From Ben Shipman:
Afternoon Myles,
No doubt you have a busy inbox today!
I’ve said it before to you and I’ll say it again – this was not a shock!
Off the top of your head, think of 5 thrashings Arsenal have received in recent years.
Now think of 5 thrashings Arsenal have dished out.
From Matt Emerson :
Myles,
I didn’t watch or follow the Bayern game.I hoped for the best, expected the worst and got what I expected. It’s likely that Wenger will go at the end of this season.
So, what now?
As Arseblog’s Andrew Mangan has noted on ESPN the problems run deep.
He highlights – as you have – the difference between those running Bayern and those running Arsenal.
A structure that allows leaders to flourish in an organisation is difficult to put in place overnight. Especially when so few of those leaders are actually in the organisation in the first place.
The Club have at least tried to address this by putting in a Head of Academy and a Head of Fitness, taking some of the load off Wenger. But the issue now is that everyone knows he’s going, so there will be a lot of people who will be trying to look after themselves as a result of the ensuing power vacuum. I have no idea who the Board will appoint, but the manager is almost the least of the problems here. If we do get a good one, will the structure be there for them to succeed?
If Wenger gets moved upstairs and has an active role on the football side, God help us. And I speak as an atheist.
I’m lucky, I’ve seen the great teams we’ve assembled over the last forty five years, from Bertie Mee’s Double winners through to the Invincibles. I’m old enough not to care too much when last night happened.
But my kids are 17 & 11. All they’ve seen is the odd FA Cup and the same old story in the league and Europe. It’s them and those like them I feel sorry for.
As Keith Burkinshaw said about Spurs when he left “There used to be a football club over there”.
He’d say the same about us now.
Myles says:
I knew Keith quite well but occasionally rattled him with my question.
He’d ask,”What paper are you from?”
Keith didn’t realise how much I liked him and his team.
I never encouraged my kids to support a team because I couldn’t take them, as I was in the press box.
But they shared a ticket in the Junior Gunners and went to two FA Cup Finals together.
Our friend Stewart Joseph, a lifelong gooner, took Caroline to three consecutive FA Cup Finals in Cardiff. Michael missed the third one because had gone to uni in Sheffield by then.
Back in 2008 I heard that Michel Platini had said, apparently in an aside, “Wenger’s just a businessman now.”
Looking into this, I discovered that Platini gave an interview, which was due to be published in Le Dauphiné : “Me, I only want to talk about football, he (Wenger) only cares about business. We must shut up with Wenger and everything. He is an extremely selfish person.”
There was a row about that. Was Platini obliged to deny he said it?
Bottom line: Herbert Chapman made Arsenal great from 1930 and the 2006 move to the new stadium turned the club into a big business.
Wenger generates big money. He’s good at that.