Markymark
When looking at the current favourite for the Arsenal job (Mikel Arteta), a lot of the Arsenal support will be scratching their heads, no management experience? A massive gamble! However look across Europe and see how the wind is blowing. Real Madrid appointed Zinedine Zidane after a brief spell managing their B side. Barcelona of course created a colossus out of Pep from their B team. Valverde their current manager is experienced though he has also experienced sackings and has more importantly not lifted the Champions League, and he is no Galactico.
Bayern have now turned to Niko Kovac. Who? Well he has done a solid job for Frankfurt keeping them in the Bundesliga. Perhaps my comment is a little unfair as he managed Croatia briefly, but this appointment is low key. Remember that their previous choice Ancelotti had one of the best trophy return rates, even beating Paisley.
Then we look at Enrique and his €15m salary expectation. Too rich for Arsenal but too rich for PSG? Surely not. So surprise, surprise they hire Tuchel an up and comer who was strongly linked with Arsenal. Why would PSG, who could afford any manager on the planet go for Tuchel?
The point of my article is that it is my strong belief the winds of change have swept through the boardrooms. Perhaps it’s the experience or weariness of titanic egos and clever territory grabbing by super managers, perhaps it’s just purely sports science and administration learning from corporate structures. To my mind this is all pointing one way. The Galactico manager is dead (honourable remaining exceptions Pep and Max), the major clubs of European are looking to impose a strict structure around their Managers with the Director of football and Chief Scout becoming increasingly powerful. It’s within this environment that Arsenal turn to Arteta. I have a strong suspicion that Arsenal would have looked at the Spanish Big 2’s B side arrangements and felt that Manchester City’s coaching set up was a model that could best mirror that of Real and Barca.
Arsenal are trying to push ahead of the curve. The Sanllehi and Mislintat recruitment make perfect sense. Any manager who now says “What is a director of football?” is effectively finished within the major European footballing structure.
The Boards of the major European elite are eroding the power over budgets and transfers of the managers. The new way is the Head Coach. Chosen to coach the players systematically in a style to please the supporters. A Mourinho who would win by dour football and make constant demands on the budget will be seen as an anachronism. It remains to be seen how much longer he will be retained at United.
Arsenal have grabbed one of the most powerful Directors of Football in Europe along with possibly the best recruitment manager. Content with this set-up and with go-ahead by Josh Kroneke, step forward our ‘potential ‘new manager Mikel Arteta
