BOARD UNREST.
Can you believe it?
Sir Chips might throw in the towel because he’s being left out of decisions making and doesn’t have a voice.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Arsenal don’t have a board, if we did, we’d not be in the mess we’re in now. We’d have moved Wenger on when his time was up, likely hired someone like Klopp or Pep when they were interested, and we’d still be in the Champions League.
The BoD at Arsenal was for years absolutely complicit in accepting the elite level mediocrity that Arsene Wenger was bringing to the table. They all sold out. They all accepted the deal with Stan that they’d take their ceremonial salaries and STFU.
Now we’re in 2019, and they want to have a voice on Unai Emery? Quite amazing. They’re like the Arsene apologists that ignored the obvious for years, but now suddenly have Gary Neville like analytical superpowers.
I’m no fan of Raul and the very odd relationship he’s cultivated with Emery’s tenure. For a footballing man raised on the cutthroat approach of Barcelona, he sure does seem to be weirdly tied to giving his man every chance to fail. The manager has lost the fans, the players, the press, and his self-confidence. I don’t know a single person that thinks he can rescue it. But still, I wouldn’t want the board having a say on any decision. They’re the zealots that have us in this mess, weighing in like white knights on this issue is not acceptable.
Arsenal need a refresh at board level.
Sir Chips Keswick – 79
Stanley Kroenke – 72
Ken Friar OBE – 85
Richard Carr – 81
Lord Harris of Peckham – 77
Josh Kroenke – 39
Average age without Josh – 78.8
Average age with Josh – 72.2
Those are staggering numbers, what makes the number worse is the lack of know-how. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with age if it’s backed by elite levels of vision. The Fenway has a senior board, but they’re unreal at what they do. Reality with names that don’t have a surname starting with K, is none of them are of this era. They all believed in Wenger for too long, they were always out of touch with the fans, they all signed off on Unai Emery being shunted through the door last minute.
I’d say it’s time for a fresh lick of paint at board level, but the reality is simple: There is never going to be any power there. The direction of the club is Stan and Josh. Which really means that a majority of the thinking comes from Raul and Edu. If those two can’t deliver, we really are fucked for the foreseeable.
Mutterings from the papers are confused because there’s no strong narrative either way behind the scenes. The bottleneck on Emery is Raul. He’s going to try and tee him up for success as much as he can, but I think it’s apparent to everyone that the maternal approach isn’t going to work. I think you’ll see a decision when events start to impact Raul’s position in the hierarchy, I think that’s coming soon.
Spurs have made a decisive decision which helps us immensely. I think longterm, it’s a bad one. But short term, Jose is one of the most capable in the world at landing you top 4. He has a great squad of players, he’s on best behaviour because this is literally his last chance at a job he’d deem at his level, he also has a group of players very suited to his methods. Point here, Spurs binned a world-class manager 4 months after he took them to the Champions League final, and they’re already a point behind us.
Arsenal spent next seasons transfer money. Champions League is imperative. Chancing on a Europa League strategy is very, very flawed as we saw last season. At least we had a run of games to give us hope that the Emeryball machine could challenge. Not so much this season. This is very different. The players don’t want to be part of the turnaround. You saw that in the ground when we scored a winner, it was elation from Lacazette, then the slap in the face of reality… he just extended the circus another two weeks.
Arsenal have options on the table as far as I am concerned.
1. Rolling with Freddie.
Pairing Freddie Ljungberg with someone like Per Mertesacker is the fans choice. The Big Fucking German is an immense personality behind the scenes, I was explicitly told that in his last season with us, despite being mostly injured, he was monumental behind the scenes. Things would have been SO much worse without him. I only hear great things about how smart he is and I like that he has very thought out views on the game.
Freddie is the face we all dream of in the dugout. He’s good looking, he has deep, deep heritage with the fans. The kids love him, they might not remember him playing, but they speak extremely highly of him in the press. He’d be a good stop-gap until we find a suitable replacement.
I love the player, but I don’t think there’s enough on the resume to indicate that he’d be good longterm. He’s been at two places, Arsenal and Wolfsburg. He went to Germany with Joncker and saved Wolfsburg from relegation. Then the whole team were fired inside 6 months. This from the press release:
“Decisive for us in taking this step at this point in time was not just the impression made upon us during the game against Stuttgart, but rather based upon the perception of stagnated development amongst the team, which was to a great extent newly formed during the summer.
“We expressly wish to thank Andries Jonker and his coaching staff for rescuing VfL’s position in the top flight at the last minute at the end of last season.”
Key to that statement is that after 6 months, leadership felt the club had stagnated. That’s a huge red flag. He’s not been part of a winning machine or even just a good shithousing operation like Hassenthutl was before he went to Leipzig.
2. Pochettino
I simply refuse to believe we won’t be making phone calls to the best coach out of a job at the moment. The exSpurs manager would be the biggest coup for a football CEO that’s struggling. He’s perfectly suited to the squad, his style of high octane pressing would excite the fans, and his ability to actually coach players would be a dream.
Additional factors that could sway thinking. His two sons work in football in London. One plays for Spurs, the other just quit the sports science team. That means his family live here and are settled. I’m also pretty sure he doesn’t speak German.
Major watch-out is his deal post-exit. £12m a year will no doubt have clauses galore, I’d be hard-pressed not to think Levy had the Arsenal job opening up in his mind when he was negotiating, but hey, who knows. You can’t stop someone taking a job at a rival in the UK.
Weirdly, the exSpurs manager is the most unifying figure we could bring in. There would be no problems. The guy is a class act, a perfect remedy in a post-Emery world.
3. Arteta
There are leaks all over the place about Arteta. I don’t know where they’re coming from, but I have my doubts it’s Raul doing the dirty work. The Spaniard was top of the shortlist before he was lumped out in favor of a very bland hire that was unsuited to the job. His stock has only risen. The Spaniard has the Manchester City IP, he has a huge reputation in the game despite never having managed a club, and he has Arsenal DNA. He joined the club when Per was there, the German is winning the power war behind the scenes with scouting and the youth, I can’t believe there’s not a fan there.
The hire would be a divisive move, no doubt. The experience issue would be a huge red flag. Some fans see his tenure as a player as miserable one. I don’t share the same fears, I think he has a few things going for him:
- He’s been captain at Everton and Arsenal, he’s a natural leader
- He was a very good player, trained in La Masia. He can command respect in that sense.
- He has elite level endorsements from top players and top coaches
- He’s worked at the Apple of football clubs, he’s bringing a winners mentality with him, those ideas will captivate players and push us to another level. He’s an obsessive as well, he’s had a one-track vision of becoming the best and he’s made all the right moves chasing that dream.
- He knows Arsenal
4. Hire a progressive coach in the summer
The idea that there’s a lack of great coaches is a false one. There are lots of young coaches breaking out all over the world. The major challenge is finding someone that has ideas that can transfer into the Premier League. Marco Rose, Paulo Fonseca and Erik Ten Hag all play exciting brands of football, but bringing them over is always a risk. Ralph Hassenhutl, based on his last 2 jobs, should not be at the bottom of the league, but he is, does that tell you something? Maybe.
This sort of approach to hiring really needs a lot of time and a lot of honesty. The club would need to articulate a vision that goes beyond “MAKE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, MABYE THROUGH EUROPA.” If we establish how we want to play, then determine how we want to activate, mapped to the realistic resources we’ll have available, we’ll be in a good position to know who to hire as a manager.
Brighton don’t have money to splash. They need to do a lot with a little. They needed to move their football forward. So who did they hire? A manager that built his rep on making the most of broken parts, a progressive thinker, and someone with a reputation for building outrageously effective cultures at clubs. It might not pay off, they could still get relegated, but the move was smarter than hiring in Alan Pardew hoping he could repeat the fluke of Newcastle finishing 5th way back when (which is basically what we did when we hired Emery without checking the reality of his career to date).
Arsenal’s reality is that without Champions League football, we’re going to be struggling for money next season unless we sell some of our best players. We could see 60 goals walk out the club. We’d doubtful be able to replace at the same level and some of that money will need to go towards a rebuild. That means young players. That would mean we’d have to hire in a proper coach that could build a team of the future. To make that happen, you’d need someone with a strong personality, big ideas, and the patience to deliver. You’d also need a manager the fans could abide by, so either an explayer, or someone that’s walked this walk before.
That’s why Mourinho wouldn’t have worked. That’s why Enrique and Allegri likely aren’t suited. That’s why this decision is very, very tough… and likely why the club don’t have an answer.
But something has to change, we can’t dither forever. The saddest indictment of yesterday, a comment I am stealing from the internet, is that Hassenthutl usually plays a back 5, but he dropped it against us yesterday, opting for 4-3-3. 19th position Southampton came to play at Unai’s Arsenal. That’s not the Arsenal we want. Let’s hope change brings a more exciting future.
Right, on that note, drop your managerial thoughts in the comments. x
The alien landed 18 months ago and implanted itself in our beloved leader. It’s the only thing that explains his tactics.
Like I always say I’d love to watch emery play fifa where he could pick a world 11 and the players would all follow his instructions to a T
I really wonder what this mythical tactical masterclass would look like. I’m genuinely quite interested as you get the feeling in his head he’s seeing a different world than everyone else
Whatever is said about Xhaka, we seem worse without him.
Raul may well know the game is up for UE, but also highly conscious that he cannot screw up again on his successor, especially after trying to get emery a new deal this summer.
Raptora, bang on mate, lets be honest Val has it in for Raul and will basically say anything to make a point and Pedro has a vested interest in doom mongery, its good for business.
I mean, Edu is getting shit and hes still working his probation.
DS, “especially after trying to get emery a new deal this summer.”
??? Did this actually happen ???
David Smith
That’s all to do with the players having no belief in Emery.
Nothing to do with Xhaka.
I think that Emery is a “Dead Man Walking”. Whilst the Board needs urgent reform the fact that the Chair expressed concern about lack of consultation and is considering resigning suggests to me that there will be material changes occurring in not too distant future in Boardroom as well as downstream. Personally I don’t believe that our performance in next few games will have any impact on long term future of Emery. It does not change the reality, which is that we have been playing garbage all season. The only question now is when Emery leaves and who will replace… Read more »
Emirates there’s one other important question which is how many points off 4th are we come the time of his sacking
I think we need a brand new board that has the best interests of the club at heart. Some highly motivated people, some experts in their field and some arsenal personalities who bleed red and white
PedroNovember 25, 2019 03:10:26 Raptora, the club spent next years transfer budget last summer. They need CL or we’re fucked. Valentin is right. >>>>>> Valentin is not right at all Pedro, I refer you to my earlier comment: bennydevitoNovember 24, 2019 23:09:56 I’d love to know where this story has come from that we’ve spent next season’s transfer budget. All reports confirmed that our net spend was actually £45m that was being reported in advance of the summer. Pepe is financed over 5 years, so less than £20m over 5 years. The Saliba fee wasn’t paid in full last season… Read more »
And apart from Twotter rumours I can’t find anything saying Emery’s been sacked which is disappointing.
I meant to say Pepe’s fee is just under 20m every year for 5 years not 20m over 5 years.
That would make him £100m, not £70m Benny
Benny some of it is ITK but lots of it is ITG
‘In the guess’
Lol…
China, Yes so it’s £15m a year for 5 years, that’s not too bad. All the reports at the end of the summer said our net spend ended up being £45m, so I’d love to know where this notion that we’ve spent next season’s budget has come from. I guess with the remaining money to pay for Saliba and £15m for Pepe, you could paint it that way but all transfers are usually paid in instalments over a few years or so, plus revenue, tv money, sponsorship etc divided over X years of contract as well as player sales mean… Read more »
Pedro is right. The Arsenal BoD has been impotent for many years and was not helped by the board split and departure of David Dein, who ironically was looking for external investors to move the club forward or the death of Danny Fitzman. The old money family owners at Arsenal were in trouble as far back as 1976 following the Death of Sir George Bracewell-Smith, the last true patriach of the club. Neither of his sons could take up the mantle of Chairman due to chronic health issues, consequently the remaining family/old money board members were either not interested in… Read more »
“Harry Kane’s words after Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of Tottenham were interesting: “He wants to win, he’s a proven winner,” said Kane of his new manager. “I’ve made it clear that I’m at the stage of my career where I want to win trophies. “I’ve made it clear I want to win them here, and it’s a big year for this. Realistically, we look at the Champions League and the FA Cup to try to do that. We will see how that goes, and, from my point of view, I will keep doing what I’m doing and keep… Read more »
So, Lacazette is 100% in favour of Emery being binned. Refusing to celebrate a equalizer, wow, how did Emery get in to this mess? I watched the whole 90mins and to be honest, I would take Wenger back in a heart beat as things stand. On a serious note though, Emery is done for and we should be expecting an announcement in the coming days. Raul cannot afford to wait till the summer, by then things could be way worse and his own position would probably be under threat before then
Arsenal became a virus of a club long ago. The infection spreading from the top all the way down to the ground floor. Our owner, whatever way you look at things, is totally useless. Our board are more geared to a gathering at an Abbeyfield care home and our managers( I include AW here) have done nothing to give us hope over the past ten years. Emery needs to be put out of his misery. A new action plan set in place. Bert and Ernie( Raul and Vinai) eradicated and the tea ladies need to be replaced with vending machines.… Read more »
We all remember those halcyon days of ten years ago when the writing was already on the wall.
Now we have a situation where all the fans are in agreement and yet the powers that be still can’t make their minds up.
Only at Arsenal Football Club.
£45 millions was last summer transfer budget. We met that preferred expected expenditure by selling Iwobi on the 11th hour. However by paying players in instalments, we have also committed money for future dates. Pepe on its own is £18 millions per year for 5 years. Saliba is £6 millions for 5 years. Tierney is £5 millions for 4 years. That money was provisioned based on a Champion’s League budget. Between the operational loss (likely to be around £20 millions for 2020) and the fact that we will not have Champion’s League football and the committed spending, we will have… Read more »
China 1 Let’s be realistic there is ZERO prospect of Arsenal finishing in top 4 in EPL and qualifying for Champions League this season. That has been blindingly obvious since the start of this season. I have yet to watch a single game in EPL where we DESERVED to win. The team is unbalanced and our midfield and defence not fit for purpose and whilst Emery’s departure may improve the culture and performance levels I doubt that we will make up the points difference. Our priority now has to be to stabilise the club and plan to bring in a… Read more »
I have said previously that history will show that Arsenal winning 3 trophies in 4 years is one of the most successful periods of the club. And yet history will show that during this successful period in the clubs history, there was this strange minority called WOBS, I prefer to call them KNOBS ( know nothing only bullshit) . The KNOBS set up a hate campaign against the clubs most successful manager who changed the way we played the game.. The media of course latched onto this sad attempt to discredit Wenger and in the end more fans were brainwashed… Read more »
Emirates your posts got extra angry this year and I for one like that haha
Pierre
😂😂😂😂!!!!!
Only Pierre could write this.
Haha Pierre did you bust a vein typing that in front of the wenger shrine?
If you’re happy enough with FA Cups and little all else then you lack self esteem as an arsenal fan
It’s all been said a thousand times before Pierre but you AKB will not be allowed to whitewash the disgrace that was wengers final years however crap his replacement was
You can try very very hard but none of us have forgotten. Not one
We have a GD of -1
Why is the club just starting the process for replacing Emery, if you believe the football tabloids.
This is now a failure of leadership. It’s stopped being about a poor manager weeks ago..
Pierre Dear god. Wenger was abysmal in his final couple of seasons. We signed absolute shit players with the odd exception, he did not know how to buy defenders and we were letting players go for free due to his and Ivan’s lack of foresight. He clung on to players too long and put a lot of faith in dead horses. Wenger was done at top level, as proven by him slinking into a fifa job rather than a high profile management job. It’s pathetic that you even still bang on about him. The real issue in this whole situation… Read more »
Also notice now that emery has tried Ozil, auba and laca and it bombed after you going on about it for ages, now it’s up can’t believe he’s not playing Pepe, laca, Ozil and auaba!’ Lol what’s next?
Stroller, The issue of a coach coming with some of his trusted lieutenants is complex. Having people who they trust helps managers. But the new staff must be integrated in the overall structure rather behaving like a small commando group reporting only to the manager. The issue with Emery is that he came with people who had no experience of the EPL and that they discarded any dissenting opinions from knowledgeable people. For example the injuries that started to accumulate in November and December last season were a direct results of too strenuous training sessions and relying on a conditioning… Read more »
‘While there are obvious and valid philosophical concerns about Mourinho’s appointment, it could pay off in the short term at least, simply because of the perception that he’s a manager who wins things. Mauricio Pochettino, for all his strengths, has never won a thing, and it would be interesting to discover whether that harmed his standing in the dressing room after five excellent but trophyless years.” RH, you really are a case. You accused me of bizarreness because I wanted us to hire Mourinho, now you are hyping same Mourinho in other to score a cheap point in the argument… Read more »
I don’t think we moved to the Emirates to win 3 FA Cups (not discrediting that achievement by the way but it isn’t worthy as what it used to be) The fans were told that we would be competing with Bayern Munich, yet we were hammered by them 5-1, 3 times. The change needed to be made for multiple reasons but all those reasons are glossed over by those who still believe he should be here. A duff appointment followed in Emery and now the club appear to be treading water again, another big club would have fired him long… Read more »
Enough with the ‘Good Ebenings’! Even the media are taking the piss now. Do we not have any PR people left at the club? Have they all been made redundant? The club is lurching into oblivion – this is not an exaggeration! Kroenke has no interest in the club per se – it is just a cash cow to him. This lack of passion has permeated through the place and spilled out onto the pitch. We don’t even have a plan ‘A’ let alone a plan ‘B’. What is Emery’s first choice team selection? Who knows – he certainly doesn’t!… Read more »
Why are Raul and Vinai still at the club? Surely in my opinion they are responsible for the dreadful mess the club is in. I don’t think for one moment that they have ANY loyalty to the club or the supporters, why should they? What is alarming is their unsuitability for the position they occupy. Am I the only one to think that? I would say to Josh, GET RID OFF Raul, Vinai, Emery (all his hangers on), clean sweep. “Drain the swamp” come to mind, before the club becomes terminally ill. Unless that is done now, the next year… Read more »