Opinion: Arsenal don’t need to be embarrassed that Slegers jumped into the net

It took some time but Arsenal finally confirmed the appointment of Renee Slegers as their permanent Head Coach this week- though the appointment was agreed before this week. Slegers had done such a good job since taking temporary charge in October that it became impossible to deny her candidacy. While it is certainly true that ‘the new manager bounce’ is a palpable phenomenon and there are still some longer-term questions about how she might handle recruitment and squad building (which are unknowns to us) all those doubts would pervade any other appointment too.

Last month I wrote that Arsenal should appoint Slegers and I stand by my reasoning from that piece. Had I been interviewing Slegers for the role I would have focused my questions on aspects such as squad building and how to deal with a downturn in form (because her record has been so good to this point that we have yet to see how she steers the team through adversity) and handling key player contracts. How would she have handled a situation like the decision not to renew Vivianne Miedema’s contract, for example?

But none of the other candidates on the market firmly answer these questions either. Because here is the thing, hiring managers is really difficult and a lot of it depends on luck. Getting the right person at the right time in the right circumstances is an exercise in bottling lightning. Perfectly logical appointments can and do fail and totally illogical appointments can and do succeed. One of the main reasons football clubs sack managers so often nowadays is because finding the right fit is more of a trial and error process than people like to admit.

A solution fell into Arsenal’s lap on this occasion and they shouldn’t be embarrassed about it. The club have spoken glowingly about the thoroughness of the recruitment process and how Slegers’ steady hand on the tiller has created the time and space for them to be belt and braces. I understand that, Arsenal don’t want this to look like a lazy process and, from what I understand, it hasn’t been. If anything, I think it has been too prolonged.

I understand Arsenal’s keenness to illustrate that they haven’t just sat in a deck chair and waited for a fish to jump into the net. I also think it is totally fine that a fish jumped into their net. Hiring a manager is a little like finding the right long-term partner, you go on a lot of dates, maybe you get into some relationships that feel right initially but disintegrate. Usually, you meet your match unexpectedly or even randomly.

This is not to say that football clubs should not do their due diligence and do everything in their power to limit risk, a good process should eliminate candidates that are obviously not right or who are not aligned with the club in question. But there are only so many rough edges you can shave off before a leap of faith is required.

I think it is worth saying that Slegers has managed her career in a smart fashion too. After her departure from Rosengard in April 2023, she has taken a step back, taken on a backroom coaching job at a big club like Arsenal and spent just over a year observing and learning. Now she is back in the big chair. Arsenal’s two previous Head Coaches, Jonas Eidevall and Joe Montemurro, also flitted between assistant and Head Coach roles. Slegers has built herself back up towards this role, whether by accident or design.

There is little point in toxic positivity either. It could be that Slegers’ reign to this point has ridden the crest of a wave and when that wave breaks, cracks might begin to show. Just go back and look up the early results under Jonas Eidevall. Nobody is a breath of fresh air forever and the true mark of a manager is how they perform once familiarity has set in.

Personally, I don’t believe there is an external candidate that clears any of those hurdles either. I also think it is important that a club like Arsenal invests in young female coaching talent. That cannot be the primary reason for an appointment, of course. As criteria goes it would be a bad master but it isn’t a bad servant. I think the optics of Slegers not getting the job over a male candidate would, fairly or unfairly, be perceived negatively.

A club has to take clear headed, long-term decisions, of course. There are just never any guarantees of success, at some point you’re taking a faith-based position whether you like it or not. There is no such thing as a bulletproof process. I don’t think Arsenal need to be embarrassed about their candidate being in the building already and I would go further and say this appointment should have been ratified earlier, in advance of the January transfer window and the first weekend of the winter restart.

However thorough the process, optics should not impede the reality of the January transfer window, players whose contracts are ticking into their final months and certainty in preparation for the second half of the season. I don’t think there was any need to prolong the process for process’s sake. Slegers has jumped into Arsenal’s lap and that is totally fine. Now. Let’s get cracking.