Morning guys.
When Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham spoke to the BBC a month or so ago, one thing was made very clear. Arsenal FC aren’t going to be subsidised with Stan Kroenke’s money. Not a penny of it. That could of course change over the years to come but right now we are a SWWE club. Spend what we earn. As I’ve said before, that doesn’t bother me, in fact if every club were made to run in the same way, the game would be far more interesting.
This time last year, all most of us here on HH wanted was a new manager. I’m going to be smug because all along I thought we’d get one as the season ended. No itk, just a hunch.
Stan Kroenke supported the change of manager. He must have otherwise Wenger would still be at the club. Out went all the coaching staff too, most anyway. Sometime before then though, Sven Mislintat was snapped up. The guy who can spot a player before others even notice him. A guy who Wenger clearly didn’t appreciate getting all the praise he was.
‘We knew every player in Europe, even before Sven came to us. Sometimes in a little club in Germany, he might know somebody that we might ignore.’ – Arsène Wenger.
Konstantinos Mavropanos was the first player signed on the Germans recommendation. A Greek, not from a little German club but a little Greek club.
Then came the big one. Raul Sanllehi, a well known and highly respected Director of Football. Arsène Wenger had always maintained he’d never work with one. The final departure was Ivan Gazidis. I didn’t see that one coming, not for one minute. I thought a lot of what was going on was of his doing. but now I think I got that one very wrong. Up stepped Sanllehi and Venkatesham and everything had fallen into place.
Arsenal now seem to have the right people in the right jobs. Not one man controlling all things. We’ve a proper top notch scout in Mislintat, a proper footballing man in Sanllehi and an astute businessman in Venkatesham who has reportedly secured a great deal with Adidas from next season which will bring in much more money than any deal ever before meaning more for the club to spend on players. I nearly forgot, we have a manager who game by game is improving his squad, collectively and individually, a manager who added players in key areas which have been missing for many a year.
Each of the five players signed back in the summer have played their part. Torriera will get the plaudits because he’s been so influential on the pitch but there’s no denying how good Leno is. Guendouzi was a cheap yet a great young player who’ll only improve as time goes by and as for Sokratis and Lichtsteiner, we’ll I wouldn’t want to upset them I’ll tell you. How much did they all cost? £70 million ish I’d say. Not each, all five together which is probably why I refused to blame Stan Kroenke for the club’s demise.
Throwing £300 million at Arsene Wenger and telling him to sign five footballers in one transfer window wouldn’t have changed the squads mindset. It wouldn’t have suddenly turned Bellerin into a great rightback nor would it have resolved Holdings confidence issues or turned Iwobi into a decent footballer either. It certainly wouldn’t have brought the fight back into an NLD. Literally.
Emery took over at a difficult time, not only because of the mess he inherited but Liverpool had improved, Chelsea were just Chelsea and Totts had for the second time in a row, finished above us in the league and we’re playing really well. The runaways though were Man City. Utd were boring yet finished runners up.
A North London Derby always creates a special atmosphere but during other home matches, you can see the vast empty seats are no longer, the silence isn’t there and I strongly suspect fans smart phones are back in their pockets where they belong.
It’s incredible though to think that all this has happened in just four months, six if you count pre season and all without the need of Kroenke gifting his multi millions to the manager.
I know we’ve not won anything yet and we might not this season but my goodness, if there’s an Arsenal fan out there who isn’t pleased with how things are going at the club then he/she really is difficult to please, impossible even.
Unai Emery probably wasn’t the first manager on fans minds when Arsene Wenger announced he was leaving but like at Christmas, one doesn’t always get what they wish for. Right now, I wouldn’t swap him for any other.
I couldn’t stop smiling at the substitutes on Sunday. The way Lichtsteiner ran down the sideline to join in the goal celebrations. The way Guendouzi, followed by others was off the bench in a flash when he thought we’d scored, the way Lacazette was smiling and laughing whilst chatting to whoever was sat in front of him on the bench. The way Maitland-Niles joined in the brawl despite his young years. Even the way Emery didn’t race to break up the handbags, instead letting them vent their fury for that short moment. Then he called for calm as halftime drew near. He had his own thoughts of course, he wanted that interval to regroup, make his changes and then get the job done.
Final words come from Kev:
As riveting as the Sunday’s game was, my gaze kept drifting towards the technical area where Emery, looking every inch the conductor of a symphony orchestra was busy waving his hands, clapping, encouraging, cajoling, coaching even. He must have been physically and emotionally exhausted when the final whistle blew. No zip fiddling for him.
We have a new spirit at the club, the kind of fighting spirit I’ve not seen since the George Graham era, it’s almost as if Rocky Rocastle was in the dressing room telling the players “Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent.”
There seems a real pride in the shirt again which the fans have picked up on. The magical atmosphere which I’ve not felt since Highbury, is on its way back.
Man City are as dominant now as Liverpool were when George Graham moved to Arsenal in 1986.
Back then we had a mix of older, street wise players and a clutch of talented youngsters coming through. George got them organised, motivatvated and added some thoughtful signings. He then developed his team until it knocked Liverpool off of their perch. Yes, it was Arsenal who did that, not Man Utd…
So, is a little piece of history repeating itself under Emery?
There has always been a bit of Northern awareness about The Arsenal , throughout the ages their domination has always been upset by one club in the south and it’s only since Roman splashed his cash that Chelsea have joined the party.
The league was dominated by Northern clubs until Chapman and then Leeds , until Mee and of course Liverpool were the team of Shankly and Paisley and then Graham rocked up and finally United with their post Munich sympathy vote ( which in all fairness they took and built on ) until the early Wenger period.
The North has always known that if any team was to creep out of the south and upset their applecart it would come from North London and it was unlikely to be Spurs.
Despite the cat calls and other derisory remarks there is a grudging respect for our club amongst serious football supporters . We should be proud if not sometimes frustrated by our self sufficiency , it makes The Arsenal what it is .
I’m proud of our self sufficiency, I’d much rather we sign the likes of Guendouzi and Torriera etc than £80m on a Lukaku etc
Especially now we seem to have a coaching team able to improve them even further..
Morning all.
Rico, remember I said in January Wenger was definitely leaving?
The reason was he’d not wanted to manage last season, but the club asked him to stay so they could bring those gents you named in rather than have massive changes all at once.
That’s what makes Ivan leaving all the more Intriguing.
Seems he’d got his way with the management/coaching team, so to leave was very strange.
Everything is working, and long may it continue.
I remember you saying someone told you he was leaving Scott…
Morning all. What a day Sunday was.
If Wenger had got the same value for money with £300m as we’ve just got for around £70m we still wouldn’t have competed as far as I’m concerned. The rebirth of spirit, pride and determination has been the most significant change and without that we’d all still be disappointed. I actually look forward to games with eager anticipation again. Can’t wait to take my seat on Saturday.
Exactly Billy..
Good morning Rico, a lovely one here in Norfolk, blue sky, sunshine and frost on the grass.
What a difference in the atmosphere at the Emirates, last season there would have been sullen silence followed by boos as the team went off 1- 2 down at half-time. Now we have a raucous, lively crowd drowning out the away fans and supporting, not just the players, but the manager as well.
The great thing is, it’s not the crowd responding to the players or the players responding to the crowd, no they are all in it together.
The former manager undoubtedly did much to bring the club into the twenty-first century, but over the final few seasons, of his reign, he seemed to suck the life out of both the players and the fans. Whereas Unai Emery has not only rejuvenated the spirit of Arsenal, he has instilled a passion in the players, an exuberance, a feeling of togetherness. He’s put the fun back into the game and into the fans.
Much as I was against Wenger being given that last season, I can see now that in doing so the new men gave themselves time to fully assess the situation, the coaching and medical staff as well as the squad. Most importantly they had no need to rush in a stop gap replacement, but were able to make the right decision in a measured way.
Have they appointed the right man for the job? The unbeaten run of games, the changed atmosphere, the fact of being in the top four, group winners in the Europa League, semi-finalists in the Carabao Cup and playing exciting, entertaining football suggests they have.
Early days maybe, honeymoon period yes. Let’s all enjoy the moment and look forward to the future which, under Unai Emery, promises to be quite something
Cicero, i doubt anyone could do much better than Emery is at present.
Whoever chose him selected very, very well.
Morning Cicero, I’m sure there’ll be some bad results looming, certainly at City and Liverpool but you never know.
Have to win at OT, everyone else is.. 😜
Wouldn’t it be lovely, Rico 🙂
If I remember the story correctly, Emery pretty much chose himself. He decided to go for it and researched thoroughly and presented himself brilliantly, making any other appointment look wrong.
It seems that top five could be enough to gain entry to next seasons Champions League. UEFA are taking seriously the leaks about City’s accounting fiddles and illegal payments from the owners via sponsors. If proved City could be heavily fined, suffer a transfer embargo or be banned from the Champions League.
I look forward to seeing if UEFA have the guts to carry through the threats.
Long overdue Scott.
Billy, that’s what Gazidis told us too.
Interesting Cicero, is that in one of the newspapers?
The Telegraph sport section this morning Rico.
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico, another good post.
Cicero, I’m not sure that UEFA will do anything about City and I guess PSG, as they are complicit. They allowed FFP to be watered down and now are making like they’re a strong regulatory body, but we all know that they’re as weak as Aussie beer. 😀
Kev, they are making threatening noises about going back over previous convictions where further evidence has come to light.
I think this time UEFA will be forced to take action against both City and PSG, or the threat of a breakaway European league will become bigger.
Them’s fighting words, Kev 🙂
As long as you don’t label Fosters an Aussie beer, though-can’t buy that rubbish here lol
What’s this Scott? Are you telling us that the Amber Nectar ain’t an Aussie beer? I thought there were plenty of camels down under, enough to supply the basic ingredient at least. 😀
Ok Cicero, that sounds promising even though it might be more a case of UEFA being forced to act rather than them being a strong leader of european football.
Interesting that you mention the ‘Super League’ as I doubt that anything would have happened without that threat hanging over our useless football authorities…
Ha, you’d never tasted a proper beer till you came to the Old Country Scott…
You only used Arsenal as an excuse to get away from the Mrs and go on an English pub crawl… 😄
Afternoon Kev, thanks. You must mean the last bit.. lol
Not the most reliable then Cicero…
I enjoyed it all Rico 🙂
Still smiling from Sunday
Wikileaks have a site called footieleaks.Lots of City and psg info on there.
😀 Kev, you and me both.
Thanks Potter..
And what a pub crawl it was, Kev 🙂 🙂
Cask conditioned Ale was fantastic!!!
Proper beer.
Cicero, I can’t remember the last time I saw Fosters available for sale in a bottle shop or a pub in Oz.
20 years plus at a guess.
It was a pathetic excuse of a beer.
I forced myself to try one in London, purely out of curiosity, and it was nothing at all like the swill we were served up.
It was drinkable, for starters lol
Hi rico,
Enjoyed your post. Just looked at an interview with Emory answering fan questions ( on the Arsenal website). He is such a positive, nice guy.
Really motivational and a worthy successor to Wenger in regard to club values. I can only feel great about the club’s future.
We really lucked out landing him as a manager.
Hi Reg, thanks.
Ditto re Unai, certainly comes across as a good guy..
Scott, Fosters is widely available here, it’s brewed here too. Not that I drink lager, except in the most desperate of situations. 😉
Cicero,
I always say that Fosters is like Home and Away-we only make it for you lot 🙂
With all the beautiful brews you have, I was amazed at how many drank the overseas rubbish.
Reg, I think your assessment of Emery is perfect.
Fosters is ghastly stuff. There used to be an Aussie lager called Tooheys over here. Haven’t seen it for years now but that was good imo. Budvar, Estrella, Stella and the Asian lagers are my favourites…
😋
New post up now by the way..