Arsenal branded clueless as they seek Wenger replacement

Charlie Nicholas has claimed that Arsenal Football Club have no idea who they will hand the reigns to following the imminent departure of Arsene Wenger.

The Frenchman is set to step down from his role as Gunners boss once the final two Premier League fixtures are completed come next weekend, and the club will have to appoint their first new manager in over 21 years.

Wenger has endured a number of tough campaigns in recent years, leading to sections of fans to call for his head, and they will soon get their wish, but that leaves plenty of scepticism about who will be coming in to try and rebuild the team.

One man strongly linked with the role is former Liverpool assistant manager Zeljko Buvac, and whilst he remains somewhat of an unknown, the links continue to flow.

Charlie Nicholas told Sky Sports that while he was totally aware of his qualities as a coach, he wouldn’t be against his appointment should he prove to have certain key traits.

“Who?” Nicholas joked.

“‘The Brains’, No 2. I genuinely don’t know. He obviously does a fabulous job as a No 2.

“I want a leader. I want a natural leader. I want a decision-maker.

“If he’s got those qualities, and I don’t know the man, then I’m all ears.

“Anybody that comes in has an opportunity for me to really move the club back forward again.

“I don’t think Arsenal have a clue who they’re going to give it to, I really don’t.”

Do Arsenal know the qualities they want from their next manager? Does Buvac’s lack of experience rule him out of the role completely?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Buvac Wenger

34 Comments

  1. Big lie! It is only out of respect for AW that’s why the new manager hasn’t been announced. Just waiting for Wenger to leave and he’ll be made public. No big deal

    1. I completely agree, Arsenal will have already agreed the contract with the new manager. It will be announced shortly.

      1. Arsenal has never been a club to do their business in the media.
        We and the media can speculate all we like on the next Arsenal manager; however all will be revealed in due time.

      1. If you go by Gazidis during Wenger’s tribute press conference for new manager’s criteria, Jardim fits the bill also Monaco are looking for his replacement right now and their former player who is Agentinian is being mentioned to to fill in

  2. I’d love to see Leonardo Jardim from Monaco given an opportunity. He has worked wonders at Monaco with very little financial backing. Allegri is also a talented manager, either of those will do. i’m not keen on Luis Enrigue simply because i doubt he will be able to rebuild the team without spending £150 million. We cannot afford that and neither should we risk the future of the club on a quick fix.

    1. With over 10 years of stupidity, I don’t think you can call spending 150m a quick fix. We have super average players that need to be shifted out and a new crop coming in. 150m can be exactly the right amount

    2. Will be Jardim probably after our final home game – finally Arsène Mugabe is leaving what a day and we are not gonna hear all the nonsense like he built Emirates Stadium it takes a lot of just him to do that – but the man! Loves credit!!

    3. Yes we can, after offloading some dead wood plus whatever the amount the club provide

    4. I’m skeptical about Luis Enrique because he didn’t really win a lot outside Barca. he won at Barca because he had Messi, Suarez and Neymar. We don’t have any player near the MSN. At Roma he struggled. I’m very interested in Jardim, he is a great coach than know how to get the best out of his players and plays attractive football. his team’s are disciplined too.

    5. who says Monaco did not spend? in 2017/2018 manaco has always spent huge sums but that can not be noticed because they have equally bought on cheap and sold at very high prices in the past three seasons.They have also had a productive accadamy hence high sales which balances their net spent to almost zero.
      if you can relate, we were there some years back.selling quality and not replacing with quality.convincingly enough thats the effect we are suffering today. I believe at this rate Monaco are heading to that direction.
      If we have jordim as our next manager the same trend will continue. For me, Leonardo.J is a no.
      Maximilliano Allegri -since joining Juventus he has been spending enormously. juventus Net spend over past decade: £311.66m of which 70% has been spent in his erra of 4 seasons.
      Arsenal over the same duration, Net spend over past decade: £176.40.
      my choice..Paulo Fonseca of shakhtar Donetsk

  3. The new manager will NOT be someone who will act as a clown on the touch line, in line with the cool cautious management style of Arsenal.

  4. When you keep Arsene Wenger for 22 years with over 20 seasons of failed European campaigns and zero league titles in 14 years clueless is probably an understatement! damn right brain dead is probably closer to the truth! You have to be deeply concerned when your club passed on Klopp, Guardiola to name a few to keep an ageing out of date manager on a huge salary for so long! Kroenke and his geriatric board should be bending over backwards to keep loyal fans happy.. they had to endure years of absolute pathetic performances including 8-2 6-0, 6-1 6-3, 10-1 agg Arsenal FC are very fortunate to have fans so loyal! Of course the board and owner are the main culprits they let Arsene Wenger do as he pleased for years! Disastrous results, bizzare team selections, poor recruitment and no questions asked.. Wenger was never put under any pressure and with that his arrogance and ego grew ultimately it caught up with him in the end and now if the club want to unite supporters again they must start acting like a big club.. forget the penny pinching and searching for assistant coaches to develop youth players rather than investing in a very weak minded fragile squad! Arsenal fans pay top brass for match day tickets and shouldn’t be fobbed off for 2nd rate rubbish.. fan power is the real owner not Stan Kroenke so let’s demonstrate our ambitions to the club and never again accept mediocrity!

    1. Not caring what the fans thought provided we got top 4 was the price AW was happy to see paid so long as he was given a completely free hand to play pretty technical football.

  5. Completely agree with JW.I am glad Arsenal didn’t beat AM .
    They will only make up the nos in the cl. No doubt its alearning curve.But I
    am getting tired of the heavy defeats .It seems the fm doesn’t seem to learn
    or chose to ignore the lessons of such losses.
    Hopefully the new boss will make winning the top priority over pretty soccer.
    To do that Arsenal need an experienced and proven winner. Its too much of a
    gamble to get apromising rookie who may have enormous potential only to be found
    short of expectations.
    And then its back to square one. Imho,Arsenal have wasted at least 10 years .
    Had they got another guy who is more interested in winning games,the n Arsenal could be by now among the top 5 instead of trying to break into the group.

      1. Unfortunately John it sums up some of the so called fans on here. Whoever or whatever I will never want us to lose to anyone.

      2. John, I agree wholeheartedly, no fan should ever wish for Arsenal to lose regardless of who the owner or manager are! ?

  6. Well sod and I top my hat, but the owner doesn’t give a toss if we do t win as long as he makes money, we need at least 400 million to make this team one of the best in the world. It’s a shame they didn’t hand that !money to Wenger over the years, maybe things would be better. I’m going to miss him. Hope we don’t do another United. Wenger should be knighted for what he’s done for football in this country. Let prey the new manager has the bollocks to shape things up

    1. new manager is under the payroll of the owner..

      you should know what it means

      1. Hopefully John the new manager will have a high enough profile and be self confident enough to stand up to the board. If he feels he is not being supported by the board he should be prepared to walk.

  7. If Buvac or A.N.Other succeeds, then Gooners can have a fresh hope and optimism that each season won’t be the usual disappointing boring rubbish we’ve become accustomed to for the last 10+ years.

    If Buvac or A.N.Other fails and Arsenal become a genuine mid-table or lower-table club, Kroenke loses the “Big club” levels of income that you get from foreign merchandising / Sponsorship deals / TV / etc. and buggers-off leaving somebody like Usmanov to take over.

    As far as I can see this is a win-win for us fans. COYG!

  8. Our thoughts and prayers for Sir Alex
    Hope he recovers soon
    Football legend and classy guy

  9. The appointment of Buvac could honestly be the appointment of the century. I feel a top head coach far out weighs our need for another manager who wants total control. Bringing in a head coach who doesnt deal with transfers , wages and contracts allows them to solely focus on the football aspect allowing transparency in the role. No longer would the manager be judged on profit and loss allowing them to maintain their role purely on a results basis. My only fear is us as Arsenal fans not giving the new man enough time. Klopp did not qualify for the champions league on his first attempt with Liverpool and Pep finished 4 in his first season one point above Arsenal who had there worse season in 22 years. Ideally the new manager will come in and bring a fresh approach and have a massive clear out of the deadwood and bring in some quality young players. First season is about getting the tactics drilled into the players and allowing the new blood to gel not competing for the title.

    1. Arsène Mugabe was pretty much a business manager not football. No matter how many chairs you buy you gonna sit at one at a time!

  10. Needs at least goalkeeper..2 centre halves..holding midfielder..winger..
    Get rid of cheq..ospina..kos..Mustafai..Moneral..Willshire..wellbeck..ozill..

  11. At the latest, the club should have announced the new manager after we got eliminated from the EL. That would not be disrespectful to Wenger who has already announced he is leaving. This club should end speculation if they know who the manager will be as soon as possible.

    They can end speculation by coming out say they know who the next manager will be and give a date they will announce him.

    The truth probably is that they don’t know who the next manager is and that they are still negotiating with several candidates and that would be a disgrace IMO.

    1. Really? AW served the club for 22 years before they fired him and covered it up as him leaving by mutual consent. The least they owe him is to wait till he’s gone before announcing the new man. How many more days to go just relax. Everything was planned.

      1. I think that’s the way Arsenal will do they might have a Manager already in place

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