I want to say “THANK YOU” to all the contributors of articles to this website such as Dan, Martin and Konstantin Mitov to name a few. You have posted articles regularly over the years and I have read and gained valuable insight from reading your material. I consider myself to be a “Johnny-come-lately” but the contributors prior articles have encouraged me to submit an article every so often to voice my opinion for “what its worth”….:-)
There is no question that we Arsenal fans are truly “FED UP” with the overall performance and position that Arsenal are in at the moment after 12 league games.
My prior article dated November 4th asked the question: What will it take before the Board sacked Coach Emery?
I summarized in that article that things would have to go real bad at Arsenal before the Board acted.
The majority of the TV Pundits, ie. Paul Merson, Steve Nicol, Stewart Robson, Frank LeBouf and Shaka Hislop to name a few, all agree that Emery needs to be replaced, “NOW!”
We Arsenal fans ponder and ask ourselves, “Why won’t the Board act, NOW”!?
The answer is simple: BECAUSE THEY ACCEPT “MEDIOCRITY”!
What is the meaning of “Mediocrity? It means the quality of being “average or ordinary”.
The Arsenal Board are fine with Coach Emery having a little bit of success, ie. Coaching the team to Finish 5th or 6th in the league table and qualifying for the Europa League again.
This is considered success to them because they accept “MEDIOCRITY”…
Beloved Arsenal fans, I hope the Board reads our articles and constructive comments made… but I hope they will read my next statement:
The problem is that when you accept “mediocrity” as a standard, you are setting yourself up to “FAIL” sooner or later. I hope this is not the case at Arsenal for much longer.
We all read the recent news: Mauricio Pochettino was recently sacked by Spurs and now Jose Mourinho is the newly appointed coach.
The Board at Spurs will not accept “mediocrity” for long. Despite Coach Ponchettino raising the standards, league position, CL qualifications and image at Spurs during tenure that was still “not good” enough… they will not accept “mediocrity” at Spurs…
Arsenal currently sit in 6th place after 12 league games behind newly promoted Sheffield United on 17 points each but with a negative -1 GD.
Another bad result this weekend against Southampton, who have enjoyed recent success against us, Arsenal could find themselves in 10th place easily.
I ask the following two questions:
1. Is the Arsenal Board truly committed to the Arsenal team succeeding “this” season? I will answer my own question and say, YES!
Question 2. How long will they accept “mediocrity” from Coach Emery? That I cannot answer.
We all know that our beloved Arsenal is a BIG club, has a true worldwide brand estimated to worth $2.2 billion by Forbes in 2019.
It is not wise for the Board to continue to accept mediocrity. The Arsenal Brand Value will decline and the club will not be able to attract any world class players in the near future.
I don’t think that Aubameyang and Lacazette will stay at the club for much longer…
To the Board: “ACT NOW” just like the Spurs Board did….. Our Arsenal club had great success in the past….
Don’t be afraid to allow it to happen again… Please get rid of “Mediocrity” now!…..
Larry Dunlop
Larry, well said sir.
Was just going to bed when your article popped up and felt I had to reply.
Forget all about who likes what player, who is/was the culprit for this mess…it is what it is and if we don’t act now, the days of the 1950’s will, without fail, return to our club.
We cannot live on past glories or failures – there must be a change in direction, starting with UE and then looking at the board members and what they actually do.
I echo and fully support Kens sensible and correct answer to your superbly written article Larry. Any worldly wise fan who does not agree wholeheartedly with your article is in fact, non existent.I put that rather clumsily but we all know you speak the truth, loud, clear and brilliantly! If only the club also knew . Or even cared!!
YES
That’s why we had Wenger 12 years longer than we should have. That’s why they they went after Emery instead of Allegri or someone better
So Innit, if Wenger had left 12 years before he did, would we have had ten consecutive top four titles, ten CL places in the knockout stages, three fa cup wins – how much money flowed into the club during that period of success do you think?
If we had taken klopp, the first five years would, one assumes, be the same as the first five years at pool…especially as he would have inherited the fabled “dross” players so often trumpeted.
So, five years out of the CL and top four would have cost the club what Innit?
The only FACT that you cannot deny is that the twelve years we held on to AW, saw the success than we are so desperately trying to claw back.
Why, if keeping AW 12 years longer than we should have done, did that mean we went for UE?
What a load of BS – so, if we don’t sack UE immediately, does that mean we have to go for Mick McArthy then?
How do you arrive at these conclusions Innit, I really would like to understand your thinking!!!
It does appear the board have now settled into accepting our current position but surely they must realise that just a few more losses and other teams around us picking up wins we will be dangerously close to the relegation zone. When spurs beat West Ham Saturday lunchtime, as I expect they will, they will go above us, even though possibly until we play Southampton a couple of hours later. But, we don’t do “easy” games anymore and after what should have been three “easy” games we have Man City and Chelsea. With it looking increasingly likely we could lose Aubamayang soon along with Torriera, it is imperative Emery is sacked otherwise our dominance of teams like spurs and other smaller clubs will be a thing of the distant past.
If we fail to act fast we’re going to miss out on some real possibilities when it comes to selecting our next manager…when we failed to pull the trigger a few years back we lost out on both Pep and Klopp and look how that’s turned out…with the sacking of Poch, and subsequent hiring of Jose, combined with the opening in Bayern and recent rumblings in Barca we need to make a decisive decision before it’s slim pickings all over again…personally I would pursue Poch but I fear that the Board, with Kroenke at the helm, would fail to provide the necessary backing, much like Levy, and that would be a bridge too far for him…this club is drowning in mediocrity and will continue to do so until the right manager is brought to the Emirates…it’s time for tough decisions to be made at this club to test the meddle of both the players and the new management team
Of course. It’s been happening for YEARS too. Reluctant to move on from Wenger and now stalling an inevitable sacking to save pennies, when losing out on UCL will cost so much more.
A perfect article Larry at the right time. But time is running out for Arsenal FC and the Board must do something instantly or else we are in for disaster. If the Board is really serious they should give Emery only this month to turn the tide or else he should be gone by the time we play our first PL match in December. Cmon we are the Arsenal and the Board makes us look so silly and laughable by the actions/formations/tactics/selection of Emery. By appointing JM, who I hate for the things he has said about our Club and about our AW, Spurs have shown they have more ambition, more will and more of everything as compared to us and they want to win and not accept mediocrity. We are the Arsenal much much better than the Spuds have lot of talent in our team and must not ruin the season and the Board is answerable to this. They have a responsibility towards AFC and cannot just nod and shake their shoulders. It is high time something drastically changes or else our dear Arsenal brand will be lost forever. Weaker and smaller teams like to take on us, dictate the football game and we are in real danger of losing our identity. It is so so painful to see our games. We have to change immediately, either Emery should bring success or he should go. It is now or never.
Either Emery should give us results or the Board should act immediately. If neither of this happens than we will be selling our soul to the Devil.
Raul and Vinai are not board members. They are management.
It is not a question of who is who. What I mean is the authorities who have the decision making powers must act instantly for the good and long term benefit of our dear Club whom we all love so much. Seeing our team perform so pathetically week in week out whilst lesser teams do much better than us, is so so painful. We have Arsenal in our heart and we cant allow disinterested and demotivated individuals calling the shots.
I agree. Those oldies sitting on the board appear to be one disinterested lot.
It certainly seems that way! In a way, I’m a little jealous of the spuds,not about appointing Maureen, but they don’t want their season to be a complete write off, so they’ve acted before it’s too late. But us, no, we’re “behind him” and are getting worse week by week! But some of us are happy with that too, because at least were “loyal”
What a mess we’re in and if we don’t win on Saturday and Unai isn’t sacked……. 🤬
I’m not sure that it is mediocrity they are satisfied with, everyone wants to do better with no exception, but that it is just plain stupid gullibility and spinelessness. They actually believe the coach when he says “just give me more time, I’ll fix this”. They believed Wenger for the last 8 years he was there, now they believe Emery. And they are bereft of the ability to distinguish truth from BS.
Good read but the board can only act when we stop watching the games.
If the stands go empty for just five games, Unai Emery will be no more. Its a painful decision but trust me, when stands emptied during Wenger reign, we evidenced a new era though its dragging us to the 1950’s pain
Everyone concerned about AFC should take the hard way no matter how bitter the way is, for the long term benefit of the Club. The joyous days of Arsenal running over opposition teams seems so so long time back. The Board and Emery are equally responsible. At least during AW’s last days, the Arsenal brand was still alive, but this man is killing the very soul of our dear football Club. Watching Arsenal play does not feel like they are Arsenal playing, it is so different nowadays, they play with lack of confidence, they play with fear and they play for draws when they should be gunning the opposition down. Hope the Board acts before it is too late.
I think board will react to empty stadiums … his football is so boring and I stopped watching , can’t have this heart break every week on top of boredom. No plans to renew Sky sports subscription.
Simple fact is that there is no one else to blame but the owners and management of the club.
The managers/coach is not the decision makers, they don’t pay their salaries or employ themselves.
We as fans have seen dark days under the old regime.
We have been patient. But the club has undermined the fans for the last decade.
Yes we had a new stadium, but do you see Spurs make the same excuse and their stadium is double the cost? Do they hold on to Poch because of that debt?
And when they decided to change the manager did they go to Willy Wonker factory to get one? NO! They got one of the most successful managers in the EPL.
I’m not going to lie, this club has over the years drained it pleasure of the fans. You know what, I’m sure other fans from teams like Wolves etc are happier, because they know what their identity is and have a plan.
We failed in all areas this past decade, never mind the managers which are also a problem don’t get me wrong……
But its up to the club to make tough decisions to win and be stable in its potential.
My interest in everything Arsenal is at an all time low, if that was a stock on the market, it was once 100 but now 5 dollars.
Its been a sad decade guys, not just a few months.
Depressing I know right….
Maybe there are some more specialists in failure at the club? The board?
How painful it will be when Mourinho gets a result against us.
The Board does not run Arsenal FC .They employ Management to do that.For some time now I have become concerned that that we have too many Chiefs who’s individual responsibilities overlap.Just what exactly are they doing behind the scenes to earn their vast salaries and to whom are they accountable.The answer to that is of course “The Board” .As a Board Director, each and every one of them should be questioning their Management as to why we as a team are languishing behind the top four and are producing a drab,mediocre product for our fans , many of whom prioritise Arsenal F C as one of the most important things in their lives and pay a relatively high percentage of their earnings to do so.The fact of the matter is,our Board and Management are “mediocre” and this malaise has spilled out onto the pitch.What we need is a new “mover and shaker” on the Board to stir things up big time with a view to making all members of the Management accountable for their decisions which are costing us dear on and off the park.Until we can recruit a Board member with these credentials I’m afraid the decline of this great Club will continue.