Would Arsenal Benefit from a Separate “General Manager”?

By: Homey | July 31st, 2011

Wenger in Uniform Whenever you follow multiple different professional sports, you inevitably start to notice the unique aspects of each of them. For instance, I remember Martin writing a while back about how odd it would be for an NBA basketball fan to endure various different international breaks during the middle of the regular season. In professional baseball, the manager and assistant coaches wear uniforms just like the players. Imagine seeing Wenger wearing a full soccer uniform, standing on the sideline. Ha. Anyway, as a fan of different North American professional sports, I’ve come to notice something about the typical structure of each team.

As a general rule, in sports like baseball, basketball, American football, and hockey, there are three major figures in each organization. There’s the owner, the general manager, and the head coach (called the manager in baseball). Of course there are various assistants for each of these people, but that’s the general framework. Some owners are more active in personnel moves, while some take a hands off approach. Virtually all head coaches have some input into personnel moves as well, but it’s rare to see a head coach have full power over player contracts, trades, and other personnel decisions. Former NFL head coach and general manager Bill Parcells, while still just a head coach, once famously complained: “If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.” In other words, he was asking for authority to make personnel decisions while still a head coach as well.

As a general rule, I think the separation of GM and head coach seems to work better. There have been many head coaches who have been given GM power, and have fallen flat on their faces. One reason is that the job is probably too big. They’re supposed to be hands on with the team all the time, but somehow supposed to scout other players, deal with agents, calculate budgets, and so forth. Another problem seems to be that coaches are usually forced to be in “win right now” mode, and they often make GM decisions with only a short-term focus. (Ironically, Wenger can be accused of just the opposite approach.)

Another reason why a separation of GM and head coach seems to work better is that an organization can find a person with one set of skills, and another person with another set of skills. Coaches need to be good with players, tactically innovative, good at motivation, and so forth. General managers need to be able to handle budgets, allocate limited resources, and look at “big picture” sort of things.

Growing up as I did in the U.S., watching North American professional sports, it was interesting to me to learn about how things worked differently in European soccer. As a rule, managers seem to be given the dual role of head coach and general manager. Of course there are others involved. And of course owners give managers a limited budget (except at Chelsea and Man City). But managers, particularly powerful ones like Wenger and Ferguson, basically can handle all the personnel moves.

In my Q&A with Tim Payton from the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, I asked him what the people on the board actually do. I didn’t get as much detail in his answer as I was hoping for, but it does seem clear to me that Kroenke has ultimate power to do what he likes, while Wenger works within his budget and makes whatever personnel decisions he wants. It seems to me that the current board is there to do things such as: 1) handle the business side of things, 2) advise both the manager and owner about things, and 3) carry out duties assigned by the manager and owner. I’m still curious about the exact details of their work, but that’s my best guess based on what I know. But the bottom line is that we don’t have a separate general manager with the power to buy and sell players, regardless of what Wenger wants to do. So the question for today is whether such a separation of powers would be beneficial.
wenger2

As a coach, I still have faith that Wenger can do a good job. For instance, if you gave him a squad of 25 players, and gave an identical squad of 25 players to various other managers, I think Wenger’s team would compete pretty well. That’s not to say that he’s been without faults as a coach. I mean, how many times have we taken a lesser team for granted, not gotten a result, promised it would never happen again, and then done the same thing again the next time? But still, I’ll take Wenger’s coaching over most of the options out there.

However, it’s mostly on the general manager side of things where I’m constantly in a tizzy. That’s particularly true during the summer transfer window, when there’s nothing else to analyze. I’ve already written quite a few complaints in this area over the last month or so, so I’ll try not to repeat everything. But the nutshell version of it is that Wenger doesn’t spend the resources he has, he spends in the wrong areas, and he doesn’t shore up obvious areas of need. (Name for me one other club where the board would reportedly have to ASK the manager to SPEND money.) On top of that, we have to hear about how bringing in new players would only hinder the development of the quality young players we have. Oh, and that we’re just this close to winning big things, so why make massive changes to the makeup of the team?

Of course the “Arsene Knows Best” crowd would jump in and point out how many young talents Wenger has brought in and developed into star players. And that’s certainly true. However, I have two points of response that minimize that a bit. First, he’s been at Arsenal since 1996, with a mindset of developing young players. Don’t you think that any decent manager at a big club for that long, with that mindset, might develop a few gems along the way? And second, all that youth development doesn’t do much for me when we’re going six years without a trophy, and still counting.

I’m trying to withhold judgment on this summer’s transfer window until it’s complete, but there are a few things that we can seemingly figure out already. While we’re most likely to bring in at least one more defender, possibly as early as this week, we still frankly need three new ones. If Eboue is sold (and he probably should be replaced), then we’ll realistically need another LB, CD, and RB. But what are the chances that we see three new defenders? Roughly zero. In addition, we could use another strong defensive midfielder, rather than gifting that spot to Frimpong already.

Taking a look at recent history, the concept of Wenger leaving us dreadfully thin at key positions is nothing new. The most glaring example for me would be in 2009-10 at the CD position. Senderos was still technically on the team, but Wenger let him sit there until he was loaned to Everton in January. With Djourou injured, Silvestre was the only CD option behind Vermaelen and Gallas. In January of 2010, we also re-signed 35-year-old Sol Campbell, who wasn’t even playing for anyone at the time. Yet he still played much better than Silvestre.

The fact that we entered the 2009 campaign so thin at CD is simply inexcusable. It’s doubly inexcusable when you consider we’d just sold Adebayor and Toure, so we had plenty of money to invest in the market. And it’s triply inexcusable when Wenger did the same thing in January 2011, refusing to shore up the CD spot when it was obvious that Vermaelen was out long-term, and Squillaci was awful. Even Tim Payton lamented that gaffe in his Q&A the other day.

I could go on and on listing examples of times in recent memory when Wenger let us down as a general manager, but I’ll try to keep this blog from turning into a book, since I still have several more points to make. Suffice it to say there have been many recent examples. Anyway, now I’d like to answer a question someone recently asked me in the comments’ section. Do I really think I could do a better job of making personnel decisions than Wenger, considering he’s able to train with the squad every day? I really don’t want to come off as arrogant here, but YES, I really do. While sitting at my computer in Granbury, Texas. And not only that, but I would imagine most of you readers feel the same way as well.

To attempt to prove my point, I’ll engage in a little exercise that I see fans commonly enjoy. That is, the exercise of “what if we sold player X for ___ amount, then we could use those funds to buy player Y and Z for ___ amount.” So for the purposes of my giant exercise, I’ll make a couple of introductory remarks. First, I’ll try to be as conservative as possible in my estimations. In other words, I’ll try to assume purchase prices would be on the high side, sale prices would be on the low side, and money in the existing transfer kitty would be less than what is widely reported. I’ve read estimates saying our budget is over £35 million, but I’ll assume a kitty of “merely” £20 million for my exercise. Second, for the purposes of this exercise, I’ll go with a large-scale turnover of players, with as many sales as possible. I’ll pretty much assume a sale of almost every player who’s been rumored to be leaving this summer. It can be done a variety of ways, so please don’t try to quibble about the fact I listed Player X or Y in my list of transfers. Even though I know you will anyway. And third, I know this is probably too simplistic, and not all of these deals would work out in one summer. But the point is that it’s an illustration of how I’d approach things if I were given the chance.
fabregas in barca shirt
Ok, without further ado, here’s what I would propose to do as general manager this summer, with all prices listed in pounds:
1) Fabregas, if you want to dream about sitting on the bench at Barca, and if you want to go hang out in Spain while the team you captain plays it’s final game of the season, then you can go. We’ll take 35 million and move on.
2) Nasri, if you don’t want to sign what’s been reported as a 115,000 per week pay raise, then you can go too. We’ll take 23 million for you.
3) Bendtner, if you want to complain about your role, you’re gone too. Let’s call it 8 million for you.
4) Clichy, you can go be ambitious and win trophies for Man City, and we already have the 7 million there.
5) Eboue and Arshavin, y’all can go to Galatasaray for about 12 million, which is still a lot less than the 18 million I heard recently in the news.
6) Almunia, Squillaci, Diaby, Denilson, Vela, y’all can also find a home somewhere else. I’m not sure about the combined price here, but I’ll say a total of 12 million to be as conservative as possible.

OK, so I just sold a full lineup worth of players – 11 total. And I just raised 97 million. I’ll add that to the transfer budget of 20 million, for a total of 117 million, and now I’ll go on a spending spree that would make Sheikh Mansour blush.

I’ll start with a discussion about the right back position, since we’ll need to replace Eboue. I haven’t read any rumors about right backs this summer, so I don’t know much about anyone. But with confidence in Sagna, we only need to spend around 5 million for a suitable backup. We don’t need anyone who’s a superstar – just someone hopefully better than Eboue and Jenkinson. So to pick a random player at that price, we’ll go with Roman Shishkin from Lokomotiv Moscow. He’s 24, has played in the Champions League, and has 5 caps for the Russian National team. Blackburn reportedly bid 4 million for his services, so let’s assume 5 million gets it done here, and we have a backup for Sagna.
Mario Goetze
Several others have been much-discussed, or have already happened. So let’s keep the Gervinho and Jenkinson deals, which total 12 million. And then we’ll spend 15 million for Baines, 20 for Vertonghen, and 20 for Mata. I recently blogged about my admiration for Lukaku, so let’s get him for 22 million. And finally, we’ll need a replacement in the middle for Cesc, and we have 28 million left. We could attempt to go for Hamsik at that price, but let’s save a little money here and pry away Mario Goetze for 15 million from Dortmund.

Now, we still have 13 million left in our budget, and it could be a good bit more than that if my estimates were too conservative. So we could splurge here and bring in Oxlade-Chamberlain with the rest of the money. But let’s save that for the increased wages we’ll have to pay for our new players. Hopefully the salary figures should be about the same though, since we just sold 11 players and brought in 8. But with our money left over, we have a chance to increase RvP’s wages and make him our captain. This plan will also leave room in the first team to promote three new young players – something Wenger should be thrilled about. And we can still go out in the January window and do something if we see a big need.
mata
But for now, let’s assess where we are after all that crazy transfer movement. Position-by-position, let’s see if we’re better or worse after all the dealings:
1) Goalie – Not much change here, since Almunia wasn’t in the picture anyway. Hopefully Mannone sticks around and serves as our 3rd choice guy. But I’ll count this one as neutral.
2) Central defense – We added Vertonghen and sold Squillaci, so we’re clearly better here.
3) Right back – We added Shiskin and Jenkinson, and sold Eboue. Hopefully we’re slightly better.
4) Left back – We sold Clichy and added Baines. I’d certainly like to think we’re better.
5) Defensive midfield – We sold Diaby and Denilson, which should be addition by subtraction. We’ll get Frimpong and Ramsey more playing time. But the other big plus is that Vertonghen can play here too, so I think we’re certainly better here.
6) Forward/wing – We sold Arshavin, Vela, and Nasri, and added Gervinho and Mata. Also, Bendtner played there some, and Lukaku can play there some as well. Overall, I like what we did, and would consider it a clear upgrade.
7) Center forward – We sold Bendtner and added Lukaku. Plus, Gervinho can play there in a pinch. That has to be an upgrade.
8 ) Central attacking midfield – Ok, we’re worse here, since we replaced Cesc with Goetze. Still, we have a young player who’s getting better, and hopefully will stay healthy more. And also we have someone who perhaps wants to be at Arsenal more.

After all the purchasing, this would be our first choice 11, plus 7 subs on the bench: Wojo, Sagna, TV5, Vertonghen, Baines, Song, Wilshere, Goetze, Gervinho, Mata, and RvP. Subs could be Flaps, Koscielny, Gibbs, Ramsey, Lukaku, Walcott, and Chamakh. Whoa. This is a serious lineup. And we haven’t even put Frimpong, Djourou, Rosicky, Shishkin, Jenkinson, Miyaichi, or Mannone on the bench.

Overall, we just got a little younger, although one could argue whether that was needed or not. But we most certainly got better at almost every position on the field. We have what should be at least one solid backup for every player in the starting 11. We offloaded our complainers and those who weren’t happy at Arsenal. And we hopefully replaced them with players who are eager to prove themselves at the highest level.
David Dein
I don’t think any of the above analysis was any sort of rocket science. And I don’t think it’s anything that a devoted fan couldn’t have figured out. So now, to try to wrap up this ridiculously-long blog, I should at least discuss the impact of David Dein. He was Vice-Chairman of Arsenal from 1983 to 2007, so his tenure started well before my fandom began, and ended before I started following the club really closely. As usual, my remarks are based on internet research.

A few things about Dein seem pretty clear though – he once owned as much as 42% of Arsenal, he was a powerful figure on the board, and he was instrumental in bringing Wenger in as manager. He’s credited with being an important figure in the recruitment of everyone from Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp to Fabregas and van Persie. Not only was he a key advisor for Wenger, but my guess is that since he was the one who actually brought Wenger to the club, Wenger felt obligated to listen to him. Now, however, my impression is that Wenger feels bigger than everyone on the board, and doesn’t need to listen to any of them. I mean, do you really think Wenger cares what Ivan Gazidis thinks about anything? Because I don’t.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that in a recent Arsenal Supporters’ Trust survey, 69% favored a return of Dein, while only 17% opposed that notion. AST members probably think, as I do, that Wenger’s just not in touch anymore with what is necessary to build a title-winning team. To use his own recent words, he’s dizzy at the money being spent in the transfer window these days. He’s on a personal crusade to win “his way,” which means constantly trying to develop and promote young players from within, while never spending more than maybe £12 million on any one player. And that’s if we’re lucky.

I don’t want anyone to confuse my criticisms of Wenger as evidence that I’m not a supporter of the club. I mean, the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care, right? (Mid-90s song reference there.) But anyway, I do care about the club. And I hope I’m proven wrong, both in the transfer window and on the field. And if we end up sticking with Gibbs as our starting left back, with Traore backing him up, then I hope they become superstars. It would be better for me to have egg on my face and have Arsenal winning trophies, than for me to say “I told you so” at this time next year. But if we all had to be honest about what’s been going on in the personnel department over the last several years, I think we’d all agree that Wenger hasn’t been getting it done. He hasn’t put us in the best chance to succeed, and he can’t blame it on a lack of money either. So maybe in an ideal world, someone else could step in and act as a general manager, while Wenger could stick to coaching. Maybe if that ever happened, I could join the Wenger supporter’s club again.

——————————————————————–
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. John 6:35.

Some Related Stories:

Category: Arsene Wenger, Rants, Transfer News and Player Movement

« NY win the Emirates Cup, Arsenal throw it away. | Home | How Late is Too Late in the Transfer Window? »

brenton

Great piece on the Yankee Gunner blog. Sums up everything we've been thinking and talking about. It's called The Summer of our Discontent and is worth your time.
brenton

Apparently our move for Joel Campbell is back on.
FredJacob

who would you vote for

http://www.arsenal.com/fansfor...
brenton

Djourou and Squillaci1%
Vermaelen and Squillaci2%
Djourou and Vermaelen27%
Squillaci and Koscielny1%
Vermaelen and Koscielny68%
Koscielny and Djourou1%
FredJacob

what the hell is going on who the hell voted to Squillaci to start, i feel ManU and Chelsea fans voting on or website
FredJacob

Djourou ent getteing no love in that starting lineup and i find he actually carried Kos last year
AlexM

I think at the moment the V-Kos pairing is our best bet. However our team will need Djourou's more conservative defending style and physical presence in certain situations.
FredJacob

i voted for Djourou and Vermaelen
brenton

Ignasi Miquel was with the Spain U19 team, which is why he didn't make an appearance in the Emirates Cup
FredJacob

i hope he is of Forth choice CD and not Squizz
Lonik Paerz

Do you know what i hate more than anything? More then our players, more than our
manager and back room staff and more than our board.....The Emirates Stadium.
Nothing has gone right since we moved. It was meant to be a move to turn us into
a bigger club. Yet all its turned us into is a feeder club for other teams. We
have no money to be competitive in the transfer market as we are having to pay
off the stadium debts. And the atmosphere is non existent. Teams use to fear
Highbury, but they love the Emirates. Its no surprise we were better away from
'home' last season as I think Wengers style of play is better suited to more
compact pitches like the one we had at Highbury where the ball could be moved
around the pitch quicker. At the end of the day they took our beloved Highbury
from us to increase the size of their wallets!!! I mean Chelsea haven't needed a
new 60000 plus seater stadium to win trophies. We've been in the Emirates for 6
years now, it still doesn't feel like home and as far as I'm concerned, it NEVER
WILL!!!! I Hate the Emirates...and I miss Highbury so much.
brenton

Also, that is a horrible, horrible tie Wenger is wearing in the last photo. I bet Homey could at least choose better ties.
JG

I'm pretty sure it was the 90's, I mean look at Wenger's hair, it's brown!
Lennon484

I avoided the first part of your question earlier because I know little of how a business hierarchy would work in this environment. Instead, I looked more at the psychological aspect of doing business.

However, in view of the Mata farce, I may come around to your point of view.

Perhaps if the price of a player was not Arsene Wenger concern, he just indicates how strongly he needs this player or that, then any fallout from a non-purchase could justifiably be direct elsewhere.
May be the chief scout should give Arsene his report on the player, and the likely cost to Ivan Gazidas, could be a start in this process?

Certainly, any other repeat of the above mishandling and I fear for the club surviving in any competition by the New Year.

They had a player who wanted to play for Arsenal, had an agreement on a bargain fee, yet failed to sign the cheque before the deadline .... a deadline they were fully aware of ... just make you want to weep!

The only thing that could be in their minds were; they thought the agreement would hold even without putting up the cash ...Naive!; or that it might weaken discussions over Cesc if Barca thought we had a replacement ready to take his place?
Either way, it just make the club look very incompetent at the very least.
brenton

Our bid for Mata has been rejected, but his father and agent expect more negotiations.
FredJacob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
JG

nice socks.
FredJacob

thanks, thinking about giving away one of the black ones
brenton

A great way to think about the problems that so many of us think the club are facing. We all know those moves wouldn't all happen, but I think it shows a more proactive (if simple) way that a manager could act. Wenger is conservative (read: risk averse), driven, stubborn and focused. If we had a person at the club that worked with him that was a little more proactive and risky, they might find a good balance.

Martin below brings up a lot of good points about the successes that Wenger has made in the transfer market. I don't think we can argue with that aspect of his team-building. And I don't think Homey made any claim to that. But regardless of how successful he has been at finding hidden gems, I think we can all agree that he has some serious blinkers when it comes to filling out our defensive corps over the past few seasons. Sylvestre and Squillaci and Campbell (as decent as he was) should never have put on an Arsenal shirt, and we certainly shouldn't have had to rely on Sylvestre in a Champions League knock-out match. We all knew we needed depth at centre back, and we knew Wenger had some money to spend. In that regard, I think Homey's proactive approach would have served us better.
Homey_Mills

I basically agree with all of this. One slight thing I'd add though. Is it really that conservative and risk averse to trust Gibbs and Traore at left back, and Jenkinson as backup right back? Because we could keep Eboue at RB, then buy a LB for 5-7 million, and we'd feel a lot less worried about what could happen when injuries hit.
brenton

By conservative, I mean that it's easier to default to doing nothing than to do something and have it fail.
Tfyoung

It's interesting that Pat Rice had to be talked out of retirement at the end of last season. We desperately need a new defensive coach not just new defenders
brenton

Rumours (from a reputable source, apparently) that we're going after both Cahill and Jagielka. Wow. Would probably mean no Mata.
Perry S.

I'd give up on Mata if that meant getting those two. You'd also have to believe that Nasri will be staying put at the least.
FredJacob

Interesting which one would be or starting CD since it would not make sense having TV5 on the bench and it also doesn't make sense to buy a defending for a lot of money to place him on the bench
Perry S.

If it happens, I would think that would be the green light for Verm to play at LB. I know many are saying he's barely played there, but he has played there before and with AJAX at times. He plays a left-side CB role as it is, so I really can't see so much of a reason why we can't give him a go there.
Homey_Mills

I'm with FJ on this... I can't see any way we'd buy 2 CD's. Perhaps Perry could be right about moving Vermaelen to LB, but I would have to think he would have played there some in pre-season if that were the plan. I think we'll buy one CD and leave LB to Gibbs and Traore, as Wenger has said he'll do.
JG

Wenger has had his fair share of duds, and yes confidence in this team is at an all-time low, but I think the only thing that could realistically warrant an all out implosion between fans and put Wenger's job under REAL danger, would be missing out on the CL Groups. Because Wenger's track record with keeping a balanced budget and still having success (relative, as in getting good results and playing pretty, at least in the last couple of years) is something I bet almost every board out there could brag about. I bet if we had won the Carling Cup last year or the league the year before, we wouldn't be moaning about Denilson or Squillaci or Eboue; we'd be hailing Cesc, Van Persie, Arshavin, Verms, Wilshere, the like.
But we have yet to win anything, and so the palpable disappointment and fear (fear of getting worse and worse) from us fans is understandable. Methinks new signings will calm us down a bit (now whether the problem is new players or a new system, that's another debate), but sometimes it only agitates us more. Will we sign Player X, or Player Y? Will we sign anyone at all? I've read various article on the state of Mata's transfer, some saying it's a done deal and will be announced later, others saying we missed his buy-out clause by a day so the deal's of. What.The.Hell. This is the kind of hysteria that gets fans up in a tizzy. Wenger knows he won't be sacked if we're trophyless this season, but he certainly knows we're going to face an exodus of talent if we do, and a complete vilification of his project and theory.
And finally, re:Cesc. Either we sell him for HIS ACTUAL PRICE, or we don't sell him at all. But Arsenal has to make that decision RIGHT NOW. What was supposed to not be a saga again became, guess what, a saga. So the club has to make it very clear to Barca that if they're really serious (I wouldn't after seeing Thiago), they have to come up with the 40 million, or stop being annoying, because this has seriously affected our transfer dealings in a crucial off-season (do you think Wenger would go after Mata if he was sure Cesc was staying? Exactly. On the inverse, if Cesc was already gone, don't you think we would've signed an adequate replacement by now?). And if we're going to sell him, we're going to do it for his market price and not one penny less. No caving to pressure. Arsenal can't be Democrats at a time like this.
SJGgumby

I think y'all need to give Homey a break - unless, I'm reading this post wrong, it looks like there are two parts - a serious one (would a separate GM be beneficial?) and a fun one (Homey plays GM). Obviously all that won't happen, and even if Wenger tried, it wouldn't go so smoothly. But I still enjoyed reading it.

Re Barton, while I hate myself for thinking it, my first thought was that he'd be a pretty decent fit as a sub next to Song to help protect a one, two or (gulp) four goal lead, as well as to start against the Stokes and Blackburns of the world. Still not sure I could get behind the move though.
J___V

Homey, your clearly passionate about the club, always giving a clear and honest opinion and wanting the best. I've enjoyed reading the posts over the last 12 months or so & the contributions of it's readers. It's admirable that you and the others have tried to keep things going for this site & its community, it can't be easy. For that reason, perhaps I should keep my big mouth shut but quite frankly I'm finding it increasingly difficult to read any more without becoming utterly frustrated. We're all supporters with differing views and levels of knowledge. But it seems that I'm now shaking my head on an ever increasing basis. I can see your frustrated but quite frankly, I don't think you've got much of a clue. That's not meant to be disrespectful. Your write ups are well written and offer much to debate, which is probably the most important thing but the negativity and lack of understanding and foresight(in my opinion) is not for me.
I also hope you end up with egg on your face for the same reasons but also as I'd like to see a lot of those unappreciative idiotic fools, who'd throw MY club into a genuine and perminant state of crisis,(if their views were ever listened to) eat some humble pie.

Hope you all enjoy the up coming season and it's more positive than most of the views I read on here. I for one have just seen a 'special' on arsenal to win the prem & champs league at 150/1.....just to be rebellious I've got 40 quid that I'm now going to invest.....goodbye!
Homey_Mills

J_V, I respect you as a reader and commenter, and I hope you keep reading. But you basically said that I have no clue, and didn't really tell me any reasons why. So do you approve of what Wenger has done in terms of personnel in the last several years? At what point are you going to get fed up with how things are going? The season starts in less than two weeks, and we have one signing so far. And every transfer window has been going this way for years. When is it enough? How much mileage will Wenger get out of the Invincibles before we expect something more?
Martin

Joey Barton available on a free after Newcastle release. I know he's a monster, and he would be so hard to root for. But when he just puts his head down and plays, he really is quite a player, and you can't say he wouldn't add a bit of toughness to the side.
Perry S.

No thanks, don't need another cancer errr gremlin on this team.
JG

He'd probably do a good job, just as long as he doesn't assault Wilshere or RvP during training, but do you think he'd want to go to Arsenal?
Homey_Mills

Does the fact that he's not wanted at Newcastle tell us anything?
JG

Most likely his attitude.
Homey_Mills

Well for me, when a lower-level club is willing to GIVE away a player, that tends to indicate maybe he's toxic.
Perry S.

He, in fact, is toxic. The man is like Bellamy & Ade wrapped up into one small gremlin of a man.
Gigi_man

Homey for general manager!
No seriously, (well it was seripus but I think Arsenal wont consider it) I think it is pretty simple. Of course there is people who will bargain with Arsenal, which is NORMAL and if they cant understand it or feel frustrated, then yes, we need someone else take care of that job.
Homey_Mills

Gigi,
I also read your comments on the previous blog. Glad to know we think alike.
asdasd

dude eboue didnt leave n he isnt going to.........................
ALSO i completely agree with you except for the fact that mario gotze will not leave borussia dortmund anytime soon
Perry S.

No reason to sell Arshavin, plus he hasn't even come out and said anything about wanting to leave outside of the time he said he'd love to play for Barca...some day (though I think every player on this planet seems to have that desire). If anything, Arsha is showing some pretty strong desire to play for Arsenal this season, and play well at that. He also is one of the few players coming out and saying he thinks they will be much better this season.

Agree on the other players you picked out to sell, but I think of the bunch it may only be Bendtner and possibly Almunia being shipped off.

Regarding LB, I get this feeling one of our CBs will be our LB this season (you know which one), because it seems we are only targeting CBs for purchase right now, at least based on the pretty intense rumors.
Homey_Mills

Perry, I actually had you in mind when I wrote: "so please don’t try to quibble about the fact I listed Player X or Y in my list of transfers. Even though I know you will anyway."

As for the other objections listed so far, let me try to address them. First, I did try to emphasize that my buying/selling was an illustration, and that of course not all of those amounts would be correct, nor would all those players be available this summer.
And yes, I know it's hard to get other clubs to take on our mediocre players with high wages. Still, I estimated that selling the bottom five players on my list would only bring in 12 million. Or 2.4 million per player. I don't see why that's just wishful thinking. And if I'm off, I'm not off by much. With the other sales, I again tried to estimate on the lower end. I've heard Nasri's price as high as 27 million, but I pegged it at 23.
On the buying end, I've heard that Mata could come for less than 20 million, but I put it at the higher amount anyway. And after all that was done, I had at least 13 million left over, in case my estimates were off.

And regarding a massive turnover to the squad, wouldn't we be getting rid of a lot of the guys who've choked in a big way the last several springs? And didn't Inter do a huge turnover to their squad in the summer of 09, before winning the CL that year? They sold Zlatan and Maxwell, let Crespo go, loaned out a ton of players, and then brought in Lucio, Eto'o, Milito, Motta, Sneijder, and Pandev. Hmm... sounds almost like a game of Football Manager to me.

And finally, I'm frankly stunned at the level of support for Wenger's personnel moves over the last several years. I thought the vote would be 75% that people could do a better job there. I guess we like seeing Silvestre and Squillaci at CD, Denilson and Diaby at DM, and Jenkinson at RB. Wow.
Perry S.

Ha I just got caught up today. Not sure why the long response to my post? All I said was that disagreed about Arsha, but agreed with you about the rest. After that, I just made a general observation about our LB situation. I see others went after you, so I'll take the brunt of the Singaporian caining for the good of the whole.
Homey_Mills

The rest of those comments weren't directed toward you, but I figured I'd lump all of it in there at one time, rather than post multiple responses to everyone separately. Sorry for any confusion on that.
Martin

...or that we think an intelligent, dedicated man who has spent his entire life in the game and has an unparalleled ability to find and develop young talent could do a better job than those of us who spend 30 minutes a day reading about players on the internet.
Homey_Mills

Martin,
When you disagree with my statements, you refer to Wenger as an "intelligent, dedicated man." In your July 18 blog on your website, the headline reads, "Is Wenger Bluffing, or Stupid?" In that blog, you wrote that you thought he was bluffing, and that he wouldn't actually let Nasri leave for free after finishing the final year of his contract.
Well, it's 2 weeks later now, and Nasri is still with us. But he hasn't signed a new deal, and there isn't any talk of him signing. The only talk is that we are, in fact, going to keep him this season and lose him for free next summer. You referred to that idea as "gross mismanagement" and "something he'll have a lot to answer for."
So I assume that if all of that happens with Nasri, you'll join my side of things within the next 12 months? Gigi and I have room in our club.
Martin

I do stand by my statements that if Wenger does not either re-sign Nasri or sell him by the end of the month, he will have done a gross disservice to the club, and I will definitely question his tenure. But count me as very doubtful that it will come to that. Wenger has said in the past that he will not allow a Flamini/Gallas situation to play out again, and stayed true to his word at least with Clichy. I think he's saying that we will keep Nasri to make it look like we are not desperate to sell. But recent reports have Manchester City making a 22-25 million offer for Nasri, and if that offer is on the table and Nasri shows no interest in re-signing with Arsenal, I would be very surprised if Wenger doesn't take that money.
brenton

Coupled with our rejected bid for Mata, I would say we're heading for a straight swap in terms of money.
Martin

I could certainly live with that.
SJGgumby

I wonder how real that Man City $20M+ offer for Nasri was - and whether it'd still be on the table if we decided to move him.
Homey_Mills

I have to think that between the rumors of Man Utd and Man City offering 20+ million, at least one is true. And City openly said they were interested. So if they're interested, I don't think money would be a stumbling block. I think the reports are pretty real.
SJGgumby

I'm sure at least one, and probably both, reports WERE true. That doesn't mean, however, that (1) they weren't intended to unsettle a rival / kick Arsenal while they were down or (2) that those teams would remain interested at that price. Especially given how difficult every other transfer move has been this year (with the possible exception of Clichy), I'm just skeptical.
Homey_Mills

Well he's said a lot of things that don't always add up. He's also made statements that he's perfectly willing to keep Nasri and lose him next year. So it contradicts. He also said at the start of the summer window that we'd be active in getting in new players. I'm still waiting for that. And he's said many times that we'll not take lesser teams for granted again. And then it happens again. So I take his words with a grain of salt these days.
Homey_Mills

I guess the ones booing the players off the field yesterday are not the ones reading this blog. I hope y'all have fun with 7 seasons in a row of no trophies. When we're considered to be the 3rd biggest club in the world, according to a recent Forbes report.
homeyfan

Homey, you my man but, as Stephen Colbert would say, you just starred in a segment of "NAILED'EM"
Martin

Well, (a) I'm not sure that people who boo a team off the pitch after a draw in a meaningless preseason match are really the ones we want to entrust with the long-term decisions that affect our team; and (b) I think there's a difference between acknowledging that Wenger has some flaws in his approach to personnel and saying that "I, who have no professional experience in either soccer or being a sports executive, could do a better job than Arsene Wenger, a very intelligent, driven, accomplished man who has lived and breathed the game his entire life."

The fact is that none of us know what goes into negotiating a deal and signing with a player. It's very easy to say, well, the papers say that this player is worth x, so let's just cut a check and be done with it. I have a feeling that the reality of the situation is much, much more complicated than that. And while you're pointing out some of his "misses," let's go ahead and ask how many people who think they could do a better job could/would have done the following:

1. Signed Robin van Persie, a young, unaccomplished malcontent, for 3 million?
2. Signed Nicolas Anelka, an unheralded nobody, for 500k? And 2b. Turned around and sold Anelka for 22 million just a few years later?
3. Signed Marc Overmars, an injury-prone enigma, for 6 million? And 3b. Turned around and sold Overmars a few years later for 25 million?
4. Signed Sol Campbell on a free transfer?
5. An undersized, unheralded striker who couldn't get a game for his African side for 150k? To convert into a defender? And then to sell that player on the downside of his career for 16 million? (Kolo Toure)
6. Signed Robert Pires for 8 million?
7. Signed Freddie Ljungberg, an unheralded pretty boy toiling in obscurity for a Swedish team, for less than 4 million?
8. Signed Cesc Fabregas for next to nothing?
9. Signed Patrick Vieira for an unfathomable 3.5 million?
10. Signed Thierry Henry, the second-best striker of his generation, for 11 million?
11. Rebuilt Arsenal’s academy to the point where now it is probably the premier football academy in England?
12. Managed to keep a team extremely competitive while financing a state of the art stadium?

Can you honestly say that some blogger or blog commenter could or would have done any of those things?

The fact is this. If you took a poll of journalists, executives, fans, anyone and asked them the following question: Over the last decade, which football executive has the best transfer record? Wenger would be # 1, and it wouldn’t even be close. Again, I’m not saying he is without his flaws, but to suggest that a random Arsenal fan could all of a sudden do a better job than him just seems crazy to me. Most Arsenal fans on the Internet tend to say things like "Defense iz badd -- we need sommeun much bigggger. Samba iz big. Who carez if he costz 25 million -- sign himmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I think if you had phrased the question as “Would Arsenal be better off with a David Dein/Damien Comolli figure having final say over transfers?”, the numbers would look quite a bit different.
And one of the reasons we are "bigger" than a lot of other major clubs (according to Forbes) is for the simple reason that Wenger has been running the club with a balanced spreadsheet, so unlike Barcelona and clubs like that, we don't have massive amounts of debt, and all of the debt we do have is "good debt" in that it was incurred in order to dramatically increase revenues. It seems a little unfair if the reason we are so big is because of our fiscal discipline to then turn it around and
arn00b

Most of the crap I read on the net about Arsenal is about Arsene being "cheap" as if he were the owner of the club, the majority or sole shareholder or something like that.

The club is successful and competitive, and will only become more successful under this system when the FFP rules kick in, when creditors start calling or when clubs go bust like Leeds.

The problem with fans is that they prefer an "all-and-nothing" approach rather than something. Most fans wouldn't mind one CL victory followed by 5 years as 10th, 4th on the 6th year, CL win again, 5 years of 5th again. They would rather have that than a decade of 2nd and semi/quarters in CL. It's just the way fans think, but it's a terrible business model.

Some fans of other, smaller clubs would take a cup victory and endure relegation as "what it takes, " - a necessary price.

As for a David Dein/Damien Comolli figure... Chelsea has one (some? who, I'm not really sure.. Who wanted Torres? Benayoun? Ramires?) and Liverpool have one. What ended up is rather comical. Chelsea have one of the worst midfields for a top team, resorting to playing Yuri Zhirkov (winger, LB), and Anelka (ST) as midfielders at times. Liverpool has the largest midfield in the world, visible from space, I hear, while serious deficiencies are yet to be addressed.

Chelsea has no good right back, playing Ivanovic there, while they have Zhirkov, a LB who can't break into the team, and looks like he's leaving now. Who wanted Zhirkov? He's undoubtedly good, but who made the decision to get him under Guus's recommendation. Who thought that Benayoun was a great addition to the team and Ballack had to leave. Why Torres?

Do you want your club to fall into this situation, with random players brought and sold with AW knowing? Or would you prefer a confrontational Benitezesque Wenger-vs-the-club battle to be waged in Arsenal?
Felegy

I like your response Martin, except that all of your examples are a bit dated at this point. It would be interesting if you included the years of all of those "great moves". Since the inflation of transfer fees in the EPL Wenger has done very little successfully in the market
Homey_Mills

Based on my reading, and it's impossible to know for sure, a lot of those transfers Martin listed can be attributed more to David Dein than to Wenger.
When Bergkamp was bought in 1995 for 7.5 million, that was a giant sum back then. If you look at monetary inflation, in addition to soccer inflation, that would probably equate to something like 25 or so million today. And yet here we are in 2011, and the most we've ever paid for a player is about 13 million for Arshavin.
All I can see in the last several years is transfer mistake after mistake. We mess around with Schwarzer until the transfer deadline, and then decide an extra million pounds should scare us away. We leave ourselves with no depth at multiple defensive positions. On and on. That's how it's been since Dein left, and I can't help think there's a connection there.
Martin

Well, as you say, none of us really know what the relationship between Wenger and Dein was, but given the strong relationships many of the players enjoyed with Wenger and the heavy focus on bringing in players from France, I have to think Wenger was at least heavily involved. But it's unfairly putting your thumb on the scale to waive away Wenger's extensive track record of success over a decade by saying, "Well . . . those were probably just Dein."

And I would argue that Wenger not signing Schwarzer is an argument in his favor. He was interested in Schwarzer as a quasi-coach and stopgap, but would not pay more than he was worth. Fast forward 1 year, and Schwarzer had a crappy season and Wojo and Flaps were great last year. Hard to see how our situation would have been better had Wenger been willing to pay that extra couple of million for Schwarzer.
Homey_Mills

I didn't say those transfers were "just Dein." I'm merely saying that Dein was likely influential in those dealings, and that things have fallen off quite a bit in our transfer success since he left.

And here's the thing about Schwarzer. I'm glad we didn't sign him. I do think we're better with Wojo and Flaps. We see that in hindsight now. But why was Wenger messing around with that in the first place? If Fulham had agreed to our price, he would have been our goalie. So basically, Wenger went down to the last day of the transfer window, after the season started, and tried to haggle over pennies for a 2nd rate goalie. That's not an argument in his favor. That's a guy who doesn't really know what he wants at one of the most important positions on the field. He'd rather obsess about doing "good business" instead.
Martin

Well, I'm not sure I would agree with that. Of the guys I listed, van Persie and Cesc are still with the club. Nasri cost 13 million, and now is worth twice that. Sagna cost 10 million and is now the best right-back in the Premiership. 12 million for Vermaelen. 1 million for Alex Song. Revamping the academy has produced homegrown talent like Gibbs and Wilshere. Going out and getting young players to bring into the later stages of the academy has produced some very good players -- Theo, Wojo, Djourou, Ramsey.

I do agree with your point that he's been less effective lately, but I really do think on some level it's down to him being too successful for his own good. When he started, basically no other big team was going out and scouting globally for young players who were on the verge of becoming elite players. Arsenal kind of cornered the market on that for a couple of seasons there, and was able to get those guys for relatively cheap. Then everyone noticed what Arsenal was doing and began to emulate it, so now there is just so much more competition for those types of players that it's hard to find someone that no one else is tracking, and hard to get them on the cheap.
brenton

Rather than trying to look at his work on a global level, try examining specifics. I think that's at the crux of Homey's criticism, even though his tactic seems to have put you off.

Has Wenger failed recently to come to terms with the deficiencies in the squad? I would say yes, and I would add that I think I know those deficiencies, and have suggestions for how to deal with them. Does that make me more capable of managing a Premier League than Wenger? Worlds away. Forgive Homey his trespasses. He's young, it was dark, he needed the money. But despite the rhetorical hyperbole, intentional or otherwise, he has a point. In a nutshell: "Dear Mr Wenger: Buy a fucking centre back. Regards, a fan."
Martin

No, I agree with that. And I think that my response came across as much angrier and more contentious than I meant it. I liked the article and enjoyed reading it, I just think it dramatically oversimplifies the job of a general manager/director of football operations. And I completely agree that Wenger has made some mistakes over the last couple of seasons, a lack of depth at center back first on that list for me.
FredJacob

Trophies or not we still love them
Benjamin Dockter

Vermaelen has yet to play at LB this pre-season. I would say it's pretty clear that he will only play there in a pinch. I have a feeling we might buy a new LB, but it'll be someone to compete with Gibbs for the spot and not be a definite starter.
brenton

I'm pretty sure we're stuck with Gibbs and Traore. Le Prof has said as much. Gibbs looked good against New York, for what it's worth.
FredJacob

Gibbs always looks good when he plays, he always set up players, isn't afraid to take on players or take a shot, but it him staying healthy whats am afraid of. if he is or number one means he will be playing in Champions league and Premier League, then who would play in FA and League cup
Perry S.

Eh it was New York, and a New York team who came to play defense for the larger part of the match. I'm not very surprised he looked "good." Let see what Gibbs can do against a real team. I really do hope he does well, we need him to.
FredJacob

If you watch the pre-season games he and assist to Chamahk (who took a tame shoot so that don't count) and when we beat some side 5 nil last year he drew a penalty, plus the last game of the season when he almost scored with a superb header and i can name many other times when he was great so not just because it was new you he looked good
boooiiieee

Anyways, great article!
boooiiieee

"No more christian quotes"
Perry S.

Been there, done that.
Homey_Mills

You always get the good with the bad with me. =)
FredJacob

highlights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
FredJacob

Wenger post Match Reactions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
FredJacob

More Reactions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Tomisin

I agree with ALL your points and signings,but it's easier said than done. This is not FIFA manager or Football manager. There's a lot more to it than meets the eye.
Orion

Very good read. I can't help but feel you went all Football Manager on the transfers though. See, most of the transfers are much more complicated than that. Most of us fans seem to forget that transfers fee is one part of a much more complicated process of shelling out money - to the selling club with clauses, to the players' agents with agent fees and to the players themselves, who are demanding wages far higher than they deserve.

The latter is the stumbling block in our unrealistic shipping out of 11 players. 11! Who would want to pay 50k Pounds per week to a decent-yet-not-so-good midfielder that is healthy, on average, about 10 days per month? Or who would pay 45k Pounds to a decent-yet-not-so-good goalie who is very prone to inconsistency? This is excluding the fact that selling such a great amount of players would do a lot of damage to a team that is built on understanding each other and coherent teamwork.

Aside from unleashing yourself on a mad transfer spree, I think you brought up very good arguments in favour of someone being a boss to Wenger. Everyone can see that he doesn't respond to anyone, and no manager earning that sort of money should be allowed to win "his way" or not winning at all. Can you imagine that happening elsewhere? This is not to discredit Wenger; I'm right in the middle when it comes to Team ArseneKnowsBest and Team WengerOut. The man was outstanding in making Arsenal a self-sufficient club with consistent top 4 finishes.

But if a job can be renewed solely on past achievements, you are merely congratulating his accomplishments and saying that he can get cosy and do what he wants. A job should be renewed depending on current job performance - and as things stand, Wenger is currently impressing none of us. But we are insignificant zeros when it comes to club administration, so that's what Wenger needs .. a man who judges his job performance on year to year basis. And that man, that man left in 2007.
Tomisin

Just read your comment,mine is just a more concise version of yours mate lol
.cheers
Orion

One elaborates just so that one seems more intelligent than one actually is. :)
Philbet

Good read and some good points but you forget one massive thing,players are human beings not statistics or machines, disrupting a team so much would almost certainly end up in failure,players have 'ego's', can lose form,get home sick, hit the bright lights,girls,not settle or adapt to the EPL,never mind the mental blow ups, This strategy only works on paper not in real life, teams are built not bought,still it was an exercise on paper and worth a read.
Mark Foo

I'm not sure if the prices stated are realistic. And of course there's a good chance that there are no buyers for who we want to sell and clubs of players whom we want to buy may not come to terms with us. However, I applaud the overall approach of the 'sell and buy' strategy. We do seriously need a strong RB backup, a new CB, LB, and replacements for Cesc and Nasri. I do agree we should let them go, especially Nasri. So all in all, I think we need to bring in another 5 players to strengthen our team. If Cesc and Nasri stay, then just add 3 defenders would be good.
Lennon484

I do not disagree with your line up, apart from maybe, selling Arshavin, at this moment in time at least. He is good cover for injuries, and when fed the right ball he can be dangerous. However, I think you may be a tad optimistic in your purchase price for some additions?
My criticism of the apparent approach to buying is the attempt to get a bargain by offering a low bid, rather than assessing what the player is worth to the club, and more importantly what others might pay. It may be good 'business' practice (and flaw in my opinion), but in football there are more interested parties at the table to consider.
Take the Mata and Lukaku bids for example.
Once they knew what the release clause was with Mata that is all they offered - Yes, 17.5m(22m euros) is a bargain, but only if successful. The selling club know that, and so they released the statement 'We have yet to receive a formal offer', with the sole intention of drummimg up a bidding war ... Could be successful if it were not for the player's preference too?
Now if we had judged his worth to the club as a replacement for Nasri, not Cesc, then we would still have a bargain if we had gone in with a 23m(pounds not euros) from the start? In the better hope of getting 'sole bidder' status because Valencia would be pleased that they got more than the minimum? If either Manchester clubs join the bidding, not even Harry' will compete when it gets up to the 28m, and then Chelsea might enter a bid? Bargain lost!
Lukaku - Value to the club? Immense! With RVP on the left and Gervinho on the right ... Tasty?
Opening bid - 14m???
You say 20m will get him. I think now the cat's out of the bag as shown by the Chelasea bid, so 28m may not do it ... unless, our next offer is in the region of 24m? The timing is crucial. While Chelsea are hooked up on the Modric deal is the right time to strke? I keep hoping when I see the headlines of '... a double 34m swoop', it is at Anderlect. Biglia being the other half of the deal.
That would give me more pleasure than the Jagielka half of the actual 34m swoop mentioned.
I agree Vertonhen would be a better buy than the above, if available, and at that price? Otherwise, cough up for the 'English premium' and get Cahill. Those pushing for Samba should remember that come January, he, along with Song, Frimpong will disappear for up to 6 weeks while they are on National duty at the ACN. That would be a major hole in our defence at a vital time??
The major flaw in your purchasing budget is, one; Do you purchase before you sell? And two; Do you have buyers for the players moving out?
Personally I think it is a case for the former, and hope most go before August 31. The rest go out on loan. There is always the January sales? However, purchases must be made whilst they are still available!
We are agreed on one thing, the major overhaul you outline would be tasty, but as a minmum, the ones I have highlighted are the essential ones to win over the doubters?
Darren_V

Hey look, we are playing Football Manager on Arsenal.theoffside now! Wohoo!
Homey_Mills

Thanks for the support.
Orion

Hoooold it right there ! What if we did a fantasy football league on the offside, and everyone was allowed to use Arsenal..
degeros

I agree that a shake up in personnel would definitely improve the team, but it's certainly not as easy as Football Manager would have us believe. There has to be teams that are actually willing to buy our players in the first place with respect to our fringe players. We had to settle for a loan for Denilson, and we've been trying to sell Bendtner and Almunia for the entire summer. The chances of Everton letting go of Baines, or Lukaku coming over to Arsenal, would also be awfully low in my opinion. Even Mata isn't a done deal yet. The lure of Arsenal just isn't as strong nowadays.
formos

Yeah right, mostly I would agree with seling our fringe players, but disagree with trying part. If Arsene would be a bit harder on them telling to find another club or face reserves team. Sort of treatment Ade is getting from ManCity. I have little doubt players would agree to lower their unrealistic wage demands and leave for greener pastures and playing time.

Getting rid of them even for free would represent great value in saved wages budget.
arn00b

Yeah, it would be perfect. Turn Arsenal into Abramovich's Chelsea, where the technical director is burdened with Shevchenkos and Torreses (Torri? Torrah?) he didn't ask for/need, remove the Ballacks who are essential for the team, address failures in midfield by bringing in a defender and a striker, and fire the manager for not winning despite having the worst midfield in the top 5/6.

So Arsene should get less power and more blame? Instead of giving him more money and support for doing a great job with that budget.

It seems to me that Arsene became the face of everything that is wrong with Arsenal, from the tapping up of Cesc, increased ticket prices, failure to bring new players, lack of trophies, to Theo's shoulder, RVP's sending off against Barca, and Nicklas Bendtner.

Madrid moved to give Mourinho more power despite his failings, and your answer to failure is to give Arsene even less power and more shackles? Mancini is fighting for more power at the club. Hell, why do you think SAF is so successful up there? Is it because the Glazers put him in his place and he has someone above him?

I wish we had Arsene at Chelsea with Abramovich's chequebook.

If you really think Arsene should be shackled and basically demoted, then you better start clearing up your Thursday nights.
Liam Smithies

Excellent Blog! - It took an awful long time to read, but enjoyed the read. Agree with so much of what is said - a better defensive coach is also required.
Liam, Ontario Gooner!
Homey_Mills

Thanks... it wasn't my plan to write such a long thing, but it just seemed like I had to make a lot of points to do the topic any justice.