Arsene Wenger admitted yesterday that this is probably Pat Rice’s final season as his assistant, and hinted strongly that somebody with an Arsenal background would be his replacement.
Rice has been Wenger’s sidekick since he first arrived at the club but his desire to quit at the end of this season means the manager has got a big decision to make ahead of the next campaign.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Wenger said of Rice’s departure, “It will be decided very very soon and I will decide after that. It looks like he could stop, but it is not official yet. Pat is fantastic. He works every day hard and never speaks to the press – fantastic!”
Then when asked about the possibility of Steve Bould being promoted to the job, he said, “It is possible. Everywhere I go I keep somebody who knows the club and worked inside the club, so it is a possibility.”
However, just a couple of months ago, Bould played down suggestions he’d the man to take over Pat Rice’s position, saying he was more than happy with his role as Academy coach.
“I feel management is not for me,” he said. “It is too intrusive on all aspects of your life. I enjoy what I do. I get massive satisfaction from seeing players improve and make careers out of the game. The ultimate is seeing players we have worked for running out of the tunnel playing for our first team.
“I honestly feel I have the best job in the world. Doing what I love, with the facilities and footballing philosophy we have at this club, I have a fantastic job.”
It is believed that Arsene is considering other former players, with both Tony Adams and Martin Keown mentioned as candidates. Adams has been out of work since finishing with Azerbaijani club Gabala, and a recent increased presence in and around the club has set tongues wagging.
Whether he would be content as second in command remains to be seen but whatever happens it will be one of the most interesting appointments of the summer.
This will be one of the most important appointments in the summer including player transfers. WE should get it right.
Won’t be DB 10 due to his inability to travel on the plane, just wouldnt be practical.
Looking like adams for me, and you can bet he won’t be afraid to argue a decision or two with arsene, or give the lads a good motivational kick up the arse every now and then!
My only concern with Adams is that I remember when he was in charge of Portsmouth, he said in an interview after they got hammered (I can’t remember who by) “I don’t know what I’m doing”. Shouldn’t show too much weakness, especially directly to the media.
I hope he’s learned more since then because he has the passion for this club that we’ll need.
But surely Arsenal could find some other way of transporting Bergkamp?
Hope Mr.Arsenal comes in for Pat Rice, love the legend! Minus the Tuesday Club meetings of course haha
Is anybody else a still a little upset with viera? I mean don’t get me wrong the guys a legend but that makes it even harder to see him supporting that shit club in Manchester. I would of thought him to be a good candidate for the job if he was with those cunts, I would love to see tony as his assistant as his passion for the club is second to none same with keown. Either of them would be good.
Yes and no. Wenger has resisted ex-players from his reign coming in, with Keown being a temporary exception. If Arsenal didn’t want Vieira back in a coaching capacity, then he’s hardly going to say no when a good offer did arrive. You can’t expect him to turn everything down hoping that one day Arsenal will come knocking. It’s just a shame that the job offer was at City.
Why is it a shame that it was City? Would you prefer Chelsea or Tottenham?
The first time I saw him as a “spokesman” for citeh it hurt, yes, but is he supposed to sit on the shelf forever, waiting for us to offer him a job?
i think he just hates united more than he loves arsenal at this stage
It’s just a job.
A man’s gotta keep food on his table. And there are only so many jobs at Arsenal. I don’t begrudge him working at ManCity. I just hope he keeps his allegiances straight if we ever offer him a job.
Am I the only one who giggled at the headline…?
When a man’s gotta go, he’s gotta go!
I am so slow ,I had to read it again
Took a while for the penny to drop!
DB 10, as long as we can get the flying thing sorted out, or Keown or Vieira would be great as well.
You won’t get the “flying thing” sorted out.
Pretty sure from what I’ve read over the years he’ll never set foot on an aircraft again.
It’s a shame because he strikes me as very smart and extremely knowledgeable about the game.
Tony Adams for me every time. The total and complete arsenal player. The greatest gooner ever.
Admit he probably would not make a great number one but as arsenes assistant I think he would be perfect.
Love to see arshavin jog back to help out in defence against man u if TA6 was there, he would bite his fucking head off and spit in the hole that was left.
Can’t see it happening but for me and many gooners from the past it would be a dream come true.
100% I love DB10 and his like as much as the next man. But we need a strong English influence that is Arsenal through and through. Keown is another character but what would be more reassuring in a big game than Mr Arsenal himself prowling the technical area.
Almunia?! Boom!
Unfortunately agent Manuel has set his sight on another London club!
I’m hoping it’s 5PUR2!
Let’s hope Ramsy is goes to spurs.
That’s the best curse anyone can dream for to destroy an opponent club.
Nothing on earth is worse than Ramsy !!
NOTHING !!!
almunia will be a good keeper if he goes to any team in the bottom half of any league.. he always had problems with concentration when he wasn’t kept busy but when he was kept working he was quite good. as we saw against barca
Guardiola? lol
Ray parlour for me is the right man for the job
Yes mate, get him in. With his eye for a hair style, we’ll never have bad haircut again. Poodle’ll get the clippers out Full Metal Jacket style.
Arsene will never allow a strong lovable personality to take the number two spot.
It’s too intimidating for a stubborn egoistic arrogant manager.
He wants a b*tch he can control.
He hates being not the centre of attention.
Expect another useless @ss licker !!
i strongly recommend you, doctor z for the job…
“A strong lovable personality”?
So Gunnersaurus is out, then? Dammit.
To be honest, I don’t think we as fans are in a particularly good decision to say who would be a good assistant or not. We don’t get to see what they do on a day-to-day basis, we don’t know whether a particular individual has the “right” skills set (or perhaps more usefully, what kind of skills they have), and we don’t have a good idea of what sort of role each assistant plays in the management of a given team. People who claim to have insight into these things – I’m thinking, for instance, of those fans who concoct… Read more »
I wish people would remember this about transfers, injuries, players form… actually basically everything.
Comment of the day.
He doesn’t speak to the press – so I can understand why Wenger likes that. The question is – Does he speak to the Manager ? And specifically does he have the front to say – “this isn’t working – we need to try something different” ? Given the state of our trophy cabinet these last seven years, the suspicion must be – ‘No he doesn’t.’ In the last 15 years we are the only club in all four divisions who have not changed either the Manager, or any of the main coaching staff. You could call that consistency. But… Read more »
This is exactly what I’m talking about in my comment directly above yours. The chain of logic in the first two paragraphs is, in full: (1) Arsenal hasn’t won any silverware for seven years. (2) Therefore Pat Rice is an echo chamber. The chain of logic in the last paragraph is, in full: (1) Wenger may choose an echo chamber. (2) Therefore, Arsenal will not win any silverware. What I’m getting at is that these simplistic narratives simply don’t make any sense. – How do you know that Pat Rice is an echo chamber? – How do you come to… Read more »
The reason Arsenal haven’t won anything in the last 7 years goes far deeper than Pat Rice; just as the reason Arsenal did win things in the previous 7 years goes far deeper than Pat Rice. But what is indisputable is that we are trophy less again this year and unless something improves, we’ll be trophy less again next year. That really is how the world works – simplistic or otherwise. So some fresh ideas, or tactics, or players, or all of this is required IF we want to win something. How this all fits together is indeed beyond the… Read more »
but simple narratives dominate in pretty much every aspect of life
leveson enquiry – months of detailed cross examination by highly qualified legal professionals? No! it’s James Murdoch taking a dump on Jeremy Hunt, simples!
celebrity is fat = celebrity is unhappy
celebrity is skinny = celebrity is even more unhappy
capello resigns = spuds in crisis as ‘arry creams his pants
oh, wait, that one’s the exception that proves the rule
but, my point is, the demand for simple and direct narrative is not specific to football by any stretch
I hear the Ajax Number 2 is pretty good – and they are top of the Dutch League
[…] 来源：[Arseblog] BY ARSEBLOG […]
It has to be either DB10 or Keown, given our defensive issues for me it would be Keown and I don’t see why we can’t also have Dennis helping out with the coaching, some of the players could certainly do with being how to pass and shoot and on decision making too.
I absolutely believe chucking the chequebook at Vierra is the right way to go.
Im sure Veira would be a popular choice but does he have the relevant badges?
Steven bould makes the most sense. Solid coach and not a “yes” man
Will miss Pat Rice…
Will he getting a testimonial or something like that? I would love if got something similar for a farewell..
Tony Adams good, DB 10 won’t be an option because there are places you can’t travelled to without the plane, Viera no he’s with shity…who else? Mmmmmmm…….?
Henry not ready yet, that leaves Guardiola it will be massive if he can come and be No. 2 at Arsenal, nothing is impossible you know especially in football.
What about AVB?
I can’t see a guy who’s won a league championship and a UEFA cup wanting to come and be our number 2.
He won the league unbeaten the same year as the cup and Europa league.
So a treble of sorts.
Do you think that Arsene will look for someone who can take over the reigns when he finally retires?
probably.
What about Remi Garde or Dragan Stojkovic?
There were rumours about those two before as well. They’ve both been doing quite well in France and Japan respectively, and Wenger did once mention he would like Stojkovic to be his successor.
Article here:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/876897/arsene-wenger-lines-up-dragan-stojkovic-as-arsenal-successor?cc=5739#
There is infinite potential to turn that headline into a toilet joke…
boss hard pressed over new number 2? hello? anyone?
Pep and cesc are both loosers. Let’s start with cesc, young kid from barca taken to arsenal at age 16 by wenger. Under wengers watchful eye he has grown to be one of arsenals best players with the team being build around him and just when the time is ripe for him to deliver the goods, what does he do?? He suddenly claims that he is homesick and wants to rejoin his boyhood club……..that to me is a coward considering he was arsenal captain at the time. He was eager to play for barca coz there he would fit in… Read more »
I don’t think I’d be as nervous as I am going into today’s game if I knew TA or Keown were geeing the boys up.
Do we think DB’s fear of flying will affect his chances? I’m not sure, with the exception of a few European games in Russia everywhere else is drivable.
Oh and Pat, if you do go then thank you for everything you have done for the club. He was in the first Arsenal team I remember in 79/80, a true Arsenal man, Vieira, love him as I do, should take notes instead of tapping up our players.
Adams is great, but after watching him at Portsmouth i’m not sure he’s ready to take charge of 3 Champions League games. If we’re talking ex-players, my man’s Keown.
Of course someone “who knows the club”, doesnt necessarily have to be an ex-player.
Either way, its exciting.
Tim, what has this article got to do with Cesc buggering off home? Fuck him hes gone. And will have only a cup final to show for it (come on Bilbao). Personally I hope he never wins anything at Barca. Heart says big Tone for no. 2, but I dont think he can ever be the manager, so head says someone who can be. I would like to see Vieira being offered the gig on condition he gets his badges. Who could blame him for going to City when they gave him a 2 year playing contract, at the time… Read more »
Athletic*
The basques HATE being called Bilbao.
I would LOVE to see Keown ….He was so influential in our run to the champs league final and a fav player for years also.
Good luck Pat in your retirement.
We need Gotze for assistant manager!!!!
Lee Dixon, guy talks sense, knows defensive side well. He is Arsenal, and I think would be a good influence, he is calm, like able, with a winners attitude, and his dissection of the game is second to none on motd 2. Wish he was in the main one over shearer
I think it will be banfield. put it this way i know that if it is not banfield we will be looking for a new reserve manager too. imo that would not be a bad thing then we could bring in adams and bergkamp they could share both jobs so when dennis cant fly wenger will still have a right hand man. it wouldnt bother me if gerry peyton and boro primovic were replaced by henry and lehmann as well.
I know the likelihood is that someone with experience of the club is more than likely to assume the role. I wonder though, whether taking on someone such as Roberto Martinez is feasible.
I know he has been in management for a good few years now, but maybe it would appeal to him with a view to possibly taking over from Wenger once he calls it a day. He clearly loves to play attacking football, and maybe with better players at his disposal he could do a good job?
We all know that the best person to fill this role Emmanuel Eboue.
Freddie Ljungberg!