Stan Collymore has claimed that Mikel Arteta would be sacked as manager of Arsenal Football Club if he was English.
The outspoken pundit and former footballer claims that there is double standards when it comes to Englishman in charge of clubs, and Arteta has profited from this bias.
The former striker stated that the manager’s decisions in preparation for the North London derby were ‘tactically naive’, and insist that he should have been sacked for ‘knowing nothing about the game’.
Collymore told his column at the Daily Mirror (via the Express): “Everyone on ‘Planet Football’ knows Tottenham are set up to sit deep, draw you on, nick the ball and catch you on the counter attack at the moment.
“So for Arsenal to be beaten in a big London derby in the manner they were is dreadful and it’s where I have a problem with the massive double standards that exist in the game.
“Because if an Englishman had been in charge rather than a Spaniard — or Frenchman, Portuguese or Italian for that matter — he’d have been hung, drawn and quartered, then sacked, on Sunday for knowing nothing about the game and being tactically naive.
“It was one of the worst pieces of football management, coaching and tactical play I’ve seen in the Premier League.”
What’s worse is that this wasn’t even our worst performance in recent months, as we are enduring a run of only four points from our last seven matches, scoring just two goals which include a penalty kick.
Our woes are tormenting us fans as we struggle to see the end of the rocky road, as our team shows little signs of overcoming their struggles.
While we have maintained a 100% record in the Europa League amidst our domestic woes, that gives us little solace when the same issues re-emerge every weekend.
Questions are definitely being asked of the manager at present, and it is hard to disagree too much when the team is performing so badly, but I’m not sure if the only thing keeping him in the job is that he is not English.
Are English/British bosses more heavily criticised?
Patrick