Morning all.
Sven Mislintat is off this month, he could already be gone. I’ve no idea for sure. His appointment was generally well received I think, our hope to success by spotting players who were cheap, but were expected to come good, really good. For whatever reason only he and the club know for sure, things haven’t worked out. One of the reasons cited for his departure, by the media I hasten to add, is that the club want to appoint a Director of Football and the German was told he wasn’t getting the job. Who knows if that’s true but the search for the new recruit at Arsenal goes on.
Two names are doing the rounds and it’s crunch time as Raul and co decide on their man. Mind you, who’s to say either would want to join Arsenal right now. Of course they would. There’s a job there which they could really get stuck into. We might not be flying high on the pitch but everything else at the club is in place. The youth setup seems to be working, Raul is a well respected footballing man and now all we need is someone through the door to bring it all together. Show some direction from the top I think it’s called.
In one corner we have an ex Arsenal favourite. A superb footballer in his day who despite not staying that long in north London, scored some very special goals. He’s ruthless at his job, he must be to have shown the door to Dennis Bergkamp at Ajax. Of course it’s Marc Overmars who only this week suggested Alexis Sanchez could return to Arsenal. Personally I think that ship has sailed. Bad decision made by the Chilean but that happens in football.
In the other corner, there’s Monchi. A.S. Roma Director of football and the man we’ll known for his expert wheeling and dealings in the transfer market. I read the other day that seldom does he end up losing money on signings, usually coming out in credit as far as balancing the books go. Perfect for Arsenal then I’d say although I’d wish him luck trying to do such a thing for us with the players we have. I’d imagine selling them would be a tough task let alone anything else.
Reports in the media suggest Arsenal want the man of their choice in ASAP but with both of the above currently employed, getting either is going to be tough at this stage of the season.
Monchi history, from the internet of course:
In 2000, after Sevilla were relegated from the top division, Monchi was appointed their director of football. He was given two objectives by the board: develop the club’s youth system and implement a vast scouting policy inside and outside Spain.
Monchi helped discover Diego Capel, Alberto Moreno, Jesús Navas, Antonio Puerta, Sergio Ramos and José Antonio Reyes, and he also created a network of over 700 scouts around the world. Within this setup, he sourced a number of profitable bargains (including Adriano, Dani Alves, Júlio Baptista, Federico Fazio, Seydou Keita and Ivan Rakitić), making a profit of around €200 million in the transfer market, as the club established itself in the top half of La Liga in his 16 years there.[
He left Sevilla in 2017, 11 trophies better off and later that month signed a four-year contract in the same role with A.S. Roma. Roma have 23 players currently out on loan.
Overmars:
Just the one club for him as a Director of Football and that’s Ajax. A clean club eh. Since his appointment in 2012, they’ve won the Dutch league a couple of times but I think that’s about it.
So, do Arsenal go with sentiment and try to lure Overmars from Ajax, or pull out all the stops and go big for Monchi, a guy who Utd are trying to get too?
If the Spaniard thrives on juggling money and players around and making profits, then he’d love life in north London surely?
Then there’s Unai Emery of course, the man he’s worked with before. Their three years together at Sevilla worked out well enough, certainly in the Europa League.
Has to be Monchi doesn’t it?
Good morning Rico, I like the post thanks.
From what part of the club’s budget does the money come to pay all these extraneous people? Head of this, director of that, we seem to have more backroom staff than players. Is its clever ploy to fill the empty seats at the Emirates? 😉
We could end up with too many chiefs and a lot of internal politics as each defends his turf / reputation. Not too long ago that the manager of each club was all most knew of the non-playing staff. Now everyone’s a superstar within their own field as the juggernaut rolls on and we lose to Bate Borisov.
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico.
Another ‘suit’ to add to all the ‘suits’ we’ve signed since Wenger left, have we signed more backroom staff than players and what improvement have we seen?
Apparently Raul was something important at Nike before he got the Barcelona gig, where he spent a shed load of cash, so just the perfect appointment for Enos and the KSE brand…
Morning Kev.
But don’t other clubs have these positions in place? We had Wenger doing it all for so long, we didn’t need anyone else… well….
If difficult to access from the outside, but if I can gauge from the little I know,
Per Mertesaker has been a great appointment as the head of youth development, bringing back Ljungberg has been a good move – maybe Freddie is one to consider for promotion to the senior squad in future?
Darren Burgess has been a good appointment as head of medical, he’s really shaken up that department.
The Academy is currently doing a great job with some new coaches, so even if our young players don’t make the Arsenal 1st team we can develop them like Chelsea and Man City and sell them for a good price like Jadon Sancho and the Chelsea winger Bayern are after.
Morning Cicero, thank you.
I’d imagine a lot on money but it’s the same with any business really. Many chiefs but the Indians get forgotten yet without them, the business wouldn’t survive.
It could be that a few of the older board members are soon to retire..
I think the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool and Man City have more dynamic management in place Rico and have for awhile, we’re just catching up, but I worry that there’s isn’t more demand coming from above, from a Board of old geezers who just seem to accept what’s going on from those immediately below them and the lack of interest from KSE.
At Tottenham they have Levy running the show and he’s been in general quite successful in most things, except the stadium which is embarrassing, but all their mates in the media have given him a pass on that one…
Imagine the stick Arsenal would have got from the media….
I wonder if Enos and Josh even know that we lost to BATE Borisov?
I think that if it was Chelsea, that Abramovitch would know and would be demanding some answers from his management team.
Just why I wondered if the old boys are soon to be on their way Kev and these changes are about a new direction from a younger board.
Kroenke is the 6th wealthiest owner of a football club. Fitting with us 6th in the league.. lol
Rico, so he’s at his right level 🙂 🙂
Morning all!
Off subject slightly ( sorry rico)
I see theres a 20% off sale at the Arsenal site, on 1886 items.
Wont catch me buying any more Arsenal merchandise. I’ll only get it if I find it in the £ shop, thats where Kronke’s pocket reaches.
COYG
Morning all.
Interesting thoughts Rico. You pose a few questions there about our ownership and the workforce employed to run it!
This is a question really, but do the Krankies’ need to bother with a superannuated board of directors at all? With all the new tiers of governance that the club are employing would they have anything to offer, apart from drinking the vintage cellar of fine wines and spirits as well as being ensured of one decent meal every other week? Perhaps Stan’s vision is to empty the cellar and sack the board, leave the running of the club to the hired hands and then just spend his time in LA, whilst stoically avoiding St Louis!
Whilst he may be a very rich man I’m not sure he can be trusted further than any of us could spit on him. What he will do with, or even do to our club doesn’t bear thinking about. Perhaps he’ll build a wall around the Emirates to keep out………I’m rambling! Suffice to say, I do not trust him, because I don’t think he is an honourable man. Not an Arsenal ‘type’ at all. I’ve a feeling he is going to use our club as a cash cow to operate his US franchises and we will suffer immeasurably both on and off the field.
On a more positive point, it’s sunny and warm here, nearly T-shirt weather.
No Scott, he’s 3rd in the PL.
Who, Stan?
Does he own two clubs 🙂
Ha ha no, he’s behind Roman and the City group..
And a few others 🙂
Supposedly the stipulation on the role are that whoever comes in has a link to the club or has a working relationship with Sanllehi or Emery.
I still think Mislintat is a big loss. He was only there for a short time but Lichtsteiner apart he didn’t put a foot wrong. Aldo with the PSG Guendouzi rumour he may have already financed the next transfer window.
Not according to Forbes. Utd don’t forget are a club run heavily in debt Scott.
Not see the Guendouzi rumour Hobart.
Rico, supposedly PSG are sniffing around him already and we’ve put a £60m price tag on him.
Not from any proper sources though.
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
If I take them pieces about Overmars and Monchi as CV`s then there`s only one winner !………………………..plus how can Overmars be trusted if he sacked God !
Warm here, if it were a bit colder I`d wear a T-Shirt !…………………the sun is glistening off my abs after an hours ab workout !
😎
As for Kroenke he has got lots of money invested in things and the value of his investment in Arsenal has doubled over what he paid for it.
As long as we don’t explode he will still increase the share value as the stadiums debt is paid off (by the way it’s the fans paying the debt off not him).
I looked back at his businesses a while back and wasn’t impressed. Most of it is money making money, or by getting real estate deals associated with Walmart. Not exactly difficult with his wife. His initial cash was inherited.
So his dad was a great businessman but Stan Kroenke has mainly shown skills in inheriting money and marrying well. That and running unsuccessful yet profitable sports franchises.
Thanks for that Hobart. Hopefully the club will put the same kind of value on the younger players coming through, if not higher actually. Sooner or later they’ll be hot property and we’ve got to keep them imo.
What a ghastly thought Lc, I’m sure Cornwall love seeing you abs shining in the sunshine. And there was me thinking only high paid footballers had egos…….
rico, do you go to Cornwall again?
Hello rico, lucky for you Lc has a sense of humour lol !
As I touched on last night, it’s all about structures and Emery quite clearly didn’t fit into PSG’s and was sacked, another big decision to be made in the summer by our board me thinks.
Not since I’ve got to know Lc on here Jm.. 😜
Hi Micko, I was banking on Lc knowing it was my warped humour….
Rico, what Lc laughingly calls his abs are in fact the outlines of all the pies he eats. In fact he eats more of them than he delivers, but don’t tell him I told you so. 😉
You’re secret is safe with me Cicero… lol
😀
LCM is Atf Sbatard. I know. Ive met him.
🙂
He can certainly bench press a pasty….
I think I’ve worked that one out Vcc, your cryptics, not Lc.. lol
Hobart, every player is for sale I reckon next summer, we are a club with zero ambition.
You know, if we thought that the prospect of selling Guendouzi for £60/£70m meant the fee reinvested in some new defenders, quality defenders, then it’s bearable, as long as it’s added to the £45m provided by KSE plus any other funds earned by selling Ospina, Jenkinson, Mustafi, etc, but I have my doubts…
Arsenal, Emery or whoever, will probably need to sign 6 or 7 new players next summer, at least 3 of them being top quality, or else we’re in for another forgettable season.
The question remains can Raul find the type of uncut diamonds Sven was good at finding?
During his time at Barca, Raul spent serious money on high profile players, the type totally out of our league right now and for the foreseeable future.
Can he shop at the level we need to and how good will he be..?
Will it be down to him to scout them Kev, or someone else I wonder. Especially if we do snap up a DOF..
Well I suppose that Morrow or Caggagio (?) or whomever will scout them Rico, their worth and what we pay, if we pay or pass, will depend on the valuation Raul puts on them and unlike Barca we can no longer afford to waste money and certainly not the amounts that Raul spent when it was his job at the Camp Nou…
A Director of Football probably won’t be in place before we’ve done our scouting and negotiating because we’ll probably be doing most of that now, or in the weeks ahead.
So whether it’s Overmars or Monchi or Crunchie or Tootsie, they’ll be too late to influence it.
Well I hope this regime does a lot better with contracts than the last Kev…
New post up now.