I am struggling for time.
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Fair enough Shotta – let’s forget all about VAR – it is utterly pointless – I shall say no more in respect of refining and reforming the current disjointed VAR system so that it can improve decision making among officials.
What is your plan though, your strategy if VAR is binned Shotta – what steps should we be taking ?
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Santi Cazorla has left the building,
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Santi Cazorla is leaving the club after coming to the end of his contract.
Santi joined us from Malaga in the summer of 2012, during which time he established himself as an integral part of the team and proved to be one of the most technically-gifted players in the Premier League.
Making 180 appearances for us in six years, Santi scored 29 goals in all competitions, helping the team win two Emirates FA Cups and two FA Community Shields.
His importance to us was emphasised with his sublime free-kick in the 2014 Emirates FA Cup final, which sparked our unforgettable comeback to win the trophy.
Santi, who has not appeared for us since sustaining an Achilles injury in October 2016, has sent a heartfelt message to fans from Spain which you can see below.
Chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: “Santi is always one of my favourite players to watch. His natural ability with both feet, his speed of thought and movement were central to our best performances in recent years. He plays with a joy and freedom which is very rare. We wish him well for the future and thank him for his important contribution to our club.”
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/santi-cazorla-leaves-club#Q1ysSSK58dqC0gFV.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/santi-cazorla-leaves-club#URsOxZDmfup1Y5rV.99
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If you believe the refs are hopelessly bent, then no use of any technology will satisfy you, it seems to me. If I felt that way, I think I’d just give up watching, because I don’t know what the solution would be.
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What a good player and a lovely bloke Santi is – anyone who plays the game with a smile on his face is a prince
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shotta @7:10
I do not disagree with you, but if it were entirely meaningless and completely controllable, they would have allowed the use of VAR already. I think they don’t want it because they view it as a start of a slippery slope. As it is, they try to discredit VAR and they’ll be thinking up ways to control its impact because use of video is inevitable.
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Bama
That the cheat Mike Riley has for so long been bunging up (in charge?) the referees association/body does not affect my love of sport or if football.
But it does affect the credibility of the premier league.
That is not a complex equation.
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There are people out there who choose to believe that the 50th game was not a fixed sporting contest. The full match is available for viewing.
There are also people out there who believe in unicorns. If I wanted to show a complete lack of class I’d also fail to refer to David Icke here.
Everyone is entitled to their beliefs.
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so David Ornstein says Arsenal have appointed Unai Emery as our new manager, and that it was an unanimous choice by the board.
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sorry shard, only just seen you post,
Emery is 46, won the league and 4 cups in 2 seasons at PSG, before that he won 3 Europa Leagues with Seville
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Just the cheap option. Didn’t want to pay Arteta’s severance package.
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some reports that Emery does not speak English, so a bit of an obstacle to overcome there
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Emery is a colorful character
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doesn’t look like we will be getting a new first choice keeper, Cech just been given the No.1 shirt.
Petr Cech, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin will all wear new shirt numbers next season.
Cech previously wore the No 33 shirt, but he will now be our No 1 for the 2018/19 campaign.
Elneny has moved from No 35 to the No 4 shirt.
Granit Xhaka previously wore No 29, but he will switch to No 34.
Hector Bellerin goes from No 24 to the No 2 shirt.
Any other alterations to shirt numbers will be communicated accordingly.
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/new-numbers-cech-elneny-xhaka-and-bellerin#JOQTOKbHeBcXGY0o.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/new-numbers-cech-elneny-xhaka-and-bellerin#m6zADwrhG3reyZXh.99
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So far as a relationship with the media, mainstream and social, a manager who cannot speak a word of English officially suits me 100%
We shall see how the rumour develops
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so will we be UKB’s or EKB’s
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Once again the appointment of Emery has shown that john cross Athens rest of the hacks have no connection with ARSENAL. I I’ve the new manager already
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“Emery led PSG to second place in their group of the Champions League, behind Arsenal.”
Hehe!
“On April 28 2018, Emery announced his decision to leave the Parisian club at the end of the season with a year left on his contract”
No severance? Blimey! He must’ve had a good offer…
…so, unlike others he’s announced that he’s leaving his club, unlike one or two unlikely lads he hasn’t been banned for match fixing, unlike Klopp (till Weds?) and like AW he’s been enjoying the cups, the hat trick of famous Europa Cup/League (its not a league! Yet…) victories came under Emery including one over Liverpool.
OMG.
Looks like a credible football manager!
But the funny papers haven’t been screaming his name, have they? I wouldn’t know…
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Ed, that just means Petre is staying not that we are not getting a new keeper.
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Arteta to work under Emery!
That’s a great rumour!!
You heard it here first!!!
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fins was a thought I had too, would be great if it happens
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ha ha ha, some who have been slamming Arsenal over the possibility of an inexperienced man getting the job since the rumor that Arteta was getting the job are now slamming AFC for not giving the job to the “exciting” option Arteta, and instead going for the “safe” option.
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seems Ornstein says Emery has some English, but is “not fluent”
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Well well well, that’s blown a few ITKs and pundits out of the water, we were all told Arteta, it was his to lose. Unless as already posted, he comes in as assistant.
Unai Emery brings out the farce in British punditry , Mr Emery, if it really happens, no doubt the critics , media, AFTV etc will say you are awful, but we will like you.
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Arsenal News HQ
™️
@ArsenalNews_HQ
Unai Emery’s CV:
Took Almería into La Liga for the first time, finishing 8th the following season.
Took Valencia to three consecutive 3rd place finishes in La Liga.
Won three consecutive Europa League titles with Sevilla.
PSG won the domestic treble under him this season.
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If I’m honest, I’m disappointed by Emery. No reason really, no tactics or expert view etc. Just a feeling. Not just based on not getting Arteta, but because something about the few times I’ve seen Emery’s teams play leaves me feeling underwhelmed.
Come the new season and if, as now seems likely, he is confirmed, will support him completely.
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mandy it has already started, journos, arsenal twitter etc, its all about him not winning the Title in France in his first season and losing from 4-0 up to Barcelona in the CL,
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I’m out of touch with European football, but Emery could be a masterstroke. His reputation has taken a kicking at PSG, but the reason he got that job was because everything he did before that point was pretty special.
It crossed my mind that he could be a manager version of Thierry Henry at Juventus or Bergkamp at Inter: A huge talent whose stock is low.
PSG are in their own category, so it’s hard to know how under-performance there applies to teams in the real world. But on the rare occasions I’ve thought about him these last couple of years I wondered if he was happier managing underdogs. He got results on a budget, which we’re going to have to do.
Without talking about how well he’ll do, because I have no idea, I’d guess we’ll be more organised and will maybe build better from the back, but will be less spectacular than AW’s Arsenal at its best going forward.
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ed@ 8.52
Put like that, he doesn’t sound bad at all.
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Bloody hell, he is a decent manager, the richest of clubs would have no reason to go for a muppet, and Seville were a top side.
That loss to Barca, isn’t that one of the most obviously fixed or at least ref assisted games in history?
He didn’t do badly at PSG, no mean feat with some of the egos in that team.
Assuming this happens, Ivan and co have played a blinder, despite the media glare , very few saw this coming
Would have backed Arteta, still may, but Emery could be exactly what the club needs
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I am sorry if all those who wanted MA are disappointed. I have not the first idea about Unai Emery, but think he has a terrific name – and I like the fact that his appointment seems to have really upset those who were most keen to get rid of Arsene Wenger.
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Andy and others: The fact that the Federal Reserve and other central banks are manipulating the financial markets doesn’t mean I avoid the stock market. Similarly I am not going to let the odiously corrupt PGMO deprive me of my enjoyment of Arsenal football. A better analogy to the Federal Reseve is FIFA. Should I deprive myself of the World Cup because FIFA is bent and corrupt? What I am not going to do is perpetuate the illusion that VAR in the hands of the current PGMO is going to improve the quality of refereeing. It’s putting the cart before the horse.
Thank god, despite the bias and incompetence by the PGMO, Arsene Wenger stuck to his principles despite the injuries and broken bones suffered by his players.
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Hmmm
First up, is George alright? Feel like I haven’t seen a post from him in a few days and think his heart was pretty set on Arteta.
After initial misgivings, I was pretty attached to that idea myself.
No point lying, my early reaction is one of disappointment, quite likely unfairly or foolishly.
Like with City, I’ve tended not to watch PSG much and when I do it’s in same frame of mind as with City- ‘you don’t deserve this, bah’, etc. So that, along with the games i have watched them closest being their exits to Barca and Real, has probably skewed my judgement.
The strongest images of that time are his face, that of the stony-faced big dog in the stands, and my imaginings of how directly the two are related and how unpleasant Emery would find the next visit.
Anyway, I’ll work on building up the positivity. Birdkamp’s post was a helpful one in that regard. This geezer made Krychowiak look like someone PSG wanted in their team
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So VAR in the hands off non PGMO officials will be a formidable improvement then in decision making Shotta – that’s good
The Europa League should be a firm target next season then even though we shall be cheated every week in the PL
A small consolation nevertheless
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Get French Football@GFFN
Re: Unai Emery & Arsenal | Methodologically, undeniably 1 of Europe’s most intelligent managers. Never quite had control of the PSG dressing room, a key reason why Les Parisiens failed in the UCL. Prefers 4-2-3-1, but leaders of the PSG dressing room insisted on staying w/ 4-3-3.
Despite his best efforts, Emery’s French was very difficult to understand throughout his time at PSG: for both players & reporters. He speaks mediocre English – will certainly be a contrast to when Wenger arrived.
Similarities with Wenger include an incredible work-ethic & an incredibly classy man. Just last week, Emery spent a considerable portion of his press conference praising & congratulating Thomas Tuchel for taking his PSG job.
Emery had a translator when he started at PSG, both for press conferences & training sessions, would be interesting if he adopts the same approach at Arsenal.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdvwVBXV4AAXk5U.jpg:large
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They’ve found someone as hopelessly addicted to the game as AW:
“He’s obsessed by football, it’s practically an illness. He’s one of the best managers I’ve had. I worked with him for three years … I couldn’t handle a fourth.”
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/27/sevilla-manager-europa-league-final-unai-emery
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Must admit to getting a bit caught up in the romance of an Arteta appointment, but going back and on hearing Wenger was leaving, Unai is up with just the sort of manager I would have wished for , the more I am reading about him, the better he sounds.
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Unai Emery has had the same assistant at all his clubs, Juan Carlos Carcedo Mardone
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Anyone know enough about our new manager to write a blog?
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El mago
El gran enano
Gracias Santi
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Adam Summerton
@adamsummerton
1h1 hour ago
Emery does all his own video analysis and, during his time at Valencia, gave players USB sticks to watch tactical clips on. He suspected one player never watched them, so gave him a blank USB and then asked him what he’d make of the clips #afc
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