It’s a tempting thought to have an ex-player managing Arsenal. But on second thought, perhaps it’s not such a good idea at all.
I mean, football manager can be a very demanding task. Fans in general are not as patient today as before. We have seen and heard people jump onto Wenger’s back on more than one occasion (in fact, plenty of occasions). This is a coach who has won us a “Double” twice!
Bergkamp, Vieira, Adams, or even Henry, et al have all left an almost perfect image in fans’ mind. They are the Arsenal legends. Perhaps it’s better for them to be remembered this way.
I look at Glenn Hoddle’s case with Spurs. As a player, he was God for the Spurs’ fans. After his spell as Spurs manager, I think he had run out his welcome there.
Same thing happened to Graeme Souness at Liverpool.
I imagine should Bergkamp or Vieira or Adams take charge of Arsenal one day, Arsene Wenger’s shoes would prove just too HUGE for any one of them to fill.
Fans have gotten used to watching great football with Arsenal, we may have taken it for granted now, yet one day if the team no longer plays the one-touch passing game, people will certainly appreciate even more the type of football we are playing right now. Whoever takes over from Wenger would almost certainly find himself in a lose-lose situation. Not only they have to get results, but also to get their team playing good football. To achieve one of those goals is hard enough, let alone both.
If it didn’t work out, it would destroy that Arsenal legend’s image in fans’ heart.
One thing about the relationship between fans and players is once a player becomes manager, before long fans tend to forget how the manager used to be as a player. So whatever good work a player had done as a player for the club, if he fails as a manager, it would all count for nothing.
Take David O’Leary, though he never managed Arsenal, since he became manager for Leeds and later Aston Villa, he started to get some stick from fans when leading his teams back to Highbury. Yet O’Leary is probably Arsenal’s most loyal player ever, and the longest servicing Arsenal player ever.
21 Responses to “Should an ex-Gunner become the next boss?”
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October 25th, 2007 at 9:24 am
George Graham did O.K. I think, it was only the bung disgrace which left a cloud over his reign. I think Tony Adams would do his best for the team he lead with so much passion. I don’t think he would be any less of a legend if it did not work out.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:56 am
I think Arsenal’s next manager should also speak 6 languages and have a masters degree in economics.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:18 am
As much as I am determined to live in the moment and try not dwell too much on a poster-Wenger future, it is my hope that when it is time to name his successor, that Wenger will have a big hand in the decision, because if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past decade, it’s “Arsene Knows”.
While it’s true that the modern fan seems much less patient in this day and age, I’d like to think the discerning fan could make a distinction between an Arsenal legend’s playing days and his managing career.
If Dennis Bergkamp took the reigns for example, he’d have to get us relegated before his reputation as one of the greatest Arsenal players to ever wear the shirt was tarnish, in my opinion.
Being an American Arsenal supporter, I can’t speak for the British sensibility on this matter, as they do have a habit of tearing someone down just as quickly as they’ve built him up, and as much as I may or may not know about the game of football, I’d never presume to know better than the Arsenal manager, even if that manager happens to be Perry Groves, let alone the best manager English football has ever seen.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Whoever it might be, isn’t the board’s master plan/fervant hope that Wenger stay on as some kind of CEO?
We’ve seen eras come and go and most other other clubs with a change of manager, even at Arsenal. But Wenger on the board would offer some kind of continuity, not to mention a major Helpline for any new guy.
October 25th, 2007 at 10:44 am
@GBgunner3
George Graham did a lot better than O.K. he put Arsenal back on the map and without that back five the Arsene Wenger story would look very different - Graham made his job one hell of a lot easier, a bit like Avram Grant has it easy inheriting Cech, Terry, Carvalho etc.
Next manager, why are we discussing this now? Whoever it is he has an incredibly hard act to follow.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
this was an old post of me i wrote about 2 weeks ago, it’s not in my control when the posts would be published.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
juande ramos would be the ideal guy, but he’s only 5 years younger than the professor. but let’s wait and see what happens, hopefully we will have AW for another decade or more, he keeps youth around him, i could see him coach until he’s 70 (SAF is 65 and he looks like he could make it 5 more years easily).
when the time comes, i’m sure they’ll look for a wenger type coach to keep the beautiful game going. from now on, its all about continuity!
3-0 to the arsenal in the weekend!
October 25th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Looks like Jol is out at Spurs. Hopefully relegation isn’t too far behind.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I read from other msg boards, some Spurs fans mocked us that we had trashed a “weaker” side in CL 7-0. Then they went on to lose to a La Liga bottom 3 side Getafe, at home too.
October 25th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
anyway i did hope Jol to stay. at least as long as he was there, we don’t have much to worry about. now they are going to hire a new manager, if they get it right, with the players they got (they do have quality make no mistake), they will be bouncing back. and in years to come, with the money they got, who knows? they may be a force again.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
What quality do Spurs have? Berbatov and Chimbonda? Other than those two, they are pretty mediocre. Which ever coach takes over is going to have his work cut out. They make get a bounce from the new coach. But I suspect they will be fighting relegation all year.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I also wonder about the so-called quality of Spurs.
Robbie Keane scores goals but not against the top teams with any regularity. He hasn’t scored a competitive international goal against a good team for years. Bent doesn’t score goals, Berbatov (quality last season) looks fed up and a 17 year old Walcott was preferred to Defoe for the English World Cup squad. In midfield Zokora is a poor copy of Vieira, Huddlestone turns like a tanker, Malbranque was at his level at Fulham, Lennon is always injured and Taarabt, the kid wonder has played less than Walcott or Denilson. Kaboul, when do I stop laughing.
As for the great English kids, they flatter to deceive. Would you swap fringe English internationals like King, Lennnon and Jenas, not to mention accident-prone Robinson and others like Gardner and Huddlestone for our reserves or even our youth team. Chimbonda looked good at Wigan but tonight he was diving like Eboue.
When I look at other Premiership teams and wonder who you would take to strengthen our squad, I come up with Cech, Vidjic, Drogba and Torres as candidates to replace Lehmann, Senderos, Adebayor (just about but Drogba is older so a question mark) and Bendtner respectively. With the possible exception of Giggs/Babel/Malouda to replace Diaby as reserve wide left, there is hardly another player around that would improve the first team. Sagna, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Hleb, Rosicky, Fabregas, Diarra, Van Persie, Walcott, Gilberto, Flamini, etc. are the best around.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
of course in terms of quality, they can’t compare to us, or United, Chelsea the likes. What i meant was comparing to other clubs, like Villa, Everton, Blackburn, Newcastle, they are more than a match.
they finished 5th for 2 seasons in a row, in a 38 games league season, without a certain amount of quality, they couldn’t possibly achieve that.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Make no mistake, Spurs have quality, but only enough to challenge for 4-7 place at best. They aren’t quite good enough to go any higher than that, and it has all gone wrong for them this year for whatever reason. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Berbatov try to leave in January and I’ll bet Chimbonda wishes he had never signed with them.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
lets just hope juande ramos doesnt end up at WHL, that would suck!!!!! he deserves much better!!!! hahahaha
October 25th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Andy Gray thinks Liverpool will win on Sunday. He reckons they are underdogs and will play without pressure. Without pressure? If they lose, they are screwed. If we lose, we are still top assuming we can get a point from our game in hand. I think the pressure is on Liverpool. How I would love to prove Andy Gray wrong. In the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, Andy Gray is the best pundit they could come up with? I am amazed.
October 26th, 2007 at 12:43 am
“He reckons they are underdogs and will play without pressure. Without pressure? If they lose, they are screwed”
haha nipuna, well said! I wonder how Andy Gray came up with this brillinat “logic”!
October 26th, 2007 at 6:43 am
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October 26th, 2007 at 11:59 am
This club is financially sound, has a strong team, and has a dynamite youth set up. Who ever takes over would be under pressure to produce but few managers would turn down the opportunity to manage Arsenal.
There is an old quote that says “those that can do and those that can’t teach”. Arsene Wenger wasn’t the greatest player but a great teacher. Players that are technically brilliant don’t generally make good managers. Most successful managers that are former top players were midfielders or defenders; guys that were tactically very sound.
Spurs are doing poorly because they are mentally weak. It is an epidemic that’s spread throughout the team and has been there for a few years. If you lack mental toughness then, regardless of how talented you are, you’re an ideal candidate to lose. I don’t know the statistic but I guarantee that Spurs have lost more games when taking the lead than any one else, including last night. It takes mental strength and focus to win games when your opposition is truly dedicated to beating you and Spurs seem to lack that toughness.
October 26th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
100% agree with everything u wrote up there Josh.
October 27th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
If Wenger had not agreed to a new contract, I would have wanted Juande Ramos. Now that he will take over the science project known as Sp**s, I will now track his progress with great interest. Sp**s need to be totally rebuilt and a number of starters need to be cut (Jenas, Malbranque, Zokora, Dawson, Lee, Kaboul, Robinson and Chimbonda) because they are shite. Doesn’t leave Sp**s much left does it. This also indicts Comolli and the Sp**s “brain trust” over their horrendous players decisions.