Roberto De Matteo. Another one bites the dust.
Would you really want a Russian owning our club?
By Cameron Wolfe.
So once again Chelsea sack their Manager. The price of working for a fickle owner. Obviously winning the Champions League and the FA cup in the same season just wasn’t enough for the owner.
I was actually surprised when Abramovich gave the job to De Matteo. I thought he’d go for another “Big” name. Nevertheless it makes you wonder what a Manager has to achieve to have long term security at Chelsea. Even Mourinho (their most successful Manager recently) only lasted three years. Is it player power once again flexing its muscle?
A section of Arsenal fans still call for us to spend money. Get Usamov to dig into his deep pockets. They see that as the way forward for us. Some call for Usamov to be on the board or to buy Kroenke out completely and take full control of the club. Unfortunately, or at least for me. I would see that as a mirror image of the current Chelsea set up. I’m sure someone got the telephone call last night from Abramovich and told to sack De Matteo.
I like the set up at Arsenal. No one person is deciding the fate or the direction of the club. As much as Kroenke owns over 60% there is still a board in place. I’d much rather the board debate and decide the best route for Arsenal to be taking on the commercial front. Leave Arsene to the footballing side. Rather than be at the mercy of a single owner and their whims.
Arsene joined the club back in October of 1996. He brought with him new ideas of how the game should be played but more importantly he revolutionised the training and scouting systems. Largely copied now by every other club.
He is without a doubt our most successful Manager. Yet every other week when things aren’t going according to plan. Certain sections of the supporters call for him to go. So I wondered from when Arsene took charge, how many managers are still managing in the premier league?
So here in alphabetical order are those very same managers that Arsene has outlived in the EPL:
Aston Villa: Brian Little is currently without a job after being relieved of his duties as manager of Gainsborough Trinity. ( I actually thought he was a decent EPL manager)
Blackburn Rovers: Tony Parkes He currently works as a scout for Blackburn Rovers. (he was only caretaker of Blackburn when Arsene took over)
Chelsea: Ruud Gullit latest project was working to promote the Belgian-Dutch 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.(Walter will be happy)
Coventry City: Gordon Strachan He now works as a regular pundit for ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup.
Derby County: Jim Smith since 2006, he has been a member of the board of directors of Oxford United.
Everton: Dave Watson (again caretaker) Watson was appointed as Under 18 Coach at Newcastle United on 7 November 2011.
Leeds Utd: George Graham since 2001 He has been out of football management, concentrating on his career as a football pundit for Sky Sports
Leicester City: Martin O’Neill after stints at Celtic and Aston Villa he’s currently the manager of Sunderbus (Copyright Walter)
Liverpool: Roy Evans as well as his coaching commitments, he also currently acts as a co-commentator for live audio broadcasts of Liverpool matches on the official web site
Man. Utd. SAF has been there since 1986. Still there and I’m of the believe that he will be a hard act to follow no matter who ends up at OT.
Middlesbrough: Bryan Robson He was appointed manager of the Thailand national team. He resigned on 8 June 2011.
Newcastle Utd. Kenny Dalgliesh Despite winning the League Cup, Liverpool could only finish 8th in the Premier League, and Dalglish was dismissed in May 2012. Currently unemployed.
Nottingham Forrest: Dave Bassett In February 2011 he returned to Sheffield Utd. As a consultant but after the appointment of Danny Wilson, Bassett was understood to have quit the post, though no official statement was made.
Sheffield Wednesday: David Pleat (I have honestly never been able to enjoy any match that he commentates on) From 2011, Pleat has been a commentator for ESPN broadcasts.
Southampton: Graeme Souness He now does media work and divides his time working as a pundit for RTÉ, ESPN, Sky Sports and Al Jazeera Sports
Sunderland: Peter Reid Until recently he managed Plymouth Argyle, taking over in June 2010, but was sacked after just over a year at the Devon club.
Tottenham Hotspur: Gerry Francis Ihe is now under Mr Pulis’s tutilidge and working as the first Team coach at Stoke City.
West Ham Utd. Mr Redknapp In June 2012, it was announced that Redknapp was joining the online gambling company, Betfair, as its ‘Euro 2012 columnist’. This involves previewing games for the tournament and providing betting tips for Betfair customers. I think he may have also managed the Spuds up until recently?
Wimbledon: Joe Kinnear (the only team on the whole list to have totally dropped put of the top flight. Currently in Div. One). Joe Kinnear ended up managing Newcastle Utd. But after suffering a serious health scare his contract officially expired at Newcastle on 30 May 2009.
So to recap: Out of nineteen other managers that Arsene joined in 1996. He currently only pits wits with SAF and Martin O’Neill. So seventeen other managers are now no longer involved in a managerial capacity.
Once again I just think it shows that Arsenal and Arsene are getting the balance right between running a top flight club in the EPL and sustaining longevity and stability which is paramount to EPL survival and more importantly pushing for those coveted few trophies.
Long may it continue.
On a side note. When Arsene took over there were seventeen(17) British managers. Plus one Irishman, one Dutchman and Arsene managing the EPL.
Today it stands at:
Twelve (12) British. One Irish, Two Italians, One Portuguese, One Dutch, One Danish, One Spanish and that French fellow.
- Qualified for the knock out stages, are you watching money teams?
- Arsenal in the Champs League, Henry to re-sign, Arsenal play staff games.
- The Next hurdle. Champions league group B game.
- Almost every failing manager to be replaced by Harry Redknapp and Rafael Benitez
- Explaining the unpredictable results of Norwich, and others.
- The North London Derby Twutter update
- Bashing Tottenham. How the TV pundits see it in Canada.
- Society of Black Lawyers clearly to blame for problems at Arsenal/Tottenham game
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- “The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal”: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- For the parent who really wants to know what is really going on in schools
- Referee Decisions – just what are the refs up to this season?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed wayto stay fit
Going back in time, this is an Untold flash back….
There has our Arsenal gone… 😉
An interesting list and just showing some names that have gone out of our memory (well out of mine anyway).
And reminding me of “Sunderbus”… well 🙂
Wenger is in his 16th season at Arsenal, he has won trophies in only 5 of them. Graham was more succesful percentage wise. Wenger out!
You’ve just got to love EIE’s logic..
Very interesting article. Though I thought it would be a list of ALL managers that Wenger has outlasted. Now that would be a long long list 🙂 Good job researching this Cameron. Who remembers some of these names now?
Wow! really impressive research.
Maybe we can put this forensic piece in our trophy cabinet…with our balance sheet.
Helps our pseudo dignified demeanours.
I feel very assured that we have we have our very own French Dario Gradi.
It’s too scarey having ambition.
could we give him his full title.
Mr Arsene “Who” Wenger
EIE,
Do you remember why Graham was shown the door?
Do you remember The Invincibles?
Do you go to our new ground of 60,000 plus?
Do you remember “Boring boring Arsenal?
Supported Arsenal for sixty years and Arsene has made this club into a top four world wide institution.
Lets kick him out? What a wally you are!!!!
like “Dr. Who” you mean? am I close. Or do you mean “who” as in “who is who”?
There are currently 3 Irish Managers in the EPL, O’Neill, Rodgers and Chris Hughton who has 53 caps for Ireland.
Apart from the fact that there always has been a ridiculously high turnover at managerial level I honestly believe that Wenger has raised the bar so high for what is now required of someone in that position that only a handful will ever be able to bear comparison. Most will be sacked for falling short and never be able to convince anyone that they can now cut it.
americangooner
The british media said of the “unknown” french manger who got the arsenal job in 1996 “Arsene Who”, i belive it was the Sun”british newspaper” who ran that peice but don’t quote me on that.
pS i won’t post my feelings thoughts about the Sun just ask any liverpool fan but thats a whole diffrent can of worms to say the least.
@jake thanks for clarification
Some AFC Wimbledon fans would dispute Wimbledon (MK Dons) being in League 1 because they’d claim to be real Wimbledon ;o) but that’s a sideline. Interesting post.
MoN and Brendan Rogers are British (Northern Ireland) not Irish (Republic of Ireland)
Only Arsenal and Man City have a manager whose name resembles the clubs name.
Stuart
Nothing can beat the erstwhile manager of Wolfsburg. Wolfgang Wolff 🙂
to enjoy a commentry by pleat try listening to a certain game up at anfield in 89 in which he suggested we would be happy with a 1-0 win ………….. of course we then scored and the rest like they say is history, its up for grabs now
there are some very funny comments on here, gg more sucessful than ARSENE do people really believe that or are they just providing all round entertainment
Uneducated comment, really. Such a knee jerk reaction.
Much quoted on twitter at the moment……..Chelsea, form is temporary, lack of class is forever.
Never more true than this week.
EIE: -1
Cameron, nice article.
Mostly off-topic I’m afraid. Some of Alisher Usmanov’s financial information came to light. A silent partner.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/728090aa-34c3-11e2-99df-00144feabdc0.html
@ Simon 5.58pm
Just to explain anyone born on the Island of Ireland (north or south) Is by birth Irish .However some people Will Call themselves British and hold British subject pass boards all Irish people can claim duel citizenship
it’s nice to see the stability and the structure that was put into place since 1996. I cannot imagine the Arsenal resembling other organizations that think so short term w their managers. We are quite lucky in that regard I think. Also, it goes without saying the ability of our manager to overcome the challenges faced throughout his tenure. And, to not only survive through it but as well, it would be interesting to observe the same statistics across all of europe starting in 1996. Wenger was built to last and to survive. The rain cloud over the club will certainly change in regards to trophies. Because I feel the manager wants that at the end of the day. And, you all recall boring under Graham, and, lack of Englishmen under Wenger… And, that’s all changed right
the one complaint I have is the manager needs to install more strong willed players that resemble his acumen. The price the club pays for some of these widgets is mind boggling. The player of today is so fickle and the realization has to be when the new widgets come in is that the focus of yesterday as far as the manger is concerned had always been like he himself was presented. A relatively unknown who when polished knocked the socks off of the current trend. He often found through his intense scouting prowess players who could when polished adapt and succeed in British football. Now the current regimes have their own scouting prowess and often steal through intelligence our incoming reinforcements. If I were a manager what I would seek from the world of incoming recruits would be the psychology of a hungry starved winner.
Nice work Cameron , well researched .Just need some clarification .What’s with the formal ‘ Mr. ‘in Mr.Redknapp – has he passed his FRCS ( Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons )exams and now a fully qualified surgeon ?
Well , he was well known for his cutting and chopping; and stiching up ! And he has had the singular honour of eviscerating a few clubs in his lifetime !
What’s that you say ,” Cut it out ?!”
The last liNe is also the punchline to the joke ,”What is it that you should not say to a wisecracking surgeon in the OT (or OR) ?”
@insideright
“Apart from the fact that there always has been a ridiculously high turnover at managerial level I honestly believe that Wenger has raised the bar so high for what is now required of someone in that position that only a handful will ever be able to bear comparison. Most will be sacked for falling short and never be able to convince anyone that they can now cut it.”
Raised the bar? with reference to what? Financial or success?
It depends on who the owner is. If it is Roman, AW I’m sure would have been sacked. In fact I don’t think anyone can last long with the owner’s huge ego and aristocratic rule.
Owners these days hail from diverse backgrounds and with different agendas to match. To Roman, it is success (read silverware) and beautiful football. Either one of that is not present, the axe will come ruthlessly. To him, money is not a variable. He represents the real world corporate environment.. huge rewards but subjected to his hire-and-fire routine if you do not meet his objectives.
That said, you have to admire his passion for the club (his been around since 2003). Compared to other owners (MU,MC, Arsenal et al) he is always there.
Whether Arsenal want such an owner is another story altogether.
@Nick, it would be interesting to see how many supporters would flee if Usmanov took over and we started winning trophies by spending vast amounts on players. I would find it difficult to support Arsenal if he was the owner because I’m certain he’s a crook. You don’t get to be that rich from that part of the world without having nefarious dealings.
But then how straight is Kroenke?
I’ll echo what you say about Abramovich that at least he turns up to watch his team and puts his own money into them. He wants trophies, for some that seems to be some heinous crime. And yes I agree he bought them rather than won them but then you could level that criticism at Barca and Arsenal of the thirties, albeit on a smaller scale.
Again I don’t see how AW has raised the bar. Ferguson has and nobody except Mourinho has come close to catching him. Wenger has certainly raised the bar I suppose in terms of keeping a job at a big club without actually any tangible success for seven years.
@Rupert
Roman is not in for the $. He has tons of that. Having so much money to burn, his modus operandi is different from your standard club sustainable model. And why not? By injecting $ into the club, he get instant gratification. Buying success? So what. He’s got the $ and don’t have to act the pauper. He would probably have look at the numerous clubs with historicals but no $. Would the Reading, Stoke, Norwich et al be able to compete with the rich big boys like MU, MC, Arsenal et al? No chance. $ talks, and Roman knows only too well. How else is he a Russian oil billionaire if he don’t understand simple club stuff.
Like most aggressive billionaire, Roman is impatient (remember he once asked a Spanish legend how long Chelsea needs to be like Barca) and wants success, silverware as like yesterday. He wants beautiful fotball like Barca. All the managers satisfy only either one of the objective, but not both. The closest and not surprising being Mourinho. Mourinho hit one of his idiocycracy. Roman has pet players and he buys them so the manager can play him. Not playing his pet player is not an option, and the manager risk the axe if he fucks that up. Shev and Torres are prime examples.
George got sacked because of taking payments when handling transfers, running out of ideas in terms of motivating the team, over-dependence on Ian Wright’s goals, not bringing in creative players and screwing the youth setup (how many of Mark Flatts, Scott Marshall, Matthew Rose, Stephen Hughes, Gavin McGowan would get anywhere near the current Arsenal squad?), thus leaving no tangible long term legacy behind. It had got so bad that if the board hadn’t sacked him and if Ian Wright hadn’t scored 35 goals in 1994/95 we would have got relegated. And he was damned with faint praise for his trophies, he was ‘boring’ and ‘lucky’, with opposition managers moaning that he stops other teams playing!
Mourinho raising the bar? In terms of what, pissing as many people off as possible? A lot of Italian and Spanish journalists, opposition players and managers, referees (Anders Frisk anyone?) and even key personnel at Real Madrid can’t stand the man!
He won 2 titles at Chelsea with mainly Ranieri’s team (Ranieri signed Cech and Robben, the 2 key components of that side), for every Carvalho and Drogba he signed there was a Mateja Kezman so hit and miss on signings, never promoted youth team products, failed to sign younger players and refused to regenerate to such an extent that Chelsea are STILL relying on Terry and Lampard, and Drogba was still around until 6 months ago, and only now are younger players being bought. He leaves no legacy behind wherever he has been after Porto, look how poor and old Inter Milan are now, and tactically played football at Chelsea the way George Graham’s teams played in latter years.
And just as di Matteo was beginning to start a new cycle, the rug gets pulled from under him!
Wenger has raised the bar by changing diets and training methods, bringing in rough diamonds on the cheap and coaching them and developing them into superstars, and if they get too old or too cocky and disruptive he lets them go, making the club profitable, which IS ACTUALLY A GOOD THING! He was the brains behind the state of the art training complex paid for by the sale of Anelka as well as the best stadium in the world, the Emirates, he created 3 title winning teams playing football that took the breath away, is Arsenal’s most successful manager, has raised the profile of the club around the world and still competes near the top of the Premier League year after year; all that has changed is instead of 1st and 2nd placed finishes, we now finish 3rd and 4th, mainly due to Chelsea and Man City’s megabucks. When Arsene finally retires, he will leave a great legacy behind as well as a financial powerhouse, and if winning the league without losing isn’t raising the bar, what is??
For all of Alex Ferguson’s achievements, he has had a lot more cash to spend throughout his tenure
A lot of people forget that Wenger is a strange case and an exception. No manager is afforded more freedom and involvement than he. Most managers are only looking at survival. There are club positions for club infrastructure, financial et al. Which manager doesn’t know about stadium expansion, training facilities, dietary etc. But what preoccupies them is their own survival, whether to deliver results or to stay in the top league. Failing which, the axe will come swiftly and often ruthlessly.
And as we speak, Mark Hughes had just been sacked by QPR
Interestingly, in a recent interview, the owner of PSG said that they wanted Wenger as their manager but he wouldn’t leave Arsenal no matter how much they offered. So loyalty is another bar he has raised.
Re Abramovich – yes, his is an entirely selfish, instant gratification sort of management. Unfortunately it has served to undermine the finances of football all over Europe and has lead to the instigation of FFP without which many clubs will go to the wall. All fair in love, war and football?
Not just PSG… Real and Chelsea at some point also came calling. I believe A.Stewart, Rupert and myself had commented on this.
Loyalty?… yes/maybe. Put yourself in AW’s shoes. Would you risk a cushy, total control, non-accountability and consensus board for the unknown? Think Perez, Roman and the filthy rich… constant success, confined role and accountability… and ruthlessness, the axe… IMO, Wenger is a shrewd operator, $7million annually you know… and he is not exactly young and probably into retirement. Risk for a couple millions more? You get the drift.
Sadly, the real world is about money politics. Nothing is fair in the real world, not football and definitely not the corporate world.
Interestingly, in a recent interview, the owner of PSG said that they wanted Wenger as their manager but he wouldn’t leave Arsenal no matter how much they offered. So loyalty is another bar he has raised.
Wenger refused the PSG job because he will get sacked after 2 years.
Tell me which industry(including outside football) in which the manager/ceo would go 7 barring years without success?
@ Rupert
I honestly think you comment on hear just to piss people off.
“Abramovich, at least he turns up to watch his team and puts his own money into them. He wants trophies”
De Matteo just got him two trophies. There are only four to play for. So I’d say he did his job pretty well last season. Obvioulsy not good enough for the owner though. So explain why if Abramovich is in it for the trophies. He sacked De Matteo?
Forget it.
I’m just going to by-pass all your comments from now on. I honestly believe you comment for comments sake. Like a sad old drunk in a bar who just loves hearing the sound of his own voice.
Strangely, I get to appreciate Roman as an owner, more and more. Consider the other owners and their committment. MU, Arsenal and Liverpool(US), MC (some Sheikh), Blackburn (Indian), Birmingham (HK) and the hot news today QPR (Malaysia/Britain).
Extract from a ESPN article…
“…Last month ESPN reported that QPR’s richest benefactor Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s wealthiest person, was reviewing his position at QPR in the light of the current crisis and that Mittal might even be ready to consider selling his one-third share in the Premier League club before Christmas.”
Pray tell which owner showed the best committment in terms of time and financials? Roman beats them hands down. Talk of ‘play thing’ and ‘what happen if he gets tired of Chelsea’ is pre-mature. He’s been here since 2003 and still as passionate. Billionaire and plaything don’t normally last, not 9 years and still ongoing.
With his passion, committment and huge financials, he is definitely entitled to performance demands that exceeds expectations and some idiosyncrasies.
@Woody
“… De Matteo just got him two trophies. There are only four to play for. So I’d say he did his job pretty well last season. Obvioulsy not good enough for the owner though. So explain why if Abramovich is in it for the trophies. He sacked De Matteo?”
First off, De Matteo was not part of the scheme of things for Roman. His obsession is with Pep but sadly, Pep insisted on a 1-year sabbatical before he consider his career. Hence Matteo was an interim manager, dispensable when the time comes.
Matteo however, and with some luck, managed to outperform, delivering what previous managers failed to achieve. It took a while and much persuation from management and fans alike to confirm Matteo as a permanent manager.
That said, Roman has never been convinced by Matteo. It is only a matter of time when a run of poor results coupled with the Terry scandal and ongoing Ref issue that brought the knife out again. Matteo then do the unthinkable. He benched Torres and rightfully so. But Torres being Roman’s pet… this with the disastrous CL defeat put the final nail into Matteo’s managerial demise.
The fat Spanish waiter meanwhile sign on as the interim manager… interim to who? Pep naturally. To Roman, Pep is perceived to be the only one who can deliver success and do it the beautiful way. The saga continues…
asd,
Or you could also question which manager would continue loyal even when their employers continue to put the squeeze in ever tougher conditions and allow them to take the brunt of director decisions.
SAF is an excellent manager but look at his proteges… Robson, Keane, Bruce, Ince and dadada … Hughes.
Then again, all are great players bar SAF 🙂
@Woody
Looks like you and I have come to the same conclusion about rupert – a total waste of time!
Have we two of “nick lee”: – a “Nick Lee” and a “nick.lee” – are they the same person or two or more? Strange that one of them likes both Abramovich and SAF; one has a dubious history in Russia and the other is a failed horse trader.
@bjtgooner
Nick.lee and Nick Lee are the same. Keyboard typo. Is that acceptable to you or do you have a conspiracy theory?
I didn’t think the website accepted different names with the same email address.
I am not sure if your reason for two names is valid, maybe Walter could clear up the website validation criteria as a precursor to further consideration.
But – in your 1.08 am post – you have introduced a third subtle variation – this time “Nick.lee”
Perhaps you need to sort out your identity variation before you try to be aggressive?
@bjtgooner
Agressive? Go get a life. Life is too short to be stalking over trivial thing which don’t even add up to anything substantial.
@Woody, I already stated that I think Abramovich’s treatment of De Matteo was the action of an a-hole in a previous post. But Roman decided RDM wasn’t going to win him trophies this season and acted ruthlessly. Absurdly as I commented before but that’s the price you pay at Chelsea. Satisfied?
@Vikrant, Mourinho raised the bar as much as AW. You may not like him but he’s won the CL with different teams. Preston managed an unbeaten season if you want to get pedantic. I concede that AW introduced a dietary regime that transformed Arsenal though whether that was more commonplace on the continent or elsewhere I don’t know. Wenger’s insistence in moving from Highbury was forward thinking and essential.
You say Mourinho was hit and miss with signings, well if you can’t see the glaring hole in that argument I’ll just respond with Jeffers, Almunia, Squillaci, Stepanovs……………
Apparently Chelsea are guilty of hanging on to old players. What you mean those old lags that won them the CL? That policy hasn’t hurt Manu much either.
Arsenal finish where they should every year, at least for the past three or four seasons, the exception being last year when Chelsea gave up the league to win the CL. We’re the fourth biggest club in the league (since the arrival of City’s vast financial injection) and we finish fourth.
That is not a great achievement when you consider the resources at our disposal, it’s adequate. We have two very rich men with all the power at the club and they chose not to invest in the team, that’s their choice but no way are we the pauper at the table.
I wonder if bjtgooner and Woody are one and the same.
@Woody, I already stated that I think Abramovich’s treatment of De Matteo was the action of an a-hole in a previous post. But Roman decided RDM wasn’t going to win him trophies this season and acted ruthlessly. Absurdly as I commented before but that’s the price you pay at Chelsea. Satisfied?
@Vikrant, Mourinho raised the bar as much as AW. You may not like him but he’s won the CL with different teams. Preston managed an unbeaten season if you want to get pedantic. I concede that AW introduced a dietary regime that transformed Arsenal though whether that was more commonplace on the continent or elsewhere I don’t know. Wenger’s insistence in moving from Highbury was forward thinking and essential.
You say Mourinho was hit and miss with signings, well if you can’t see the glaring hole in that argument I’ll just respond with Jeffers, Almunia, Squillaci, Stepanovs……………
Apparently Chelsea are guilty of hanging on to old players. What you mean those old lags that won them the CL? That policy hasn’t hurt Manu much either.
Arsenal finish where they should every year, at least for the past three or four seasons, the exception being last year when Chelsea gave up the league to win the CL. We’re the fourth biggest club in the league (since the arrival of City’s vast financial injection) and we finish fourth.
That is not a great achievement when you consider the resources at our disposal, it’s adequate. We have two very rich men with all the power at the club and they chose not to invest in the team, that’s their choice but no way are we the pauper at the table.
I wonder if bjtgooner and Woody are one and the same.
Rupert cook
We finished third last season.
Shouldn’t Johan Cruyff be on the list as he was favourite to take over before Wenger?
@rupert (depressive AAA sewer rat with acne but not a lisp)
Are there two of you – or just a double post? I thought the site was set up to stop double posts from the same computer?
Rupert,
Just because we have two billionnaires who own the club, why does that mean they should put money into the club? Who are you to insist that these people who have worked to earn their money should do this or that with it?
@Stuart, I didn’t insist they do that, I said it’s their choice not to. The fact is that Usmanov is often shouting about the lack of ambition at the club, well if he’s so unhappy about it why doesn’t he give some of his money to Arsenal?
If I were a billionaire and I owned the club or had Usmanov’s shares in the club I’d be putting my money into Arsenal. But that’s because I’m a supporter.
@Stevie E,I know we finished third last season, read my post carefully and you’ll see I acknowledged that.
I believe wenger is officially the arsenal coach to have gone longest without a trophy, beating the record set by that bloke between 1908 and 1915(i wonder what he did to eventually get fired, probably won a trophy). Congrats arsene, u really do know best
@rupert cook
If Usmanov wants to donate his money to the club without any strings attached, I don’t think anyone will object to that. What a lot of us don’t agree to is him putting money in to attain some sort of influence on the club i.e resulting in the issuing of shares.
@UK
Are you also forgetting that Arsene is also officially the arsenal coach that has won the most trophies and has maintained the highest league finish on the average during his tenure.
No dudu, dat fact has been mentioned so many times, it wouldn’t need repeating
Just like its no use repeating d fact dat on average gg won more in his years in charge
UK @ 3.13pm
George Morrell did the honourable thing and resigned on 13th April 1915. He is the only manager to have been in charge of a relegated Arsenal team, though he did perform miracles in keeping the team up prior to this as the club was liquidated in a similar fashion to Rangers in 1910.
If you wish to read more about him and the team while in Plumstead please click on the “Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football” url under the books section on this page.
Mark
@duduspace, taken aback, someone responding to me without a salvo of abuse. I agree with that about the issuing of shares. And we also don’t want an owner like Abramovich who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.