From John Silton : aspects of management
I am 69 and have been a season ticket holder since I was 12.
My friends feel the same way about him.
All top organisations and businesses are run by management who possess a variety of abilities; this must exist for the organisation to be successful.
Arsene Wenger does not possess sufficient management skills to be successful at the top level.
Translated into football management they include:
Target Setting
Means of achieving Target
Strong Management Team
Forward Planning
Flexibility to Change
Target Setting
Whether you achieve success depends on your definition; if this is to be near the top of the Premiership and to qualify for the Champions League each year, Wenger is successful.
I would suggest that most fans want much more and this is why there is so much dissatisfaction with the current regime; fans want to see the team play well and have a real chance of winning these two competitions– and they do not see it happening.
Some might say that AW has won the FA Cup twice running; my sense is that yes this is welcome but with the best will in the world this is no longer the prize of prizes and we did, in the end, only beat Hull and Aston Villa; others did the hard work for us by knocking out the top teams so we did not have to.
Means of Achieving Target
Build a squad who can overcome weaknesses; this means being able to defend properly and to break down packed defences. The Arsenal defence are good players individually but don’t play well enough as a unit. Remembering Wenger’s early years the defence was like a rock – but this was George Graham’s defence.
Also we need scoring midfielders; Pires and Ljungberg were always good for at least 15 goals between the two of them; which midfielders score regularly now? Sanchez when he can. (I go on record here as saying that Sanchez is a wonderful purchase- He is a diamond but does not have sufficient backup). Then of course there is the debate about the missing top striker. This is poor management.
Strong Management Team
This takes in your board, your manager and the players leader on the field. The Board accepts a lower level of success than fans want; the manager is not part of a management team; he is the font from which all plans and decisions flow-there is no effective management team; it is crucial to have a leader on the field- someone who galvanises team mates at crucial times- we know Wenger does not understand this concept, so we have no leader; we do of course have a captain but usually this is a prize given to someone whom he does not want to leave the club. This is poor management.
Forward Planning
Let’s look at transfer dealings. Why did Arsenal wait until the last day of dealings and then come up with over £40 mill for Ozil; this is a massive buy and for that kind of money this should be part of a strategy conceived at the end of the previous season and implemented asap before the beginning of the next season.
Why do we have to wait until we lose 8-2 to go out and buy 4 players on the final day?
How could we possibly be taken seriously by offering £40 mill plus £1 for Suarez- what sort of bad joke is this? If you are serious about a player who is available and could transform your season, go out and spend £50 mill- so you (perhaps) overpay on one top player- so what? We are not suggesting buying 6 or 7 players for £50 mill. Patrick Vieira once said that Arsene Wenger shops in the bargain basement. This is no way to compete.
Flexibility to Change
It does not exist at Arsenal. It is well documented that we have only one style of play. We spend every game passing the ball around the box until the opponents block it; of course we sometimes break through but it is so predictable and other teams know how to play us more and more.
Management needs to be open to change all the time; Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky are all players I have loved but their time is gone and AW should have cut them loose and replaced them with two younger dynamic players who can offer something new and more effective. This is bad management.
In business you adapt to changing circumstances or die; you can’t stand still, if you don’t improve you go backwards and this is where AW has taken Arsenal and the Board.
Myles says:
Thanks, John.
I can’t argue with any of that. My friends feel the same way about him too.
A leader might shout at AW and disturb his treasured “stability”.
Wenger should go soon. If he doesn’t, Alexis Sanchez will.