By Christophe Jost
I know nothing about how football clubs are run, but, I do notice one thing: there is a team on the field/in the training ground and there is a team actually ‘running the club’. That team running the club must actually ‘build’ a first team together with the manager, and run an academy, and so on.
In all clubs, that team sometimes must deal with one owner or several owners who may be more or less involved with the club day to day, or less – it depends on the owners.
And then you have the fans, the supporters, plus the usual idiots from the media.
Mr Wenger was at the centre of Arsenal for two decades. Yet there was not one owner at the time, but owners with differing strategies. Yet he made the modern Arsenal what it is, and as a reward got endless complaints from the fans for doing it.
Emery came in and the ‘team’ around him simply did not work right. Just think of the players who came in… Yet, a playing team did start to come together and when Mr Arteta came in, that team clicked into gear. There was only one owner by then. And that owner was INVESTING. He was not pursuing some personal dream or treating the club like a ballerina. The owner treats it like a business.
At Sp*rs, we should remember there was a man in charge for almost two decades who had a huge reputation in football and who left this summer. Do you frankly think any manager working under him had any real say in the selection of players? Then add the financial dire straits into the equation and the non-availability anymore of someone of Mr Wenger’s calibre and you have the answer. No manager can really operate efficiently there.
Meanwhile, as for Postecogul, I can’t imagine the guy had any serious hope at Forest: they had got rid of the guy who brought them back to success, he had no say in building the team who did not fit whatever style he plays. I imagine the money was good enough to take a chance and why should he not try after all.
Manure? Same story…. crap management, worse financial management, no real expertise and sense of team sports at that level, a new part owner who, to me at least, went in for visibility and ego, and discovered afterwards he did not do a good enough audit and ended up burying corpses day after day after day…..
‘Pool! That is an interesting one. Having seen a few Slot interviews, I am far less convinced and start to think that ‘Pool! did a Ferguson. They won last year on the drive and fumes of Klopp, and now the gas tank is empty: Slot is overrated. The whole Salah episode last summer was just the canary in the coal mine.
Now compare that with the professionalism of the Arsenal management team this year…. And during that time the whole press was screaming about Gyökeres (who at least has scored goals) and about Arsenal set pieces…. and no one was wondering why the half of billion in Pool! player purchases ended up with no goals scored and many goals taken from set pieces…. a defence that has lost it. Then again, a politician across the pond has shown the example: accuse the others of your behaviour, and if you do it for long enough, no one will see it is you who is to blame.
City115 ? Well, they had the same professionalism, coupled with ruthless will to not abide by the rules and endless money. And the results were there, but Guardiola can say what he wants in his defence, the titles will always have an * as far as I am concerned. And at some point, once the finances are not all-powerful, the sand castle crumbles.
Chelsea… one owner, limitless means, and you had results, with some stability. And now…well, they seem to have a trading room instead of a dressing room and no stability whatsoever.
Newcastle? I guess the team was mostly counting on doing a City 115 and got stopped by the regulations before they even started. That they kept the manager is smart. Yet they had to let players go.
IMHO, Arsenal are now back to the future…. when Mr Wenger started there, and for a few years, the ‘team outside of the field’ was clicking. And the results came. Let’s hope this Arsenal team not only gets better, as when Mr Berta joined them. On the field, this is the best team I’ve seen in my lifetime, or rather two teams readily available…. yes the Invincibles were great, but the competition was not as multiple and powerful, IMHO.
So we should all relax and enjoy the ride. Arsenal are not only beating the opposition, but beating the referees as well. And their finances are improving game after game, goal after goal. This is an investment in the future, not silly money spent on a ballerina.
Having run a business for decades, having seen many businesses from the inside, I have learned that it is not enough if the salespeople win, or the production team wins, or the administration wins. All of them, together, need to win at the same time. It is a full team effort. And besides, running a football club is now a business, like any other, if you look at fundamentals: all teams/departments need to click, and all need to be on the same line as management
First team (men and women), back office, recruiting, academy, owners, marketing, licensing…..
And Arsenal are better prepared then all others. Again, just look at their revenue curve, their costs, their capability to manage players without the whole drama and bad blood…. Indeed, this last element to me is a real asset. Arsenal must have a sterling reputation, at least compared to any club in the PL. Arsenal can now select.
If I had a kid with the talent and opportunity to choose a club, I’d go for Arsenal: chances are better and chances to survive and have whatever future he wishes to develop are much better. No one talks about that one.
For all the criticism KSC got in the past, I am impressed. These guys know what they are doing and are in for the long term. They are builders. Experienced builders. Generational builders.
s Arsenal supporters,we are very lucky.
And if you have doubts… give me some arguments why any other club is better by all the metrics. Yes, ok, trophies… so let’s, for now, accept that it is a building process and the perspectives are here.
I still prefer to be in our position.
