Arsenal aren’t messing around. They are flooding fans with so much news, they don’t know where to look. It’s an avalanche that almost looks like a distraction.
First, we won the FA Cup… hooray!
Then it’s leaked that we’re going back in the Kia trough for Willian… hmmm?
Then we officially tell the world we’re laying off 55 Arsenal workers… say what?
buuuuut… Coutinho… maybe… PARTEY?
Back to lay-offs. A large chunk of that sits in the recruitment department… names like McDermott and Cagigao… SAY WHAT?
THEN the David Ornstein of Lille newspapers announced that Gabriel Magalhães will be joining Arsenal as our right-sided centre back. That’s a fucking coup. Tall, aggressive, great on the ball, and one of the hottest young defensive talents in France (video)… SEXY?
Where do you start?
First, let’s start on the redundancies aspect of things.
There are two ways of looking at this. The first is that billionaire owners have some responsibility to stand up and be counted when the world is hurting. This was Wenger back in the day.
‘What matters to me is when you have a club with 600 employees you have the money to pay them at the end of the month.’
Letting go of 55 people when society is sick is heartless. Stan K is rumoured to have personally gained over $400m during the pandemic. The Walton Family, of which he is married into, has amassed $25 billion during the pandemic. Josh K said he wanted fans to ‘be proud’, I’m not sure slashing 55 peoples livelihoods at this time levels up to those words.
The other way to look at this is pure play capitalism: Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Businesses around the world have been given the cover of a pandemic to cut the fat and get lean. It’s grim, but there’s always 10% of a workforce that could be improved, and in this moment, there’s not only substandard talent to be rid of, there are also people that have nothing to do, so why keep them?
For me, this looks like a blend of self-sustaining-business-model ‘necessity,’ opportunism… and a bit of a power grab.
The biggest sledgehammer apparently went to the scouting department. That’s where a lot of the cuts will be directed. Are we really surprised though? The 3 years of Don Raul, Sven, and Edu was not the moment the weird recruitment started. We’ve been pretty bad at bringing through the cream for a very long time, so it’s hardly a surprise leadership is looking to upgrade there.
The big question Arsenal fans will have is: What is the plan post-lay-off-shake-up looking like? At the moment, this has the feel of a dictator hollowing out government institutions to concentrate power.
Most fans are spitting feathers because we’re not hiring in expert talent, we seem to have outsourced decision-making to cronies of Raul and Edu. Jason Rosenfeld of StatDNA quit, Sven Mislintat was moved on because he despised the approach, a whole collection of youth scouts didn’t have their contracts renewed, Cagigao who was promoted post-Sven is out, and Brian McDermot has apparently been moved on. We can pay £24m for David Luiz for a year, but can’t afford scouts and some corporate admin, really?
5 or so weeks ago, Kia J, the Shadow Tech Director numero 1 said this when he was asked about David Luiz’s deal.
‘There are several issues within the whole structure that will be resolved.’
Kia isn’t just a fee printing machine and an average talent spotter, he’s also clued into Arsenal’s restructuring plans that involved people losing their jobs. That comment on Talksport Radio now looks even more disgraceful than it did at the time. How can that not be a breach of trust or some sort of corporate protocol? It’s basically him admitting that ‘problems’ at Arsenal will be resolved. What problems were they I wonder? One can only speculate. Either way, if I came out and said something like that about one of my clients in the media, I’d be kicked off the business and I’d be in big trouble.
The whole thing is very sloppy. The worst thing is that Arsenal aren’t out ahead of these very obvious PR problems. That press release doesn’t cut it with a fanbase that chases down the planes of players on transfer deadline day. Where is Raul to explain what the future holds?
I understand that staff are having conversations this week on the redundancies, so maybe they are waiting to make things official before they come forward with a plan. However, from my understanding, if you make someone redundant, you have to kill the role, or the redundant parties can file for constructive dismissal. If the scouts are being made redundant in that 55, we can’t legally replace them, so we’ll be running with a severely depleted department or relying on junior talent to pick up a lot of important slack.
We’ll have to wait and see where that lands because I’m sure Arsenal’s head of HR is well aware of the law and will have made sure Arsenal has the maximum flex to do what is best for the club.
Regardless, I’ll say it again, days like this remind you that Arsenal is not being run properly. The lack of leadership, true expertise and empathy is palpable.
Gutting data, scouts, and dissent is not a plan, if KSE thinks it is, we’re in trouble. If cronyism is the strategy, watch Arsenal burn, I’m sure QPR fans loved it initially when Kia was pulling the strings at their place, ask them how they feel about that now. Ask Barcelona how their ‘we don’t need scouts’ approach has gone for them… no, ask Lionel Messi. We’re gravitating towards football structures most clubs are trying to get away from.
Doing things the hard way is the only way, shortcuts always end in tears, especially when super-agents are close by. Our infrastructure should be built out with elite specialists in every department. Technology and data should support experienced people making tough decisions. Our staff should feel empowered to find marginal gains, innovate processes, and eke out advantages where others aren’t looking. Raul should have the whole club pulling in the same direction with a grand vision for the ages. There should be no doubt about where his priorities lie because he should bleed Arsenal like Arteta and the fans do.
Still, there’s time for a plan. We might see it this summer. We might make some elite backroom hires in the vacant positions. We might mix it up with the players. I might be totally wrong about our leadership. This summer could be the one. My worry is that all the things I’ve told you to watch out for haven’t just happened, they’ve gotten markedly worse in a very short space of time.
This summer feels scary, promising, weird, exciting, and a little bit sad.
Fingers crossed it works out. We can’t afford another disaster. Arsenal has to get it right.
1
Kroenke would say we need to cut people. Raul is the guy who said who should be cut. Raul failed at Barca, he’s a stubborn man. He’s going to ruin us.
You should be lighting the Raul out brigade.
Kroenke would say we need to cut people. Raul is the guy who said who should be cut. Raul failed at Barca, he’s a stubborn man. He’s going to ruin us.
You should be lighting the Raul out brigade.
Kroenke would say we need to cut people. Raul is the guy who said who should be cut. Raul failed at Barca, he’s a stubborn man. He’s going to ruin us.
You should be lighting the Raul out brigade.
4
Peds
Seems your server is having a downtime
Pedro
you don’t have to resort to David Luiz cost us 24 mil for one season stuff. Your narrative has some credible backing now. Firing Cagigo is a huge red flag. As I said before I will criticize the management when I see they are moving in the direction of contacts scouting. This decision was crap.
But fortunately the players we are linked to are good this summer. Eventhough Willian and Coutinho are Kia’s players they are both high level. It doesn’t look great for the future though when you fire scouts that found you a gem like Martinelli.
“This summer could be the one.”
One can dream.
So, lets get this right.
You think the following is “being run properly”
– Paying 55 employees to sit at home, manage retail outlets that are closed down, manage club level that is empty, manage corporate boxes that cant be used?
– Keeping scouts on that have seen Arsenal create the worst squad we have seen in 25 years?
This is just outrage for the sake of outrage (or clicks).
Why is Cagigao seen as some kind of god?
I keep hearing we have a terrible squad (true).
I keep hearing about how he found Cesc and Bellerin (wouldnt be too proud of that one).
What I dont keep hearing about is his involvement in the likes of Almunia, Ospina, Squillaci, Senderos, Mustafi, Gabriel, Santos, Xhaka, Elneny, Perez.
Why dont people mention this?
I would say sacking the entire scouting structure is an absolute no brainer, when you see a club that has gone from 2nd to 8th in 5 years, driven largely by absolutely terrible, terrible recruitment.
In this modern day of technology, with pretty much everything online and digital. Does a football club need to have 50+. Employees all doing the same thing, when the same job can be done by 2 guys on a computer? Player scouting is more modern than it use to be, with all these stats site etc. It’s easy to pick out diamonds, rather than 50+ people travelling around the world watching games and players. Don’t forget also thst some of these redundancies, could be form the clubs hospitality sector. With fans and events still not permitted. I can understand the… Read more »
” Sven Mislintat was moved on because he despised the approach”
Correction: “Sven Mislintat was moved on because he was doing a terrible job”
That’s better.
Sven Mislintat the hero, lets look at his amazing work: Auba – world class of course Mykhitaryan – disaster Sokratis – terrible defender, not wanted, may lose all £16m on him Torreira – rubbish, trying to sell him Leno – good GK, most errors of any GK in the PL since he joined Guendouzi – attitude problems, but we’ll make a profit Lichsteiner – disaster Mavropanos – 2.5 years later he has barely played and is still on loan So the chances are, going in to next season, only one of Svens signings will be in our first XI, and… Read more »
Gambon I agree the issue we have is Pedro’s running so much distraction with his agenda that we can’t have a sensible unemotional look at the situation. Cagigao is hailed for finding Cesc, Bellerin and Marinelli – one of them an outstanding player, one of them gets a very mixed response and the other looks a very promising talent. The big issue is being missed Cesc was signed in 2003, Bellerin 2011 and Martinelli last summer. Do we expect a quality scout to find more than 3 “good” players every 2 decades? Would he have survived under the current Liverpool… Read more »
Can someone remind me just how Luiz cost £24 million for 1 year?
Arsenal fans always trying to act like they’re the smartest people in the world. I don’t remember so many grown men acting like high school girl on a social media platform (twitter) about things they have no clue about. How can any fan justify that these scout shouldn’t be sacked? A scouting department that still using “Fabregas” to justify their importance. The same thing with SM, who came to Arsenal only to stocked the team with players from BM who he previously worked with. Just imagine Arsenal putting out a statement saying “we have considered making 55 positions redundant but… Read more »
gambon
————
Long time no hear, did you watch/enjoy the final?
As for the 55. I’m surprised this didn’t happen earlier, I expect loads of clubs to do the same now.
The revolution against the tyrannical reign of Kim Dumb Pedro is gathering pace and it will be blogged.
Marc
August 6, 2020 09:47:30
———–
8 million fee
10 million salary
6 million agent fee
Total 24.
Gambon
I don’t mind firing people on the basis of incompetence and not being good enough. But Management are saying the department is Redundant. So No more head of international scouting. That is a big red flag.
Danny
Yeah, watched it at a friends BBQ.
It was good, and in Auba, Ceballos, Tierney and Martinez I think we have a bit of a base to build from.
As for the redundancies, what do people expect?
The Emirates wont have 60,000 fans for at least a year, probably longer. Should we pay people to do non existent jobs?
Danny
Well, you got the fee right, that’s something.
8 million fee
6 million salary
less than 750k agent fee
Total not even close to 24.
Marc Every attempt to do so is dismissed by you. Ok let’s ignore the VAT cost of £1.6 million on a £8 million fee because no one ever talks about that cost Nor can you factor in the 13% NIC. What about the signing on fee that as we now know was only a one year deal had to be paid in one instalment. How about the hidden cost of agents fees that will have in theory been Luizs liability but almost certainly would have been paid via a benefit in kind. Look we have no idea as to actually… Read more »
Danny
Small problem with that.
Fee – correct
Salary – wrong was £125k per week or £6.5 million per year
Agent fee – wrong how can it be £6 million when our total fees paid to agent during that period was £13.5 million? We also bought Tierney, Martinelli and Pepe for over £100 million – doesn’t make sense that we’d pay £6 million agent fees on an £8 million transfer and a total of £7.5 million on transfers totaling over £100 million.
Marc/Gambon, After initially being very sceptical of Pedro’s “contact and agent-led transfers” talk, I have come round to his views. Cagigao and the scouting people are only involved in the initial steps of player recruitment, as are the data analysts. Based on their knowledge and what they say they make recommendations, strong or otherwise, or highlight deficiencies in players. The senior guys (Raul/Edu/Huss/and now Artets) are free to pursue or not to pursue their recommendations, or to bring in players they fancy for whatever reason. And of course, financial reasons and players personal preferences will influence who come in or… Read more »
Terraloon
Firstly see my comment above secondly no you can’t chuck out the VAT figure and then say we’ll pretend to ignore it.
Any VAT we pay out as a business is knocked off of our VAT liability.
VAT and NIC? We’ve been doing the maths wrong for years!
Marc/Gambon,
So if we do become much more exposed to a small number of agents and their “recommendations” Pedro is quite right to be worried that we could descend to QPR or Everton levels of player recruitment.
Whats happening
After this pay cut debacle Arteta is either
A. Badly amatuer
B. In bed with the tyrants
C. Both A&B
WOAB
Unless we’re using this as an opportunity to cut out the deadwood, as CC said yesterday we won’t be scouting players right now for current business so we get rid of the deadwood and then restructure the scouting department over the next couple of years.
You can’t really think it’s been fit for purpose? If it was why did we hire Mislintat?
WOAB
Please list the agents of the players signed last summer?
Pedro your argument of “this is capitalism” is not correct. It would had been if the job cuts resulted in us gaining financially. in reality, the job cuts dont mean a thing when you are going to spend 10 times more of their combined salaries in paying of a super agent to sign a player. This looks more like corruption. but hey, if its legal who can question the move. Its just not ethical. Also, our scouting department has been a problem for quite some time now. why use Pandemic as a opportunity to sack these people. just goes to… Read more »
It seems a few of the posters aren’t understanding what the process has been. Scouts would find promising talents, scouts would attend matches and begin to create a portfolio of the player being scouted. When ready they will send this onto the football manager. It is HIS decision on whether we sign them or not. Look back at all the quotes of senior Wenger “we could have had this amazing player x” he has a lot of these quotes, right? It’s because the scouts are doing their job. It was his decision not to pursue further. @gambon you especially should… Read more »
Freddie
Or how about
£8 million fee.
£1.6 million VAT
£5-£10 million signing on fee to include his agent costs . Let’s assume £6 million
£1 million in agents fees
£16.6 million
So add in another
£6 million Pay
and
£1.5 million by way of employers 13% on the NIC on pay and the £6million
£24.1 million
Marc
Sure our targets would have been identified already this summer but who is doing the scouting for next summer if we make the department Redundant?
WoaB
We have been at Everton levels in recent years.
How do you think we went from 2nd to 8th?
We will see how the new structure plays out, but so far I like :
Luiz, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney, Ceballos, Pepe, Willian
A lot more than I like:
Mustafi, Sokratis, Lichsteiner, Xhaka, Perez
So now we include VAT in tranfer fees?
Fuck right off.
And you think Luiz got a £10m signing on fee?
You are mental.
Terraloon
You’re just making numbers up now trying to get to the figure you want.
What about us claiming the VAT back?
There were reports last week that we are going to buy new backroom people this summer. Even Arteta didn’t dismiss this question in a prezzer and said we’ll look at that after the season is over.
Now the reports of culling 55 staff members.
Maybe its just a move to trim the fat and upgrade some positions.
Cagigao is the big name being binned ofc. The Athletic article states how strong he is in pushing his own players and maybe Edu/Arteta/ Raul dont want that.
Marc
Damn right the revolution is gaining pace.
Marc,
I don’t think that the problem has been in scouting. In the old days of Wenger, he used to love revealing that we “almost“ obtained Fyodor Geniusov or Bacar Brilliantano or Eden Toxic, who then went on to have sparkling careers at Bayern, Barca or Real. We just never could get the deals with identified players over the line, either coz Arsene had reservations or (more usually) because we weren’t willing to pay for them.
Habesha
Have we fired / made redundant every scout? I don’t think so.
Gambon spot on.”Thats the kiss-ass generation we’re in right now.We’re really in a pussy generation.Everybody’s walking on eggshells”-Clint Eastwood.
What about David Luiz’ pension contributions? You forgot to add that to our total cost.
Gambon
i give you Lichsteiner and Perez, but Xhaka was a big money signing. and to be honest, of late he has been doing a good job consistently.
Sokartis was supposed to be a stop gap arrangement. he was never supposed to be the one we build our defense around.
Pedro mentions all the bits of moving away from data and stuff like that and the same day we are the favourites to sign a Young CB who’s got pretty good numbers and is definitely a data driven signing.
Look at this CB data
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r9sUyOsNVxQYOY2TaRFKmxk9nqLsy-rV419f00Eb9ys/edit?usp=drivesdk
WOAB
Then why have scouts if you’re not going to sign the players they identify? We signed an awful lot of dross where did those names come from?
Marc,
I do get your point about agents. Pedro does push the narrative to stretching point and (so far) you’ve been right in pointing out that it has not been true that Arsenal FC has operated as Kia Joorabchian FC.
But it does feel like that it is the direction Arsenal is travelling in.
Ashwin
“Sokartis was supposed to be a stop gap arrangement. he was never supposed to be the one we build our defense around.”
Why were we signing stop gaps when we had “Super Mislintat” who could identify super stars whilst still in the womb? Why wasn’t he putting forward targets who could do a better job for a lower fee?
Captain TierneyAugust
if we are making the position redundant, i dont think we can hire people again for the same designation. If Arsenal were smart and we really restructuring, shouldnt they have just fired these people rather than inviting legal issues by making the roles redundant.
The people need to make sure the Trump junta does not leave the country after November and are held accountable in court.
You heard it here 1st!
WOAB
If someone keeps telling you something you’ll start to notice it more often. We sign 6 players this summer and 2 of them fall under the “Super Agent” umbrella will the talk be about the 2 or the other 4?
Marc
I am not too sure but Francis Cagigiao was head of scouting. That’s firing your head of scouting. They said it was because he was Redundant. They didn’t say he wasn’t good enough and upgraded a scout to that role yet. It also gives credibility to pedro’s “we are moving in to contacts scouting” narrative . Willian, Coutinho, Luiz, Cedric is a big red flag while we fire head of scouting. Doesn’t that make you a bit cautious?
Not sure how you can blame our scouts for Mustafi and Xhaka – both were lauded at the time as being the product of our (then new) StatDNA based approach.
Let’s not forget that scouts make recommendations – they don’t sign players. They could have suggested any number of prospects that have gone on to be great players but we’ll never know.
The buck stops with the player recruitment execs.
The centre half were linked with is a lefty not sure he would play on the right?
Marc
Irrespective the sum would have been invoiced and paid
This article puts the costs of a £10 million transfer
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/how-much-10m-transfer-actually-10817930
Jamie
The point really is what costs need to be added and on it’s not the maths it’s the fact that there are all this hidden costs which really are relevant
Jamie
“What about David Luiz’ pension contributions?”
Fucking hell how did we miss those out?
I’d like to know why we provide him a free parking space at the training ground – just how much is that worth as a benefit in kind? What about free travel to the ground on match day on the team coach?
It all stinks.
Probably the saddest statement ever if you’ve any substance or values… “The other way to look at this is pure play capitalism: Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The thing is the club have NOT said these redundancies are part of improvements in structure, capability or talent. No, it’s cost cutting to save money by a billionaire. If you understand arsenal and have been a fan beyond 5mins you’d understand why it’s at odds with this club. This is a club, a community, always has been. Try for once to see beyond your biased agenda or sad capitalist… Read more »
Terraloon
Are you seriously using the Teeside Gazette as proof of what we paid Luiz’s agent in hidden payments?
The loon bit is looking more and more accurate.
Given the obscene amounts of money the Kroenkes have made during this crisis, it make me a little queasy to say the least to hear of so many people losing their jobs, but I can also take the practical angle that not having a full stadium for some time (not that I agree with that, but thats another story) means some of those positions probably no longer exist. In terms of the scouting – again I have major reservations about the influence of Kia and Raul, however its clear that our current set up has not been working for some… Read more »
Marc
Mislintat did identify ,”Mavropanos”. And during Wenger’s last days, he did play a match with us, which excited all the fans. Then Emery came in and the rest is history.
May be, if it were not for a power struggle between Raul and Mislintat, we could have seen what he can do over a period of time.
Terraloon –
When we signed Henry in 1999, the widely reported £11m cost was inclusive of agent fees, VAT, wages, NIC, and pension. Said no one ever.
This Dissenter nonsense has gone too far.
Terraloon
“Irrespective the sum would have been invoiced and paid”
Crap – That’s like saying I paid for the meal when I took clients out because it went on my credit card – the fact that I claimed the money back on expenses says the company paid it.
StatDNA should stick to American sports they are amatuers at football analysis.
Raul’s first order of priority should be selling some players. He is more interested in firing employees. I mentioned about Sanchez’s settlement. Some posters said that Ozil wouldn’t do it. Did we hear any thing about the board coming up with a similar proposal? All they did is (I guess) ordering Arteta to freeze Ozil in the hope that Ozil would quit this Summer.
Andy: we’ll never know…. think that summarises our insight into the situation quite well.
Ashwin
“Mislintat did identify ,”Mavropanos”. And during Wenger’s last days, he did play a match with us, which excited all the fans. Then Emery came in and the rest is history.”
Fuck me you think Mavropanos is some great player that Emery put out on loan through spite. Didn’t he get a red card in that match that excited the fans? Didn’t he then spend months and months out injured?
The guy is a major flop.
Gambon,
I have to agree with you on the new list of names being much much better than the old, despite everything I’ve just posted.
In the short term we can just about get away with a lean structure, given that, footballistically, Raul, Edu and Mikel do know what they’re doing and which footballers they’d like to have.
This will certainly be a very interesting transfer window.
Norwich willing to let Buendia go for around £20m by the way.
On another matter it’s been reported that City offered £41m for Ake (having to bid more than £40m to activate the clause in his contract) specifically to avoid repeating AFC’s £40m + £1 PR disaster from back in 2013. …
The scouting system is probably as corrupt or more corrupt than super agents
But go on pick your side.
Im telling you for free
Sid
That’s a conversation that might be worth further consideration.
Sid
Good point
So how much did Ozil really cost us then? £45m transfer fee VAT @ 20%: £9m Agent fee (if anything like Luiz’ agent’s fee, proportionate to his salary/fee): £10m Wages @ £140k per week for 3.5 years: £25.5m NIC + pension for 3.5 years @ 13% and 4% of total salary: £4.3m Renewed contract @ £350k per week for 3.5 years: £63.7m Agent fee + signing on bonus: £30m VAT: £6m NIC + pension for 3.5 years @ 13% and 4% of total salary: £11m Total Ozil Cost with all the hidden shit: £204,500,000 Makes the Luiz deal look cheap… Read more »
Andy1886
That’s a steal when the likes of grealish are being valued for 80 mil. I think he can ne one player who can fit seamlessly in our midfield. Auba would love him.
For me these redundancies are based on what was told to the players on agreeing to the cut. We’re they told this is across the board so expect trimming elsewhere or was it you will save jobs. They are now looking bad taking money back for winning the fa cup as we sack others .
In terms of scouting, like caggio , Is it a restructure or are we now just saying all player decisions come from Raul edu and Kia, seems like a very small pool to be playing in when we are obv tight money wise anyway .
Gambon “We will see how the new structure plays out, but so far I like :Luiz, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney, Ceballos, Pepe, Willian A lot more than I like:Mustafi, Sokratis, Lichsteiner, Xhaka, Perez” So do I, though we haven’t actually signed Willian or gabriel yet. Tierney/Monreal Pepe/Sanchez Ceballos/Cazorla Luiz/koscielny Ox, Ozil, Wilshere, Walcott or Ramsey I would say that the new breed are not up to the standard of the Sanchez/Cazorla era, still time though. Ox, Ozil, Wilshere, Walcott or Ramsey were also better options, so we have a lot to do just too get back to the level of 3/4… Read more »
Jamie
It strikes me as odd that Terraloon doesn’t know that VAT paid out by a company is reclaimed.
It’s why I’m so vocal against this agenda – there’s just too much bullshit and questionable sources used to prove it.
Damnit. I forgot to include employee insurance in the event they are injured in a trip or fall at work that wasn’t their fault.
Add £20m spread over his 7 years at the club.
Roughly a quarter of a billion spent on one player. Thanks, Sven.
Ashwin
Yes but if they replace Cagigao and co with other staff but different job designations , will it still be an issue then?
Anyways , Willian is reportedly on 100k a week which turns out to be about 5 mil a year.
A very good deal imo .
Pierre
Your dead right about Xhaka and his “improved” form under Arteta.
The real question though is why aren’t you out on the Golf Course?
Marc –
It’s gone beyond parody at this point.
If we get Willian and Gabriel that’s a strong start to the summer.
We would then do a clear out as far as possible, some I think are u sellable – laca Sokratis ozil obv, but coin could be made from Nelson.
We then dump proceeds into partey or similar , that’s ok given where we were, 3 upgrades.
Interested to see where Saka is long term as Willian taking lf(assuming we stick with Pepe ) relegates him to competing for only a mid slot
Marc,
“Then why have scouts if you’re not gonna sign the names they recommend. we signed an awful lot of dross….”
That’s because, when we were not signing a lot of D-list players like Cheepas Chipsio to save money, we were signing off-list players on transfer deadline day like Milan Panicbuyo!
Jamie
The problem is there are people who aren’t used to dealing with VAT on a business level over here or overseas supporters who don’t know anything about it but they hear the numbers quoted and believe it.
WOAB
Yeah but that doesn’t answer my question: “Then why have scouts if you’re not gonna sign the names they recommend.”
Ashwin “”””” I have a new found respect for Wenger.””””” He will absolutely disgusted by what is going on at the club. He was the founder of modern day Arsenal. 20 plus years of trying to do the right thing ON and OFF the pitch- now ruined, tainted and vandalised by rasping Spivs in the space of 24 months. (remember and remember good – you will never sate these cockroaches.) Off course,the ultimate irony is- the team is actually in a much lower league position- despite the wreckage to the clubs unique reputation. Its just NOT acceptable to lay good… Read more »
Too early..
Pierre
So you’re just warming up for later then!
Marc,
You have scouts/data analysts in order to have a detailed data base (beyond YouTube clips and Transfermarkt summary data) on target players in terms of their fit into the team, abilities, character and an estimate of market value which can then be actioned – or not as the case may be.
Nice post Peter
Bit of a left wing lean to it even better.
There ain’t no rabbit arsenal can pull out the hat, this is a suicide attempt by the club.
Just shows arsenal are long since a football club they are a Yankee business . Second division.
Xhakalson has been seeing less of the ball, less than atleast 2 of our CBs.
Anyone who signs Sok over Soyuncu needs firing if not investigations into his conduct.
Pepe will turn out as good or better than Sanchez, sign Buendia we have Carzola
“Yes but if they replace Cagigao and co with other staff but different job designations , will it still be an issue then?”
Not entirely sure, but it will be challenged legally. They have to give new designations and different job responsibilities than the one existed now. Pretty tricky situation.
Lichtstiner and Soares are what you get when your budget for a back up right back is £0.
The comment section on Le Grove always fascinates me, with how many people pass their opinions or biases off as facts.
And how many people are happy to believe something they read, providing it backs up their own narrative.
No word from es today.would like to know his thoughts on the redundancy ..
Ashwin
It would also depend on the time frame. A company lays off machine operators because of a downturn doesn’t mean they can’t hire new staff when things pick up.
In Pepe we have proper Winger. For almost a decade Wenger made us believe that Walcott was a winger, (which Even Walcott didn;t believe).
Every year without fail, we are in the market for strengthening our defense. its a real shame that we cannot find a proper long term defender with all the super agents and monies we have…
Ashwin,
All they have to do is retain some Individuals in key parts of the scouting network (say Latin America, Spain/Portugal, West Africa, and Germany/Eastern Europe) and have those people report directly to Edu and/or the Tramsfer committee of Raul/Edu and Mikel)
‘What matters to me is when you have a club with 600 employees you have the money to pay them at the end of the month.’ _________ Pedro, Did you look at the context of why Wenger said this? This was Wenger’s response to a question about why he wasn’t spending the huge cash pile we had on transfers back in 2016 after we finished behind Leicester. In other words it was his excuse to not spend money. So I don’t think you can hold that as some moral high ground now, when we are planning on spending all our… Read more »
Nobody disagrees we need to rebuild some smart scouting capabilities…. ( a la Dortmund/RB Leipzig,…
but scouting for me really means identifying :
Diego Carlos, while at Nantes in 2019 (13m£ to Sevilla) not Diego Carlos @ Sevilla for 50m£ …don’t need a scout for that
or a young Szoboszlai before he joined Salzburg not now when anybody can see he has potential
The real question is are we going to try build this or not….
WOAB
You’re missing my point. I know why clubs have scouts etc but if you don’t ever sign their recommendations why bother having them? It’s just a cost that provides no productivity.