When it was decided that I should write the initial end-of-season review for a blog created in mid-season following the death of our great friend and inspiration, Dave “Goonerholic” Faber, I did, as is my wont, consider a number of ways of approaching it.
Simple chronology would be a bit bland for a season that lasted almost a complete year and the reality was that the whole tenor of the piece would be determined by what happened in the very last game…the FA Cup Final against Chelsea. I’m sure anyone reading this will know that outcome but let’s park that moment until later. I’ve written a two-part review, each part divided into two sections – effectively before and after Arteta, because I think that is the right way to tell a very complicated story. Let’s begin back last August with a bit of context.
Part One – The Fall of Emery
As I chugged towards London from my holiday home in Norfolk my mood was optimistic. Arsenal had begun the season with a solid 1-0 win at Newcastle and were facing Burnley in our first game at the Grove. The previous season had ended on a thoroughly depressing note with defeat in the final in Baku, not just a defeat but a chaotic, depressing and mindless capitulation.
Action had been taken including the loan transfer of Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid, the acquisitions of Kieran Tierney and David Luiz on the last day of the window and the little heralded transfer of a young Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli, facilitated by our new Technical Director Edu, one of the Invincibles. The big deal of our window was the £72 million purchase of Nicolas Pepe from Lille, a winger with a spectacular resume and a deadly left foot. Some of this was financed at the eleventh hour by the extraordinary sale of Alex Iwobi to Everton for a sum in excess of £30 million. Consider that the sale of Iwobi enabled us to finance the purchases of Tierney and Martinelli when you try to decide if last summer’s trading was a success! In all we parted company with 17 players at various levels of the club. Tidy housekeeping although we were still burdened with the extraordinary salary of Mesut Özil.
I returned a few hours later reasonably content with a hard-fought 2-1 victory in which Ceballos had run midfield in a very promising home debut and Aubameyang had done what he does best with a sharply-taken winner. When I reached Norwich I ran into ecstatic Canaries revelling in victory over Newcastle and a Pukki hat-trick. That memory shows how transient sporting happiness can be.
We went to Anfield the following week reasonably content with our lot as joint-leaders of the division only to see Emery set the team up in an extraordinary way to combat the newly- crowned European champions. We decided to give the two best attacking full-backs in Europe free rein to attack us out wide but countered this by putting Pepe and Aubameyang upfront to test the speed of Liverpool’s central defence. That might just have worked if we had gone long and hadn’t tried to play through the thunderous gegenpress developed by Klopp, which eventually overwhelmed us. Add to that a stupid penalty conceded by Luiz (one of five during the season) and our goose was cooked. Ironically Pepe and Aubameyang had missed good chances early on but we got back into the game only when we completely rejigged the formation and our chances of any sort of result had long disappeared. That result started a number of supporters (myself included) wondering what Emery was really about. A 2-2 draw in the North London Derby saw us concede a poor goal and a totally unnecessary penalty after a horrendous Xhaka challenge but respond with a spirited comeback and a beautiful link-up between Guendouzi and Aubameyang for the equaliser. Gooner concern intensified in our next game away to Watford where 2-0 up at the interval we had to watch open-mouthed in the second half as Watford , who had zero points up to that moment, completely took over the game. Another penalty conceded by Luiz and a tragi-comic brainfart by the defence playing out from the back saw the game end in a draw and had it continued much longer we would undoubtedly have lost. Concern intensified still further after an interview with Captain Xhaka where he conceded that at 2-0 up at half-time against the league’s bottom side the team were ‘scared’.
A series of better results followed including our entry into Europe where we won our first three games. This included a late comeback at home in October to Vitoria Guimares where Pepe scored two sumptuous late free-kicks in front of no less than Scruzgooner. The chance to meet him and Countryman100 that evening was one of the high spots for me of what was about to prove a rollercoaster season. One clear bright spot was the emergence of Gabriel Martinelli as an exciting and prolific young striker. This young man who was supposed to be one for the future, started to indicate that he might have a significant part to play in the present with seven goals in five starts. Results were decent but a 1-0 setback at Bramall Lane against a very well- organised Sheffield United side highlighted a depressing lack of creativity.
Rumblings about Emery’s ability to take the team forward intensified. While results had been generally reasonable the quality of football was depressing and team morale seemed to start to suffer. We surrendered leads at home against Palace and Wolves and, in the former fixture had ‘Xhakagate’. As we struggled to restore the lead after scoring twice in the first ten minutes and then being pegged back, Emery substituted Xhaka to the approval of the home crowd who hooted their derision. Xhaka clearly swore at the crowd, ripped off his armband and made his disgust at the crowd’s reaction clearly known. I watched the game with GSD and we were stunned by this display, especially as he was the club captain. It hinted at deeper problems in the dressing-room, and Emery dropped the Swiss international for the next five games. There seemed no way back for a man who tended to polarise opinion between those who couldn’t stand him and those who disliked him even more than that! Sport writes surprising scripts, and the rehabilitation of Xhaka has been one of the most dramatic stories in the Arsenal season.
Fan dissatisfaction was growing and for me reached a head when the late November home game against Southampton saw us give what I still believe to be the most inept defensive display I have ever seen from an Arsenal side. It really was that bad. A bemused Southampton fan I met on the tube after the game asked me how Southampton hadn’t scored at least six or seven goals. The answer was a combination of Leno and their appalling finishing. A last-minute Lacazette goal greeted with complete silence gave us a most undeserved point in a 2-2 draw.
So widespread was the disillusion that a change seemed inevitable. While there was some disagreement in Goonerholic’s bar, the majority favoured Emery leaving as soon as possible. Others felt he should be judged when he had a full defence to work with as he had been denied the services of his two first-choice full-backs, Bellerin and Tierney, and Rob Holding at centre back. The difficulty was that Arsenal were losing touch with not only the Champions League places but the Europa League as well. In fact, the spectre of relegation would start to loom if Arsenal continued to defend as we had against Southampton.
On the following Thursday we played Eintracht Frankfurt at home needing only to win to qualify for the group stage. I took my brother-in-law, a long-suffering Fulham fan, to the match. My usual travelling colleagues had warned him not to expect much but as Eintracht took the lead with about fifteen minutes to go he conceded that he had absolutely no clue how poorly Arsenal were playing. As the whistle blew on a 2-1 defeat I watched a dejected Emery tramp towards the tunnel knowing that I would never see him in charge of an Arsenal team again. The following morning he was relieved of his duties and Freddie Ljungberg, another Invincible, placed in charge as caretaker manager.
The Emery era was at an end after less than a season and a half. He had emerged as something of a ‘bolter’ in Summer 2018 after it looked as if Arsenal were minded to appoint Mikel Arteta. The ministrations of his agent Canales, a friend of Raul Sanllehi, earned him the chance to impress the Arsenal selection committee and as the safer option he was appointed to fill the very big shoes finally left empty by Arsène Wenger.
Early indications were promising and in April 2019 we were in a superb position to qualify for the Champions League, possibly in third place, and we were poised to take part in the Europa League Final having vanquished Napoli and Valencia on their own grounds. Then came an inexplicable collapse in the league when Emery’s rotational abilities came into question; this was followed by the debacle of Baku. I am told that the idea of a new contract for Emery was floated in the close season but vetoed by the Arsenal board. That saved a pretty penny in extra compensation down the line.
Whilst as a poor linguist myself I am in no position to criticise someone who fails to come to terms with a language problem I always felt that the rather haphazard and often chaotic communication of Emery mirrored a confusion in his approach to the job. A decent man, he has resurfaced at Villareal and most decent Gooners wish him better fortune there than he enjoyed at Arsenal.
Part 2 – We love you Freddie
I have many memories of Freddie Ljungberg, nearly all of them immensely positive, but I’d never expected to see him shivering on the early December touchline overseeing an underwhelming home defeat to Brighton in his first home game in charge, having drawn at Norwich in his first match where we came from behind twice thanks to an Aubameyang brace. While Freddie of the red hair became an unlikely interim manager, and certainly the first ex-underwear model to take charge of our great club, his work with many of the younger players and his link to happier and more successful times made him a sensible stop-gap. That he was likely to be no more was evidenced by that Brighton defeat and a subsequent humiliation at home by Manchester City who had Mikel Arteta sitting on the touchline.
Freddie did shepherd us through to the knockout stage of the Europa on a chaotic night where a late Frankfurt collapse saw us top the group after we equalised late on in Belgium against Standard Liege. That seemed to sum up a very unusual and uneven qualifying campaign which had begun with a 3-0 win in Frankfurt. That encouraging win was a match notable for an excellent display by the reserve goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez and a debut goal and stellar performance by young Bukayo Saka who began to emerge as one of the few success stories of the season.
Saka was required to deputise for some time at left back for Tierney, who dislocated his shoulder in a morale-boosting 3-1 win at West Ham where we had trailed at the interval. Martinelli and Pepe (with a cracker) put us ahead and Aubameyang clinched a game which, if we’d lost, would have seen us dragged into a relegation battle. After the subsequent City defeat Arsenal officials travelled to Arteta’s house where a deal was agreed to bring him to Arsenal. Freddie’s last game in charge was one of the worst Arsenal have taken part in during recent seasons, the pre-Christmas match at Everton – a stultifying, goalless draw. Everton themselves had recruited as manager the eminent Carlo Ancelotti. Many of the more risk-averse drinkers in ‘Holic’s bar favoured the sort of experience that Ancelotti could bring. Others felt that Arteta offered an exciting new vision of what Arsenal could be. Could he even steer us to a trophy this season? Surely that would be being too greedy.
So we waved goodbye to Freddie after a six game interregnum. In the circumstances he had done a creditable job but was clearly not experienced enough to be a long-term solution. Would appointing an even younger man who had never been in full charge of a club not be an even bigger gamble? We were about to find out.
Magisterial TTG. A fluent, detailed and fair description. I’ve happy memories of meeting you and Scruzgooner before that Europa game against Vitoria as well as those superb Pepe free kicks. It was that night that I discovered that you were Arsenal royalty whose Grandfather had watched the club in Woolwich, your Father first went to Highbury in 1924 and you popped up at THOF in the early 50s. We are truly lucky to have you as part of this blog’s team and I look forward with keen anticipation to Part 2.
You have set the table and whet our appetites, TTG. Bring on the main course.
TTG, Your memory and writing are sharp as a tack. Outstanding review of the twists and turns of the season’s first half, many of which I had conveniently forgotten, if I even watched some of Emery’s final games due to disinterest in a dispirited team. Masterful job.
I’m on the edge of my seat. Will we be relegated or will Arteta win us something?
(How I wish this was a box set so that I could read ahead!)
Good stuff, TTG.
Btm
Spoiler alert !
Mesut Ozil puts down his brolly and creates his first assist of the season in injury time at Brighton to rescue a point but VAR rules it out because his todger is offside . Headlines of ‘ ‘Mesut cocks it up ‘ abound on the Sunday and Mesut is ruled out of the rest of the season with heatstroke .
TTG, Let me propose the motion that Emery performed a valuable and necessary service in being the firebreak between the Wenger era and what I trust will be a long-term and successful Arteta era.
In any institution with a long-standing leader, the enterprise ossifies around him. The successor needs to break some bones to free things up. It is not an easy task, as countless newly appointed CEOs can testify. In many respects, it is simpler to come in and pick up the pieces than to do the breaking in the first place. The culture has already been shaken loose at that point, an initial round of personnel changes likely made voluntarily or involuntarily, and the institution is more malleable to the new vision, even if it seems more turbulent. True, the bone-breaker becomes a vilified sacrificial lamb of short tenure, as Emery was, but changes the context in which the long-term successor can operate successfully.
None of which is to say that Arteta has an easy job; his challenge is enormous as everyone in this bar knows. However, what he makes of the club in the short- to medium-term will be compared to the chaos in which Emery left it rather than the legacy of Wenger. That would have been a far more demanding yardstick if he had taken over directly. It would also have been a means by which the Wenger In and Wenger Out camps could have continued their feud, to the club’s detriment.
that was a fun evening, c100 and ttg. to badly quote python, “my nipples were exploding with delight”, right? your faces were classic 🙂 i surely wish we could share another evening pre-match, with others, and when covid retires itself to senescent pastures we will so do.
ttg, beautiful job on the story. so catches the mood swings that were already apparent from baku. what a shit day that was. i will say, given where we are now, i am sort of glad mikel didn’t slot straight in after arsène. the short reign of a barely competent manager softened us up and made us ready for what mikel brings to the table, and gives him more leeway to have bad patches; if he’d come in right after arsène his inexperience and tactical nous would have been sticks with which to beat him. having emery inbetween means even the bad times right now aren’t as bad, because (as they say here in the colonies), “things are looking up, charlie brown!”.
ned, you’ve been reading my mail 🙂
Night of conflicting sentiments tonight as I’ve just heard from a Gooner contact that we are likely to sign the Brazilian centre back Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille. I understand that rather like the Pepe deal we are likely to pay the fee in instalments as this suits Lille’s tax position . I think there is a very strong chance that we will sign Willian on a free, Gabriel, Coutinho on loan and Partey possibly in part exchange . We are also likely to resign Ceballos on loan. Don’t know about Malang Sarr who I thought was a done deal .
To do this we need to have a mass clearout of players as well as Scouts . My sense is this is timed to impress Aubameyang as he considers a new deal.
How we identify new players now I have no idea
This is very classy from our old friend Northbanksy
How we identify new players now I have no idea
A bit like this
Late to the party.
What a spectacularly brilliant review of the first half of this awful season, TTG. It revived the pain and confusion of watching the Arsenal this seaon and finally the anger I felt at the ineptitude with which this club has been run from top to bottom. I can only repeat the appropriate epithet of CM100, that is magisterial indeed.
I agree with those who believe that we had to go through the pain of the Emery phase both to prepare the ground for Arteta. It was also essential for those who now call the shots at this club to recognise the abyss down which many fine clubs have fallen before us as well as for those fans who have for some years cast brickbats (and worse) at Emery’s predecessor to realise that simply getting rid of Wenger was not the solution.
I can’t wait for Part 2. Thank you sir.
Given what Arteta says about the need for experience around the youngster to help them develop, my 2-cents is that Willian’s arrival would imply a mass clear out this summer of our senior players.
As for how to identify talent, we will have to go the data analytics route pioneered by Brentford. Its squad isn’t too shabby for one assembled for a total cost of £30 million.
Scruz@7: or you have been reading mine. 🙂
£30 million also buys you just 85 weeks of Ozil. You decide where the value lies.
A great 1st half TTG, not sure if
you had a drinks break halfway
through but a large glass of
something would have been
well-deserved. I’m looking
forward to the 2nd half.
I’m not sure I agree with the
idea that we needed UE to pave
the way for Mikel. I suppose it
is basically the ‘burning platform’
reasoning from change management
and in fact we’ll never know but my
own feeling is that Mikel could have
got the team behind him quickly
(as to be fair UE did). However,
MA is a better communicator and
I think he could have kept them
on track. The damage to the teams
confidence need not have happened
and just made the revitalisation of
the club more difficult.
Of course I wanted MA before UE
was appointed so my own bias
should be considered!
ned@14, i didn’t want to say…
Ned@13.
Of course we bought StatDNA back in 2013/14 for exactly that purpose. And then seemingly proceeded to pee away the value to little discernible end…..
TTG,
I’ll be honest and say I don’t normally have a lot of time for season reviews – either ecstasies of a great campaign are still fresh in the memory, or the misery of a bad one needs no enhancement by reading about it all over again.
This, Sir, changed my mind. Superbly and interestingly written, I can’t wait for Part 2, you old tease.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
The hand wringing from the club
about the sad necessity of firing
55 employees rings false.
The way we seem to do our
transfer business these days
means that the scouting network
was always going to be cut back
as from a financial viewpoint people
are an expensive recurring cost.
I think that Raul and co have just
used the current situation as an
excuse to accelerate something they
planned to do anyway.
I’m not defending Ozil and wish he
would leave but he is getting stick
for not agreeing to a pay cut –
I read that he thought that management
couldn’t be trusted to stand by our people
in hard times – he was right. Anyway,
it’s a wider issue than that and just
seems like corporate opportunism to
me.
For those wanting to know more on the redundancies I commend Arseblog’s piece this morning to this house. Suffice to say, he’s not happy.
Lovely stuff TTG. A very enjoyable read.
With the exception of Matt above, no one seems to have picked up on the news that the club feels it needs to make 55 members of staff redundant. It blames the current situation and surrounding uncertainty.
I must admit, I find this very disappointing indeed. Effectively the club is saying that we need to make savings and that these cuts are necessary. All at a time when we are linked with several players that will come with a package costing millions. Add that to the fact that we are owned by a man whose net worth is estimated at 8.3 billion dollars and the whole situation sits very uncomfortably with me I must say. Such a shame that a statement like that is released from the club just days after the triumph at Wembley.
Steve T,
There were several comments
in the previous posts from Dr F,
TTG, cynic and others. Basically,
they share your own misgivings.
I was quite late to comment but
plead the time difference!
Magnificent TTG, just magnificent! This one raises the bar — pun intended — of the Holics-verse discourses to an entirely new level.
I think other than the language problems, Emery failed to grasp the true intensity of premier league and coach his squad to prepare adequately. He was a decent man and did his best, the time and the place were just not suitable for him.
Freddie has been instrumental in the quick adoption of the academy brigade in the first team squad, both as Emery’s assistant and then the interim coach. He is probably leaving this season to manage a team maybe in Sweden on his own. Wishing him the best in his managerial career.
Steve, we had talked a bit about that in the last set of drinks. Let us just say many of us are all disgusted and disturbed as you are.
Superbly expressed on the redundancies, Matt and Steve. The players have rights and reasons to distrust the Arsenal hierarchy in this situation just as do the supporters.
Manchester United permanently rid themselves of Alexis Sanchez, but have we done similarly with Mkhitaryan?? A tougher sell possibly but bundling with Kolasinac and Özil could be an attractive proposition to one or two clubs in far off lands.
more details are coming out
and it seems basically we are
rolling up our scouting network
in Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/aug/06/arsenal-shed-more-scouts-in-break-up-of-their-european-network-redundancies
As I said above I think this was
already planned. I just don’t believe
that you suddenly make a decision
like this that fundamentally changes
how we recruit
Matt@28: From the promises of a modern, progressive, and transparent — that is intrinsically expertise-based and data-driven — recruitment infrastructure to a small coterie of powerful friends with connection? It might land us the occasional gem, but is that a sustainable long-term strategy?
It suits the small coterie very well Dr F.
but I’m doubtful it’s in the short or long
term best interests of Arsenal FC.
I didn’t want Coutinho or Willian for
mainly this very reason (though also
for footballing reasons too).
Corruption is already endemic in football
and this type of cronyist approach just
makes it more likely to get worse.
It all stinks.
It must be confusing for Rangers who are in the midst of competing in both the old season’s Europa League as well as the new season’s Premiership in Scotland. Had we beaten Olympiakos on the other hand, Arsenal would have a Europa League round of 16 match to play this week. As Wolves are involved instead, I’m hoping they win it after being forced into extra time and penalties, and will have another exhausting match to play in the quarterfinals and beyond leading into the new season.
I appreciate the kind comments on Part 1.
Part 2 has all the sex and violence in it and is much more fun .
I’d just like to add my own comments on the redundancies having been consulted today about two businesses who are needing to make staff redundant . I am a director of one of them . It’s a ghastly time.
The moral argument is whether in a global crisis KSE should not suck up the financial hit and protect employees . The business argument is that in the current environment the business( AFC) will have contracted significantly. A lot of boxes will be unfilled for some time, there won’t be corporate hospitality and any business has to look at trimming its sails in a recession .
The basics of this soap opera are exacerbated by the huge sums in the football world , many of which find their way to some undesirables and a star player who seems happy to sit out a season in what may be one of the last productive years of his career because he is earning a salary that is astronomical and nobody else in the football world would give him .
It’s hard not to conflate all the issues and one can understand players who agreed to a pay cut to protect jobs being dismayed with these cuts . But there is a more cynical aspect here . The club is moving from a scouting network to an agent-driven model.This works well for Wolves if you like a team of Portuguese and Mexican players . I must admit I find them a soulless club and not a particularly impressive side based on our recent game . This reliance on croneys of Sanllehi has all the hallmarks of a disaster but we do seem to be much more effective at signing players than in the old days of Dick Law possibly because we throw too much money at them . My concern which seems to be shared here is that the values which we are all justifiably proud of seem to have been trampled in the dust which is just what we feared when a no-class Yank mediocre sporting entrepreneur took over the reins . No wonder Sir Chips was happy to stand down. Old PHW was right when he suggested Stan ‘ wasn’t our sort ‘ all those years ago. But until C100 cashes in his premium bonds and buys Stan out we seem locked into a very depressing cycle .
May I make it clear to many fine American friends on here that the ‘no- class ‘ Yank description extends only to Stan ( and probably Josh ) and not of course other citizens of that fine nation that I love to visit .
And Trump it applies to him .😀
Me again
Aubameyang is staying until 2023!
News being carried by Arseblog via the Telegraph
I still hate Kroenke and Trump
Haven’t had a tickle for months on my premium bonds TTG. Times are hard.
TTG. I’m not a businessman. I work in the public sector, and have done so for many years.
As we are all more than aware, we are in the middle of a global pandemic. That I would suggest means that almost everyone has been affected to some degree. The club statement said that the redundancies were due to the financial implications as a result of the pandemic?
We have an owner valued at $8.3 billion. If he’s really short of a bob or two then I would rather we didn’t sign Willian and we did the right thing by those at the club.
We are The Arsenal. Perhaps some high up need reminding of the fact
I am afraid that the philosophy, values and priorities of The Arsenal FC were inevitably changed when the English patrician custodians were replaced by a cold-hearted American businessman known for his lack of concern for the little man (ref. Texas ranch longterm lakeside residents).
We can cling to the concept that this is a club that has admirable values that put it in a different class from other clubs (as elucidated in Forward Arsenal) but that would be deluding ourselves. It’s a business and this is a long scheduled business decision.
I have worked in an organisation that replaced professionally driven values with business imperatives. It is not an easy transition.
Steve,
It’s a very complicated mix of things . When financial results suffer businesses look at how they are operating and often look to make adjustments. Arsenal probably has too many staff now but the issue, as you highlight, is whether it is morally right to deprive people of their livelihood in the middle of a pandemic . I think we were all proud when Arsenal didn’t take the Spurs route of furloughing staff because Arsenal have always tried to operate with class and kindness .
The balance with the football aspirations is also complex. If Arsenal are successful as a football club it expands the employment base and creates new jobs while safeguarding others . So we need a good team and altruism among 21st century footballers is a scarce commodity . I’m pleased to see the team’s concern that their pay cut may have been sold to them under false pretences .
Arseblog News suggest Auba has signed an extension to 2023:
Report see good, bath.
sez, not see. And TTG beat you to the news.
Auba is staying!!!
Another excellent piece on the club’s behaviour from Tim @ 7am kickoff:
Bath,
Tim sums up the arguments very well.
It’s a time of huge ambivalence if you are an Arsenal fan
The Telegraph report this headline: “Arsenal tell Ainsley Maitland-Niles he is available for transfer even though Mikel Arteta wants him to stay”
The twists and turns keep on twisting, but it seems to be not in a good way.
Most of the press seem to be saying that Arsenal have identified players they are willing to sell and AMN is one of those because he has a price although the £30m quoted in some quarters is not realisable in my view. Others quoted as available include Bellerín and Mustafi ( who is currently badly injured );. If Héctor and AMN go we would need cover at right back . Cedric is not an adequate first choice .
Cheers TTG! Great stuff.
Interesting couple of articles on She Wore about the redundancies and scouting department.
As for the players being “angry”, don’t dress that up as caring about the bloke selling merchandise in the club shop on a match day, it’s all about losing hundred of tousands, if not millions, in salary personally. Plus they have no idea how many jobs might have had to go if they’d kept 100% of their wages.
Agree Cedric is a squad player as a
right back. We’d need a RWB if Hector
went.
If we can get 20-25m for AMN I can
understand why we would let him go.
He was great in the cup and I’d wish
him well.
Looks like Willian is going to be announced
soon. Of course I’ll support him for the next
3 years of his stay.
Good tip Cynic@47
This provides a good perspective rather than a knee jerk response:
Arsenal redundancies explained
I think the announcement from ‘your club’ jars with our warm and fluffy belief that our club has traditionally held itself, its employees and players to a higher standard than run of the mill football clubs and the attempt to link organisational changes to the Covid-19 induced financial pressures and moreover to the need to buy players is clearly disingenuous. Our warm and fluffy feelings about our club’s standards are clearly an anachronism and our relationship to it may change as a consequences.
Go GE Washers!
So the scouting changes are
separate from the redundancies
then.
With the Hale End clearout as
well we appear to be making some
radical changes. I couldn’t say our
recruitment has been great but
obviously Raul doesn’t think the
buck stops with him.
Brendan Rodgers somehow gets nominated for Manager of the Year, despite throwing away a top four finish.
As for redundancies and the club’s behaviour, I think we’ll only be able to judge them properly once the full list is announced and if further statements are made on the impact cutting player wages had on reducing the numbers of jobs needed to be shed. I think the club is being unfairly criticised at the moment, because you cannot expect them to employ people if there’s no job any more (in areas such as hospitality, ticketing or the match programme – assuming those are areas that face cuts).
Here’s that link to She wore. As Cynic and Bath say, makes sense and some good perspective. https://shewore.com/
What was interesting in Ornstein’s article yesterday was the fact that all the staff benefits are being reduced. There’s a reduction in giving away tickets to staff, but they are also reducing the employer pension contribution from 7.5% to 5%. That is a permanent pay cut (pension is deferred pay). 5% is the minimum that can be paid legally.
The bigger picture over the redundancies and the financial situation is that the club’s budget is still predicated on having Champion’s League football and all the riches that brings.
Before he stepped down earlier this year, Sir Chips was clear that playing Europa League football was a primary reason that the club made a loss last season for the first time since 2002. In February, the month we made an early exit from this season’s Europa League he said flatly that another season without CL football would put the club under financial stress. Since then the Covid-19 pandemic has removed whatever threadbare financial cushion there was.
When we first dropped out of the top four, the club’s management rolled the dice on it being a short-lived exile from the CL. Ozil’s pay rise was part of that, to secure the player around which the return would be orchestrated. Management would (might) have got away with it financial had Baku last year not been the calamitous capitulation it was. (I add the caveat ‘might’ because although we would have had CL football this season, the structural faults in the squad that left us mid-table and facing worse when Emery was sacked would still have been there so CL football next season was far from guaranteed.)
However, we had put all our eggs in an Ozil-shaped basket and, to mix metaphors, Ozil turned out to be a discard rather than the intended ace of trumps.
More to the point, there seemed to be no plan B, and if there was a plan for fixing the issues with the squad, it failed. Whether that was because there was no coherent plan, Emery’s arrival changed the project, the scouting was poor or recruitment execution appalling, I have no idea. Probably a combination of all of the above.
TTG is right to underline the significance of the switch to agent-driven recruiting, which might suggest the recruitment execution was the biggest failing (or that management will use that as a scapegoat). It may permit the assembly of a team that can combine experienced players with the windfall of promising youngsters to get sufficient success on the playing field to ensure financial stability. But it is a short-term solution.
It shifts more money and influence into the hands of agents and their players. Top agents have made no secret of their wish to replace the present transfer system into one that essentially they run.
But it is the strategy of a pre-Covid world. The pandemic has changed the underlying finances of the game. That is true not only for the clubs but also the sponsors and broadcasters (next rights contracts start getting negotiated next year) who provide most of the money for the game, not to mention the fans, who pay for it one way or the other. I fear the way the club is now being run is moving against that tide rather than with it.
I used to use the Highbury House restaurant regularly before matches and took several mates there . I was discussing it with Bob Wilson a few years ago and he informed me that it had closed . It was needed to provide more office space for marketing staff but as Bob implied the revenue from our commercial activities was not comparable with our major competitors nor did it grow in proportion to the number of staff employed . I sensed ( given I knew where his loyalties lay ) that his observations were not solely his but might have been conveyed by Arsene . Bob certainly felt that it was a retrograde step to cut back on a place where fans and old players could congregate and I agreed with him.
Sad as the redundancies inevitably are no self- respecting business should make decisions purely on philanthropy but it should also strive to be as good and fair an employer as it can be . I’m not close enough to the club now to know if this is the impression the staff have although obviously the ones losing their job will feel bitter
Two differing perspectives – thank
you gentlemen for the links to
She Wore and 7AM.
I couldn’t honestly say I saw much
sense in the article in She Wore
but then I worked in a big company
for years, saw this kind of thing
periodically and honestly didn’t see it
made any difference overall. Just some
new guys wanting to show leadership but
in fact just tinkering round the edges.
Layth Yousif says that Coutinho and his representatives were at Colney today to discuss a transfer .
I took the Bathlets to Highbury House for a pre-match lunch/dinner some years ago. Sammy Nelson was the guest of honour and gave a very good and funny speech but no reprise of his most famous gesture. I fancied doing it again but didn’t get round to it and didn’t know it had closed a number of years ago. I do now notice I haven’t seen it advertised for a long time. Sad. It was a good outing.
Impressive assist by Rodrigo for Madrid against Man City, passing it to himself on the byline before centering it for Benzema’s header. He looked like playing the roles of two different players.
Bathlets? They’re showers aren’t they?
(Not implying the family is a shower in the Terry-Thomas sense you understand) 🙂
It has been mentioned on Twitter but I doubt Bayern would allow a player who is playing a Champions League match tomorrow, and he might be starting as Coman is out, to travel to London to check out a move.
I know Germany is literally two stops away on a bus compared to some places, but this sounds like utter junk to me.
Were the rumour not from a very reliable person who I know is not a bullshitter I would ignore it especially as players don’t tend to be involved in transfers much any more . Certainly his entourage is led by Joorabchian who seems to be at Arsenal all the time anyway . Bayern will have Coutinho on the bench and are three nil up so they might have given him leave if he went to and fromGermany directly but it seems unlikely . I’ve not spoken to Layth about it but let us see . Arsenal denied they were signing Willian and Coutinho.
It’s interesting that Liverpool who have won three major trophies inna year are in the CL next season and have a massive season ticket waiting list are still having to sell before they can buy Thiago . They have American owners too . It is only the clubs where the owners bankroll the clubs- Citeh and Chelsea – where the impact won’t be seriously felt
Coutinho trained with Bayern yesterday, so unless he has a twin brother or Bayern allowed him to have a shower and hop on a plane afterwards, which is highly unlikely especially in these times, it’s rubbish.
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/philippe-coutinho-of-fc-bayern-muenchen-juggles-with-the-news-photo/1264451987?adppopup=true
Auba announced as Player of
the Season.
Hard to argue with that.
It was most unlikely that Coutinho was going to be allowed to be there but if Layth says his reps were at Colney I’d be inclined to believe it . Not sure if he’d be a good addition
A good question TTG
Do we really need Philippe?
Though he could attack from deep
It seems an awful lot of dough
So I incline to sorry Coutinho no
You are William McGonagall and I claim my £5.
Sarri’s got the tin tack from Juve.
After all, he “only” won Serie A. Not good enough.
Countryman @69: Sarri was brought in to win the CL, which Juve haven’t won since 1996 (?) or something like that. Given the difference in quality between the old lady and the rest of the league nowadays anyone could have managed Juve to serie A title. And they lost out to Lyon!! (With all respect to Lyon)
The Juve team has become rather on the old side. Conte’s Inter will give them a run next year. May even win the title.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide played for the last 30 minutes of this second leg. Now he will get to play the quarter against City. Injuries more than anything stopped his chances with us but he was so highly thought off I remember, especially after some delightful performances in Emirates cup … great to see his career getting back on track.
“Highly thought of” even .. 🙂
Good to see Lyon back at the top end of CL. Hope they can “shock” City in the one-off QF. Aouar, Jeff, Guimeres… good young talents
The jungle drums are spelling out the name of Pochettino for the Juve job .He woukd be an interesting choice
@54, Ned – a fine contribution as always. Ref your final sentence, high tide, low tide, Spring tide, it doesn’t matter. The one thing we can be sure of is that the club is and will be run on a self-sustaining basis. “Spend every penny you earn on winning something and not one penny more – or else”. I’d do the same if I was in the seat.
@55 TTG – ask me about the time I met with Gazidis and told him I’d transform Arsenal’s marketing business for him next time we’re enjoying a sherbet. (It was woeful. It has improved little since).
@49 Professor Bath, Yes. Warm and fluffy feelings about our club’s standards are clearly an anachronism – if we want to become (serial) winners. They went out the window for me with:
– Ashley Cole : ‘No one at Arsenal seemed very interested in keeping me there’
– Arsene Wenger : ‘What we would it be if we sold Fabregas and Nasri at the same time?”
– Peter Hill-Wood : ‘We’re not going to break the bank to keep RVP at Arsenal’
It has always been about money, it’s not just a Kronke thing, fine tuning on ‘standards’ reside only in fine minds like your own. (Respectfully as always).
On the bright side, we may have an £18.2 million hole with Ozil, but Real Madrid has a £62.4 million hole with the final two years of Bale’s contract. There is talk of Bale going out on loan with Real making up whatever portion of the £600,000 a week (!) Bale apparently gets paid that the other club doesn’t cover. We might need a similar arrangement for Ozil. It would save a few bob and the need to buy a season-long supply of back braces.
Indeed, BtM, it is always about the money.
Btm
I’d be fascinated to hear about that . The only times I was near Gazidis he was always surrounded by Oikish blokes prodding him in the chest and suggesting he spend tens of extra millions . I met the Guvna at one of those . I see you taking a classier approach and cupping his Crown Jewels in one hand while you give him sage advice ! The thing is you are absolutely right the marketing of Arsenal was Mickey Miuse in fact MM is marketed brilliantly and we are not .
I once attended a bondholders meeting with David Dein hosted by two hooray Henry PR types who were absolutely useless and knew the square root of F. A about football . When they left the room Dein leaned across and asked me if I was impressed with them ( he didn’t know me from Adam) . I gave him my full and frank appraisal and at the next meeting they were conspicuous by their absence . But I was not made Chief Marketing Officer much to my chagrin . It’s not a new problem but at least Dein listened . I suspect Gazidis pretended to .
I’d love to chat that through with you
Just to clarify Mickey Miuse was the country cousin of Mickey Mouse.
Poor marketing meant he was never as well known . Can you imagine if Walt Disney marketed Arsenal?
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