The pent up desire of some American’s to lambast an Englishman for daring to speak of NFL is one of the most amusing things I’ve seen online all year. It’s like 15 years of being called shit fans by Brexit Twitter has had an impact on them. I can’t tolerate the steady stream of nonsense from people telling me the LA Rams and Arsenal aren’t comparable. If you’re saying that, you aren’t paying attention to a sport you’re trying to claim a knowledge advantage on, so now I am about to school you in with a touchgoal of a post.
My central argument is that the LA Rams has embarked on an innovative strategy to capture the imagination of a city that has plenty of elite pass times. This from the WaPo:
Anywhere else in America, an undefeated NFL team beating teams by 15 points on average would be a dominant civic force. Here, it is different. The Dodgers are in the World Series, LeBron James is on the Lakers, and the box office totals come out every week. All the Rams do is win. But are they winning over Los Angeles?
The output of the strategy is to dazzle. The anxiety driving that approach is that no one will buy a shitty product in LA. Stan has to entertain to make his investment work. Money is on the line.
The Rams were shite in St. Louis. I have worked extensively in that city, listened to cab drivers bemoan his drab leadership, and actually worked with business people who tried to keep the franchise in the city.
When Stan moved them to LA, betraying his hometown, his team went on the record stating they needed an excellent product, because LA folk wouldn’t tolerate substandard sport. Stan had this to say:
Our goal always has been to create an exciting and long-term solution for the NFL, our 31 partners and Los Angeles football fans.
The LA Rams guiding philosophy comes from the very top and drips down into management team, I believe they call it trickle down guiding philosophy, and it works. This is their VP of Operations, Kevin Demoff.
This is actually getting to how you build a fan base brick-by-brick, fan-by-fan, and get people to understand what the Rams are
It is a very crowded landscape we once had a lofty perch in. It’s going to take time to get back to that lofty perch. The way you do it, you play exciting football. You have players who people not only recognize but they like and understand. You have a coach who brings an exciting style of play.
This sort of approach is what I called for in the summer. It’s a business winning idea, especially if like Stan, you consider sport a content game. It’s why Madrid and Barcelona invest so much on the pitch, because the rewards that come back from commercial deals rocket if you’re appealing to a global audience. The below piece in Forbes by Dr. Rishe of the Washington Business school drills into what he calls the hearts and mind strategy the new franchise is adopting.
Well, when the on-field product is abysmally boring and unimaginative, who among us as consumers of sport want to “belong” to a losing brand? Nor do we want to “identify” with a losing brand. Nor do we feel enriched from supporting a losing product.
Thus, the transformation of the Rams organization on the field since Sean McVay’s arrival as head coach plays a crucial role in transforming consumer perceptions of the brand. Now, when we think of Rams football, we think of an electrifying and innovative approach which is both hip and efficient. And these characteristics not only resonate with just about any consumer, but especially the cherished millennial and Gen Z consumers which most companies covet (due to their higher potential lifetime customer value to the company).
In short, winning the hearts and imaginations of fans helps to reinvent a brand, change consumer perceptions, inspire greater brand loyalty, which ultimately leads to a more premium-priced and profitable product.
Chasing Gen Z and Millenials is all I hear about at work, but in Premier League football’s case, it’s especially pertinent as we have an age issue in the stands with the average age of season ticket holders sitting at around 43! Clubs need to fill the pipelines back up, otherwise, there’s going to be an issue further down the line. Playing incredible football feels like a business necessity heading into an era of sport that will be be more global, mobile, easier to access, and more competitive than ever before.
Creating an incredible experience at Arsenal should have been the goal. The club had 6 months to think about who they wanted to be after the Wenger reboot, but they clearly didn’t have a plan (or it was a bit shit). Nothing screams that the club is united around a vision, or has an idea of how they’re going to make it happen. We don’t even have a CEO, opting for a Houllier/Evans power share.
Our objective is a return to the Champions League, we’ve tried to achieve that by blowing money on experience that’s not good enough. Our strategy was a tactic, with a average vision of how to achieve it. We should have been thinking about the bigger picture, clearly defining how to become exceptional within realistic contraints. Riches should have been the byproduct of succeeding with the said vision.
Arsenal do not look like they know how to be exceptional, and rumblings of Denis Suarez and Ever Banega don’t convince me that’s changing anytime soon.
Below are the actions the Rams took to get themselves into the position they’re in right now.
Key personnel decisions have completely transformed the vibe of the entire organization, including:
- The hiring of the innovative and energetic Sean McVay;
- The patience to allow McVay to develop Jared Goff into a successful NFL quarterback;
- The wisdom of extending standouts Todd Gurley and Aaron Donald to long-term deals;
- The aggressiveness during the 2018 off-season to add considerable skill and depth on both sides of the ball (specifically on defense)…not to mention the recent acquisition of Dante Fowler Jr. (though his outbursts in the Seattle game almost cost the team severely). While the defense needs serious refinements and some of the additions have underperformed (Marcus Peters) or not performed due to injury (Aqib Talib), there is still hope that the skill, depth and experience of these veterans will pay dividends in the playoffs.
Collectively, these decisions were strategically shrewd because (1) you could afford to be aggressive financially in the short-term while QB Goff is still under his rookie contract, and (2) you want to create excitement and positive energy about the brand in the build up towards the team’s eventual relocation to the palatial new stadium in Inglewood in 2020.
In short, the Rams rebrand has been accelerated by a series of strategic personnel decisions. Largely because of the play on the field, the Rams brand is now perceived to be hip, innovative, creative, and explosive. These winning traits certainly play anywhere, but especially the case in a market like Los Angeles accustomed to supporting dynamic winners.
There’s a guiding principle at the Rams, and because the goal is set at the top, you can build everything around achieving that with the resources you have at your disposal. They have built buzz from top to bottom, they know the sort of coach they needed to hire, they know the type of players, young and old they need to recruit. They know the expectations of how the game needs to be played. They have built something from nothing and there’s a huge buzz around the place.
Arsenal should be replicating this approach. It’s perfect for us. We can’t win with lavish investments. We can win by having an ambitious goal of being the most exciting young football team in Europe, building our entire club around that idea.
Key learnings from the LA Rams:
- They have a north star: Play scintillating football that captures the hearts and minds of the locals
- They hire the best thinkers in the game
- They have been creative with their approach to player trading
The exact same person that runs Arsenal dismally is pulling up trees in LA, doing ALL the things you’d want him to be doing at Arsenal.
Now, in their 3rd season in Los Angeles and 2nd season under Coach McVay’s leadership, the organization is now perceived as an innovative and electrifying team whose executive leadership isn’t afraid to make big moves both on and off the field.
That concluding point is what you want people to be writing of Arsenal. If the perception of your club reads like that, you become an exciting opportunity for young players who want to grow their careers and develop their talent with coaches that can help them. You win new fans because people want to watch you play. You grow commercials because big brands want to be associated with the most exhilarating team on the planet. You attract the best minds in the game who want to express their ideas at a club like London. You open yourselves up to new uses of technology, cutting edge fitness approaches and even science of the mind. Everything gets better because there is a guiding philosophy of excitement that drives the club.
So why can’t we have that?
You. That’s why. This is Stan on London fans.
Obviously London is a comparable stage to Los Angeles, and Arsenal has one of the most passionate and vocal fan bases in sports. So I don’t see that really impacting us.
We’re noisy, he hears us, but he doesn’t care. Why? Because a shitty Arsenal product doesn’t impact him at all.
Adidas still want to give us £60m a year. Rwanda still wants to advertise on our shirts. You still give over £1500+ for your season ticket without question. You will still attend every week, even if you find it boring. Why? Because there is no correlation between your love for Arsenal and how good they are on the pitch. This is a uniquely Premier League thing. Stan cannot lose with Arsenal unless things go really bad, which they won’t under semi-competent leadership. Premier League football is by default a success machine. The money never stops going up. You can disguise average leadership, because all the charts point upwards.
Stan works in the world of real estate. He’ll buy up property in areas where new Walmarts are going to open up, sit back, and play the long game. Same with Arsenal, he doesn’t need to invest any of his own money and the thing hikes in value like nobodies business.
He is succeeding in the NFL because he knew he had to bring new fans through the doors and he had to get people to tune into the matches. He had to do something radical, he had to entertain, and he had to invest in an idea.
Are we investing in a vision like that? What are our bold moves? What are the club doing to put on an incredible show to bring in new fans into the ‘franchise’? Doesn’t seem like a lot. We are making a lot of safe moves to catch up, but how are we using our resource to move ahead?
Arsenal can have everything the Rams have. But there needs to be a desire from the people installed at the club to push the owners for what they need. Or, it needs the people we hired to be fiercely ambitious and hugely competitive. Do we have disruptors in charge, or an easy life crowd? Outside of the excellent hiring of Sven Mislintat, where is the innovation coming from? Can you see who the club is shaping up to be over the next five years? Can you see a style developing on the pitch that you’d want to buy into if you were a young player?
I can’t.
The point of this post is it’s not all doom and gloom.
Stan has shown the world he can think like a proper owner. He’s shown that when he cares about something – because his money is on the line – he can make really exciting decisions and take risks that drive towards something.
Question is, how do we get some of that LA Rams magic to The Arsenal?
Podcast recording TODAY. Let’s all laugh at Spurs. Lololololol
Soooo. He’s paying the interest back himself but using OUR CLUB’s profit to pay back the loan itself
You don’t have the smallest clue what he’s doing. You’re guessing at best
Joe You’re getting confused with your dollars and your pounds Kroenke is reportedly worth £7bn. Arsenal are worth £1bn pounds A lot of his wealth is tied up in his assets and he’s not a fool. Why would he risk his own fortune when he could use our club as collateral while using our profits to pay back his loan?? Why would you even defend this? You’re not a fan You either clearly were not watching arsenal in the 90s and 2000s because there is a clear detachment from the achievements and memeroies of the era of you are and… Read more »
Joe. Your excerpt says that he’s nit using the club to pay the interest but it says nothing of the loan itself.
Peculiar what?
Un
What are you even talking about?
Kronke is worth 8 billion usd. His wife is worth 7 billion.
I’m saying he doesn’t need to use arsenal.
Oh and btw you clueless mong. The rams themselves are worth over 3 billion. He could just use the rams as Leverage
Again you’re clueless. Time to go bin dipping for lunch isn’t it?
Un
Show me something where it says Kronke has saddled arsenal with the debt.
You don’t have a clue. It’s your assumption you muppet.
I’ll wait for you to post a link to where it says Kronke has put the loan onto arsenal
And the club is worth 2bn joe
So?
With all this change and restructuring behind the scenes can someone please clarify who will be hiring and firing managers ?
If emery doesn’t work out but is still allowed to fulfill his contract , will that be Kroenkes fault because it certainly was kronkes fault for allowing Wenger to carry on for so long.
Actually if can’t be worth 2b because you just told me that he put the 557m debt on to the club. So that has to be taken off the value
Something doesn’t add up
Which is it Un?
So what?
The cunt has taken the club private
No agm meetings. No public accounts. He can take out what he likes and nobody will know. It’s his toy now. He is hands down the single worst thing to happen to our club. The biggest club in London and he’s fucking it. Not that phoney,pseudo-fan, know-nothing, confused ,lying half Indian Canadian what ever you decide you are today, muffin makers would give two shits.
As clearly you don’t.
Oh the bin dipper is triggered again.
Wenger fucked it. Not that you cared as you were singing one arse..
KROENKE & WIFEY.
Worth 15 billion between them.
Suggests they both have a disease called
Billionitis.?
Totally untreatable.
The more you have the more you want.
gambonJanuary 14, 2019 11:46:39 Great post gambon, absolutely spot on. The mess we’re in now is because of Wenger and Gazidas 100%. Not convinced Emery’s the right man for the job long term but to get rid now would make us look a laughing stock and is just pandering to the fantasy football managers and the AKBs who still have their arse in a sling over Wenger finally leaving. If however come the end of the season we end up finishing lower than last season under Wenger and our style of football is regressing too then it may be right… Read more »
Excellent post, Pedro. It opens the wider debate about our ownership and longer vision instead of focussing on short-term issues like Ozil or lack of transfer funds. The depressing point is that we do not have a shred of evidence that the club under Stan has a long term goal or ambition. Maybe some of the appointments like Mislintat hint at something better, but even the Kroenke apologists must admit this is more hope than expectation. As Pedro says, Stan clearly has a vision or ambition for his LA franchise. Arsenal fans would like to see more of the same… Read more »
And do you believe that he won’t leverage any money on arsenal? Or use our profits? He already did until fan outcry put a stop to it The leech There is nothing to stop him now and nobody to check on him. It’s closed doors. You wouldn’t mind if he was overseeing a period of improvement or even coasting hybhut we are going backwards He’s taken the best club in London and took us down past the chavs and spurs. Spurs don’t even have any money and they are still better than us. He hired another yes man to keep… Read more »
The problem is absolutely not Kronke, he’s not taken any money out or put any debt on us.
The problem is 100% unequivocally Wenger’s fault for the absolute shite that he overpaid for and the criminal undersellings and giving away for free our best players without a doubt.
Un nai you’re stuck in a Wenger love affair delusion I’m afraid.
Benny
No I’m not. He’s gone and it’s for the best. But not to be replaced by an inferior. We’d have been better off with wenger than emery.
Benny, I can totally agree that the mess Wenger left hasn’t been pretty… but you can’t blame Wenger for the regression all over the pitch this season. We should at least be improving.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/07/stan-kroenke-arsenal-football-fans
We will never ever win a major trophy while Stan Kroenke owns arsenal
Take it to the bank
Wenger took over 100m from the club and left Us in a total shambles of a shit show
Stan took 3 m and has brought in a totally modern backroom staff and modern football hierarchy.
We should all agree, at least, that Emery’s signings (bar Torreira maybe) are not good enough.
Un
What about the FA Cup??? Thought that was a major trophy. Even Pedro yesterday said it was bigger than the CL. So did CG. Pierre says it’s a major trophy.
Hmmmm. So what is it? You’ve obviously never been to a wembley final.
🙂
Actually if can’t be worth 2b because you just told me that he put the 557m debt on to the club. So that has to be taken off the value
We do t know do we?? He’s taken the club behind closed doors. So who know what he’s up to?
Why no transparency? What’s he hiding?
Also back to some of the earlier commentary about not being able to transfer American ideas into English sport: > We’ve already seen the move into specialisation take affect in the league. I think that’s going to get even more divided, in the same way it has in America. There will be specialist defence and attacking coaches. Someone who oversees the approach to pressing. > Pep G is already borrowing from the ‘playbook’, his teams can switch between systems very easily during games. I’m sure I read somewhere his team understand 9 or 10 different plays that the work on.… Read more »
The Glaziers take £100m a year out of Utd, my Manc mate hates them but they still spend more than us because their revenues are far superior and it was Gazidas in charge of that department not Kronke. As gambon pointed out in his superb post Kronke has actually overseen some massive improvements recently and was pivotal in the bringing in of his son in finally giving Wenger and Gazidas the boot. Bravo Kronke keep up the good work. And as Pedro has highlighted in his excellent post Kronke has completely transformed the LA Rams and looking at what he’s… Read more »
Joe
It’s a trophy but it’s certianky not major any more in my opinion. Neither is the Europa league. They are second tier trophies. Wenger was right. Top 4 is more important than the lesser cups. If you can nick a less relevant trophy every few years and maintain your status then great but I would t want to go backwards and be handed an fa cup.
But make no mistake beating the chavs the way we do was particularly sweet.
Not that you’d understand though.
Joe, I didn’t say it was a major trophy, I said that it was an important one. I wouldn’t swap 1 CL for 8 FA Cups, nor would most Arsenal fans.
Kronkes NHL team is leading its division as well and will make the playoffs.
Denver nuggets are leading the western conference in the NBA
All of kronkes teams are doing great
Shows it was wenger that was holding us back Wenger was the fucking problem
For the last decade and not Kronke
The rot had set in under Wenger players where not playing for him
any one who has supports Arsenal could see this .
Emery must man manage to a higher degree whilst at the same time not bully.
Any one who thinks Wenger would have done a better job than Emery must be blinkered.?
I wouldn’t swap 1 CL for 8 FA Cups, nor would most Arsenal fans.
I bet you wenger would trade all his FA Cups for a CL
As would most arsenal fans.
Benny erm….ok. Great. But he extended wenger’s contracts. He kept gazidis in a job when it was clear he was failing. All around us our competition was not only getting better deals but receiving proper investment while we sank. Us and Sunderland are the only clubs in the premier league who haven’t received a penny of owner investment since 2008 Every single other club has had money injected. Every one. Now he’s taken us private while installing his team if yes men to keep us treading water and youre dressing this up as a positive for the fans? For the… Read more »
Like wenger said. When that book comes out we will hear what really went on.
Hahahaha oh my. Buying it hook line and sinker aren’t you.
Benny I have to say, I disagree with you on Emery. I think he’s a long way out of his depth. Obviously he should have the season, but I think there will be some tough questions for him come May, unless we see significant improvement. Im not bothered too much about results this season. I didnt think top 4 was possible, and thats pretty obvious now. We do have a real shot in the EL, and it would save our season. What I did want to see was a structure, a process, and progress. We’ve seen nothing. In terms of… Read more »
Dissenter Sorry old man if I ruffled a few of your feathers but the gist of my argument centres around the fact that no one individual, no matter how rich( notice I didn’t highlight the word “powerful”) is capable of standing the wrath of the masses. Also, I didn’t highlight ” values”. That’s the clubs perceptions, not the fans. What I was saying is that not all folk over here feel that money controls everything. Kroenke doesn’t and never will control the fans. Wenger left because the fans made him. Likewise Stan can be forced to leave because the fans… Read more »
We had 200m in the bank. Wenger chose not to spend it to prolong his job at Arsenal. Only at the end did he start wasting when he realized he was losing his top 4 is a trophy and his lifeline when there were more than just 4 clubs competing for it.
When the competition got tough. Wenger got found out. No matter how much money he spent
Pedro,
That’s fair I’ll take that. Like I said; if by the end of the season we finish lower than last season under Wenger and our style of football is regressing too then it may be right to look at things again in the summer and look at replacing Emery.
But who with?
As you I was against Arteta’s appointment due to lack of experience but after a year with Pep who knows – he could be worth a punt?
*As you know, not as you.
Zidane will be remembered more for his 4 CLs than wenger will for his 7 FA Cups
“Emery spent £70m in the summer, on mainly defensive players, and our defence is worse than ever.”
Gambon
Sven is head of recruitment and not Emery.
Graham62
As odious as this may come across, Kroenke doesn’t have to give a s*it about what you feel.
It’s you that has to come to terms that he owns the club now
What are you going to do about it?
Raise $1.5 billions on a crowdsource website and try to buy him out?
A billionaire offered that much and he declined it
gambon, you misunderstand me; I’m no EKB I just feel it’s too early right now to make a fair assesment with all things considered. That will change in the summer depending on how things end up. It boils down to point of view at the end of the day and I think we have improved under Emery compared to last season albeit very marginal. We’re not going to get top 4 that is clear but that won’t be down to Emery as I feel if Wenger were still here we’d already be 7th or 8th, but again just my opinion.… Read more »
azed
We only sign players where the coach says there is a need.
Emery is able to veto any deal if he doesnt feel the player is right.
He doesnt just get told who is coming in. Hes part of the process.
Benny, I was pro-Arteta. Also pro-Nagelsmann and Jardim. As Gambon just pointed out, I’m not seeing the improvements, and I don’t think his track record is that exceptional. He’s a good Europa manager. Seems to have real issues dealing with stars. His indecision is a sight to behold. I think he lacks the gravitas needed to succeed at this level. I think shooting for two years just because it’s a norm is wrong. I’d rather give new money to someone who can imprint a more defined vision on the club… find that next level of style we’re looking for. Appreciate… Read more »
Emery’s job is to address what is needed player wise.
It’s Sven’s job to find the players that emery describes he needs
I didn’t realise Stan’s other clubs were doing better as well
Comparing NFL methods to European football is comparing two completely different sporting cultures and ethos. Expecting methods in one area to work in the other might sound good in theory and look good on paper but it won’t translate in reality.
It’s taking 2 and 2 and making 5.
Yes I agree Pedro, I’ve already revised my stance above and have said we should look to change things this summer like we did with Rioch and Wenger if the season ends up going down the shitter. I’ve also revised my opinion on appointing Arteta after a year of Pep tutelage as I always try to be open minded and not stuck in my ways. Things change, situations evolve as does my assesments based on the evidence.
Let me state that I am not a big Emery fan and said we should have gone for Arteta, but talk of getting rid of him after 1 season is premature and is not going to happen anyway IMO. Hi buys haven’t been outstanding but nor have they been Wenger like, LT looks great, Sokratis looks ok, Guendouzi looks creative, not at all keen on the keeper and would put Cech back in immediately. The forwards are garbage, the defence indefensible, and the midfield even worse. If we can hook another 4 or 5 players out at minimum and replace… Read more »
This article is 2 years too early.
Calm the hell down, it has bearly been over half a season.
You might suspect that we’re not going forward, but that’s way too premature. If there’s anything that I’ve learned about business and building successful models, is that they take time they may fail, but always stick to your guns, minimize risks and don’t make rash decisions influenced by others who don’t see the bigger picture
“We only sign players where the coach says there is a need.”
Do you think Emery said lets sign Sokratis and Lichtsteiner or he said we need a center back and back up right back?
You and I know 70M is nothing in today’s world and the team (Raul, Sven, Emery) would have decided to go for quantity with the 70M than one big buy this season.
At the end of the day I want what’s best for Arsenal. Wenger killed my passion for this club to the point I hardly commented here anymore, stopped buying my kids the shirts and didn’t even bother watching us on MOTD. But now Wenger’s gone the hope, excitement and passion has returned and whether Emery is the right man or not, just seeing him patrolling the touchline shouting instructone and getting emotionally involved has reinvigorated me and my love for Arsenal so I’ll always hold him in high esteem for that alone. For me he’s given me our Arsenal back.… Read more »
Azed
Exactly.
And why is it arteta or Viera?
Not one team has come in for arteta and there were lots of other teams looking. Let him learn somewhere else for his first time gig.
If emery doesn’t work out, arteta is not the answer. I’m not the one who gets paid millions to find the right manager
The best thing is that if emery doesn’t work out he won’t be here 12 years too long like the last manager we had.
BUT still too early to say whether emery hasn’t worked out
Bergkamp63, I have no idea what Raul is all about, but if shit isn’t working after a season, I don’t see them giving him another season. We should have a Barca mentality to managers.
Joe,
Well said.
Joe
How many teams came in for Zidane or klopp or pep or Allegri or tuschel before they got their shot??
Leeds, borrowing ideas from other sports is literally what clubs have people doing.
A lot of sports science methods come from rugby, they’re way ahead of curve (or were up until recently)
Coaches like Pep are stealing from NFL
Football structures are more closely alligning to what they’ve been doing in America for years
Scouting borrowed from baseball
In game analytics is largely driven by America
Great post Benny. And I posted on yesterday’s blog Klopp improved Liverpool from 1.5 points per match to 1.6 and went from 10th to 8th after he got hired. Pep went from 1.75 to 2.00 points per match Emery has gone from 1.76 to 1.86. And he has a lot bigger mess to clean up than either of those two I also asked how many players does klopp have from team he took over Same for pep? Also mentioned if anyone has noticed our downturn in form has coincided with kos’ return. He has cost us goals and points and… Read more »
Pedro It would be useful if you could answer some of questions I asked you on 10.27 post. Personally I have another issue with Football in general and the EPL in particular,which is seldom discussed and that is that we play far too many games and the tv scheduling is dreadful. Sometimes we are playing up to 4 games in a 10 day cycle. Even the best teams in EPL are losing games with that schedule as we have seen recently with Man City, Liverpool and Spurs. Arsenal played poorly on Saturday, which was not altogether surprising considering the team… Read more »
Having a guiding principle is just good business strategy. Apple, Nike, Salesforce… all have a guiding vision of who they are and what they stand for.
Arsenal needs one. If Stan can do it in LA, he can do it in London.
Stroller
We are playing every weekend at the moment and our youngsters and reserves have been largely fielded for cup/european games.
I wouldn’t say he’s actually overplayed them myself. Injuries have been a bigger though as has his situation with ozil and Ramsey who should have both been let go this summer.
None of them jumped to a team as big as arsenal from cone gatherer
Stroller
He also allowed cazorla and Wilshere to walk out of the club for free this summer and let Nelson go on loan all while claiming he knew the squad comprehensively and would improve them. That he would build his side around ozil and Ramsey.
He’s said one thing and done the opposite. As Valentin pointed out earlier, he’s done it before m.
They all manged their own teams and didn’t just put out cones for
Pep before they got their “shot”
Nice try though un
Joe
Zizou and pep jumped higher with more weight on their shoulders and absolutely flourished
Jose was the interpreter at Benfica before being hired so your argument doesn’t hold up
Thank god we got rid of jack
And how do you know how
Santi would have performed in the faster rougher PL?
Maybe he’s doing so well because of the type of football played in the Spanish league?
Joe
Zidane and pep coached the reserves before being hired
Do you actually follow football?
Joe Even if he was played (santi) sparingly he’d still have been a high quality technical player and allow the first team a rest It’s not like we had fortunes to spend on a replacement. And jack wether you like him or not is a more than capable squad player even if he’s not starting 11 Not every squad player is there to blow your socks off. They are there to do a job and add quality to the squad when called upon Which both were and are capable of Add to that that he’s benched ozil and Ramsey then… Read more »
Thanks Joe, your posts have been great also. We have far too many Untold uncle Tonys infiltrating this blog at the moment just dying for Emery to fail to justify their Wenger delusions. It just absolutely boils my piss the the shite they’re spouting when they let Wenger off the hook for 10 years straight.
Cult of Wenger and Uncle Tony charlatans.
Joe
The reserves. From reserves to Real Madrid. From reserves to Barca. From interpreting to Benfica
From city assistant to arsenal head coach
Solskjaer went from nothing to man united
Football is littered with examples which prove that you know literally nothing about the game joe. Nothing.
As Pedro pointed out last night you’re in a room full of one and maybe you should spend some time with real arsenal fans and stop making out like you’re on the terraces every week
ES, see below. 1. How much revenue does the LA Franchise owned by Kroenke raise annually $366 M .2. How does this franchise compare with other leading clubs in US in attracting best players?3. I believe that they are building a large stadium with a massive investment. How was the money raised for that project? Stadium cost $4b, Stan sunk $1.5b of his own money into the project They’ve gotten creative with how they recruit players, I don’t know enough about NFL to be specific, but it read like they’ve worked the draft and trades really well. Big strategic bets… Read more »
Un
When is the last time you went to a match big man
Funny Pedro said that considering he just wrote a post about la rams. When was he last in the la rams “terrace”?
Nice try Un. But my knowledge of football trumps yours by a country mile
Ole was managing his own team in Norway you daft bin dipper
Fuck. You really have no clue
Putting out cones for pep is nothing like
Managing your own team
Arteta would have been the daring shout. Instead we’ve blown our load on a middling yes man.
The Bruce Rioch of modern times
Now we are waiting for our new wenger to com in and wow us.
Could it be arteta?
Could it be naggelsman?
As Gambon just pointed out, I’m not seeing the improvements, and I don’t think his track record is that exceptional. He’s a good Europa manager. Seems to have real issues dealing with stars. His indecision is a sight to behold. I think he lacks the gravitas needed to succeed at this level. You can barely disguise your dislike for the man This is 2013-2014 European coach of the season please, give him his dues You do not win three straight Europa league trophies( despite your obvious disgust for the competition) by being indecisive. You do not go into a game… Read more »
RH, you’re backing a horse that will ultimately fail. You’ll have to pivot soon, because bleating on about Arteta isn’t going to make Emery any more palatable when we’re 6th at the end of the season.
We went with a yes man
Pure and simple
Look the other way. Don’t make waves. Work with the paltry shit we offer you and you’ve got the job
No wonder Allegri told us to take a running jump
RH, you’re backing a horse that will ultimately fail. You’ll have to pivot soon, because bleating on about Arteta isn’t going to make Emery any more palatable when we’re 6th at the end of the season. Nor is revising history and writing falsehoods going to hasten his sacking. I am not backing any horse, just recognizing the enormity of the task at hand and appreciating the difficulties Trying to rewrite the distinguished career of a manager in a bid to make a point is not a good look, go and look up the list of European manager of the year… Read more »
Not to mention his ground breaking stint at Almeira which shot him to limelight. At around the same age as your current darlings
You dislike him for reasons best known to you and you reserve the right to do so.
The narrative that Arteta is weak is so unbelievably off key… speak to anyone who knew him at Arsenal and they’ll tell you quite the opposite.
Anyway, this is all a massive deflection because it’s getting tougher to explain away the flaws in this Emery tenure.
RH
Again. Pep, Zidane, Solskjaer, Jose didn’t have proven winner stamped on their forehead before being entrusted with prestigious job offers
I’d rather take a chance on something fresh and innovative than something already past its sell by date
Emery peaked already before coming to us. He’s on the downslide.
Just like moyes
I’d rather take a chance on something fresh and innovative than something already past its sell by dateEmery peaked already before coming to us. He’s on the downslide.
Your opinions and you are entitled to it
Pedro
Many thanks for information. So for all the criticism about Kroenke he has invested £1.5 billion of his own money in the team.
What Kroenke appears to be doing is following a similar investment policy to
what a bank or financial institution would be doing i.e. investment in fixed assets rather than speculative high risk assets such as footballers.
RH, I don’t dislike him. I stated from the start that he’s a bland coach. He’s proving so at the minute.
RH
I’d love to be wrong. I don’t care who we are successful with as long as that’s what we are. I just don’t envisage it with emery.
Pedro
Did you just write that “you’re backing a horse that will ultimately fail.‘
You earn like backing Gazidis all the way until he didn’t appoint Arteta
You backed him as he made poor decision and compounded mistakes. Wot bigger ones.
‘With all due respect and I mean that because you’re well intentioned.
You’re one acting like a jilted lover who’s all out to get the new guy.
“He will be thinking I trusted 2 people to do a job and they failed, the club is in a shit state, I have now hired a completely new and modern infrastructure and it might take 4 or more years to get things the way I want to after all that damage but I’m in no rush.The fans obviously are in a rush. What pisses me off is the fans who are only suddenly in a rush when you, me and a good number of posters on here for years were calling this exact scenario” Indulgent of an owner that… Read more »
**You mean like backing Gazidis
Dissenter, I hold Emery to the same standards I held Wenger to… he’s tanking.
RH, I don’t dislike him. I stated from the start that he’s a bland coach. He’s proving so at the minute. Again your take on things and i am not here to argue things with you. Although the word bland does not define Emery, his teams are always exciting to watch. His Almeira team won promotion under him, came into La Liga and finished 8th playing progressive attacking football. Bland manager do not win European competitions three seasons in a row You have made all sorts of excuses for Jardim and the player sales he endured at monaco, well guess… Read more »
Joe
Calm down
Pedro, the rules of NFL are expressly designed to protect the owners – not the players, not the fans, but the owners. The surprise is not that its popularity is waning, but that anybody bothers to attend games at all. It’s presented, of course, as fair play, as levelling the playing field. In truth it is the contrary. the hidden motive is to strengthen the grip of the strong on the weak. What our cousins across the water don’t appear to understand is that it’s an American form of neo-liberalism. The rich (the owners) get richer, the poor (the fans)… Read more »
“Although the word bland does not define Emery, his teams are always exciting to watch. ”
What? We are dreadful this season.
Reverting back to my concern about the number of games played. Professional rugby plays one game per week throughout season. Also because of physicality of the game players are far more frequently substituted than is the case with football. The game is also more pragmatic. If a player gets a head or blood injury he is substituted. Players who have been taken off can be replaced by others who have already played. I prefer also system of cards where a player can be suspended for a yellow card offence. This results in the player leaving the field for 10 minutes.… Read more »
Dissenter, I hold Emery to the same standards I held Wenger to… he’s tanking.
He is 5th with the 6th best squad in the league
You may need to hold off on the celebrations a bit
Pedro
“Dissenter, I hold Emery to the same standards I held Wenger to… he’s tanking’
..and it took you oly6 months to arrive at that conclusion.
You don’t see my mitigating circumstances like a shit poor squad and reaching a transfer window with no money to reinforce the squad
What? We are dreadful this season.
May have something to do with having a dreadful squad
Also notice i did not mention arsenal in my write up
Pedro (Good heavy duty article.) I think folk in time will come around to accepting the Kroenkes After all: They pay HMRC tax ( the most) They do not interfere They are not crooks ( like some other owners) They are not human rights abusers ( unlike some owners) There is no evidence they take money out They have allowed Arsenal to spend substantial money on players ( hardly their fault Gazidas was in charge of the cash register) They have a certain dignity And they are loyal ( TOO loyal to their now employees) They deserve criticism from being… Read more »
It’s a squad that was improved by £70m, and had a new coach and 5 of his hires added in. It’s not that shit. It should be better. A good coach would have us improving.