Pradeep Kachhala
The word of today is “swerve”, defined as “to change or cause to change direction abruptly”.
Quite so… as in my case as I was ready to compile an article on the various risks associated with appointing Arteta when suddenly the news broke on Monday evening that Unai Emery is set to be named the next Arsenal head coach/manager, or whatever title the club deems fit to give him in this new continental structure. It’s classic Arsenal though, let’s be honest they have previous with this and we as fans once again never saw this swerve coming. Just as when Arsene was selected over Cruyff and Venables, or when Mee and Graham were appointed in years past, you never quite know what is happening behind the scenes. I also suspect the £50m budget isn’t quite what it seems and it may be a way of deterring clubs from demanding obscene transfers value for our summer targets.
I like this appointment, Emery has won 10 trophies in his time as a manager, that’s more than Wenger, Graham, Rioch and Mee combined before they took charge at Arsenal. Emery has his critics, some will point out PSG’s capitulation against Barcelona and indeed the manager’s poor general record in the Champions League. It is also true that we are appointing a manager whose history suggests that in major leagues he is good at getting a top 4 league finish and winning cup competitions but has only ever won one league title in his career, and even that was in a relatively uncompetitive French League. But at 45 years of age he has his best days ahead of him, and he also has something to prove; that he can take a top club to consistent domestic championship success and into the latter stages of the Champions League. These are the exact challenges that Arsenal themselves are faced with going forward so it could be the perfect union.
My feeling is there wasn’t a whole lot of choice out there given the remit we were working with; a limited budget, a pre-defined structure for the coach to slot into along with the ability to play attractive football. At Valencia and Sevilla he ticked all three of these boxes. Emery didn’t really fit in or was appreciated at PSG, the players disliked his meticulous preparation and obsession with tactics, given what we have heard coming out of the our own club about players wanting more guidance on the pitch, Arsenal’s current team may actually embrace his approach.
We must also question what the expectation is for the new manager next season? Are we going to challenge for the league title? Unlikely. How would we feel if we secured 3rd and won the Uefa Cup? To me that would sound like progress along with the possibility of better coached and prepared players to develop for the long road to recovery ahead.
Considering we may have been on the verge of appointing a man with no previous managerial experience which seemed like an uncalculated (and in my opinion irresponsible) risk, there is some comfort in appointing someone who has plied his trade for 10 years and while his record isn’t without blemishes, Emery is a “known unknown” rather than the “unknown unknown” that Arteta would have brought. Gazidis spoke about a “bold appointment” on the day Wenger announced his exit, these may have been words spoken in haste, Emery isn’t a bold appointment but I was never convinced that such a phrase was appropriate for the direction of the club going forward anyway. It seems in the end sensible heads have prevailed and I wonder whether any consultation with the senior players about Arteta’s appointment swung the board away from giving him the job.
Amusingly there are still those out there who are convinced that Allegri will still be appointed manager and the way this process has gone you couldn’t safely rule out anything until Emery is pictured in the customary pose inside the stadium waving an AFC scarf. (Ed’s note – This article was submitted on Tuesday morning, 24 hours before Emery was officially announced.) That being said upon reflection, the AFC fan base will embrace the new man in charge, Emery will have plenty of credit in the bank based upon him not being Arsene Wenger as we step into the unknown so let’s give him a chance as we move into this new chapter in our great club’s history.
