Kevin Whitcher
When Arsène Wenger returns to his London Colney training ground office later this week to collect his effects, he will find that many of the familiar faces he has surrounded himself with over the course of his 22 years have already departed. Punters may be speculating on who his successor might be (and you can use a Coral promo code if you are confident in your pick), but one this is certain. A shake-up of Wenger’s stale backroom team was inevitable.
The following (job titles according to the Arsenal.com website) were given their marching orders yesterday:
Boro Primorac – First team coach
Neil Banfield - First team coach
Gerry Peyton – Goalkeeping coach
Colin Lewin – Head of Medical Services
Tony Colbert – Fitness coach
Paul Johnson – Equipment manager
Primorac was the man who blew the lid on the Marseille scandal back in the early 1990s when manager at Valenciennes. Wenger was the manager at Monaco, and ever since, Wenger has kept him in employment as his most trusted ally. When Wenger’s daughter Leah was young, on the occasions that he and his wife went out, the Primoracs would babysit for them.
Neil Banfield was the Arsenal’s youth team manager, and almost certainly got the job because of the Wenger’s relationship with his father Tony (one of Wenger’s European scouting team).
Gerry Peyton was the keeping coach at Fulham when Bob Wilson retired in that role at Arsenal. David Seaman has been offered the job but chose to continue playing. Moving to Manchester City. Peyton had been working in Japan at the time Wenger was there. I have no idea whether the two met then, but one thing is certain. Peyton has not developed a reputation as a top keeping coach in his 15 seasons at the Gunners.
Colin Lewin initially joined the club as an understudy to his brother Gary. When the latter left Arsenal to work full time for England, his brother succeeded him as first team physio. Arsenal’s relatively poor injury record in his time in that post does not reflect well on him.
Tony Colbert joined Arsenal in 1998 and works to keep the players fit and help with the rehab of the injured squad members. The amount of soft muscle injuries the players seem to suffer is an area where the finger could be pointed, but I do not know.
Paul Johnson used to run the Arsenal travel club, before becoming Arsene’s gofer. If Arsene needs something done, Paul Johnson does it for him. To justify the club paying his wages, he was put in charge of bringing the cones out for training.
Why have all these people been given their P45s (probably with a year’s pay off assuming they were on the same duration of contract as the manager)? Because they were part of the culture of complacency and underachievement that has grown at the club since the stadium move. They are all very much Arsène’s men. Keep them around for the next man and they are a reminder of the old days. Primorac was always going to go with Arsene, and will be alongside him in his next job.
Banfield and Peyton always looked vulnerable. It will be interesting to see where they end up, but probably a job in the lower divisions. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if another “equipment manager” is employed. The ground staff can take care of this if you take the job title literally. Calling time on Lewin and Colbert though seems more like a case of – are you the best people we can get to do this job? The evidence suggests not. I’ve heard stories that, in contrast to Arsene Wenger, Lewin was not particularly friendly to, for example, the matchday mascot that leads out the team with the captain. There’s no compulsion for him to be in his job description, but when dealing with 10 year olds it would be perfectly reasonable to make them feel a little more welcome.
What is interesting is that if Mikel Arteta is actually going to be Wenger’s successor, might he have been consulted on these decisions? Do you want this guy? That guy? If the announcement that he has got the job comes before the weekend, you would have to imagine he was part of the decision making process.
Anyway, in terms of backroom staff, there was certainly an element of things going stale. Change is a necessary part of life, and when things aren’t working, it is generally a good thing. Why wouldn’t you try a fresh approach? It’s something Arsène didn’t feel the need to do, in contrast with someone like Sir Alex Ferguson. The latter’s teams won a further five Premier League titles and appeared in three Champions League finals after Arsenal’s last title win. He knew the value of change. Let’s see how effective it is at Arsenal now that the players may see their unchallenging comfort bubble burst.
