Sunday 4 September 2011

Wilshere scaremongering and post-Dein transfer failings


Firstly one cannot ignore the rather low quality story in the Mirror that confidently predicts Jack Wilshere is going to be out of action for three months. Interestingly other sources are already watering down the Mirror's dubious take on events by saying Wilshere 'could' be out for up to three months. When one looks into Steve Stammers' weak excuse for journalism it is clear he is disingenuously scaremongering as this three months is all on the condition 'if Wilshere breaks down again'. I suspect Wilshere will be back before December.

On the topic of our transfer dealings, a lot of people want to stick the knife into Arsene and a lot of people want to stick a knife into the board, I don't think any knife sticking is needed myself, but it is important that lessons are learnt so that we don't make the same mistakes again.

Firstly we are in a very dangerous position at the moment, the last minute deals were obviously massively needed but we are far from out of the woods yet. We have several big big players who have less than two years to run on their current deals, these players are RVP, Theo Walcott, Song and Vermaelen. Before we even think about the January transfer window we need to tie these men up to new long term deals, the thought of losing more top class players a la Nasri does not bear thinking about. The worrying thing about the Nasri departure was that a top class player not yet at his peak wanted out for footballing reasons, this has not happened to us before, I see Cesc as a very different scenario, he just wanted to go home.

Anyway it is obvious that there have been massive issues in the way in which Arsenal Football Club conducts transfer business since David Dein left. Whatever one thinks of David Dein, he was a football man as well as a business man and this was instrumental in the way the club successfully went about its business until he left. The system for buying players seemed to work well with Dein around; Arsene would tell Dein who he wanted, Dein would see what he could do and either the player would come, or they wouldn't. Dein had footballing nous, meaning that he didn't have to note down how much Arsene thought should be spent on each player, Dein used his common sense and did his best. In this way it appeared that Arsene was kept at a safe arms length from the financial side of things, this appears to have changed since Dein left.

Gazidis is a great business man, he has negotiated some terrific commercial deals for the club, but he does not seem to be a football man, meaning that he does not appear to have Dein's nous in the transfer department. This has led to a suspicion that Gazidis might well have had to lean more on Arsene for information, something that Dein would not have needed to do. Gazidis has probably allowed Arsene to have more input into the financial side of the club's transfer dealings, meaning that Gazidis may ask for specific guidance on the fees that should be paid and this may have resulted in some quite ridiculous transfer negotiations.

Take Arteta for example, we bid 5mill initially, we then upped it to 10mill on deadline day, Everton wanted 11mill and we wouldn't go the extra million, it was only Arteta forcing through the deal that stopped this silly fiddling over one million from crashing the whole deal. Similar style things scuppered the Schwarzer deal last summer, the Cahill mincing was also far from clever. The Mata deal is rumoured to have fallen through because of relatively small change in terms of meeting a buy-out fee. Santi Cazorla was another target we missed out on because of what sounds like board dithering. This haggling over small amounts of money did not appear to happen when Dein was in charge.

So overall the problem with our purchasing of players appears to be a complex one, it seems to be a systematic issue and it cannot be ignored any longer. I don't blame Arsene or Gazidis, the problem comes from higher up in the club as someone should know enough about football to see that this system is not working and will never work. Gazidis needs to take responsibility for the financial side of deals and ensure Arsene is kept at arms length, if this is not possible then we need someone new with footballing nous to be our new David Dein, a director of football of sorts. This summer we should have driven some early deals through, this didn't happen for a variety of reasons but it appears that an absence of dynamic drive in the boardroom was critical in this.

I am concerned at what goes on in board meetings as this situation must have been obvious to them for a while, and they appear to have done nothing about it. The board need to sit down and sort out several crucial strategies at the club now, it simply cannot wait. We need to completely overhaul our wage structure, we need a higher top wage and we need to pay peripheral youngsters/squad players less. We need to change the way in which we go about buying players, we need to show more common sense in our transfer dealings, we cannot risk losing out on top targets because we are haggling over petty small change. We need to consider bringing some new dynamic board members in. All this will take time, I just hope the board have seen our mistakes and are ready to act. I haven't even started on the defensive coach yet.........

14 comments:

Amos said...

You say that Gazidis has negotiated some terrific commercial deals for the club. Has he? Commercial revenue has fallen under his tenure. He has done a deal with Indesit but Arsenal in true fashion seem to keep the value a secret.

Anonymous said...

Spot on! As the transfer window came to a close - one could not help but reflect on the missed signings. A director of football is much needed to avoid further shambles. Chances of Dein returning? Let's get behind Arsene and the team!

fred said...

another David Dein false inference article.
He was at the club when we were successful therefore when he isnt at the club and we are not successful he is the reason why.
Under him we signed some brilliant players. we also signed jimmy carter, kiwyoma, helder, baptista and luhzny.

The reason we are where we are is due to a massive economic change in football. One where we can only compete (just) if we remain financially viable.
I would hate to see the orange God back at Arsenal as he is just the same as twitchy down the Lane but in better suits!

1979gooner said...

Fred

there is some truth in what you say, only some though

to ignore the things Dein did well is not productive

likewise to pretend all he touched turned to gold is silly

the point is that now the board seem to be allowing major mistakes in strategy to occur

obviously we will never compete financially with certain clubs that spend unsustainably

however it is ludicrous to argue that there are not some key problems which can be addressed to make us far far competitive as a football club

1979gooner said...

Fred

there is some truth in what you say, only some though

to ignore the things Dein did well is not productive

likewise to pretend all he touched turned to gold is silly

the point is that now the board seem to be allowing major mistakes in strategy to occur

obviously we will never compete financially with certain clubs that spend unsustainably

however it is ludicrous to argue that there are not some key problems which can be addressed to make us far far competitive as a football club

fred said...

My biggest gripe with him is that he was the one that created the lack of atmosphere that has permeated down through the years when so many loyal fans were pushed out of the club and never to return after the North Bank bond fiasco.

If he wanted to return he should have kept his shares too!

Anonymous said...

I have sent this link to the Mirror along with your tweets so that they can press for an apology from you or hopefully sue you.

I wouldn't have done if you werent such a prick.

1979gooner said...

fred

a fair point

also spot on regarding his shares

I don't think Dein back is the answer, but certainly something needs addressing at board level

Anonymous 1432

Great joke you utter numptie

If calling a spade a spade by labelling crap scaremongering gutter journalism is something I can be sued for, then fine, forward it all to anyone you wish

However I think it is rather likely that there is such a thing as free speech in this country, which means I am perfectly entitled to call the Mirror's lazy scaremongering coverage of Wilshere's injury exactly what it is

Amusing you are though, what an utter numptie

Anonymous said...

I'd like the opinion of others on this piss poor blog of who looks a numptie today. You post a tirade at a journalist who has done a great piece of investigatory work without doing any of your own and within an hour or two you were found to look the utter numptie (or prick as I prefer to say).

The fact that you don't know whether Jack was injured or not puts into doubt any inside knowledge you claim to have about Gazidas.

You're right about freedom of speech but the real implications are that you look like an idiot today.

We'll see what the club say as well as I have sent this link on to them as I am sure they'd like to know how you came across your info.

1979gooner said...

anonymous

drivel, with great respect of course

this is no great piece of investigative work

this is a clear piece of scaremongering

the headline is stating a clear fact and the article then makes it clear that this is no fact, it is based on conjecture and ifs

I know that jack is injured and have all a long, why you claim otherwise is beyond me

What I do know is that he is not definitely out for three months as the headline clearly states!

This makes you the numptie, prick or whichever you feel the most appropriate

I suspect you are a journalist with certain vested interests

Your angry reaction makes you appear to have something to hide, interesting

1979gooner said...

anonymous

drivel, with great respect of course

this is no great piece of investigative work

this is a clear piece of scaremongering

the headline is stating a clear fact and the article then makes it clear that this is no fact, it is based on conjecture and ifs

I know that jack is injured and have all a long, why you claim otherwise is beyond me

What I do know is that he is not definitely out for three months as the headline clearly states!

This makes you the numptie, prick or whichever you feel the most appropriate

I suspect you are a journalist with certain vested interests

Your angry reaction makes you appear to have something to hide, interesting

Ex-pat Gooner said...

@Anonymous

You asked for views.
I read this blog from time to time and it's generally got a decent viewpoint. Not always one I agree with but still worthwhile reading. Certainly not worth the insults and threats you have dished out. Oh and Ivan's surname is Gazidis so it's actually you that looks the numptie but don't let that get in your way :)

Uncle Mike said...

Anon 14:50: There are a few sure ways to get Arsenal fans to consider YOU a numpty, and one of these is to praise a writer (I won't insult the profession by calling him a "journalist") whose article slams Arsenal in a way so sloppy it brings to mind the work of one Mikael Silvestre.

1979gooner said...

So Wilshere has confirmed himself that it will be about 2 months minimum, so early November at best.

This seems to directly contradict the Mirror's headline which stated that it would be three months out.

It may be more than 2 months, it may be more than 3, these type of injuries are unpredictable.

However it is clear that the Mirror headline stating it was 3 months is not accurate.