Arsenal board praised for approach to replace Wenger

Respected journalist and insider on Arsenal Football Club David Ornstein has stated that the board and executives have been praised for the work being put into finding Arsene Wenger’s successor.

The Gunners have a huge task at hand to bring in a new boss after 22 years under the reign of the Frenchman, and many expect a transitional period of struggles following his departure.

They are said to be confident of finding their next manager before the beginning of the World Cup next month, and while there is plenty of speculation about who that man will be, a decision certainly doesn’t appear to have been made as of yet.

David Ornstein has now insisted that the club are doing commendable work as they seek out the perfect candidate for the job moving forward, and adds that Mikel Arteta is amongst those in with a chance of the role.

‘My sense from speaking to people inside and outside the club is that Arsenal are conducting a very detailed and diligent recruitment process,’ claimed Ornstein.

‘Those with direct and indirect knowledge have commended the way in which the Gunners hierarchy are going about their business.

‘They seem acutely aware of how important a decision this is, but also that it is complex, could well divide opinion and brings with it no guarantee of success.

‘Their priority is to make the right decision, rather than a quick one, though time is obviously of the essence given the World Cup starts in fewer than five weeks and the transfer window, which opens on 17 May, closes on 9 August.

‘The favourite for the job with bookmakers and many fans and pundits is Allegri, but Arteta is firmly in the mix, and although these two appear to be the frontrunners, I get the feeling other names are in the frame.’

Could we really be set to hire an inexperienced manager like Arteta? Should Wenger’s immediate successor be a long-term option or short-term solution?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Arteta Wenger

68 Comments

  1. If it isn’t a ‘big’ name I wouldn’t mind seeing Sean Dyche appointed. He would certainly apply a boot to backsides and sort out the defence.

      1. Done deals:Allegri will be Arsenal manager
        Chiellini and Soyuncu will sign for Arsenal
        As for Hradecky it’s between us and another German club to sign him.

        After a will not be Arsenal manager and the Allegri deal is already done.

        1. I believe you, but why will the old Chiellini sign? Will he be the commanding CB at the center of a 3 CB formation, to replace Mustafi?

        1. Dyche would most likely show us boring football like what he has done with Burnley

          But Arteta has the potential to be the next Guardiola

          1. On what grounds do you think that, because he’s been peps 4 th choice for two years
            Laughable

            1. Why is it the wenger surpporters want shitty managers to replace wenger ,i find it it very weird .Dont you wnat a top class manager to come in ?all this bullshit talk of arteta could be really good …. what planet are you fcking living on . Us proper fans want a fcking proper manager to come in and spend some money and get us to where we belong .

      2. I think it may be boring as a means to achieving what he has on limited resources (e.g. Simeone). In a larger and less restrictive environment, I think he could be a revelation.

    1. Sean Dyche is like Big Sam not good enough, in fact there’s no English manager who’s good enough for Arsenal.

    2. Is football just about defence? Do u think arsenal FC could have bn this huge, popular, valuable rich and loved playing defensive football? Do u just want to destroy a standard of 22 years with a flappy appointment? Some pple could be terrible managers u know? Moyes was an amazing coach @ everton, what happened when he have to play expansive football? Even mourinho is finding it dfcult @ man u, do u think the likes of Sanchez, ozil, aubu and lacca could have joined us if dyche is out coach? Am not expecting u to appreciate weinger but lemme just give u a hint of who we want to replace “one of the greatest coaches in the history of football!!! Let’s be wise, man u have the resources to come out of moyes gamble but arsenal might not be that lucky

  2. The process in identifying the correct person to replace Wenger must be conducted thoroughly but with haste.The supporters will be aware that as time passes and no announcement has been made on who is to take over it will seem as though we are struggling to sign up the proffered choices.The earlier the appointment the sooner we can get on with business.The new Manager MUST have time to work with Sven and Raul in identifying potential signings and getting the deals over the line.The World Cup and earlier than previous transfer deadline means we cannot afford to let this drag on too long.

  3. I respect arteta, but feel deeply insulted and hurt that this speculation continues. Why the hell is he in the mix? I would sooner bring him in as a cb than as a manager. The only ex players i would risk would be viera and henry, but thats out of pure emotion rather than logic. Man, if Arteta gets the job…. I will support him, but it will be the boards fault if that support dies a quick death. I suspect he would be our Moyes and we would waste a couple years, risking pretty much everything! I want a champion brought in with the desire to turn this team around in the next couple of years, I want a demon. Allegri looks like a demon to me!

  4. I think the board are looking for a short-term solution first, to get Arsenal back to a top four position in the next season

    Therefore a proven and unemployed manager might be their main targets currently, such as Tuchel, Enrique, Jardim, Emery and Ancelotti

    But if they end up hiring an ex-Gunner such as Arteta, Henry, Vieira or Bergkamp as the new manager, maybe they want to give the new manager more transfer funds, instead of allocating their budget on the new manager’s salary

    1. So what are you saying, save a few million by appointing an unknown or cheap manager then put that towards the transfer budget. Yeah alright, gotanidea that’s not a good idea.

  5. Regardless of who they appoint between ARTETA AND ALLEGRI i will support him next season and hope for the best.

    let’s give the new manager time.

    1. No if Arteta is made manager then that will show that Gazidis and the board are undermining the fans.

    2. Arteta as manager will certainly meet outright hostility, at the very outset, from most Gooners. I do NOT , therefore see the club being so calamitously stupid as to appoint him. This hostility may or may not be an honourable way to react. I leave that for others to judge. As a LIFELONG REALIST, I merely forecast what WILL occur, should it happen! It is totally clear from the very many comments on this site, what the typical fan reaction will be.

  6. It’s disgraceful that Arteta is being mentioned as a potential successor to Wenger. If Gazidis doesn’t want to feel the wrath of the fans he must not hire Arteta when there are other top class managers available like Allegri, Ancelotti etc.

  7. Don’t see what qualifies Arteta for the job. A decent (no more) plying career and a couple of year’s assistant coaching is hardly a CV’ that can document anything for the job.
    So if Arteta is in the frame it seems the process is in fact amateurish and I don’t believe it.

      1. Arsenal dont want to attract top players but to get the ones already in the club playing like a team. This is why i believe our next Manager is Rafa Benitez.

  8. They better pull their finger out because the transfer window starts early this year which is next week 17th May

  9. Arteta would be great! He needs to get his baptism for managing a football team somewhere and no better place to begin than at Arsenal where there is no pressure to win.

    1. Love your joke.

      But Arteta is NOT in contention 1000%. I will eat my hat (and anyone else’s) if he gets the job

      1. You are welcome to eat my hat, should Arteta be appointed. I will have no need of it as I will have cut my own throat with despair at this disastrous announcement. I just don’t see how the club would want anoither protracted war with it’s own fans. This will certainly happen if , mind I say IF, the club are so idiotic. This seasons empty seats will have nothing on the vast swathes of emptiness starting in August. I AM FIRMLY OF THE OPINION THAT IT WILL NOT HAPPEN, since the club will be highly aware how virtually 100% of all Gooners feel about the calamity of appointing a novice as manager!

        1. But I worry we are not an interesting opportunity for Allegri who I rate. I would like Jardim because of his proven ability to deal with a small budget and to bring along youngsters in a disciplined framework. I know Allegri doesn’t speak English and not sure of Jardim does and clearly, that would be a problem.

          1. How many times do I have to tell you Allegri has been taking English lessons for a year or more and has stated he would like to manage in the premiership

  10. I can’t remember where Zinedin Zidan coached a first team before becoming Madrid’s coach. He has won cl back to back and almost back again. So that narrative of Arteta being inexperienced is rubbish. Guardiola did same with barca so let Arteta be if he’s seen qualified by the board. I support into to

      1. My mum could win trophies with either Barcelona or Real Madrid.
        Try winning the CL with a less fashionable team and that is an achievement.
        I don’t rate the likes of Pep, Enrique or Zidane.
        I’m not sure they could do anything at Arsenal…

      2. Admin, Off this topic but bear with me. How do you feel about , very occasionally , also accepting football topics not specifically about only Arsenal ? I am thinking about the farce of refs blowing the final whistle when it suits their managing of the game, ie, just as a goal kick is taken and also never just before a corner , already awarded, is taken. This to me is dishonest. Time can not and should not be managed , This gives refs power they should NOT ever have. I would gladly submit an article on this and related matters and this weekend too, if YOU would allow it. Alternatively , why not ask people how they feel on your next article? This would give this site more depth and widen discussion. I believe that since the “thumbs” disappeared this site has been better and got rid of many of the ones who have nothing personal to contribute. We have some serious debaters on here now and I believe, that , IN MODERATION ONLY, this would improve and enhance your site. I await your answer please.

        1. I think it’s a great idea. Just like discussing s European league etc. Every football matter is relevant to Arsenal….

  11. If the process is being carried out with “due dilligence”, then the owner and board would have already had a short list of suitable candidates agreed before they supposedly “sacked” the current manager wouldn’t you think?
    If not, why not? That is, surely a basic rule when operating a multimillion business?
    In fact, any business that wants to portray “due dilligence”.
    The persons salary, the transfer kitty, the contract and the timing of the announcement would also have been agreed and planned to ensure a swift, neat and positive reflection of the club’s professionalism.
    My hope is that this, in actual fact, has been done and, once the current season has ended, it will be proved that this has actually happened and done correctly in “The Arsenal Way”.

    1. Agree. If they started “from scratch” the day they sacked Wenger, Theres is absolutely no reason to praise the process.
      It is more likely they had identified one or two possible replacements and had at least serious interest from those targets or maybe even som kind of “agreement in principle”.
      So it could well be, that the next manager is a done deal, and it is someone, who can’t announce it yet, because of his current position with a team, that still has something to play for, whether it be in a national club competition or at The World Cup.

    2. Ken, Do you , as I believe you do, agree that Wenger was effectively sacked, by “allowing” him to stand down? I have not the slightest doubt that he was. But like you, I would have thought a new man would have already been lined up. I believe it was probably Enrique and that the club thought, wrongly as it turned out, they had their man already lined up. Gazidis has recently had many Gooners doing a U turn on their previous POOR view of him. But strong rumours seem to say that HE actually wants Arteta. IF, mind I SAY IF, that happens, watch the massive double U turn that will certainly follow then. I remain deeply suspicious and always have of a man who had no proper football or Arsenal background when he was head hunted from USA. He should have set the ball rolling years before and I DO NOT FORGET THAT. I see him as an opportunist with a lust for money and power. KEEN TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS THOUGH! Lastly, I believe “The Arsenal Way” effectively died the day Dein was shafted and forced out. He was and is a true fan. I just don’t buy that Gazidis ia a true fan. And Kroenke is a fan ONLY of money and power.

      1. Agreed. Things are not happening after Dein left.

        Never trust Kroenke and his dogs… that is the way.

        They have done nothing to prove they love the club. Money is the main drive for them.

      2. Jon,
        On your first point regarding our manager, I do believe that Gazidis put the kind of pressure on him, that Wenger felt totally betrayed and decided he would act immediately.
        I really don’t know if he was actually sacked, but the position that was presented to him meant no other course was acceptable.
        I truly believe that Gazidis thought Wenger would honour his contract, as always and be the glory man who would find the new messiah during next season, but he was caught off guard by the statement from the manager.
        I believe this has produced the situation we now have of “due dilligence” suddenly being banded around in order to cover the dire situation Kroenke and the board find themselves in.
        Their knee jerk reaction was to hint that Enrique was in line, but yet again, were totally unprepared for the salary and transfer monies demanded.
        No way would Kroenke ever sanction that, so the panic button was struck again.
        That’s when Gazidis mentioned Arteta as a possible choice as I think Arteta (and who wouldn’t) would jump at the opportunity.
        I actually feel sorry for the guy, as he is being crucified on here through no fault of his own but rather Gazidis’s lack of professionalism by naming him.
        This would also meant to show that there was a “due dilligence” debate going on to the awaiting fanbase.
        We have all been sucked into this by believing the media reports of three different views from Sven, Raul, Hess and Gazidis.
        Everything that comes out of the Emirates is controlled by the hierarchy and this suited them completely.
        I only hope that I am being completely neurotic over this, but my complete mistrust of the board (thanks!!) gives me a really bad feeling.
        On Gazidis himself, he was Deins replacement, he followed and agreed with Wengers leadership style while it suited him.
        We have never been the same since…Dein was Arsenes right hand man, who guided and supported him. Gazidis was a yes man who, when he saw the tide turning, jumped ship like a drowning rat.
        I really hope that I am proved a complete idiot and the club name the new successor Monday morning. If they do I will humbly apologise to all concerned as proof of my total incompetence.
        For Kroenke read the saga of British Home Stores and how one mans greed ruined millions of lives and couldn’t give a damn.

        1. What a post! All makes depressing sense to me. I have also never trusted Gazidis. I HAD thought the club already had someone lined up before Wenger finally leaves tomorrow . I still however do think Wenger was told he would not be allowed to manage next season and then wrong footed the club, who had hoped to keep it publicly in house and under wraps until the next manager was signed up. Having been sacked he would naturally have no reason to feel loyal to those who sacked him, at least not from his own point of view of himself still being the best manager the club could have. Despite his apparent public acceptance of his fate he will be hurting deeply but does not wish to harm the clubs public standing and has real class as a mature and special person. He makes the rest of the decision makers look like the pygmies they are. It seems clear that there are conflicting opinions within the hierarchy as to whom they individually want. This is the opposite problem of when one man alone makes all key decisons. In my life experience , it is clear that when all are not singing from the same hymnsheet, no acceptable to all decision can ever be finally made and future trouble will be in store. Rather like the present government and whatever form of Brexit is eventually negotiated, even if at all. Deeply depressing. As you know, I firmly believe Wenger should have been sacked years before. If he had , we might- or equally might not – be firmly on the mend by now. Without club harmony we will probably be only at the start of a very long bumpy road ahead. Oh dear! I see the real problem is that the true decision makers are not fans to their core as David Dein was and still is. All our problems and decline date from the year 2007, when Dein was betrayed by Fitzman and others and shamefully ousted. History will show those who don’t already know that DD was one of the greatest names in Arsenal history and I would have him back and running the club tomorrow, if I could. I would let him hire and fire at will since he has the club truly at heart and now that Wenger is gone, we have no one in power who is a true fan. I exclude Sir Chips who IS in my view a fan but also a bumbling figurehead,with no actual power and no idea of what needs doing. He would resign forthwith – or at least soon after the new manager is installed – had he the clubs future truly at heart. Whatever can be levelled at our fans ,on whichever side of the Wenger debate they lay, it is clear that fans alone are now the true club guardians. They may well be called into action again ere too long, though I hope to be wrong with all my heart.

          1. Jon,
            The one positive (from my perspective) that will come from Wenger’s departure is that the fanbase can really unite again.
            I would suggest that David Dein was as powerful an influence on our club as anyone I can think of during my time supporting Arsenal.
            Like Arsene, he was/is a perfect gentleman who portrayed A.F.C. to the world in the manner that made me proud to be a gooner.
            The only way I could ever see him coming back is if Kroenke ever decides to sell up and clear off.
            In retrospect, he deserves as much credit as Arsene for those wonderful years of the Invincibles and I hope one day he gets OFFICIAL credit from the club, not just the supporters.

            1. Ken and Jon Fox thank you for your valuable comments. After 2008, Arsenal and Arsene was/is not the Arsenal/Arsene we knew. David Dein was THE IRON MAN…..ACKNOWLEDGMENT……. ACKNOWLEDGMENT……..ACKNOWLEDGMENT

        2. Ken, you and Jon Fox have covered the situation admirably and extensively. I am no wordsmith but I would say that Stan Kroenke probably does not give a damn. He is in it for power and prestige not so much for the money, after all his wife is heiress to a company (Walmart) creating a revenue of 500 billion USD.

          Makes Abramovich look like a pauper!!

  12. No manager on this planet can fill Wenger’s shoes. The only manager with a top 4 finish for twenty years with less than 70 million pounds spent in the whole season. If the likes of pep, Jose etc could be restricted to 100 million pounds in a season, their teams would relegated. A day will come when the board will regret the decision to force him out.

      1. Get over it guys, you’re sounding more like the remainers every day. Even Arsene’s come out and said he stayed to long.

    1. Arsenal were in steady decline over the last few years under Wenger – we could finish this season potentially 40 points behind the winners.
      They could regret letting him go but in my opinion there would be more regrets keeping him on – it was clear his management over the club was failing badly – the performance this season illustrate that.
      It was time for a change…

      1. Me, spot on and succinctly put.
        The negative impact of David Dein’s departure can not be over emphasised.

      1. John0711, Kenyanfan obviously has no idea about the relative merits of prospective managers.

  13. Is Arteta a man with a huge footballing character? Hell no. We actually don’t need any Wenger type managers now more than ever. I mean just take a look at the animated Klopp on the touch line week in, week out. He inspires the players and the fans simultaneously (everything Wenger doesn’t do). We need a warrior minded kind of manager. Haven said that, give me Allegri every day of the week, twice on Sunday. And oh, we need a new player wearing that number 10 kit as well as making Xhaka our captain(the boy has cojones???)
    I’m launching the #saynotoarteta hashtag now.

  14. I will be gutted, and a touch embarrassed, if the new manager is met with anything but 100 per cent support from Gooners. It’s a nigh on impossible job anyway without a bunch of chicken littles baying for blood before a ball is kicked.

    1. I will be more embarrassed if we appoint Man City’s 3/4 team coach who was an average player and has NEVER managed anyone anywhere

  15. I think Alegri would be the best case scenario. Enrique would also be great. I don’t think a great manager would touch this job though as they would demand investment and that is not what the board wants. So we will end up with Arteta.
    Arsenal does have some building blocks of greatness, but the team mentality specifically its interest in defending properly needs to be completely changed. The current team is SO casual!

  16. Something…….and everything points to Arteta as the next coach………a supporting technical is in place……..Wenger was upset when Arteta chose to join their technical team……….but I hope Ancelotti gets the job for two years……with Arteta or the next coach as his deputy……..

  17. I can’t believe Carlo anchelotti hasn’t even been included, won the champions league, double with Chelsea and got sacked, why?bags of experience and out of work living in london

    1. Although I am generally a fan of Ancellotti, Iam concerned about the reported difficulties he had at Bayern Munchen. The players complained that Ancellotti did not coach them in a structured way, but like Wenger at Arsenal, allowed the players to express themselves.
      Arsenal require a disciplinarian and tactically astute coach at Arsenal to get the best out of its mentally and defensively weak players. He has to toughen the players up, move on those who are unsuitable and with the aid of Mislattat, bring in new players to address the squad’s deficiencies.
      Kroenke and the board can’t afford to get this wrong!

  18. Great managers require a lot of transfer funds which Arsenal doesn’t give… In short they won’t succeed…. We need a manager who can create a suitable formation for the current team to succeed… (First, I would get rid of the entire defence and the Keeper, excluding Kolasinac and Bellerin)

  19. I’m quite surprise to see people comparing how much AW spent to achieve things as compared with others.

    The trophy cabinet is empty, you know.

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