Arsenal is hiring a corporate culture consultancy to help them with the mess at Arsenal HQ. I’ve been hearing rumblings for about 6 months about some of the things that have been going on, it’s not great, a lot of demotivated people, and some grim people fired and replaced already.
Man like Matt Kandela, a business owner and a corporate operator thinks this is a good thing. I can see the upside, there’s a messy corporate environment, and Arsenal is facing up to it and taking action.
However… the leak is there to damage Vinai. The reaction online today is probably what that person wanted. No one tells David Ornstein things are so messy on the corporate side we need a consultancy if they think that’s a positive story. It means there’s a lack of leadership and worse: the tools to repair it aren’t readily available internally. Ivan Gazidis has been gone since 2018, Don Raul has been gone since 2020, and only now are we getting to the business culture? Not great.
Anyway, better late than never.
The club is calling the program ‘The Arsenal Way’ which sounds like a pretty decent name for something that has certainly been lacking since Wenger went.
Before we get into it, I’m going to defend the company looking after the project. It does not matter if they don’t have football experience. It doesn’t matter if a strategist on their team supports Chelsea. All that matters is they know how to extract the right information that will help our leaders get to the best possible outcome.
As Arrigo Saachi once said, ‘to be a jockey, you need not to have been a horse.’
Some things to nail down before we get into this.
Culture is a set of principles and behaviors that guides the employees of a business. To be effective, they are usually closely linked to the mission of the club.
The Army builds its culture around discipline. Why? Because if you don’t listen to orders, someone might die. 30 seconds late to a meeting and you put your whole team at risk. If you are not prepared at all times, it’s life-threatening. The army in the old days would go out of its way to beat the individuality out of you so you followed orders without complaint. Everyone had the same haircut, everyone wore the same clothes, the same rations went to everyone, the same discipline was meted out if you broke the code. Thinking outside the box was not the job to be done, following orders was.
Facebook started out as ‘move fast, break shit’ because global domination could only be achieved if they grew at an exponential rate.
Netflix has a ‘no rules rules’ culture. They believed that to dominate entertainment and the tech that underpinned it, they need to hire the best people in the world, pay them more, and give them total accountability for decision making. They chopped back all the rules, reduced bureaucracy, and held great people to high standards. If you don’t hit the mark at Netflix, you get a nice severance and big ‘see ya.’
Apple worked off a Think Different mindset. When Microsoft was selling its software to go on other systems, Apple revoked all the licenses so they could control the whole experience. When companies were inventing MP3 players, internet machines, and dumb mobile phones… Apple put them all in one place on an iPhone. Everything they do is underpinned by elite design. I’ve pitched to them and if you have a single error on a deck, it will derail a whole meeting because they are obsessives when it comes to the details… because that is ingrained in their culture.
When you know what you stand for, you build a culture around that idea. You hire people that want to be part of that culture, that understand the rules, and want to live in that world. It’s a sorting mechanism internally, if you don’t agree, go somewhere else, because the reason for being is in a culture deck you live by.
I once wrote a culture deck and someone on my team said it felt like I’d written the rules for a cult, my response, ‘kind of.’
I’ve written extensively about the lack of honesty Arsenal have had for who they are and where they are in this modern world. We have gone through a very public identity crisis over the past 20 years. Ideals that kept us at the top for a long time changed because the world changed. Stability was a point of pride, but it eventually became the reason for stagnation. Class was used to differentiate us, but it eventually ended up as an excuse for not competing. When we slipped out of the top 2 clubs for wealth, we didn’t accept that drop in class, so sat in denial for many years.
To get to culture, we first need to know what the mission of the club is: GETTING BACK TO THE TOP OF FOOTBALL BY WINNING BIG TROPHIES
Nothing else matters. The number 1 priority should always be about what happens on the pitch. Football clubs exist to win trophies. A club as steeped in history as Arsenal needs trophies to progress and grow. If we’re not striving to do that, commercial revenue will dry up, new fans will stop feeding into the system, efforts in the community will be limited, our influence will wane, and we will eventually fade into the background of elite-level football.
We need to be honest about who we are:
- We are not the richest club in the world
- We will have to create a sustainable model of football. i.e. self-funded
- It will take time
What do we have going for us:
- 60,000 seater stadium
- A club name that still cashes cheques
- The best online fanbase on the planet
- A loyal IRL fanbase that will still buy tickets and support a project they understand
- We are based in London
- We have a prestigious history
- Players and managers still want to come here
- Elite London corporate folk would take pay cuts to work at the club
There are also softer elements that might play a big role in establishing some of our cultural pillars. The consultancy we’re using should meet with fans and ask what makes Arsenal special.
We are class. Arsenal do things the right way.
We are diverse. Our fanbase has always been reflective of London.
We are great in the community. Arsenal PR pays attention, we invest in locals, and we try and do the right thing.
These sorts of ideas might stop the club creating a WIN AT ALL COSTS culture deck. That’s not us and it’s not who we want Arsenal to be.
Some more truth:
To get back to the top, we’re going to have to innovate, we’re going to have to be smarter than our opposition, we’re going to have to make money work harder, and we are going to have to be fucking relentless in the pursuit of our objectives.
Football-wise, we’ve already moved to the honesty phase:
We signed a hot shit young coach with the hope of him growing with us vs signing Jose Mourinho or Carlo Ancelotti.
We signed young players with 2 years of experience under their belts with the hope of them reaching their peak with us in 3 seasons’ time.
We leaned into our brand to attract them, promising them a platform to succeed they wouldn’t get at other Premier League clubs.
If that is our football objective, what does it mean for our corporate culture? What does it mean for The Arsenal Way?
If you can’t be the richest, you have to be the smartest.
That means you have to hire innovators.
That means you need to create an environment where innovators thrive.
That might mean you don’t hire sportspeople who say ‘well, that’s just the way we do it’
That might mean the ‘Bank of England’ baggage of the past needs to be shaken from the board of directors because banks are not innovators, they are supposed to represent stability. Well, our stability has gone, so being likened to a bank has to die. Who are the best sports execs in world sport? Who is doing hot shit in football that is putting a small club on a higher level? Who is the best technology person in the game that can upgrade our app?
That will mean a different marketing story, that will mean a different pitch deck from the sponsorship team who have been selling the same boring story that hasn’t moved our commercial revenues in the right direction for a long time
If The Arsenal Way is about innovating our way to success, it shifts the entire vision of the corporate structure. It sets the tone for who you hire, how they operate, how they are rewarded, how they are judged, and the behaviors they need to elicit to win at Arsenal.
When you establish a clear vision, it also tells you who needs to leave a business. At a very famous hedge fund that has a book about culture, they have a process of ‘sorting’, they go through the literal scores of staff and clear out anyone not cutting the mustard. That might not be The Arsenal Way, but when you reestablish a culture, you need to be ruthless about who works in it. Because, like sport, a couple of bad eggs can bring down the performance of everyone else.
Arsenal are not risk-takers, we haven’t been demanding of ourselves, we haven’t been good at holding ourselves accountable to a higher standard, we haven’t done a good job with our fans, the most interesting thing we’ve done in 15 years was last summer on the sporting side. Stan Kroenke has treated Arsenal like a piece of property he has accrued, as long as it gains 5% every year, he doesn’t need to worry about what’s going on. Well, other clubs in the market are gaining 15-20% a year and we have been left in the mud.
Fixing the culture at Arsenal is about so much more than people feeling good. It’s about making people understand the direction of Arsenal and giving them the tools to succeed at delivering the vision.
… and I know there are a lot of people saying you don’t need a culture deck to succeed, which is true, but without doubt, the very best organizations in the world have the very best cultures. Customer service can be automated or it can be John Lewis. Payments systems can be something boring, or it can be Dan Price of Gravity payments who gets on the Good Morning America show because he believes paying all his staff $70k makes for better business.
Culture isn’t necessarily about feeling good, it’s about knowing what the job to be done is and what behaviors will be rewarded. All the best managers in the world of football will tell you that culture drives performance. Even the managers that aren’t good will tell you the same. If you think it’s just tactics and a smack on the arse that has Pep Guardiola’s team dropping 100 points per game you are very wrong.
So in short, it’s good that someone at the club has recognized the culture is bad, and it’s good they are moving forward with fixing it. I’m just not sure it shines the brightest light on our inexperienced leadership.
Yesterday’s Mirror: “Mikel Arteta has explained how he has been paying extra attention to Martin Odegaard in Arsenal training but the Norwegian’s efforts could take three months to become apparent”
So we’ll see the results in July. Timing is everything as they say.
Interesting post. I was a Civil Servant in a fairly senior role and ironically my last role was in what was called “The Change Team” We sought out best practice, and introduced Lean Working the funny part was we as the senior management team almost had to chant “ If the people won’t change we will change the people” We engaged consultant after consultant each delivered a message each delivered their vision the workforce bought into the vision only for it be bought to a screeching halt and almost a 180degree change of direction with many of the tools and… Read more »
Pedro ‘ Maybe we can hold him (Arteta) accountable when we see where we end up? Europe is the target. Top 4 is just a stretch goal’ We are a cowardly club that prefers to dwell on circuitous sophistry rather than face the issue. Club culture is a reflection of the leadership< not derived from consultants Abrahmovich defined Chelsea;s club culture by his actions with the way he went after Adrian Mutu and repeatedly fired managers when they came up short of desired objectives. The Kroenke;s stand for nothing and have made soapy hires who don’t know what they are… Read more »
Like someone said, there’s an obvious lopsided arrangement between the manager and his supposed bosses.
You alluded to this in your comments i the pre-game podcast before the Southampton game. You agreed that Arteta treats players that he didn’t sign differently. There;s an absence of leadership to call him to hire.
For me, Arteta won’t work for the system Arsenal wish to build.
What I fear the most of that the Kroenkes are so distant from the club, they may see Arteta has a repository of the club;s culture and make him their de facto man in London.
I didn’t like the optics of bringing him alone to Denver in January. That’s gave the impression that he’s above Vinai and Edu- answers directly to them.
Again, an dearth of good leadership, not a death of club untrue.
* That’s given the impression that he’s above Vinai and Edu- answers directly to them.
I’ve delivered three cultural programmes at complex, matrix organisations over the years. Each time the foundation issue was the behaviour and approach of the CEO and their Exec LT. Culture, or “the way we do things here” comes from the top. When managers and employees see poor leadership without consequence, failure being accepted, a lack of interest in what is happening across the organisation, weak processes and a lack of shared objective and purpose, then the culture is off. Cultural change will only happen if those at the top of the organisation accept there is an issue and resolve to… Read more »
The most important person at a football club is the manager. If he succeeds the club succeeds, if he fails the club fails, it’s that simple. For a club like Arsenal, it doesn’t matter how good or professional things are run off the pitch if the team are not competing for trophies and at the very least qualifying for the champions league. China posted this earlier “https://www.justarsenal.com/308172-2/308172Interesting article the compares wenger’s final year vs Mikel in detail. Quite striking how one-sided almost all the stats were in wengers favour. He came out way on top on almost every metric” This… Read more »
Oh, no. I’m sure Pedro will dismiss this as being “The Sun”.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/18301067/mikel-arteta-william-saliba-sell/
“Yet Arsenal boss Arteta remains uncertain about the player’s ability to handle the demands of the Premier League as well as his character.”
Changing only couple of words of that statement: “Yet Saliba remains uncertain about the manager’s ability to handle the demands of the Premier League as well as his character.”
Which one’s closer to the truth?
Whenever another group of consultants came and try to explain to him culture, one of my former bosses used to say: You only hear about culture when people fails. Competent people don’t need culture. They are the culture. Give me competence over culture non sense any day of the week.
Pierre
“””Culture is bollocks , let’s win some football matches.””””
Well said
The players will be running out to Kharma, Kharma bloody Chameleon soon.
While Man City are signing Harland
Liverpool signing players Diaz and Konate.
Arsenal are the Culture Club.
Focus on the day job.
Appointing a proven ,inspirational manager.
The rest will follow..
Pedro An Interesting if somewhat enigmatic post. I’m no expert on corporate culture but my own opinion on this is quite straightforward. After over 10 years of neglect the Kroenkes seem to be taking more of an interest. is that a positive? Yes. Does that make them good owners and make up for previous failings? No, but never mind. The problem for me is that they remain remote and disconnected. Arsenal fc is still only one of five other franchises in KSE. That’s a lot of sports teams to run. Also, the PL is different. English footbal clubs need some… Read more »
CG
A new CEO will be the first step and he (and only he) will report to the Kroenke’s.
The cynic in me says this is a pre emotive move to address what inevitably will be fan anger as we slip in midtable oblivion. If you want transparency Pedro the board could issue an apology for having fucked up a whole season, a mea culpa of sorts.
Pre emptive
Pre emptive not emotive
NORG
“”””CG A new CEO will be the first step and he (and only he) will report to the Kroenke’s.”””
Everyone knows Vinny is useless- you don’ t need expensive consultants to find that out.
And , Garlick seems pretty meek too- if he thinks this manager is good enough.
As someone said earlier- the Kronks wont listen to what the consultants say- because it means they will have to sack most of them.
Appointing a proven manager and appointing a competent CEO- and you are 90% there.
“Culture is bollocks. let’s win some football matches.”
Amen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw
This the only culture club I want to be hearing about.
Maybe the consultants will also find, that the owners being thousand of kms away and knowing nowt about the game is not conducive to running a successful org.
But off course , they wont say that.
Cobblers, all of it.
CG
The players will be running out to Kharma, Kharma bloody Chameleon soon.
Arsenal are the Culture Club.
The way things are going, we’ll end up with “Do you really want to hurt me?”
“Culture is bollocks , let’s win some football matches”
Quote of the day.
A club shouldn’t require to shout from the rooftops what their “culture” is. It should be evident without any nudges. The obvious one is winning football matches and being successful on the pitch. No need for any culture gurus for that. As for off the pitch virtually all clubs do work with the local community so Arsenal are not stand out in that regard. Self-sustainable? Most clubs are not rolling in money like a Man City were so again Arsenal are not special in that regard. And the wording. The Arsenal “way”. There are always fears with slogans like this… Read more »
Edu
””’The way things are going, we’ll end up with “Do you really want to hurt me?”
Boy George up front, would be more use than our strikers these days.
you know – Liverpool will probably win more trophies than what goals Lacazette will score from open play this season and The Dopes want to re arrange the decks with another self indulgent ‘Culture Change’
Man City signing Haaland- that now means Waffle’s prediction of Arsenal winning the title in 2 seasons is just more Waffle.
And please no identity politics.
A scourge from the USA.
We have a “diverse” fan base.
Come on. We are as one.
Get over different cultures and races. It’s like being a wild eyed teenager discovering the world all over again.
Is it just me that thinks Arteta has regressed to the pre “this was the best two weeks of my professional life” phase — which occurred during the pointless international break that immediately followed the initial three losses — he seems back to that stubborn, taciturn, haunted persona?
Hope he shifts and quickly…the team need to be lift and focused not bullied and berated
The three most over-rated music artists in no particular order.
Judas Priest, Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash.
All shit vocalists.
The ironic quote of the day, perhaps the season.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played in the Champions League… I’m missing it.”
Alexandre Lacazette
😂😂😂
This from a man who has four goals this season and someone who hasn’t scored from open play in 19/20 games… I’ve lost count.
Perhaps he should think about stand up rather than football!
I’m sorry… I thought Arteta had already changed the culture of the club? And if that is not the case, then what the fuck has he done since joining??
Want a culture shift? Then how about publicly binning the captain of the club who is openly talking about leaving?
Some on here are mistaking corporate culture for team culture. They are not the same. Team culture should be a balance of competition and cooperation – victory through harmony, if you like. A mythic view that works in the make-believe world of football. If you experience a shiver of anticipation entering the stadium on matchday, you will know what I mean.
Corporate culture is about getting the best out of people running a business. Harmony leads to complacency – the very last thing you want.
Jim
Want a culture shift? Then how about publicly binning the captain of the club who is openly talking about leaving?
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening?
“Isn’t that exactly what’s happening?”
Has he been stripped of the armband and demoted from the first team?
I completely get why people are saying “Culture is bollocks. let’s win some football matches”. I don’t like management wank-word bingo either, but it’s worth noting Liverpool are only achieving what they are now because they transformed the culture at that club.
High performance now runs through that club from the owners, to the management team, to the scouting, to the training methods and application of sports science, to the way every player and employee is treated and what is expected of them.
Very few singers could deliver lyrics as masterfully as Johnny Cash.
englandsbest
How’s that Halaand to Arsenal going? lol
Arteta out- I’m done
CG “Man City signing Haaland- that now means Waffle’s prediction of Arsenal winning the title in 2 seasons is just more Waffle.” Irrelevant who city sign , arteta will never win a PL title as long as Klopp and Pep is here . I’ll wager anyone , anything on that score . He’s nowhere near their level and never will be . If arteta was here 10 years ( don’t lynch me I’m not wishing that on us ) his level is he would probably get us 4th in 3 or 4 of those ten years . He’s on 2… Read more »
EdTheREd
“Very few singers could deliver lyrics as masterfully as Johnny Cash.”
I used to find Bob Dylan’s voice annoying when I was younger. But over time I appreciated his voice as they seemed to match his lyrics. They married each other.
But Cash no.
EB
“Team culture should be a balance of competition and cooperation – victory through harmony,”
In your own words , this doesn’t exist at arsenal . Arteta has his favourites and ostracises the rest . There is no balance .
You know what the culture of the club has been since the mid 00s? A place where a player could come to live in London, receive a high wage and put in minimal effort without the fear of repercussion. We have seen it for YEARS. Take an example of Carl Jenkinson, how long was he at the club for? The man was never good enough to play, but since he didn’t want to leave he sat there collecting a paycheck. Xhaka, told the fans to fuck off, threw the armband on the ground, has cost us game after game, and… Read more »
Yes.
Arsenal need to get the culture right on the pitch before going on about off the pitch culture.
Xhaka being a perfect example. We all know he would have been out of the door a long time ago for any club that has a real serious culture on the pitch. The winning culture.
Inside
Liverpool changed their culture by hiring a manager who knows what he’s doing and got the needle moving immediately on the pitch .
Fancy job titles come and go , experts in this , experts in that but the old line will always be true . “ get it right on the pitch and everything else will take of its self .”
Be successful on the pitch , and all top performers in all sections of the club want to be part of it from CEO’s to sponsors .
Rejoice fellow Goobers. We’re getting Balkan Messi for as little a £11m (transfermarket value £3m).
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/arsenal-report-the-balkan-lionel-messi-to-join-in-incredible-deal-siginngs-rumours-gossip-transfers-afc
That reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons, when Mr Burns wants Spielberg to direct his biopic, but. has to settle for Mexican counterpart, Spilbergo.
Goobers hah
Inside, read my comment. Competence is the core ingredient to success. You can change all the culture you want, but if people are not competent that will not make a big difference. We are arguing why the club can’t seem to attract the right kind of sponsor at inflated price. It’s obvious why, we are not successful on the pitch. No sane business is going to spend top money on a club that fails to qualify for Europr or barely qualify to the Europa Conference. Solve the problem on the pitch, then whoever is in charge of marketing, sales has… Read more »
Samesong
Perhaps Edu has found someone better and cheaper?
Valentin – “Competence is the core ingredient to success. You can change all the culture you want, but if people are not competent that will not make a big difference.” ———————– Absolutely right. And those things had to be fixed off the pitch, so there could be success on it. The right people had to be put in place with the right approach. Klopp was just one part of it. Competence goes to the heart of it. A high performance culture doesn’t make allowances for someone not being good enough at their job. You will not solve problems on the… Read more »
Yes…worry about the culture on the pitch.
Thinking things can be fixed with housekeeping upstairs.. Trust the process…Trust the bullshit!!
How about the culture of almost always losing when we go one one nil down?
Mayb we should address that!!!!
Now that we know what Haalands wage demands are I suggest we swoop in there with a 500,001 bid!
For real tho as bad news as this is for arsenal, I’m really glad if he joins the league. The days of Messi and Ronaldo getting jerked over making Spain look more attractive than England despite England being a better league will be over if it’s true. If he comes here it’s another big statement for the PL
Even worse than Spain tho is when elite players go to PSG. Like what a waste of Neymars career. This is why he’ll never be in the same universe as someone like Ronaldo. Ronaldo has done it all over and even as an old man in a bad utd team in the toughest league he’s scored more than 1:2. That’s unreal
Looking elite in la logs for a few years then going on holiday to PSG for the rest of his career? For me that’s not enough
Insight,
that review is for the corporate side of Arsenal not the football side.
They are not reviewing whether Edu, Arteta, Steve Round or the kit man are doing their job properly.
They are reviewing why the sales are sluggish and why the sponsor deals are not as good as expected by the Kroenkes. This will not resolve anything unless they address the elephant in the room.
Mainly that Arteta and his staff are not good enough and are unlikely to bring success AND playing consistent attractive football.
Pecko
If Arsenal really are serious about changing Culture – maybe start signing players like Haaland.
That lifts the supporters spirits
Makes players more motivated
Makes managers better.
Lifts morale around the place
Excites sponsors
Gets commercial deals/partners.
But off course- they aint got the stomach or fight to sign the top players/managers any more.
They prefer Arteta/White/ Ramsdale types and more PR.and their slogans.
Hey you can laugh at the Balkan Messi but if we sign him for 11m then he only has to be a good bench option and we’ll have got great value for money
At that price point you can’t expect a world class player but considering we don’t have one CF let alone two, if he’s even just good enough for the bench at that price you can’t complain
The timing of this “culture workshop” coming exactly after losing 3 on the trot, seems it’s announced now just for that Amazon documentary “All or Nothing: Arsenal”, it very conveniently fits right it.
China1, Messi may not grace the Ligue 1 for much longer. The president of PSG is fed up with a few of his star players and many may be shipped out with Leonardo the DoF who came back and splashed the cash in a complete incoherent way: Raul’s way. There are rumours that PSG is ready to completely change tack. Getting rid of the stars who have humiliated the club and the Qatar owner and restart with a proper project youth. The PSG academy catchment area has so many elite youth players that the club has ignored. Somebody mentioned that… Read more »
Valentin – “that review is for the corporate side of Arsenal not the football side.”
——————–
Where do you get that idea?
From The Athletic:
One of the main problems identified in recent times has been the culture and they are now trying to do something about it. The Athletic understands Arsenal have enlisted the help of consultancy firm People-Made to embark upon what sources call a “top-to-bottom cultural review of the club”.
If it were only about the corporate side it would a) make no sense, and b) wouldn’t involve Arteta, Edu and Mertesacker.
Odegaard is such a dick for not getting the Haaland to Arsenal transfer done. Pedro , stick to your original talking points the league is harder than it’s ever been and top six was the target to whitewash Arteta’s countless blunders. Conte losing to Brighton who were the most impressive on the day is not a measure of failure. Conte not making top four will be. Leeds, When is it time to hold Arteta to account? If you’re Pedro, probably never. Sure, he’ll call him out on some individual aspects of management but then in the same breath he’ll say… Read more »
Imagine tag Arteta spent time with Josh and all he wanted to talk about was’ pub culture”
A proper owner would have seen that as a red flag
Your job as manager is to win games and develop the core footballing aspect of the club, not burden yourself with nonsense about culture.
It’s like Arteta jumping into player wage reduction talks in 2020 to win the trust of the Kroenke’s.
Jim
“Has he been stripped of the armband and demoted from the first team?”
He clearly is being eased out but the squad is so light in numbers Aretea at this time dare not reduce that number by one
How many people does the club actually employ who are not on the footballing side?
Jim from accounts, Jess from finance and kev from legal are holding this great club back I guess!
As someone else put very aptly, if we won more games and played better football, Clarissa who negotiates the sponsorship deals and Dmitrii who takes photos for promotional events might have an easier time and won’t need to be cultural beasts to hit their KPI!
Laying off 50 employees and the club mascot to save a few million so then Arteta could give Willian 200 kpw was a sign of culture……..the type you grow under your toenails.
As well it would be a comical error to only do a review of the non-footballing culture for two reasons
1) it’s a football club. If you’re not paying attention to the football that’s twilight zone stuff
2) the finance team, the web design team, the team which organizes charity events and HR team have as little in common with each other as they do with the football team IE absolutely nothing
A company culture is all or it’s nothing.
Its funny cos we were told by the clubs own website that Mr Arteta has turned around the culture at the club after he won his FA cup. Now, two years later as it looks like all of our hard work is about to go up in smoke as we have imploded due to missing the grand total of 2 players from our side, we are now talking about changing the culture. SPIN. If you want to change the culture, get in a manager who couldn’t start an argument in an empty bar and then make sure the coach can… Read more »
Having read the Athletic article it’s pretty clear that neither of the Kronkes will lead this review indeed it’s being led by Lord what’s his name . I had a conversation with my brother and asked as an outsider looking in what he thought about Arsenal and it’s cultural review. I won’t go into too much detail but he laughed and said something along the lines that only Arsenal would advertise this sort of initiative all other clubs would just go quietly about their business but like many on here the culture has to flow from the trophy room. Tradition… Read more »
CG
Put yourself in Haalands shoes , whatever money we offer Man City can beat , why would he choose arsenal over Man City ? He’s going into next season with city with a very high chance of winning the league and the champions league . That isn’t happening at arsenal .
He’ll play in a system where he should be amongst the golden boot contention . That isn’t happening at arsenal under arteta’s system , every forwards numbers regress under arteta that’s not a opinion it’s a statistical fact .
What reason would he pick arsenal over city ?
Having read the Athletic article it’s pretty clear that neither of the Kronkes will lead this review indeed it’s being led by Lord what’s his name . I had a conversation with my brother and asked as an outsider looking in what he thought about Arsenal and it’s cultural review. I won’t go into too much detail but he laughed and said something along the lines that only Arsenal would advertise this sort of initiative all other clubs would just go quietly about their business but like many on here the culture has to flow from the trophy room. Tradition… Read more »
“They chopped back all the rules, reduced bureaucracy, and held great people to high standards. If you don’t hit the mark at Netflix, you get a nice severance and big ‘see ya.’” I could not have said it better myself .If lego head does not hit the mark he has to be judged with the same non -negotiable performance expectation ……..finish 4th or you get a nice severance and big ‘see ya.’” and that should be the minimum for a club like Arsenal
Not anymore Shaun, Europe is the aim we’re constantly being told online. So, if we get a Europa Conference place – it will be crowned a success. I’m sure when the club spent almost £150million in the summer, I would have thought that was to get back into the CL, but what do I know?
The target apparently was just to get into Europe.
lol Netflix.
They churn out pap for the most part.
On the Europe target I’ll reluctantly go along with Europe is just the target this season , I don’t completely buy it but we’ll see what comes out of the club at the end of the season ( that needs a culture change right there , ANY and EVERY arsenal manager should be targeted CL in their second year ) but I don’t buy in any way possible that the conference league would be acceptable or a target , that’s utter bullshit and spin . A competition the spuds couldn’t wait and were over the fucking moon to be chucked… Read more »
I get the feeling that this amazon prime documentary won’t paint Arsenal in good light
It’s going to look ugly when it comes out, any discerning viewer sees it.
Maybe they are just trying to get ahead if it.
Haaland to City at £500 kpw is just another reason to root against them and the player himself.
Can Englandsbest explain how and why Haaland chose the easy , City route to instant success, instead of the challenging one via Arsenal?
Must be a character flaw.
City signing Haaland shouldn’t derail our goal of the title challenge two years from now should it.
That would be unfortunate.
Tom, unlike you to throw in the white towel.
Diss, how many of those Amazon docs have painted the club badly? Have you seen a series? Or are you projecting what you want it to be?
You’re about at a strange hour Pedro.
Pedro, not throwing the towel just pointing out the whole idea of the youngest squad in the league maturing together and peaking two years from now, while everyone else is standing still was silly.
Liverpool, you know, the club with the ready to retire oldies just signed Diaz(25) and Konate(22) who hit the ground running.
City getting Haaland (21) won’t stop buying either , not to mention the beheaders United.
The Arsenal title challenge the 2023/24 addition is about as likely as our CL trump with Willian leading the way.
triumph
Who was it on here that was the massive Upamecano fan before? Always said that he was a very suspect defender, Konate has close to the same athleticism with so much more intelligence and ability to read the game. Can see him being a long-term option for Liverpool and even pairing well with VVD who may lose some more pace over the coming years but will still be a fantastic ball-playing defender into his mid 30s. Upa on the other hand has been a disastrous signing for Bayern Munich. Really surprised that Nagelsmann seems to have a bit of a… Read more »
Wenger Eagle
Nagelsmann isn’t the one buying players for Bayern, there’s a real demarcation between head coach a fan technical director.
Tom, it’s only silly if you don’t know what you are talking about,
Jonny, it’s 740 here
He doesn’t buy the players Dissenter but he picks the team each week and has started Upa 30 times in the Bundesliga/CL this season.
Sometimes I think Bayern just snatch up the brightest young players in Germany to prevent the Leverkursons., Dortmund and other clubs from getting them. Leipzig have a different pipeline for players.
Niklas Sule was another defender that was certain not to thrive at Bayern, but they signed him anyway.
Excuse making, we drop to 8th and we can now blame the lack of culture rather than: Shipping out your only goal scoring cf, not replacing and going with 2 very average in different ways non goal scoring cfs with 6m on a deal. Spend 50m on a cb when you have a cb arguably better already. Likely burn bridge so 30 m pliéed 2 years ago is now gathering dust and likely to ably return the same or slightly more, very poor investing. Don’t replace xacka as you bought above cb, which weaker team in 2 areas. After the… Read more »
WE, RB sell some duds for mega money. Wish we had that power
Wenger Eagle
He played him that much because Upa was almost always available for selection.
They had lots of defenders out injured for long periods this season.
Pedro, we’re on pace to close out the season 30 points shy of City and Pool.
To talk a realistic 2023/24 title challenge we would have to close that gap to 5-10 points next season.
I don’t see that happening.
Dissenter ”Niklas Sule was another defender that was certain not to thrive at Bayern, but they signed him anyway.” Sule was actually very good for Bayern by all accounts until he suffered a serious knee injury, hasn’t been the same since and now they won’t offer him the money that he wants to renew and he is off to Dortmund in the summer. I get your point on injuries but Upa is a serious liability for Bayern, hard for me to believe that they haven’t had another CB available that would be an upgrade and if they didn’t then a… Read more »
But then again it depends on what you call a title challenge too.
Being 10 points out of first with 4 to play can technically be seen as challenging for the title.
Imagine Arteta talking club culture with Josh when he twice prevented a player who stuck a middle finder to the fans from leaving?
This club culture nonsense is because the Kroenkes don’t know what they are doing.
I don’t think we finish in the top 6 next season.
Newcastle are going to up the ante and there’s going to be a massive inflationary trend to the transfer market this summer. There’s inflation everywhere else so why not in football.
For me, Arteta ball has played itself out just moving deck chairs around won’t change anything.
Pedro We seem to do the opposite, frustratingly. Leipzig probably would have squeezed 25m out of selling Mavropanos. Stuttgart now look set to avoid relegation which will see Mavropanos slipping out the door for €3m. I bet that he won’t even be a Stuttgart player come September and that they will sell him on to Dortmund for a €20m+ profit in the summer. We rejected £20m of Wolves’ money for AMN only to freeze him out and loan him. Now we will be doing well to recoup even half of that. We didn’t make any profit out of selling Guendouzi… Read more »
Its weird that we need a culture consultant. I thought thats what we got rid of Sanhelli, Ozil, Guen. Auba, etc. After 2 years of that have they realized that the problem was never the players but something else rotten inside the club itself ?
It also tells me that the club perhaps is starting to have doubts about Mikel Arteta. I mean he’s been talking about helping us fix our culture then two years later, all of a sudden we are hiring a consultant ?
Tom
“Pedro, we’re on pace to close out the season 30 points shy of City and Pool.
To talk a realistic 2023/24 title challenge we would have to close that gap to 5-10 points next season.
I don’t see that happening.”
Its not impossible to close a huge point gap from a previous season but you need to have the right players and coaches. Liverpool last season with 67 points, on course for 90 something points a season later, Leicester 41 points in 14/15, then 81 points in 15/16.
Its possible but with the right coach and players.
WengerEagle,
Benjamin Pavard is saying “Hold my beer” to Upamecano.
He has been as shockingly bad than him.
” Liverpool last season with 67 points, on course for 90 something points a season later, Leicester 41 points in 14/15, then 81 points in 15/16.” I don’t completely disagree but it’s worth pointing out that in your two examples they were both extreme deviations from the norm for said teams. Leicester’s title-winning season will go down as possibly the greatest achievement in football history and you had guys like Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Fuchs, Huth, etc playing at an insane level that far exceeded their career level if you are to even look at the years after… Read more »
Valentin
I never liked Pavard, not mobile or clever enough going forward for RB and dozy defensively. He’s also a natural CB but lacks the brains to play there effectively.
He was terrible for Stuttgart too, has basically dined off of and made a career from that World Cup showing and the Hollywood volley vs Argentina.
Naija, not impossible but unlikely.
Pool and Leicester are outliers, one had a massive injury crisis and the other a fairytale season while other big clubs were retooling
Maybe I miscontrued what the Athletic is saying, and when they state that Arteta, Edu and Per will be involved they really mean interviewed. Usually people who are under review are not involved in the review itself. They are interviewed for the review. It’s difficult to do an honest, impartial review of yourself, so I can’t see Arteta, Edu and Per being involved in the review of their own department. That would mean that the football side would be off limit. However those heads of department would be involved in a review of how their department interact with other departments.… Read more »
Tom,
The youngest team in the league, with no depth, and no striker, is tracking for 4th in its first season, together.
You think it’s a ‘silly’ strategy to take this approach because, as you just stated, we’re not competing for the title this season.
That’s just a very clear lack of understanding of how football works and it’s not worthy of a debate.
WEagle beat me to it