Following the departure of Raul Sanllehi yesterday, a lot of responsibility falls – in the short-term at least – on Managing Director Vinai Venkatesham.
It remains to be seen if there are to be further additions at board and executive level, but right now he has to oversee a transfer window and preparations for the new season, in conjunction with Mikel Arteta and Technical Director Edu.
Venkatesham understands that their knowledge is key, and he sounded enthused by what they can achieve going forward.
“We have, in Edu and Mikel, two individuals who are responsible for our technical plan,” he said in an interview with arsenal.com.
“Of course, overseen by me and the board, but those two are the experts and they have a very, very clear plan about how they want to rebalance our squad in the short term, in the medium term and in the long term.
“We’re starting to work on that immediately in this transfer window. I think we can look forward with some real optimism.
“In Mikel Arteta, we have an absolutely fantastic, dynamic head coach. He forms a formidable team with Edu Gaspar, who is our technical director.
“And if we look at our academy, I think we’re in really, really strong hands with Per Mertesacker and we have some of the most exciting young talent in the league.”
After a difficult couple of weeks for the club following the FA Cup, he has also acknowledged that improvements can be made in terms of communication.
“I think we can do better a job of communicating with our fans,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to give them a running commentary of everything that we’re doing, nor are we always going to correct or be able to correct some of the misinformation there is about the club.
“But we need to be clear about what we’re doing and what our plan is and we can get better at that.
“There’s of course lots of other areas that we’re going to be addressing, but it’s all about the same thing: trying to make this organisation as efficient as we possibly can and as high-performing as we possibly can.
“Because if we can do that, we give ourselves the best ability to deliver on our objectives.”
The full interview is worth checking out on the official site here.
I’d like to think the interview is when you have questions and answers. This is just the statement. Not the brightest start improving the communication.
Looked to me like he was asked questions but they just edited it to make it as quick and easy to view and digest as possible. Had it been a pre-prepared statement he wouldn’t have repeated himself quite as frequently.
Just a standard issue incoming CEO statement
Yeah, words are cheap and cheerful at this stage. Actions speak far louder.
That said, its the Silent One who bothers me. All roads, not matter how genuinely positive, plausible and well-meaning, lead back to him – the fucking tarantula.
Listen this guy is a complete joker okay. Another absolute howler by KSE. Why the fuck aren’t they actually recruiting for the position properly? Its crazy. What’s next? When Vinai goes who’s going to take his position? One of the Chef’s because they have a decent record at winning the family game of Monopoly at Christmas. And for anyone who thinks I am being a naysayer for the sake of it. Vinai is completely inept — and he was back when he was our CCO. He struggled to get us better commercial deals than the likes of Liverpool and Spurs,… Read more »
His job at Mitsui was his first job straight out of university. Wow, you’re judging a guy based on what he did straight out of university in a completely different field…
Absolute muppet. Take your nonsense elsewhere.
He’ll be out the door soon enough if all the stories about him are true.
And I’ll say it again, Raul Sanllehi should be in prison!
What stories are these out of interest?
And totally agree about Sanllehi, genuinely felt like it was bordering on corruption. Bastard
Stories are just that, stories. Just as facts are facts and can’t be differing versions of facts.
Despite that vast amount of reading between the lines I keep reading, I’ll reserve judgement on anyone, including Raul, until I read some concrete facts backed up with some actual evidence.
It’s fair to suggest Arsenal have acted from facts they’ve discovered, and I’m glad Raul has gone from the Arsenal, but Vinai should not be cast with the same net until proven otherwise.
Right now I feel like the proverbial once pretty girl whose hopes and looks faded by every sleazy bloke feeding her lies to take advantage of her. My trust levels are low.
I hope this Vinai character is one of integrity and leadership but if he isn’t I won’t be shocked or surprised anymore.
From the amicable public statements when Raul got sacked, my guess is the club want to keep this confidential and we’ll never hear the real facts, just the speculation.
If Raul really was abusing his position, I suppose it is super embarrassing for KSE and the club. Plus they probably don’t want the hassle/publicity of this ending up in the courts.
But if Raul was screwing us over, I’d hate for it to be covered up and for him to fail up, and get another cushy job at another club.
If somebody gets fired for abusing his position, they dont issue the nice statements we read yesterday.
“If somebody gets fired for abusing his position, they dont issue the nice statements we read yesterday.“ The swiftness of the action, the fact that so many ITK journalists were blindsided, leaving to “spend time with the family”, all point to a split to protect mutual dignity. My guess is Sanllehi has been subtly taking kickbacks via his “Network” but years of Barca training means getting anything to stick is near on impossible and bad for the arsenal brand. Better for both that it comes to a quick end, we don’t sully his name and he goes without taking a… Read more »
Just read an interview given by Lille President who said Raul’s departure was only about restructure and he left in very good terms with Arsenal. Seems like a guy who has been in contact with Raul and knows about what is happening at Arsenal.
Seems like a guy that was fed a line and believed it because “My mate wouldn’t tell me lies”.
I bet you’re a fully paid up member of the Flat Earth Society, aren’t you mate?
I’m sorry to have to inform you that our away kit this year isn’t turquoise.
Guy who wants to wait on facts before judging is called a flat-earther. For fucks sake.
Well, guys like him annoy me. Why can’t they just accept the club has made a decision?
“It’s fair to suggest that Arsenal acted on facts they had discovered.”
No, they just sacked Raul because they felt like it, mate. They had nothing on him, they just did it for a laugh.
?
Maybe he was one of the 55?
I’m sure they had a reason for letting him go, or maybe it was Raul’s decision, we really don’t know. He could have been fired because the transfer strategy is failing, or the team under performing. But to hear yourself and others here, it is because he was taking kickbacks and got caught, there is no evidence for this -just speculation.
So Arsenal order an internal investigation in the ridiculously high Pepe transfer and within 24 hours the man who struck said deal is out of the door.
In your own time, fellas…..
??
But thats the thing Jim. Due to the fabric and framework that the ‘football business’ operates in. He hasn’t really done anything wrong. His approach to transfer dealings is pretty much just considered ‘old school.’ The transfer market now is probably worse than the unregulated days on Wall Street. You have clubs transferring absolutely huge amounts of money to basically random bank accounts all over the world. Its nuts. So for guys like Raul, who have lots of cozy relationships with agents and other third parties. It would be fairly easy to wrangle a nice percentage on any transfer fee… Read more »
Arsenal denied the investigation. They did not announce it.
If there were kickbacks, they had to call the police. They cannot say : Just leave then make nice statements about him.
That would be a coverup which is punished by law.
Fine — not Arsenal themselves, but literally every single sports journalist ran a story saying they were launching an internal investigation into the Pepe deal. And they don’t have to call the Police? Why would they do that? Litigation is expensive, and they’d have to have definitive proof that Raul was doing it — which would be very difficult to do, given how hands off they have been with their approach to Club management. His wheelings and dealings would be extremely hard to shine light on given the web of people he would’ve used to get deals done. Also punishable… Read more »
Why did police made arrests at FIFA before? Why is current FIFA president under police investigation? Football is part of society and their dealings can be investigated like any other parts of society.
For the Lille part in it, if there is any truth in what is being circulated, you will hear from their prosecutors very soon. They have very aggressive prosecutors who poke their nose in everything.
And he would have got away with all the transfer fee, if it hadn’t been for those pesky meddling Kroenkes….
What stories?
There’s one how he made a mess of sponsorship deals leading to us getting less money out it it than a clubborbour stature should do. Of true that shows incompetence. It also begs the question how he could be so close to proceedings under Dodgy Don Raul and either now know or turning a blind eye to to. It may of course also be the case that maybe he was the one who blew the whistle and the results of that are what led to Don Raul being shown the door. Like Jim2Wheels say, it’s speculation and until such time… Read more »
Is this story hearsay or was it published somewhere?
Inter are trying to sign Messi and Barcelona are said to be looking at Vinai as the perfect replacement.
Well said Twats. For once we agree on something. Top post.
Stories?
please id love to know what gazidis mk 2 has been up to
Sure, me too but Gazidis is of less importance since he’s been gone for some time now. I only hope this Vinai feller is alright and not the bufoon it’s suggested he is because our club needs stability. Enough of the bullshit!
Vinai is Gazidis Mk2
I misread your initial post but I understand what you meant now. Disregard my comments on Gazidis Mk1. 🙂
It could have been that Raul got fired because Arsenal didn’t want big transfers. We’re going back to 50M max transfers (to me). This means we’re never going to beat other clubs and buy a world-class CB. I am surprised fans are happy.
Christ! Yeah, he was only trying his best when he lined the pockets of his mates and overpaid for players at our Arsenal’s expense.
It’s like George Graham only for called in the crap Norwegian transfers. If Raul had come back with ( I don’t know correct spelling ) Upenence big CB from red bull Leipzig. And put a bit of cash in his and his agent mates pocket would we care , really It’s when he does it for Luiz, William , Denis Suarez that we have problem We probably get more cheap south American players through edu now and Kia j. Players. We could be very south American/Portuguese spesking team next year Martinez Cedric Luiz Mari thienry Torreria xhaka Pepe William pea… Read more »
All the communications around Raul’s departure imply we will rely on our academy. Our academy is in good hands with Per Mertsacker, we have some of of the exciting talents in our academy blah blah blah. People don’t know how to read between the lines.
By the way, Man U didn’t go back and invesigate 90M Pogba transfer. They understand they needed to do that otherwise it was going to be Real or PSG. Pépé had to pick between two teams that put in the same offer and he picked Arsenal. Another team was ready to spend as much.
Pepe I heard Barca and an italian team also in for him at 55m. And so we paid over the odds as the French chairman Raul s mate, talked Pepe into signing for us rather than the other clubs , the bounce was we pay in installments.. similar to pogba deal
If you spend £50m+ on a player then you’re probably doing something wrong. If you’re doing it right, you spot they have got what it takes before that. The perception of being world class happens once they’ve performed for you. Hopefully saliba will be a case in point(VVD was bought by Southampton for something like £20m but Liverpool or a top club could’ve got him instead from celtic and he still would’ve been seen within a year of being world class). Martinelli and tierney are another 2 players who ultimately at some point may carry that pereception too. A player’s… Read more »
If hes able to transfer these words into actions, then we’re in good hands.
I hope the message about Edu and Arteta empowered to manage the squad is true. We have made some expensive transfer mistakes in the recent past. Hopefully we’ll see some additions to the squad that actually improves the team now.
To me, that smacked of a cheap soundbite to get the fans onside.
If Edu and Arteta are genuinely given a more free reign to have a more positive input on future transfers then great – but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Well who else is going to pick targets?
Erm….Vinai? ?
We’ll still make mistakes, as transfers and player recruitment is always a bit risky, but at least we appear to have a firm direction now and a clear plan — that has been lacking for years.
Expensive transfer mistakes like? Did you mean Pepe – who hasn’t set the world alight but has come from a different league, contributes decently and has loads of potential and a fantastic coach to guide him. Saliba – I haven’t heard anyone scream this to be a mistake. Luiz I suppose it is then? – signed for 8 million in a world where Lewis F’ing DUNK is being rumored for 40 million. Luiz has the misfortune of playing under Emery and the whole unit struggled and he seems to have shown some desperate leadership under Arteta. He will help Saliba… Read more »
Not sure I buy your point about the likes of Luiz/Willian simply being the media’s narrative them being expensive mistakes. Luiz – 24m for an incredibly mixed bag of a season, where I still think the negatives outweighed the positives of the FA cup final and semis. Then, when the whole world can see that letting Luiz go is the sensible option, we give him another contract, so I’d imagine for a total of 2 season David Luiz will have cost us 40 odd million (with no resale value). I’d rather sign Dunk for 40m and have him for 4-5… Read more »
I forgot Cedric, didn’t I? But an established premier league/international full back who is in his prime playing back up to our first choice for 5 million pre-Covid is pretty good business to be honest. I understand that he would have been available for free but there was no guarantee he would sign for us at that point. Btw, he’s also an European champion, so there’s some pedigree and let’s not dismiss him as some junk. Luiz’s season was a mixed bag certainly but we knew what we were getting when we signed at a time we lost Koscielny. Our… Read more »
Totally agree about the positivity, I just think looking back on and recognising past errors is important. But let’s get behind the boys, Arteta’s doing something pretty special and I think the more influence he has the better!
Wow; that was a swift flick of the broom there, sweeping Mustafi under the carpet.
Let’s just remind readers here that we paid well over £35m for that clown to drop us and keep us in the Europa League.
Mustafi and Xhaka were signed under a long since gone management regime. Nothing to do with Raul, Vinai, Edu or Mikel
Fair one.
But whilst Xhaka has genuinely improved, Mustafi has flattered to deceive. It’s now the current regime’s responsibility to move him on asap.
This will be our fourth season in the Europa League due to dropped Premiership points sustained at the antics of that clown. For the good of this club’s future, it must not be allowed to happen again.
Loving the positivity there Aaron! Good man! COYG!
Positivity – That’s all we got that we can cling on to, ain’t it.
Not that I love everything that our club does, but the last stick to beat them with over the last few seasons is our transfer business compared to the rest of the league.
He speaks well and deserves a chance to prove those words. More communication from the club is what we have all wanted.
Ultimately he will be judged on results, as with all football clubs.
Can anybody explain what Venai Venkatesham actually does and why he hasn’t gone too? Under Gazidis he was responsible for bringing in new commercial partners and he failed miserably. He’ll just be remembered as the bloke that got conned by a fake BYD sponsorship deal. Once Gazidis left he became managing director and yet IF Raul was doing anything improper then it’s clear Venai knew nothing about it. That tells me at best he’s either extremely naive or at worst completely incompetent. So other than being a supposedly nice guy why is he still here?
I get your point but we can’t go all out and keep firing people on key executive position at once. Also, there can be another view that in the 1 year he had powers he must have been told by the owners not to intervene in football side matters as they had Raul. Since after 1 season & 2 transfer windows we are shambles he must have voiced his concerns at the board level.
Lets support this guy and our club for now and see. As he said everyone wants everything overnight, and that ain’t gonna happen.
I wondered about this what you say ,
Also we have failed to make more revenue from having the most famous / social media biggest followed Muslim sportsman in the works ozil , turn into sponsor ship and fans revenue
It’s sad when anyone loses their job but I couldn’t be happier KSE recognized Raul’s corrosive influence on the direction of our club.
Hopefully Vinai is on the phone with Cagigao begging him to come back. And maybe Sven too, while he’s at it (<– so I can do the double on Kaius 😉
#svenfanboys
Have any of you watched the video with Vinai? Dude blinks a lot.
Does he lick his lips too? He looks like a lip licker.
Yeah, Kaius has been awfully quiet this week … 😉
That’s Edu Gaspar’s call, He is the one in charge of the technical side of things including scouting
Well Vinai, my son, if you say that you can improve communications around the club, then who am I to argue? Just s couple of points though. 1. A little less condescending, patronising cheese that currently inhibits the club’s website, the match day programme and, more importantly the AGM. We’re a darn sight more aware of what’s going on at the club than this current board of directors presume. 2. Calling the fan base a ‘noise’ is not the best way to engender a harmonious relationship between the club and said fan base. No more name calling, please. 3. This… Read more »
It seems that we now have a clear delineation between the technical and operations side of the club which if nothing else leads to some clarity when it comes to accountability. In Arteta we have a manager who has demonstrated that he’s not afraid to tell it how it is from the technical side, no more hiding or finger pointing from the execs now.
I’d like to see us appoint a former player as a figure head, vocal representative. We have dozens to pick from that would do a great job, and could provide that bridge between the execs and the fans, while taking some of that burden off Arteta.
Suggestions?
Only one man big enough for the job – TGSTEL!
You’d need bigger doors leading into the board room, so that he could squeeze his ego in.
I miss blogs taking the rise out of his voice. That really used to make me laugh. TGSTEL. ?
I wouldn’t mind Arsene back in some capacity. I would also love Tony Adams, but I fear that he has been too vocal with his ideas about the clubs’ direction. Robert Pires? He’s often around the club anyway.
Whoever it is I would prefer a proper Gooner.
Pires, Bergkamp, Overmars, even wrighty – he bleeds the club.
Yeah, Wrighty’s a good call actually.
Love Wrighty to bits…. Not a chance in hell he could keep himself in check for such a role though
I thumbs down you for suggesting Adams ( great player, terrible manager/pundit ) and Arsene ( way too stingey and proud )
But your suggestion of Pires makes a lot of sense. I’d love to see him back at the Club in a responsible position
Yeah, I get why you did that mate. I just always loved Adams, but he has been far too vocal and made some pretty stupid comments about things at the club. I just want someone who is really a bit of a fan, like us all.
Fans used to criticize Henry as a pundit but Adams had said much worse about the club and Arsene. He is English and gets special treatment.
You won’t get Arsene. After the way he was treated, he’d be a fool to come back. And Arsene is nobody’s fool.
TA, on the other hand, has been trying to get back in some working capacity to The Arsenal for some time. (I have just finished reading his second book ‘Sober’ – an insightful read actually.)
I don’t think, however, even someone as amiable and patient as Tony Adams, though, would be able to stomach Kroenke’s complete lack of passion for this club. No, he definitely wouldn’t; it wouldn’t work.
Well there’s only one I can think of who’s already doing that and it’s Marc Overmars.
Given he was linked before I suppose that’s not completely implausible. Otherwise Vieira was doing something like that at City but it seems he wants to be a manager more so wouldn’t expect him to do it.
Otherwise, an ex-Arsenal player with business nous? Flamini.
But again I doubt he will get involved.
Flamini? Özil’s best mate? ??♂️
That’s actually a great shout. But I want Flamini to keep his powder dry until such time as he can make Kroenke an offer he cannot refuse and buy him out.
Unfortunately that may well be at least five to ten years away, but that’s the power shift I’d like to see. The fucking big one. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Surely that is Arteta. Former player, figure head and definitely vocal. I would rather a couple of the 55 keep their job, than pay a formerly player to be an overpaid spokesperson.
Wrighty!
Although I can imagine Stan’s security heavies chucking Ian through the plate glass doors each week – like Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley in ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ – because Wrighty just wouldn’t be able to control himself from cutting through the crap and asking Stan all the things that Kroenke doesn’t want to hear – such as when the fuck he’s going to start acting like a real owner and start investing in the club properly…
Stan acted like an owner by firing Raul — not many of us saw that coming, so credit where it’s due. And whilst we overpaid for Pepe, £72M was spent on him alone last year, plus £25M for Tierney and a similar amount for Saliba. I don’t get why people say the club isn’t investing in the team, when all the evidence suggests otherwise.
And also, I don’t get why some people are slating Vinai’s character and business acumen — he’s no muppet and I thought what he had to say what bang on the money
We’re still not investing anywhere near the amounts that City and Liverpool have spent. And before you plead poverty on Kroenke’s behalf, the guy is a billionaire eight times over. As it is, we’re scrambling through Chelsea’s dustbins (yet again) and out of the race for anyone decent on the market – because the majority shareholder won’t spend market forces money. Firing Raul is no face-saver either; the fat useless crook should never have been employed by this club in the first place. If you think we’re ‘spending big’ check out who the top six have brought in during the… Read more »
Premiership Gross Spend Over Past Five Seasons:
1. Manchester City – £818.5m
2. Chelsea – £656.9m
3. Manchester Utd -£611.1m
4. Everton – £536.5m
5. Liverpool – £470.9m
6. Arsenal – £443.1m (includes the money spent on Pepe)
Even Everton have shown more financial ambition in the market than us! ?
Gross spend is the wrong metric, Net spend accounts for sales.
https://www.transferleague.co.uk/premier-league-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/premier-league-table-last-five-seasons
Liverpool Net 92.4M
Arsenal Net 249M
Only Everton (275M), MU (380M), and City (506M) spent more. Did not help Everton, MU the jury is out, City just got embarrassed by Lyon due to Peps tinkering. Arsenal are spending, just not very well.
Net spend. ?
This is a football club mate. We’re not in this to make money for Kroenke, we’re in this to get in the best players possible to make the club as successful as possible.
Over paid for Pepe
Under paid for thienry
Raul +/-
Swings round abouts and brown envolopes
Ahmm, we have Edu. Overmars, may have been a better choice though. Jury is out on Edu for now
Right, but Edu clearly isn’t in that “customer liaison” role, I’m not sure he’s actually done an interview since joining.
Why would we want someone as a PR figurehead only? Isn’t it better to have the people making the decisions explaining them, and being held responsible? Edu should be the one speaking up.
I mean we could get (say) Pires to explain what Edu is doing and what his plans are. Sure, anything would sound nice coming from him, but ultimately what would be the point?
Because as Arteta has undoubtedly proven. People with strong communication skills can get a point or a concept accross much more capably than those without.
Arteta, Edu, Per are in three key senior positions and Freddie and Steve Bould are on the coaching staff. Pires is also reportedly around the club a fair bit too. So we’ve gone from very little former player involvement to a good smattering. Edu is doing the job Overmars would have and romantically we’d all love Bergkamp back but Arteta will build his own staff. Henry, Sol and Vieira want to be managers, Adams was a fantastic *player* and Wrighty and Alan Smith are a pundits so we’re probably set. Rumours that O’Leary might join the board but what’s really… Read more »
Because o Leary, Adams , sol,, Smith etc.. care about results on pitch , before money , whilenot bring naive o Leary saw what happened at leeds
isnt that Edu’s job??
LANP.
LIKE A NEW…..PROMOTION.
Amazing how just two years ago it was Gazidis, Sanllehi, Mislintat and Emery and now they’ve all gone.
Yep, it’s just one big happy family at Kroenke Towers.
Gazidis was always going, Sanllehi got rid of Mislintat, and Emery was shit
I don’t think it’s too unusual for executive level job turnover be quite high, on the continent at least As long as there is a robust process to hiring / dismissing (which I’m not sure was the case tbh) I don’t see it as a problem. Yes in an ideal world we would have core staff staying for 4+ years in order to build a coherent squad / manager combo, but it has to be the right staff to do that. Executive level staff absolutely should be judged with the same scrutiny as Managers / Head Coaches imo and should… Read more »
On the topic of Raul I have a few thoughts. 1. If his hand was in the cookie jar then there was no option but to get rid of him. However, there is a difference between greasing the wheels to get deals done and stealing. Until more info is available I will not make judgement. 2. Blogs says he sold poorly. I think forcing Bordeaux to pay an actual fee for Kos and the 30+M for Iwobi represents good business. Ramsey, for all I like him, basically conned the Club by indicating he would re-sign and then doing nothing of… Read more »
Good post, there is a lot of speculation and innuendo going on here with Blogs setting a pretty poor example, maybe not intentionally either. Blogs does not like the relationship with super agents because we might not spend the money wisely, and overpay for players, but the accusations of corruption seem like conspiracy theory level stuff, no factual basis, all speculation.
Dave, you are so wrong about Ramsey. He was all set to sign, but it was Unai who told the management to back out. Wenger said last week about Rambo wanting to stay.
All other points are fair.
Glad Raul is gone. He’s always been dodgy. The shameful thing is he’s gone but so have all the staff that his “methods” replaced.
Might there be a few awkward grovelling conversations to be had now?
Sorry, I meant he’s always “seemed” dodgy.
No apologies necessary; you got it right the first time.
I doubt it. With the exception of Cagigao, who will actually be missed?
55 staff.
There’s no shame in recalling any of them that’s important to the visions of the club, unless the current set of leaders want to leave the past behind and move forward with new ideas.
I can’t help but feel a little bit excited, 2 explayers and a guy with lengthy experience working at arsenal
Personally I hope part of Tim Lewis remit is to find a proper CEO. Vinai has been around a long time, essentially with the role of increasing commercial income and professionalising the whole commercial side with a view to balancing up the non football revenue streams which many of the clubs we aspire to rival have. I don’t see what he has done in that regard. Rwanda? Really? Then myriad very small deals with low grade companies. What next – Arsenals official fridge magnet provider? While United for example have large deals not just for the kit but a separate… Read more »
Will love to see Arsene back in some capacity, he’s by far most influencial in Arsenal modern history we can’t just forget him. And Neil has been a great ambassador for the club both and abroad those two l will like to see in key position at Arsenal FC. Up the Arsenal!
I think even if Arsene has regained perspective in his time away, and updated his football philosophy to suit the 2020s, the last thing Arteta needs is to directly answer to the most important figure in the history of the club who held his job only 2 years ago. It would be stifling
Celebrate him, build a statue, welcome him to our games. But don’t try to turn back the clock
I think we all should know by now that Wenger would never accept a position that could be seen as undermining the “head coach”–he would never have accepted that as a manager, and he wouldn’t do it to someone else at Arsenal. For me, the ideal job for Wenger is to manage a francophone African side–still coaching football, but without the day-to-day pressure of running a club team.
I so hope the eventual statue is of him struggling with his coat zip.
Depends upon the position offered but generally it’s a bad idea, particularly with Wenger and his long history with the club. The press would be forever looking out for differences, real or imagined, between former and present. Any suspicion of second guessing the present manager would be a disaster and Wenger will know that of course, which is why it will never happen.
So Ozil outlasted Emery, and now Raul. Vinai is next!!!
In the end there will be only Özil! He will assume the throne as the omnipotent one as he’s become manager, head of recruiting, CEO and owner all rolled into one!
Well, he’s plenty of spare time on his hands so why not?
Exactly. And as he assumes his throne with the world at his feet and everyone expects a speech he goes “HAH!” before leaning back with a contemptuous smirk on his face.
“Contemptuous”, “smirk” – are these the kind of words that any right-thinking Gooner would use about Mr Özil? I’m shocked to the core, sir!
I don’t know. I’m not alt-right. I am an Özil fan although I think the time has come for him to move on. And I’m trying to have a laugh by imagining a silly situation that isn’t real. You know, humour.
And you know what? I read like a twat. I honestly saw “any right” as “alt-right”. I need new reading glasses.
It was utterly depressing reading about the possible financial shenanigans in some of the transfers conducted under Sanllehi’s management. I really wondered about the Suarez and Cedric affairs. This is as a result of there being no internal audits, and the power concentration in one pair of hands.
It’s never too late for a course correction.
Thank you for bringing these issues to light.
If you were cynical, you could say our new Managing Director is hardly going to declare Arteta has it all wrong and should change direction before the club goes to Hell in a handcart. Still, it’s good to know he’s fully “on side”. On a more serious point, it’s becoming clear – albeit on a drip, drip basis – that there have been some very odd things going on behind the scenes. I think the new management team should collectively address Gooners, tell us what they can about what’s gone on and give as much information on the financial position… Read more »
Doing a serach for Vinai and sponsorship I come across this. Don’t know the quality of the reporting on that site as I’ve never encountered it before but there is one bit in this article I find very interesting. “Re-enter Sven Mislintat for a minute. He recently described Arsenal as a “mess” and a “dysfunctional [club] with no clear plan.” Some of that may be the product of a relationship that turned sour quickly — Mislintat only spent 18 months in North London — but some of it may be accurate. Mistlintat reportedly wanted to trim what he saw as… Read more »
I read somewhere today that (gone) Raul was against the scouts we let go “55 redundancies” (same trim Sven was talking about back then and Raul didn’t allow) which means that particular decision to let the scouts go has already shown him that his wings were being clipped and power taken from him before he was finally added to the list which now turns 55+1 if am not mistaken
Something tells me Stan read one of the articles by Andrew here.
@Stan: Subscribe to Arseblog and save your money. ?
I wish Vinai good luck and success in his current position. That is the best we can do as fans.
From day one, Raul’s appearance, comportment and his dislike for public appearances suggest to me that his a dubious character and not one to be trusted.
I hope the veil on Arsenal is beginning to lift so we can see clearly on how to return this great club back to the place it belongs.
I remember when he was appointed though, most (not all) of the comments were positive … it just goes to show that instant judgments about any appointment – be it playing or backroom – can be a hostage to fortune. in a relatively short time. Hero (of sorts) to zero? I’ve a feeling that there’s a lot more to come out yet, but it’s clear that we’ve been paying well over the odds for several recent transfers and other dealings probably amounting to several tens of £millions. We’re not really a rich club, contrary to some views, and those losses… Read more »
My first question is “Where did all the money go that the players gave up from their wages in good faith to ensure there would be no job cuts amongst the staff? Did that go into Sanlehi’s pockets or into Silent Stan’s new stadium?
Good question. One that apparently Xhaka and a good many of the squad have demanded answers to.
And let’s not forget here, that not only were Arsenal the only club to call upon their playing staff to take a wage cut due to the pandemic, but so far we also the only club to make redundancies out of it too.
To say Kroenke is an opportunist cunt is putting it mildly.
Silent Stan of course…
We hope these guys (Venkatesham, Edu and Arteta) can get the job done. We really need people that understand football running the show at the technical level of the club especially.
Football-minded people should certainly be running the show at the technical level as you say. However, Arsenal is, at the end of the day, a business so business people (although we’ve not got a woman in any senior position, which is disgraceful really) are ultimately running things. That’s just the way it is.
Sorry to see that some people don’t agree with the statement that “Arsenal is a business so business people are … running things.” If that’s not the case, what is, people?
Yuck. PR man to explain to the idiots why its great that we won’t be spending, why market is difficult now – actual quote… Idiots (below and above here) will eat this garbage up, as they always do when evil man is let go (signed 4 starters + Martinelli, average age of 22, not countin Luiz even). Always love how Arsenal fanbase gets so concerned about money spent… unlike when it was going to the owner and nothing was put into the club – aka next two years of Arsenal minimum.
For years we dont spend and we’ve been moaning, now we spend and we started moaning(everyone of us has now turn to an accountant and so much interest in the bookkeeping, suddenly we are now great mathematicians n statically alive), if in 2 years time we fail to buy a player above 50 million or close to that or spend the way we the fans want, we will continue to moan. As for me, am focusing my energy on what happens on the pitch because we dont even know which information to trust (truth and lies are interwoven and tangled… Read more »
We’re not getting amongst the big signings though and we have an eight time billionaire owner for an owner. When was the last time this club signed a world class big name? Mesut Ozil, in 2013; seven years ago. That’s pathetic for a club of this pedigree. We’ve heard nothing from the club but sound bites about how they want us to compete with the best – and in the same breath constantly pleading poverty, like a piece of scratched vinyl – and that was before the pandemic. Nothing will radically change this club’s Premiership and Champion’s League aspirations until… Read more »
I make a concession to my post re. signings and admit that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang In 2018 was a big major name world class signing.
But, even so, two in the past seven years isn’t good enough for a club that should be competing for The Premiership and The Champion’s League.
It’s a good thing that Raul and one layer is removed. OTOH, Edu and Arteta are not experienced. Ridding of Raul does not necessarily resolve anything. We frankly would be better if we got an experience Transfer man in from the trenches in Overmars or Luis Campos at Lille. There are still plenty of unresolved and frankly messy state of affairs : 1) At the back, we seem intent on adding yet another Cback. We already added Luiz last summer and then Mari for 15m , the former a band aid and the latter jury still out. We have also… Read more »
There’s a good reason for wanting another centre back – we need a top drawer player to partner Saliba; the rest of our massed collection are not good enough, albeit for a variety of reasons, some mitigating, others simply because they’re crap.
Perhaps we can now keep AMN and get rid of Cedric – goodness knows why we signed him!
Edu is a real man
Can’t say VV now being in complete charge of the club is a positive thing. This guy has failed at almost every basic part of his job, he’s now been given a bigger job with more responisbility and I can’t help but be worried. You can be as much of a nice guy as you want, but if you’re not good at your job then what good does it do the club, he’s effectively CEO in Situ, not Gunnersaurus rallying the fans. I can’t say I’m too convinced with Edu either, anyone associated with Kia is to be wary of… Read more »
He’s not the man.
He is good at what he does to be fair to him which is to manage the business side of the club (A big task)
But he was never brought him to run the transfers. That would be throwing him under the bus.
Man this dude doesnt look like hes the sharpest tool in the shed eh.. nothing with him being idnian.. iv got indian paki friends who look very sharp.. this guy look like hes a joke
Good podcast today. Basically you don’t want to throw Vinny under the bus either. He’s good doing what he’s good at which is running the Business of the club but we need frankly as I have mentioned for some time a football man who’s been in the transfer trenches. By that measure Edu is NOT the chap. And whilst ordinarily we would be able to carry some risk on a young Transfer manager, this may not be the time given we also have a young manager on helm. As I mentioned before solutions are there for KSE. Luis Campos at… Read more »
Ok, just a bit of fun during what has so far been a pretty mundane transfer window – list and share your top five Arsenal signings. The ones that really made you feel great and unable to wait for the new season to start.
Blogs, please feel free to join in ?
I’ll get the ball rolling;
1. Sol Campbell – 2001
2. Charlie Nicholas -1983
3. Tony Woodcock – 1982
4. Dennis Bergkamp -1995
5. Malcolm Macdonald – 1976