Tag Archives: Arsenal

Ivan Gazidis sticks two fingers up to crying journalists

The “fall-out” from the appointment of Unai Emery has been hilarious.

Journalists and ITK’s across the country (and beyond) trying to slate the club, and Ivan Gazidis over the appointment.

They have attempted to highlight a messy process, one which Ian Wright called “like being in a Sushi restaurant”. I have seen people moaning about Arsenal talking to 10 possible candidates.

The reality is, Arsenal did not leak what was happening, and no one on the outside knew what was happening.

This resulted in journalists and Twitter attention seekers literally making stories up for clicks, for attention. And it was this that made it appear the recruitment process was messy.

Whether it be Max Allegri house hunting, or Mikel Arteta “all but signed”, these outlets literally created the appearance that Arsenal did not know what they were dong, with fabricated stories, than have the cheek to then write that Arsenal did not know what they were doing, based on how many of these fabricated stories were out there.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/999017823098802177

Ivan Gazidis, in discussing the appointment of Unai Emery, put a sword into the heart of every journalist and Twitter ITK that pretends to have inside knowledge.

Gazidis on appointing Unai Emery:

“I know that [Emery] came as a bit of a surprise & perhaps there was one or two rewrites necessary [in the press]. Those who know won’t speak & those who speak won’t know

Gazidis on the process:

“We formed a three-person committee lead by me with Sven Mislintat & Raul Sanllehi. We wanted progressive, entertaining football, a personality that fits Arsenal’s values & a record of developing young players – pushing players & demanding more from them.”

“We analysed & looked through, on the basis that every coach in the world would be interested, & made a long list of eight coaches, all of whom were interested & who took place in extensive, in-depth interviews with the three of us. None of them withdrew their interest.”

“We interviewed Unai on the 10th of May, as part of that process, making a unanimous recommendation to the board on the 18th of May, with a 100-page dossier that supported his candidacy.”

“We met with London-based members of the board this week & then flew to Atlanta to meet Stan & Josh Kroenke. All of the board members were energised by the recommendation & enthusiastically supported it.”

“Unai has a competitive passion, detail & a love for football that made us feel this fit was exactly right for Arsenal.”


So there you have it.

Nothing was linked. It was a tight circle of people who know. And those that knew did not speak. The appointment might have “come from nowhere” but Emery was actually interview 2 weeks ago, and recommended to the board last Friday.

All the talk of Arteta being offered the job, or Vieira being called Monday for a “token” interview is clearly made up rubbish.

Gazidis, Mislintat & Sanllehi did everything right.

They spoke to plenty of people. Made a decision. Kept it quiet. They have done a good job.

And journalists and ITKs are a little upset that the club did not leak anything to them, and are taking out their upset on the club.

PS: Fair play Emery for conducted his press conference in English. Another 2 fingers up to the press who clearly do not have a clue.

Keenos

Arsenal ITK’s lick their wounds

The appointment of Unai Emery caught a lot of people by surprise. He had very much become the forgotten man of potential Arsene Wenger replacements.

It has now been hilarious watching those Twitter accounts who spent the last few months appearing to have information, calling deals done, or that interviews were taking place back track.

Tweets have been deleted, excuses made.

“It is not my fault the club pulled out of the deal” is an excuse heard a lot of the time, even though 2 days ago they were saying a deal is done.

The reality is, these people are not privy to anything major. The majority literally make stuff up on Twitter to gain followers, in the hope of becoming Twitter famous.

Whether it be on Twitter, Facebook or appearing in YouTube video’s, they have all exposed themselves as frauds, made fools of themselves. They have also made fools of those who follow them. Beg them for information. Give them the validation online that they desire.

A KFC worker of furniture installer does not have inside information of what is happening at Arsenal.

Now I am not saying no-one knows anything. People might have a contact at the club. Someone who does leak information. But the information that they are leaking is minor.

Information such as Max Allegri has turned up for an interview. The receptionist at London Colney would know that. Or photo’s due to be taken at Highbury House. Most within Highbury House would be privy to it. But that does not mean they will know that Allegri has signed a deal, or who the player is that is having their picture taken – until they turn up.

Arsenal staff will have to sign non-disclosures. Do you really think anyone close to a decision such as who the new manager is will dare lose their 6 figure job to leak information knowing their mate will stick it all over Twitter?

So few people at the club are actually privy to the key information that it would not be hard to work out where the leak is.

I am sure Mikel Arteta or Max Allegri being heavily linked with the job was true. That they had interviews at London Colney – emery was interviewed 2 weeks ago. That a lot of people within the club would have known this. But it is a big stretch going from “Arteta had an interview today” to “Arteta is going to sign a 3 year deal with an option for a further 12 months”.

Likewise, the likes of Base Soccer have been known to leak articles about their clients contract situations or transfer availability in the past, in the hope of generating interest or securing a better deal.

Arsenal do also leak information. I am sure they deliberately pass information on to journalists and Twitter accounts. Sometimes true, usually false.

It is a bit like when the Government leak a proposed policy to garner public opinion. They can then decide whether to go through with it, and if they do ,it is usually a watered down version of the one leaker, which everyone is much happier.

I am still of the belief that the club were happy to leak that Arteta was discussing a job at Arsenal.

What they did not disclose, however, is what job it was. I am still of the opinion that he discussed a coaching role rather than the Head Coach role. The club leaked that he was being interviewed for jobs to see how Arsenal fans would respond.

I imagine a few journalists are also licking their wounds. You can tell they are by the way they have attacked Emery’s appointment. They are more angry about not being leaked information than his actual capability for the role.

Someone like John Cross has proper thrown his toys out of the pram.

He has also called the appointment as “Arsenal playing it safe”.

If employing a 46 year old serial winner, who has experience of working under a restricted budget is “playing it safe” then fair enough. He ticks a lot of boxes. Just none in John Cross’s book.

Arsenal legend is also not happy.

“”Arsenal getting in touch with Vieira for the manager’s job was tokenism. It’s embarrassing.”

Tell you what is embarrassing, Ian, your view on the matter.

Wright clearly does not have a clue about what happens behind the scenes at Arsenal. He is not privy to any information. He gets information 3rd or 4th hand. He is clearly upset that the club will not leak anything to him.

There were certain members of Arsene Wenger’s backroom staff that were a bit leaky. Had relationship with various journalists. The majority of these have now left the club ,and I feel this is why so many journalists are upset.

They have spent 20 years building a relationship with a first team coach or a kit man, only to no longer have a clue what is happening at London Colney.

The appointment of Unai Emery, and how little talk there was around him prior to the big leak on Monday, highlights that every ITK on Twitter is a fraud, and every journalist fabricates stories for click bait.

Ignore the ITK’s, do not give them the time and validation.

Keenos

Arsenal to sign forgotten man

He became the forgotten man during all the speculation about who to replace Arsene Wenger.

All the talk was about Allegri or Arteta, Enrique or Rodgers, Lowe or Ancelotti, but the name we ended up going for was one which, before news began to break yesterday morning, had been forgotten about.

By now you will have remembered about the man who is to become the next Arsenal manager. Unai Emery.

I really do not know why he exams forgotten about this summer. He has been on many of our short lists to replace Wenger for some time, but he had barely got a mention until this week started.

Emery first made my list way back in 2014, before I was even trying to blog. Arsenal without a trophy in 8 years, the man from the Basque Country had only recently joined Sevilla.

With the financial restraints Arsenal were under at the time, the young manager looked an excellent option. Memory went to his 3 consecutive top three finishes in La Liga with Valencia.

A fabulous achievement on a tiny budget whilst having to continually sell his top players – the likes of Juan Mata and David Silva.

Success for Arsenal followed that season with the FA Cup, leading Arsene Wenger to sign a new deal.

At Sevilla success also beckoned, as Emery led his side to the first of what would be an historic 3 UEFA Cups in a row.

In March 2016, the discussion about who to replace Arsene Wenger reared its head in my consciousness again. And once again Emery made my short list:

November of the same year, I revisited my list.

“He joined PSG this summer, which might mean replacing Arsene Wenger next summer might be too soon. But he is certainly one to keep an eye on.”

18 months after those comments, and we have secured the man who at the beginning of 2017, was in my top 3 for the Jon.

But then I have not spoke about him in 2018. He was certainly forgotten.

People will point to relative failures in France with PSG. Monaco winning the league in his first year.

And in the Champions League he never took the big spending French side to the later stages of the Champions League.

But can parallels be drawn with Pep Guardiola?

He failed to win the Premier League with Manchester City. And despite spending £400m, has only taken them as far as the Champions League Quarter Finals.

At PSG, he was knocked out by Barcelona and Real Madrid. And his failure in his first season in France saw Monaco hit an incredible 95 points, losing just 3 games, drawing 5.

https://twitter.com/_adamkeys/status/998646914815086592?s=21

Unai Emery took Valencia to 3 consecutive 3rd place finishes in La Liga, whilst selling his top players every year

He won 3 Europa Leagues in a row with Sevilla, despite huge financial constraints

5 trophies in 2 years at PSG

Great appointment by Arsenal. Even if most of us had forgotten about him.

I leave you with a tweet from 2016

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/733029527744610305?s=21

Keenos