Unai Emery has released a letter via the Arsenal website in which he thanks the supporters, his colleagues, the club’s employees and the players.
It’s a classy gesture from the Spaniard who this morning was relieved of his duties after a terrible run of results.
It’s sad that it hasn’t worked out for Emery. When he arrived at the club 18 months ago, we were ready for change and hopeful that he was the right man to take the club forward. We wish him and his team all the best for the future.
Emery’s farewell statement in full:
It has been an honour to be the Arsenal head coach.
To all the fans, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for helping me to understand and feel the greatness of Arsenal. To all of you who have supported us from every corner of the globe, all of you who have come to the Emirates, all of you who have waited in the rain and cold just to greet me after a game. I want to tell all of you that I have worked with passion, with commitment and with effort.
I would have liked nothing more than to have achieved better results for you.
I also want to send a message of gratitude to all Arsenal employees for the way they have treated me. The greatness of Arsenal is in every director, executive, employee, assistant and volunteer.
In particular, I want to highlight Ivan Gazidis, who welcomed me to the club, and Raul Sanllehi, Edu and Vinai Venkatesham for their respect, companionship and help. Until the very last minute I have been treated with honour and honesty. And of course, I send my sincere gratitude to the Kroenke family, for their trust.
It has been a year and a half full of emotions, of great moments and some other more bitter ones, but not a single day has gone by without me stopping to think about how lucky I have been to work for this club with these players and their professional and personal qualities.
They have always honoured the shirt they wear. They deserve your support.
I had already experienced a lot in football, but I have enjoyed and learned a lot in England, in the Premier League, about respect for professionals and about the purity of football.
My best wishes always.
COYG
Seems he could’ve said this sooner, oh well
Bit harsh, he was only sacked this morning.
You slow will…he meant he should have been sacked earlier. Sad to see so many dislikes when the fans were the ones who wanted to see him go. This is a prime reason the board doesn’t make decisions based on the feelings of supporters.
What an ungarcious comment after someone says thank you after being sacked. Grow up you twot
That was dick comment
Classy till the end. Wish him all the best for the future.
Agree.
Hope he finds a club that’s suits him better, no doubting that he tried his best.
Hope he coaches players who are mentally strong in the future.
Either that or get Amy Adams from Arrival to be the go between.
I hopped in the comment section for this comment, lol.
I cannot remember if James had mentioned this on his new pod (brought to you by The Athletic) or if it was on the Arsecast, but Emery isn’t used to handling a bug club and always has worked best with clubs with smaller budgets.
haha, it is getting a bit ‘… in The Athletic’ heavy, ain’t it.
Gsevan man, literally everywhere. Every football source is from the Athletic. They’re having a swell time, aren’t they.
wolves?
Now that he has left, I think I can safely say this: We didn’t deserve him – a thorough gentleman! He was never meant to be in England! I believe we are a toxic fanbase – we’ve thrown expletives at everyone since including Arsene Wenger! I hate to say this: we should ‘never let them walk alone’, but we have been doing that for a while now…
You can take the views expressed by a noisy minority and pretend it’s representative of all of us if it fits your agenda, doesn’t mean you’re not still talking twaddle.
Now he’s gone let’s all say nice things…
ypu Can show empathy with someone who just got fired while thinking he had to go. Regardless of the job he has done he is still a person, and his letter is class.
Classy gesture perhaps, but a gesture all the same. Like his arsenal career, his words are meaningless. Sorry but I’m still fucked off his poor choices have put us in such a shit situation at a pivotal time in the clubs history.
Life is all about making gestures.
I hope everybody, that will be in contact with Arsenal, be blessed eoth class. Thanks Unai fo everything. May you legacy shoe, that you have to be a protagonist
Form is temporary, class is permanent
Best wishes for the future Unai
2nd that. Clearly out of his depth, but a good guy.
Wish him all d best
Thanks for the Memery, Unai!
Unai memery.
Classy response.
Thank you, Emery! Sorry that it didn’t work out. Hopefully this experience will help you grow and be succesful elsewhere.
Nothing to dislike about the person but out of his depth.
Lessons learned for the club? may b hite someone with the knowledge of the premiere league this time.
What “knowledge” of the Premier League did Wenger have when he arrived? What about Guardiola, Klopp, Pochettino, He who shall not be named, Nuno Santo, Conte, Ancellotti etc?
And what do you even mean by “knowledge”? Is it experience? Contacts?
Maybe it’s time to reassess how “special” the Premier League really is.
He made mistakes thats obvious and clear, but as gary neville said our recruitment is pathetic. Our defenders cannot defend. If the nexr manager gets this lot to concede less goals and resemble an actual defence then Emery is totally to blame but im not convinced the signings are of his own making and therefore someone else needs to take a share. He wasnt the right manager for us but to say our troubles lie solely with the manager is naive and foolhardy. We need better defenders simple as that as i honestly believe some of ours are almost un… Read more »
Who’s G. Neville u talking about? Th former valencia manager???
Some dick who is still clearly very bitter about all the beatings he got from us as a player.
I’ll get up to greet you when you step foot at the Emirates. Respect
Seems like a nice guy. I couldn’t wait to see him out the door. Now that he’s gone, I’m delighted. After reading his message, I’m still delighted and excited about the future, but, feel sorry for him that he failed.
Thats not how you burn bridges! !
Classy move.
Good luck we all wanted it to work, it just didn’t.
How about just “im sorry for what i have done and for what i didnt do”
hmmmm 😉
I didn’t rate Emery as a manager and yes he became quite a comical figure – it was the wrong decision not to make better use of translators. However, for me the ‘good ebening’ mocking became a bit nasty. There’s nothing wrong with a little teasing, but it did seem to become a bit demeaning. It takes some courage and effort to move to a different country and learn a new language, and whatever you say about Emery, he stuck his head above the parapet with his English. I wonder whether any of the particularly malicious commenters have ever taken… Read more »
James, since we don’t want to me the “ebening” nasty, I’ll tell you this. In my country we use the word “ebe” when someone “fucks”. So “ebenje” is “fucking” you can just imagine how much “good ebening” is damn funny for me. It comes like good fucking. Nevermind, just a funny fact. 😀
Correction: …”don’t want to make the “ebening” nasty… I swallowed some letters…
Hope you didn’t get a tummy ak
i thought that was funny haha
100% agree with this. I found the whole ‘good ebening’ thing to be more or less a form of bullying. In the end he was taking Arsenal down a dire path and to part ways is absolutely the right decision, but there was never a need to attack a man trying his bloody best to fulfil a demanding job in a foreign tongue. Good luck, Unai.
Agree. Just silly, and borderline racist. Anyone who has tried learning a second language knows how hard it is.
I wanted him to go as much as anyone but he’s a nice man and has tried his best.
Good luck to him.
Curious that there’s no mention of thanking the players.
“but not a single day has gone by without me stopping to think about how lucky I have been to work for this club with these players and their professional and personal qualities.
They have always honoured the shirt they wear. They deserve your support.”
That seems a heartfelt and supportive substitute for a straightforward expression of thank.
“not a single day has gone by without me stopping to think about how lucky I have been to work for this club with these players and their professional and personal qualities.
They have always honoured the shirt they wear. They deserve your support.”
He did.
Every success is founded on failure..
Unai Emery did not succeed at Arsenal but this is no judgement on his competency.
Arsenal was not for him.
He has the tools in his bag to succeed elsewhere.
Best of luck to him and this letter was a classy thing to do – Unai Emery will do well.
As for Arsenal its uncertain yet exciting times but lets not kid ourselves its a massive rebuilding programme ahead of us.
There are lots of players at Arsenal who should not be there.
Thats the challenge ahead..
Agreed, Unai Emery is a bit like David Moyes. Good for a midtable team with fewer expectations and being okay with combative football. With a top 6 team, he neither has the players to implement his ‘safety first’ approach, nor any appetite from the fans for such a play style. Such coaches will find it hard with big clubs IMO.
Yes it is a classy gesture. Well done to him for doing that in what were, obviously, very difficult circumstances.
Comments got too personal – his performances deserved criticism but not him as a person. Didn’t set out to play badly!
The PL and the aggressive style didn’t suit him as a coach. Couldn’t adopt to playing quick ball.
New coach should have PL playing or managing experience and be ready for a big club
So you would not approve of Allegri at Arsenal?
Personally I’m not convinced by Allegri! No doubt he’s was a successful manager in Turin but somehow I’m just not seeing it! I’d be going more towards Ancelotti…
Too bad you couldn’t transmit some of your class to Xhaka. Hopefully he’s the next one to follow you out the door.
Right..Class is when you abuse someone personally from behind a computer, like a coward ???
I wonder where the “Class” needs transmittng to ?
We booed him first. Bet you didn’t think that was classless.
I didn’t boo him. Does that mean he insulted me first?
Can’t do anything but respect him for that.
All the best for the future, Unai!
Thanks Unai, sadly it didn’t work out, but can only wish him all the best in the future.
Good evening Unai. Bye
I can’t help but feel a bit of affection for Emery. And I’m pleased that it seems the club treated the man with respect. Interesting though how things all fell apart, because he surely can’t be as bad a manager as our results indicate. I imagine that with a team of workmanlike, stolid professionals he would have been more effective. It would be interesting to hear from the likes of Lacazette, Ozil, Toreira, etc. What did they make of his tactics and the tinkering? To me, it seems that his insistence on making Arsenal a ‘chameleon’ team lead to his… Read more »
It hasnt worked out, but the man has class. He’s a hard working and dignified man. Unlike some of our players, who are not off the hook in my book. I think Freddie will know who they are, because we don’t really.
Clear ’em out Freddie or whoever gets the job permanently!
On the off chance you’re reading this Unai…
Good luck Mr Emery. You did really well in Spain, so I’d go back there if I was you. Sorry it didn’t work out, but all the best. Hopefully the next manager will get rid of any trouble makers.
Top comment!
Given that it’s written in English, I doubt that is *his* message.
Impossible as it is to translate the written word
Yeah, I heard Agnes from accounting at Arsenal wrote it yesterday. Of course without consulting Emery at all.
So classy! I feel for the guy but He was going in a wrong direction! I blame our recruitment. Xhaka has already cost Wenger and Emery their job. I hope Freddie can hide his limitations well until the end of the season and reach some sort of midfield balance. It’s bit sad where Arsenal was once related to the likes of Vieira, Petit, Silva, Edu, Cazorla, Rosicky etc. and now our midfield rests on a 20 year old kid Guendouzi! We really need to sort out our recruitment for Midfield and Defense! I hope we can get a top manager… Read more »
Xhaka didn’t cost anybody their job. If anything the Roman Abramovich and the rulers of Qatar cost Wenger his job by turning the league upside down by the injection of vast amounts of money. It turned the heads of football boardroooms all over England, and greedy billionaires all over the world, and directly led to us selling out to a billionaire who knows and cares nothing for football.
Despite all the pain…….Arsenal is class, and to be associated with it is an honour for all.
Thanks Unai.
Fair play…. All the best Unai.
Huge pity it didn’t work out, he always came across to me as a workaholic who wanted nothing more than for the team to succeed.
On to the next manager for those awful pricks at AFTV to destroy. I implore all Arsenal fans to please stay away from them now. The guy who runs it makes 400k a year from it, dont tell me they’re in it for the good of the club. Let’s get back to being the classy club we were. COYG
Best comment I’ve read in months. AFTV only exist because of our failures, if Arsenal start playing well and winning, AFTV will go out of business as most viewers (primarily non-Arsenal fans) will stop watching. Let’s not allow a ‘fan tv’ to profit from our misery.
The table will turn on them one day and then let’s see how they like it.
It started out well but then got taken over by loud mouthed ‘characters’ (pricks). A few nutters are on there too. He recently had a video ‘debate’ on aftv being a problem or not. Obviously the ‘debate’ was not one sided (sarc off). To be fair though, I don’t mind Lee Judges, Kenny Ken and Graham. The rest of them are pretty much a bunch of clowns. And he just interviews his mates and loud mouthed idiots now anyway. It’s made us a banter club (the amount of times I’ve heard fans of other clubs taking the Michael out of… Read more »
Can’t be doing with their ‘fake gangta’ crap either.
I did see the clip of an interview after Frankfurt where a bunch of prats in the background were singing the ‘What do you think of Tottenham’ song, but replacing Tottenham with ‘Emery’.
I don’t hate the guy. He was just doing his best and we all knew he was on his way out. Yes, some of our fans really are toxic. Most of them can be found on aftv. ‘By the fans. For the owner.’
Yeah, that shit gives me a headache.
Well Kroenke is profiting from our failures too. I have no problems with a fan profiting from The Arsenal. And Unai’s failings had nothing to do with AFTV.
Good luck Unai , Freddie quick transitions to the front three please , no more sideways backwards shit , recycle possession quickly please , bring back our Arsenal
This is how you respond Xhaxa.
Just woke up to a beautiful, sunny day, opened arseblog:
FORMER MANAGERS > “Emery sends…”
A beautiful day indeed.
In case this gets to you, we never hated you. we just wanted arsenal to do better. thanks a lot Unai
A classy and hard working guy, no doubt. I hope he finds a club that complements his attributes and has a successful future.
Time for Arsenal fans to show a bit of class. Whether he got it right or not, it is no doubt the gaffer tried his best. Wish him all the best. The fact that we have only Llungberg at the moment should tell us it isn’t as easy as some fans think simply swapping managers. It would be derelict of duty for the board to appoint just anyone given how we’ve lost our way since Wenger. Even someone with Unai’s pedigree (and he has won more at 3 different leagues than most of the proposed replacement candidates). had a hard… Read more »
…or, our players have not been given solid instructions and guidance that gives them consistently good performances or that keeps them mentally alert and hungry for success. They are widely reported to be friends, and some of the things that have been going on would surely have upset them. Ozil got frozen out soon after he was attacked in the street. Young players were dropped because the team as a whole played poorly. Substitutions frequently made no sense and often removed the wrong player from the pitch. Xhaka was played out of position because Emery thought Torreira was “too small”… Read more »
Decent manager, just not the right fit. The way this one has turned out is mostly on the board, but partly on the difficulty of replacing an ultimately irreplaceable manager in Arsene. Good luck, Unai, and thanks for the Emerys.
Beautiful letter. Best of luck Unai.
Overall Unai is a likeable guy. He tried and failed. Now we can finally begin to realize the real cause of Arsenal’s demise: the Kroenkes. As long as they own our club, we will keep losing ground. All they see is a global brand, nothing more.
I’m sorry this is, again, a load of rubbish… “in particular….”
How about ia
Am sorrt I was unable…..
Oh please! Yes Unai is a decent guy, albeit out of his depth, but this letter was obviously written by the committee to ensure that he gets his full pay off. In technical terms it’s called a compromise agreement so save your angst and adulation.
Don’t piss on my strawberries there Unai! Here I was enjoying the news and now I feel pangs of guilt that maybe you deserved a bit better
What a gentleman with class! Clearly never thought he was bigger than the club. Like Rioch following Graham tough task following Wenger. I think later in autobiographies etc we will find out that, like Rioch, he was severely let down by overpaid players some of whom do not reslise that it is a priveledge to play for Arsenal FC. Rioch signed Berkamp and people look back and realise he made a difference. I think some of Emery’s signing will come good, especially the young centre back arriving in the summer from St. Eteinne. Personally I wish Unai Emery all the… Read more »
In the same way, Matteo.g., was 100% emery signing, as when he coached at Paris, he did not wNt him sold. And was one if first pićks when he got here
“he was severely let down by overpaid players some of whom do not reslise that it is a priveledge to play for Arsenal FC”
I’d bet my house on that. Same as Bayern with Kovac. Wish him all the best and much success as well.
Would have like to see him succeed here.
All the best Unai!
Nothing more to be said than what has been already written. Thanks Emery. Sorry it just didn’t work out.
Class act for doing that Emery. Like most, my patience broke & I’ve badly wanted a change (Xhaka as captain was my breaking point), but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have admiration for the man. He cared a lot about giving his the best for the club. Something we can’t be sure is the priority of some others at the club, over their own personal CV’s or bank balances… He was the wrong fit, I think we acted patiently & I hope we’ll both find our way forward in the future. Saying all that, this is the worst period… Read more »
The Premier league can eat you alive, there have been many managers and even more great players that didn’t cut it, but were excellent elsewhere. Unfortunately for him and us he just wasn’t suited for this league. I’m sure he’ll be back in Spain/France doing business soon enough. Nice letter, he could have been bitter with the way it ended. Just hope the next manager is the right choice. At least Gazidis won’t have a say!
I suspect he’s as relieved as everyone else that this ordeal is finally over. Wish him all the best.
Classy letter
As arseblog said a classy and dignified farewell. If I had lost my job because I wasn’t good enough and I was being told to fuck off on a regular basis I don’t think I would have been so altruistic.
Class
Hopefully he can now take a bit of a breather from football, refresh, and come back stronger. Perhaps maybe even with a new perspective on the game.
All the best to him either way.
Onward and upwards one and all.
A well penned goodbye.
He’s gone now, no need for anyone to be an arsehole about him.
Not a great coach, but very class. Best wishes to you Unai. And thanks for all.