Four years ago today, Mikel Arteta Amatriain became the 20th permanent of The Arsenal Football Club. How time flies when you’re having fun.
Mikel took over The Arsenal with the club a mess on and off the pitch.
The club had been in decline for a while as the Arsene Wenger era petered out. The leadership struggle between Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov allowed the club to drift in the ocean with no direction under the stewardship if Ivan Gazidis.
Wenger, and then Gazidis, departed leaving a power vacuum. This left Unai Emery in the middle of a power battle between Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat as to hiow we would move forward. Eventually both distruptive influences found themselves out the door, but it was probably too late for Emery.
Unai’s first season had been decent. 5th in the league and runners-up in the Europa League. But it was quickly becoming clear that he had lost the dressing room and was being given little, if any, assistance by his superiors to bring players in-line.
At the time, there were a lot of egos at the club; the biggest of which were Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and their German and French pocket holders causing issues. Emery struggled to bring peace to the dressing room and paid the price.
At the same time, Arsenal’s commercial deals were stagnating. We were not a “brand” that companies wanted to associate themselves with. Other’s, including Tottenham, had caught us up and overtaken us.
The club was rotten to the core, with reports at the time that we were close to losing academy status. then things changed.
Edu was already gaining more power whilst Mislintat and Sanllehi were at the club. He played a key part in the decision for Arteta to become the next manager. And also coming upo through the ranks was Per Mertesacker. The no-nonsense former captain saw his role grow as others departed. Arteta was then the final piece in the jigsaw.
The structure of Arsenal Football Club was so broken that is basically had to be demolished and rebuilt from the bottom up.
The academy was revolutionised, training ground upgraded and scouting network re-freshed. Coaches were let go and Arteta, backed by Edu, could wave goodbye to those egos that let down Emery.
Having to pay off the likes of Ozil, Mustafi and Aubameyang did hamper our finances for a bit, but those running the club had a plan.
Out with the old (even if it cost us some money), and in with the new.
Early on, there were a couple of short term signings. Stop gaps. Willian, Pablo Mari, Cedric Soares, Dani Ceballos. But then as finances began to ease and squad numbers reduce, Edu et al could focus on the rebuild.
In came in a lot of young talent, all under the age of 25. Ramsdale, Gabriel, White and Odegaard they key early signings. Each player was eager to learn, eager to listen. And, after a slowish start, momentum began to build.
Winning the FA Cup in his first 6 months meant when there was a little wobble in Arteta’s first fall season, the trigger was not pulled. Edu and the Kroenke’s new they had the right man. They realised how much work had already gone on behind the scenes and it was only a matter of time until that translates to the pitch.
In his 3rd full season, Arteta had us challenging for the title, with only a rampant Manchester City derailing us. This season he has shown that it was no fluke, and we are once more in the title race.
Arsenal Football Club is a much better place than it was in 2019, fans are closer to the players than ever and Arteta is a big reason for that.
But despite all the positives, questions are still being asked. 3 full seasons complete, just that single FA Cup won with a disruptive squad. If we fail to win a trophy again this season, it will be 4-years under Arteta without silverware. Is Miekl Arteta’s job in danger?
For me, it is a clear no.
I do not buy into thie “have higher standards” and “look at Real Madrid and Barcelona, they sack managers all the time and stay successful”. For a start, Spain and Germany are different to England, and the two clubs mentioned are the two biggest and most successful in their leagues. We are in a different place.
Since the inception of the Premier League, it has been proven that success is built on by keeping your manager – Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola.
The only outliers in the Premier League that have had a turnover of managers when they reached the top was Chelsea. And you have to ask how many more trophies would they have won had Jose Mourinho not have been sacked in 2007?
Sacking Arteta will not suddenly turn arsenal into Champions. you only have to look at Manchester United.
Since Sir Alex left in 2013, the have got through David Moyes, Luis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Ralf Rangnick and now Erik ten Hag. In 10-years they have yet to find a winning formula to lift the Premier League.
They have tried everything; bought in the man with Premier League experience, the proven winners, the club legend, the highly rated young European. Each one has failed to take them forward.
And Chelsea are showing as being no better.
Since Antonio Conte won them the league in 2017, Maurizio Sarri, Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard (again) have been and gone. now it is Mauricio Pochettino that has them mid-table.
Liverpool are the blueprint to follow, unless you are Manchester City with their untold riches.
They stick with Jurgen Klopp, know he is the right man and have built the club around him. He has repaid them with the Premier League, the Champions League, and playing some of the most thrilling, attacking football in the clubs history. The only reason they have not won more is due to Manchesrer City.
And City are the issue. You can continually change your manager, invest £200m a year in new players, but whilst City consistently get north of 90 points you will never be guaranteed winning the league.
Three years from the last 5, Liverpool got north of 90 points. They have just a single league title to show for it. One season they finished second despite gaining 97 points and losing just once. City have raised that bar.
And you do not overtake City by constantly changing your manager or trying to outspend them. You overtake them getting in the right manager, backing him, and hoping that he can take advantage of that 1 season in 4 where City take their foot off the pedal.
Regardless of what we win or do not win this season, Arteta will be here for a long time. He is a top manager, a great thinker, and the players buy into him. Sacking him now will only see us follow the same circles as Manchester United and Chelsea.
Arteta, it has been a good 4 years, you have given us our Arsenal back. Now it is time to make the biggest, ahrdest step of them all and make us champions again!
Mikel Arteta’s Red and White Army!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
Good article, amazes me how standard merchant are ignorant and unrealistic. expect arsenal to win titles against teams that have set current standards with a team relatively unable to determine their own standards yet is quite baffling. these lot should try and enjoy the ride but rather get toxic and are simply criticising to cope with the inevitable losses we will have, as al teams too. it just stinks of trauma.. fans need to get over it and get behind the current regime, criticising isolated game performances is one thing. cant understand why some calling for mikels head when his improved us by many many miles. baffling
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Only a halfwit would compare the football scene in this country to that of Spain. Real and Barca hold such a huge financial advantage over the rest of the competition that it’s easy to fire managers who come in and finish runners up. It’s a glorified version of the jock league. Until Chelsea and city came along and financially doped the competition, football in this country was always cyclical with the bigger clubs cycle coming round more frequently. The last 5 or 6 years should have been Liverpool’s time to dominate, they’ve basically been cheated. I think the next 4 or 5 years could be our time, we’ve already been cheated out of 1 league title, hopefully we’re not cheated out of 3 or 4 like the mickey’s. Whatever happens, as a fan, all you can hoe for is to challenge for major honours. The more you challenge the more chance you’ve got of getting over the line and winning them. Arteta’s under no pressure as far as I’m concerned, geezers done an incredible job and turned us right round. A few years ago, I wondered whether I would ever see us become champions again in my lifetime. As I post this, I’d be a little bit surprised if we don’t win a league over the next few years. I actually think we’ll win it this season.
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Well said. Probably not enough said. Arteta is the youngest manager of the top six team. Probably the youngest manager of top teams in Europe. He is also in charge of one of the youngest team in EPL and in Europe. Definitely the most valued team in the world apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona. Arsenal boys are top of the league and top of the CL. The whole club structure, culture and performance are probably the best in the world. And he did that all in 4 years with help of club’s former captains in Edu Gaspar and Per Mertersacker. Having cultural bond with Edu and his former vice captain in Martersacker, relationships between are on point. The only seen weaknesses are inexperience; which fading slowly season after season, financial restrictions and definitively Lee Gunner and likeminded c**ts like him as fans.
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