‘MINI-ARSENE’ (LONG READ)

by .

The title of this headline is exactly what is wrong at Arsenal FC. Nothing sums up the imbalance of power or the lack of leadership and vision quite like the flow of people telling you that this ‘Mini Arsene’ term is bandied around in the unkindest of ways.

Arsene Wenger was a monster of a leader for the first 14 years of his tenure. He controlled the club with an iron fist because he had deep battle scars and a tremendous body of victories under his belt. When David Dein left the club, he took control because he could, and the club wanted him to.

That was a dangerous model to embrace regardless of his talents. The power of ‘one man’ control is only good for as long as the talent is fresh. If the person has a decline in ideas or starts to lose the curiosity that drove them to success, your system fails, and usually… dictators surround themselves with sycophants, so you end up being the emperor with no clothes on, with no one to tell you your saggy backside in the kitchen is unacceptable.

Usually, good businesses learn and put systems in place to avoid history repeating. Lots of businesses don’t have succession plans, then a CEO dies, and all hell breaks loose. That mistake happens once. I suspect Steve Jobs death inspired a whole industry of consultants to help mega-corps with that issue. Countries elect flamboyant charismatic leaders who promise the world, then fail to deliver, so the next few times they opt for something far more boring and bureaucratic. Wall Street had a moment after Adam Neuman convinced the world his office rental firm was not a technology company worth £49b. Big tech stocks tanked, it was harder to raise capital, and the books were scrutinized for real numbers. There are always lessons to be learned… unless you are Arsenal FC.

No club makes more consistent mistakes in leadership than Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta is a persuasive man and transactional in the extreme. He is the Donald Trump of football management. That doesn’t mean he isn’t talented on the coaching field, despite what we’ve seen this season, most will tell you his ideas are compelling. The club knew Arteta was a pain when he was at Arsenal the first time around, he was aggressive and fought hard for his teammates and himself. I was very pointedly told at the time he was ‘a bit of a shit’ when he was a player, and there was a worry his nasty side would carry through.

Now, the player and the coach can be different. People can change and often do. Arsene Wenger in his book admits his authoritarian stage at Monaco softened in Japan as he learned to deal with different cultures. However, what you do with young leaders in big jobs is you surround them with an infrastructure that softens their sharp weaknesses.

There are some really simple things you can do in football and any business to make that transition easier and ensure the club always has control.

  1. Limit power to the specifics of the job. Arteta was hired as a coach, he should have remained a coach. ‘Manager’ should never have been put on the table. My last boss was obsessed with balancing the power of departments in our agency because if the power dynamic is off, bad decisions are made, morale is shaken, and the work suffers. It’s a simple notion, ‘do what you are good at/paid to do’ but we have all worked in businesses where others encroach on territory that is not theirs because it’s nice to have power. Just look at Don Raul thinking he knew better than Sven Mislintat. The better talent left, we are left with the wreckage of that departmental power imbalance.
  2. Create a simple hierarchy that empowers experienced leaders to manage, coach, and overrule if necessary. If you go for a young tyrant, you absolutely have to have an experienced Technical Director ruling over them. I tell this story every time: after Nagelsmann lost the Champions League semi with Leipzig, he jokingly complained he wanted an older profile of player, but ‘Ralph says no.’ The best young manager in the world was about 30 years old, to succeed, he needed a wiser head to tell him no and to work within the structure he had been given. Now that manager is at Bayern. Do you think he’d be at Bayern if he’d taken the job at Arsenal? No chance.
  3. Limit the hires and control the important ones to avoid echo chambers and fiefdom building. Someone tweeted a picture of about 62 (exaggeration) coaches coming out of the tunnel yesterday. A striking image. 62 people watched Arteta put Kolasinac into central defence and no one suggested an intervention. No one questioned a rejected players mental state, no one questioned his commitment, no one spoke about the implications for the fans, they just let it happen. The equivalent of seeing a plane engine on fire and assuming someone else will flag it. Young managers don’t know what’s best. Arsenal should have controlled who Arteta was allowed to hire and they should have brought in someone who had a reputation that wasn’t dependent on Arteta himself. What have we got now? A mix of journeymen and kids who are dependent. That’s how you get to sycophancy and a one voice top down culture. That’s not good in football or any business.
  4. Do as Netflix does. Build-in feedback loops. The basic premise of always-on feedback is that you create a culture of honesty. The quicker the feedback comes into you, the quicker you can rectify erroneous behavior. Has anyone sat down with Arteta and told him how his behaviour impacts players, staff, and fans? No one is born a good leader. You learn through experience. Hearing harsh truths is painful, but it allows you to grow. Does it look like Arteta is growing into the role, or regressing into something different?

If people are leaking against you and calling you a Mini-Arsene, it means you have too much power, with too little credit to back that power.

What does all of this tell you?

There’s no leadership at Arsenal. There are no consequences for failure, incoherrance, or wastage.

It is 100% clear that Vinai has no feel for the football side of things, no understanding when it comes to staff morale at Arsenal, and no guts for making tough decisions.

Let’s look at some of the decisions that have been made over the last two years.

Vinai fired 50 staff at Arsenal, pleading poverty. Then signed Willian for £250k a week. Then held back a few weeks until the story died down, then he sacked the club mascot. The story was so bad, Mesut Ozil ran with it to bury the club even harder.

Let’s talk about Willian. Vinai was at the club when we dished out a £350k a week contract for Mesut Ozil. He saw the decline in performance, he saw the fan angst over the deal, he saw the bottom line cost. Just as we were moving him out the door, what did he sign off on? Willian on £250k a week for 3 years. He did this deal with an agent that was toxicly involved in club affairs, had already started loading us up with shite players, and had ties to an exec we had moved on. In fact, I think the contract announcement was photographed at the house of the said agent.

He was also at the table when Arsene was fussing over the wattage of bulbs in the Arsenal canteen. He saw what an all-powerful coach could do to a club. So after it looked like he’d made a sharp decision with Arteta, what did he do? Let a 37-year-old launch a land grab for a promotion. He made Arteta the manager, then demoted Edu, and worse… he made Edu sit on his lawn and tell the world he was happy to be demoted.

What makes this even worse? He was basically co-CEO with Raul who ran the club so badly, he was fired 5 weeks into an audit by Tim Lewis. Vinai literally experienced the nightmare that is co-leadership, yet he bestowed it on the two most important people on the football side of things, after years of average structure.

Then we roll into this summer after our worst season in living memory… and what changed?

Nothing.

Arteta kept his coaching staff largely intact, despite big problems in the keeping department. He kept Edu in his job, despite overseeing a vast amount of wastage in the system. He didn’t change a single thing. We are in ‘let’s have another go’ territory.

Name a CEO at a major club that would operate that way? That is rudderless leadership.

Then let’s move onto the Technical Director. If I were him, I’d smell blood in the water with Arteta, I’d be in the press setting expectations, I’d be talking up the player recruitment vision, I’d be trying to connect with the fans.

What is he doing?

He’s spent the summer sharing his vacations like he’s a 22-year-old on a trust fund gap year.

People call this line of attack petty, but I guarantee you that those views never come from people that work in serious jobs where optics are important. When you ‘lead’ a department, how you are perceived with your customers is of the highest importance, especially in an industry where your customers are very emotional. Vacation snaps are for private, it’s bad judgement to be having fun when your club is burning. If you are going on a yacht trip, do not share pictures of the agent that lumped the club with Willian and Soares in the picture, and for god’s sake, do not share with the world that you are still in contact with a grim ex-exec that was sacked for grim things. BBQ post-Brentford? I mean, come on. This is the level of acumen we are dealing with, but my question, once again, is where is Vinai in all of this?

When I worked for an American agency, one of my pals I worked with slandered a jewellery brand at 9pm London time. The New York CEO shot her a text almost instantly and told her the jewellry brand was a client, to take it down, and to never do something so stupid again. You shouldn’t have to be told at Edu’s level, but the fact Vinai has no control over it tells a story.

Then you move onto Mikel Arteta. The concept of a young manager was an interesting one, but now, I have to accept, one that has failed miserably on many levels. The problem now is the metaphorical fuse has been lit, his rep with the fans is dead because of his arrogance, and let’s be real… the way he treats people has left a bitter taste in the mouth.

… but it didn’t need to be that way and good leadership could have averted the disaster unfolding now.

Just look at the behaviours that have been allowed to pass. The Brentford press conference was a disgrace and it set the tone for a dismal game. Win that, we’re 4 points off the top of the league after playing the two best teams. He sunk that game with his attitude.

Look at what happened at Manchester City. He rolled out a Kia right back who dropped a 40% pass completion rate and contribute almost nothing defensively a week after we saw him drop a stinker against Chelsea. He was allowed to galaxy brain the central defence with a player he has absolutely humiliated with average loan spells and a summer of ‘we would like you to do one’ talks over deal termination.

You earn the right to galaxy brain. He has not earned the right to do things like that. Where was his team? Where was the Technical Director? Where is Vinai now?

Mikel Arteta doesn’t have a feel for the fans and he doesn’t have a feel for people in general. But that’s ok, lots of talented people have weaknesses. But who is there to help him? Steve Round? Clearly not. If you or I were at the club we could explain to him how his decisions affect the fanbase.

If you are going to bomb Saliba off on loan without looking at him again, you have to be sure that Pablo Mari, a man who couldn’t get a deal in Europe before Brazil, is at the right level.

If we are going to lose the City game, you absolutely have to put a likeable team out there, because Soares is going to make distrust you even more. Kolasinac is a direct hit to your non-negotiables. Xhaka pining a midfield on his own despite the fans watching him struggle with speed for 5 years is going to be a problem.

No one is there to stop a tyrant from behaving like a brat, so he keeps on doing the same thing.

There is no more than 10 games to save this disaster of a season and if he gets the sack, it is more than deserved. But what I cannot emphasize enough is the silver bullet we are looking for does not exist in a system this broken. Great managers need controls, why do you think Conte never lasts more than 3 years? He tries to make a play for the steering wheel and he’s told no. BIg clubs need vision, structure, and someone who can make the big calls. Technical Directors need a level of maturity we lack, and if they have no power, why do you have one at all?

Big changes needs to happen. There needs to be consequences for the start to season we’ve had and how last season rolled out. But it can’t be token, it needs to be a change that has a strategic lens over it. What we have doesn’t work. What we have won’t work for anyone. If Wenger, Emery, Sven and Arteta can’t survive this system… no one can.

Before I leave, I want to point to some positives. We’re not in a relegation fight this season. We have not signed 6 bums this window. When our best players come back after the break, there will be a big improvement in the football. We’ll get a right back,  we’ll move on a bunch of players, and the spine of our team will repair. This squad is not a bag of mess, the right coach will take it to higher levels, the strategy of this summer might look odd now, but it was mostly done properly. You might read this line and say ‘but you just hammered the club’… yes, I did, a functional club goes so much deeper than the squad… 5 wins on the bounce won’t change the truth. Nor would 10. The club lacks leadership and until that’s fixed, we’ll always be searching for the silver bullet that doesn’t exist, and we’ll always feel like there’s no stability.

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Mb

You can’t really blame Maitland-Niles for that Instagram, can you?

If as a player, being part of a FA cup win, playing in a position you are familiar with and still doing miles better than others – gets you on bench for half a season and a loan to a relegation team, would you not do that?

Even if wanted to play the midfield, WBA loan stint showed it he can’t make it. So he accepts a Full Back role but the manager forgets the cup winning playing XI, and remembers when the other thing.

Champagne Charlie

Sal

Came across like a bit of a sound bite to me, easy clicks and stirring a reaction on radio.

Terraloon

So Palace now walked from the Eddie deal.

Yet again Arsenal have totally misread the market

salparadisenyc

CC

Well I salut him for getting the conversation rolling.

Looks like Stan seen enough spend in this window and to be fair I would save whatever’s left for next crew as well.

Best case we loan someone in.

bacaryisgod

Curious to find out when some of you flipped on Arteta.

For me the date was December 6th, 2020 when Arteta pushed a clearly injured Partey back on to the pitch and then criticized him in a post-game interview. Clearly it was not a smart thing for Partey to do but Arteta made the situation so much worse. It was at that point that I totally flipped on him.

What was your date, anyone?

Raulishuss

JESUS CHRIST!!! You guys are crazy lol. Amazon needs to come over here lol. Nobody beats val putting 2+2 to get 52 tho, what a jerk. Loves it when there’s chaos around the club that one. Just to say i told you so

Champagne Charlie

Sal

Just read we were interested in Emerson who has now joined Spurs. Not sure if it’s true, but it makes perfect sense of how we’ve managed this window.

Pedro mentioned a RB loan yesterday, can’t think who is a marked improvement and available to move like that. Seems more likely we’ll see AMN stay and get another roll. Same with Eddie, Laca, Kolasinac…

bacaryisgod

Really strange if the reports that the AMN deal is off because if anything could secure a player an exit it would be posting his wish to leave on Instagram.

Graham62

Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think Pepe is a waste of space. For me he is someone who could play a pivotal role in our progression. Arteta has, like so many other players, totally mismanaged him. Ignoring his £72m fee, he has so much to offer but sticking him out wide is not the answer. He needs to be given the freedom to roam. His effort at Brentford is where I like to see him, not camped out wide trying to make things happen. The Willian scenario didn’t help matters and I’m sure it must have been incredibly frustrating… Read more »

Mb

bacary

Don’t remember the exact date and it was a series of events for me.

Seeing Saliba play for under 23.
Seeing Willian start every match when we had enough Wingers.
& moving on Freddie – which was probably a graceful firing.

Maker

We gonna sign Cabellos on deadline day.

Lmao

What is jappening to this club.

Maker

*Happening🤣🤣🤣

Jim+Furnell

Paulo – ‘So many bad players were already here before he came but he has tried to win with these same bad players’ And he has added to the mediocrity – Willian, Cedric, Mari, Runarson, FFS, And he has neglected development – Martinelli, Balogun. Azeez, – ESR would be in limboland too if he had not played against Chelsea by total coincidence. I hope the media silence from AFC is a precursor to something big but I doubt it. Arteta will stink the place out until October/November. Then who will we hire? Brenda? would Conte come to this shit storm.… Read more »

Foxy

If AmN wants to play right back a move to Everton under Benitez would be the best thing he can do. Benitez has even got Iwobi playing OK again.

Leftside

Throwback to when Arteta said there would be a ruthless clearout, lmao.

Grade A bullshitter, unlikeable and very shit at his job. Clock is ticking.

Graham62

bacaryisgod

That’s easy.

Martinez/Leno scenario.

Letting one of the best GK’s in the world go at the expense of a German glamour model.

Mb

Foxy

Not if you love playing for the shirt. Unlike Willian & Xhaka.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

When arteta n edu go we will still have the dross of players .. also the new mob this shower have signed.

But hoping we can call back saliba n Mattie at Xmas

Foxy

Eddie staying may be a good thing for us with both Laca and Auba in Decline and Balogun to raw

salparadisenyc

CC When a player chooses Spurs over the Arsenal if thats the case w/ Royal have to think the rot is out there in the footballing ether. Arsenal needs to remedy this and remedy it in timely manner. BIG Villa in February put me on thee rope but Arsenal vs Liverpool early April was the dagger match. 0-3 First time club lost 12th premier league game in a season, Liverpool we’re on wretched form and we literally gave them the pitch.With entire first team available barring maybe ESR. End of match Klopp talking with Øde for long stretch and he… Read more »

Foxy

Interesting to hear Mattie is playing well. I think his average form last year was more due to Hertha being relation fodder and playing over defensive which we all know is not his strength.

TR7

Overmars is accused in some quarters of signing old players and then failing to get rid of them. So not quite sure whether it’s a good thing to have him throwing his hat in the ring.

Tom

Bacary, no date, just a cumulative effect of his decisions and style played.
Improving defense is great if done at no negative cost to offense but that wasn’t so.
Making the whole team more defensive isn’t equal to improving the defense……people confuse the two.

Champagne Charlie

Sal

Not only that, but with news that Bellerin is a potential option for Barcelona before the deadline it makes a mockery of our ability to structure deals that are begging to happen.

Same situation with Tammy, who waited for us to formalise our interest before turning his back and accepting Roma. Now we’ve negotiated Palace out the Eddie deal and are left with another player entering his final year.

Kroenkephobe

BIG
That away loss to Brighton (you know the game with the Bernie/Maupay/Guendouzi thing) got me started on the wrong side of him. I think that was at the end of the 19/20 season right? And by the time we lost to Southampton while defending the FA cup, I’d more than had enough and the die was cast.

bacaryisgod

Some good ‘last straw with Artat’ comments from you all. I have to confess to not seeing how bad the Martinez error was at the time.

bacaryisgod

Kroenkephobe

You saw it early!

Champagne Charlie

AFC Bell saying we have interest from Turkey for Elneny.

No chance that one happens either.

bacaryisgod

So WIllian is getting paid a fee to leave but it will still save the club a lot of money over the two years. What a mess but at least he didn’t sit around collecting his salary like some.

Samesong

Have we even had a goal of the month under BB reign?

bacaryisgod

CC

Yeah, we need a minimum of 4 CMs and we have no time to bring in a replacement. Elneny is so painfully average but can’t see him leaving.

Tom

No single Arteta decision should’ve been fatal in itself no matter how upsetting, but a few posters took time and effort to catalog them all and it was grim reading.

Dissenter

BacaryisGod
Death by a thousand cuts for me but it started after
-Olympiakos beat us at home before covid
– signing Cedric on loan even though he was crocked , extending his contract and not playing him
– SALIBA
-Publicly talking about finding leakers
-Guendouzi
These were since the first month of last season, even when we beat United away I was too far gone.

Too many cuts, too many scars

Dissenter

Foxy
“Eddie staying may be a good thing for us with both Laca and Auba in Decline and Balogun to raw”

He has less than 12 months left on his contract though so their have overplayed their hands. He will leave for free next summer.
Wish they showed the same resolution when bidding for Ben White

TR7

If Elneny leaves then during Afcon we will be left with only two CMs (Xhaka and Lokonga).

Mb

Ah I totally missed on Guen.

The only one who was frustrated that evening, the reaction was kinda wrong but then we are left with players who don’t even ask a referee what wrong they did to get a yellow.

You only go to the extreme for something if you love it. That kid could have been anything we wanted – so we treated him and sold him.

Graham62

“Death by a thousand cuts”

The story of Arteta’s reign.

I like it.

Receding Hairline

Will be very difficult for any technical director to do his job if the manager falls out with a new player every other week.

Imagine you are Edu and your coach tells you he wants Kolasinac gone and you are working on it, then come match day against City he puts same player at center back after deciding Mari who he asked you to give a long term deal was not good enough for that game.

Spare a thought for the boat man

salparadisenyc

TR7
“So not quite sure whether it’s a good thing to have him throwing his hat in the ring.”

You must fancy someone pretty special to take on that roll, i’d say please come home and give Erik Ten Hag a call upon arrival.

That Ajax 2019 side which Overmars is in process of rebuilding after getting gutted tells a pretty different story.

One can afford to keep Tadic or Blind around to balance out an under 23 core thats sold off.

Ziyech £35m
De Jong £75m
De Light £68m
Van de Beek £40m
Dolberg £18m

LithuanianGooner

But some cuts were awful: letting Martinez go was such a blow – I still can’t recover myself…

Dissenter

Oh gawd, we have even mentioned signing the worst goal keeper in Ligue un, 3rg goalie of Dijon to replace Martinez
Putting the horrible keeper on about 40k weekly [up from his 3000 euros/wk wages

Anyone can make mistakes, i get that but there ought to have been accountability
The same goal keeping manager that drove the cronyism signing is still calling the shots

Runnarsson is so bad no one will take him off our hands. The Turkish minnow invited him and pulled out of his loan move.

Ray+in+LA

Kroenke

enjoyed your Platt story 🙂

the other day heard Steam’s “na na na na” etc.

and drifted back to “hey hey Marinello”

Paolo

Choosing Leno over Emi, I think that was probably the moment I lost any faith in mike & edu. It was clear to see Emi was a better keeper than Leno for so so many reason’s. He did not put a foot wrong & was a commanding presence at the back we haven’t had since Jens. The correct & brave decision would have been to give Emi the No.1 shirt & sell on Leno. Mike & AFC were basically a laughing stock from that point onwards as everyone else in football including Messi could see what a great keeper &… Read more »

Peckobill

Bac Yep for me it came in instalments as well , small things first gave a character into the man like the guen Brighton episode , it’s not even about the player more an insight that arteta wanted a group of players to show no passion or fight or any emotion in his players and all be good little subordinates ( probably links it to some psycho babble or another ) and boy does it show in our football . The overplaying of willian when it was clear he was bang out of form , remember being half way through… Read more »

Graham62

Paolo I agree. Some on here though said “Martinez wanted to leave” He wanted to be the official #1 and he knew, as we all knew, he was a better keeper than Leno. By the way he still is. Another excuse was “Yeah but it was during Covid and there were no crowds” What a load of poppycock! I’d tell Arteta to his face, “ You know what, by letting Martinez go you disrupted the whole dynamics of the team” All his teammates also knew he was a far better keeper. Why should we be surprised about Xhaka when he… Read more »

MidwestGun

BIG_

Losing to Emery … playing a false 9.. in the Europa. So April of last year. That was enough for me.

Emery told Teta to hold his beer and schooled him. Knew it was all down-hill from there. Small hope we would have a transfer window to end all transfer windows.. based on ESL debacle.. I should have known better, Realistically we should have started transfer window with new manager. I think that was fairly obvious at that time in May.

TR7

“.Ziyech £35m
De Jong £75m
De Light £68m
Van de Beek £40m”

2 of them were products of famous Ajax academy. One of them used to play for a club where Overmars started his career in a way. Ziyech handed in a transfer request to move to Ajax from FC Twente. Not conclusively suggesting anything but one can argue Overmars benefitted from working at the biggest club in Netherland known for producing or attracting young talents.

bacaryisgod

Midwest That false 9 was a huge moment, for sure., I just can’t wrap my head around the financial dealings of the club. 1. Covid arrives and Arsenal go on a massive cost-cutting exercise getting Arteta to lead the charge with wage cuts and then after the players mostly went along they went and laid off 55 staff anyway. 2. Instead of letting Leno and Martinez fight it out for the #1 jersey (both had multiple years on their contracts remaining). we sell Martinez and that fee may or may not have been earmarked towards the 40m + Partey transfer.… Read more »

Mr Serge

PeckobillAugust 30, 2021 18:44:50
Deary me , on IMDb website ( for those who don’t know is sort of the go to place worldwide about films and Tv shows ) have this as their description of the upcoming all or nothing show

In Amazon’s third instalment of “All-Or-Nothing”, we uncover the pathetic downfall of North London’s 2nd biggest club. No European Football, No faith, just vibes.”Shocking !

That’s also not right if you go to IMDb and look it’s just posted by spurs fans that way on Twitter and insta

Upstate Gooner

bacaryisgod
“What was your date, anyone?”

The day he was hired.

Jonnygunner

TR7August 30, 2021 19:44:33
If Elneny leaves then during Afcon we will be left with only two CMs (Xhaka and Lokonga).

Even if he stays we’re only left with 2 CM’s….Elneny is that bad.

Gentlebris

To care about the sporting success of a club is not just about throwing money away, it’s about an intense demand for accountability. Imagine for a moment what Chelsea would do if they were rock bottom with zero points and zero goals after three EPL games. And that’s why they have come out of our historical shadows to grab two CL honours. If Arsenal had an owner who would sit on his fanny and do nothing after going three EPL games without scoring a goal and conceding nine in the process, then it didn’t matter who you brought as coach… Read more »

Sly

Curious to find out when some of you flipped on Arteta.

Games After the FA cup win
When I found out this guy was a one trick pony
Defend en masse and counter on the left
Beyond that nothing else Besides the litany of flaws
He’s floundering not due to a lack of players or the wrong kind but due to a lack of basic coaching skills

Mee

Was never enamoured by Arteta because he had no experience. Arsenal is the record FA cup holder ffs. Remember when he was asked about the Barca job and spoke about how there will always be those links like he was an Iniesta type figure. That was it for me

Bertfish

AMN dropped from first team squad now.

Cant leave & cant get a game. Only at the arsenal!

Graham62

Although I realise that loaning out players is key for all clubs at this moment in time, even if Covid hadn’t materialised, Arsenal would still not be able to sell players because they give average players far too much money.

Only at Arsenal.

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